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Jul. 6th, 2009


[info]bottle_of_shine

Dooley Takes the Fall (Norah McClintock)

there is a review behind this cut! )

[info]lauren_myracle

Hold up, Winnie-ites, one more for ya!

Okay, lovie-dovies?  Y'ALL. ROCK.  Seriously.  Thank you so much for, um, helping me remember the deets of my novels!!!!!

One last question...I think.  I hope!

How many times did Winnie get stung by the yellow jackets that day when she was jumping on the trampoline with Amanda, and got miffed, and set off through the woods and ran smack into a wasp nest????

P.S. Guess whom that really happened to?  If you guessed me...yep!  Only it was in North Carolina, and I wasn't with Amanda.  And I was a lot younger, and there were no Mike 'N Ikes involved.  Still...owwie!!!!!



[info]tamarak

Um...

Click here: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Chicken-Dance/Tammi-Sauer/e/9781402753664/?itm=1

And see these words: Usually ships in 24 hours.

Okay.

Feeling a LITTLE freaked out. After all this time, people will soon be READING this book.

Holy chicken.

[info]mountainmist

Bob the Stag Beetle and other stories of early summer in pictures...

I'm catching up on pictures...here are a few glimpses of late spring and early summer...Stories from the Sewanee Young Writers to come soon too! We had a great cracking thunderstorm today.

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BOB, THE STAG BEETLE FROM SEWANEE

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NORAH NAMED HIM BOB...HE HAS GONE TO NASHVILLE TO VISIT THE COUSINS.

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LUCY'S GRADUATION WITH BIG BROTHER AND LITTLE SISTER

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SUMMER ESTEP FROM BEAR BRANCH, KENTUCKY...ONE OF LUCY'S PICTURES

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LAST FIELD TRIP OF THE YEAR...LONG BEACH AQUARIUM

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A MORNING HIKE IN SEWANEE...

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TREE SPRITES IN LOS ANGELES...

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NORAH'S KITTY, "DAISY," WHO DID NOT MAKE THE TRIP TO SEWANEE...

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NORAH, FLANNERY, AND LUCY...

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HAPPY GRADUATES...LUCY AND ANDREW...

[info]tamra_wight

Maxwell and baby robins . . .


(Tami rushes in, huffing and puffing)

Here I am! 

Sorry to go missing yet again. 

Lots happening here!

Campers are still arriving - although not as many as usual due to rain and cool weather.  Those that are here are eager to make the most of it!

I've been researching projects such as Exploding Lunch bags and boat building from recyclables.   And I've been posting making sure Maxwell posts on the campground blog weekly. 

That's how I get my writing fix in, even though I'm working 60 hour weeks right now.

I was told by a camper today  that his ten year old son spent the winter checking Maxwell's blog.  I thought he was exaggerating until the young man came into the store, hands in pockets, and stood looking at the floor.  Very solemnly, he said, "Your new painted floor looks really great Tami.  Maxwell said you worked hard on it for a week."

I re-painted and clear coated the floor back in November. 

Gotta love those ten year olds.

I've been posting as Maxwell for so long over on that blog, I've been playing with a PB about him.  We have one theater kid, a friend of my daughter's, who is amazing in the suit . He climbs the climber .. . he acts out the books at story time . . . he tries to sneak into the bouncy house, even though his antlers are much too big



The kids get the biggest kick out of him!

And I've been given much inspiration. 

Now I just have to find quiet time to mold it!



Yesterday, a bunch of kids ran in the store . . .

"Tami, Tami, Tami!  There's a baby bird on the ground and he has a broken wing!"

I grabbed my gloves and followed them - after grabbing the camera of course.

Off the beaten path, under some young trees, was this



A baby robin, I think.  We quickly determined he wasn't hurt.  Just trying to hide from all the commotion.  I pointed out his parent, calling from a nearby tree, and shooed all the kids home.   "He needs to find a place to hide.  He'll be okay . . . "

I sure hope he is.

 



[info]sbennettwealer

Looking for the Perfect Summer Read?

