Wow, have I been slack on the blog lately or what?! Well there is good reason. I've been super busy with writing projects. And sometimes the old bloggy wog suffers. I miss the asylum very much. But these other assignments actually pay me and I like to eat so I focus on those.
Blah blah blah. HOWEVER, I have the extreme pleasure of hosting not 1 but 2 giveaways over the next couple of weeks. And who is the responsible party for said giveaway? One of my fave chapter book writers of course - Mr. Bill Doyle!!
If you missed my interview with Bill, please check it out here. The first giveaway is actually the 2nd book of a very fun series in the Random House Stepping Stone set of books written by Bill. It is the story of Henry and Keats and their battle with a hideous slobbering slug(s) in their local grocery store. And with a title like STAMPEDE OF THE SUPERMARKET SLUGS - how can you really go wrong?
To celebrate the recent release of this book - I am am giving away two copies - ahem - two SIGNED copies of this book to the first two people that eat Wallenda slugs and prove it on video...
JUST KIDDING. Don't do that!! Unless you like eating bugs, then whatever, you're choice. But for reals, the contest is open to US/Canada only. Guess we should have some rules and a deadline for this thing too.
Okay, here are the rules: Tweet this (copy and paste) -
I wanna get SLUGGED by @bdwrites & @LiteraryAsylum - give me that book!! #SupermarketSlugsTell us the bug that creeps you out the most and why. Let us know in the comments section below and leave us a way to contact you, otherwise, well, someone else will get the book.
Facebook it - if you like - using the share it on FB button at the bottom.
That's it. But do it by the deadline - Midnight June 8th - and then we will let the randomizing picker generator thingy do the rest. We will alert you via email, twitter, and/or facebook if you have won and then you know, we will send you the book and maybe even a bag of slug slime to share with your friends or use to fill doughnuts.
Alright slug fiends, start the social network shout out. And stay tuned for the next giveaway after this one ends.
It is my great honor to host today's stop on
Mary Cunningham's blog tour to celebrate her latest book in the
Cynthia's Attic series.
The Legend of Lupin Woods. Mary was one of the first authors to ever visit the Asylum and she is a wonderful author and awesome lady. Usually I tend to grill the author with my mind bending questions (okay, they aren't that mind bending, but they are fun! So I've heard), but today, Mary gets to take over. That's right, the inmates have taken over!! Take it away, Mary:
In 2004, fresh off the excitement of my first 2-book publishing contract for
Cynthia’s Attic, I began establishing an online presence at my publisher’s request, uh…insistence.
One of my first tasks was to explore author websites and chat groups. Believe it or not, I didn’t find one blog! Blogging had not reached the manic proportions of today, with most bloggers writing simple, online journals; but networking sites were
hot.
I joined a children’s chat group in order to schmooze with other young reader/young adult authors and immediately related to one particular author. Both of us had first-time multi-book contracts, the idea for our series’ sprang from recurring dreams, and our stories were fantasy/fiction.
The perfect networking match. We chatted, online, for several months, and then lost touch. I can’t quite remember why, but I supposed it was because I was in the middle of editing my first book,
Cynthia's Attic: The Missing Locket, deadlines approached, and time management was crucial. I’m sure it had nothing to do my online buddy,
Stephanie Meyer’s schedule. Wonder what ever happened to her? I do hope she had some success with her series about…uh, vampires, I think.
Speaking of vampires, I was recently asked why, until
Book Five, I choose to write stories for ‘Tweens that are lighter; vampire-less, werewolf-less, zombie-less…you get the drift. I can’t really say. It just happened.
Cynthia’s Attic always delves into magic and spells and such, but the scariest monster, to date, was Stony, a rock monster who attacks twelve-year-old Gus, in an enchanted garden in The Magician’s Castle. Other than that, a nasty, bad-breathed clown, a sinister stranger on horseback, and a friendly alligator were the most menacing characters in
Cynthia’s Attic. Until
Cynthia's Attic: The Legend of Lupin Woods.
