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It's been great having comic artist Lucy Knisley staying here in London! Here we are, suddenly deciding to go to Oxford as part of Lucy's research for her graphic novel about Oscar Wilde.



Lucy has this great way of watercolouring on the move, using a brush with a water reservoir in it.




Lucy drew me! Here's the blue pencil version and the inked version:



And the final painted picture! It's a lovely sketchbook.



Here's a drawing I made at home of Lucy working. People drawing make good life models.



Whenever I'm in Oxford, I never know if I'll be able to get into the colleges. But we managed to get into Magdalen College, where Wilde studied. Beautiful buildings.



We caught sight of these Harry Potter Dementor cloaks through a doorway and snapped a couple photos.



But our first stop was the Pitt River Museum! I'd done an event there earlier, but not had much time to look around. So I jumped at the chance to come along. They have the nuttiest stuff there, I could spend my whole life drawing it. Here's my take on one of the shrunken heads, giving it a Nehru jacket. The head's tiny, but it looks like a couple people I've known.



It'd be so much fun to wear this porcupine fish hat.





This is so fabulous.



Keep an eye on Lucy's blog, Twitter (@LucyKnisley) and trip Facebook page for more update! Lucy's off to Dublin on the next leg of her trip, then Leeds Thought Bubble comics festival.

And speaking of Dublin, there's a new link to podcasts from the Mountains to Sea festival I took part in this September (original blog post here). You can listen to quite an involved talk about the business of making picture books, as well as another about writing with Michelle Harrison and Philip Reeve. Good stuff! Link here.

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It's time for another giveaway.

I'm offering Something Old

Book one - Plain City Bridesmaids series.

Leave your email in a comment.

Please don't forget to do this. With each giveaway, I sadly have to

eliminate someone because they've left no contact information.

Giveaway ends Thanksgiving Day.

And just for fun, a Thanksgiving Day Poem:

 

May your stuffing be tasty,

May your turkey plump,

May your potatoes and gravy

Have nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious

And your pies take the prize,

And may your Thanksgiving dinner

Stay off your thighs!

- Anonymous

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“NOW SEEDS, START GROWING!”
Frog came running up the path.
“What is all this noise?” he asked.
“My seeds will not grow,” said Toad.
“You are shouting too much,” said Frog. “These poor seeds are afraid to grow.”

“These poor seeds are afraid to grow.” Wait… seeds can be afraid to grow? I didn’t know that. I wonder if that is my problem. Are you talking to me too, Frog? Can stories be afraid to grow, too?

Maybe I am shouting too much: Now ideas, start GROWING—what will the critique buddies think? what will mr. agent, ms. editor think? what will bookstores, kirkus, random readers on goodreads think? what if I never, never have a good idea again? OMG! that really could happen! please, please, ideas—GROW, GROW, GROW!

Help—TOAD—I can’t stop the shouting! Where are you? What would YOU do?

Toad read a long story to his seeds.
All the next day Toad sang songs to his seeds.
And all the next day Toad read poems to his seeds.
And all the next day Toad played music for his seeds.
Then Toad felt very tired, and he fell asleep.

Oh! These all sound like easy things to do… thank you Toad, I will do them! I will read stories and poems and play music. And then maybe I will also look at art, and walk in the woods and stop on the footbridge to play Poohsticks. And then plant things, bake things, make things… make anything but books.

And then finally, I will lie on the couch and stare out the window, until… until there is no more shouting and it is quiet… except for some birds (what’s the gossip today, guys?), and a couple of squirrels (hey, what is the problem out there? stop bickering!), and my cat, Milo, snoring.

I will try all of these things because I have read, and read over many times again, FROG AND TOAD TOGETHER by Arnold Lobel, so I know that in “The Garden”—spoiler alert!!!—once Toad stops shouting, his seeds really do grow in the end. Hopefully, if I’m quiet and patient too, my ideas will stop being afraid to sprout, and if I have a good one—hooray!!—I will jot or sketch it down right away. And then, at last, I can reward myself by taking a lesson from the next chapter of Frog and Toad: “Cookies”.

Toad baked some cookies.
“These cookies smell very good,” said Toad.
He ate one.
“And they taste even better…”

Hey, did you have an idea today? Well then, have a cookie! And by the way, what do you do, to coax your ideas to grow?

Once-upon-a-time, Deborah Freedman was an architect, but now she prefers to build worlds in books. She is the author and illustrator of SCRIBBLE and BLUE CHICKEN, and THE STORY OF FISH AND SNAIL, to be published in June 2013, by Viking. Follow her adventures at Writes With Pictures or on Facebook and Twitter @DeborahFreedman.

And lucky you, it’s time to win something AGAIN! Deborah is giving away a signed copy of her book BLUE CHICKEN!