First, let me apologize for the weird formatting. For some reason, I can't get text to wrap around an image. Grrr. But I'm not going to let it keep me from posting, because I've been dying to tell everybody about my friend Darcy Vance's debut novel, "The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading" (written with co-author Charity Tahmaseb). I DID tell you about it when it came out a month or so ago, and I hope you took my recommendation and bought it. If you didn't, consider this a nudge, because I am back now to REALLY to tell you about it.

Actually, I can't talk about "Geek Girl's Guide" without talking a little bit about myself, specifically about how I came to know Darcy. We met several years ago in an aspiring YA writers' group hosted by Lauren Barnholdt. We were invited to post bits of our novels for critique, and I posted part of RIVAL. Immediately, Darcy responded. She totally *got* my story. She became one of its biggest champions, and I can honestly say the book would not be what it is if it wasn't for her TLC.

I also was honored to get to read one of Darcy's projects, and I was blown away by a couple of things. First, she KNOWS teens. And if you know Darcy at all, you know this is because she is so incredibly devoted to her own children. She loves and admires and respects them -  she even accompanies them to concerts! As a result, she is a wiz at capturing the teen voice.

She also writes with an incredible amount of heart. I'm not as familiar with Charity's work, but she seems to be a good match for Darcy in that department, because that is what really grabbed me about "Geek Girl." It is written with so much love and care, with main characters you wish you could hug - or at least just hang out with for a little while longer.

Bethany is the titular geek girl - comfortable in her role as an invisible genius, until her best friend convinces her to try out for cheerleading, and they both make the varsity squad. Bethany is thrust into a short skirt and a new, much more visible role--one that brings a lot of new questions, like what do you do when the school "It" girl spills beer on you at your first in-crowd party? And how can you tell if the star basketball player likes you for your mind or your pom poms?

Charity and Darcy do a great job of flirting with and then skirting stereotypes (jocks and cheerleaders are not all evil, geeks have definite student body president potential, and the cheerleading sponsor will make adults who read this book want to give her a high-five). But the best thing about "Geek Girl's Guide" is the characters. They're wonderful. Bethany is sweet and smart and funny and sympathetic. Jack, the head jock, is both vulnerable and hunky. And Todd, Bethany's best geek guy friend-- well, let's just say that if he got together with Matt, the geek guy in MY book, they could probably rule the world with their awesomeness.

So what are you waiting for? I bet if you went to your favorite bookstore, you'd find "The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading" on a table of great summer reads. That's where I found my copy. Get your own, and get to know Darcy and Charity's work. I give them a high kick, a herky and a great big splits finish. Go, "Geek Girls!"
 



[info]maryrobinette

Refurbishing a table

Table, beforeFor the film shoot last week I needed furniture to represent ten different scenic locations, all shot on greenscreen. Besides dealing with the usual greenscreen parameter of avoiding reflective surfaces I also had a fairly tight budget. This meant that some of the rental furniture I picked up wasn’t in stellar condition. You’ll notice that this table, which has a very nice form, has gaping cracks which were repaired with gorilla glue, leaving nasty white scars all over it.

This particular rental house doesn’t mind if I give their furniture “a little love” so the white scars were acceptable. Most rental houses don’t want you to do anything to their props. Rightly so.

While we were renting out the Little Shop of Horrors puppets, the number of times they came back with horrendous “repairs” or “enhancements” that took a lot of labor to undo.

Just a note: When renting props, unless you have specific permission in writing from the prop house, don’t do anything to the props that you can’t completely undo. And make sure you undo it before returning the prop.

Table, afterFor this, since the practical antique value of the piece is gone, I was able to take the easy route. I mixed up two tones of paint to match the wood tone. Using a stiff bristle brush, I worked it into the gorilla glue, taking some care to match the grain of the wood.

Once I finished that, I gave it a once over with furniture polish and voila. A table that looks rustic, but not trashed.

Comments? -- Link.


[info]lisamullarkey

Scratching my Head: Review

Good news: Major Mama Drama was recommended to K-5 students.



