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Surprise! The Crystal Chronicles and The Lost Temple is finally here everyone! And it's just in time for your cozy fall read! I truly believe we are here for a purpose and I have always known mine is to write. I am so blessed to have the outlet and the endless support to make this happen.

Thank you to the 100, 000 + readers around the world for making The Crystal Chronicles Book 1 an international success. The sequel, The Lost Temple, is made with love and made for YOU.

Purchasing:
Please try and come out to my book launch if you are in the Greater Toronto Area. The information is on the poster above. I will be at the Bathurst Clark Library on November 10th and the Civic Centre Resource Library on November 16th. All books purchased at the event will be autographed. Come out for some free candy, fun, and lots of books! Books are $20 each or two for $35. 

Other options:
If you can't make it to my book launch, not to worry. Contact me and I will try and get you a physical copy another way.
You can also visit my bookstore to purchase The Lost Temple as an eBook or as a physical copy through another outlet. It is linked here:
www.alessiadickson.ca/bookstore.html

Thank you for all the support and love. I am grateful for you all, always. I hope you love The Lost Temple as much as I do! I am SO excited to finally share it with you all. 

xoxo,

Alessia 
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Hi everyone!! I am soooo excited to announce that after years of patiently waiting The Crystal Chronicles and The Lost Temple is finally here! 

The Lost Temple is coming out November 1st. In honour of the book launching I am holding 2 book launches in the Vaughan area where you can come hang out with me and get your autographed copy of The Lost Temple for $20.00

I will be at:

Sunday November 10th 2019 - Bathurst Resource Library 10 AM to 3 PM

Saturday November 16th 2019 - Civic Centre Resource Library 10 AM to 3 PM

If you can't get to these two libraries, not to worry, more library locations will be added soon all over the GTA and Toronto area.

Preorder below and pick it up on November 10th or 16th! 

*Please note that preordering just means I will put aside a copy for you in case I sell out! Payment will be handled on the pick up date! :) 

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a great summer! 

But let's cut to my long awaited cover reveal for The Lost Temple! I am absolutely obsessed with it! For anyone wondering, the cover features main character Zack Travie, in the Amazon rainforest, which is the setting of the second book (if you haven't finished the 1st book yet ;) ). The cover was commissioned on Fiver by user GermanCreative. She is absolutely amazing and does great work!

As for the The Lost Temple's release date, it is scheduled for release on October 22nd 2019. Sorry for the delay guys :( But the wait is almost over! And trust me, this book is going to be so worth the wait.

Tell me what you think in the comments!

xoxo

​Alessia 

This past September I had the pleasure to visit Pierre Berton Resource Library in Vaughan for an author visit with Eric Walters to promote Teen Read Week! It is so important to promote teen reading and I was honoured to be a part of the event! A big thank you to the team at Pierre Berton, the students of Emily Carr Secondary School for listening, and to Eric Walters!

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be at Toronto's annual Word on the Street festival on Sunday September 23rd at the Harbourfront Centre! Admission to the event is totally free and it is a great place to bring your family and spend the afternoon outside in the last warm summer weather!

It is also Toronto's biggest book and magazine festival and SO many talented people will be there! Come chat and hangout with me on Kidstreet! I will be in booth 4A! I will be selling personalized copies of my novel The Crystal Chronicles! Can't wait to see you all there! ❤️
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Hi everyone! I just wanted to come on here and make a blog post about my second book and why it is taking so long because I know a lot of you out there have been asking about it.

So the first half of this post will be an announcement about my second book and when it will be released. The second half will be an explanation about why it is taking so long and whats happening in my life. Feel free to stop reading at any point, some people don't care for information about my personal life and thats totally okay! 

Alright, so my second book. Yes, it was originally supposed to be released in the spring of 2017. Unfortunately, that did not happen due to reasons I will get into below. But the second book is finished now and I'm currently in the process of editing it. After that, I will get into the real publishing process of designing the cover and putting it into a book form. Publishing, sadly, is a very LONG process that I wish I could speed up. But I can't, because it sacrifices the quality of the book.

But, I am trying to edit as quickly as possible and start working with my designers. I do not have a set release date yet because it is too far in advance but the second book realistically should be out in the spring of 2019. As soon as I get an exact date from my team I will post it everywhere I possibly can and make sure you guys know about it. I am so incredibly grateful all of you are excited for my second book and keep asking about it because it motivates me to edit faster, and get the book released. So thank you for remembering, loving, and asking about TCC, it has saved me and comforted in more ways than I can possibly express. I am in love with my second book and I'm so excited for everyone to read it and to follow Alyssa, Amber, Zack, and Haven as they travel to Brazil!

Alright, here is where I will get into some information about my personal life so if thats not your cup of tea, feel free to just stop right here. 

