Gratz Industries

Join me at the Highlights 2012 Whole Novel Workshop!

2011-12-28T12:13:00.002-05:00

This coming March, I'm going to be part of the faculty at the 2012 Whole Novel Workshop run by the Highlights Foundation at their Honesdale, PA compound. It's a week of one-on-one critiques and small-group discussions about writing novels for kids with me, Newbery Honor-winner Kathi Appelt, Christopher Award-winner Jeanette Ingold, and the extraordinarily-awesome Greenwillow editor Martha Mihalik. We'll be reading the attendees' complete manuscripts in advance, writing extensive critique letters, and then spending the week in Honesdale helping you find a revision plan that will make your novel ready for prime time!

The deadline for applying to the workshop is fast approaching though. You only have until the end of the calendar year to apply! For more information on the workshop and how to apply, visit www.highlightsfoundation.org. You can also secure your spot by contacting Jo Lloyd at 570-253-1192, e-mailing her at jo.lloyd@highlightsfoundation.org, or requesting an application at the above link.

Here's more information from the Highlights press release:

Many times when a manuscript is rejected, it isn’t because the writingis weak. It’s because the manuscript isn’t ready. We all want to pushour work to the next phase, but sometimes we submit work to agentsor publishers before it's ready. Maybe we’ve shown the manuscript to ourwriting group. Maybe we’ve revised a few times. Maybe we think we’vedone all we can do. But what we really need is a writing coach, a revisionplan, and a clear strategy to make the best book we can. In today’s demandingworld of publishing, you get only one chance to grab the attention of an agentor editor, so make that chance count. Make sure you are ready.

The Highlights Foundation’s Whole Novel Workshop has been helping writerspolish their manuscripts since 2006. Participants receive a readingof and editorial response to their complete manuscript prior to a weekdedicated to revision and readying your manuscript for submission. We offeran award-winning faculty of writers, editors, and agents to help make yourbook the best it can be. Through one-on-one critiques and small-group discussions,we focus on revision plans, query letters, and pitch strategies to getyou ready to submit. We also nourish your creativity with a privatecabin in which to think and write, farm-style meals, and an environmentthat will refresh your publishing dreams.

Our first wholenovel workshop in 2012takes place March 11–17. Submission deadline is December 30. The facultyincludes award-winning authors and talented teachers Kathi Appelt, AlanGratz, and Jeannette Ingold, as well as smart and sassy editor Martha Mahalickfrom Greenwillow Books. Authors Janet Fox and Karen Henley round out thesupport team as teaching assistants.

Come spend a week in the woods and finally get your manuscript readyfor publication!

Hope to see you there!

Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction

2011-12-13T15:56:00.000-05:00

I am very pleased to announce that I have a short story in the upcoming Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction--An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories. Sales of Tomo will benefit young people affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake that triggered powerful tsunami waves, devastated the area around Sendai, and killed and injured more than 20,000 people. Even today, people throughout Japan are still dealing with the effects of the earthquake.

Tomo will debut almost exactly one year to the day of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Here's a bit more about it from the Tomo website:

Tomo (meaning “friend” in Japanese) is an anthology of young adult short fiction in prose, verse and graphic art set in or related to Japan. This collection for readers age 12 and up features thirty-six stories—including ten in translation and two graphic narratives—contributed by authors and artists from around the world, all of whom share a connection to Japan. English-language readers will be able to connect with Japan through a wide variety of unique stories, including tales of friendship, mystery, fantasy, science fiction and history.

By sharing “friendship through fiction,” Tomo aims to bring Japan stories to readers worldwide, and in doing so, to help support young people affected or displaced by the March 11, 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami disasters. Proceeds from the sales of this book will go directly toward long-term relief efforts for teens in Tohoku, the area most affected by the disasters, in the northeast region of Japan’s main island, Honshu.

Edited and with a Foreword by Holly Thompson, Tomo contributing authors and artists include Andrew Fukuda (Crossing), Liza Dalby (The Tale of Murasaki), Tak Toyoshima (Secret Asian Man syndicated comic), Alan Gratz (The Brooklyn Nine), Wendy Nelson Tokunaga (Love in Translation), Deni Y. Béchard (Vandal Love), Debbie Ridpath Ohi (illustrator of I’m Bored), Graham Salisbury (Under the Blood-Red Sun), Naoko Awa (The Fox’s Window and Other Stories), Suzanne Kamata (The Beautiful One Has Come) and Shogo Oketani (J-Boys), among others.

My contribution, a short story called "The Ghost Who Came to Breakfast," is the story of a zashiki warashi (a good luck ghost) whose friendship is financially rewarding--but comes at a high price.

I hope you'll help support relief efforts in Tohoku by purchasing a copy of Tomo when it becomes available. You'll be rewarded with a terrific collection of Japan-themed prose, poetry and sequential art!

Click here to learn more about Tomo, and to pre-order a copy.

Me, in third grade

2011-12-08T15:13:00.001-05:00

Can you find the future kids book writer in this picture? (Click to see the image larger.) Here's a hint: he's rocking some awesome pants.

This is what happens when I take too long shopping and Jo gets bored

2011-10-30T11:13:00.002-04:00

We found her posing with the mannequins in the front window of--you guessed it--The Gap.

Three Als

2011-10-17T11:03:00.000-04:00

Allan Wolf, me, and Al the Alligator, mascot of Archer Lodge Middle School in Wendell, NC. North Carolina School Library Media Association Annual Conference, 2011.

DragonCon Masquerade Costumes 2011 - Space Ghost, Brak, and Zorak

2011-09-06T12:17:00.000-04:00

Here we are--your 2011 DragonCon Masquerade winners for Best Humor! That's Jo as Brak on the left, Alan as Space Ghost in the middle, and Wendi operating the life-sized Zorak puppet on the right.

That's us leaving the place where the professional photographer takes our picture. We're going to try and get a copy of that picture. If we do, we'll post it. Here though you can see a bit more of how Zorak works. Stretched out, he's six feet tall. Wendi straps his belt to her around her waist, and a lanyard anchored on his shoulders stretches around her neck to hold the top of him. Zorak's feet are on black boards, which are strapped to Wendi like sandals.

Another shot of us backstage before the show.

And another.

We're ready for our close-up.

No pics of us during the show--we were out there performing, and our handler Indigo was waiting to help us off stage behind the curtain. Maybe someone will post something to YouTube? Here we are after the show, getting ready to have our pictures taken again, this time with our Best Humor award certificate. That's two category awards in two tries for us. Two more, and we are moved up from the Journeyman category to the Master category...

Walking through the bowels of the Hyatt for the fan photography session. I just like the dizziness of this one. Most of the Masquerade is a blur.

Getting our pictures taken!

Heading off stage after more pictures.

After the official photo shoot, we camped out in the lobby of the Marriott hotel for more picture takers.

By the end of the night, we were all pretty beat.

Our tireless handler Indigo, sitting with Brak's head while Jo takes a breather.

It was a long night--we got done at 12:30 am!--but a good time was had by all. We were thrilled to once again get a category win at the DragonCon Masquerade, and we're already planning our costumes for next year!

Super Mario Bros. Jitterbug

2011-08-11T12:25:00.002-04:00

Too awesome for words.

Happy Birthday, Jo!

2011-08-09T21:25:00.001-04:00

Happy birthday, kid! You're nine!

A Nyan Cat cake, decorated by the birthday girl herself.

(That's a real Pop Tart on there, too.)

Nyan nyan nyan-nyan, nyan-nyan-nyan-nyan-nyan-nyan...

Asheville to Nashville with three fab authors!

2011-07-05T07:45:00.003-04:00

This August, I'm pleased as punch to be part of the Asheville to Nashville tour with Myra McEntire, Victoria Schwab, and Beth Revis! They'll be stopping in eight cities in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and I'll be joining them Sunday, August 7th from 3-5 p.m. for their event in Knoxville, Tennessee at Union Ave Books.

Here's the scoop from the o-fficial announcement!

---

Myra, Victoria, and Beth are thrilled about bringing a tour to their local areas--from Asheville, NC, to Nashville, TN. We'd love it if you came out to see us, and we want to make sure that everyone in the area knows about it!

But we know that not everyone gets to have a tour stop in their backyard. So, we're going to bring the tour to YOU. With signed books, straight from the tour, mailed straight to YOU.

We're going to be adding to the prize pack as we go, but so far we're happy to say that these will be included, all of which will be SIGNED by the author!

SIGNED hardback copy

SIGNED ARC copy

Signed copy PLUS a signed poster!

SIGNED hardback copy

That's right! SEVEN SIGNED BOOKS + a signed poster + more swag + some fun things that we're going to pick up on the way. THIS PRIZE PACK IS HUGE!!!

To enter: help us spread the word & fill out the form below!

There are lots of way to help us spread the word! You can do something as simple as tell a friend, but we want as many people as possible to come to our tour and find out about it.

So, tell a friend about it!

Or...tweet!

Or...Facebook!

Or...blog! You could either make a post about it or share our widget!

Additional contest information:

Open to the US & Canada only--sorry, but the authors have to pay shipping themselves.
Entrants must be 13 years old or older
To be entered, you must fill out the form below
Contest closes on August 12, 2011

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Interview: Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire

2011-07-01T22:00:00.000-04:00

Check out my interview over at Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire, in which we discuss Horatio Wilkes, comedy, fear, and social media, among other things.

My Favorite Summer Day Trip

2011-06-14T11:15:00.000-04:00

I was asked to write a short piece about a favorite North Carolina summer day trip for Artful Living, a regular newsletter from the North Carolina Arts Council. I picked something right in my back yard: Penland School of Crafts! Check out my suggestion and more from other NC artists here.

Hope you're having a great summer

2011-06-04T12:06:00.001-04:00

Brooklyn Nine makes the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award Master List

2011-06-02T16:18:00.000-04:00

More good news for The Brooklyn Nine: it's been selected for the 2011-2012 Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award Master List, sponsored by the Minnesota Youth Reading Awards! Minnesota students in grades 6-8 who read and/or listen to at least three titles from the list get to vote. Thanks, Minnesota readers--I hope I can count on your vote!

I'm Alan Gratz, and I approve this message. :-)

Brooklyn Nine makes Garden State Teen Book Award list

2011-05-24T11:47:00.000-04:00

Some good news to share: The Brooklyn Nine has been nominated for the 2012 Garden State Teen Book Award for Grades 6-8. All right! Thanks, New Jersey. Once again, I'm in great company--and once again, students will read B9 along with a lot of other books and vote on their favorite.

The Brooklyn Nine has now been nominated for eight state lists. Thanks everyone, and don't forget to keep reading over the summer!

Check out my new R2-D2 beanie!

2011-05-19T16:23:00.000-04:00

Check out this awesome R2-D2 beanie Wendi made for me! I love it so much I've been wearing it around the house even when there's no one here to see it.

It's far too time-intensive for her to sell them affordably, but Wendi is selling the pattern as an add-on to her basic beanie pattern. To learn more, click here to go to her craft blog, Shiny Happy World!

Baseball Through the Looking Glass

2011-04-27T10:51:00.000-04:00

This week I'm interviewed by Tina LoTufo over at Chapter 16, the Humanities Tennessee blog. (I'm originally from Knoxville, for the two or three of you out there who don't know that already.) Tina and I discuss life, death, and Tom Sawyer in Fantasy Baseball. Here's the link.

I'm interviewed at From the Mixed-Up Files...of Middle Grade Authors

2011-04-15T17:12:00.000-04:00

Head over to the "From the Mixed-Up Files..." blog to read an interview with me about Fantasy Baseball, writing middle-grade fiction, and my former life as a play-by-play basketball announcer...

Something Rotten in German!

2011-04-11T12:35:00.002-04:00

How cool is this!? My first novel in translation--Something Rotten in German. Eine Lüge ist nicht genug, which Wendi says can either mean "A Lie Is Not Enough" or "One Lie Is Not Enough." (Wendi has a Masters degree in German.)

I'm so excited about this! I hope it becomes a bestseller in Germany so I can go there and do a tour and see some German soccer games. I actually follow the Bundesliga and know something about German soccer, believe it or not...

For you German-speakers out there, here's the summary:

Das Leben endet tödlich, auch für reiche Industrielle.
Das Leben geht weiter, auch für die Witwe des Firmenchefs der Papierfabrik.
Das Leben ist ein abgekartetes Spiel, findet Hamilton, den die Hochzeit seiner Mutter mit dem Bruder seines Vaters anwidert.
Das Leben auf dem Planeten ist in Gefahr, findet die Umweltaktivistin Olivia, wenn niemand etwas dagegen unternimmt, dass die Abwässer der Papierfabrik weiterhin den Copenhagen River verseuchen.

Das Leben will gelebt werden, rät Horatio seinem Freund Hamilton.

Es ist was faul in dieser US-amerikanischen Kleinstadt, deren Einwohner von der Papierfabrik Elsinore Papers abhängig sind. Die vermeintliche Alternative »Arbeitsplatzabbau oder Ökologie« stimmt nicht mehr. Auf Dauer wird das Unternehmen nur überleben können, wenn es umweltverträglich produziert. Und auf Dauer wird das Leben nur dann wieder lebenswert, wenn sich eine böse große Frage beantworten lässt: Ist der alte Firmenchef Rex Prince ermordet worden, und wenn ja, wer steckt dahinter?

I'd love to know what changes, if any, they had to make to the story to make it work for a German audience!

You can see the book page for Eine Lüge ist nicht genug at the German publisher's website here. Thanks, Boje, and thanks to my translators, Gerold Anrich and Martina Instinsky-Anrich!

Book Trailer for Emily Jenkins' Invisible Inkling

2011-03-28T07:45:00.005-04:00

Check out the cute book trailer for my friend Emily Jenkins' new book, Invisible Inkling, which goes on sale April 26th.

And reminds me that I should make a book trailer or two as well...

Google Alerts Round-up

2011-03-24T07:45:00.001-04:00

Time for some last-gasp winter Google Alerts from the interweb!