Bad news: Despite what the review says, Peter Pan/Wendy/Plays aren't even mentioned in the story. (Posted on a Denver Public Schools site.)

Their review:

"Katherine can’t believe how insistent her mother has become about her trying out for the part of Wendy in the school production of Peter Pan. Her mother keeps pulling out photos and old costumes from when she played the part of Wendy. She keeps talking about making it a family tradition. How is Katherine ever going to break it to her mother that she doesn’t want the part of Wendy?
Books in this series, Katherine the Almost Great, are full of family drama and fun. These books are for middle elementary age readers who are ready to step up from beginning reader books to easy chapters. Scattered pen and ink drawings add interest to the story but don’t overwhelm.

(It does sound cute but I digress...)

The blurb on my book:

Major Mama Drama: Katharine knows her mom’s super-duper secret and thinks it’s a super-duper dud! Mrs. Carmichael is the new cook at Liberty Corner School—Katharine’s school! When her mom blows her kisses, bans fries from the menu, and delivers sour milk to her classroom, Katharine’s stomach does a flip-flop belly drop. Can Katharine survive her major mama drama?

At least they correctly summarized (and recommended!) The Red, White, and Blue Crew.




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[info]seaheidi

#TWITTERFAIL

I was just locked out of Twitter for too many updates.
And it was my reward for finishing my edits!
*cries*

[info]tezmilleroz

Writer's Block: Listen to This

If a friend asked you for some new music recommendations, what would you suggest?


View other answers

Kasabian's West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum and Daniel Merriweather's Love & War. Enjoy :-)

Jul. 5th, 2009

[info]elockhar

ALA

For librarians!


I'll be at ALA this coming weekend, starting Saturday afternoon. 

I don't know my precise schedule yet, but I'll be"
 
at the YA author coffee clatch on Sunday morning, 
attending the Newbery/Caldecott banquet (squee!)
signing I think for both Random House and Hyperion on Monday during the day (including ARCs of The Treasure Map of Boys, which comes out late July)
Printz Awards dinner Monday night

Come see me and say hello. That's what I'm there for!  And forgive me, in advance, if I am shy. 

E

[info]edithspage

Writers' Retreat

Me and some awesome writer chicks are headed out of town tomorrow. This is a "working" retreat where we are supposed to put our fannies in a chair and write. I hear there's no Internet. This sounds glorious to me so I hope this rumor is true. Although already there have been a flurry of emails about wine and board games and outlet malls, so I imagine there will be plenty of other shiny things to distract us. To keep us honest, I'm packing the ladybug timer.

From Blog


The ladybug is a gentle yet effective mistress. She is also good luck. We can start the morning with some butt-in-chair so we can deserve the shopping, eating, wine drinking, and heated scrabble matches. Work hard, play hard. I can't wait!

[info]aprilhenry

What do a high-powered lawyer and a homeless man have in common? Books

I LOVED this story in the Boston Globe.

"The story of the book club, now in its 10th month, is a tale of ordinary city life upended. It began with a stunningly unlikely friendship, between two men from different worlds: Peter Resnik, a high-powered lawyer on his way to work, and Rob, a homeless man guarding a friend’s shopping cart on Boston Common. Through months of daily conversations, that began with jokes and sports talk and gradually delved deeper, they found a common interest: literature. And when they saw the bridge that they had built, they recognized its potential for others."

You can read more here.



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[info]lizgallagher

June Reading and Watching Report

BOOKS


NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL by Justina Chen Headley. I finally had time to spend with this lovely book, and I'm so glad I did. It's a recommended read @ Readergirlz this month, along with The Opposite of Invisible. I'm so honored to be in Tina's company!


WINTERGIRLS by Laurie Halse Anderson. She's done it again! I loved, loved the voice in this book, and what an important book it is. I feel pretty confident that Laurie will save lives with this one.


BLUE BOY by Rakesh Satyal. Enjoyed this book quite a bit, and am looking forward to a conversation with Rakesh, who is also an editor at HarperCollins, about the choice to write and publish as adult vs YA; see his thoughts in August @ Through the Tollbooth.