Just comment to be entered (one comment per person).

A winner will be randomly selected in one week.

Good luck! 

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LATEST NEWS

Artie’s poem Ceiling to the Stars was published in the November print edition of California Kids! To read the poem online, please click on the illustration below.

Artie’s children’s story The Hummingbird Who Chewed Bubblegum is being published in a book collection by the Oxford University Press in India. More to come.

Use of any of the content on this website without permission is prohibited by federal law

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Hooray… it’s finally time to vote, and luckily times have changed since pre-Revolutionary days when only white males who owned property could cast a ballot.   So let’s proudly get out there and go for it!  But does anyone think this was the dirtiest presidential campaign ever?  Are you tired of all the name calling?  Convinced that special interest groups have spent more money than ever before to spread lies and to buy your vote?  Think again….’twas ever thus.

 

As for name calling, that’s been going on ever since the U.S. of A. became a nation.  Thomas Jefferson secretly hired a Scottish scandal monger named James Callender to write scurrilous tales about John Adams, so Callender obligingly called Adams a repulsive, hideous, mentally deranged hermaphrodite who wanted to crown himself king.  (Later Callender got so mad at Jefferson that he printed the story of Jefferson’s affair with his slave, Sally Hemings.)  To carry on this interesting tradition, during the 1837 election, Davy Crockett accused Martin Van Buren of wearing women’s corsets, in 1861 Abraham Lincoln was accused of having stinky feet, and Teddy Roosevelt called William Howard Taft “a rat in the corner.”
 
During the 1880’s, presidential candidates and their backers were infamous for their dirty tricks.  In order to buy votes, Republicans sent a bunch of guys nicknamed “Soapy Sams” to grease the voters’ palms by passing out hundreds of thousands of dollars in two dollar bills.  In 1828, partisans of incumbent president John Quincy Adams and his challenger, Andrew Jackson, had lots of fun accusing the candidates of just about any false charge they could dream up.  Jackson had murdered 6 militiamen, they claimed! He suffered from an uncontrollable temper! And he committed adultery too!  Then they said John Quincy Adams was a pimp who procured an American woman for the Russian Czar.  And what's more, they accused him of using government money to buy a billiards table for the White House (oh, shameful game)!

A dirty presidential election in 1876 planted Rutherford B. Hayes in the White House under some highly questionable circumstances. The race was vicious from the start; Hayes’ opponent, “Honest Sam Tilden” was accused of making dishonest railroad deals and was mocked big-time because he never served in the Civil War. Samuel Tilden readily won the popular vote anyway, but due to some sneaky calculations and other shenanigans by the opposition, he came up one vote short of winning the electoral vote. Because Republicans controlled the US Senate and Democrats controlled the House, Congress set up an Electoral Commission that allowed seven Democrats and seven Republicans to decide the result.  But since the tie-breaking 15th member was a Republican Supreme Court Justice, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner. Thereafter he was jeeringly nicknamed "Rutherfraud" B. Hayes and "His Fraudulency."

More recently, Lyndon Johnson supposedly created a group of 16 pols called “The Five O’clock Club” to make his opponent, Barry Goldwater, look bad.  In a flash, they came up with an anti-Goldwater joke book called You Can Die Laughing and a coloring book that let kids color in a picture of Goldwater dressed like a member of the Ku Klux Klan. 
 
And then there’s the infamous political trickster named Dick Tuck.  Back in 1968 when Richard Nixon was running for president, Tuck paid a very pregnant black woman to roam around at a Nixon rally in a white neighborhood while wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with Nixon’s campaign slogan.  It said "Nixon's the One!"

I’m sorry to report that there’s plenty more where that came from, but may the cream rise to the top anyway.  See you later, my fellow Americans—I have to GO VOTE! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

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Advance copies arrived today. The cover is strikingly blue; I guess that's a good thing. Here are some photos to tease your toes (I made that up. I know, it's terrible). Sorry, can't read it until.... 2/12/13.

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By Rudy Ruettiger, with Mark Dagostino
Published by Thomas Nelson.

This one was all for the hubster! He loves the movie RUDY! Loves it! (I like it too, but that’s besides the point!) Brant gets goosebumps when he watches it. It’s one of those seriously inspiration, motivational, feel good sports movies for him!

And so, the book!

When I saw this book available for review from Booksneeze.com, I knew I had to get it for him. He liked it, I think. He’s already making a list of people he wants to loan it to. I’ll let him tell you what he thought about it!

~I was given a free review copy of this book from Booksneeze.com~

Description:

“The inspirational real-life story of the man behind the beloved movie Rudy, his continued determination to make his dreams come true, and how you can dream big too.

How does a lower middle class kid, who suffered through school with undiagnosed dyslexia, get into Notre Dame and become the inspiration for millions in a Hollywood film that has become one of the most inspiring sport movies ever made? He never gave up.”

