Not only did I send books in as entries to the contest, but also, the class in Durango, Colorado sent Book 1 of the Where in the World is Misfit McCabe? project to them. So, hopefully soon, I will have the list of students who read Misfit McCabe and will be able to update the website.

I was very proud and pleased to receive notification that Misfit McCabe had garnered runner up honors in the Pearson Prize Teen Choice Book Award Contest. I had just been thinking about sending a message to Michael to remind him that once the contest was concluded I would need a list of the participants in the WITW is MMC project, when I received the following email which started:

It is my pleasure to inform you that you are a runner-up for the 2009 Pearson Prize Medal for
your title “Misfit McCabe”.
Congratulations. More than 20 teens choose your title as their number one selection from more
than 150 titles!

I felt like I was walking on air. While I do not get the trophy, I still have the satisfaction of knowing that my little story was in the top 3 books read this year at Lester B Pearson High School. Plus, I get to put some of those little foil labels on my books which say that my book is an award winner. I loved the comment from one of the student judges of the contest about Misfit McCabe:

There is an interesting range or varied emotions from crying to laughing to simply secretly smiling to yourself because you can relate to every turn of events. You should definitely read this book.

There can be no greater satisfaction for a writer than to have their work read and enjoyed. Now all I have to do is get Nowhere Feels Like Home ready to enter next year’s contest.

Travels of Misfit McCabe

I thought I’d take just a moment to let everyone know where each of the eight books are and current travel plans for the books.

Book 1
The Purple line started off in Garden Grove, CA and then traveled to Bayfield, CO, a trip of 801 miles, then on to Durango, CO, which brought the total mileage of the book up to 828 miles. It’s next stop was Montreal, QC where it is participating in the Pearson Prize Book Award contest, bringing the total mileage for the Purple line to 2,175 miles. Wow! I haven’t received any updates as yet from Montreal, but hope they start trickling in soon.

Book 2
The Yellow line started off in Snohomish, WA and has now traveled on to Woodinville, WA, a short jaunt of approximately 7 miles so far. No further updates on this line at this time. Has it been passed on, or is it sitting on the shelf?

Book 3
The Red line is currently in West Milton, OH. No updates to whether Brian has finished reading it yet or where it might be going next.

Book 4
The Green line started in Hesperia, CA and we were expecting it to go haring off to Oregon next, but in an unexpected update, the book traveled down the 15 to the 91 freeways and ended up with Ryan in Corona. A journey of 55 miles.

Books 5, 6, & 7
I don’t have any updated information from Books, 5, 6, & 7 with the exception of confirmation of arrival at the starting point. I have heard that some have moved on, but I don’t have any information to share. Just to give you a flavor for where they are starting:
Book 5 – the Blue line started in Las Vegas, NV
Book 6 – the Teal line started in Norfok, VA
Book 7 – the Pink line started in El Paso, TX

Book 8
The Brown line took a trip from MaryAnn in Butler, NJ to the Jersey shore and is now staying with Savannah in Atlantic Highlands, NJ. A jaunt of 67 miles. Savannah reports that school work is getting in the way of reading. So to Savannah’s teachers, could you lay off the homework for a bit to allow her to finish the book? Just kidding – as always school work needs to come first.

Sequel Update

It is a very proud moment for me to be able to say that I have finished the first draft of the sequel to Misfit McCabe. I still have all of the editing and rewrites to do, so that will take a little more time, but I am hoping to be able to launch the sequel before summer. The next step in the process is for me to re-read what I have written, and try to keep my fingers off the keyboard while doing it, so that I can get a good sense of what I have to start with. Hopefully by the time I’m done with the read through, I’ll have a title that comes to mind. Then after that, fingers back on the keyboard and I get to start ripping it apart and putting it back together again. Fun times ahead!

Book Trailer
I have posted my book trailer for Misfit McCabe on YouTube. So stop by and take a look and let me know what you think. Just type Misfit McCabe in the search box and you should find it.

That’s all the news for now. Keep on Reading!

LK Gardner-Griffie

Travels of Misfit McCabe

I thought I’d take just a moment to let everyone know where each of the eight books are and current travel plans for the books.

Book 1
The Purple line started off in Garden Grove, CA and then traveled to Bayfield, CO, a trip of 801 miles, so that it could go to school with Keely in Durango, CO and was shared with her class. That brought the total mileage of the book up to 828 miles. Miss Pam’s class decided to send the book to another class in Montreal, QC. And the book is currently traveling and trying to get through Customs to get to the classroom in Canada. Once it arrives, the total mileage for the Purple line will be 2,175 miles. Wow! It is also exciting to have one of the books travel to another country. So far Book 1 has been read by 5 people.