Yes, I crumbled. In the 5th and (sniff) final book in the series, a werewolf pops into the lives of best friends, Cynthia and Gus. Not your typical werewolf, mind you…a more congenial, helpful type, but a werewolf to be sure.
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| This werewolf would kill for a peak inside the book! |
What do you know!! Here's an excerpt from
Possession. EVP. Other dimensions. Ghosts. Aliens. And a few certain shall-remain-nameless story arcs from the DC universe. The world is filled with unexplained things. For many of us we believe in monsters, demons, and all kinds of things that go bump in the night. Writing about them can be a cathartic way of dealing with our fear. Others of us, like to chalk up mysterious happens to human created psychosis. I fall in the grey areas of these beliefs. I have experienced many strange things in my lifetime. Some of them easy to explain... some of them not. Our guest author today had a childhood fear of demonic possession. So what did she decide to write her first YA book about? You guessed it.
Gretchen McNeil's POSSESS takes us on the journey of fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu who just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from.
Before we get started, let's set the tone and scare the pants off a bunch of readers. WARNING: The following trailer will give you a serious untreatable case of the heebie jeebies.
For those of us that don't know you, can you tell me a bit of your background and what brought you to writing for YA?
Gretchen McNeil - I started out as a performer – an opera singer, to be exact. I have two college degrees to prove it, too! Writing came along relatively late for me: about five years ago. I was going through a divorce and needed something to occupy my mind. My first novel wasn't YA, but all the agents who rejected it kept saying it had a YA voice. And here I am.
What made you focus on writing thriller/horror/suspense? Can you talk to us about some of your influences in this genre? GM - I'm a junky for a good mystery and anyone who can spin me along on a tenuous thread of suspense and expectation, turning the screws and upping the ante with every page. In fiction, Agatha Christie and Christopher Pike were huge influences on my writing and clean, direct style of storytelling. I also love Wilkie Collins, Robert Louis Stevenson, the Brontes, Daphne du Maurier, Diane Setterfield, Henry James and Edgar Allen Poe. And of course, the masterful cinematic storytelling of Alfred Hitchcock.
What scares you the most and do put those fears into your writing as a cathartic way of dealing with them?GM - POSSESS addressed one of my personal fears: demonic possession. The Exorcist traumatized me as a child, so when I was thinking of scary topics for fiction, it was
I warned you not to go out tonight... It comes to life... Who will survive and what will be left of them... They're here...
We've all read the warnings and yet we still walk deep into the dark without a flashlight. Whether it be true life horror, fictional horror, supernatural, paranormal, thriller, dark fantasy and beyond, somewhere deep inside us (most of us) there is a desire to be creeped out. Only in the safety of our homes of course. But what if that horror hits home, invades your home, your daily routine, or you very being? Author MEGAN CREWE brings us a dark tale of speculative fiction that is very much based in the real life terror of what if. THE WAY WE FALL released earlier this year by Disney-Hyperion is Megan's second book and it's about a virus outbreak on an island that brings terrifying results. I recently reached out to Megan to chew her brain about her writing and what scares her.
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| Photo credit: Chris Blanchenot |
For those of us that don't know you, can you tell me a bit of your background and what brought you to writing for YA?Megan Crewe - I've always loved making up stories. I was the sort of quiet, introverted kid who could spend hours just hanging out in the worlds I imagined in my head (and, er, I'm not so different as an adult). As soon as I could, I started writing those stories down. I got progressively more ambitious--I wrote my first novels in my teens. At that time, I wrote about teenagers because that was what I knew. I figured as I got older and more experienced, I'd start writing older and more experienced characters. But as I got into my twenties, I realized that I wanted to keep writing about the teen years. It's just such an intense and complex time in people's lives, when they're going through so many firsts and making decisions about what kind of person they want to be. There's so much possibility, and that makes for fascinating stories.
