Once you’ve tickled the water and the ripples radiate out . . .there’s no telling what shore they (or you) will wash up on.

In my near future, that shore happens to be in Japan!  Yes, you heard that right! And I owe it all to the good advice of fellow writer Cynthia Leitich Smith, (Eternal, Jingle Dancer) who said writers should write a couple of articles for magazines every year-to help promote their books and their work-even if those magazines are non-paying professional and educational journals. So I did. And a teacher in that far away place saw the articles, liked them, read my books, and emailed. Eventually, she asked me if I’d consider doing an author tour of American elementary schools on US military bases. Would I? Believe me, I didn’t hesitate to say “YES!”

In April we leave for Japan for a month. I’ll be doing author presentations at eight schools over the course of twelve of those twenty-six days. We’ll be traveling on the bullet trains from the southern island of Kyushu to the northern tip of Honshu. The teachers have all pitched in to make reservations, get my travel between schools worked out, and even to provide guides for my husband while I am at the schools!  They are an organized, energetic, and wonderful bunch-I can tell that already.

And so, I’m here to tell those writers who wonder if it is worth it to write for a non-paying outlet-it is! (Thanks, Cyn.) And besides, I love writing for professional journals as it is one way to share with teachers, librarians and others who love children and their books. It is a way to give back to a community that has given me and my family so much.

Sayonara

Shutta