My daughter, Robin, has now established me on Twitter. If you’re interested in trailing me around and listening to me chirp, feel free to join me at http://twitter.com/duncanauthor.
 

A message board is provided to readers for sending me their questions and comments. Click here to view the message board. Click here to enter your comment onto the message board. When possible, Lois will respond.

Welcome!

It's springtime!  At least, that's what the calendar tells me.  As I'm typing this now, it's  cold -- what a winter we've had! -- but by the time you read this post I bet I'll be sitting at my computer wearing a T-shirt and shorts with the ceiling fan on.

This past year was exciting, with the release of the movie, HOTEL FOR DOGS, (I actually got to go to Hollywood and be an extra in a film based on one of my own stories!) and the sequel, NEWS FOR DOGS, being published by Scholastic this past spring.  The third book in the trilogy, MOVIE FOR DOGS, will be published this coming summer, and in my opinion it's the best of the three.  Andi and Bruce film a video with their dogs as actors, enter it in a national contest, and make it to the finals.  They and their dogs go to Hollywood, and one of their chief competitors is a dog who's been trained to talk!

Other major events of this past year that will stay in my memory forever:

STRANGER WITH MY FACE was filmed as a made-for-TV movie and aired on the Lifetime Movie Channel.  Undoubtedly there will be re-runs, so if you missed this the first time, keep your eyes out for it.

And, this past April, the Catholic Library Association honored me with the Katharine Drexel Award "to recognize an outstanding contribution by an individual to the growth of high school and young adult librarianship and literature.” 

A lot of excitement for 2009!

But now we're into 2010, and much work lies ahead for me as I revise my older suspense novels for new release by their original publisher, Little Brown, who now have started their own paperback line.   These revisions won't change the stories in any way, but they'll bring them into the 21st Century.  Some of those books were written as long ago as the 1960s!  Amazingly, the stories have held strong and remained popular throughout all these years, but now that they're going to be repackaged, it's time to step in and give my characters cell phones and computers and digital cameras.  On the subject of entering a era, there's now a "Lois Duncan Fan Club" on Facebook.  I hope you will join it and start posting comments and questions.  (I respond to questions there, just as I do on the message board here.)

2010 also holds possibilities of new movies, as the film rights to LOCKED IN TIME and DOWN A DARK HALL have been optioned, and there is a strong possibility that WHO KILLED MY DAUGHTER?, (the true story of our family's on-going personal investigation of the murder of our teenage daughter, Kaitlyn Arquette), will be the pilot for a TV series.  I don't encourage anyone under the age of 12 -- and then only if you're mature for your age -- to read that book.  True stories are more horrifying than fiction, and this story of Kait's homicide is both shocking and complex.  Don't read it until you're ready for it.

On a happier subject – let’s wish away our winter clothes and prepare ourselves to enjoy a beautiful springtime.  One question that readers keep asking me – (I can’t imagine why they’d be interested) – is, “What is your favorite color?”  Just for the record, it’s yellow.  So I’m eagerly looking forward to my first glimpse of forsythia, daffodils, tulips, and even dandelions, which some people think of as weeds, but I think of as flowers.

And, if you want a special treat, go to my singer-songwriter granddaughter, Brittany Mahrer's, Web site at  http://www.myspace.com/brittanymahrer .  It's still under construction, but you can listen to a few of her original songs.  She's not much older than you are, and I think she's got a thriving career ahead of her!

Warm wishes –

Lois Duncan