What made you focus on writing thriller/horror/suspense? Can you talk to us about some of your influences in this genre? MC - To be honest, I don't think of myself as a thriller or horror writer. Pretty much everything I write falls under the umbrella of speculative fiction--which includes horror, but also science fiction, fantasy, paranormal, etc. I can enjoy reading completely realistic stories, but when it comes to writing, I find it hard to get really excited about a story unless it has some sort fantastical or futuristic element. And sometimes those fantastical or futuristic elements are scary. ;)
The horror genre has definitely had a major impact on my writing, though. I was a teenager in the '90s, when the most popular type of YA was horror: R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, Caroline B. Cooney, and so on. So I read a lot of that, and it informed my early impress
How much do we love Walden Pond Press around here? A LOT. Not that you would have noticed with all the posts that we have done with them, for them, about them... we are geeked out by the many authors they have ushered into the fantastic world of children's literature. Today's guest happens to be one of those amazing authors with a brand new book that just launched yesterday to be exact. Christopher Healy is said writer and his new book The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom is the new book.
What brought you to writing for children? Was it always your goal?
Christopher Healy - I wanted to be a writer ever since I was a kid, but I didn’t necessarily think I’d be a children’s writer. It was having kids that took me in that direction. When I became a dad, I found myself immersed in children’s pop culture and started writing about it. I reviewed so many kid’s books, movies, games, etc., that my mind just settled into that world. I became very comfortable there, and by a certain point, whenever I got ideas, they were inevitably ones that would fit neatly into children’s literature.
Your first book Pop Culture is about the trials and tribulations of being a father in this crazy world. Being a father of two myself and working on a writing career, can you talk to me about how you carve out time to write with your hands full? What is your writing schedule like?CH - I write like a madman until 3PM, trying to squeeze in as much work as I can before the kids come home. I’ll be honest: It’s not easy. But I’m grateful for it in a way, because it has forced me to develop a good work ethic. I have no choice but to be efficient. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sneak into my office to work in the afternoons or evenings at times, too. But I try to save the administrative side of business for those moments. It’s really hard to focus your creativity when you’ve got two kids loudly meowing and staging a Warriors cat battle in the next room. Of course, there’s a major bright side to being a children’s author with kids — you don’t have to travel far to bounce ideas off your target audience.
Your latest book The Hero's Guide to Saving the Kingdom puts a fun new spin on the classic fairy tales and many of their characters. Can you tell us a little bit about the book and what has changed for you as a writer now that it is published? CH - I consider those classic fairy tales the launching point for The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom and its subsequent sequels. They gave me a great place to start, with some built-in mythology and automatic familiarity for readers, but I didn’t necessarily set out to write a book about fairy tales. For as long as I’d dreamed of being an author, I wanted to write a grand fantasy saga with its own unique mythology and original characters. At the same time, I’d long had th
Let the insanity begin! Here is an awesome giveaway from Walden Pond Press. Read below for all the details.
Tweet for Princes! To celebrate the publication of The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy (5/1/12), Walden Pond Press is giving away an e-reader of the winner's choice AND a selection of Princes Liam, Gustav, Frederic, and Duncan's favorite e-books!
The winner may select any e-reader ranging from the Nook to the Nook Tablet 8GB or the Kindle to the Kindle Fire. TO ENTER: FOLLOW
@WaldenPondPress on Twitter (www.twitter.com/waldenpondpress) and TWEET the following message:
RT @waldenpondpress: Celebrate #HerosGuide to Saving Your Kingdom & WIN an e-reader w/the heroes’ fave books! RT 2 ENT http://ow.ly/avE8z This contest will run from 5/1 to 5/4 so get those tweets ready. Tomorrow we shall celebrate and shout it out!
