Princess Party! - Barbara Jean Hicks

from the life and times of
children's author and educator
Barbara Jean Hicks

What does a girl do to celebrate the launch of a book about Disney princesses?

Throw a Princess Party, of course! A martini bar might not seem like the perfect choice to launch a children's book, but since I have more kid-friendly party plans for closer to the time the Disney movie FROZEN comes out Thanksgiving weekend, I thought a grown-up version with writer friends at one of my favorite haunts in Bellingham, Washington, Fireside Martini and Wine Bar, would be just the ticket to celebrate the launch of A SISTER MORE LIKE ME.

Neither of my real-life sisters could make it, but some of my writer-sisters joined me for a fun-filled Happy Hour (well, four hours...). That's Lois Harris of famous-artist-biography-picture-book fame on the left and Judy Enderle, author of over fifty children's books and partner in Writers Ink, a Critique-by-Mail service, on the right.

An autographed copy of A SISTER MORE LIKE ME went home with my writing buddy Rebecca Van Slyke for "Best Princess Presence" (check out the glitzy pink cowboy hat). Rebecca sold four (count 'em--FOUR!) manuscripts in one week last Spring for books coming out in 2015 and 2016.

I miss my writer pals in the Central Coast SCBWI chapter, but I've found some pretty awesome Bluejean Princess writer friends here in Northwest Washington too. In general--children's writers are just the Best of the Best. Raise a glass to all of us!