April 2014 Updates

April 2014 Updates

Beethoven helps me read all the fun books in preparation for the LA Times Festival of Books panel on YA non-fiction!

Beethoven helps me read all the fun books in preparation for the LA Times Festival of Books panel on YA non-fiction!

Happy April! Can you believe it’s already spring time? 2014 is flying by!

A fun update on everything that I’ve done recently, plus some new announcements. Here we go…

1. LOS ANGELES TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS: I’m moderating the “Young Adult Nonfiction: Where the Truth Lies” panel at the YA Stage at USC on Saturday April 12th at 3 PM with amazing YA authors Aaron Hartzler, James L. Swanson, Maya Van Wagenen and Georgia Bragg. Info here: http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/ Stay tuned for more info on this blog later this month!

2. NAPIBOWRIWEE: My 6th annual “NATIONAL PICTURE BOOK WRITING WEEK” (AKA NAPIBOWRIWEE) takes place this May 1-7, 2014. Check out my April 1st blog featuring this year’s FAQs on the event etc. here: https://paulayoo.com/napi/?p=689

I will be posting daily blogs from May 1-7, 2014 plus some preview blogs this April at the NAPIBOWRIWEE official blog site here: https://paulayoo.com/napi/

3. LAKERS! Confession: I’m clueless when it comes to sports. But I had so much fun attending my first pro basketball game on March 21, 2014 (Lakers v. Wizards). I couldn’t believe how tall the players were and how FAST they were on court! They were also incredibly graceful – at times, it was like watching a ballet. 🙂 Wow! I was RIVETED. It was so exciting! Tickets were courtesy of my TV manager from The Shuman Company… so we were just five rows from the court! OMG! I felt like I was IN the game. Some fun celebrity sightings included former athlete/comic actor Terry Crews. I also felt like I was on an episode of “Entourage” because I even got to “network” with some industry folks, including the agent for actress Jordan Hinson (who played Zoe Carter on SyFy’s EUREKA, one of the shows I’ve written for). Unfortunately the Lakers lost (117-107) to the Wizards, but they put up a good fight! Anyway, I think I’ll start watching some Lakers games on TV now! 🙂 Some fun pictures below:

Me at the Lakers/Wizards game at the Staples Center on March 21, 2014. Five rows from the court! Go Lakers!

Me at the Lakers/Wizards game at the Staples Center on March 21, 2014. Five rows from the court! Go Lakers!

My view of the Lakers/Wizards game on March 21, 2014 at the Staples Center. Wow! Go Lakers!

My view of the Lakers/Wizards game on March 21, 2014 at the Staples Center. Wow! Go Lakers!

4. MUSIC: I have been busy musically with some fun chamber music sight-reading parties, concerts, gigs etc. Unfortunately I can’t talk about some of these professional music gigs due to signed contractual obligations about no social media posts, so you’ll just have to trust me that there have been some fun music gigs. 🙂

5. WRITING: I just finished revisions on a new middle grade novel and submitted it. Fingers crossed! I’m now going to work on a feature spec script plus finish an adult novel that I had to put on hold. Excited to work on my passion projects this spring.

My fourth book will be coming out from LEE & LOW BOOKS later this year. Stay tuned for more details once I get the official launch date! I can’t wait to share the good news!

And of course it’s April which means… TV STAFFING SEASON! I’m off to do another round of meetings. Fingers crossed for some fun TV projects as well! I’ll keep everyone posted on where I land next. 🙂

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So that’s my latest update. I hope everyone is having a fabulous spring. What are your writing projects for April? Until the next blog, remember… HAPPY WRITING! WRITE LIKE YOU MEAN IT! 🙂