Book 2
The Yellow line started off at Gail’s house in Snohomish, WA and has now traveled on to Lily’s house in Woodinville, WA, a short jaunt of approximately 7 miles so far. I hear that Lily is planning to pass the book around to her friends once she is done reading it.

Book 3
The Red line is currently in West Milton, OH where Diane has read it and now Brian is in the process of reading it. They are still trying to decide where it will go from there.

Book 4
The Green line started in Hesperia, CA with Justine, and has moved 12 feet down the hall to her brother Jacob. It will soon be starting its travels by going to Oregon, and then most likely to eastern Washington after that. From there? It could be Chicago, IL, but who knows??

Books 5, 6, 7 & 8
I don’t have any updated information from Books, 5, 6, 7, & 8 with the exception of confirmation of arrival at the starting point. I have heard that some have moved on, but I don’t have any information to share. Just to give you a flavor for where they are starting:
Book 5 – the Blue line started in Las Vegas, NV
Book 6 – the Teal line started in Norfok, VA
Book 7 – the Pink line started in El Paso, TX
Book 8 – the Brown line started in Butler, NJ

Sequel Update

As some of you know, I have started to work on the sequel to Misfit McCabe. Chapter 1 has been completed, and for me that was going to be the most difficult to write. Why was it the most difficult? Because I wanted to make sure that I covered what happened in Misfit McCabe enough so that someone who starts with the sequel won’t be lost, but didn’t want to bore those of you who have already read and enjoyed Misfit McCabe. Hopefully, I will have done a good job of this, but you will be the judge of that once the sequel has been completed.

Up until yesterday, Chapter 1 was as far as I had gotten due to the holidays and a few other reasons, but yesterday, I dusted off my keyboard, plugged my headphones in on my mp3 player and started typing. If I didn’t have something that I had to do last night, Chapter 2 would be complete by now, but I am only about 1,000 words off completion of Chapter 2, so should be done tonight. I will keep you posted on what is happening with the sequel as I am working on it.

Book Trailer
I finally have posted my book trailer for Misfit McCabe on YouTube. So stop by and take a look and let me know what you think. Just type Misfit McCabe in the search box and you should find it.

That’s all the news for now. Keep on Reading!

LK Gardner-Griffie

In today’s writing generation, it’s absolutely amazing that authors can now write a book, edit it, format it, publish it, sell it, print it, ship it, and market it all from their desk top computer. Let’s not forget readers! They can buy it and read it on their computers as well. That’s the tricky part for authors. How do we get readers to buy our books, read them, and spread the word so overall our sales increase along with our popularity?

It all comes down to marketing! Book marks. Press releases. Emails. Virtual book tours. YouTube Book Trailers. Chat sessions. Blogs. Again, the internet and our home computers are valuable tools for self-published authors when it comes to spreading the word. But it still all comes down to getting our book in the hands of a reader. What if there was a way to track just that? What if a book could go across the country and tell us where it is and where it’s been? That would be a POD authors dream come true! For LK Gardner-Griffie, it’s about to happen.

LK took full advantage of the self-publishing possibilities Lulu.com has to offer and published eight special hardcover editions of her book, Misfit McCabe, with the intention of linking the books to an online tracking system solely dependent upon her readers to pass the books on. She added special instructions to the books along with some blank pages at the end for her readers to sign and date. She then shipped the books to various friends and family across the country with instructions to pass the book on.

For LK and her readers, the fun comes by visiting the website, Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?, where recipients of each book can log their location and watch where the book goes next. It’s like a travel diary where the books can tell us all about their readers and the places they’ve been. There’s an FAQ on the website and even a place to sign up if you would like to get involved and receive one of the special copies, and a nifty Google map (shown above) showing the location of each book which has been assigned a special number and color.

For the next several months, LLBR will be watching and promoting this magnificent marketing plan which LK Gardener-Griffie has invested a ton of time and energy in. Join us in watching Misfit McCabe travel the world! Heck, pop on over to the website and sign up to receive a copy. If you receive one and pass it on, post comments below letting us know about it!

Congratulations to LK and good luck to Misfit McCabe on this marketing adventure! We wish you both much success on the journey!

Click on the map at the top of this page to go to the WITW is MMC website now!