Issue #5 • January 2018

Hello, dear readers!

I hope you all had wonderful holidays. I had a whirlwind of a time visiting family in France over Christmas--and it was great, despite getting a cold.

While in Europe, I had the pleasure of meeting my UK editor for The Winged Horse Race/ Wings of Olympus (title TBD) in London, and my French editor for Heartwood Hotel in Paris. Both meetings were truly delightful, and it is so interesting and exciting to see how different countries plan to slightly adapt my stories for their unique audiences. For example, there will be a lot more illustrations in the UK version of The Winged Horse Race as compared to the US and Canadian version.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the meetings because with my French editor I was really jet-lagged, and with my UK editor I was starting to get my Christmas cold, and I didn't remember to snap photos.

I did, however, take lots of photos while I was in the British Museum, researching my winged horse story and a potential new chapter book idea I have that would take place in ancient Egypt. (I'm really liking working with a combination of history and fantasy right now.)

Here were two things I found particularly bizarre in the Ancient Rome/Greece exhibit. Metal foot armour on the left (which the plaque said probably didn't work very well), and an ancient potty on the right. The poor baby model in it doesn't look very happy!

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Along with the research, there was plenty of time to check out the many beautiful Christmas markets, and my family and I travelled to Ghent (in Belgium) and Cologne (in Germany) just to do so. They were truly beautiful and I picked up lots of special Christmas tree decorations.

 
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All in all, 2017 was one wonderful year. I feel so blessed to work with my agent, editors and illustrators and publishing teams. I can't wait to continue the work in 2018 and do my utmost to write the best stories I can.

I hope all your dreams for 2018 come true!

xo
Kallie

Extra Fun

Featured Activity - Wish Book!

To celebrate the new year--and all the new wishes that come with it--here's a special, popular activity from my first book in the Magical Animal Adoption Agency series.

This is a Wish Book page. You can fill it out and request any magical animal of your choosing. A unicorn, a fairy horse--or maybe an elephant-mouse! 

To download the page you can go here.