By Shaunta Grimes
A book launch is supposed to be the most exciting time for an author. After all of that work and all of that hand-wringing over whether all of that work is going to add up to anything — there it is.
Your book, on the shelves at a Barnes and Noble.
Your book, live on Amazon.
Your book, with your name right there on the cover, available to the world.
It’s thrilling, truly. Usually.
My new novel launched today.
Center of Gravity is a middle grade book about friendship and grief. I’m so proud of it. It’s a story I’ve wanted to tell for a long time.
Photo: Author
I sold it in 2017, nearly three years ago. Today, it’s finally a real book, available to readers. Right in the middle of the worst global crisis in generations.
Yikes.
I want to let you know about it. And that my 2018 release, The Astonishing Maybe, is available in paperback today, too. Because it’s exciting. Because I’m supposed to be jumping up and down with excitement over this. It’s a big deal.
Only, you know — my mind, like everyone else’s, is occupied with other, more important things right now. Every event that was scheduled to celebrate the launch of this book and get the word out about it has been cancelled, and I can’t even find the bandwidth to be upset about it. Not really.
So, I asked myself — what can I do to celebrate this new book and be helpful.
I started thinking about all kids, like my own 15-year-old who are homebound right now. And how maybe some of them would have had an author visit in their school this spring, but that’s not going to happen now. And about how an author coming to my school when I was in the sixth grade changed my whole life.
That was the first time that I made a connection between the books I loved and the people who wrote them. The first time that I realized that ‘I want to be a writer’ was a legit answer to ‘what do you want to be when you grow up.’
That author talked about writing all his books on yellow legal pads with Sharpie markers, and I carried those two tools everywhere from the time I was ten until I got my first computer twenty years later.
I know first hand how important it is to kids to have access to writers.
So, here’s what I’m doing.
On Saturday April 25, at 3 p.m. EST, I’m hosting a free virtual author visit for kids of all ages. I’ll talk about being a writer and encourage them to tell their own stories, and be there to answer questions.
It’s open to everyone — whether or not you buy one of my books. I hope you’ll consider buying it, or sharing it with your friends who have kids. But I’d love to spend some time talking to your kids about writing, even if buying my book isn’t something you can do right now.
And — if you’re a teacher or run homeschool group or can just get a group of kids together, I’d love to talk to you about setting up an author visit with your students. Drop me a line at shaunta@ninjawriters.org and we’ll work something out.
If you’d like to register for my April 25 (at 3 p.m. EST) live author visit, just click here.
And if you need a good book for your 8- to 12-year-old, I hope you’ll consider one of mine!