I had a splendid time meeting three fabulous middle grade authors at the wonderful, local bookstore, Children’s Book World.  Joe Schreiber is the author of Lenny Cyrus, School Virus.  Linda Urban, author of one of my favorite middle school novels, A Crooked Kind of Perfect,  was on hand to answer questions and talk about her experiences as a published author.  She also wrote Hound Dog True and The Center of Everything.  Finally, the writer of The Lemonade War series, Jacqueline Davies, joined this trio to help us celebrate this special genre.  She eloquently shared with the audience what inspired her to write her books.

As children, these authors all admitted to reading ALOT when they were younger.  They each recounted memories including special reading chairs or spaces.  Joe recalled typing on an old type-writer.  Linda wrote in a cold attic.  And Jacqueline dabbled in writing with a quill pen!

I find I am sometimes nostalgic for that small shed my parents let me claim half off to set up for my writing.  They bought me an old typewriter from a yard sale and I banged out hundreds of poems and stories while listening to rain storms or our neighbor’s chickens and rooster down the hill.