Southwest Middle School won the Gaston County, NC Battle of the Books competition. They had to answer questions about 27 different books--including The Brooklyn Nine! Congrats, guys!

And The Brooklyn Nine has made another state list! B9 was selected for the 2012 Oklahoma Sequoyah Master List! Thanks, Oklahoma. You're OK with me! (Yes, that's a postal abbreviation joke.)

I recently did a Skype visit with students at Upper Dauphin Area High School in Elizabethville, PA, and the local paper wrote up a great article about it. You can read it here.

And I'm starting to get alerts on Fantasy Baseball!

Mr. H at the SMS Guys Read blog loves the Fantasy Baseball poster I sent him...

Zoe posted a great summary/review of Fantasy Baseball at NextHub.com...

...and Ms. Certo at Hope Middle School recommends Fantasy Baseball as an independent reading selection for classrooms.

Thanks, everyone!

Happy Birthday, William Shatner

2011-03-22T07:45:00.001-04:00

Happy 80th (!) Bill Shatner. Stay awesome.

Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Sunday, March 20

2011-03-20T07:45:00.000-04:00

Last stop on my whirlwind week of school visits and bookstore signings. Today I'll be dropping by one of our favorite bookstores on the drive home to sign stock and schmooze with the awesome booksellers there. Drop by and say hello if you're in the area!

Joseph-Beth Booksellers
Lexington, KY @ Noon

*Note: This isn't a formal reading/signing, just me signing books the store has in stock. I'd still love to see you if you'd like to stop by! I'll be there for about an hour to an hour and a half.

Join me today at the LitWorks: Teen READ Workshop

2011-03-19T07:45:00.001-04:00

Join me today at the Ridgewood High School LitWorks: Teen READ Workshop! I'll be talking about my process as an author, then signing copies of my books. And I'm just one of the great lineup of authors you'll meet there! Check out who else is coming:

Art Baltazar (we love his comics!!), Brent Crawford, Candace Fleming, John C. Ford, Kristin Walker, Janette Rallison, and Todd Strasser.

The event is open to the public. Teens get in free, adults pay $5. The event starts at 10 a.m. at the Eisenhower Public Library, then shifts over to Ridgewood High School at noon for the breakout sessions with the authors. The autograph party is from 3:30 - 4:00 p.m.

Click here for more information. Hope to see you there!

Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Friday, March 18

2011-03-18T07:45:00.000-04:00

Today I'm at just one school, all day long:

Ridgewood High School
Norridge, IL

Tomorrow I'll be a part of Ridgewood High School's LitWorks: Teen Read Conference. The event is open to the public, and features a slew of great YA authors! Click here for more info. Hope to see you there!

A book is born: Fantasy Baseball!

2011-03-17T07:45:00.002-04:00

Now batting: Fantasy Baseball! My new novel goes on sale TODAY!

You've never played fantasy baseball like this before.

A flying monkey in the outfield. A toad at short. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz on the mound. Alex Metcalf thinks he’s dreaming, but the Oz Cyclones exist here in Ever After, where storybook characters live on as long as kids in the real world believe in them.

But Alex isn't a storybook. To get home, he and the Cyclones will have to win the Ever After Baseball Tournament and earn wishes from the Wizard of Oz. Trouble is, the Big Bad Wolf wants a wish too.

To win the tournament, Alex and the Cyclones will have to defeat the wolf, play the best baseball of their lives, and find the courage to believe in themselves. But what good is believing in yourself if the real world stops believing in you?

To help me celebrate, I'll be visiting with the students at Ridgewood High School in Norridge, Illinois in the Chicagoland area. I'll also be giving a talk and doing a reading at the Ridgewood High School LitWorks book festival on Saturday, which is open to the public. Come out and say hey! Click here for more info.

Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Wednesday, March 16

2011-03-16T07:45:00.000-04:00

Two school visits and a book signing on tap today in Chicagoland:

Heritage Grove Middle School
Plainfield, IL @ 9:00 p.m.

The Lane School
Hinsdale, IL @ 1:40 p.m.

57th Street Books
Chicago, IL @ 4:00 p.m.

*This isn't a formal reading/signing, just me dropping by to sign stock and say hello. Come by and say hello yourself if you're in the area!

And special thanks to Anderson’s Bookshop for helping arrange the school visits!

Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Tuesday, March 15

2011-03-15T07:45:00.000-04:00

Two school visits on tap today in Chicagoland:

Roosevelt Middle School
River Forest, IL @ 8:30 a.m.

Percy Julian Middle School
Oak Park, IL @ 2:00 p.m.

Special thanks to The Magic Tree Bookstore for helping arrange these visits!

Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Monday, March 14

2011-03-14T07:45:00.006-04:00

Two school visits on tap today in Chicagoland:

St. Francis Xavier School
Wilmette, IL @ 10:00 a.m.

Sacred Heart School
Winnetka, IL @ 1:00 p.m.

Special thanks to The Book Stall at Chestnut Court for helping arrange these visits!

Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Saturday, March 12

2011-03-12T07:45:00.004-05:00

Today I'll be dropping by three Cincinnati-area bookstores to sign stock and schmooze with the awesome booksellers there. Drop by and say hello if you're in the area!

Blue Marble Bookstore
Ft. Thomas, KY @ 2:00 p.m.

Blue Manatee Bookstore
Cincinnati, OH @ 4:00 p.m.

Joseph-Beth Booksellers
Cincinnati, OH @ 6:00 p.m.

*Note: These aren't formal readings/signings, just me signing books the stores have in stock. I'd still love to see you if you'd like to stop by!

The Official Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour Schedule!

2011-03-10T15:50:00.004-05:00

The publication day for Fantasy Baseball is upon us! The official on-sale date is Thursday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day, apropos of nothing). To celebrate, I'm doing a slew of school and bookstore visits all week, beginning Saturday! Wendi and Jo will be with me on the trip too. If one of these stops is near you, come on out and say hello!

*At all the bookstores, I'll be doing stock signings, not formal readings. We'd still love to see you! It'll just be informal--I'll be signing the books the stores have on hand and chatting with anyone who shows up.

Saturday, March 12

*Blue Marble Bookstore, Ft. Thomas, KY @ 2:00 p.m.

*Blue Manatee Bookstore, Cincinnati, OH @ 4:00 p.m.

*Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH @ 6:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 13

Travel day

Monday, March 14

St. Francis Xavier School, Wilmette, IL @ 10:00 a.m.

Sacred Heart School, Winnetka, IL @ 1:00 p.m.

Tuesday, March 15

Roosevelt Middle School, River Forest, IL @ 8:30 a.m.

Percy Julian Middle School, Oak Park, IL @ 2:00 p.m.

Wednesday, March 16

Heritage Grove Middle School, Plainfield, IL @ 9:00 p.m.

The Lane School, Hinsdale, IL @ 1:40 p.m.

*57th Street Books, Chicago, IL @ 4:00 p.m.

Thursday, March 17

*Fantasy Baseball debuts!*

Ridgewood High School, Norridge, IL @ 8 a.m.

Friday, March 18

Ridgewood High School, Norridge, IL @ 8 a.m.

Saturday, March 19

Lit Works: A Teen READ Conference from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Eisenhower Public Library and Ridgewood High School, Norridge, IL

This event is open to the public, and features a great collection of YA authors:

Art Baltazar (we love his comics!!), Brent Crawford, Candace Fleming, John C. Ford, Kristin Walker, Janette Rallison, Todd Strasser, and yours truly!

Click here for more info!

Sunday, March 20

*Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Lexington, KY @ noon

Then home again, home again, jiggity-jig!

Hope to see you on the road this week!

A reading from The Brooklyn Nine

2011-03-01T11:29:00.000-05:00

I recently recorded a brief introduction to and reading from The Brooklyn Nine for TeachingBooks.net. Give it a listen!

Announcing the latest Star Trek writer: me!

2011-02-23T11:06:00.000-05:00

I'm very happy to announce that I have been contracted to write a Star Trek novel! Those of you who know me well will probably know I've been a fan of Trek for a long, long time.

What few people realize is that one of my first attempts to become a published author, way back in the day, was by sending in a proposal for a Star Trek: The Next Generation novel. I was in grad school at Tennessee at the time, and I had an idea to do a Heart of Darkness/Star Trek mash-up with Worf playing the role of Marlow, going after a rogue Kurtz-like Vulcan on a pre-warp planet. (If that explanation makes sense to you, kudos on multiple levels.)

The funny thing about the whole process was that Pocket Books, the publishers of Star Trek novels, only allowed agented submissions--and no agent was interested in someone who was offering to just write licensed fiction. So Wendi submitted my work under her maiden name as my literary agent--with phony letterhead and all.

Alas, while Pocket Books liked my work (particularly the humor) I had mixed the Next Generation show with the Deep Space Nine show in the book (Worf made a pit stop at DS9 on the way to the assignment--this was before his character migrated to that show!) and that was apparently a no-no. I would have been happy to take that part out, but it was a no from Pocket, and I had already moved on to other writing projects and dreams anyway. My writing career went a very different direction, as you know, but I continued to read Star Trek novels as a fan, and often still daydreamed about writing a Star Trek novel.

Then, at the end of last year, Simon & Schuster began a new young adult Star Trek series called Starfleet Academy. The series is based on the academy days of Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Spock, as re-imagined in the fabulous Star Trek reboot that came out in theaters in 2009. Star Trek? YA? I shot off an e-mail to agent Barry right away and asked him to look into it for me. He made first contact, I submitted a proposal, CBS/Paramount gave me their seal of approval--and I was contracted to boldly go where I've never gone before! My proposal is called Starfleet Academy: The Assassination Game, and given the quick turnarounds on the deadlines, it may even come out this year! (Part of the reason I've been so quiet around here lately is that I've had my nose to the keyboard on this and the other book I'm working on.)

I'll continue to write original books of course--in fact, now that I've turned in my outline for the Starfleet Academy book, it's back to the current work-in-progress, The League of Seven, which is almost finished. But writing for Trek is a long-time dream come true, and I'm thrilled to now be an official part of the Star Trek galaxy.

Live long and prosper!

Neil Gaiman on book piracy

2011-02-21T00:10:00.001-05:00

Neil Gaiman's thoughts on book piracy. Thoughtful, honest, and insightful!

Silly Jo

2011-02-15T08:16:00.000-05:00

Jo was in a super silly mood yesterday when she helped me photograph these Huggable Blockheads. I got silly pictures, pretend-sleeping pictures, lots (and lots) of pictures with her tongue sticking out, and a bunch of blurry shots because she was moving around so much. It took about ten times as long as it should have - and I loved every minute of it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T13:40:00.000-05:00

Jo saw me working on some little stitched girls for this Friday's pattern over on my Shiny Happy World. She decided that this girl was her favorite so I surprised her by stitching it up as a little felt pin. Easy peasy - and it's so much fun to embroider on felt. I need to do it more often.

Happy day!

RIP Brian Jacques

2011-02-07T14:46:00.000-05:00

It was with great sadness that I read the news today that Brian Jacques has passed away from a heart attack at the age of 71. Jacques is the author of twenty-one novels set in the world of Redwall, a fantasy world where woodland animals live and fight like they're in The Adventures of Robin Hood. The books are unpretentious yet poetic, and highly literary yet action-packed.

I was thrilled and honored to have Mr. Jacques be the first person to agree to let me use his characters and his world in Fantasy Baseball, the book I've got coming out in March that has characters from classic children's books all living in the same fantasy world. He didn't ask for a dime; his only request was that I send him a signed copy when the book came out. I'll still send the book along to his family, of course, but it breaks my heart that I wasn't able to send it to him personally with my thanks before he was gone.

Watching him from afar, Brian Jacques seemed to have a real passion for life. Deaths like his are the hardest to take, I think, because he seemed to be someone who was really living, someone for whom life was a gift, both to be enjoyed and to be "regifted."

Farewell, Brian Jacques. I raise a strawberry cordial in your memory!

Google Alerts Round-up

2011-01-21T07:45:00.002-05:00

News flash! Just a couple of quick round-up alerts to share:

Edi at Crazy Quilts includes Samurai Shortstop on her list of Essential Asian American books...

Miss Attitude at Reading in Color read Samurai Shortstop as one of her 2010 Historical Challenge books, and posted a really in-depth and thoughtful review of it on her blog...

And Samurai Shortstop gets a namecheck in a great Mother Jones article about a high school teacher who really knows how to reach even the most difficult kids.

Thanks, everybody!

Early Fantasy Baseball reviews

2011-01-19T15:16:00.000-05:00

Tis the season for me to start biting my fingernails: the first reviews for Fantasy Baseball are appearing!

First, Dave at the Just One More Page blog (and bookseller at The Blue Marble Bookstore in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky) reviewed an advance reader copy, and says Fantasy Baseball is "one not to miss."

Then I found out that Publishers Weekly reviewed Fantasy Baseball! Here's their review:

Continuing to use baseball as backdrop, Gratz (The Brooklyn Nine) moves from historical fiction to fantasy with a story that playfully mixes storybook characters with stadium action. When Alex finds himself in Ever After he's sure he's dreaming--case in point, he's recruited to play in a high-stakes tournament for a team captained by Dorothy Gale, she of the ruby red cleats. Dorothy's teammates include lesser-known Oz characters like Tik-Tok, Scraps, and Button Bright, who's in danger of fading away because nobody reads the sequel he appears in. They insist Alex is a "Lark," somebody's daydream, and not a book character at all, but they keep him because the kid can flat-out play. Eventually, Alex figures out whose daydream he is in a thread that adds poignancy and tension to a slightly unwieldy narrative, as the Oz team encounters Mother Goose, the critters from Redwall, L'Engle's Charles Wallace and Mrs. Which and Whatsit, among numerous literary cameos. The predictable ending is the only one possible, but Gratz frames it with an interesting question about what effect dreams can hope to have on the dreamer. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)

Thanks Dave, and thanks PW!

