Well, it’s starting to feel real now, this trip to Springfield, Illinois next week. About time it sank in, since I’m scheduled to fly on Tuesday morning. Why, you ask, am I traveling half-way across the country, from Boston MA to Springfield, IL? It is for a very exciting reason…and the best way to explain is to pull a quote from an email I received last month:
“Congratulations! Your book, Being Henry David, has been chosen as one of the books for the annual ILLINOIS READS program. Under the auspices of the Illinois Reading Council, ILLINOIS READS is an annual statewide project to promote reading for all Illinois citizens. The thirty-six titles chosen, from birth to adult, will be introduced into classrooms, public health facilities, public and school libraries, and bookstores. The website, http://www.illinoisreads.org, will allow adults and students (above age 13) to post book reviews, book trailers, artwork, and discussions about the books. We will be printing bookmarks, posters, public service announcements, television interviews, and more to promote the program… The program will be formally launched on March 12, 2014 at the Illinois Reading Council Conference in Springfield, Illinois. We hope that you can join us for the ceremony at the Old State Capitol, along with a host of state and local officials.”
Seriously…how cool is this?? Not only is my book one of six young adult books chosen to be promoted across the entire state of Illinois, but I get to hobnob with state and local officials next week. A host of them! Of course, I’m curious about who those folks will be. The governor, maybe? The mayor of Springfield? I’m excited to find out.
I wish to extend a public THANK YOU to Becky Anderson, of Anderson’s Bookshop http://www.andersonsbookshop.com in Naperville, Illinois, who has been a proponent of my book even before it was officially released, and no doubt brought it to the Illinois Reading Council. I also want to extend a public thank you to the city of Naperville…it was a wonderful place to live, and we were heartbroken to move away, back in 2000. It is still a place that is dear to my heart (as are the Naperville friends we so treasure!) No wonder the town found its way into my book, and the Illinois ties continue to enrich my life.
Okay, so I will wrap this up for now…I have to start preparing for this trip. Mental checklist: do laundry, pack, confirm travel and hotel reservations, and figure out what the heck is an appropriate outfit for meeting a host of state and local officials…
Illinois, here I come!
or 
cal armistead 