April is Autism Awareness Month!

April is Autism Awareness Month!

April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day!

Thank you to Clipart-Library for the use of their free Autism clipart.

Autism and religious inclusion

Do you love someone who is on the autism spectrum? Are you an autistic? If so, we need your help!

My daughter is autistic. She is in graduate school, studying world religions. She is also a passionate advocate for inclusion for people with autism. She is bringing these two passions together in her graduate studies by researching how autistics experience religious environments and faith communities.

She has an anonymous survey where she is collecting data on how welcome autistics feel at churches, synagogues, temples, religious centers, mosques--wherever people gather to worship or express their spirituality. She will be attending a conference in Toronto in November and hopes to present her findings about:

• how autistics are included in religious environments
• how the sensitivities and traits of autistics can affect their religious experiences
• what steps religious environments and faith communities can take to become more inclusive and welcoming

If you have experiences (past or present) that you would like to include her research, please consider sharing your thoughts in the anonymous surveys below. She will protect personally identifiable information (PII). Her presentation(s) will provide education about autism, summarized information from her research, and recommendations for being more inclusive. If you fill out the survey, share what you feel comfortable saying; you are not asked for your name.


If you are autistic, please fill out the For Autistic Individuals survey.

If you have a loved one with autism, please fill out the For Families, Friends, Associates survey.


Thank you!

It's World Autism Awareness Day!

My fellow author & autism mom Sabrina Jeffries and I are talking on Facebook about how autism has touched our lives.

Read the post, watch the video, and a comment. Each comment gives you a chance at one of 3 prizes. Also, we're donating $10 for every 50 comments. Drop by and tell us "How has autism touched your life?"

April is Autism Awareness Month

April 2 (Monday) is World Autism Awareness day, and April is Autism Awareness Month.

I'm an autism mom, the mother of an amazing daughter with Aspergers. Along with Sabrina Jeffries, a fellow author and autism mom, I will be hosting a conversation about autism on my Facebook page on World Autism Day. Join us Monday! Read the post, watch the short video clip, and leave a comment about how autism has touched your life.

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I will also be participating in the spring 2018 YA Scavenger Hunt from April 3 - 8. I'm one of 20 authors on Team Purple. Check back here on April 3 for rules, exclusive bonus content from some of your favorite authors, and the chance to win books!

Happy birthday to FADE TO US!

Fade to Us is out there!

From the reviews:

“Warm and sensitive, Day’s deft depiction of difficult sibling and blended family relationships will make you laugh, cry, and sigh. A wonderful book!" --New York Timesbestselling author Sabrina Jeffries

"Day (The Possibility of Somewhere) weaves a quiet tale of love, friendship, sisterhood, and family; she takes time to carefully develop her characters, allowing readers to fully understand their perspectives…. an emotional and touching conclusion." --Publishers Weekly

"In her carefully intentional treatment of Natalie’s neurodiversity, Day depicts Natalie as capable and intelligent via both Brooke’s observant first-person narration and her own dialogue. The book does not shy away from the cruelty and misunderstanding that many on the autism spectrum face. Both Natalie and Brooke are strong, well-developed female characters. A book for readers who like romance that flourishes against the odds and characters who learn and grow." --Kirkus

"A fast-paced and engaging story of family drama and first love." --School Library Journal

Julia Day's Fade to Us is a story about found families, the bond of sisterhood, and the agony and awe of first love.

Brooke's summer is going to be EPIC― having fun with her friends and a job that lets her buy a car. Then her new stepfather announces his daughter is moving in. Brooke has always longed for a sibling, so she’s excited about spending more time with her stepsister. But she worries, too. Natalie has Asperger’s--and Brooke's not sure how to be the big sister that Natalie needs.

After Natalie joins a musical theater program, Brooke sacrifices her job to volunteer for the backstage crew. She’s mostly there for Natalie, but Brooke soon discovers how much she enjoys being part of the show. Especially sweet is the chance to work closely with charming and fascinating Micah--the production’s stage manager. If only he wasn't Natalie's mentor...

When her summer comes to an end, will Brooke finally have the family she so desperately wants--and the love she's only dreamed about?

Buy links:

Amazon

B&N

iBooks

Kobo

Giveaway to celebrate release of FADE TO US

We're counting down 2 weeks until FADE TO US releases on Feb 6!


To celebrate, I'm giving away prizes.

• 1 grand prize (US only) of a print copy of FADE TO US, a print copy of SAY YOU'LL REMEMBER ME by Katie McGarry, a key ring with charms of important themes in FADE TO US (autism, sisterhood, theater), $25 gift card to Amazon or B&N, and a swag package.
• 2 second-prizes of a print copy of FADE TO US, a print copy of SAY YOU'LL REMEMBER ME by Katie McGarry, and a swag package
• 2 third-prizes of swag packages

Here's more about Fade to Us, a story about found families, the bond of sisterhood, and the agony and awe of first love.