The Brooklyn Nine in Horn Book

2011-01-13T13:05:00.000-05:00

My friend Clay Carmichael reports that The Brooklyn Nine is featured in a Good Sports Books guide supplement in the January issue of Horn Book. Thanks, Clay, and thanks Horn Book!

Map-making, Part II

2011-01-12T14:04:00.000-05:00

Here's my map! The book is called "The League of Seven," and it takes place (pretty obviously, I guess) in an alternate American history...

Click on the image to see it larger.

Map-making

2011-01-10T13:36:00.000-05:00

Today I am making a map of the world from my new alternate reality fantasy novel. All good fantasy novels need maps in the front, don't they? I'll post it when it's finished.

Above: a map of The Land of Oz

Manufactured by Gratz Industries

2011-01-06T14:45:00.000-05:00

We knew there was a foundry on Long Island called Gratz Industries, but we didn't know they were famous for making Pilates equipment* until our friend Sarah Mlynowski snapped this pic with her camera phone. Awesome! We applaud industrious Gratzes of all ilks.

*And is it me, or do Pilates machines look like torture devices!?

Is Ferris Bueller the Cat in the Hat?

2011-01-05T11:03:00.000-05:00

Wendi and I watched Easy A last night, which was fun, and has lots of great 80s teen movie references, including quite a few Ferris Bueller refs. That prompted us to pull out Ferris Bueller's Day Off and watch it as a sort of teen-movie, multi-generational double-feature, and we had fun all over again. ("Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to play a little tune for you. I dedicate it to a man who doesn't think he's seen anything good today. Cameron Frye, this one's for you...")

The odd thing about rewatching Ferris Bueller for perhaps the thousandth time (a conservative estimate) is that this time, I saw it as Cameron's story, not Ferris'. Ferris is the fun one. He's the one for whom everything always works out. But most of us aren't Ferris Bueller, no matter how much we want to be. We're more like Cameron Frye. We're nervous, we're scared, we're tentative about life. And it's Cameron who changes by the end of the movie, not Ferris. Cameron's the character who grows and changes. We love Ferris for not growing and changing, much as we love Peter Pan for the same reasons, but none of can ever really be Peter Pan, either.

In fact, as I watched the film, I couldn't help comparing Ferris to another character who shows up in some nervous and tentative characters' lives and mixes things up for one crazy day:

The Cat in the Hat, who promised two children they would have some "fun that is funny." I can't think of a better way to describe Ferris and his day off. Of course, when the Cat in the Hat leaves, everything is put back exactly the way it was when he arrived, and in Ferris Bueller's Day Off...well, if you've seen it, you know what isn't exactly the same as it was in the beginning of the movie. (I can't believe I'm even being careful about spoilers here. Seriously, if you haven't seen this movie, go out and rent it RIGHT NOW.)

So, is Ferris Bueller the Cat in the Hat? Discuss amongst yourselves...

Pssst. . . There are Ninjas, Too!

2010-12-28T17:20:00.000-05:00

Just a quick sneak peek at something I've been working on for release next week at my Shiny Happy World. Have you signed up for my mailing list yet? You don't want to miss the pirates and ninjas - do you?

B9 earns a 2011-2012 Young Hoosier Book Award nomination!

2010-12-27T16:15:00.000-05:00

I got great news right before the holidays (and all the snow!) hit: The Brooklyn Nine has been nominated for the 2011-2012 Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award! The Brooklyn Nine is one of twenty books nominated in the Middle Grade category.

Thanks, Indiana Library Federation--and happy reading, Young Hoosiers!

Fantasy Baseball Poster Giveaway

2010-12-23T15:43:00.000-05:00

This past summer I took a two-week letterpress class at Penland School of Crafts, and what did I create and print? Fantasy Baseball posters, of course! A set of four, in fact, and I'll be giving copies of each away in the months leading up to Fantasy Baseball's release in March 2011.

First up is the game day poster for the big finale: the championship game between Dorothy's Oz Cyclones and the Big Bad Wolf's Grimm Reapers, done in the style of classic sports adverts. The date of the game is the book's on sale date. The poster is 9"x19", type-set in wood and lead, hand-printed by me, and, as they say, suitable for framing.

Readers of my eNewsletter already have a leg up on this, but even if you don't subscribe* there's still a chance for you to get in on the action. Just click on this link to enter. The drawing is free, the postage is free, and all street addresses will be pitched once I've mailed out the prizes. But hurry--I'm going to pick the winners tomorrow, on Christmas Eve.

Click here to win a hand-printed Fantasy Baseball game day poster!

*And seriously, why aren't you signed up for my newsletter already? The sign up is just an easy scroll to the bottom of the page...

Easy Peasy Rainbow Skirt

2010-12-22T10:05:00.000-05:00

Alan lost a bunch of weight this year - which means I got a huge stack of too-big clothes to play with. Jo's response when she saw the pile? "Will you make me some clothes from those? I love it when you make things for me out of Daddy's old clothes!" I love it that that's still her attitude - I know at some point she probably won't want to wear things made from her dad's cast-offs. But for now? She got this skirt made from one of his T-shirts. She really does love these super-comfy skirts - though she likes them to be jazzed up a bit. For this one I stitched a rainbow of backstitches around the hem.

For the bottom two rows I stitched right in the stitch lines for the existing T-shirt hem. That dictated the spacing for the rest of the rows - which I eyeballed.

At some point I'll write up a tutorial for this kind of skirt. For you adventurous types who want to try it right away - cut the T-shirt straight across at the armpits. Turn the cut edge down to form a casing for elastic and stitch it in place. Thread some elastic in, close the casing and you're ready to fancy it up. Easy peasy.

Tron's Legacy?

2010-12-14T07:45:00.000-05:00

There's an awful lot of buzz out there right now about the new Tron: Legacy movie, a long-awaited follow-up to the cult classic from 1982. But good luck finding the original Tron on DVD to watch ahead of the new holiday blockbuster. The DVD is out of print, and the only remaining copies available on Amazon are going for around $120. Same thing on eBay. According to the L.A. Times:

Netflix lists "Tron" as "availability unknown," only two of Blockbuster's 30 L.A.-area stores had copies in stock this week, iTunes doesn't offer the title and even specialty stores that pride themselves on stocking obscure used DVDs are empty-handed.

Why, you might ask, wouldn't Disney capitalize on all the hype for the new movie to sell copies of the old one? It seems like an incredibly stupid move not to have at least the old version--let alone the planned newly remastered version available for sale and rental in the weeks leading up to the premiere of the new movie.

The L.A. Times speculates that Disney doesn't want the now antiquated special effects of the original to turn off modern audiences:

"Tron" was a much more modest success than those films, however, earning $33 million at the box office and becoming a cult favorite for its groundbreaking use of computer-generated effects and a prescient story about computer culture. Today its effects might look quaint to sophisticated audiences.

Disney says it will release Lisberger's remaster of "Tron" sometime in 2011. It's possible the company is deliberately holding back on printing new copies of a movie that could alienate the broad, non-geek audiences they'll need to make "Tron: Legacy" a success.

"That film was ahead of its time," says Jan Saxton, an analyst at Adams Media Research. "But they want the focus to be on their new effort."

Stupid. Just really stupid, IMHO. Way to miss out on sales there, Disney! Because I can't tell the difference between the special effects in movies made in 1982 and one made in 2010...

I'm just glad I have that Tron special edition DVD Paul gave me for Christmas a while back! Who knew it would become a collector's item too?

House Blend Granola Recipe

2010-12-13T10:04:00.000-05:00

I love granola. I would happily eat it every day - twice a day. I especially love the granola I make with this recipe.

5 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup coconut. You can leave this out if you don't like coconut - I love the toasty flavor it gets. Maybe try some wheat germ instead?

1 cup chopped nuts. Any kind except sunflower seeds. They taste good, but they always float to the top of the milk and make the final bowl look less pretty.

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup sweetener. I like to mix two kinds - I think that gives it a deeper flavor. Try a scant 1/2 cup of brown sugar with a few tablespoons of honey or maple syrup.

1/2 cup oil.

Mix it all together. Spread on an oiled baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Stir once halfway through cooking.

Eat one bowl hot out of the oven, topped with some dried fruit and cold milk or warm apple cider. Let the rest cool completely and store in a sealed container. Serve with milk, cider, or yogurt.

I love mixing and matching different nut/fruit/sweetener combinations to get different flavors. Some of my favorites are dried apricots with almonds and honey (mmmm. . .) and dried cherries with cashews and maple syrup (fancy!). My everyday basic is raisins with almonds and honey. So good. And I just happen to have a pan in the oven right now.

How to Make an Easy - and Extremely Cute! - Ironing Board Cover

2010-12-10T08:36:00.000-05:00

I'm getting ready to shoot a video on pressing vs. ironing (I know! So exciting!) and I decided I just couldn't do it on my old, water-stained ironing board cover. I have a magnificent Michael Graves extra-wide ironing board that I bought several years ago. When I bought it I had the foresight to buy an extra Michael Graves cover - knowing that by the time I needed a new cover the extra-wide version would be long gone. I've moved it to four homes and I finally took it out of the package today - only to find that it was a standard-sized cover. Aaargh!

I was. . . angry. I briefly considered putting the icky old cover back on the ironing board - but it was really pretty gross. And then I realized it was just a flat piece of fabric - no shaping - nothing fancy. Even the drawstring was just slipped through the serged edge.

I realized I could use the old, stained cover as a pattern for a new cover - and one that would be way cuter than the boring Michael Graves design I had been schlepping around for years.

How about this cute Peter Pan fabric I bought in Japan? I just laid the old cover on the new fabric and cut around the edge. (New pattern weights are on my list of Things to Make Soon.)

I even made improvements! Instead of a flimsy serged edge I used some old (really old - look at that price!) seam binding tape someone gave to me. Bonus points for it being orange and looking so cute with the fabric.

I stitched the binding around the edge. I pulled the drawstring out of the old cover and reused it on the new one - I just threaded it through the binding tape using a big, blunt needle.

The original cover was tightened on the board and just knotted in place. I used this fancy sliding springy thing instead of a knot.

Now I get to iron on cuteness every day. Squee! I was so inspired that I didn't even shoot my video - I started on a new skirt for Jo instead.

By the way - the whole project took less than an hour from start to finish. Everyone should pretty up their ironing board this way!

So You Want to Learn How to Sew, Do You?

2010-12-09T08:37:00.000-05:00

I meet a lot of people - kids and adults - who want to learn how to sew. And it's fun to teach them! I've taught kids as young as six how to sew stuffed animals, skirts, aprons, and doll clothes - all of their own design! I've taught teens how to refashion a wardrobe from thrift-store finds. I've taught grown-ups how to make clothes and toys for their children and grandchildren, and how to sew beautiful quilts without stress. And I've loved every minute of it!

I've taught at schools and summer camps, colleges and fabric stores. I've published books and online tutorials. But now I'm thinking bigger. I've set up a whole website just for all those folks out there who want to learn to sew. Starting in 2011 there'll be two new video lessons every week - one sewing and one embroidery. There'll be lots of projects for you to practice your new skills. There'll be galleries where you can share (and show off!) your work.

By the end of the year you'll be able to sew everything from stuffed animals to clothing. You'll be the master of zippers and buttonholes. You'll know tricks for working with all kinds of fancy fabrics - from velvet to tissue lame. You'll know what tissue lame is! And you'll have fun. Hopefully, lots and lots of fun.

Through the end of the year I'm posting a lot of videos covering the basics - how to choose a machine, how to use an iron, etc. We'll start with the fun sewing stuff (and projects!) in January. So right now - if you want to learn to sew in 2011 - sign up for my newsletter so you won't miss a thing. If you have a friend (or a child) who wants to learn to sew - get them signed up. There will be plenty of boy-friendly projects too - so get those boys signed up as well.

Gather your materials. I have a post on choosing a sewing machine here. If you already have a machine but it's been gathering dust and you don't know how to thread it - take it in to your local sewing machine store. Have it cleaned and ask them to give you a quick lesson on threading and basic maintenance.

You'll need some hand tools too. I've posted a list of the basics here. If you're signing a friend or a child up, a collection of all the tools they'll need would make a terrific holiday gift.

If you just want to learn to embroider - stay tuned. You'll need only a few basic tools and I'll have a list posted next week. You can go ahead and sign up for the mailing list now.

I hope to see lots of you over at my Shiny Happy World next year! Happy sewing!

Found on Wikipedia: Pizza Farms

2010-12-08T07:45:00.000-05:00

From Wikipedia:

A pizza farm is an educational visitor attraction consisting of a small farm on a circular region of land partitioned into plots shaped like pizza wedges. The farm's segments produce ingredients that can be used in pizza, such as wheat for the crust, tomatoes or herbs, pork for pepperoni, dairy cows for cheese, and even trees for pizza oven firewood. Certain farms may even have access to coal or natural gas deposits that can be used as alternative pizza oven heating fuels. Many of the newer pizza farms are experimenting with alternative energy, such as installing wind turbines in the fields, to be more green. According to a 2005 article in USA Today, there are several such farms in the United States.

The Masked Sewing Bandit

2010-12-07T09:15:00.000-05:00

Jo finished her first quilt top yesterday. I'm putting the back on today for her. Proud finished pictures coming soon - but I couldn't resist sharing this one right away.

You're Invited to an Open Studio Tour

2010-12-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

I'll be the guest of Michael Kline and Stacey Lane at the Toe River Studio Tour this weekend. Come join us!

Michael will have plenty of warm pots, fresh from the kiln, as well as his new lamp designs! Alan helped him and Courtney Martin stoke the kiln yesterday. The man does love to burn things!

Stacey will show several new styles of pearl jewelry and work featuring recently found, lovely stones!

And me? I'll be bringing brand-new bears. . .

bunnies. . .

. . . a handful of ragdolls. . .

. . .lots of colorful stockings. . .

. . . and unbreakable ornaments.

