Authors! Jelly Beans! Excitement!

Have you ever eaten Jelly Bellies? You know, those fancy, expensive jelly beans? If you haven’t, you’re missing out on a truly life-changing experience. The interesting thing about Jelly Bellies is the wide variety of flavors: there are hundreds and hundreds of jelly bellies of different colors and flavors, and you never know what one will taste like until you pop it into you mouth.

What’s that white-and-yellow one taste like? Popcorn? Sweet! What’s the orange-y tan one taste like? Root beer? Awesome! Is there one that tastes like tacos? There is? Hooray!

The black ones still taste like buffalo turds, though.

Over the last week or so, I’ve noticed that the more writers you speak to, the more proverbial jelly bellies you find. There are a ton of authors on the web writing a pretty varied smorgasbord of books; all their books are different, but most of them are oh-so-tasty.

Last Saturday, I met Curt Fulster, the man behind C. Fulsty books. He starting writing simply because he wanted to get kids interested in reading, and has written works like The Little Cloud and Blake and the Turtles. Curt writes children’s books with encouraging messages that’ll make kids dive into reading like a hungry poodle into a jello mold.

Another fantastic discovery was Brenda Hughes Anderson. Not only does Brenda write children’s books in the The Farmer’s Wife series, which features a variety of farm animals, she also reviews children’s books on brendaskidsbooks.com. Brenda’s website is a great way to find books for your kids. Or yourself. Or your ostrich, if he’s into kids’ books.

I’ve also met Michelle Dennise, a children’s book author who’s written a lot of ebooks. Right now, Michelle is preparing for the release of her first paperback, Where’s My Sandwich?. This book is a bit of a mystery because, even though it’s ready to be released, no one’s seen the cover yet. Michelle’s keeping that a secret for now.

On May 6 from 6-9pm Central Standard Time (5-8 Mountain Time, if you live in my neck of the woods), Michelle will be holding a cover reveal party on this Facebook page. Stop by to see the cover and congratulate Michelle!

All three of these folks have given me invaluable advice. As I continue selling my wares to any interested readers, I hope I’ll keep meeting other writers, more jelly beans to try. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I feel a sudden urge to gorge myself on some Easter candy. There’s a box of peeps calling my name.