How Does Your Garden Grow?

Ours is in full swing. Bring on the summer salads!

Dave surveying (and harvesting) his kingdom...

Those squash he's holding? Start here...

We've already harvested and enjoyed 5 or 6 little heads of broccoli. We have to get them before they bloom -- about 5 inches wide at the crown. Here's another, almost ready...

See this yellow current tomato? We split it after I took the photo -- just a nibble apiece. A bit tart...

Teeny tomatillos coming on...

Dave's favorite -- the herb box. Clockwise from top: Italian flat parsley, Thai basil, lemon thyme, and dill...

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New House Guest: Pierre Mille-Pattes

Who's that on the locker?

Pierre's a mille-pattes we got at As'Art in Paris. He appears to be made of sturdy papier-mâché and wood. He has a cheeky smile.

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Vacation Photo Links

Posting one vacation day's photos per day sure was less overwhelming than doing it all at once! The links:


Day 1 - CDG to Sarlat-la-Canéda


Day 2 - Sarlat-la-Canéda


Day 3 - Side Trip: Beynac


Day 4 - Sarlat to Les Eyzies de Tayac


Day 5 - Side Trip: Maison Forte de Reignac


Day 6 - Side Trip: La Roque St-Christophe


Day 7 - Side Trip: Rocamadour


Day 8 - Les Eyzies (France) to Chieming (Germany)


Day 9 - Snow Hike Near Chiemsee


Day 10 - Hike to Mountain Hut


Day 11 - Side Trip: Kloster Seeon


Day 12 - Chieming to Paris


Day 13 - Paris

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Speedy (But Not Too Speedy)

We decided to check out our neighborhood high school track for our weekly speed repeats last night. Turns out a lot of folks use the track to walk and run. (For free -- YAY. The last neighborhood we lived in had a high school, too, but you had to pay a fee to use the track. Boo.)

Our workout last night was to run 400 meters four times, with an active rest between. Since we're noobs, we walk between repeats, but I imagine, once we're fitter, we'll jog between. Dave got us watches this week so we can time our speed and hill repeats. I assume the track we ran on was a standard quarter-mile high school track, making each lap 440 meters. Last night, my 440s were:

• 1:58
• 1:56
• 1:52
• 1:51

So about 1:54 on average. If I could sustain that pace, it'd be a 7:36 mile. I don't imagine that ever happening, but I guess you never know. Dave says it's possible. I should listen to Dave.

Especially when I started comparing my times to my high school track times-- my best 440 then was 1:07. Not bad; good enough to win a reserve race once. But Dave rightly pointed out that we aren't supposed to sprint, just push our speed above our marathon pace, closer to a 5K pace.

Which I know. But it won't keep me from remembering the glory days. :D

How 'bout you? Got some glory days sports highlights to share?

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What Would You Tell Your Teen Self?

Today is publication day for Sarah Mlynowski's GIMME A CALL, in which the 17-year-old main character discovers her cell phone will only call her 14-year-old self. Cool premise.

As a pre-launch bit of fun, Mlynowski asked on Twitter:

Ever wonder what YA authors would tell their high school selves? (If they had magic cell phones that could call the past?) #gimmeacall

Lots of YA authors responded, and you can see some of their responses in this article by Mlynowski. But the cool thing was that thousands of regular folks jumped in with all kinds of advice to their teen selves. Here's the whole conversation.

And that was what was so great about this book launch -- lots of us got involved. Some had funny advice for themselves, some poignant, some serious. The exercise appealed to a wide range of personalities, and the clues to their teen personalities were intriguing.

So what would you tell YOUR high school self?

Have you witnessed other product launches that got people involved like this?

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Oh no! I planned it to death!

A couple months ago, I opened my DAUGHTER OF THE DEAD file to finish the draft. First, I fiddled with my scene list.

Then I decided to revise the story into present tense and thought of a cool twist. I converted the text to present tense and fiddled with my scene list.

Then I decided to revise the story into first person narration and to put the twist in the middle of the book, not toward the end. I converted the text to first person and fiddled with my scene list.

Then I fiddled with the scene list some more, because the beginning wasn't right.

Then I fiddled some more to fill out secondary and tertiary story lines.

Then I moved my scene list from a spreadsheet to sticky notes, so I could manipulate things quickly.

Then my scene list was satisfactory.

And then?

I lost interest.

GEEAARRRGGHH.

Was I avoiding doing the writing? Maybe. When it comes to writing, and many other things, I love to plan. But this time, I planned my enthusiasm to death. The story's still good, and I'll finish it (some day), but for now I'm stepping away. Giving myself permission to work on other writing-career-related projects. One thing I'm working on: teacher guides for Cynthia Leitich Smith's upcoming picture book, HOLLER LOUDLY (Dutton, November 2010), an awesome read-aloud (mark your calendars!).