Friday December 3rd, 12 noon-5 pm
Saturday, December 4th, 10 am-5 pm
Sunday, December 5th, 10 am-5 pm

We're at Studio No. 30 on the TRAC studio tour map. And here are directions to Michael's studio.

While you're out and about in the area, stop by Courtney Martin's for more pots. . .

and John Geci for some glass. They're both at #19 on the map - just a mile or so from Michael's studio.

Also visit Erin Peters for a special Bulabags open house on Sunday from 1-6. You can even look through her fabrics and design your own bag - and get it in time for the holidays. Woot!

Looking forward to a fabulous weekend!

Join me for A Book and a Chat tonight at 6:30 p.m. EST!

2010-11-30T15:26:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to let you know I'll be appearing on A Book and a Chat tonight at 6:30 p.m. with Barry Eva as a part of his "Male YA Author Month." I think you can even dial in to ask questions! If you miss the chat and want to give a listen, the interview will also be available to listen to afterward online and as an MP3 download at Blog Talk Radio.

Mahar Drygoods Is Closing!

2010-11-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

Sad news folks. Mahar Drygoods - THE coolest place to buy kid stuff online - is closing. They carry the work of some of my favorite artists, and the day Robert Mahar emailed me to inquire about carrying my dolls was one of my best business days ever. Ever! When I "rebranded" my Shiny Happy World last year and narrowed the focus of what I do, one of the ways I articulated that focus was to ask myself about every potential product, "Is this the kind of thing Mahar Drygoods might carry?" Seriously. And now they're closing.

The good news is that they're not closed yet, and they'll still be selling some amazingly awesome stuff through the holiday season. So head over, take a look, and buy something fabulous. They have a small handful of my dolls too, so if you think Lucy Grace. . .

Lucy Hannah. . .

Lucy Ida. . .

~~Abigail Fannie~~. . . (sorry - she's sold now)

or Abigail Georgia. . .

. . . would be a perfect friend for your little one, now's your chance to buy them from an amazing shop.

Also - Robert Mahar will still be running The Junior Society. If you like what you see at Mahar Drygoods and want to see more awesomeness curated with the same sense of style, check it out. You won't be sorry.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T16:26:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We don't do a traditional dinner - instead we do a few favorites for everyone in the house - and who cares if together they make up a balanced meal. On the menu this year (in case you can't read our fancy-schmancy chalkboard or want links to recipes). . .
Peach Crisp
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ice Cream Cones
Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Cheese Pizza
Ritz crackers with Boursin cheese and gruyere
Homemade Bread
Cornbread Dressing with Chestnuts and Sausage

I'll leave you to guess who requested what. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Meet the Anywhere Bear

2010-11-24T12:00:00.002-05:00

Isn't he a cutie? The Anywhere Bear is a very versatile little pattern. I designed him to fit on my free Swell Stocking pattern - and that's what you see here.

But as I was working on the pattern I realized he could be used on lots of other things. Once you get the basic applique steps down you could add him to a pair of jeans, a handbag, a tote bag, a pillow - anywhere really. And he's not just limited to fabric uses either. I have a HUGE stack of paste paper that I've made at my job at Penland School of Crafts. And look what I did with some of it.

Instead of fabric I used my paste paper. Instead of embroidering the face I used a Sharpie. Instead of sewing him in place I glued him to the front of a card. Easy peasy and so much fun!

The pattern includes full-sized templates for the bear - sized to fit just right on the Swell Stocking or a regular-sized greeting card. There are also complete step by step instructions (with photos, natch) on how to applique the bear to fabric. There are even some notes and suggestions to help kids with the project.

Download the free Swell Stocking pattern here.
And the free Neato Ornaments pattern here.
And purchase the Anywhere Bear pattern ($5) here.

P.S. In 2011 I'll be launching the Shiny Happy Sewing School - offering weekly video tutorials for beginning sewists of all ages. Sign up for my newsletter or "like" Shiny Happy World on Facebook now so you don't miss a single thing! And if you know someone who wants to make "Learn to sew" one of their New Year's resolutions - please forward them the link. Thanks! And happy sewing!

Swell Stockings + Neato Ornaments = Easy Applique Designs

2010-11-24T08:00:00.007-05:00

So on Monday I released the Swell Stocking pattern. And yesterday I shared some Neato Ornaments. Today I'm going to show you what happens when you put them together.

Let's start simple. Cut out an ogee shape, stitch on some rickrack and a button, stitch it to the stocking and - voila - you have a fancy ornament.

I cut out three felt trees and stitched them onto a stocking front. I added a scattering of buttons in lots of colors and sizes and - cute! - a forest of Christmas trees.

The stocking might be my favorite. I cut out one ornament-sized stocking, decorated it with a bit of rickrack, then stitched it onto the full-sized stocking leaving the top open so it acts like a pocket.

Jo went nuts when she saw me slip some lollipops into the stocking pocket for the photo shoot. "I thought that was just a decoration, but it's a pocket?! A pocket?! That is soooo cute!" Even Alan gave it props.

You can fit exactly five of the smaller ornament circles in a stack down the side of the stocking. I laid some ribbon down the center over the dots and stitched it down. The sides of the circles aren't attached and look pretty cool that way.

The smaller circles are also just the right size for these monster eyes. This guy makes me smile every time I see him.

I used the same circle template for these birds - made using designs from Ed Emberley's Picture Pie book.

Ed Emberley is a genius and everyone should have all of his books.

So there you have it. Swell Stockings + Neato Ornaments = a whole bunch of easy applique designs. Now go download them and have some fun! And if you want to just buy a finished stocking - you can find most of them (I'm still working on it) in my shop.

Psst! Come back later today and I'll introduce you to the Anywhere Bear - who can also be appliqued to a stocking! The fun never stops around here.

P.S. In 2011 I'll be launching the Shiny Happy Sewing School - offering weekly video tutorials for beginning sewists of all ages. Sign up for my newsletter or "like" Shiny Happy World on Facebook now so you don't miss a single thing! And if you know someone who wants to make "Learn to sew" one of their New Year's resolutions - please forward them the link. Thanks! And happy sewing!

Make a Neato Ornament (or ten)

2010-11-23T08:00:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I posted a link to a free stocking pattern (plus an absurd number of examples of what you can do with it). Today I bring you. . . . ornaments! You can download the free pattern here.

When I was a kid my sisters and I each got a new ornament every Christmas Eve. By the time I graduated from high school and moved out I had a fabulous collection of unique - and mostly handmade - ornaments. It's a great tradition and one I've been happy to carry on with Alan and Jo.

This year I designed a collection of ornaments inspired by vintage glass ornaments. You know the ones? Beautiful and oh-so-fragile. My collection is a whimsical interpretation of those traditional shapes and styles - made of felt and therefore safe from curious toddlers and climbing cats. Plus - they're easy enough for kids to make and the materials are inexpensive and easy to work with. Everyone wins!

So, do you like them? Do you want some for your very own? If so, here are your choices. . .

You can buy finished ornaments from me. ~~I'm working on getting them~~ They are all listed in my shop.

You can download the free pattern and make some yourself.

You can download the pattern and put your kids to work making these delightful ornaments for everyone you know.

The choice is yours. Ready for some inspiration?

My favorite shape is the ogee. Sometimes I embellish them with rickrack. . .

. . . sometimes with more felt and an embroidered asterisk for a little nod to mid-century mod.

I've also included two sizes of circles. You can embellish them with rickrack. . .

. . .or you can stack them and repeat that mod asterisk.

There's a little tree - it looks cute with some rick rack trim zig-zagged on there. I especially like this pink and white one - it reminds me of those pink aluminum trees. Remember them?

And then there's the stocking. A little mini-stocking that can hang on your tree AND hold a special little gift or bit of candy. Don't sew the top closed - then they'd be just stocking-shaped ornaments and that would be a sad waste of stockingness.

There's way more inspiration over at the Neato Ornament Group on Flickr. If you decide to make your own you should totally take pictures and show them off over there.

And here's a little sewing tip. If you're sewing rickrack (or any other ribbon-like trim) to an ornament, cut your rickrack longer than it needs to be. Sew it on with the ends hanging over the edges of your ornament. Trim it to fit after you're done sewing. Cutting it to fit and then sewing it on and trying to keep the edges lined up is a recipe for frustration and swearing.

So - a stocking pattern yesterday and an ornament pattern today. Tomorrow we'll put them together and it will be like peanut butter and chocolate - two great tastes that taste great together.

P.S. In 2011 I'll be launching the Shiny Happy Sewing School - offering weekly video tutorials for beginning sewists of all ages. Sign up for my newsletter or "like" Shiny Happy World on Facebook now so you don't miss a single thing! And if you know someone who wants to make "Learn to sew" one of their New Year's resolutions - please forward them the link. Thanks! And happy sewing!

How to Make a Swell Stocking

2010-11-22T08:00:00.006-05:00

It's Thanksgiving week - are you ready for Christmas yet? Feeling crafty? Want to make something swell? Well I want you to make something swell - that's why I'm sharing this free pattern for a holiday stocking.

The pattern is just the basic template - the swellness comes in what you do with it. You can start simple with some rickrack or ribbon stitched across the top of the sock.

Easy peasy - and so cute!

Or you could get all daring and sew the trim on the other way - up and down. Oooh - creative!

Don't limit yourself to rickrack and ribbon. How about some fancy beaded trim?

Or a bit of a feather boa? Oooh la la!

Or maybe you want to go Raggedy Ann-style with some eyelet trim. The sky is the limit folks!

Do you have a bunch of buttons just hanging around in jars? I think they multiply when I'm not looking and I'm always looking for something to sew them to. You can add just a few buttons in a nice neat row. . .

. . . or a kajillion scattered over the stocking all willy-nilly.

Sometimes I like to sew on buttons with the knot and the tails visible on the finished piece. I'm a rebel.

I can hear you laughing now at how many stockings I made - but this is just the tip of the iceberg folks! Tomorrow I'm going to post a free ornament pattern - and show you how you can combine the ornament and stocking pattern to come up with all kinds of new stockings. You think I'm kidding? Take a look at this gallery of swell stocking inspiration for a little sneak peek.

Crazy, eh? And - it's a public group so after you make your own swell stockings you can post them in the same group for all the world to see and be inspired by. How's that for some holiday spirit?

Make sure you come back tomorrow!

P.S. In 2011 I'll be launching the Shiny Happy Sewing School - offering weekly video tutorials for beginning sewists of all ages. Sign up for my newsletter or "like" Shiny Happy World on Facebook now so you don't miss a single thing! And if you know someone who wants to make "Learn to sew" one of their New Year's resolutions - please forward them the link. Thanks! And happy sewing!

Something (new) is wrong with me

2010-11-19T11:56:00.000-05:00

Something is wrong with me. Something new, I mean.

I don't want any more stuff.

Anyone who knows me--particularly those who have visited my cluttered house, and my even more cluttered office--knows that I have stuff. Lots of it. I have video games, and toys, and art, and baseballs and baseball bats, and books (lots and lots of books), and old typewriters, and bobbleheads, and binders, and comic books, and--you get the picture.

But I'm having a crisis. I'm thinking that maybe I don't need all this stuff.

I've always loved how spartan some homes are. And visiting Japan, I saw some truly spartan spaces. There's a simple elegance to emptiness--so much so that when those spaces do have something special on display, it's even more highlighted by the fact that it's not hidden among the bric-a-brac. Wendi and I have talked about this before: you can have so much cool stuff that the coolest stuff gets lost in the chaos.

But though I've always loved the spartan homes I've visited, I've always had to be honest with myself and admit that's just not me. I'm a collector. A buyer. I like stuff.

But then something weird happened. Lately, we've been creating online wishlists for ourselves and our families to know what we'd like for Christmas/solstice presents so we can know we're giving--and getting--things that are really wanted. (In the world of stuff, nothing is worse than keeping around something just because somebody else gave it to you.)

But this year, I've had trouble putting together a list. In fact, there's only one thing I can even think to ask for--an iTrip transmitter to plug into my Sansa Fuze mp3 player so I can listen to it through our car radio.

It costs $17.00.

My list is usually filled with stuff I love: DVDs, books, toys, board games, video games, electronic gizmos. But this year, I'm just not interested. DVDs? Why bother? We have Netflix. We can have anything here at the house in three days. Do I really need to own the first and only season of Ellery Queen, when I'll probably only watch it one time, and when I can easily get it from Netflix?

Toys? Where am I going to put them? I love these new Mini Mug Star Wars characters from Mighty Mugs, but I'm running out of wall space. And next season, there's just going to be some other cool toy to rival it. Where will that go?

New video games? I spent an hour the other night trolling Amazon's top 100 bestselling video games, and I found only two--count 'em, TWO--things I was remotely interested in, and neither of those compelled me to put them on my list. Most video games now are shoot 'em ups, and I'm not good at those and don't particularly enjoy them. (Perhaps because I'm not good at them.) As for an immersive game like Civ V--when do I have the time for something like that? I'm not in college anymore.

Electronic gizmos? I already have the mp3 player I want, and a good set of headphones. Yes, I'd love an iPad, but that's a big ticket item that's too much to ask for from any one person for the holidays. That's something I'll have to purchase on my own, in time. Beyond that, and something to help me play my mp3 player on my car radio, I want for nothing electronic.

Board games? Okay, there are board games I want, board games I'll buy in the coming year, I'm sure. But we have so many great games already we have trouble deciding which one to play each week on game day! It seems wrong to buy MORE games when we hardly have time to play the great ones we have already.

Books? Okay, I always want books. The problem here is that when I see a book I want to read, I buy it. I rarely have a book wish list come holiday time. I already own all the ones I want to read, and I have such a stack of unread books now that asking for more to add to it feels counterproductive.

What I realized I really want, more than anything, is time. More time to write, more time to play board games, more time to read, more time to brainstorm, more time to hang out with Wendi and Jo.

If anybody can show me where I can buy time, please send me a link. I'd like to add it to my wishlist.