And so, Brant’s opinion:

It was interesting to read about the real story of his life and see how it fit in with the way they made the movie.  I remember growing up and watching and being inspired to work hard and go for my dreams by watching his movie.

The down side of the book was the way that it seemed making the movie was the biggest thing he has done in his life.  I always pictured him as someone who would have been able to be very successful and do great things.  The book seemed like he really struggled through with silly odd jobs as he worked on the dream of having a movie made about his success.  I hoped to know of greater things for him.  Oh well, it’s never like the movies right?

I would recommend this book to people who love the movie (like have watched it more than 10 times).  For a sports junkie like me it holds tidbits that are interesting to know the real story.  Side note:  I work with a guy who played lineman for Notre Dame.  In passing he didn’t seem to fond of Rudy.  I still need to find out more from him.

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When I finally got my hands on How To Become Clairvoyant, I could hardly wait to take it home and play it. I had to hear what Robbie Robertson had created, and was convinced that anything Robbie Robertson did with Eric Clapton would be good. And it is. How To Become Clairvoyant is a guitar player’s collection of songs. The songs are: Straight Down the Line: Where Robertson’s New Orleans delta affinity shines through. The man who wrote The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down displays his reverence of the spiritual south, whether it’s black magic or Southern Baptist gospel in this song. Robert Randoph, included in Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Guitar Players, plays a fiery solo on the pedal steel to answer Robertson;’s electric guitar solo. When the Night Was Young: My personal favourite, it’s got one of those hooky choruses that keep popping up in your head long after you’ve heard it. We had dreams when the night was young. We were believers when the night was young, We could change the world, stop the war, Never seen nothing like this before, But that was back when the night was young Angela McClusky, a native Glaswegian transplanted to L.A., replaces Richard Manuel’s vocals with hers and harmonizes perfectly with Robertson on some of the verses and all of the choruses. He Don’t Live Here No More: A song about addiction with appropriate wild guitar sounds as Clapton plays a solo on the slide guitar and Robertson surprises the listener, who is expecting a roaring electric guitar, by playing a solo on a gut-string guitar which starts with fine Flamenco picking. The Right Mistake: Of course Steve Winwood is a part of this project. He plays on three of the songs. He’s a multi-instrumentalist, named Singer of the Year in 1986 who’s been entertaining since before Clapton and Robertson had that visual spark in The Last Waltz in 1972. You can hear his organ clearly on this song which includes solos from Robertson and Clapton and Angela McCluskey’s soulful vocals. In the credits Bill Dillon is credited with playing the guitar and the guitorgan. A friend saw Steve Winwood at Bluesfest last summer and was very impressed with his live show. This Is Where I Get Off: Robertson’s first musical reference to the painful breakup of The Band wherein he and Clapton do simultaneous electric guitar solos and backup singers, Rocco Deluca, Angelyna Boyd, Daryl Johnson, Michelle John and Sharon White contribute as the song builds up to each chorus beginning, “So just pull over / To the side of the road.” Fear of Falling: “A mellow Clapton riff” is what I thought the first time I listened to this. Both Robertson and Clapton are credited with writing this song so only they know. It’s an easy going, well crafted blues based song where they both do electric solos and Clapton plays an acoustic guitar. The lyrics are sung back and forth in verses and the two men harmonize on the chorus. The lyrics give it the possibility of being a hit. Steve Winwood’s organ in the background is solid but not intrusive. The backup singers, Taylor Goldsmith of The Dawes, Michelle John and Sharon White supplement Robertson and Clapton’s harmonies on the chorus. Their blues roots shine through here. She’s Not Mine: “Anthemic” is the word which first came to mind when I heard this song, though that description sounds a bit grandiose now that I’ve listened to the song often. It’s very impressive with its strategic, distant drums, lyrical imagery and musical sound. It’s the only song in the collection which credits Jim Keltner (a mainstay for decades in the rock recording scene) on drums as well as Ian Thomas. The rest of the tracks feature Pino Palladino on bass and Ian Thomas on drums. Pino Palladino has played bass with everyone from The Who to Eric Clapton to Don Henley and Elton John, who has a Fender bass named after him. One of the best in the business. I became aware of fretless bass in Paul Young’s cover of Marvin Gaye’s Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home). I learn, all these years later, that Pino Palladino (from Cardiff) played the fretless bass on that song. Ian Thomas, also born in Cardiff, is as technically perfect as a rock drummer can get with just the right amount of emotion in his playing. Madame X: A gentle instrumental Clapton wrote. He plays it on a gut string guitar while Robertson plays electric guitar and Trent Reznor, former front man of Nine Inch Nails, adds “Additional Textures”. The song’s bridge evokes “Tears In Heaven.” Axman: In “Axman,” an homage to the tradition of the guitar slinger, Robertson names many of the old blues players, as well as Jimi and Stevie Ray, Doing the guitar solo on a song dedicated to “brothers of the blade” is an honour given to Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine. Won’t Be Back: A song by Clapton and Robertson, produced, as all of these songs were, by Marius de Vries, on which he plays keyboard and Eldad Guetta provides the horns. How to Become Clairvoyant: Written by Robertson, this song includes the playing of Robert Randolph on the pedal steel guitar as well as Robertson’s electric guitar with Marcus de Vries on piano. Pino Palladino and Ian Thomas provide the beat, while Dana Glover and Natalie Mendoza are the backup voices. Just when you think you’ve listened to some heavy guitar and it’s all very serious, Robbie Robertson speaks at the end of the song, “Now that would be a revelation / And I also enjoy levitation.” Tango for Django: It is natural and fitting that a guitar player’s recording contains a tribute to one of the greatest guitarists of all, Django Rhinehart. Robertson plays it on a gut string guitar as it leads with violins reminiscent of Stefan Grappelli, into a growing roll of kettle drums and on to the formal introduction of a slow tango. As he wrote a musically correct waltz for The Last Waltz, Robertson has written, with Marcus de Vries, a formally correct (I assume) tango using Frank Morocco on accordian, Anne Marie Calhoun on violin, and Tina Guo on cello in this tribute to Django. (I wonder if Henry Miller heard Django in Paris in the Thirties. I like to think he did.) There is always a texture to Robertson’s stuff, something a little wild and weird, usually in his intros. In The Last Waltz he is surrounded by extraordinary musicians so it shouldn’t be surprising that he’s again surrounded by the same. Eric Clapton isn’t named in “Axman” but he played on six of Robertson’s songs, co-wrote two and unveiled his Instrumental, Madame X, on How To Become Clairvoyant . His participation is his approval and his tribute. Even if you are not a rock guitar fan nor a fan of The Band or Eric Clapton, this collection of rock songs, sung unapologetically in rock language, is worth listening to. It has what all good rock ‘n roll has always had – surprise. They didn’t have to do it for money. Sometimes it’s as simple as two old guitar players having fun.