As I was shopping with my daughter yesterday I came across an awesome book. I love the STINK books to begin with but when I saw this new one I lost it. You know, one of those book covers you see and you want to share with everyone and tell them how cool it is! (Kudos to Peter H. Reynolds for the awesome eye candy). So then realize that most people around you might think you are a raving lunatic if you run around screaming about a children's book cover with slobbering giddy glee. That happens to me a lot so I'm just going to shout it out on here where you all can appreciate it. Check out the new STINK book. A must have for those of us who like zombies and who like to share these stories with our little monsters.
Here are some links to reviews:
Kirkus -
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/megan-mcdonald/stink-and-midnight-zombie-walk/#reviewGoodreads -
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13279447-stink-and-the-midnight-zombie-walk
Today's post is a special one. For many of us we tend to get caught up in our busy lives and sometimes forget to stop and say THANK YOU to our family, friends, and those others that make our day better and brighter. Those who help us in many ways that we may sometimes take for granted. For several of us who are friends and clients of BREE OGDEN, today is a day we want to show our appreciation.
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| To a true Wonder Woman |
I thought of several ways I could celebrate my aBREEciation Day by telling stories, writing poems, crafting a clever play on words and sending them into the air behind a plane. But those wouldn't work, not today. Instead, this is what I have to say...
Bree,
From the first phone conversation I had with you to the million texts and conversations we currently share over bookish and geeky fantastic things. This is a tribute to the friend you have become and the wonderful agent I have always wanted. We have a long journey ahead of us and I look forward to fighting the battle with you every step of the way.
DMC
Our motto...
Our love of the strange and creepy...
Our MUSE-ings...
Our partnership in literary dealings...
We both know... We have only scratched the surface...
The world is your stage... and it's showtime. Let's not keep them waiting.
Less than two weeks ago I received a box load of awesome books from one of my favorite publishers Random House (no they don't pay me to say how awesome they are - I would do that for free) - anyway, upon opening the box my eyes focused on one particular book right away. I wonder if you can guess which one?
Yeah, that's right, the one with the word DEAD in the title. I was like whaaa? And I picked it up and started reading it right away. I was two chapters in and decided I needed to reach out to the author and tell him how cool he is. But, he already gets lots of that I'm sure, so I asked if he would stop by the Asylum and answer a few questions. What I learned about
MATTHEW CODY before the interview made me that much more excited for it to happen. Not only is he a dude and comic book nerd, but he has also written a book about kids with(out) super powers called POWERLESS. How this book escaped my trained bookish vision escapes me (bad comic nerd, bad). AND he's a writing teacher with Gotham Writer's Workshop. Yeah, I know, the cool points just keep adding up. Everyone, I would like you to meet, if you are not familiar with him already, Mr. Matthew Cody...
Can you tell us a bit of your background (for those us us who don't know) and what brought you to writing for children?
Matthew Cody - I've always been very in touch with my inner 10 year old, but my middle grade writing career started when I was working on a short story about Peter Pan - or at least a response to Peter Pan. I wanted to write about a boy who woke up with the memory of flying, but no amount of happy thoughts could make it come true. The story got bigger. The protagonist became a minor character of a much larger cast and before I really knew what I was up to I had a novel on my hands.
It's seemed a good fit ever since!
There has been a rise in heroic/comic book hero middle grade books lately. Was Powerless your first stab at writing a book and did your love of comics influence your decision to write it?
MC - Powerless was actually my second novel. The first was a bad Terry Pratchett pastiche that will stay forever locked in the darkest corner of my desk drawer, but it was useful in learning how to actually write a novel.
As I mentioned before, Powerless actually had it's roots in Peter Pan, but once the story started to grow, my life-long love of comics absolutely took over. Specifically, my love of th
As I was reading through my Writer's Digest and The Writer magazines the other night I noticed a common occurrence issue after issue. I'm talking about the unending amount of "How To Write" book ads and reviews.
Personally I have purchased my share of How To books and have read through them all and when I'm done I find them to have the same four basic ingredients peppered through out. BUT, I'm not going to discuss them here. I actually want to talk about how NOT to write a book. With everyone else telling you how to do it, why not dish out some really horrible advice?