Life advice (?) from a Japanese toy box

2010-11-18T07:45:00.000-05:00

I've been saving this box from a little toy I bought at a Tokyo Swallows baseball game during my visit to Japan in the spring for a little while now, because I've been meaning to blog it. The toy was just a little plastic brick guy in a baseball uniform, but the box turned out to be something special. All along the top there (half-hidden by a sticker) and along the sides are...advice? Life lessons? Philosophical musings? Social commentary? I'm not quite sure. Whatever it is, the author certainly has a lot to say on the matter.

I present the text here in the hopes that you, dear readers, can discern some truth or meaning from them. From the front of the box:

Everyone is playing himself or herself, in spite of he or she is conscious it or not. People cannot stop the play because their ideas are strongly affected by international information that is brought by TV and Newspapers, and they are conscious themselves by social bonds, although they may believe that they are making decisions by themselves first, then they take actions, but these are strongly affected.

The daily life that does not have any changes is passing with unexpected fine balances.

Everything that people is feeling by their five senses is in their inside. They cannot show them to other people as they are.

And from the side:

The imperfection is becoming a motivation to cope with social environment. However suppose people could love others only to the level that they can compromise. You should take more interested in yourself. What really am I?

What really am I indeed? A toy box that has given us a lot to think about for sure.

Harry Potter sings Tom Lehrer's "The Elements"

2010-11-17T07:45:00.001-05:00

Yet another reason to love Daniel Radcliffe...

Teaching writers the business of writing

2010-11-16T07:45:00.002-05:00

Heard about this James Frey business, where he offers writers next-to-nothing amounts of money to authors to write YA books anonymously for him (or worse, let him claim, legally, that he wrote the books himself) and not earn a dime of royalties? All for the opportunity of being published and reaching a larger audience?

Maureen Johnson has a great piece on her blog about all this. She talks about what a horrible, horrible thing this is for one writer to do to another, but also about what a horrible thing it is that people actually say yes to bad deals like this. A reader says, "What's the big deal? Nobody has to say yes to deals like this." True. And yet most of the students Frey spoke to in the Colmubia MFA program admitted they submitted something to him!

Why? Maureen Johnson takes MFA programs to task for teaching people how to write, but not teaching them how to make a living at writing. I agree. This is something I've been saying during Q&As for years, usually right after a student asks me how much money I make. I always tell them--I'm happy to talk about how much I make and the realities of the writing life, mostly because nobody told me the same thing when I was in school, and it would have been really useful!

I'll be up front here too and say that I don't have an MFA, so I can't honestly scold MFA programs the way Marueen (who has a Columbia MFA herself) can. But I did take lots of graduate-level writing courses in school, both as an undergraduate (with special permission) and as a graduate student studying English education. Every one of those classes focused on the craft of writing, but not one ever discussed the realities of making a living as a writer.

Why? Well, I will make what is certain to be an unpopular argument among college writing professors: most of them have never made a living at writing themselves, so they can't tell their students how to do it. When I was in graduate school, I took a novel-writing class with a professor who had a number of books out, but they were all literary tomes with small university presses, which I'm sure paid very small advances and had very limited print runs. These are not the kind of book deals that earn you a living wage. They are the kind of book deals that fulfill the publishing requirements that come with being an MFA professor. They are books that keep you teaching.

There's nothing wrong with writing books for small university presses, books that are going to have very limited, literary audiences. Aspiring writers just have to remember that's not the only kind of publishing there is. But to take a graduate writing course, you'd think that's all there is. Rarely, if ever, do you find a graduate writing course that discusses or--heaven forfend--actually encourages the writing of genre fiction. Or fiction for young readers. Graduate programs are designed, on the whole, to turn out National Book Award winners. And that's great for the one percent of writers in those classes with the chops to do that.

But what about the rest of us? And what about all those other books on the shelves--the ones in the mystery and detective fiction section, or the science fiction and fantasy section, or the romance section? You know, the books that actually sell? You've got to take specialized courses for "lesser" stuff like that. Go to Vermont College to learn to write children's fiction, or Clarion to learn how to write science fiction. But don't look for topics like those in most graduate writing programs. Genre fiction is too proletarian.

This disdain for genre fiction is like the ancient Japanese samurai who were taught to live well but at the same time to disdain money and business affairs. We're teaching people how to write, but then we're telling them it's barbaric to make money off of it. Pfui.

I was lucky as an undergraduate to have a professor who had published genre fiction. Who had actually made a living off his writing, not just the teaching of writing. Looking back at it now, I realize one of the reasons why: he was older. He didn't have this modern prejudice against genre fiction, this prejudice against talking about proletarian things like selling our fiction for money. His attitude toward earning a living as a working writer has been a model for me all of my professional life. Graduate programs would do their students a great service to provide similar models--if for no other reason than to keep them from jumping at bad deals like the one James Frey offers because they don't know any better.

(And here's another great post on this by SF writer John Scalzi.)

WTF?

2010-11-15T07:45:00.000-05:00

In honor of Jo's favorite new expression (and when I find the person who taught it to her, I'm not going to let him be her dad anymore!) here's a funny as hell collection of prints where the only thing the people can really say is...WTF?

Found on Wikipedia: Geronimo!

2010-11-12T01:19:00.001-05:00

No, not Geronimo the Apache, not Geronimo Stilton, the mouse reporter, not Cesar Geronimo, outfielder for the Big Red Machine in the 70's, and not Sarah Geronimo, the cute young Filipina actress. Geronimo as in, "Geronimo!" Ever wonder why people say that when jumping off things?

According to Wikipedia, "Geronimo!" is believed to date from 1940, when an Army private was testing out a new invention called the parachute. Private Aubrey Eberhardt was scheduled to take a "mass jump" with the rest of his platoon, and, as you might expect, they were a little nervous about it.

To calm their nerves, the Army boys took in a movie--a western, in fact, which people now figure had to have been the 1939 film Geronimo with Andy Devine and Lone Ranger star Chief Thundercloud in the title role.

On the way back to barracks, Eberhardt said he expected the jump would be no different from usual. The others taunted him, saying that he would be too scared to remember his name. Eberhardt retorted, "All right, dammit! I tell you jokers what I'm gonna do! To prove to you that I'm not scared out of my wits when I jump, I'm gonna yell Geronimo loud as hell when I go out that door tomorrow!" Eberhardt kept his promise and the cry was gradually adopted by the other members of his platoon.

The expression stuck, and by 1941 the 501st Parachute Infantry Battalion had added the word "Geronimo" to its insignia.

By then the coverage of the paratroopers exploits during the war had made the cry "Geronimo" known to the wider public, and its use spread outside the military and air force.

The latest Amazon flap

2010-11-11T12:52:00.001-05:00

The book world is abuzz this morning with word that Amazon is (or was) selling a book for the Kindle called "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure," which purported, according to its author, to be "an attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles ... by establishing certain rules for these adults to follow."

Cue Internet firestorm.

Amazon has already taken down the listing for the book, but some are arguing that it's a case of freedom of speech versus censorship. But is it? The thing we must remember--and that Amazon must remember--is that they are not obligated in any way to carry every book ever produced. Brick and mortar stores have been making decisions like this for ages--you'd never find such a book in any respectable independent bookstore, or any chain for that matter. Because brick and mortar stores *can't* carry every book every produced, and they are already used to deciding which books they will carry and which are inappropriate or unsellable in their stores.

Amazon, in theory, can sell every book ever written. And they've prided themselves on that, trumpeting the fact that any and every book, no matter how niche, has a place there. It's the long tail business model, and the Internet has allowed them to be successful at it.

But there is such a thing as being a responsible retail outlet, and Amazon is learning that. Many people think Apple goes the completely WRONG way on this. They have a very aggressive screening process for books available on their apps, going so far as to prevent a graphic novel adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses from being sold, for example, because it contains a scene of a naked man jumping into the water.

To be fair, Amazon is on the proverbial "slippery slope" here. Once they decide to remove this book (as I think they should), why shouldn't they remove other books people believe to be pornographic or dangerous? How will they decide?

Part of the firestorm arose when television media began taking the standard "we don't remove books just because you don't like them" automatic a-mail response people were getting when they complained and crowed that Amazon was an insensitive media giant. Of course, the higher ups don't review every challenge--can you *image* the number of challenges Amazon must get every day?--but very quickly the protests made it up the chain, and now it's being dealt with by someone other than the customer service phone rep earning ten dollars an hour.

And what about the first amendment here? The fact is, the author of this work has a right to produce it under the First Amendment, but Amazon is NOT obligated to carry it. Businesses may make their own decisions, and the decision here, once they become away of what the book is, should be not to sell it.

I have this argument with our local paper all the time. They print the most hateful, unfounded letters to the editor, and when I complain to the publisher (whom I know personally; it's a small town) he argues that it's the letter authors' first amendment right to free speech. I agree with him that these lunatics are entitled to their opinion, and it's their right to go down on the street corner and scream their polemics to whoever will listen, but I disagree that he is obligated to print it. He's *choosing* to print those letters, which is why I no longer subscribe.

And all this is yet another good reason (if you didn't have enough already) to shop your local indie bookstore instead!

The most zen Star Wars homage you'll ever watch

2010-11-10T07:45:00.001-05:00

Check out this mesmerizing three-minute, cut paper version of the original three Star Wars movies by Eric Power to the song "Tatooine" by Jeremy Messersmith! Eric's got plenty more beautiful paper cut pop art films up on YouTube as well...

(Via WWdN: In Exile, via Geekosystem)

Meet Theodore

2010-11-09T07:48:00.000-05:00

I've been working on a bear pattern for months. I thought I had one, but I just couldn't get the ears right - he always seemed to end up looking like a mouse or a dog. I finally scrapped the whole thing and started over - and Theodore emerged on the very first try. I love it when that happens!

I'm working on a stack of bears right now and I'll have them in my shop by Thanksgiving. And in January? Patterns! Don't you want to make your own?

Found on Wikipedia: Edward Bulwer-Lytton

2010-11-05T07:45:00.000-04:00

Continuing my promised "Found on Wikipedia" series, today's find is the article about The Right Honorable Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC (25 May 1803 – 18 January 1873), Queen Victoria's Secretary of State for the Colonies and, more famously, the author namesake of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, San Jose State University's annual competition which "challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels." Bulwer-Lytton is responsible for the famous opener, "It was a dark and stormy night" in his novel Paul Clifford:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

"It was a dark and stormy night" was of course Snoopy's favorite opening line while sitting at his typewriter, and was co-opted by Madeleine L'Engle for the first line of A Wrinkle in Time. But, according to Wikipedia, Bulwer-Lytton was responsible for even more venerable chestnuts...

He coined the phrases "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", and the famous opening line "It was a dark and stormy night".

But wait, there's more! Check out these other interesting facts about Bulwer-Lytton--again, all from the Wikipedia article:

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC (25 May 1803 – 18 January 1873), was an English politician, poet, playwright, and prolific novelist. He was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling novels which earned him a considerable fortune.

Bulwer-Lytton reached the height of his popularity with the publication of Godolphin (1833). This was followed by The Pilgrims of the Rhine (1834), The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), Rienzi, Last of the Roman Tribunes (1835), and Harold, the Last of the Saxons (1848). The Last Days of Pompeii was inspired by Karl Briullov's painting, The Last Day of Pompeii, which Bulwer-Lytton saw in Milan.

He also wrote the horror story The Haunted and the Haunters or The House and the Brain (1859).

Bulwer-Lytton penned many other works, including The Coming Race or Vril: The Power of the Coming Race (1871), which drew heavily on his interest in the occult and contributed to the birth of the science fiction genre. Its story of a subterranean race waiting to reclaim the surface of the Earth is an early science fiction theme. The book popularised the Hollow Earth theory and may have inspired Nazi mysticism. His term "vril" lent its name to Bovril meat extract.

Absolutely awesome. Have fun with that one...

The Face Front Club

2010-11-04T07:45:00.003-04:00

Dad sends along this camera phone shot of Something Rotten, still stocked and sold at Books-a-Million! He kept his card-carrying-member status in the Face Front Club by turning it face out on the shelf, too...

Have you faced out a book by an author friend today? :-)

Our new woodshed

2010-11-03T13:08:00.000-04:00

Our plans to install our wood stove this past weekend were derailed when we discovered (surprise surprise) that we didn't have all the parts we needed. Some are still on order at Lowe's, and others we'll have to buy in store, but that won't be until this coming Friday. In the meantime, we decided to get a woodshed built!

We bought a few pieces of pressure-treated wood for this project, but we tried to use up a lot of scrap from other projects on this one, particularly as it's hidden behind the house and doesn't need to look pretty.

A cord of wood, according to The Internet, is four feet by four feet by eight feet of wood, so those are the dimensions we used, kicking the front up an extra foot for accessibility--and to allow snow to slide off the roof in the winter.

I love any excuse to wear my tool belt...

Our outer frame is finished! Now to add side panels, a roof, and a floor.

But first, we added side supports for the three stacks of wood that will fit inside. We used more scrap wood here, so the pieces are uneven and mismatched.

While Wendi and I covered the walls with old flooring pieces left over from the construction of our house, Jo was charged with shoveling sand from our leftover sand pile for the base. She ended up playing more than shoveling, but she helped out.

The leftover floor boards were pretty crappy, but still in good enough shape to be serviceable. The best part: they were free! (Or, well, we had long since paid for them already.)

On top of the sand we stacked all the cinder blocks that were--again--left over from the construction of our house.

And the roof too was recycled! These are layered scrap pieces from the roof of our new house.

We had wood delivered the next day. We bought a cord, but the logs were cut to 18" lengths, not sixteen, so we didn't get them to fit three stacks deep as perfectly as we had planned...

They stick out a bit, but we'll have the half a stack piled on the front burned down in no time, and perhaps next time we'll find a supplier with 16" logs instead.

Moving a cord of wood one wheel barrow at a time from the other side of the house was not a lot of fun, but until the mobile home gets sold and moved, we won't be able to get a pick-up truck back to the wood shed. When the mobile home is gone, we should be able to get the wood a lot closer for loading.