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This post is a little belated but I thought, what the heck? Post it anyway. So here you go. It is that time again, ladies and gentlemen, when the writers (published and unpublished) around the world lose their minds. That’s right, it’s NaNoWriMo time! Now, if you are new to the NaNo landscape, here are [...]

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Kiwi Kids Road Atlas & Holiday Activity Book by Hema Maps

Do your kids get bored on long car or plane journeys? Do they constantly ask, 'Are we there, yet?'  Well, help is at hand.  Hema Maps have produced an activity book that has been thoughtfully made on plastic paper so children can draw their masterly creations with the attached whiteboard pen then wipe-off to start again.  There are instructions on how to read a map, puzzle games, mazes, maps so you can follow your own journey, join the dot activities  and lots of interesting facts such as, 'Did you know that the kiwi bird has nostrils at the end of its beak?' and questions like, 'Do you know the world's longest name?' which can easily be spotted on the map. They've even left space for children to draw their own squiggles, and make their own coat of arms.  There are several pages of activities listed in their areas - so kids can nag their parents to take them there too. 

An excellent resource for impatient kids and frazzled parents.  Could even be used in the junior and middle school classroom as a reward activity that is fun but also educational.  I wish this book came out when I was a child travelling in a caravan, or when I had my own kids and visited relatives around New Zealand.   Recommended for ages 4-8 years.

A4 size, paperback $12.99, ISBN:  978 1877 302 824

Buy it here or at your local book store.

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In between teaching, some miscellaneous camp work and quick walks to the lake, I finished the copy edits on Cooper and Packrat’s adventure.  As I hit send on this final draft, I felt a mix of overwhelming pride and a little bit of pure terror.  This is really happening!  By next summer, I will be holding Cooper and Packrat; Mystery on Pine Lake in my hands.  I’ll be sharing it with family, friends and campers!

*falls to the floor in a faint*

I know from having talked to my writing friends that these feelings are somewhat normal and the only cure is to dig into a new story.  Soooo I’ve re-opened a Cooper and Packrat adventure I’d plotted last winter and I’m moving forward with it. I’d forgotten how much I like this storyline, too. It feels good to be first-drafting again!

 

 

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I've been reading Tara Altebrando's books since 2006, when The Pursuit of Happiness was first published. I've truly enjoyed every one of her novels to date, especially What Happens Here, which struck such a deep chord within me that I'm fairly sure you'll hear that somber note if you tapped one of my ribs. (Please be advised that if you do that, it will hurt me.) The point is, Tara's books have burrowed into my heart, and I hand them to anyone who asks me for a Sarah Dessen readalike.