Brooke’s summer is going to be EPIC— having fun with her friends and a job that lets her buy a car. Then her new stepfather announces his daughter is moving in. Brooke has always longed for a sibling, so she’s excited about spending more time with her stepsister. But she worries, too. Natalie has Asperger’s–and Brooke’s not sure how to be the big sister that Natalie needs.

After Natalie joins a musical theater program, Brooke sacrifices her job to volunteer for the backstage crew. She’s mostly there for Natalie, but Brooke soon discovers how much she enjoys being part of the show. Especially sweet is the chance to work closely with charming and fascinating Micah–the production’s stage manager. If only he wasn’t Natalie’s mentor…

When summer comes to an end, will Brooke finally have the family she so desperately wants–and the love she’s only dreamed about?


Buy links:
Amazon    B&N   iBooks   GooglePlay   Kobo




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Always there - research

I love the research for books so much that I sometimes forget to stop researching and start writing the story.

The goal, of course, is to write my stories to be as authentic as possible. For historical books, I visit locations, try recipes, check out period details (like fashion, transportation, food, technology) on the Internet, and interview people who may have lived during the time period.

For contemporary stories, I often write about issues, technology, or places in which I have experience. Sometimes, though, my experiences aren't enough to write a complete, interesting, satisfying story. In those cases, I research and research and research...

If you're a writer, here are a few tips for researching books, whether historical or contemporary.

• Interview your family and friends: Everyone you know is an expert on something--and often their interests and skills will surprise you. So ask--and prepare to be amazed. Make mental notes about their love of horseback-riding or their fascination with astronomy. You will use it one day!
• Visit museums, historical sites, etc.: Many docents know everything about a topic, and they want to answer your questions. So visit museums or historical sites and engage in conversation with the docents, staff, park rangers, etc. They love eager and interested visitors.
• Watch YouTube: Let's face it. YouTube has a video for everything. If you don't know how something works, you'll find a how-to video on YouTube.
• Browse Wikipedia: Yeah, I know. You can't always rely on wikipedia to give you purely factual, accurate information. But, it can supply a good, general overview--and the references linked at the end of each article are priceless.
• Go!: if you have access to locations or venues that will be featured in your book, go and experience it firsthand. Use local parks as book settings. Take in a ballgame. Sign up for lessons in cooking, dancing, sports, etc. 

Let me show how I applied some of these suggestions to my books.

The Whisper Falls series: It's entirely possible that I have visited every colonial museum or historical site in North Carolina and Virginia. The docents/guides at Mount Vernon, Tryon Palace, Yates Mill, and Williamsburg are amazing. I learned incredible nuggets of information that enriched my stories.

As a time-travel, the Whisper Falls series also required contemporary research. I've watched YouTube videos about mountain bike racing, chatted with my Physical Therapist about how to break noses, and asked my cousin-in-law (who, coincidentally, is the registrar of deeds in a nearby county) to explain how to fake a birth certificate.

The I WISH series: In the first book, the issues were mainly depression and poverty--which I have first-hand experience with. But I also had a biracial character, which required interviews with a biracial friend. The second and third books deal with grief, terminal illness, and disability. Again, I interviewed people with knowledge of brain injuries and caregivers of cancer patients. Their candor was invaluable. For small details--like ballroom dancing or building stacked stone walls--I used YouTube. Lastly, I needed one of the main characters to have an interesting hobby, and the young man ended up with my husband's passion--astronomy.

The Possibility of Somewhere: The heroine, Eden, is dealing with poverty and the difficulties of getting college scholarships when you can't afford the extra-curricular activities that make your resume shiny. Since those issues are somewhat autobiographical, I knew how she felt. But the details had changed since I was in high school. So I read blogs, content on social media, and Quora questions. The hero, Ash, is the son of Asian-Indian immigrants. Because I work at a global company, I had several Indian colleagues who were willing to answer my questions about what life would be like for Ash.

Fade To Us: This book (which releases in February 2018) may have been the most interesting to research because of the variety of disparate threads that are woven through.