We also bought a nifty little metal rack at our local Ace Hardware for our porch. It holds about a half of the front stack from the woodshed. We'll keep this filled up from the woodshed through the winter so we can grab more dry wood and dash back inside without having to go all the way around to the woodshed, and in the warmer months we'll take it apart and stow it in the storage shed.

Now we just need to get that wood stove installed! In the meantime, at least I have a woodshed to take Jo out behind...

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T14:57:00.000-04:00

We had a lovely Halloween here at Gratz Industries. Jo was torn between her Pokemon trainer costume and her Hogwarts Student costume. The weather decided for her and I think she looked terrific.

We decided to follow Neil Gaiman's lead and celebrate All Hallows Read by giving a scary book as a Halloween gift.

We did it up right with gift wrap and everything.

We got Jo a copy of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Brett Helquist. She DEVOURED it. That girl loves ghost stories - as long as they're not too scary - and this collection was just right. Now she's asking for the next two volumes in the series.

Hope ya'll had a great Halloween! And - just for fun - how awesome was the Halloween design on the Krispy Kreme box? We enjoyed far too many of these boxes this month. :-) Scary!

Found on Wikipedia: The South-Pointing Chariot

2010-10-29T07:45:00.001-04:00

Okay. I do a lot of poking around on Wikipedia, and like many people, I easily (and often) fall down the rabbit hole of hyperlinks, clicking from one fascinating subject to another. A few weeks back I thought it would be fun to start an entire blog of wildly-interesting facts found on Wikipedia, and today's find finally spurred me to action. But rather than start a new blog, I realized, why not post my discoveries on the perfectly good blog I already have?

So today begins "Found on Wikipedia," a feature that will probably be more regular than I would like, as the time I spend surfing Wikipedia always--always--takes away from time I should be writing. Still, stuff this good has to be shared.

The South-Pointing Chariot

The South Pointing Chariot is widely regarded as one of the most complex geared mechanisms of the ancient Chinese civilization, and was continually used throughout the medieval period as well. According to legends it was supposedly invented sometime around 2600 BC in China by the mythical Yellow Emperor, yet the first valid historical version was created by Ma Jun (c. 200–265 AD) of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms. The chariot is a two-wheeled vehicle upon which is a pointing figure connected to the wheels by means of differential gearing. Through careful selection of wheel size, track and gear ratios, the figure atop the chariot will always point in the same direction, hence acting as a non-magnetic compass vehicle. Throughout history, many Chinese historical texts have mentioned the South Pointing Chariot, while some described in full detail the inner components and workings of the device.

Read more about The South-Pointing Chariot here...and good luck getting anything done today.

Google Alerts Round-up

2010-10-28T12:09:00.000-04:00

Gather around for a Google Alerts Round-up, troops!

Team Banzai member Janet send in this link to the Learning Through History newsletter, which recommends The Brooklyn Nine as a resource for historical studies centered around baseball, which is kind of a big deal this time of year. Thanks, Janet, and thanks Learning Through History!

Challenging the Bookworm likes The Brooklyn Nine because you don't have to be a sports fan to enjoy it...

Tyler B. at Otto-Eldred Junior-Senior High School writes on BookHooks that he "didn't dislike anything" about The Brooklyn Nine, and is sure "history nerds will like this book." :-)

Donna Woody at Print Matters picked up The Brooklyn Nine expecting a sports story, but feels like she got so much more...

"Like one of those cereals advertised as too tasty to be nutritious," says Doug Smith of the Lockport, New York Union-Sun & Journal, "'Brooklyn Nine' informs in an entertaining style."

And I'm a little late with the news (I was in Japan!), but Something Rotten got a great mention by Regina Brooks at the Huffington Post in an article about adapting classics for modern generations.

Thanks, everyone!

This one's worthy of City Confidential

2010-10-27T12:25:00.000-04:00

I ran into a story on the internet yesterday that reminded me so much of my brief time writing for City Confidential that I had to share it here. It's got all the makings of a great City Confidential episode: a semi-famous perpetrator, a silly motive, a botched crime, and a colorful supporting cast. Truly, this story is worth bringing the show back for an encore episode.

So, first the teaser: Chef Juan-Carlos Cruz made a name for himself serving up low-calorie pastry treats on TV--but when this "Calorie Commando" tried to trim the fat by hiring two homeless men to kill his wife, his cookie crumbled.

Here's what happened, according to a CNN story:

Former TV chef Juan-Carlos Cruz faces nine years in prison after pleading "no contest" Tuesday to a charge of soliciting two homeless men to kill his wife, the prosecutor said.

The former host of the Food Network's "Calorie Commando" will be sentenced on December 13, but the plea agreement calls for a nine-year sentence, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.

One count of attempted murder was dropped as part of the plea settlement, the prosecutor said.

The motive?

Fertility issues were at the center of Cruz's motivation in the murder-for-hire plot to kill his wife, according to sources close to the couple.

Two sources close the couple, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said their 20-year struggle to have a child overwhelmed them.

After spending a lot of money on unsuccessful fertility treatments, Cruz's wife, Jennifer Campbell, was "very depressed and talked about suicide," one source said.

The sources suggested she may have wanted to end her life but that as a devout Roman Catholic, she believed suicide was a sin.

So, I guess he was just trying to help her out then? But it's all cool:

The source closest to Campbell said she still loves her husband despite his arrest.

...

The source closest to Cruz, 48, said he was "nothing but a loving and devoted husband."

I just hope, someday, that I can do something as loving and devoted for Wendi.

The story begins to reach Elmore Leonard proportions with the supporting cast, which includes two indistinguishably Rosencrantz-and-Guildenstern-like homeless men named "Big Dave" and "Little Dave."

The criminal complaint accused Cruz of trying to hire David Carrington and David Walters -- homeless men who go by the street names Little Dave and Big Dave -- to murder Campbell. It was not immediately clear who was Little Dave and who was Big Dave.

The homeless men solicited to carry out the hit spoke with celebrity news and gossip website TMZ soon after the arrest. One of them called Cruz "very meticulous" but "very cheap" in his planning.

Well, you get what you pay for, I suppose.

The plan fell apart when one of the men whom Cruz allegedly recruited told Santa Monica police, Sgt. Jay Trisler said. Trisler confirmed that the men interviewed by TMZ were the chief witnesses against Cruz.

Little Dave told TMZ that he was approached first by Cruz, who asked him to kill his wife for cash, and he told his friend Big Dave.

Big Dave said he told a Santa Monica police officer about the plot after he was arrested for loitering.

"We're very fortunate that we have a relationship and rapport with some of the homeless and that they were able to give us information," Trisler said.

Yeah. Some "relationship." I've seen enough crime show episodes to read between the lines here. "Big Dave" got picked up for loitering charges, and he rolled over on Cruz to get out of it.

Santa Monica police began their undercover investigation of Cruz on May 7, Trisler said. Cruz was arrested at a dog park in the Cheviot Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, he said.

This had to be a sting operation at the dog park!

Big Dave and Little Dave got a place to stay while the investigation was under way. Santa Monica police put them in a hotel room to keep them out of sight, Big Dave said.

"They gave us two pizzas, a 12-pack of beer and a bottle of San Jose," he said. "I love them."

Awesome. I love the image of these two guys living it up with beer, pizza, and cable TV at the hotel.

Predictably, the Food Network was quick to distance themselves:

The Food Network issued a short statement Monday saying Cruz "has not been under contract or associated with Food Network for a number of years."

Good stuff, made all the better since there was no actual murder! I wonder if Cruz has already sold the TV rights? Or maybe I could get the rights from Big Dave for a couple of pizzas...

Mad Men Mr. Men

2010-10-26T13:48:00.000-04:00

Made of awesome. Thanks to Bookshelves of Doom for the link.

Ellery Queen series makes it to DVD

2010-10-26T12:02:00.002-04:00

Anybody remember the Ellery Queen TV series? It only ran for one season--1975-1976--which is astounding because it was so much fun. I watched these in reruns at some point, but I still haven't seen them in years. Now they're finally available on DVD!

Ellery Queen was a lot of fun. Developed by Levinson and Link, the minds behind Columbo and, later, Murder, She Wrote, the episodes followed amateur detective Ellery Queen of short story fame as he stepped in to help his father, Detective Queen, solve the oddest of odd mysteries. The series broke the fourth wall by setting the scene in narration, having murder victims sit and talk to the camera, and then allowing Ellery, when everything had been laid out, to turn to the audience and say, "Have you figured it out yet? You've got all the clues you need!" The murders are clean and cozy too, making this one to share with the whole family.

Ellery Queen also stars a host of great actors from back in the day. In addition to regulars Jim Hutton (father of Timothy Hutton, who would go on to play a TV detective himself: Archie Goodwin!) and David Wayne, who plays his father, the series features Tony Hillerman as a recurring radio detective character, George Burns, Eve Arden, Rudy Vallee, Ray Milland, Don Ameche, Ida Lupino, Vincent Price, Mel Ferrer, Kim Hunter, Joan Collins, Ray Walston, Tom Bosley, Betty White, Robbert Loggia, Rene Auberjonois, Jim Backus, Larry Hagman, June Lockhart, John Larroquette, Eva Gabor, Dean Stockwell, Tab Hunter, Roddy McDowall, Ed McMahon, Dick Van Patten, Tricia O'Neil, Cesar Romero, Dick Sargent, Diana Muldaur, Noah Beery Jr., Troy Donahue, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Victor Buono, and Eddie Albert--just to name a few

Why did this show ever get canceled?* Sheesh. Ah well, to the Netflix queue!

* Well, this might have something to do with it: according to Wikipedia, Jim Hutton died four years later in 1979 from liver cancer. What a loss.

Barnes and Noble to announce Nook Kids

2010-10-25T12:17:00.000-04:00

In addition to the expected announcement of a color version of their Nook reader, Barnes and Noble is reportedly about to introduce Nook Kids, an ebook site that targets the 3 to 8 year old crowd. According to reports, 12,000 titles will be available, including novels, picture books, and "enhanced versions of classics."

Via ZDNet's The Toy Box blog.

We have a wood stove!

2010-10-22T12:19:00.000-04:00

Our wood stove was delivered this morning!

Jo got a box.

Next Saturday night, we're sending you back to the future!

2010-10-20T11:12:00.000-04:00

AMC theaters are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future with two days of shows around the country. The nearest show for us looks like Charlotte, which is two and a half hours away, or else I'd take Jo to see it on the big screen. Here's the list of cities and theaters, in case yours is on there.

There's that word again; "heavy". Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?

A Very Presidential Mythbusters

2010-10-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

After Adam Savage tweeted merrily that he was on his way to the White House, word finally comes as to why: President Obama will be appearing on an episode of Mythbusters this December!

According to reports, the move is part of a Presidential initiative to promote science and math. Speaking before a group of young science fair winners, Obama said that sports team winners traditionally got invitations to the White House, but winners of math and science prizes did not.

"I thought we ought to do the same thing for the winners of science fairs and robotic contests and math competitions," he told the group. "Often, we don't give these victories the attention that they deserve. When you win first place at a science fair, nobody's rushing the field or dumping Gatorade over your head."

According to the President, American 15-year-olds are ranked 21st in science and 25th in math when compared to students the same age in other countries around the world. He'd like to see American kids at number one in both fields by the end of the decade.

On Mythbusters, the President will challenge Adam, Jamie, and the rest of the gang to prove once and for all whether Archimedes' Death Ray was possible--a myth they've busted twice before. I wish they were doing something else, but perhaps the boys have a new take on it. According to a spokesperson for the show, a re-test of the myth is always high on the list of viewer requests.

Obama's biggest regret about the episode, which has already been taped: "I didn't get to blow anything up. I was a little frustrated by that."

CBS News: Obama to Appear on Mythbusters
Fox News: Obama, Mythbusters to Test 'Archimedes Death Ray' in Push to Promote Science

Steampunk Art

2010-10-18T07:45:00.001-04:00

"Steampunk" by Patrick Reilly

Found a great collection of steampunk images collected at The Other Side of Perception while, um, doing research. (Yes, that's it!) Here are some of my favorites. Visit the The Other Side of Perception blog to see more.

"Steampunk Goliath" by Cory Jespersen

"The Fall of Icarus" by Nigel Quarless

"Steamnocchio" by Fabricio Moraes

"Stromboli's Catch" by Lior Arditi

"Mermaid Song" by Leonardo Hernandez

"Mary Poppins" by Daniel Cestari

"Judith and Holofernes" by Aly Fell

Giveaway winners!

2010-10-14T11:20:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Cindy Rittenhouse of Atlanta, GA and Sherri Ashburner of Westbrook, CT--they're the winners of my first round of Very Fancy eNewsletter giveaways! Cindy wins an advance reader copy of Fantasy Baseball, and Sherri wins an advance reader copy of Sapphique, the sequel to the New York Times Bestselling fantasy novel Incarceron by Catherine Fisher.

More giveaways to come! If you haven't already, follow the link at the bottom of this blog to sign up for my e-newsletter. And if you submitted your name before, you're automatically entered to win the next time I have a contest!

New pottery from the Spruce Pine Potters Market

2010-10-13T12:35:00.001-04:00

We're very lucky to live in an area with so many world-class potters! These folks sell their beautiful work throughout the country and around the world, so it's a treat to attend the Spruce Pine Potters Market each year and see all that work collected in our humble little town. We've made a commitment to replacing most of our mass-produced dishes with original work over time, and we acquired some great pieces this time around!

A bowl by Shawn Ireland, who lives just down the road from us.

A cup by Mark Peters, whose daughter was in the same class as Jo at Spruce Pine Montessori.

Two plates, above and below, by Courtney Martin, a local potter we've come to know really well. We love her work! I use a pitcher she made at my desk, and we have another plate and bowl of hers we acquired during the Toe River Arts Council Studio Tour last year. (We also own a glass bowl by her partner John Geci.)