Tara recently re-released her first two YA novels, The Pursuit of Happiness and What Happens Here, as e-books, with all proceeds going to Sandy relief. In her own words:

Because I grew up on Staten Island and spent summers on the New Jersey shore, I am donating all proceeds from the sale of these newly repackaged eBook versions of my first two young adult novels, through the month of November, to Hurricane Sandy disaster relief efforts via Tunnel Towers (for the shore) and a fund set up by my high school on Staten Island for 30 specific displaced families in the St. Joseph Hill Academy community.

The Pursuit of Happiness, my first young adult novel, is actually set on a slightly fictionalized Jersey Shore. I vacationed at my grandparents' Lavallette bungalow for 42 summers, and some of my favorite scenes in Pursuit take place in Lavallette and Seaside Heights, both of which were ravaged by the storm.

My hometown of Staten Island was also hit particularly hard so proceeds from my second young adult novel, What Happens Here, will be focused on the so-called "forgotten borough." While the book is set in Las Vegas and Europe, it is very much about the struggle to come to terms with the randomness of tragic events.

While discussing the relief efforts, we also chatted about her family, her works-in-progress, and the delight of reading a good book at the beach. From the start, you'll catch us mid-conversation:

Was it daunting or exciting to e-pub your books?

Well, the books had basically gone out of print and I was interested in trying to get them in front of readers who are newer to me and my work. (These novels pubbed in 2006 and 2008.) So I got the rights back from my original publisher and set out to learn about the world of DIY e-publishing. I think it's incredibly exciting that books pretty much never have to go "out of print" anymore.

 Who designed the new covers?

My dear friend Peter Lutjen, a book designer by profession conveniently enough, gave the books their new look. He is one of a handful of friends of mine that I know for sure has read all of my novels (Yay! He once told me that The Pursuit of Happiness was just as devastating, if not more so, than Cormac McCarthy's The Road....LOVE that!) and I knew he'd bring just the right aesthetic to the job. I told him I wanted the books to look like vintage classics that were also adorable and he totally delivered.

Did you re-read the books when prepping the new editions?

I did! Several times, in fact. The books had to be scanned from the original paperbacks and then copy-edited and cleared of errors that scanning introduced. I was pleasantly, genuinely surprised by, well, how good the books are, which took some of the edge off of the tediousness of the copy-editing. Are there things I would have done different had I written these books today? Of course. But I resisted editing and generally found I enjoyed them immensely as reads. I hope that doesn't sound obnoxious! I found some funny similarities between the two books that I hadn't been aware of. Little things like references to the board game SORRY! and boys delivering mysterious packages to girls' door.

What do you like most about reading bound books? What do you feel are the benefits of e-books?

Well, I've never read an e-book at the beach. I like to feel the wind and sand in the pages so I like bound books for real pleasure reading. But e-books take up less room and my shelves are already full to bursting so I find that it just makes more sense to go electronic sometimes.

What books have you recently added to your (wooden or digital) bookshelves?

I just read and loved David Levithan's Every Day (paper, on a plane) and I picked up The Monsters of Templeton the last time I was in a bookstore. Most recent ebook purchase: Eliot Shrefer's Endangered. Because I wanted it instantly!

Did you keep any of your favorite books from your childhood and pass them along to your daughters?

There are definitely some, er, relics of my youth hanging around out house. Foremost among them is this totally bizarre set of "Tiny Golden Books" with titles like Uncle Quack (in which a duck's uncle gives him a pack of cigarettes as a present...but it turns out they're CANDY cigarettes, so it's okay) and The Baby Camel and His Naughty Father (in which a father came eats the camel driver's rug so the driver puts a muzzle on him but the father camel only tells his baby, "I'm glad I ate it! It was yummy!"). I also have copies of a few books I loved like Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and The Haunted Pool. My oldest daughter is in kindergarten and is only now just learning to read so it'll be a while before she reads those, but wow is it exciting. We've recently started reading Charlotte's Web to her at bedtime. I'm overjoyed. The world is about to open up to her in amazing ways.

Your most recent novel, The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life, features a scavenger hunt. Have you ever participated in a wacky scavenger hunt?

Yes! In my senior year of high school. That's where the idea for the book came from.

What's the craziest thing you had to do or find?

Two things on the list in the book were on the list for the hunt I did: a lawn ornament (we found a classic pink flamingo) and the largest thing you can take from Mr. Gatti's house. He was the theater director at the local boy's school; my team chickened out on that one.

What are you currently working on?

Well, I JUST finished the final edits on Roomies, the novel I coauthored with Sara Zarr. Really excited about that. And now, I am playing around with a new solo YA idea while waiting for final revision notes on my upcoming middle-grade debut, The Battle of Darcy Lane.