SILVER SCREEN


UP. Loved!


[500] DAYS OF SUMMER. Saw during SIFF. Am in love with. See it when it opens later this month.


AWAY WE GO. Were it not for SUMMER, woulda been my favorite movie of the month.

NETFLIX DVD


TRUE BLOOD. Finished season one. Am lamenting lack of HBO to get into season two.


NETFLIX INSTANT

I watched a lot on here this month, but the only two I feel are really worth mentioning are . . .


BATMAN (1989). Holds up! Got to verify long-lasting memory about Joker putting on flesh-colored makeup over his white skin.


CALIFORNICATION. Um, I think I watched 9 episodes in a row. Season one only. Love the daughter character (the sweet one; not the twisty psychopath, though she's a good character, too, actually). Am also lamenting lack of Showtime; season two is all right there On Demand! Someday, my Netflix will come.


ON DEMAND

Again, watched a lot not worth mentioning, but do want to warn you to stay away should you be tempted by . . .


MANEATER. Now, I'm a fan of chick flicks, and of chick lit (and I don't mind the term, so I use it), but this chick-mini-series stretched the limits of fun for me. The first hour was fine, and I like Sarah Chalke, but. Just, don't.

[info]mountainmist

"DEAR MR. BOWIE" by Vivian Beltran..Stories from Sewanee

I am teaching at the Sewanee Young Writers Conference at the University of the South atop Monteagle Mountain in Sewanee, Tennessee, which is about forty miles or so from Chattanooga. http://www.sewanee.edu/ywc/

Norah was with me for a week at sports camp but has gone down the mountain to Nashville to join her cousins who are gathering for their grandmother's (Mama Frances) 80th birthday celebration for the next ten days or so. All 13 of Mama Frances' children will be coming from all over - Germany, Turkey, Montreal, New York, Texas, Seattle, Los Angeles - to help her celebrate.

I'll be up here teaching for another week before joining the family in Nashville. I've had an amazing workshop with a group of incredibly talented and supportive group of young teen writers. I'll be posting their stories here this week as they send them to me, (and so long as the wireless on the mountain don't quit me.) They have written a range of story sparks from "bossy, instructive stories" in the style of Jamaica Kincaid's GIRL to first jobs to Natalie Goldberg's "I remember" to want-ad stories to 4th of July character monologues from people watching to lots more...We're reading Brenda Ueland, Amy Bloom, Stewart O'Nan, Arlene Hutton, Anne Lamott, Pamela Painter & Anne Bernays, Ron Carlson, Amy Hempel, Flannery O'Connor, John Steinbeck, Kevin Wilson, ZZ Packer, Octavia Butler, and tons more...

Our first young writer is Vivian Beltran from Louisiana who has written a David Bowie poem.

Dear Mr. Bowie

Dear Mr. Bowie, I’m afraid to confess
That, very much to my own distress,
I only first knew you as the Goblin King
And only then did I hear you sing
Your voice a blessing to my ears
So much so that I forgot my fears
Of the glitter ‘round your eyes so bright
Of those periwinkle pants so tight
And thus I discovered your many songs
Of space astronauts and society’s wrongs
From Major Tom to a girl named Blue Jean
And all the young Americans in between
I am captivated by men on stars
Convinced that there is Life on Mars
From your jumpsuit’s left leg often left bare
To your stylish swagger and piercing stare
From Heroes, Ziggy, and your China Girl too
Dear Mr. Bowie, I love you

~ Vivian Beltran


http://www.clashmusic.com/files/imagecache/big_node_view/files/images/david_bowie_07.jpg


[info]seaheidi

Playlist for SEA

Now includes this song (that, yes, is making me cry)

How adorable is this boy?


Today: Kids, hubby gone. Beach day canceled.
Me: Eight hours to revise.
Why?:SEA goes to copy-edits on Tuesday (gasp!)