A ceramic strainer. Wendi loves her red and purple metal strainers, but the paint coating is coming off of them, and this looked like it would be perfect for rinsing fruits and vegetables. It's done by a potter who teaches the dual credit class at Penland, which lets Mitchell County High School students take art classes that earn them academic credit both in high school and at the local Mayland Community College--but I can't remember her name, and Wendi's not here for me to ask!

And one last piece, by our "house potter" Michael Kline. We own lots of pieces by Michael, and we love his work so much we'll certainly acquire more. This one has a richer, darker color to it than some of the other pieces we own, which makes for a nice contrast.

Star Wars v. Star Trek: The Trailer

2010-10-12T07:45:00.001-04:00

If only...

Maybe the apple wants a part too?

2010-10-11T07:45:00.000-04:00

Hand model Kimbra Hickey would like a little face time.

That's what she told the New York Post this past weekend. See, those are her hands on the iconic Twilight cover, and she's really tired of people not realizing what a huge, huge part she has played in the publishing phenomenon:

"I see people reading it on the subway, and I say, 'Those are my hands! I'm a hand model!' " she explained. "I'm sure they think I'm crazy -- a crazy lady on the subway."

The good-natured Hickey sometimes hangs out near the cash register at the Barnes & Noble near her Greenwich Village apartment to spread the word. Surprised customers sometimes ask her for her autograph or to trace the outline of her hand on the book jacket.

She even carries around a Gala apple in her purse at times so she can recreate the pose for people.

"It was too big of a deal just to let it be," she said, although she admitted that she has become "a little goofy" about the whole thing.

"A little goofy" might be understating things a bit. I get being excited that those are your hands on the cover of the millions of Twilight books out there, but I'm not sure I see a realistic way to parlay that into fame and fortune. She already works the Twilight fan convention circuit (selling apple-scented hand lotion!) but she's also hoping to land a part in the next Twilight movie:

"If I could get a little background part, it would be fantastic," she said -- "even if they only wanted my hands in it."

The End of Picture Books? Say It Ain't So!

2010-10-08T11:26:00.002-04:00

Yesterday's New York Times published a story called Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children. I just about cried when I read it. I saw the writing on the wall when I was a bookseller. It's always been tough for new picture books to battle against old favorites, and people especially like to buy their own childhood favorites when it comes to picture books. In spite of aggressive handselling of our favorite new books, our bestselling picture books were always classic backlist titles.

Things got worse a few months ago, when Barnes & Noble took away their lovely picture book displays--entire walls full of inviting face-outs of beautiful picture books--and replaced them with crappy activity books and book & toy sets. The bookseller in me understood that they'll get more dollars per square foot out of the crappy activity books, but the picture book lover in me mourned the loss.

The NYT article mentions a lot of reasons for the decline, but the one that got my blood pressure up is the one about parents pushing their kids into reading chapter books at a younger and younger age.

Parents have begun pressing their kindergartners and first graders to leave the picture book behind and move on to more text-heavy chapter books. Publishers cite pressures from parents who are mindful of increasingly rigorous standardized testing in schools.

“Parents are saying, ‘My kid doesn’t need books with pictures anymore,’ ” said Justin Chanda, the publisher of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. “There’s a real push with parents and schools to have kids start reading big-kid books earlier. We’ve accelerated the graduation rate out of picture books.

Booksellers see this shift too.

“They’re 4 years old, and their parents are getting them ‘Stuart Little,’” said Dara La Porte, the manager of the children’s department at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington. “I see children pick up picture books, and then the parents say, ‘You can do better than this, you can do more than this.’ It’s a terrible pressure parents are feeling — that somehow, I shouldn’t let my child have this picture book because she won’t get into Harvard.”

This isn't new. Booksellers have been dealing with these parents for a long time. I'll never forget the woman who told me her five-year old son was reading Kafka. I resisted the urge to shake her and, instead, tried to sell her Beetle Boy (now sadly out of print). She insisted on a chapter book. Of course.

Some parents say they just want to advance their children’s skills. Amanda Gignac, a stay-at-home mother in San Antonio who writes The Zen Leaf, a book blog, said her youngest son, Laurence, started reading chapter books when he was 4.

Now Laurence is 6 ½, and while he regularly tackles 80-page chapter books, he is still a “reluctant reader,” Ms. Gignac said.

Sometimes, she said, he tries to go back to picture books. “He would still read picture books now if we let him, because he doesn’t want to work to read,” she said, adding that she and her husband have kept him reading chapter books.

Hmmm. . . could it be that all the parents desperately pushing their kids away from the books they love and on to "more challenging" fare have something to do with the "Death of Reading" that we keep hearing about? Maybe iPods and video games and television have nothing to do with it after all--except as retreats from the constant pressure to read ever more challenging books.

On the plus side (since I'm always looking for the silver lining) maybe this whole bad situation will at least encourage publishers to do more illustrated chapter books. I know nothing makes Jo happier than opening up a juicy-looking novel and finding art inside.

That's right--kids love art. And they love their stories laced with art. That includes illustrated chapter books, graphic novels and--yes--picture books. If they love what they're reading, they'll read more. If they read more, they'll read better. And if they read better, they won't struggle with (and consequently hate) more challenging books. So let them read what they love!

Last day to enter to win a Fantasy Baseball galley

2010-10-07T07:45:00.005-04:00

A week or so ago I announced my first Fantasy Baseball Advance Reader Copy giveaway, but I neglected to, um, pick a cut off date. (I don't do this often! Cut me some slack!)

So today is the last day to get signed up! (Like how I just made that executive decision?) Click here to register if you haven't already. Tomorrow--Friday, October 8th--I'll randomly select a winner from all the people who've entered and announce the winner here on the blog. Oh, and getting signed up now will automatically include you in all the other giveaways I've got lined up between now and pub day!

(Tomorrow I'll also be choosing the winner of the Sapphique galley, a contest available only to folks who subscribe to my Very Fancy eNewsletter...)

Accio Harry Potter Sequel

2010-10-06T07:45:00.001-04:00

J.K. Rowling appeared on Oprah last week to talk about her life and times. On the topic of fame, which Oprah knows a bit about too, Rowling said that during the height of Pottermania she felt a bit like the Beatles. "But there were four Beatles, so they could turn to each other and say ;'My god, This is crazy!'" she told Oprah. "I couldn't turn to anyone."

The pressure on her after Azkaban (book three) became a midnight party event must have been otherworldly. I can only imagine the stress of having to meet a GIANT deadline where it's not just editors and a handful of readers waiting for your next book--it's MILLIONS of people. Not only that, but they're expecting something FABULOUS. Something to top the last Harry Potter book they read. Performing creatively at that high a level is enough to break anybody.

So why on earth would Rowling ever write another Harry book? She's richer than the queen of England, and she's won just about every children's book award and achieved just about every sales record she could get. I certainly wouldn't blame her if she never wrote another word again. Ever. But she was coy when asked The Big Question:

"They're all in my head still. I could definitely write an eighth, a ninth book....I'm not going to say I won't. I feel I am done, but you never know."

I have a feeling we'll never see another book set in that world again. Certainly not one starring Harry Potter. But one thing's for sure: if she DOES decide to write one, it's a fair bet she won't tell a SOUL until it's finished...

In the meantime, here's a blast from the past: Hank Green's "Accio Deathly Hallows" song!

And one more for good measure: The Potter Pals!

"Well, at least I watched a lot of TV."

2010-10-05T07:45:00.004-04:00

Over at his Whatever blog, sci-fi author John Scalzi gives straightforward and honest answers to two questions aspiring writers often ask him: how does he keep inspired to write, and how can they find the time to write when the rest of their lives are so draining?

The answer to the first of these is simple and unsatisfying: I keep inspired to write because if I don’t then the mortgage company will be inspired to foreclose on my house.

I'm asked this question at almost every school visit I do. "What inspires you to write?" or "What makes you keep writing?" My answer is always the same: "I keep writing to pay the bills!" I say this with a laugh meant to soften it, but it never goes over well. Like Scalzi, I think most people expect some kind of emotional, sentimental answer. "I write to bring peace and understanding to the world!" or "I write because my favorite aunt, fading fast on her death bed, made me swear to never give up, to never quit!"

Yes, I started writing novels in my twenties because it's pretty much the one persistent and compelling dream I've had since I was a kid, and yes, I worked hard to get published because I don't care about writing if the only person who reads my books is my wife. I want an audience. But the reason I keep writing now that I've written and published a book? Because I can make a living at this, kids. I am now a professional writer, which means I punch a clock. This is not my hobby. I cannot afford to wait for the muse to speak to me: it's my job to get her on the phone every day for a conference call and get things done. Or, as Scalzi puts it:

This answer is simple because it’s true — hey, this is my job, I don’t have another — and it’s unsatisfying because writers, and I suppose particularly authors of fiction, are assumed to have some other, more esoteric inspiration. And, you know. Maybe other authors do. But to the extent that I have to be inspired to write at all on a day-to-day basis...the desire to make money for myself and my family works well enough. Another day, another dollar, etc.

I recently excerpted an interview Cynthia Leitich Smith did with Sara Pennypacker, the author of the Clementine series, who says that recently she's begun to think about her writing as a way to tell the stories of children for them--that is, that children have stories but have few ways to express them, and she has begun to think of it as her job to do that expressing for them, in print. I think that's awesome, and I'm in awe of that responsibility. THAT'S the kind of answer people are usually looking for, and I believe her when she says it. My motivation is, like Scalzi's, just a bit more on the practical side of things.

The second of the questions is even tougher to answer without rubbing people the wrong way. "How do I find the time to write when all I want to do when I get home from work is plop down in front of the TV or hang out with my family?" All I can say is, when I decided I wanted to sell a book--I mean, really decided to DO IT and stop just talking about it, I MADE the time. I wrote in the evenings. I wrote on the weekends. I FOUND the time. Was it easier to find the time before I had a child? Yes--but I still found that time after Jo was born, in nap times (hers) and after bed times (hers and Wendi's). I finished one novel (the unpublished Inventing Julia) and started and finished another (Samurai Shortstop) during Jo's first year of life, when I was both a stay at home dad and an aspiring novelist--AND a freelance writer for A&E's City Confidential. I found the time because I wanted it, and I was determined to make it happen.

Scalzi is a little more direct about it:

As to the second of these, my basic response here is, Well, look. Either you want to write or you don’t, and thinking that you want to write really doesn’t mean anything. There are lots of things I think I’d like to do, and yet if I don’t actually make the time and effort to do them, they don’t get done. This is why I don’t have an acting career, or am a musician — because as much as I’d like those, I somehow stubbornly don’t actually do the things I need to do in order to achieve them. So I guess in really fundamental way I don’t want them, otherwise I’d make the time. C’est la vie.

That's pretty much it. You either are a writer, or you aren't, just as I can either be the guy who wants to learn how to fix his own car, or I can remain the guy who can't fix his own car. The list of things I'd like to do is impossibly long. The list of things I can do is defined by those things I've actually taken the time to learn and do. I always loved it when George Costanza on Seinfeld would say, "I wish I was a Civil War buff. It would be so cool to be a Civil War buff." The joke was that George loved the idea of being a Civil War buff, but we--and he--knew he didn't want it badly enough to actually become a Civil War buff.

When we bought the board game Ticket to Ride recently, I said, "We should totally make a Japan map for ourselves!" I often say such crazy things, and they usually don't get done. This time, however, I really wanted to make that map with Jo. So the very next day Jo and I printed out a huge outline of Japan, pulled out all our atlases, pulled out the Ticket to Ride game, and got to work. It took us a week of working on it for an hour here or there, but we now have a pretty kick-ass--and totally playable!--Japan map for Ticket to Ride.

I wanted it badly enough, so I did it.

So: Do you want to write or don’t you? If your answer is “yes, but,” then here’s a small editing tip: what you’re doing is using six letters and two words to say “no.” And that’s fine. Just don’t kid yourself as to what “yes, but” means.

Harsh, perhaps, but true. It's a lesson I've had to learn in other parts of my life. "I really wish I could speak a second language" has been spoken by me many, many times in my life, but recently I began to understand that this just isn't going to happen, because I will never make it enough of a priority to do it. It's an unhappy realization, but I have to counter it by weighing it against the desires I do fill. I just have to realize I cannot do it all, prioritize, and then be happy with what I am doing.

Scalzi's quick to point out that it's cool if you don't become a writer like you thought you wanted.

There’s nothing wrong with deciding that when it really comes down to it, you want to do things other than writing. It’s even okay to start writing, work at it a while, and decide it’s not for you. Being a writer isn’t some grand, mystical state of being, it just means you put words together to amuse people, most of all yourself.

If it turns out you don't want to be a writer badly enough? Stop beating yourself up about it and revel in the things you are doing. Do you want it badly enough to put your butt in the chair and fill a few hundred pages with story? Then do it. Finally, says Scalzi:

[I]f you need inspiration, think of yourself on your deathbed saying “well, at least I watched a lot of TV.”

If I ever get our mortgage paid off, that'll certainly be enough to keep me writing.

John Scalzi - Writing: Find the Time or Don't

What We're Reading 10/4/2010

2010-10-04T17:24:00.000-04:00

Family Read-Aloud
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix - and finally finished it!

Wendi
White Cat by Holly Black - devoured it and loved every bit. Very satisfying ending.
The Language of Bees by Laurie King - I am two books behind on the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books and I didn't even know it! I'm still in the early bits on this one. . .

