Sometimes Writers Need To Play


Birthday Lunch on the Peninsula Hotel Rooftop Terrace in Beverly Hills

Hope, Lisa and Alice powdering their noses in the Peninsula Hotel Spa.

Taking time out from the SCBWI-LA conference to visit Venice Beach and leave their footprints, multi-talented authors, Kelly Di Puccio, April Young Fritz, and Hope Vestergaard can't resist doing a litttle writing in the sand.

April at book party for Linda Smith's picture book "Mrs. Biddlebox," with from left, Alice Pope, Editor of Children's Writers and Illustrator's Market, Steven Malk, and her talented and super cool writer friend, Paula Yoo.

My Works
Waiting To Disappear and Praying at the Sweetwater Motel-IRA Notable Books

Booklist-Starred Review: "Events unfold believably and hopefully in this moving story about family, mental illness, and coming of age, which is set squarely in small-town America in the late 1950's."

WAITING TO DISAPPEAR
Click here to read an excerpt
Thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Mullens, better known as Buddy, should be having a wonderful summer. Everybody in her small southern town is getting ready for the Fourth of July, and along with her best friends, Ginger and Verna, she's about to start high school. She could just be worrying about clothes and boys like some girls, but life for Buddy isn't that simple.

Two years ago, her older brother Booth, was killed in a car accident, and since then her mother hasn't been the same. Little by little Buddy's mom has been slipping into her own dark world, and on the eve of the Fourth of July picnic, she finally has a breakdown. Buddy, who felt she walked in her brother's shadow when he was alive, feels almost invisible in the wake of his death. Despite her best efforts, Buddy can't break through her mother's haze of sadness and is only able to stand by as her mom asks to be driven to Moodus Meadows, a place for people with emotional problems.

How could her mother just leave her? Buddy still has her dad and even likes the idea of her glamorous aunt Sherry coming to stay with them, but she wants her mom back. And one way or another she's going to make it happen. With a little humor and a lot of love, Buddy Mullens might get through it all and learn just how strong she really is. She might even have the best summer of her life.

First Book Signing


April with author Rita Ciresi at Warren Newport Library in Gurnee, Illinois, where they spoke about the writer's life. April signed copies of her book WAITING TO DISAPPEAR and Rita signed copies of PINK SLIP, BLUE ITALIAN and SOMETIMES I DREAM IN ITALIAN

Author Rita Ciresi, Ragdale Foundation program director Sylvia Brown, and April celebrate a successful program at the Warren Newport Library.

Author Visits and Writers Workshops
April is available to make author appearances at schools, libraries or for your book discussion group. She also conducts writers workshops for beginning to advanced writers and is a writing coach for individuals. Send her an email for more information or check back here later for more details.

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