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Dear Nephew, Unaccustomed as I am to giving advice to anybody these days, I must do this: lay down some guidelines for the younger generation. It feels like an inescapable weight on one’s shoulders, a duty and obligation. Whoever said that youth was wasted on the young must have known about the principles. The three principles which I will list and attempt to elucidate. These principles will ensure survival and success in today’s and tomorrow’s world. From a lifetime of observation and other sources, I have gathered this wisdom and will now impart it to you, my nephew and all who know you. Even those who don’t. 1 Borrow as much as possible from family and friends. They’re usually the last ones who’ll turn on you, giving you the benefit of the doubt, holding off their fury because you’re related or know someone who knows someone. An unfortunate corollary to this type of activity is the necessity for a packed bag and alternate identities, with pictures, if possible. In case of partners’ unfounded accusations of overspending or, God forbid, fraud. It’s getting harder to manage in these days of everybody killing each other for various reasons, but it was always thus. The killing was just cruder. There is always a way. Always a means of obtaining a false identity. Of course, families and friends should also be involved with you in as many business ventures as possible. This stimulates, among other things, their careful observance of your health and well being. Once you have wormed your way in, ingratiated yourself, made yourself indispensable to them, with the least amount of work, you are an asset, a part of the company. The corollary can also come in handy in these enterprises, if things don’t go well. When one shakes off the impetuous dreams of youth for a moment, one can clearly see upon which side one’s bread is buttered. Business relationships with family and friends should be encouraged and manipulated with care. 2 Don’t fall for that security versus creativity stuff. Go for the security, of course. You can look like you don’t care, act like it, say it, especially when women think you’re romantic because of it, but nobody wants to starve, so, keep a back door, a way out. You won’t have time for shame when you’ve bailed out on the co-op and you’re trying to survive. Accumulate as many toys as possible. Gather all and sundry and lock them up. Collect things, the more valuable, the better. Never too many of the valuable ones. There’ll always be a place to put them. The creative urge is sneaky and devious. It is more seductive than the security side, but you don’t want to grow old without being surrounded by as much security as possible. The creativity side may look attractive when you’re young. All that freedom etc., but the odds against anyone producing security out of creativity are huge. It is a foolish longshot, not worthy of a man who is serious about security. Let the starving artists drink beer in their roach infested garrets after you’ve accumulated their creations. Exceptions are made for long legged beauties in black tights. Temporary cohabitation is permissible there. 3Honesty is not always the best policy. In most cases it’s downright foolish. All of the great wealth has been accumulated by dishonesty of one sort or another. Things change. Perceptions of certain activities change. Cunning, guile and deviousness have their place in the ready arsenal of a young man trying to make his way in this world. Lying hypocrites are survivors. Politicians in any age are shining examples. Machiavelli’s wisdom is always good bedtime reading. There can be few more refreshing pleasures, when one wakes up in the morning, than a good bullying session. A suitably inferior person can be fooled into thinking they must take the abuse which you hurl their way, thus proving that dishonesty is most often triumphant and replacing the need for a brisk walk to start one’s day. I’ve imparted some hard truths here. I wouldn’t have bothered except that you’re my sister’s kid and my own children haven’t spoken to me for twenty years. The divorce was between their mother and me, none of their business. After all, one must consider one’s office staff. (A specific tip here: refuse point blank, in no uncertain terms, any job offered you without a suitable office staff. Secretaries and receptionists should be young, attractive, ambitious and immoral. Attention to these details will ensure an enjoyable workplace when one has to attend) The males of our clan always passed down the three principles before they died from the effects of their short, brutal lives. I know what kind of a family you must survive in and what kind of world you face, so I feel compelled to tell you, though it’s bad news: they get the last laugh. Women in this family, in general, outlive men. After all the fussing is over, at the end, you die and they keep going. It doesn’t seem fair, but it was always thus. There are many years to come before you’ll have to worry about it. In the meantime, think of your old uncle and remember, cannibalism isn’t a notion which should be lightly dismissed on long flights. Regards, Uncle Steve

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Take a break, take a breather, and COLOR for peace of mind today! I have lots of free holiday coloring pages available HERE (or click the image).
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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I'VE SET STINKY SANTA FREE AGAIN!
FREE FREE FREE! FREE CHRISTMAS GIFT!
FREE CHRISTMAS EBOOK FOR KIDS AVAILABLE CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY!

Stinky Santa Christmas ebook for kids!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON.COMCLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON.CO.UK

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Real Life Inspirational Stories – Mountain Man Dashrath Manjhi इच्छा शक्ति का चमत्कार  या दृढ़ संकल्प, दृढ़ निश्चय  हो तो हम पहाड का सीना भी चीर सकते हैं ये  संकल्प की शक्ति , विचारों की अपार और अद्भुत शक्ति, विचारों का प्रभाव  और हमारी सकारात्मक सोच ही है इसलिए हमें सदा खुद को या दूसरों […]

The post Real Life Inspirational Stories – Mountain Man Dashrath Manjhi appeared first on Monica Gupta.