Get Tara Altebrando's eBooks for Sandy Relief.

Visit Tara Altebrando's website.

Related Posts at Bildungsroman
Review: The Pursuit of Happiness by Tara Altebrando
Review: Love Will Tear Us Apart by Tara Altebrando (as Tara McCarthy)
Review: What Happens Here by Tara Altebrando
Review: Dreamland Social Club by Tara Altebrando
Review: The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life by Tara Altebrando
Interview: Tara Altebrando (March 2006)
Interview: Tara Altebrando (August 2006)

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I changed my Twitter username today from @bonnyglen to @melissawiley. When I joined Twitter five years ago, people seemed to be using handles, and it made sense to use my blog name. But lately it gets more and more confusing; I keep encountering people who wonder who “Bonny” is. If you were following me at @bonnyglen before today, you’re still following me now, same account, new username. Make sense?

(And if you forget and ping me @bonnyglen, no worries—I transferred that name to a placeholder account. I won’t be posting from it, but I can check it for mentions.)

***

I’ve updated my old “Things to Buy Instead of Curriculum” post to correct broken links, remove items no longer available, etc. Of course there are lots of things I could add to that list now, several years later. One of these days I’ll get around to a sequel.

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Overcast, muggy but breezy.

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Like everyone who was unaffected by Superstorm Sandy, my heart has broken for the folks who have lost so much. Donating to the Red Cross is incredibly easy. I just donated $10 to Red Cross Disaster Relief by texting "redcross" to number 9099.

I want to encourage everyone to do so. For those that do, tweet, Facebook, Instagram or email me a screen shot of your donation and I will enter you into a drawing for a free virtual author visit with me. Let others know just how easy it is to give a little bit. Together, we can make an incredible difference!

I'll take entries through Friday at 5 pm EST and announce a winner that evening.

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Like all self-employed people, writers don't know on Jan.1 how much money they'll have earned by Dec. 31. There are reasons to be self-employed, but financial security isn't among them.

Unlike many other self-employed people, writers (at least book writers) earn money from work they did long before. Twice a year, we get royalties, money based on continuing sales of our titles. The more successful the book, the more royalties you're likely to earn.

Royalty checks come twice a year. The way they work for me (and for most other writers, probably) is the publishing house sends a check to my agent, where 15% of it vanishes, and then 85% makes its merry way to me. Royalty season is the same for every publisher, approximately April and October.

Approximately is the key word here, since some publishers are prompt in their payments, and others (like the publisher of my moon books) are a tad slow. Okay, more than a tad. And it's a good faith system, since writers have no real way of knowing how many books have been sold.

What's also peculiar about this system is writers generally don't know how big the check is going to be until the envelope shows up in the mail. My experience is no one wants to tell you either.

Personally, I hate surprises, and I used to try to weasel the information out of my publisher or my agent. If you need the money to pay for rent and food, it's really helpful to know how much will be coming in.

Two excellent things happened to me in recent years. The moon books have sold lots of copies, so I've made a healthy amount of money from them. And I moved into an apartment. It used to be when I earned healthy amounts of money, I'd build a new room or remodel the kitchen. You can't do that with an apartment rental,which has forced me to put money in the bank and keep it there. The lack of temptation can be a good thing.

This year in particular, it's a very good thing. Last year my October royalty check came on Nov. 17. And last year, my publishing house and my agency were open during royalty season.

This year, both of them were closed for last week, since there was no electricity below 34th St. So I can only imagine how long it's going to take for the check to be sent out.

I'm fine. But with Chanukah coming very early this year...hold on, I think Scooter just broke a bowl.

Forget Chanukah. That royalty check, whenever it arrives, is going to be needed for bowl replacement!

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Winner winner chicken dinner! My children and husband all chimed in and picked their two favorites. The first was no surprise:

I know the marvelous manipulator of the Batman image and she has been justly rewarded. I wanted to honor a second winner so I gave my family three votes on another one. They all chose different pictures (so many great ones!), overlapping on one:

Awesome! Marvelous-photo-taker, please email me your address and who you'd like the books personalized to at squeetus (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks, guys, for caring about this! I love that so many of you care too. Hopefully by spreading awareness we'll give our boys a chance to grow up reading lots of great stories and embracing female characters as well as male.

To continue the ongoing posts featuring bits from the Palace of Stone area on my website, I list dozens of titles we tried on for size. Here are a few that I thought would be the final title at one time:

Lady Miri

The Queen's Castle

Lady of the Princess

The Robber Princess

Crown Breaker

Miri of Mount Eskel

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     I've been in critique groups over the years, but for various reasons, I'm not in one right now. That doesn't mean I'm not critiquing. I still teach my young adult writing classes and occasionally will critique adult writers for hire.  So I'm taking a slightly different path in this discussion, non-group critiquing.   Here are my suggestions in working with one person at a time (some of them also work in group situations, so I am not really getting off topic.

