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Happy Monday!

Today I'm a guest over at WOW! Women on Writing. Jodi Webb interviewed me and we're holding a Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning book giveaway! Come on over! You don't even have to be a woman to win!

Blueberry news: Last Thursday, I turned in my rough draft for The Hotel of Blueberry Goodness, and Friday morning, my editor sent me an email saying this: I was blown away by the story. Hooray! and YAY! Revisions are next.

In other news, I had an epiphany over the weekend: American Idol is not a contest of who sings the best. It's a contest of whose fans dial in their votes the fastest and are willing to do so for the full two hour voting window. Adam Lambert fans, we cannot have a repeat of last week.

With this in mind, I have been doing finger push-ups and thumb squats, twenty reps, three times a day. Timed drills on my land line and ATT cell phone prove that my speed is improving. LOOK OUT, NON-ADAM fans--I'm feeling AMBIDEXTROUS!

Sandy N., MAC, AprilGarden, AnnaG.--I'm talking to you! Team Adam has been mobilized!

If you live in the Orlando area, I would love to meet you! Thanks to Sandy Nawrot, bb extraordinaire, and Geoffrey Shoffstall of B&N, I'll be doing a meet-and-greet book signing at Barnes & Noble in the Colonial Plaza Market Center (2418 East Colonial Drive, Orlando). Please come!

Other events include an interview May 4th at The Muffin, WOW! Women on Writing blog, followed by a blog tour. Please visit me at some of these wonderful sites:

May 5th ZookBookNook

May 8th FriendlyBookNook

May 12th A Mama's Rant

May 20th Mother Daughter Book Club

May 22th A Good Blog Is Hard to Find

June 4th Read These Books and Use Them

Hope to see you there!

This weekend, I was interviewed by WOW! Magazine's warm and wonderful Angela Mackintosh. Angela is the editor and CEO of WOW! and just an all-around great person. I've enjoyed reading her interviews with other writers because they seem so natural and conversational, and I felt the same way as I answered her questions. Click here to read the interview.

If you've never visited WOW! Magazine, let me say it's a good site to add to your favorites. Every month, new articles on the craft and business of writing are added, and the site hosts a quarterly flash fiction contest, which is judged by qualified readers: the last contest was judged by literary agent Kristin Nelson; this quarter's contest will be judged by literary agent Wendy Sherman. Want to get acquainted with an agent? This is a good way to do it. There's even an option for critique.

I've enjoyed this website for more than a year, so it was an honor to break in.

Okay, folks, the good people at WOW! Women On Writing have posted their new contest, which will be judged by literary agent Kristen Nelson. This is a good chance to get your work in front of a great agent. Hook her in five hundred words or less to win.

UPDATE: Yes, male writers can submit!

Here's the link: WOW! Women On Writing Flash Fiction Contest

Good luck!

Babar gets the Children's Books That Never Were treatment over at Saints and Spinners.

Coming soon to a theater near you?












Note: Saints and Spinner's Children's Books That Never Were series (click here for all of them) is one of the greatest ideas ever. Blows sliced bread out of the freakin' water. Which is a good thing, because putting bread in water (let alone freakin' water) is never a good idea--unless you're in a hot dog eating contest. Actually, entering a hot dog eating contest is also never a good idea... so yeah, I think it's safe to say that Bread + Water = Gross.

But I digress. Point is, if I had a time machine and could travel back in time to steal ideas, Children's Books That Never Were would be near the top of my list. Unfortunately, my time machine will probably never be finished because there is simply too much football to be watched. (Go Pats!) So consider yourself lucky, Alkelda!

Author/Illustrator: Nick Bruel

A young kangaroo emerges from her mother's pouch to learn how to hop. She watches as her mother and friends demonstrate by bouncing all over the place, but every time she tries she ends up flat on her tail. Finally, someone tells her to empty her pouch. The little kangaroo proceeds to pull out a treasure trove of kid goodies. No wonder she couldn't get off the ground! Once she is free from the weight of her childhood toys, she gives it one more shot and... BOING!

This is a very cute book, but its message is a little outdated. Yes, it used to be true that you needed to shed your childhood baggage before you could make the leap into adulthood... but no more. In today's consumer driven society, there is an entire market dedicated to accomodating the wants and needs of kidtastic adults.

A few pieces of evidence:
-Age of the average video game player: mid 30s
-Last week's top grossing movies were: 1) Harry Potter, 2) Transformers, and 3) Ratatouille (a.k.a. Picture of the Year)
-The World Adult Kickball Association



And that's just the tip of the iceberg. So, as you can see, there is no longer any need to empty your pouch of the trappings of childhood. By all means, take it all with you!

From a sociological standpoint, this makes complete sense. We grew up as the first generation whose childhood was completely oversaturated by commercials. Previous generations were exposed to advertising, but nothing like the ruthless onslaught of brand name bullying that was Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Madison Avenue unleashed an unholy army led by the Trix Rabbit, Zack the Lego Maniac, and the Mario Brothers, cold-blooded mercenaries who easily conquered us and turned us into the most maleable and market-friendly generation of all time. The message that they left us with was an almost zen-like mantra of Gimme Gimme Gimme.

Apparently, the message was so powerful that, not only do we still want (need) to buy stuff, we still want to buy almost the exact same stuff that we did as when we were young. And true to their word, the market is providing us with tons of junk on which to spend our money. Hey, why should kids get to have all the fun?

This redefinition of adulthood is a phenomenon that is described in excruciatingly pithy detail by the controversial new book, Welcome to Neverland: How the Free Market Raised Us To Be a Generation of Peter Pansies.

Keep in mind, I am not disparaging anyone for "not growing up." As someone who spends his spare time writing about picture books, I'm the last one to pass judgement. As they say, people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

...which I always thought was a pretty silly saying--I mean, who the heck lives in a glass house? Then I saw this picture of a celebrated "postmodern" house designed by the famous architect Philip Johnson in 1949:













Well I'll be damned. So yeah, I guess they're right. If you happen to be unlucky enough to live in this ridiculous glass house (in New Canaan, Connecticut of all places), it would not be a good idea to throw stones. Unless it's to throw them at the guy who had the brilliant idea to build your house with glass walls. In which case, throw away. I won't judge you.