[info]amjenkins

(no subject)

How do you know what to show and what to tell? Trial and error sucks. It's exhausting to sit down to a blank chapter and know that I'm probably going to write it wrong ten times before I work around to something even remotely heading in the direction of being right. It's hard to get started on a day's work that might well end up with me in the clueless middle of wrongness.

But what else is there to do? It doesn't get written if I won't pull it up and work on it. Gawd. Now I know why all those writers drank.

[info]shakennstirred

Sunday Hangovers

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781416963790?aff>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

<p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/lAQV/~3/B8ta2Asrir0/sunday-hangovers.html">http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/lAQV/~3/B8ta2Asrir0/sunday-hangovers.html</a></p><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><ul>
<li><a href="http://amongamidwhile.blogspot.com/2009/07/observer-wags-finger.html">Margo Lanagan provides an example of how to respond to crazy reviews</a>, if you're going to respond. Of course, she does have the advantage of being a genius.</li>
<li><span><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%E2%88%9Ahttp://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&amp;q=tamagotchi+graveyard&amp;btnG=Google+Search&amp;meta=&amp;aq=f&amp;oq=">Tamagotchi graveyards</a>! (via <a href="http://jennydavidson.blogspot.com">Jenny D</a>.)</span> </li>
<li><span><a href="http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379/post/680046268.html">Betsy recommends new picture book The Secret Circus</a>, which sounds AMAZING.</span> </li>
<li><span>In honor of the now ended #yaauthorfeud that broke out on twitter over the weekend, a few links: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/books/review/Donadio.t.html">Rachel Donadio writing about literary feuds in 2006</a>; <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2007/mar/30/typewritersatdawngreatlite">the Guardian book blog on same in 2007</a>; and there's always Anthony Arthur's <a href="https://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780312272098-0">Literary Feuds: A Century of Celebrated Quarrels--From Mark Twain to Tom Wolfe</a>.</span></li>
<li><span><a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article6624333.ece">Glen David Gold interview in the Times</a>. </span> </li>
<li><span>Back later this week with some thoughts on Sarah Rees Brennan's marvelous new novel, The Demon's Lexicon (<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/lAQV/~3/B8ta2Asrir0/a%20href=" http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781416963790?aff="shakstir09&quot;">Indiebound</a>|<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1416963790/shakestirr-20">Amazon</a>).</span> </li>
</ul></div>

[info]aprilhenry

A book publicity blog

A book publicist at a large house has a blog filled with a variety of helpful tips, some for other publicity folks, some for authors. A recent one looks at the pros and cons of different levels of web presence.

You can read it here.



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[info]m_stiefvater

Vomiting (as depicted in art) and Maggie Acting Out of Character

First, I must include a random photo of the most distressing cake I have ever made. Thing 1's birthday party was yesterday and she requested a princess cake on short notice, with low provisions. So I was forced to create the Fugly Cake with princesses baked inside. I am displaying it here for everyone who as ever asked me "Maggie, what can't you do?"

That, my friends, is my answer.

Anyway, onto my anecdote. The other day I was driving down from a fairly disastrous trip to an Elizabeth Scott book signing (disastrous because there was no Elizabeth Scott there). In tow I had my sister and Thing 1 & Thing 2.

Anyway, on the way back, to make up for sitting in traffic on the Devil's Vortex of Doom, High Blood Pressure, and Wankers in Porsches*, my sister asked if we could stop at this antiques place that always had cool furniture sitting out front. Since I'd just subjected her to five hours of driving, I acquiesced.

*otherwise known as I-95

I am not normally an antiques person. I did not even realize that 'antique' could be a verb until a few years ago. So I was largely disinterested. I did, however, find myself highly attracted to this mug/ stein thing. As you can see at the right, it depicts people dancing in pairs, holding fiddles, and . . . vomiting. I mean, what is that guy doing there on the left? Do you see him? The one with the string of something coming from his mouth?

I am pretty sure that is an excess of Heineken, right there.

Anyway, so if you guys ever wanted to know what kind of things would spur me to act out of character and spending money, now you know. Salt-glazed German guys playing music and vomiting artistically.

You have a better explanation for what that gentleman is doing?


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