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You need to have more than one picture book, no matter how awesome it may be, to get an agent for your picture books.

http://www.sarasciutoeditorial.com/single-post/2016/10/25/It-Takes-More-Than-One-Awesome-Picture-Book-To-Land-An-Agent

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Near the garbage, I did see
A sad, discarded Christmas tree
Wrapped up in a plastic bag,
A sight to make the spirits sag.

With Christmas looming, it seems rash
To toss a tree out with the trash.
I wondered 'bout the reasons why
That tree was ditched, with no goodbye.

Perhaps it brought some bugs inside
Or else the owner up and died.
It's possible, with needles falling,
A fake version found its calling.

Maybe two folks bought a tree
Where one could serve the family
Or someone, in a Scrooge-like snit
Just chucked it, saying "This is it!"

Though this is not my holiday,
It saddened me in some small way,
But not enough to take it home;
Instead, it did inspire this poem.

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Today is the second installment of the on-the-fly interviews I did with some of the YALLFest authors. Between panels and signings and catching up with friends, they all had hectic schedules, so I truly appreciate that they indulged me and my silly questions.

Here's what I asked:

What real-life adventure would you most like to go on?

What fictional adventure would you most like to crash?

Besides storytelling, what skill(s) would you contribute to the group on an adventure quest?

As a writer, what do you think is your strongest skill? And do you have any tips for getting better at it?

And then if they had time, I gave them some markers and a paper with "YA Books = " and had them get creative for their picture.

Today's featured victims are Stephanie Kuehn, Justine Larbalestier, Amie Kaufman, and Caleb Roehrig.

Read more »

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नोटबंदी का असर कैसे हुआ – जबसे नोट बंदी हुआ आम जनता पर बहुत गहरा असर हुआ कोई एटीएम ATM की लाईन में लगा तो कोई बैंको banks  की कम्बी कतार line  में … नोटबंदी का असर कैसे हुआ नोट बंदी का एक असर ये भी देखने को मिला कि पहले लोग Sea facing घर […]

The post नोटबंदी का असर कैसे हुआ appeared first on Monica Gupta.

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So Deedy (Dorothea Jenen to you) showed us this new picture by Shayne, Our Illustrator. It was done for a special new project Deedy has been working on ALL YEAR, only to find that it was not acceptable by the distributing company (which starts with A).  We LOVE how Shayne put in the Mouse Hole, after Frizzy went to all that trouble to decorate its door for Christmas!

Of course, we are all SAD now because this project isn't going anywhere soon, but at least we know Deedy was TRYING to do something nice for us Izzies! Sigh.

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From Net Galley: 16 Top Covers for 2016

From Homemade: 12 spectacular gingerbread houses

From Brightly: 5 Books That Teach Kids What It Means to Be a Kind Person

From Giuseppe Castellano: 10 Mistakes Illustrators Make

From Zetta Elliott.com: 2016 MG & YA Titles by African Americans

From The Scottish Book Trust: The Writer's Guide to Staying Sane Over Christmas

From The Washington Post: 19 Books to help children find hope and strength in stressful times: A librarian's list

From PW: "Pinch Me, I'm Dreaming" More than a dozen children's book editors describe what it's like to work with writers whose books they loved as children.

From Muddy Colors: An Illustrated Ghost-Story of Christmas (some of the best-illustrated versions of A Christmas Carol!)

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Here in the North Central region of California, the winter is scarcely wild (though it is a bit frosty and rainy) and we are all wearing sweaters and coats and boots and scarves as though freezing to death. (Pause for laughter from everyone east of... Read the rest of this post

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*Want your YA, NA, or MG book featured on my blog? Contact me here and we'll set it up.

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छोटी शिक्षाप्रद प्रेरक बातें – जिंदगी को बदल सकती हैं – कई बार कुछ काम की बातें जोकि  जिंदगी से जुडी होती हैं इसलिए  जानना जरुरी हो जाता है- प्रेरक बातें जिंदगी को बदल सकती हैं.  छोटी शिक्षाप्रद प्रेरक बातें जिंदगी को बदल सकती हैं नेट भी भरा पडा है प्रेरक प्रसंग कहानियाँ , प्रेरक […]

The post छोटी शिक्षाप्रद प्रेरक बातें – जिंदगी को बदल सकती हैं appeared first on Monica Gupta.

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by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

“People are looking for Russians, but what we had is a real Jim Crow election.”

Like a gyroscope gone out of whack, the destabilized U.S. duopoly system is spinning out of control on a course to self-destruction. In a breathtaking rush to they-know-not-where, the Democrats have deliberately whipped up an anti-Russian war hysteria not experienced in three generations.

