spring update – virtual author events, gardening, & other chaotic ramblings

Eeek!!! Happy spring, guys!!!!!!!!!!!! The first day of spring has officially passed (passed three days ago), and eeeek THIS IS SO AMAZING I LOVE SPRING!!!! The winter seems to have gone, and I can only really hope that it doesn’t turn to sprinter again. If you don’t know what sprinter is, it’s what I call ridiculously cold weather in spring!!! Because technically it SHOULD be spring and yet I must face the bitter cold of winter. If you can’t tell, I ammmm not a fan of sprinter.

So hopefully all that clears up!!!! Spring is the fantastic season for so many reasons, including the fact that March is National Reading Month!!! AND I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW TILL NOW!!! Are you guys doing anything to celebrate National Reading Month? Do you have anything planned? Also, don’t worry if you don’t have anything planned, especially since I have even more exciting news!!!!

You know how I thought about doing virtual author events for Children’s Book Week? Well, I might still do something on Children’s Book Week, but…..

I recently came up with this AMAZING idea!!!

A virtual author event/author chat!!! Streamed live on YouTube!!!

Eeek!

I was originally going to invite an author who wrote an amazing craft book on writing (no, not Gail Carson Levine), but first, there’s the problem of her actually seeing the email on time. And two….. this is going to need LOTS of back and forth and chaotic planning!

Something I don’t know if I’ll be able to do around a famous author who I’ve never even met before!

And then the solution came to me while I was chatting with one of my very best friends, Journey Bloomfield!!!! (the link back there is to her blog which is a very cool blog!!) After all, why do I need to ask a super famous author when I already know an author??

And that author happens to be one of my very best friends??

So yeah!!!!!! TIS OFFICIAL!!! On March 31 (the last day of National Reading Month), Journey Bloomfield and I will be hosting a virtual author event/chat on YouTube!!!!!! EEEEK!

I haven’t put up the scheduled livestream there, but if you wanna keep an eye out for it, you should be able to find me on YouTube. Eeek!!!! SO EXCITING!!! The two of us are going to be chatting lots about things like writing, reading, why reading is so important, some tips for reading and some tips for reluctant readers, ideas, writing processes, how reading inspires our work, and basically everything in-between!!! The working title for this livestream is:

Reading, Writing, and Everything-In-Between with Isabelle Knight and Journey Bloomfield!!!!

And it should take place on March 31, 10 AM EST. (Which is basically 10 AM in New York)

I am SUPER hyped for this!!! My notes are a mess right now, but Journey and I will figure stuff out!! So guys, if any of you are interested in this, please please please join us and keep an eye out for the scheduled livestream on my YouTube channel!!!!!!

I am very worried about no people coming, to be honest. 🙁 I mean, I have NEVER done a virtual author event before!!! I am slightly more famous well-known than when I first started writing, so… Maybe someone will show up? 🙂

I don’t know. I HOPE people show up. If not…….. Journey and I shall have to prepare for some questions in case no one comes. 0_0 Although it’s slightly less nerve-wracking to have a dead space while you’re hosting with a friend than if you’re hosting alone. So hurray for Journey!!!!

We were originally going to do it on April 23, 2025, but Journey is a young writer and she travels with her family a lot (which is oh so cool!!! I can totally picture someone I know loving that sort of life. Looking at you, Dad), so sadly, we’re not certain if she’ll have Wi-Fi on April 23. And even if she did, the quality wouldn’t be as good.

So now I am rushing to prepare for March 31!!!!!

And while I’m rushing around to prepare, that brings me to another thing I love about spring!!! Because spring is, well, spring. Aka the time to start….

GARDENIIING!!!!

Now, I’ve always tried gardening and growing stuff from things like apple seeds, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds…… My poor seedlings never survived even three days!! 😭😭😭 But I was recently inspired by a certain book (The Peach Thief by Linda Joan Smith) to try again!!! And this time, I’m going to grow zinnias!!!!

They’re these really pretty flowers, and they should grow in China since I’ve seen them in the park, and they should be low maintenance. But oh my gosh, I AM SO STRESSED!!!! Because I have FIVE trees in my backyard!!! IN A SMALL SPACE!

Small trees. Very small trees, with thin trunks. Perhaps twice as all as a twelve year old girl (aka me).

BUT STILL!!!

And there isn’t AS much sunlight. It’s mostly dappled light (thought there is a large quantity of it from 10 am to 12 pm, I believe), and argh!! Zinnias need FULL sunlight!!! And everyone online is saying that and so….. DOES THAT MEAN THEY WON’T GROW?!! (sorry, just me panicking about gardening)

AND summers where I live get up to 40+ degrees Celsius!!! (105 Fahrenheit for everyone who lives in the US)

Zinnias can’t survive!!!

And that’s when they’re supposed to be blooming!!!

But my parents already bought the seeds. (sigh) And I’m already quite attached to my zinnias even though they haven’t come!! I’m also maybe going to try planting marigolds!!! They’re my birth flower (I think… My memory’s rather fuzzy), and they looked BEAUTIFUL.

And along with the flowers, I’ve also gotta prepare the soil. Right now, mine is HARD. Like, really hard. And I need it to softer so that my poor flowers’ roots won’t just suffocate and die. So yeah, wish me luck with that too.

At the same time, I also recently got something super exciting!!!! Yeah…. Um, I was lucky enough to get a personally signed book, and eek, it means so much to me!!! I did not expect the author to do that but eeek!!! I LOVE IT!!! And the story is absolutely beautiful!!!! And it’s hardcover! I think hardcovers last longer, according to some people, so hurray!!!! That was really exciting. I dove headfirst into my re-read of that book and it’s still as beautiful of a story as ever!!!

And I was also recently interviewed!!! Which is absolutely crazy since…. Well, normally I do author interviews with other authors! I interview them. It’s never been the other way around. Till now!!!! Eeek!!! Yeah, so one of my very best friends, Journey Bloomfield who is a YA fantasy author, interviewed me on her blog, which you can now check out here!!! She asked me about my writing process, how I got the idea for the Enchantria series, and why I decided to go with independent publishing, not traditional publishing! So if you guys are interested in that, go check out that interview!

But yeah! I think this probably wraps up this blog post!! Thank you guys so much for coming and please please please do attend the virtual author event!!! As I’ve said, it’s not posted yet, but you can keep an eye out on my channel if you’re interested! And of course, you’ll need the link to my channel – https://www.youtube.com/@isabelleknightbooks

🙂 Have a wonderful day!!!!

Isabelle