Here is my list of how not to write a book and mess things up.
1. DON'T READ - Plain and simple. You want to write books, don't read any other books like yours. Why would you want to read any books when you are too busy trying to write the best book ever written? I mean, seriously, why would you even think of wasting your time reading those great books that came before yours and that might actually help you with your craft? Instead, watch a bunch of television, play hours and hours of video games, and read tweets all day. But whatever you do, don't read books to learn your craft.
2. DON'T WRITE - This is the most overrated part of the process. All this writing and rewriting is just getting in the way of being published. Instead, set up your website and every other peripheral that will get you a book deal. Because we know that having a shiny website is what really matters. The story in your book and the characters in your book don't really want your attention anyway. The book practically writes itself these days with all the technology available. Let's be honest, books are getting written in tweet format on train rides anyway. Writing, ppphhhttt, whatever.
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| I'll just makeup this story as I go. |
3. DON'T KNOW YOUR MARKET - Whatever you do, don't study the market. Please, please, please write a vampire book and a zombie book and ghost book where everyone is in love and they are angsty and make sure this is told in picture book format. Publishers love it when you turn in something so off the charts it makes them realize that you are in fact the diamond in the lump of coal. Why didn't they ever think of that!? So, do your best to write what is on the shelves right now because we know the market doesn't have enough of them and we could use about twenty more of them and we all know your book is not like the rest of them even though your main characters are named Macob and Fedward.
4. FORGET ABOUT CRAFT - The craft of writing for children is overrated. Forget about it. Study your Xbox manual or read the back of the cereal box. Getting a good education on writing is a waste of time. The only Kraft you should know is the one that turns macaroni into cheesy goodness.
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| Study? Books? Wha? |
Tho
I've been reading a lot about bloggers getting fatigue and having guilt for neglecting their blogs. Many times, us creative types, tend to be very motivated in the beginning and eventually run out of steam. I know I've been guilty of that many times. I cannot lie, it's hard to make constant posts and keep things fresh in hopes that your readers stay entertained. There is a certain amount of pressure which is more self imposed than anything else. If I stopped blogging, would anyone really care or notice? Some people might, but I think I put more pressure on myself than what anyone expects of me. So, this got me thinking.
Why am I here?
I don't mean, why am I here on planet earth. I know to some great extent what my purpose is - my amazing wife and children remind me of that everyday. My question is really about why am I blogging and for what purpose. When I started this blog I thought it would be me rambling about books - children's books - with the hopes that I might connect with like-minded people who have the same interests. What has come from this blog is greater than what I could have ever imagined. The friendships alone have been astonishing.
But again, why am I here?
I'm HERE because I LOVE children's books. I love every story, style, form, length, subject, and most of all, those who create them. Celebrating children's literature has become a way of life for me.
Here's the best part.
For a long time I was conflicted with what I wanted to write. On one hand I love wacky goofy comedy. Especially those middle grade books that make me laugh out loud and bring a smile to my face every time I think about them. On the other hand I love dark horror. The books that give me the creeps and make me look over my shoulder when I walk up the stairs at night. You always hear that you should focus on a genre that you love and write that. But what if you love polar opposite genres? What do you do?
Here's what you do. You write both of them! You switch hit. Write a middle grade comedy with heart, then write a dark YA horror that freaks the pants off everyone.
You may be asking yourself why was this such a conflict for me. Seems like a real simple concept. Well, when you work in Hollywood you tend to be groomed to focus on a specific genre and do that well. People have a hard time grasping that a writer can actually write more than one type of story. They love to put you in a box and say "You stay here and write this type of story." Now that I've grown older and somewhat wiser I know that doesn't work for me.
I grew up on Judy Blume and Stephen King. Star Wars and Evil Dead. These are the types of stories that formed my creative wheelhouse. And this blog is going to celebrate both the light and dark. The Asylum has gone through a few "look" changes and that had a lot to do with me finding a voice for it. In the coming weeks I hope to make it a great mix of both those light and dark elements and celebrate those who bring them to the world.
