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Wow, another week has already rolled by? Where IS the time going?

I'm getting my second packet ready to submit on Monday, going over all the final checks. I only had one scare, when ALL of my files were missing from my flashdrive (yikes!!!). Why on earth they would not open on my laptop but would open on my desktop is a mystery to me. I've never had such a love/hate relationship as I do with computers.

On a lighter note, this website came across the Ventura/Santa Barbara listserve this week; kind of fun to look at and play around with, especially if you're concerned with words going the way of the Dodo. It's not for the fottopees of the world (or maybe it is...).

Happy Labor Day!

This week, two URLs came to me from my SCBWI Listserve that are well-worth looking into.

The first one was shared by Barbara Beitz. It's a great site called Beyond Little House that's dedicated to the Little House books written by Laura Engalls Wilder. For fans of this classic series, this is a must-see. I adore these books, even though I never knew of them as a child. It wasn't until I took a children's literature class in college that I discovered them. So, check it out. You'll get all goose-bumpy and sentimental and leave feeling good inside.

The other URL was shared by Alexis O'Neill. This is is a must-read article for yet-to-be published writers regarding The Seven Biggest Myths of Publishing. I nodded my head through the whole article--"Uh-huh. Yep, been there, done that. Oh, how true!" Thanks to Anastasia Suen and Alexis for spreading the word about this one.

One last one I've been meaning to share comes from the website of Cynthia Leitich Smith. Cynthia has a section called, Kit Lit, where her cats have reviewed cat-themed picture books (for reals!). This is so clever and fun to read, especially if you're a cat lover.

Enjoy!

I'm so proud to announce that my website has recently undergone a major face lift. Pleeease come on over for a visit!

Illustrator and website designer Kathryn Hunley deserves the credit. Didn't she do a fabulous job??? I couldn't be happier with it!

Hey folks! Check out this interview from Publisher's Weekly with children's author Graham Salisbury.

I'm a huge fan of Mr. Salisbury. I love his writing style, the way he connects with boy readers, his strong tie-ins to nature and his page-turning novels. Plus, he's ultra-cool because he grew up in Hawaii (his Hawaiian heritage is evident in his writing). I had the pleasure of meeting him at an SCBWI summer conference years ago (while it was meaningful for me, I'm sure he doesn't remember me!).

He's not only a fabulous speaker, but he's also a genuinely nice person. And now he's written a series for 7-12 year old boys titled Calvin Coconut.

Happy reading!

Check out Editorial Anonymous's blog posts she's got going on. She giving some publishing definitions that are quite informative. We hear these terms a lot, but sometimes don't understand what they are exactly.

Thanks E.A.!

Check out this post on Jill Corcoran's blog. Jill talks about school visits and gives concrete lessons for writing activities to do with students. Jill is an award-winning poet, so naturally her focus is on poetry!

I was just surfing the web, reading some of my blog faves, when I read about "branding" on Anastasia Suen's blog. I thought this new site that she pointed out, "Search Me", was so cool that I wanted to point it out. What a great way to see how the web defines you! Not only does an assortment of categories come up when you search your name, but when you click on a category, a series of web shots come up, which show where you've been featured. Very cool--I'm so glad Anastasia blogged about "branding" and this new site!

I was just surfing the web, reading some of my blog faves, when I read about "branding" on Anastasia Suen's blog. I thought this new site that she pointed out, "Search Me", was so cool that I wanted to point it out. What a great way to see how the web defines you! Not only does an assortment of categories come up when you search your name, but when you click on a category, a series of web shots come up, which show where you've been featured. Very cool--I'm so glad Anastasia blogged about "branding" and this new site!

How does that old saying go? Well, slap my face and call me silly! Yesterday, it was pointed out to me that Valarie Giogas, author of In My Backyard (Sylvan Dell Publishing), had hosted me on her blog as part of my book blog tour a few days ago. Thank you, Valarie, for bringing it to my attention! :-}

Valarie had asked me some really fun questions for the interview, so please hop on over to her blog for a look (scroll down to June 13)!

Thanks, Valarie!

Free blog sites work great for fledgling writers who want to get their work on the web. But at some point, you don't want your web address to be something outrageous like  www.johndoeisagreatwriter.bloghoo.googpress.com.net.

It's much simpler to buy your domain-name at that point, using your byline as your web address like www.johndoe.com. I'm not here to endorse one company over another, but my personal webpage (jasonboog.com) runs on the WordPress blog engine. 

If you have a favorite blog company, chip in the web address in the comments section. As for picking a place to keep my webpage, I used WordPress' and long, detailed list of hosting companies to register jasonboog.com and build my digital home.

Finally, as a word of caution, Chris Webb has a great essay today about how his byline address was banned from Google--without this Wiley editor (he works on the Wrox books imprint pictured above) ever breaking a rule! Check it out:

"I racked my brains trying to figure out what I had done - what had I written to cause the Google Gods to shun me? It finally dawned on me that it might not be something I had done. I started thinking that perhaps my domain name was on the ban list at Google."