The Russians, however, have virtually nothing to do with the crisis, which is very soon likely to degenerate into something resembling civil war at home.

The ruling class is undoing itself. Refusing to accept Electoral College defeat, the bipartisan War Party that coagulated in Hillary Clinton’s big campaign tent in terror of Donald Trump’s “softness” on Russia and his heresies regarding the unfettered flow of capital, now stacks dynamite under the very system that has kept the rich in power throughout the history of the Republic. They hope to create a crisis that might -- at maximum -- reverse the election outcome. At minimum, they seek to force the new administration to abandon any notions of peaceful coexistence with those states that present obstacles to U.S. global domination.


However, in their frenzy to abort the Trump presidency, the Clintonites and their bipartisan national security establishment allies are showing the world just how fragile the U.S. political system really is when faced with serious contradictions between ruling elites. The duopoly arrangement, through which the bourgeoisie control both major parties, is the glue that stabilizes the system. There is no magic to the American structure of government that automatically sustains the hegemony of the rich.

If the ruling elites fail to uphold the gentlemen’s agreement that is the heart of the duopoly, then the system can fall apart. Radicals are not expected to be protectors of the duopoly system, but when the bourgeoisie behave so recklessly it is a sign of crisis in the ruling class.


“They hope to create a crisis that might -- at maximum -- reverse the election outcome.”

Donald Trump violated the agreement when he signaled a desire for a thaw with Russia, an end to the regime change offensive, and opposition to so-called “free” trade -- and then took a wrecking ball to the Republican Party establishment. The GOP fat cats fled, to the extent that they could, to Hillary Clinton’s Big Tent, hoping to return to their old turf after The Donald was crushed by the expected Clinton landslide. With their desertion, the GOP-Dem duopoly became dangerously lopsided, unbalanced -- an instability made even more complex by the Democrats’ Bernie Sanders insurgency.



When Trump was declared the winner, Clinton’s Big Tent -- the de facto headquarters of the “truer and more fully explicit ruling class party” -- panicked. The gyro went whacky. For multinational capital, the quest for worldwide full spectrum dominance is an existential issue; they must achieve it, or die.  What they have shown over the past several weeks is that they are willing, and even eager, to bring down the whole edifice of U.S. social and political “checks and balances” -- freedom of speech and other civil liberties -- to sustain the momentum of their neoliberal offensive in the world.

The true hegemony of the ruling class consists of more than simply control of the “commanding heights” of the economy and positions of governmental power, but also of the authoritative political narrative.

The “fake news” bugaboo is a Trojan Horse for speech and thought control, a ruse to reestablish the imperial narrative in all its domestic and international dimensions. It ain’t about “pizza-gate” -- it’s about corporate global power. The mass of folks that are repelled and frightened by Donald Trump and his gang of generalissimos and billionaires may think that they are in a common struggle alongside Clinton and Jill Stein and much of Black leadership against “fascism” in the person of Trump, but the forces in Clinton’s Big Tent are fascists, too, of the global corporate, endless war and deepening austerity kind, who are now drawing up lists of who can speak and what subjects can properly be discussed.

The same people that brought us the Mass Black Incarceration State and preventive detention without charge or trial, too big to jail, systematic Black urban displacement, Kill Lists, proxy jihadist wars and universal surveillance of humanity. The Democrats are emphatically not waging a fight against “fascism.” Instead, they have unleashed a war hysteria.

“The ‘fake news’ bugaboo is a Trojan Horse for speech and thought control, a ruse to reestablish the imperial narrative in all its domestic and international dimensions.”in 2007 – but Putin continued to pursue good relations with the U.S.)

There is nothing “grassroots” about this orchestration of hearings, investigations and legislation aimed at implicating Russia in some conjured aggression against the United States electoral system -- actions that not only did not happen, but should have no legal implications for Americans even if what is alleged to have occurred -- that the Russians selectively released hacked (factual) documents to embarrass Democrats -- did happen.

What is most shocking about the whole affair is that the orchestrators of this War Hysteria/Dump Trump campaign seem to be oblivious to the effect it will have on the people that voted for Trump, representing roughly half of the country. A recount is one thing, but Trump’s supporters will surely not accept the negation of their vote by Hamilton Electors or other machinations. The U.S. criminal justice (and now “Homeland Security”) systems were designed to contain, control and incarcerate the “Others” of society, mainly Black and brown people. If the whites of that political space called “Middle America” decide to burn the house down, there will be no stopping them. Most of the “first responders” are Trump people.

“A recount is one thing, but Trump’s supporters will surely not accept the negation of their vote by Hamilton Electors or other machinations.”