     Being critiqued can be a traumatic experience. I've had people (professionals who should know better) literally treat my work as if it were bird cage liner.  On the other hand, I've had critiques that said that my work was the best thing since Harry Potter. I suspect the critiquer gave my work a once-over-lightly if they read it at all. And, as my husband says, you don't learn anything by being told how great you are.

     This is not to say that critiques have to be all negative.  They do have to be specific.  Saying "I like your protagonist" is all well and good but really doesn't tell the author anything.  Why do you like that character? Is it their personality, the way they think or talk or their relationship with another character?. Be specific.  It's always good to know that something is good and why

     The same thing works in reverse. Saying "This scene just doesn't work for me" tells me nothing.  Often the author already knows that scene doesn't work.  They are looking to you for suggestions.  My rule of thumb is if I don't have any idea how to fix something, I don't mention it.  Or, if the author backs you in a corner and says "The scene by the old mill stream isn't working, what can I do?" I throw it back in their lap.  Why do they think it isn't working?  Talk about it a little back and forth.  You two will either come up with what is wrong with the scene (or character or whatever) or you will decide the old mill stream scene isn't moving the story along.  One of all time favorite movie scenes comes from Tootsie. Bill Murray is a playwright working on a piece called Return to Love Canal.  Throughout the movie he keeps spitballing ideas with his roommate Dustin Hoffman for one particular scene that comes to be known as "The necktie scene." (By the way, the movie audience never learns what the necktie scene is about.) At last, Bill tells Dustin, "I've solved the problem of the necktie scene.  This time I'm writing it without the necktie."  Great writing advice.  Sometimes if something is giving you that much trouble, it doesn't belong in your story (or play) to begin with.

     Asking someone their opinion of your work is a lot like asking "Does this outfit make me look fat?" I have tried to take as much fear and loathing out of the process as necessary.  At the start of a session I remind the writer that he is already a writer; working together, he will become a better writer.

   I always ask if there is something in particular the writer wants you to look for in their work.  Do they want to know if their characters are believable, the plot plausible, is it overwritten?  I learned to ask because I have a tendency to point out every little inconsistency or flaw when all the writer wants to know at that point is if the main character is likable/interesting enough that you want to read the whole story.

       If your author doesn't have any particular questions, I try to stick to the Big Picture items...inconsistencies, missing transitions, failure in logic, vague characters etc. As I said before, if you don't know how to "fix it," don't bring it up.

     Most importantly, respect your author's vision.  I read a lot of stuff that left me wondering "What were they thinking when they wrote this?" So I ask, "What made you decide to write  this particular story?  Hopefully the answer is not  "because pirates/werewolves/dystopian fantasy is hot right now."  If they really like and want to write about one of those topics, great. Just remind them that by the time their manuscript has wound it's way through the publishing labyrinth, that topic will probably not be quite so surefire.

    What I've often discovered is that the story the author has written (and isn't very good) wasn't the story they meant to write.  Don't get me wrong. I'm not playing Freud here.  I try to approach the subject as gently as possible.  I once asked someone why they had written a picture book about talking organic vegetables.  After a little conversation, it turned out that what the writer wanted to write about was the sense of community after 9/11.  She wanted to write about a community garden and the sense of healing that it gave the gardeners.   I don't know if she ever went back and wrote that book.  I hope she did.

     You know the best thing about critiquing?  It is so much easier to see the flaws in your own work by recognizing them in someone else's.  You are not only helping someone else improve their work, you are helping yourself as well.

    Don't forget to enter our latest book giveaway of the latest edition of Children's writer's and Illustrator's Marketplace.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

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Congrats Adele! So glad the presentation was a smash success. And thrilled to hear that people around the world are interested in Aust. YA fiction. We have some of the best authors out there – nice to have a decent arena in which to show them off.
enjoy the rest of the trip.

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I expect people are mainly excited about the dog. It's a nice dog, as dogs go.
It's not a secret that I don't like dogs. They stink of old meat, and they pump all the air in any given room through their bodies very fast to spread that smell. Their hair makes me sneeze (I'm allergic). I've been repeatedly bitten by small dogs and knocked down by large dogs - their owners found it hilarious and told me off for getting attacked. And the drool... viscous stuff that smells of dead meat and glues dog hair to everything. Ugh.
I do not enjoy meeting dogs.
That said, whenever I meet one that doesn't stink, bark, attack, glue body fluids to me or make me sneeze, I am completely delighted and I declare it my best friend forever on the spot.