If I can offer any wisdom at all - don't be afraid of your voice. Don't shy away from your creative choices. Don't swim in the shallow end of the pool if you really want to dive into the deep end. Embrace your goofy self and your horror-loving self (or whatever selves you have in conflict). Let them hang out with each other and mix it up. Who knows what could happen. Find the voice, shout out, and let them hear what you have to say.
And while you're at it why not blog about it. You never know who will be reading.
I'm here because I want to celebrate those voices. Those stories.
I'm here because I need to be.
Thank you for listening.
Slowly the blog is coming back from its dusty grave and the huge mess it was last week when I decided to switch up the format and look. Well, that went right off the rails. However, I am glad to get the crazy train back to some sort of normal (normal for me that is). I did create a new background for the blog, unfortunately you don't get to see all the wonderment of it. Below is the full image so you can check it out. This is basically some of my all time & current favorite books, books by friends, and just great books.
Feel free to use it as a desktop image if you'd like. Enjoy!
Last week upon my arrival at home I found a wonderful box of goodies from Random House. They have so many amazing books for kids coming out that I can't keep up. By the way I want to state for the record that this is by no means a paid endorsement and all that jazz - there I said it. NOW, let's get on with it.
In the box was two graphic novel young reader books that I was instantly attracted to by the title alone. The Flying Beaver Brothers. First of all, beavers are funny. Flying beavers are hilarious. Author/creator Maxwell Eaton has created a fun new series of books that should make a hesitant reader not so hesitant any longer. Much like Krosoczka's Lunch Lady books, the Flying Beavers has a great deal of humor and action. If you want something to introduce your younger reader into the world of reading and comics this is really cool series to get them started on. To learn more about the books - check them out here
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| Release Date: February 7 The life of crime is good.Mac has taken down legendary high school crime boss Staples, business has been booming, and Mac and Vince are getting ready for middle school baseball tryouts. But this can'... more |
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This video needs very few words. Please watch. Join the cause - here.
Thank you.
I'm very excited about this book and what's in store. I'm reading it now and so far it is a lot of fun. If you haven't read the first one, check it out! Until then, enjoy my book trailer pick of the week.
Do I really need to introduce the creator of The Stinky Cheese Man or the wizard behind the Guys Read series? Should I even bother to mention he was recently the ambassador of children's literature? IF none of those things mean anything to you, well, maybe you can go read a blog about pickles or chicken farming then. OR you can stay here and enjoy the treat we have in store for you. Thanks to my cohort and friend Kellie Celia over at Walden Pond Press we are bringing the GUYS READ: THRILLER celebration to an end with a bang. Don't be sad, you can still reread the interviews, the book, and practice scaring yourself and others throughout the year. AND you can check out the winning entry from our thrilling contest in the Winter issue of Underneath the Juniper Tree here.
I'll just stop myself now from rambling on for a millenia and give a huge Wayne's World welcome to Mr. Jon Scieszka.
Can you tell me how the GR: Thriller project evolved and why you chose the writers you did?Jon Scieszka: THRILLER is Volume 2 of a bigger Guys Read project called the GUYS READ LIBRARY OF GREAT READING. http://www.guysread.com/library/ (Volume 1 was FUNNY BUSINESS.) And the big idea is to produce an entire 5 or 6 volume library of original short story collections, grouped by genre. For each volume we ask a combination of great writers already proven in that genre, an up and coming writer or two, and the fun curve ball of someone you might not expect in the genre. The purpose of the library is, just like the purpose of the GUYS READ initiative, to motivate boys to be readers by giving them stories that inspire them to want to read. I wanted to give every teacher, librarian and parent a perfect answer to that question, "What can I do to get my guy interested in reading?" And the answer is, "Check out this GUYS READ LIBRARY set. Ten funny short stories, ten thriller stories, ten sports stories... You will be able to find something to like in here." You were an editor on the book. Can you talk to us about wearing the "editor pants" and how was it collaborating with some of the biggest names in children's lit? JS: Wearing the editor pants is weird. They don't fit me very well. I'm much more comfortable in the writer pants. But I am fortunate to be working with an incredibly smart and passionate and razor-sharp editor at Harper/Walden Pond Press named Jordan Brown. It has been a wonderful eye-opener for me to watch and learn from Jordan how to find the best part of a story and how to help the writer bring it out. Working with the amazing writers who have contributed has confirmed my belief that the children's book world has a mind-boggling range of all different kinds of great writers. Working as an editor has also given me a whole new respect for that tough job. And helped me realize that my deadline-dodging excuses are woefully obvious.
