Monday, September 24th, 2007, 7:30 a.m.

Hi Everyone!

We wrapped up last week with visits to Siple and Central Elementaries in Davision, Michigan!

Cindy Mahalic was the lady who organized our trip to Davison. She really worked hard and everything went very smooth. Thanks, Mrs. Mahalic!

Lily Munster wants to drive . . .

Thanks to everyone at Siple and Central Elementaries! It was great to be invited back!

On Saturday, we traveled to Saginaw for the big Meijer Soccerfest! What a great time! THOUSANDS of soccer players attended, and at any given time, there were 15 soccer games going on! I signed books all day, from 8am - 5pm. Those of you who purchased books: THANK YOU! Proceeds will go to Meijer's Read It Up program!

Lily Munster even had a little soccer fun . . .

My friend, Jared . . .

Frequent visitors to this site will remember back over the summer, when we sent out a plea to find Scooby-Boo's Dad, Jake, a new home, as his current owner could no longer care for him. From my journal on July 20th:

""I received a call from Carmen Scharffe at the Cheboygan County Humane Society. She told me that a red labrador named 'Jake' was turned in by his owner, who could no longer care for him. Well, Jake is actually Scooby-Boo's dad! He's really sweet and smart, just like Scooby-Boo. While I would have LOVED to adopt him, we just can't have three dogs with our travel schedule the way it is. So, I resolved that I would do whatever I could to get Jake out of 'jail' and find him a good home. I put up a flyer with his picture at Chillermania!, along with the phone # to the shelter. Well, Jake was adopted on Wednesday by a family who was staying at nearby Burt Lake State Park! They came into the store and saw the flyer, then they went to the shelter to meet Jake. Of course, it was love at first sight . . . and now Jake has a new home! His owner even dropped by Chillermania! yesterday so I could say hello to Jake . . ."

That was back in July. Well, Jake's family dropped by Soccerfest to show us how well he's doing:

It was great to see Scooby-Boo's dad again, and know that he's got such a great home.

Lots of people brought their dogs to Soccerfest. Here, Lily Munster relaxes with Mrs. Chillers in the grass . . .

Of course, it's been a long week for Lily Munster. She sacked out during the 2.5 hour drive home . . .

We sure had a great week of book signings and school visits, and it was great to meet so many people. I'm home for a few days before heading off to a writer's conference on Thursday.

As you can see on the main page, we've scheduled the World Premiere of American Chillers #21: Terrifying Toys of Tennessee for October 19th in Murfreesboro! That's going to be a great time. Can't wait to travel to Tennessee and see all of our friends again.

Chapter three of 'The Ghost of Gratiot Road' will be published in Tuesday's editions of The Saginaw News and the Bay City Times. This is the only place where you can read this book. On Saturday, we had a lot of people ask if we had the 'book'. Nope! You've got to read it chapter by chapter in the newspaper!

We spent most of the day yesterday at the lake with the dogs. It was the first day of fall, but the temperatures were in the mid 70s. Supposed to be even warmer today, so I'm sure we'll be back at the lake for at least a little while, in between writing sessions.

Thanks for checking in!

Best wishes, happy reading, and . . . WRITE ON!