Are the orchestrators deliberately provoking a civil war, or have they lost their minds over the prospect of better relations with the Russians? I think it’s clearly the latter; they haven’t even begun to consider the mass blowback from Trumpland. But, December 19, the date for certification of the electoral vote, is almost upon us.

The election was, of course, stolen – in the usual manner, by Republican Americans. As investigative reporter Greg Palast told Democracy Now!:

“Well, you know, people are looking for Russians, but what we had is a real Jim Crow election. Trump, for example, in Michigan, won by less than 11,000 votes. It looks like we had about 55,000 voters, mostly minorities, removed by this racist system called Crosscheck. In addition, you had a stoppage—even before the courts ordered the complete stop of the vote in Michigan, you had the Republican state officials completely sabotage the recount. They said, in Detroit, where there were 75,335 supposedly blank ballots for president—75,000—they said you can’t count 59 percent of the precincts, where most of the votes were missing. There were 87 machines in Detroit that were—that didn’t function. They were supposed to count about a thousand ballots each. You’re talking about a massive blockade of the black vote in Detroit and Flint, enough votes, undoubtedly, to overturn that election.”



The Democrats never mount a challenge when Jim Crow steals presidential elections. Denying Black people the franchise is kosher, under the gentlemen’s duopoly rules. But, when it comes to improving relations with Russians, the folks in Clinton’s Big Tent go Black Lives Matter on the election process: “Shut It Down!” they scream, “Shut It Down.”

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at [email protected].

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According to Eve Bunting, the most important picture book writing advice is to think visually.

http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/3182/eve-bunting-pointers-for-writing-powerful-picture-books/

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Once you have the scene outlined, it is time to develop the content.

1. Opening Line: Set up the conflict in the scene.



6. Closing line: End with a hook to set up next scene and convince the reader to turn the page.

For more about how to craft plots using conflict check out, Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of conflict available in print and e-book and check out the free tools and information about the series on my website.

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Time has not lately been my friend. I'm way behind on reading. I've got stacks of books here, begging for attention. I've got books behaving (for all the world to see) like furniture.

A few days ago I began to read the big book of the moment, an adult novel that has received every manner of acclaim, both from the prize givers and the lists. I wanted to love this book. I'd spent good hardcover money on it after all (something I thought about, something I must consider), and my friends were (mostly) enthralled. I chose it from the overwhelming pile, and I tried, believe me, I tried. Between sheets of baking cookies. While my husband watched Alaska shows. While I waited for the food shopping crowds to thin. I tried. I read. I tried.

Dutifully, I read. The story was important; I felt that on every page. But oh, those sentences. So relentlessly declarative. So devoted to moving the plot along at such a feverish pace that characters felt far more like symbols than people and scenes felt more like stage sets and philosophy felt stylized, rushed.

The book was an idea. But was it a book? And what kind of snob am I, to be asking such a question about a novel of what will be enduring prestige?

Had I, in the rush of my real life, in the daily swell of recommendation letters, bill writing, house cleaning, research, present wrapping, food buying, novel writing, forgotten how to read?

I needed to find out. I needed to get up early (this very morning) and reach for another book and determine whether I had lost my readerly touch, my patience, my gratitude for stories on the page. I chose Everywhere I Look, the new essay collection by the Australian Helen Garner. I opened up. I took a breath. I settled.

I settled and swelled. It took just a single page to believe in books again.

"When I was in my forties I went on holiday to Vanuatu with a kind and very musical man to whom I would not much longer be married, though I didn't know it yet," Garner writes—the fist lines of the first essay, "Whisper and Hum." She hates the tropics, she tells us, in the very next sentence, then:

And what I hated most was the sight of a certain parasitic creeper that flourished aggressively, bowing the treetops down and binding them to each other in a dense, undifferentiated mat of choking foliage. I longed to be transported at once to Scotland where the air was sharp and the nights brisk, and where plants were encouraged to grow separately and upright, with individual dignity.

Can't you just see it? Don't you marvel at how she chooses to introduce herself? As almost not married, as oppressed by density, as longing for sharp air and dignity?

I'm halfway through this collection now. I'll write more of it in the January edition of Juncture Notes, our memoir newsletter. I'm just here, on this blog, to say, Thank you, Helen Garner. Thank you, very much. For shaping and breaking and delineating your life in ways that bring about a pleasant startle.

Finally, a word on the photo: That is a photo I took in Berlin, a city for which we mourn over this holiday weekend, a city I came to love during my travels there and during my subsequent research for the Berlin novel, Going Over. We keep getting our hearts broken out here by losses, individual and obscene, suffered at the hands of cruel ideology. We don't know what to say. We remember the wild beauty of a place shedding a dark history and hope for that wild beauty to carry forward, while those who have been lost are remembered widely.

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Question: My question is basically that when writing certain addresses, should real house numbers be taken or we should fabricate entirely different numbers

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