It's funny how life sweeps you up and carries you away in its tide. It's also funny how you sometimes get anxious thinking about how you haven't posted anything to the blog in weeks but then realize that you are a dry lake of ideas.
But then you realize that your creative story muse has been on fire and ideas are spilling over and you can't write them down fast enough. The ideas are hammering you left and right and you can't decide what to do or which one to write first! Well, I'm happy to say I'm working on it - boy oh boy - am I working on it. You can ask my agent - because I am bugging her all the time with my ramblings of ideas.
Wow, I got off track there... let's get the train back on the rails. Okay, ahem, test test...
As turkey day approaches faster than a greased butterball on ice skates (see what I did there?) it has made me think a great deal about all the things that I am thankful for.
 More than anything I am grateful for my amazing wife and two beautiful kids. They are my life and inspiration. They give me the strength everyday to work hard at being the best husband and father I can be. They are my sunshine and my moon and everything in between. I am grateful for my parents and their constant support and cheer leading. When I first came to Los Angeles I think it was a scary ordeal for them - always wondering if I would be okay and if this business would chew me up and spit me out. So far, only a few good sized dings to the armor and a high percentage of my mental well-being still intact. I'm grateful for my agent Bree Ogden who is not just my agent but my friend. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful teammate and guardian. We have been in the trenches for over year now and I look forward to the many years ahead. I'm grateful for all the amazing friends and cohorts that I have made since diving head first into the kiddie-lit pool (the best career decision I could have ever made). I feel like this is going to be like an Oscar speech but I have to shout out to these amazing people for whom I would not be as inspired, as motivated, as geeky, or humbled without them. Liesa Abrams Lisa Yee Tom Angleberger Kellie Celia Alan Silberberg Rebekah Joy Plett Virginia Grenier Mary Cunningham James Riley Siike Donnelly Jason Smith Jonathan Auxier And OF COURSE all of you that read this blog and visit me from time to time. I am honored. I could go on for days about all the amazing bloggers and authors that I have had the privilege of speaking with but I think my adoration for them is apparent my postings. I wish each and every one of you a wonderful holiday and the hope of something to be grateful for everyday.
I'm very excited to announce a new project/series that the incredibly talented artist M. Stagi and I are working on for my favorite children's literature magazine Underneath the Juniper Tree. The series is called Forgotten Letters from the Underworld.
The first letter of the series BARNYCLES can be read over at the site here. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoy creating them. We hope to keep them going for a long time to come. I want to give a huge THANK YOU to Tex and Marjorie Merle over at UTJT for all their guidance and love. And especially for helping a little dream come true.
I love our next guest. He's a returning guest and all round awesome dude. I've had the pleasure of talking to him on a few occasions (book fairs) and our daughters share the same name - which already tells you how cool we are (laughs at own comment). But seriously, if you are involved in the world of children's literature or comics then you know about Jarrett Krosoczka. If you are wadding in the kiddie-lit pool and don't know who he is... (shakes head), I can't help you.
When I read that he was contributing to the GUYS READ: THRILLER book I was more amped than a stack of Marshalls at a Punk Farm gig. If you don't know Punk Farm... (shakes head again), I seriously cannot help you.
