Thank you to everyone who participated in my paperback giveaway.  You will all be receiving your signed, paperback copies of The Red Umbrella very soon!  The schools each of you mentioned will also be receiving signed, library-binding, hardcover editions of The Red Umbrella (I'll probably send them out in January -- since most schools will be going ( Read more... )

THE PAPERBACK IS COMING! THE PAPERBACK IS COMING!

Yes, just in time for the holidays, the paperback version of THE RED UMBRELLA is being released on December 13th.  That's exactly two weeks away...I'm so excited!

Just how excited am I?  So excited that I am going to give away signed copies to the first 15 people who send me a message through my ( Read more... )

Yes, I have been a bad blogger and not posted in a long while, but I'm back.  After spending a week in Grand Cayman, I've come back with new resolve to tackle my new book and do a better job of blogging.  So, for those of you who may one day want to travel to Grand Cayman, let me tell you...IT. IS. AWESOME!

The water is an unbelievable shade of ( Read more... )

No, not my real name...my livejournal name.  Before I was cdgred-umbrella because I couldn't get Christina (or a variation of it) when I formed the account, but now I'm christina-dg ( Read more... )

Today is a sad day.  My wonderful, smart, loving dog Mickey died.


( Read more... )

ATTENTION LIBRARIANS!!! 
To celebrate the end of our debut year, The Tenners (2010 debut authors) will be holding a special giveaway just for librarians. One public or school library will be selected to receive a set of 54 books by 2010 MG and YA debut authors.

How do you enter this massive giveaway? So easy. All you have to do is capture one of ( Read more... )

Yes, those words sum up my Labor Day weekend and believe it or not, they all converged into one climactic moment at the Holiday Inn in Decatur, Georgia.  First some background information.

Many months ago I was invited to speak at the Decatur Book Festival (the largest independent book festival in the Southeast) and I jumped at the chance because ( Read more... )

Inspired by my friend Molly O’Neill who shares a birthday with me, I wanted to do a list of 20 things that stood out during this past year of my life.  (If you didn’t know, today is my birthday and I sometimes get all reflective and kooky about life on August 20th).  Obviously, this list does not include all the special moments, just 20 that I can ( Read more... )

This summer I've been going to lots of cities to do book signings and sign stock at bookstores. I've had a BLAST!  It's been fun and I've loved meeting with booksellers, readers and fans of The Red Umbrella.  I'm still in shock that there is this book --OUT THERE-- with my name on it, with my words in it, with my thoughts between the covers. Eeeek ( Read more... )

So I had a wonderful time out here in LA - nice, cool weather and even nicer, cooler friends/writers at the SCBWI Annual Conference ( Read more... )