| April began with its tired cliche—April showers bring May flowers (sigh). It’s damp, wet and incredibly windy here on the south shore of Long Island. Husband Matt is timing ideal lawn and garden chores around the weather reports. While he writes his lists and expounds on the unreliability of weather forecasts, I’ll catch you up on my writerly news. Stretching My Comfort Zones I am trying to do new things. I enrolled in an adult-ed watercolors class—a big stretch considering I have little to no drawing or painting skills. I’m a little dismayed that I can’t stroke the brush just so to create pretty petals and shadows. However, I enjoy the Thursday night out, the friendly company, and am fascinated by how colors bleed and blend into each other. Another stretch was presenting at the 2025 Women in Publishing Summit. The challenge included creating a slide presentation and talking about how to write age-appropriate children’s books without rambling. I fretted over the accuracy of the content, my pace, the spelling on the slides, the lighting during the Zoom session, my hair, and if I can answer questions succinctly and accurately. As you can imagine, it’s been a while since I stood in front of professional colleagues. Happily, all went well. The internet cooperated, as did my hair and voice. Rehearsals helped, as did kind friends who coached me through the details. The whole summit was an incredible success. I am pretty proud that I was part of it. One activity I do not fret over is presenting school author programs to children and teachers. I’ve had several There’s an Author in Our School! dates. Presenting the magic of books and writing to children and their teachers brings me joy. One more new endeavor to report. I joined Substack, a social media platform for writers and other creatives. I hope to connect with fellow writers, practice craft, and work on my latest project—a historical fiction novella series. You can follow along at https://storiesserved.substack.com/ Attention Teachers, Home School Educators and Librarians There are several open dates for There’s an Author in Our School! programs, Browse the programs on my website: https://tinyurl.com/2jd587hp . Email me for further information. atmartin@stories-served.com I am also updating Stories Served Curriculum Connections on Teachers Pay Teachers. Stay tuned for the new Journal On! Grand Prompts to Ask Your Grands and Famous Seaweed Soup activities. Big News Famous Seaweed Soup turns Two-Years-Old on May 9th!! A birthday celebration is in the planning stages. I will post reels, happy highlights, and activities. Stay tuned for the birthday contest—a 30-book Famous Seaweed Soup give-away. Details coming soon. Meet me at Neighborhood Spring Festivals April 6 Olish Farms Spring Event 75 Eastport Manor Rd Eastport NY 11941 April 12 Smithtown Historical Society Easter & Spring Festival 12-4 pm 239 East Main Street Smithtown, NY 11787 Keep an eye out for more updates and announcements. |
 That’s it, for now. Great BIG Thanks to Natalie the Explorer for keeping the Weekend Coffee Share percolating. |
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Stories Served Served Around The Table 
Hi, Antoinette – Thank you for the update. I appreciate keeping in touch. We’ve had a very wet spring here as well. Congratulations on your writing and curriculum projects as well as putting yourself out of your comfort zone. Well done! ❤
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