Longhorns and Outlaws Virtual Tour

So far, 2009 is a great year. The big thing accomplished this week was to finalize all the stops on my Longhorns and Outlaws Virtual Tour for March!

We have lots of snow for good snowmobiling, so weekends are full. I'm making good progress on my next historical novel, Kidnapped By Outlaws, the sequel to Longhorns and Outlaws, so my planning is paying off.

Here are the Virtual Tour for Longhorns and Outlaws stops:

• March 11th — Virtual classroom visit with Mrs. Patricia Oelerich's class at Stuart Place Elementary School in Harlingen, Texas.
• March 12th — Guest author on the Igniting Imagination With Nellie Jacobs show on BlogTalkRadio at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/igniting-imagination
• March 17th — Interview with Steve M in the United Kingdom at his Western Fiction Review blog: http://westernfictionreview.blogspot.com/
• March 18th — Interview with Jill Tulo at the Well Read Child blog at http://wellreadchild.blogspot.com/
• March 19th — Interview with Natasha Maw at the Maw Books Blog at http://blog.mawbooks.com/
• Week of March 16th to 20th — Guest Speaker Chatting at the Institute of Children's Literature at http://institutechildrenslit.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=2a8bc7cc7841efd6e73539aef0aaf742&board=11.0 (Bring your questions about writing historical fiction and I'd love to answer them!)

Looks awesome, doesn't it? Hope to meet you on one of my virtual stops!

Visit the Web site for my outlaw books at http://www.outlawbooks4kids.com or my personal site at http://www.aksomitis.com

Linda Aksomitis Reflects on 2008

As the old year ends and the new one nears, I always look back on the past year to reflect on what I've accomplished and whether or not I reached the goals I set the previous year. As a writer, I find setting specific goals very important for moving my career forward, whether the objective is writing new books or promoting them.

In many ways 2008 was an amazing year for me! I had four new books published with 2008 copyright dates, and the 2007 copyright title, Run, actually landed in Canada in February, so in reality there were five. Run was a finalist for best Young Adult book of the year for the Saskatchewan Book Awards, which was wonderful! Longhorns and Outlaws, my juvenile historical fiction, was the only Canadian novel chosen for inclusion in the McNally Robinson Books of the Season Catalogue in the Kids Novels category. Bookmanager statistics showed that had a major impact on sales, as the novel was in high demand for a good portion of the Christmas shopping season.

Best of all, the readers most important to me loved the new novels — my family.

When I dig up the goals I set last January, I met the majority of them, although some in slightly different ways than I'd planned. I didn't get a young reader chapter book written, but I did write 2/3 of a novel, Kidnapped by Outlaws, which is a sequel for Longhorns. Looking at my goal in word count I surpassed it.

I didn't get a photo album set up on SnowRider, but I did create a series of free Western avatars for the Outlaw books web site, so that was good!

I finished the rewrite of my course, Introduction to Internet Writing Markets, and surpassed my goal for registrations by close to 100%. Better yet, I learned a lot myself doing the revisions, so I'm back at the forefront of technology and have even more ideas for teaching and promotion.

My travel writing goals went very well. I did the four trips I'd set for goals: Quebec (Carnival and Ice Hotel), Lake Charles, Louisiana (food tour), Albany, Georgia (never travelled there before), and New York with my family. I also found and entered the photo/writing contests — only time will tell if I take away any prizes though.


In March, I increased from half-time to three-quarter time as an online teacher for Credenda Virtual High School & College. I've learned a lot of new teaching strategies, both using technology and instructional, so it's been time very well spent. I also dedicated two months of time to in-person promotions for Longhorns and Outlaws, starting with the Alberta Book Tour in the end of September. The whole fall experience was incredible!

The library cataloguing course I'd planned to take wasn't offered when I wanted it, so I moved that goal ahead to 2009 and have already registered for January.

All in all, 2008 was a very good year!

Christmas Book Signing at Book-&-Brier Patch

Book signings are a wonderful opportunity to meet your readers and help parents get special gifts for their kids. The Christmas book signing event I participated in at the Book & Brier Patch in Regina, Sask, on December 13th, 2008 was great fun! It served as the launch for my latest nonfiction book, Sports Champions too!

One of the most interesting parts of the Book Signing at the Book & Brier Patch was sharing it with fellow writers: Alison Lohans and Judith Silverthorne, whom I meet monthly at a "Breakfast Club." I also met three other writers launching their first books, published through Your Nickel's Worth in Regina: Warren James, Jean Freeman, and Mercedes Montgomery.


Back row, left to right: Judith Silverthorne, Warren James, and Mercedes Montgomery.
Front row, left to right: Alison Lohans, Linda Aksomitis, and Jean Freeman.

So, what happens at a book launch? Well, with bookstore hosts as great to work with as the Book & Brier Patch — lots! The store had ample area to set up and display the books of all six of us writers, so we could autograph books for Christmas gifts. As Regina's number one independent book seller, it's sure a busy place during the holiday season.

When the afternoon finished I added copies of Longhorns and Outlaws and Run to the Santas Anonymous bin at the Book & Brier Patch. Sharing the gift of reading is something I value not only at the holiday season, but all through the year.