The Wild Lands makes the list

 

The Wild Lands made the list for January’s Best New Young Adult Books from Barnes & Noble!!

Here’s the write up: I have a huge thing for survival stories and for stories set in Alaska, so this book in which Alaska has been cut off from the world by natural disasters and a tiny ol’ breakdown of civilization is at the top of my to-read list. Travis and his little sister, Jess, are two of the only survivors remaining, and food is running out. They have hundreds of miles to cross, rife with desperate and dangerous survivors and starving animals who see them as prey. But they must attempt the journey in order to stay alive, even if the travel itself might kill them.—Dahlia Adler

The Wild Lands comes out January 29th!! You should be able to get it from your local Barnes & Noble or Independent Bookstore. Or, you can pre-order it for a discount now.

Happy New Year!

Paul Greci is the author of Surviving Bear Island, a 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection and a 2016 Scholastic Reading Club Selection. Forthcoming is Follow the River, a sequel to Surviving Bear Island published by Move Books. In January 2019, Paul’s first young adult novel, The Wild Lands will be published by Macmillan.

 

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A little good news

I just learned that my YA novel, Sacrifice Area, took second place in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association’s Annual contest in the young adult/middle grade category.

Last year my MG novel, Stranded, took second place.

Thanks for stopping by.

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Beginnings

The view from the farmhouse in the Italian Alps.

1.  I feel fortunate and lucky to have been able to spend time in Italy. Even though I didn’t visit the towns where my grandparents were born, I still felt an intensely personal connection with the land, perhaps because I spent several days with a good friend at a farmhouse that has been in his family for five hundred years.

A built-to-last stone roof.

2. Tomorrow I start a new job as the English Language Learner Teacher/Facilitator at West Valley High School. It is a semester-long position and will be a great introduction into the ESL/ELL world. I’m a little anxious because I’ve been out of the classroom for a few years but I’m also totally psyched to dive in and do the best job that I can.

3. My middle grade novel, STRANDED, was awarded second place in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association’s Annual Contest. This news came to me via email a few minutes before starting the 21 hour trip home from Italy.

So yeah, I’m feeling jet-lagged from the 10 hour time change, I’m still digesting the Italy experience (which I’ll write about in the future), and I’m a bit preoccupied by the details of my new job that have been streaming in today, but I’m smiling!!!

That's me at the farmhouse with a stone barn in the background.

Thanks for stopping by.

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Honest Scrap With a Twist

I’ve got a few awards to accept and pass on. Deb over at Ranch Girl Ramblings, gave me this one. Thanks, Deb!

I’m pretty happy today because I can actually use my computer. It was invaded by a nasty virus which I tried to fight, but my outdated weapons just drove it in deeper. So I called the guys at Dell and they nuked the sucker. I’m seriously happy about that. A few other things I’m happy for:

That I can breathe. Sounds simple but it’s true.

That the knee surgery I had last April didn’t actually make things worse.

I’d like to pass this award on to Tina Laura Lee at Watch Me Practice. Tina, please tell us a few things you are happy about when you are ready.

Alissa Grosso passed this award on to me. Thanks, Alissa! She has two blogs: Slightly More Than Dirt and one at her Author Website.  They are both cool.

I’m passing it on to Heather Kelly at Edit to Within an Inch of My Life. Heather has this cool thing going called Monday Meeting. It’s like standing around the Cyber Water Cooler at the beginning of the week and talking about what you hope to accomplish. Check it out.

Stephanie Thornton at Hatshepsut, a fellow Alaskan writer, gave me the Sunshine Award. Thanks, Stephanie!

 

The Sunshine Award didn’t come with specific requirements. I’m going to keep this one in the North Country and pass it on Terry Lynn Johnson, author, and driver of Sled Dogs in the wilds of Canada. Enjoy the returning sun.

Jill Kemerer passed this one on to me. Thanks, Jill! It’s supposed to say “You’re going places, baby,” across Bogart’s face but I couldn’t get that image to load so I just went for the Generic Bogart. I followed this award back several blogs and tried to upload the image but kept getting blocked. Another cyber-secret yet to unveiled to me. You can see the genuine image here. It’s pretty cool.

Requirements: Say where you’d like to be in ten years and pass it on. In ten years I’d like to be paddling my kayak next to a pod of Killer Whales, something I did on my first kayak trip twenty years ago. I seriously doubt that will even happen again, but it was amazing and humbling.

I’d like to pass this on to Ali Cross. Recently she’s started an Ask Ali Vlog on her blog. Check it out.

And finally, Roz Morris, across the pond at Nail Your Novel, gave me this:

 

Just for the record, I’ve never been called a Sugar Doll (at least to my face).  When I told my wife about the award, she looked at me, smiled, and said, Hey, Sugar Doll. The Sugar Doll is sort of like the Honest Scrap Award, only with a twist. Share a few things about yourself, except with the Sugar Doll, it specifies that those things be interesting. Interesting to whom, I’m not sure, but I’ll give it try.

1. My main responsibility in my first post-college job was counting Walrus on Togiak National Wildlife Refuge. I got paid three dollars a day. I know the wage is not impressive but it’s considerably more than I’ve made as a writer thus far.

2.  I’ve had WiFi for two years now, but have never owned a microwave oven.

3.  I bought my first computer in 1994 but did not have indoor plumbing until the year 2000.

4. For sixteen years I had a beard that hung down to the middle of my chest. I finally shaved it off three years after I got married because my wife really wanted to see my face.

I’m gonna sling this award across the Pacific, and south to Jade at Jade Hears Voices. Share a few interesting things about yourself, and pass it on.

 Today, I’m hosting Agent, Kendra Marcus of Bookstop Literary Agency for a question and answer session at College Coffee House from ten until noon. I met Kendra at a conference a couple years ago. I’m not sure what brings her to Fairbanks, but it’s very generous of her to offer this free session, open to all.

Afterwards, I hope to start my next rewrite of my YA adventure story. What are you working on this week?

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