Balls

Sometimes, like today, I think, Holy Crap! Is it hailing in here?

But it's not.

It's just that I have so many balls in the air and I forgot for a second to juggle them. So the balls all fall down on my head.

It's not a terrible thing, especially because the balls are metaphorical, and not as embarrassing as that time last month when I was wandering around lost in New Haven in my pajamas (don't even ask), but it does make me feel a bit discombobulated.

This stage of a book is always a bit odd, for me. Does this happen to you?

At least I didn't slam my own head in a bathroom stall door this time. That really sucks.

Pub Day Give-Away!

It's Pub Day today for JUSTIN CASE: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom!

My case of books came yesterday -- so that means that today I will give some away!

CONTEST TIME!

All you have to do is write JUSTIN CASE in the comments section here on my blog or on facebook to be entered into the contest. I will give away one book for every 20 people who enter the contest so your odds stay good no matter what! 

If you retweet, reblog, or repost this, I will also donate a dollar in your honor to First Book, a terrific charity that gets books to kids who need them desperately. 

The contest starts now. Winners will be chosen tonight at 8:30 PM. So enter now!

And if you are a kid and you want to make a book trailer about JUSTIN CASE, send me a link. The trailer should be 30-60 seconds long, be original and creative, include non-copyrighted music, and capture what you like about Justin. The winners of the trailer contest will win signed copies and maybe also gummy worms. I'll chose winners of the trailer contest in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for celebrating with me today! 

Love,

Rachel Vail

PS Do you want a preview? You can get more info, read reviews, even read an excerpt right here!

Happy birthday

It's my mom's birthday today.

She's probably the kindest person I know. I love how willing she is to have her mind changed about most things, how non-defensively open she is to new ideas, how positively she chooses to look at everything - and everybody. My husband calls her the Master of Unconditional Positive Regard -- and when my kids imitate her (they are dead-on mimics, not always the most welcome of skills I have to admit) they say "Oh! That's wonderful! You are so terrific!"

She is also, like her fictional grandson Justin Case, quite the worrier. Until last summer, she had never been on a trampoline and certainly never planned to be on one. She hates jiggling movements, gets extraordinarily anxious when she doesn't have stable ground under her feet, and is not a fan, to say the least, of jumping. But her grandsons said, "Come on, Grandma!" So she came on. She squealed and screamed and gripped her hands tight in fists -- but she even, eventually, jumped. Hanging on to her grandsons. And her courage. And her endless enthusiasm.

Happy birthday, Mom.

Justin is coming back!

JUSTIN CASE 2 is coming in a week.

May 8.

Can you believe it's May already? It looks very March out my window, honestly.

But no -- seriously, it is MAY.

As in, when my kids were little and making an effort at being polite, they used to say May you please STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!?!?!?!?!!!!!

May is such a polite, or perhaps just tentative, sounding month-name. Like it should be followed by Should. Or Must. Or even Shall.

But no. It's followed by the lovely June, which sounds as just as oooo as it always feels.

May. Full of possibilities. May rain, may not. May hold surprises in store. May.

In celebration of May Day, here is a link that (in the middle of the page) includes an excerpt from JUSTIN CASE: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom.

JUST CLICK HERE! and you will go to the MacKids page about the book.

When I get my copies, maybe we should do a contest? A give-away? Send suggestions for fun ways to give away some free copies! May be you'll win?!!!