Photos from the Knowlton launch of "Quest for the Eagle-eye Amulet"

The first "official" launch of the second book in the Weaverworld series took place on June 21, 2014 at Brome Lake Books in Knowlton, Quebec.

 

This beautiful little independent bookstore is run by life partners Danny McAuley and Lucy Hoblyn. The store overlooks the Mill Pond, and when you step onto the veranda you can hear the water falling over the dam. Often their dog is sleeping behind the counter. Danny and Lucy share their duties in the store as well as the raising of their 3 boys (the eldest just graduated high school). They are very supportive of local talent, devoting a whole section in the store to CDs by local musicians.

 

Launching my second book, two years after the first, was an exciting time for me. Thank you to everyone who came to share the moment.

 

And guess who happened to drop in? International best-selling author Louise Penny, who graciously allowed herself to be photographed holding my book. (No endorsement implied!) Louise launched her first book in the Inspector Gamache mystery series right here in Brome Lake Books several years ago. She is now at work on her 11th book - and gaining new fans every day.

Great write-up in the Sherbrooke Record, June 18, 2014

Book Launch for "Quest" set for June 21/14

 

The second book in the Weaverworld series will be officially launched at Brome Lake Books in Knowlton, QC on Saturday, June 21 at 1:00 pm. Though the book was written for kids in the 9 to 14 age bracket, many adults have been looking forward to reading the sequel too. For info, contact the author at jkrohan@gmail.com.

"QUEST FOR THE EAGLE-EYE AMULET" finally in production!

To all those who've been asking me when it will be available, here's the news.

Book two in the Weaverworld series, "Quest for the Eagle-eye Amulet", is currently in production. That means the book designers are at work creating the layout and cover, and preparing a draft copy for me to proofread. This process may take a few weeks or more, but I think I can safely say that a Knowlton-area book launch is imminent!

Though book two was actually written quite some time ago, it needed to be completely reworked due to changes made during the rewriting of book one. "Quest" is an ambitious story, with lots of new places, characters, and adventures, so I hope you'll find it worth the wait.

If you'd like to pre-order a signed copy of the book, the hardcover will be about $35 and the paperback will be around $25, taxes included. You can send me a message at jkrohan@gmail.com

I can't show you the cover yet since they're working on it, but I can show you where I do my writing. This is where my flights of fancy begin. Note the presence of moose (top left), raven (top right), polar bear mandala (blue painting in centre), full waste basket and tattered dog toy on the floor. All of these things are essential to my creativity!

My visit to Sutton School, June 18, 2013

 

I had a great time with the Grade 5-6 class at Sutton School this week. Teacher Mrs. Canzani invited me to come and speak with her class about Weaverworld; Grimsnipe's Revenge, which has been out since April of last year. I am currently at work on book 2 of the series, tentatively entitled "Weaverworld: Quest for the Eagle-eye Amulet".

As always, the students were attentive and asked good questions. They were especially interested in the book's cover and how the artwork for it evolved. When I read a segment of a chapter out loud, one little girl expressed her disappointment that I hadn't read the full chapter!

Thank you to Mrs. Canzani and her son Miles, who was also in attendance, for asking some interesting questions too. Best of luck to you all with your future writing projects!

A teacher's review of my visit to Butler Elementary

“On Tuesday, April 30th the grade 6 and Sec. 1 classes were very pleased to welcome author Julia K. Rohan into our classrooms. Julia, who is originally from Ontario but now resides in Knowlton, has written a fantasy novel for youths and is currently working on publishing the 2nd of 3 in the series. Both classes have been reading from her novel "Weaverworld - Grimsnipe's Revenge".

 

Julia shared with us the process of creating her characters and story; her inspirations as a writer; and all about the world of publishing.  The students showed a lot of interest and asked pertinent questions that lead to a fascinating discussion.

 

During story planning for narrative writing in our MELS end-of-year exam, one of the grade 6 students brought up Julia’s discussion on character development. Julia told us that she spent a really long time developing her characters’ personalities before she even knew what the story would be about. It’s the characters that control the story.  Many of the students really thought that was a good idea and began to really think about their characters’ personalities in the stories they would create. We also used passages in her book to demonstrate how a writer can describe a situation with so much detail and in such an interesting way.  I, the grade 6 teacher, was really pleased to see how Julia’s visit affected the class and how my students were inspired to become better writers. What more could a teacher want?”

 

Christine Blinn, Butler Elementary

My visit to Butler Elementary School in Bedford, QC

On April 30, 2013 I visited Butler Elementary School in Bedford where I met with two Secondary 1 classes (equivalent to Grade 7).

Ms. Blinn's class had read up to the part where Jack enters the attic, so I continued reading from there. Before that, though, I talked to them about the writing process and specifically about how I came to write "Weaverworld: Grimsnipe's Revenge". The students asked some great questions and, as always, were a little shocked to hear that it took me 10 years to go from having no book at all to having three books in draft manuscript form. I explained to them that the hard work really begins when the first draft is done. Editing and rewriting is the hardest part of the job but can also be the most rewarding, especially when you see something you thought was okay getting better and better!

 

Then I moved on to Ms. Soule's Secondary 1 class. They had only had a chance to read the first chapter, so it was fun to catch them up on the action in Granny's attic. With both classes I emphasized that when writing a story the most important thing to concentrate on is character development. I explained how I began writing my book by writing biographies of my characters so that I knew them very well even before I started. By taking the time to go through this process the writer develops an emotional connection to his or her characters which comes through in the book.

Thank you once again to the teachers and students at Butler Elementary for inviting me to come and speak about "Weaverworld". As I told the students, Book Two is in the second rewrite stage now. If all goes well it should be ready for the book shelves by August this year. The title for the moment (and this may change!) is "Weaverworld: Quest for the Eagle-eye Amulet".

JKR
May 11, 2013