• Biracial stage manager: The hero is half-Chinese and half-white. I interviewed a Chinese friend and her biracial sons to understand the character of Micah. He's the stage manager for theater productions. Happily, my daughter has a friend who is a professional stage manager. (And, yes, Daniel, you will see some of your quotes in the book :)
• Baseball umpires: The heroine's mom is a lady umpire; that was fun to research! I attended a baseball game with a professional umpire, who called them for me and gave me insider details. In addition to introducing me to a lady umpire, he beta-read the baseball sections of the book.
• Summer musical theater program: A local high school allowed me to sit in on their musical theater rehearsals, both during the school year and during the summer. Since the musical featured in the book is Oklahoma!, I was able to observe the rehearsals of a local community theater's production of Oklahoma!.
• Autism: The third main character, Natalie, is on the autism spectrum. I have a child with Asperger's Syndrome, so I've "lived" the research for over 20 years. But I still read books and blogs, chatted with autism parents, and leaned on the many observations I've made with my daughter and her friends on the spectrum. Natalie is--of course--her own unique person; she is not a re-creation of anyone I know.

I hope that some of these suggestions spark ideas for how you can make your research process fun and effective!

And the winner of the Name the Town contest is...

A quick update to my Name the Town Contest. There were many great entries, but the winner of Brooke's fictional hometown is...

Azalea Springs!

The judges felt like this name captured Fade To Us, with its cheerful, Southern small town feeling. Thanks (and prizes) go to Marcia A. for suggesting it!

I'd also like to include the official jacket copy (aka "blurb") for the book. It's been an interesting process trying to get the description of this book just right. We want to make the book sound intriguing without giving too much away.  So here it is:

Fade To Us is a story about found families, the bond of sisterhood, and the agony and awe of first love.

Brooke’s summer is going to be EPIC--having fun with her friends and a job that lets her buy a car. Then her new stepfather announces his daughter is moving in. Brooke has always longed for a sibling, so she’s excited about spending more time with her stepsister. But she worries, too. Natalie has Asperger’s--and Brooke’s not sure how to be the big sister that Natalie needs.

After Natalie joins a musical theater program, Brooke sacrifices her job to volunteer for the backstage crew. She’s mostly there for Natalie, but Brooke soon discovers how much she enjoys being part of the show. Especially sweet is the chance to work closely with charming and fascinating Micah--the production’s stage manager. If only he wasn’t Natalie’s mentor…

When summer comes to an end, will Brooke finally have the family she so desperately wants–and the love she’s only dreamed about?


So...that's it for now. We should have Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) in the next month or two. As opportunities become available for ARC giveaways, I'll post here.

Always there - diversity

When authors write YA novels, there are many aspects that we're all trying to achieve: a well-written story with a good plot and interesting settings.

For me, the most important aspect is to have realistic characters who struggle with relatable problems. Including diverse characters simply reflects the people I meet in my daily life or the lives of my family.

I have a day job at a software company. We're located in the middle of a region with many universities and technical companies. People come here from all over the globe to get college degrees--and they stay to work. When my daughters were in their teens, they attended urban magnet schools with diverse student bodies. They're now in their 20s, with diverse colleagues or university classmates.

Ethnic, cultural, economic, religious, gender, and physical diversity has always been around me. The characters in my books grow out of the world I live in. Sometimes, I make it clear that a character is biracial or Hindu or experiences life differently. And sometimes, the diversity is just there without being explicitly called out.

With contemporary characters, I start by researching them through books, films, websites, and blog posts. I ask questions either online or through interviews. I've also begun to seek sensitivity readers--people who are intimately familiar with the differences I'm writing about.

Whisper Falls series: For people in the 18th century (and throughout history), physical disabilities were devastating, especially for women. In A Whisper in Time, Susanna's sister Phoebe sustains a serious hand injury that will threaten her livelihood. In Whispers from the Past, Susanna's dearest friend Dorcas may never be able to attract a husband because she is "crippled".

I Wish series: I interviewed a biracial friend who helped me to create the backstory for Eli--who has a black mother and white father. In book 2, Kimberley's memory disability is a major conflict. We did extensive research of people with memory disabilities--and received a sensitivity read of Wishing for You from a nurse who cared for patients with brain injuries.

The Possibility of Somewhere - Ash Gupta is the son of wealthy Asian Indian immigrants. I was fortunate that Indian colleagues and friends were generous with their patience and time to answer my questions about what Ash's life might have been like.

 Fade to Us - My next book, Fade to Us, releases in February 2018 (writing as Julia Day). This story is set during a summer musical theater program for teens, with a Chinese director and her biracial son (Chinese and white). A Chinese friend and her two biracial teen sons helped me with these two characters. Another Chinese friend gave a sensitivity read. However, the biggest role that diversity plays in this book comes from the heroine's new stepsister. Natalie is a 15-year-old on the autism spectrum. My daughter, who also has Asperger's Syndrome, helped with Natalie's character development and speech. My daughter is the sensitivity reader for this book.

It's my hope to portray a character's diversity as authentically and respectfully as possible. But truly, a character's personality comes from their background, faith, family, education, life experiences--and their differences. All must work together to form a complete, interesting, sympathetic character.