Alan
Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder
Books of Elsewhere: The Shadows by Jacqueline West - reading with Jo
various comic books

Jo
The Incredibles: Family Matters - we made a long-overdue trip to the comic shop and Jo came away with lots of good graphic novels - which she mostly finished before we even made it home
The Incredibles: City of Incredibles - featuring Jo's favorite, Jack-Jack, in a starring role
Patrick the Wolf Boy vol. 3 - Jo loved these! Must seek out volumes 1 and 2 now.
Patrick the Wolf Boy vol. 4
Star Wars Clone Wars Adventures Vol. 5 - picked up a new one in this series
Dav Pilkey's Dragon Tales - always good for some belly laughs. Jo's go a collected edition that's not available anymore - so the link goes to her favorite story in the bunch.
Case Closed Vol. 7 - dipping into the Conan graphic novels. Again.
Case Closed Vol. 8
Case Closed Vol. 9
Case Closed Vol. 10
Chilly Chilly Ice-Bat by David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim - a silly Uglydolls book
Babymouse #7: Skater Girl by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes - many of our Kevin Henkes are autographed books - which we just integrated into all the rest of our picture books. Jo found some old favorites previously "hidden" on the top shelf.
Lilly's Big Day by Kevin Henkes
Julius, the Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes
Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes
Owen by Kevin Henkes
Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes
Monster Museum by Marilyn Singer with art by Gris Grimly - 'tis the season.
Wilma Tenderfoot and the Case of the Frozen Hearts by Emma Kennedy - an ARC Jo's been reading for a book that comes out in January
Books of Elsewhere: The Shadows by Jacqueline West - still reading this with Alan
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban CD

Weird chicken trivia

2010-10-04T07:45:00.001-04:00

Mental Floss recently did a post with weird facts about chickens and, since we're nominally chicken wranglers, I thought I'd pass along some of the strangest chicken facts:

3. What is pasty butt, and how do I prevent it?
Chickens have a multipurpose hole for excrement, eggs, and mating called the cloacal vent. If this hole becomes clogged with excrement—a condition known as pasty butt—a young chicken can get backed up and die. Without a mother hen to clean them, baby chicks raised by humans are particularly susceptible to pasty butt. That’s why chicken keepers must be vigilant in monitoring and cleaning their brood’s bottoms.

Yikes.

6. How do I hypnotize a chicken?
The chicken mind is an easy thing to control, and chicken handlers have found several ways of hypnotizing the birds. Here are three surefire ways to make a chicken very, very sleepy:

• Hold a chicken’s head under its wing and gently rock its body.

• Hold a chicken upside down and wiggle a finger in circles around its beak.

• Stare intently into a chicken’s eyes.

Generally, they’ll stay spellbound for several minutes, or even hours, until a loud noise snaps them out of their trance. Scientists think this state is a form of tonic immobility, a defense mechanism in which animals “play dead” in order to shake off a predator. Hypnotized chickens can be pretty useful, though. Former Vice President Al Gore recalls using them as doorstops during his childhood days on his family’s farm.

Ten Provocative Questions About Raising Chickens...Answered!

Soup, Glorious Soup

2010-10-01T12:15:00.000-04:00

It's been kind of cold and dreary here lately - the perfect weather for making soup. I love tomato soup. Jo does not. I recently read this post over at Soule Mama and decided I needed to try her tomato soup with carrots.

There were yummy tomatoes from the farmer's market to peel. . .

. . . and carrots (also from the farmer's market) to be chopped.

Jo chops. I peel and quarter.

The tomatoes are roasted (yum!) and you don't have to seed them. I don't mind peeling them - but recipes that call for seeding them bug me because I feel like I'm feeding half the tomatoes to the chickens.

Saute the carrots, celery and onions, toss in the roasted tomatoes, add some stock, whirl it all together, add some cream - and yum! So yummy that I dove in without taking a picture. But you know what tomato soup looks like, right?

Cynsations interviews Sara Pennypacker

2010-10-01T07:45:00.000-04:00

There's a great interview up right now at Cynsations, where Cynthia Leitich Smith (Eternal, Tantalize, Blessed) asks Sara Pennypacker (Clementine series) great questions about her work and the world of kidlit. My favorite exchange:

Looking back, what was the single best decision you made in terms of advancing your craft as a writer?

Several years ago, I had an experience that profoundly changed the way I thought about writing for children. I just happened to hear someone quote Carl Jung - apparently Jung was asked during an interview why there was evil in the world. His answer was, "Young man, there is evil in the world because people can't tell their stories."

That resonated with me, and I started to think about it a lot in terms of children.

I realized it takes four things to tell one's story: a strong voice, language skills, a platform and an audience. Most children don't possess those things, but I am lucky enough to have all four.

Since then, I have tried to write for children a different way--as though I am telling their stories, because I can when they can't. I like to imagine my readers holding up my books to their adults and saying, "This is how I feel. This is what it's like for me."

I think it's given me a better voice, and better things to say.

Read the whole interview here.

Fantasy Baseball Advance Reader Copy Giveaway!

2010-09-30T07:45:00.003-04:00

The word is out: I'm giving away a free Advance Reader Copy of Fantasy Baseball, my new middle grade novel due out next March!

You've never played fantasy baseball like this before. A flying monkey in the outfield. A toad at short. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz on the mound. Alex Metcalf thinks he’s dreaming, but the Oz Cyclones exist here in Ever After, where storybook characters live on as long as kids in the real world believe in them.

But Alex isn't a storybook. To get home, he and the Cyclones will have to win the Ever After Baseball Tournament and earn wishes from the Wizard of Oz. Trouble is, the Big Bad Wolf wants a wish too.

To win the tournament, Alex and the Cyclones will have to defeat the wolf, play the best baseball of their lives, and find the courage to believe in themselves. But what good is believing in yourself if the real world stops believing in you?

To win an Advance Reader Copy of Fantasy Baseball, click here! The winner will be announced soon, and I'll be doing more great giveaways in the months leading up to Fantasy Baseball's Spring 2011 release!

Why virtual sockpuppets are a bad, bad idea

2010-09-29T12:36:00.007-04:00

In our ongoing chronicle of Very Bad Mistakes Authors Make Using Social Media comes this nugget of nincompoopery involving bestselling kids book author Christopher Pike, and it introduces a new media term you might not be familiar with: the sockpuppet.

The sockpuppet, when used in terms of social media, is a false identity created by blog posters to support their own arguments. Say you're debating who would win in a fight: Mary Lennox or Jo March. You think Mary Lennox would win by TKO, and you say so in the comments of a blog. Then twenty people jump in to argue for Joltin' Jo March, and you're feeling outnumbered. No problem! You just sign in under a false name (or worse, anonymously!) and back yourself up. "That Alan, he's right about Mary Lennox--and he's handsome to boot!" you say in the guise of your alter ego.

This, my friends, is a sockpuppet, and it's a BIG no-no.

What's worse than using a sockpuppet to defend your own position? Well, signing in as a sockpuppet to give yourself good reviews is pretty bad. But signing in as a sockpuppet to argue with negative reviews? WARNING, WILL ROBINSON! DANGER! You're bound to get busted.

Let us now examine the cautionary tale of Christopher Pike, who already uses a pseudonym as an author and is, reportedly, a rather mysterious figure by design. In an Amazon review for Pike's book The Secret of Ka, a reader takes him to task for what she says are a number of glaring errors about Turkey--the country in which the story is set--which all occur within the first twenty-five or so pages. Among these are little things like Pike getting the capital of Turkey wrong, putting Turkish women in veils and Turkish men in turbans when neither are worn there, and having the characters take a taxi cab to a desert on the outskirts of Istanbul when there are, in fact, no deserts in Turkey.

It does seem like just a bit of time spent on Wikipedia might have caught some of these errors, and I can see how they would rip knowledgeable readers right out of the narrative and ruin it for them. As a writer, that's the last thing I want to do, so I try to do as much fact-checking as I can before a manuscript sees the light of day. Still, errors make it through, and I have to say a mea culpa when a reader catches one. In one rather embarrassing gaff in Samurai Shortstop, I made the mistake of spelling "bonzai" the battle cry as "bonsai" the plant. Not particularly rallying, is it? :-)

But the last thing you want to do is to get defensive and start blasting a reviewer for her views. Whether she's right or wrong, there's just no profit in it. None. And it's even worse when you sign in not as yourself, but as a fictional editor named Michael Brite, which is what Pike appears to have done.

"Michael Brite" presented himself as one of Pike's editors in the comments to the review that blasted The Secret of Ka, and began to argue each and every one of the reviewer's comments. First up was the mistake about Istanbul being the capital of Turkey:

1. Pike never wrote that Istanbul was the capital of Turkey. I have his original manuscript and he said it was the "largest" city in Turkey. The insertion of capital must have crept into the book during the editorial or copyediting stages. However, Pike should have caught the change to his original document, and he is always willing to takes the blame for what goes in his books. He accepts the blame for this mistake. It is an error he hopes to fix when the book is reprinted.

Right. Sure. I have a lot of errors in my books that "must have crept into the book during the editorial or copyediting stages." Not. Yes, errors enter at this stage, but they are errors I make. My editors do not write my books. I do. The thing to note here that "[Pike] is always willing to take the blame for what goes in his books. He accepts blame for this mistake." This reads like a third person mea culpa, which, in fact, it will prove to be.

On the subject of turbans--well, he's seen lots of taxi drivers in London and New York wearing them...

5. The gentleman who picked Pike up from the airport in Turkey wore a turban. So Pike put it in his book. For that matter, Pike has had met many taxi drivers in London and New York who wear turbans. He mentions turbans only once, and no where else does he refer to people wearing them; thus, he does not try to make the reader believe that turbans are common.

It gets worse. People, debating reviewers is just wrong, wrong, wrong. You cannot win these arguments! The best thing to do is to write the best book you can and then LET IT GO. Yes, you fix things in later printings if you can, but otherwise, people have to be left to their own opinions and reactions about your work, and the work has to continue to speak for itself.

So, this poor reviewer (who has lived in Istanbul, and knows what she's talking about) is so insulted by the constant badgering from this Michael Brite guy in the comments to her review that she actually calls up Hachette, the publisher, to ask them if they know one of their editors is flaming her online. But before she gets a call back, another commenter digs up this damning piece of evidence from the review section of another of Pike's books. It's a comment posted under the name "Michael Brite":

In reply to an earlier post on May 26, 2010 2:59 PM PDT
Michael Brite says:
"This is Pike,
This is the real Christopher Pike, ignore the name this response appears under. I use many names online. The Eternal Dawn is a sequel to the other books. Sita is alive and well and the book explains in detail why Seymour portrayed her as dead at the end of the sixth book. Seymour is in the new books, although he does appear until half way through the first book. I feel the new ones are stronger than the old ones. Thirst 3 will be about 400 pages. I'm finished writing the main story but I'm in the editing stage. Yours, Pike "

BUSTED. Michael Brite is a sockpuppet for Christopher Pike. Ouch. And now there are blogs and message boards out there blasting this author not only for the mistakes in his work, but also laying into him for hiding behind a false name to defend himself.

"Michael Brite's" original comment has been deleted by Amazon, no doubt at the author's--or publisher's--request, but nothing can truly disappear in the internet. The evidence lives on digitally on blogs and cached pages. [The whole sordid mess is documented here, on the bookfail LiveJournal blog.]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: never, NEVER, say anything on the Internet you don't want to show up in a thousand public places.

And that goes for your sockpuppet too.

DragonCon 2010 - Pics, Part Four

2010-09-28T12:38:00.001-04:00

We're back with the last round of DragonCon 2010 pics, and, as they say in the movies, this time, it's personal! Here's the best of the pics we took of ourselves in costume.

Jo had to pose with this fellow Pokemon trainer.

This was the year of new hall costumes for the Gratzes this year. After wearing her Mitsumi Pokemon costume everywhere on Friday, Jo dyed her hair red to be...

Ginny Weasley! The dye wasn't as red as any of us wanted, but it gave her a nice strawberry blonde, which is hard to see in the pictures.

Ginny and Dumbledore.

Ginny and Wendi, on the escalator.

Staying with the Harry Potter theme, I went for Sirius Black.

I still maintain that I looked more like Weird Al Yankovic than Sirius Black, but plenty of people who saw me gave a shout out for Sirius, so I suppose it was close enough.

Ginny sure thought I was the real thing!

Ginny and Wendi. Wendi wasn't trying to pull of a particular character, just a robe-wearing witch from the HP world.

Family photo!

That night, we all went down into the gaming dungeons to check out some board games and card games we'd never played.

Jo looked totally awesome in her school outfit.

Sunday was Star Wars day. Here's Jo with her face painted to look like Barriss Offee, the padawan of Jedi Master Luminara Unduli. Awesome!

Sunday morning just happened to be the Jedi lightsaber training session for kids, and Jo definitely looked the part.

Barriss meets a young Princess Leia.

Lunch break for the Jedi! Yes, Wendi and I were in Jedi garb as well--but did we ever think to snap shots of ourselves? No! And my outfit, based on Mace Windu's was pretty kickass. Ah well, there's always next year.

Join me, and together we can RULE DragonCon as father and daughter!

That's it for this year's DragonCon pics. Hope you've enjoyed them! We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog...

Paint? What Paint?

2010-09-28T12:15:00.001-04:00

I had a kid-sized purple T-shirt that I brought to a Wardrobe Refashion Camp I taught last summer. The idea was that someone could make something out of it, but one of the kids used it as a rag to wipe up some spilled fabric paint. I kept it. Why? I have no idea - maybe the answer explains why my sewing room is so filled with ~~junk~~ supplies that I can never find anything. But I digress. . .

I actually found a use for the paint-smeared T-shirt. I turned it inside out (so the paint was on the inside - did I mention it was bright orange?) and made a skirt out of it. I cut some of the rest into strips, ruffled them, and stitched them on over the hem so you couldn't tell it was inside-out. And voila! A comfy new skirt for Jo and one more bit of fabric removed from the teetering piles.

If you want to know how to do the ruffling, you can find directions in this pattern from Maya*Made. I didn't follow her instructions for the skirt construction - just chopped it off at the armpits, folded the top down for an elastic casing and was done - this was a paint-smeared T-shirt after all! But I loved her technique for adding ruffles and it was the perfect way to cover the exposed hem.

By the way - the ruffles were even cuter and more ruffly after it went through the wash. :-)