With lots of help from Kellie at Walden Pond Press, we were able to pin Jarrett down for a few minutes during his whirlwind of a schedule and ask him a few questions about his involvement with the GR: T project. This is what he had to say for himself...
Can you talk to me about your involvement with GR: Thriller and how it came about?Jon Scieszka invited me to create a piece for Guys Read: Thriller, and well I owe him a lot of money from off-track betting. Just kidding. My debts have been paid. I had the great opportunity of creating a piece for Guys Write for Guys Read way back in 2004, so I was delighted when Jon asked me to be a part of the Guys Read Library series. Was it is decided that you would tell your story in comic form from the start or was there ever talk of writing in prose? Right from the start. I was brought on to create a graphic piece for the book. Kind of like how in Oceans 11, George Clooney hired Casey Affleck to help with the heist. In your opinion, what makes a thrilling story? What keeps readers glued to the page? With a graphic novel, its all about the page turn. The bottom right hand side of every spread is an opportunity to crate a mini cliffhanger. It can be a moment as small as a character putting their hand on the doorknob and turning the page to learn whats on the other side of that door or a much bigger moment, like introducing the villain and turning the page to reveal he is attacking! What scares you the most? Does this ever influence your writing? My mortgage scares me the most, so that keeps me motivated. Kidding, agai
Break out the leftover Halloween candy!! The judges have settled on a winner for the GUYS READ: THRILLER contest.
First of all let me apologize for the delay. Unfortunately I had a death in the family of someone who was very dear to me. It has been a trying week with many other things piled on (being sick as well) and it has taken a great amount of energy to get back into blogging. But let this be a celebration of writing and life and all things thrilling. And before we announce the winner and let you read it below - we wanted to chime in on WHY it was chosen. There were many entries for this contest and many of them were well thought out but in the end they missed a key element that would take it to another level. Let's get down to the nitty gritty. Our fearless writer accomplished many things in a few short sentences. At first read you think you know what is going on. But then we are steered somewhere completely different which is refreshing and fun. The opening is left with a cliffhanger - always a great aspect to thrilling writing - and really made us want to read more. Another aspect to this top pick, it sets up a story in a few short lines. We are getting story, thrills, creeps, and a cliffhanger. And most of all, it was not typical. What we get at the end of the few lines is something we are not reading in every short story or book coming out right now. There are no zombies, vampires, ghosts, etc. However, there were some great entries that did have zombies, vamps, ghosts and otherworldly beings, but they didn't really change the game or leave us with a sense that there was more to the story than a shocking opening. This leads me to a discussion I had with one of the judges about the term THRILLER. For many of the entries, the term meant straight up horror. Blood, scares and monsters. We feel thrillers are more or less a story that keeps you on edge, something that has a ticking clock, a story that is not necessarily horrifying but something that keeps you turning the page or not wanting to turn the page in fear of what will happen to the main character. Yes, many of these elements are part of horror writing. But with horror writing there is a greater sense of dread, doom and gloom. Thrillers aren't always doom and gloom. A bank robbing scene is thrilling but not necessarily horrifying. Being chased by a horde of flesh-eating zombies is both thrilling and horrifying and we would put that in the horror cataGOREy (see what we did there?)  Okay, okay... without further adieu we are pleased to announce and quiet shocked to be honest that our winner is a well known published author. Before you scream UNFAIR, let me tell you that all entries given to the judges were anonymous. Because, yes, we all know that a name author could sway judging. However, I can tell you right now, the judges were stunned that said author even had time to enter but were stoked at the entry. Walden Pond Press, Underneath the Juniper Tree and Literary Asylum are completely elated to announce... wait for it....
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Looks like a fun read. I'm not afraid of bugs, but spiders creep me out. I've been bit by a few and it is not fun.
https://twitter.com/coffeeramblings/status/208644450501664768
Large garden spiders that descend on my face while I'm sleeping really creep me out. [email protected]
Spiders are my nemesis too! I have found some crawling in my hair on more than one occasion!