This book is pretty much about my ambivalent attitude towards dogs. I don't think it could have been written by a dog-lover. I'm sure that people will read it and assume that I love dogs and own a bunch, same way that they assume I have cats and children (absolutely not) and horses (what??)...
Anyway. As you can see, the dog in this book is kind of adorable. I think you'll like it.

The computer thing is, to me, the most important innovation. I have been using photoshop for all my other art, it's only those cat books that I have been keeping completely "traditional". But this time there is a lot more scenery involved, mostly furniture, and I really want it to look coherent. So I'm texturing, shading and colour-correcting digitally this time.
That sofa up there is collaged from paper and then colour-corrected to a shade that allows the purple dog to pop - it's just an experiment to see what the best combination of traditional and digital media will be.
The "fabric" pattern is one I drew myself, inspired by Victorian wallpaper, the bottom part is the same as for my fox wallpaper, but I added a load of broccoli. It amused me to use broccoli instead of flowers.

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Mount View School, administered by Mr Hotoshe Sema, is a Nursery to Class 10 school located in rural Suruhuto, in Nagaland, India. This school has participated in our Waterbridge  Outreach: Books + Water project for the past two year and we recently received students and administrators reactions on the 2011 Book Set.  Here is a brief selection , click here to read all.

Selected students’ feedback:

P:  Rain School – This is the first time I have heard of students and teachers building a school and I admire they way they did it. The language is quite simple and easy to understand. The main character Thomas’s eagerness to learn and read and his aim to have a new school was very inspiring as he had many obstacles but succeeded in overcoming all these with great determination.

A: Biblioburro – Through this book I come to know that without education, even a rich man is nothing. This is a good lesson for me in life”.

K: A Child’s Garden teaches us not to give up in anything, especially when it is for good.

Selected teachers’ feedback:

Mr. Mughaka:
Biblioburro - Pleasant and inspiring, with sweet, little pictures.
Rain School – Rumford’s Rain School is an encouraging story which will bring smiles to the readers and listeners. Appropriate for kids of any age.
A Child’s Garden – It is a heartening story. It reminds us that hope and determination, and even little things, can do wonders.

Mr. Abenito:
A Child’s Garden – An appreciable illustration about a never ending (undying) hope and concern for that which matures in a person’s mind and soul for a better living and freedom.
Biblioburro – An inspiring and well illustrated story that imparts the significance an individual can play through books.
Rain School – Rumford’s depictions emphasizing a teacher in inspiring and molding a child are quite amazing and interesting.

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For Halloween, my little nephew was Batman. This is him checking himself out in the mirror and then giving himself a thumbs up! So hilarious!!!

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I've never been a fan of the cliche about  famous old people who say all kinds of dreadful things and everyone thinks they're honest and charming because, I guess, they're old and famous. So I probably didn't appreciate the interview with Maurice Sendak in The Believer as much as other readers will. Or maybe I should say that I appreciated it differently.

I have to admit, I roared when Sendak complained heartily--and graphically--about Salman Rushdie and claimed he called the Ayatollah about him. And like Sendak, I am not a fan of Roald Dahl. Over all, though, articles like this make me determined to continue watching VH-1 and reading books columns with the hopes that keeping up with the world will prevent me from spending my declining years going on about how good things used to be back in t he golden days of my youth.

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Burt Lancaster starred in a literate little 1968 film called “The Swimmer,” based on a short story by John Cheever. I’m certain that I watched the movie as a kid, probably on The 4:30 Movie during Burt Lancaster week. Growing up, I don’t have many memories of Mom ever telling me to turn off the TV, except when dinner was ready, so I saw pretty much everything. Unlike much of it that never left an imprint, “The Swimmer” always stuck with me (btw, it’s currently available on the cinematic wasteland known as Netflix Instant).

Here, check out the trailer.

That inspired device — swimming home by pool-hopping across the neighborhood — initiates a journey into the past for Ned Merrill, a journey of self-realization and heartbreak. The movie did not make much of a splash at the box office, though some critics liked it and, from what I can gather, it still has it’s devotees. According to Variety: “A lot of people are not going to understand this film; many will loathe it; others will be moved deeply.”

I’m telling you this because I gave the movie a subtle nod in Before You Go. In this scene, Corey and Jude are hanging out on the roof of Jude’s house, which was something I used to do as a teenager, just get on that roof, look down on suburban Long Island, and dream of my escape.

“Check out that sweet swimming pool behind Ansari’s house, all lit up with floodlights.” Corey whistled. “Man, that water is calling my name. We should grab Vinnie and the guys, sneak out, and go pool-hopping some night. I wonder how many we could do. What do you think, Jude, if we swam our way across town? Hopping from pool to pool. That would be a trip.”

In the book, they don’t make that journey. The idea begins and dies right there on the roof. But I got it from the old 4:30 Movie, and can still hear that great theme song today, because it’s from the soundtrack of my life.

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