I've never really spoken publicly about this before, not even during my motivational presentations. But the truth is, I actually struggle with debilitating chronic pain because of a chronic migraine disorder. I've had this disorder since I was ten years old and I would get a lot of migraines from it, about three to four a week. 

The year my first book came out in 2016, was the best and worst year of my life. My book came out obviously, which was amazing, but I had a REALLY bad pain flare up that year. It was insane. I had a migraine for eight months straight, twenty four hours a day, every single day. It was like some awful nightmare I was trapped in. I couldn't get rid of the migraine, no matter what I did. I missed most of the school year because of it and was bed ridden a lot of the time. This impacted my writing obviously. I started my second book and had plans to finish it quickly and to publish it, but it was just not possible. It was extremely difficult to write when in pain all the time, and as a result, my progress on my second book was slow. 

Things slowly got better as I visited more doctors and learned more about the disorder, but I was still in a lot of pain for most of the days in a week. Truthfully, my mental health suffered a lot because of it. I developed pretty bad depression and anxiety and it suddenly became an effort to even leave my house. Everything, no matter how small, mentally and physically exhausted me. I withdrew from my friends and social life, and kept to myself a lot. The only thing that I looked forward to was writing which I continued doing on the days where my pain was tolerable. 

Because of this condition, I was put on a lot of heavy medication to treat it which caused a lot of side effects. One of them was extreme exhaustion and I remember the many nights where I would fall asleep at nine pm. Before the medication, I would stay up until 1 am writing, and as any writer knows, sometimes the best writing comes to you in the night where the world is asleep and you are awake. Ideas just seem to flow from you like a fountain at night. But the medication made me extremely confused and I didn't feel like myself. I didn't know if I could ever finish a book with the way my life was going. 

But in my darkest moments I remembered my fans and the people who support me and I always clung to that as a sign of hope. So I continued to write a little when I could, and eventually my second book started to come together. Over time I was able to get my migraines under control to the point where I could have a normal life again. I almost forgot what normal felt like. I remember waking up in the morning and immediately wishing for it to be night time again so I could sleep away the physical pain and my emotional pain. But writing truly did save my life and it was one of the only things combatting my depression. It gave me a purpose to keep fighting. 

I finished my second book eventually in May of 2018 after my first year of university. As anyone who is in university knows, life gets freaking busy. I was a first year english student and I was buried in essays, readings, migraines, depression, and novel work. It was a LOT of writing, to say the very least. But I found that writing my book was really fun and I was never sick of doing it, even when I had to write fifty essays for my english classes, aka, How Well Can You BS An Essay on Shakespeare 101. 

So that is kind of a summary of where I've been and whats been happening in my life. My second book is set to be published and will be out very soon and I am SO excited guys. I love this book even more than my first. It's like my child. I feel like I gave birth to my second child. 

But on a serious note, the moral of this story is that you should never let anything like a disability or a mental illness stop you from reaching your goals. Yes, at times you're going to feel like shit and you're going to cry and binge watch Netflix while eating ice cream. And that is okay, because things will ALWAYS get better. Even if it doesn't feel like it, there is always a rainbow at the end of a storm, no matter how long that storm lasts. My storm is still ongoing. I mean, it isn't metaphorically pouring and hailing on me anymore, it's lightly drizzling, like on a spring day in the middle of April. I still have issues with mental health and migraines but life is looking up for me. I love my school, I love where I live, I love my friends, I love my book, my fans, and my job. There is always a silver lining in any situation. Today for example, I had a terrible migraine and laid in bed for four hours but eventually it passed and I picked myself up out of my bed and now I'm sitting here writing this blog post. Just having this platform to express myself is a silver lining to my day. 

For anyone out there struggling with a disability of any kind or a mental illness, do not be afraid to reach out for help. I am here for you and you are loved by so many people in your own life who would want to help you. Having a disability does not change who you are as a person or your worth. Having a disability does not make you broken, which is what society sadly leads us to believe. Having a disability makes you strong and gives you the capacity to love and appreciate every single day. We take nothing for granted. We laugh because we have felt extreme pain and we love because life is short and unpredictable and a single moment should never be wasted. So, if you are dealing with something in your personal life, I believe in you, I am thinking of you, and you are strong enough to carry on and to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. Chin up, because life is a rollercoaster and theres crazy loopholes and twists at every turn. Life is exciting and beautiful and we are all here for a reason. Embrace yourself as you are, be kind to yourself, and love yourself for who you are, not who you want to be or who you think you should be. 

I love you guys and thank you for loving my book series as well as the person behind those words. I would not want to be doing anything else with my life. Again, I am so grateful for your support and kindness and it really has saved my life. 

Thank you for reading this. I hope that  what I've shared here has helped some of you, or even one of you. 

Much love, 

​Alessia 

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another blog post.

Here is a playlist for all the Zyssa shippers out there. Let me know what you think in the comments! Happy holidays everyone!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbcCG7PkI18&list=PLiCD_8_VdyI_5lFEKbD-vTsRKtS-O_Gw_

xoxo 

Alessia

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another blog post. 

I've decided to start creating playlists that remind me of different character relationships in TCC. I've decided to do a Haven x Alyssa playlist first as it is the most popular ship in the fandom! However, I will be adding more playlists for other characters (the next one will be a Zack & Alyssa then Alyssa & Amber playlist). If you are a Haven x Alyssa fan I hope you enjoy the feels this playlist will give you!! If you have a song suggestion to be added to this list, please leave it in the comments, DM me or head on over to my contact me page. Also if you have any ideas for a ship name let me know in the comments.

​www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiCD_8_VdyI_24uBo1CN-RyiWNG2Nooqm

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Hello everyone! 

Welcome back to another blog post. Today I was cleaning out some of my old stuff and I came across my books and poems from many years ago! So, I thought it's time to share my unique story of how exactly I became a writer! And I guess it's time to tackle the age old question: does fate exist??

So I guess we can start literally on the day I was born. April 23rd 1999. A few years ago I learned April 23'rd is World Book Day and is the birthdate, and death date of many famous writers such as William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Cervantes, Inca Garcilaso De La Vega, Maurice Druon, Haldor K. Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo. Let's just talk about that massive list for a moment. Are you freaking kidding me??? On all the days I could be born April 23'rd just happened to be the day? And it just so happens to be World Book Day?  And eerily, many famous writers share this date for either their death date or birthdate? Ironic right? Ummm... thanks for keeping with the  tradition mother.

I started writing the moment I could hold a pencil and string together literate sentences. I started writing novels and poetry at age 6. By the time I was 9 years old I had written dozens of poems, short stories, and a novella series Sarah the Detective which consists of 50 books! During this time I won multiple poetry and short story contests and spend my days writing or thinking about writing. There wasn't much else to me. I was bored to death by anything that wasn't books or writing. What can I say, I was a strange child. But by age 10, which was when I was in fifth grade, I started writing my YA book series, The Crystal Chronicles.

As you can probably tell from reading that, I literally cannot remember a time where I didn't want to be a writer. Being a writer wasn't just something I wanted to do, it was something I had to do. It was like this knowledge that was innately stored within me from the very moment I entered this world. 

Many people do not believe me when I tell them, but I wrote the bulk of The Crystal Chronicles in sixth grade. The first draft of the book ended up being a whooping 500 pages! That is so freaking long, sometimes I don't even know how little and awkward 12 year old me, managed to write so much! So in the years following in grades 7, 8, 9, and 10, I edited and rewrote and edited and rewrote some more. Talk about a good use of time. And by the time I was fifteen I was ready to publish. So I decided to take the dive and just do it. I had come so far anyway and I wasn't going to stop at the very end. 

It took me a year and half to publish the book with my publishing company, Friesen Press. The book was released in February of 2016 when I was only 16 years old. I was in 11th grade. I'm now in 12th grade and currently writing the second book in my 5 part series. Since publication I've appeared on CBC television, have held book signings in Chapters Indigo, and have appeared in two newspaper articles, The Vaughan Citizen and CBC news. 

A month after my book came out I started touring local elementary and high schools to speak to students from grades 4-12 about the importance of literacy as well as urging students to reach their own aspirations. I am completely dedicated to changing the world one school at a time, and I work tirelessly to ensure students realize their own potential and capabilities. 

To date I've spoken at 43 schools in York Region and I'm scheduled to visit many more in the upcoming months. I'm also expected to appear in many other exciting television programs, media, festivals, and writing workshops in the upcoming year. As of right now, I  spend my time touring schools and working on my second book which will be released in the winter 0f 2018 as well as working towards my Ontario High School Diploma. 

If you told my ten year old self I would one day become a motivational speaker/author I would've laughed in your face. But once I started giving speeches to kids I felt like I'd found my purpose in life. To write books and to inspire kids to do great things. It is an incredibly rewarding job and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. 

If you asked me if writers were born or made I wouldn't be able to tell you. Part of me is scientific and believes no one is born anything, and we choose what we become. But another wistful part of me believes I was fated to become an author and speaker to become a symbol of inspiration to other kids. So do I believe in fate? I would have to say no, but many strange events have occurred in my life to lead me to not dismiss the idea completely.

But bottom line: you write the story of your life. You control where each chapter will go. You choose the direction and the people in your life. You control everything. So just do something you love and write your life as a story you would want to read. 

Thanks for reading everyone. I feel like my life is one crazy rollercoaster and I'm having the time of my life riding it.

Below are some pictures of my earliest written works such as my poems, novellas, and short stories. I plan to publish most of it one day because it was written between the ages of 6-9 and therefore, appeals to children at those ages. The Crystal Chronicles is for ages 10 and up so it would be really nice to have books for all ages.

For now they are just pictures though. Enjoy!