How about you? Have you ever planned a project to death? Spreadsheeted the joy right out of it? When it comes to writing, are you a plotter or a pantser? If you're a pantser, is it because of the whole planning-it-to-death scenario?

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Recent Goodness

(The real reason I run...)

After our Korean cooking lesson, Dave stir-fried squid steaks and tentacles to make lettuce wraps, along with spicy peanut noodles and cucumber-seaweed salad...

Breakfast of egg in toast (the egg is under the little toast round), heritage bacon, garlic sweet potatoes, sauteed asparagus and tomatoes, and Greek yogurt w/ strawberries and almonds...

Poblano peppers stuffed with sausage from pastured pork and topped with tomatillo salsa, sweet potatoes w/ black beans, cornbread, and chop salad...

Dave's new toy: spiral slicer! (Shown with beet.)

He used it to make the vegetable salad on this plate we shared, which included olives, garlic sweet potatoes, tuna, steamed asparagus, dolmas, and homemade tzaziki...

Ever had green papaya salad? It's an awesome Thai dish; we substituted cucumber for the green papaya here, pan-fried some kimchi dumplings, and whipped up some seaweed w/ spicy dipping sauce...

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Stranded or Lucky?

I see from online reports that Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull* began quietly erupting just before we left for Europe, then went ballistic just after we got back.

Subsequent airspace closures have kept a lot of people from getting where they planned to be, when they planned to be there. News agencies likes to call these people stranded.

But while Dave and I were mentally ready to get back to work by the end of vacation, I can't help but think that if Eyja had blown her top before we left, we wouldn't have felt stranded. More like, Cool. More vacation.

It reminds me of a time after college, when I lived in Boulder and Mom came out for a ski trip at Crested Butte. I met her there for a weekend. Now Crested Butte is next to Gunnison, Colorado, which is surrounded by mountains. Any road going toward Denver goes through a high mountain pass. Long story short: a big snow storm came on Sunday, and the passes closed. I called work to let them know I couldn't get home, and then I stayed and skied some more. I had a raccoon tan when I finally got back to work, but was I going to waste a day not skiing? No. Not when I was 22.  :)

Granted, not everyone flying through Europe in April is on vacation, and I feel for people who had vacations planned and couldn't get there. But if you had been traveling Europe for pleasure, how would you have faced the news you couldn't go home yet (and who knows when you could)? What factors would make you feel stranded? In what circumstances would you feel lucky?


*This page has video explaining volcano Eyja's name and its pronunciation.

Update: Awesome comic by The Oatmeal about How to Name a Volcano.

[image via NASA]

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Morning, Noon, or Night?

Ahead of the Edge 2 Edge half-marathon in June, we're introducing new elements into our running workouts: speed and hills. Last night was our first set of speed repeats (3 x 400m) and tomorrow will be our first hill repeats (3 x hill). Our weekly progression-then-taper will go:

3-4-5-4-5-6-5-4

Last night was tough, because we're noobs at this, but we felt good afterward (and after a nice stretch).

One thing we're beginning to deal with is heat. Over the winter, we can comfortably work out any time of day. Now, though, it needs to be very early morning (before 7) or after the sun's gone down (after 8). Personally, I'd rather sleep in the morning, and I don't like exercising at night with all three of the day's meals in my belly.

So I'm curious: When do you work out? Or, if you could choose, when would you work out? Do you prefer the quiet early morning hours and don't mind that everyone else is sleeping? Do you squeeze it in on lunch break and brave the heat of the day? Do you prefer evening or late night?

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Oscar et Arabella

When we visited Font de Gaume to see some of the last original cave paintings open to the public in France, I found this fun book in the gift shop: OSCAR AND ARABELLA by Neal Layton...

It's a sweet story about the friendship of two woolly mammoths and all the things they like to do together. (The copy we found was in French, so I translated it for Ladybug -- also fun.)


Turns out, Layton's written more on these two friends. In OSCAR AND ARABELLA AND ORMSBY, a woolly rhinoceros pushes his way into the friendship (nicely presented in the title and cover art). Arabella thinks Ormsby is funny; Oscar is not impressed...

Finally, in the grand tradition of introducing characters children love and then threatening their existence (a-hahaha, I love children's books), Layton presents OSCAR AND ARABELLA: HOT HOT HOT, in which we learn that the two friends (understandably) don't like summer, and... (dun dun DUN) ...summers are getting longer every year! Oh no!!!

Based on the first book, I'd recommend the other two without even reading them. Because that the kind of responsible book recommender I am.


If you go to the French site for these books, there are downloadable (PDF) line drawings for coloring, too:

• Oscar and Arabella
• Oscar and Arabella and Ormsby
• Oscar and Arabella: Hot Hot Hot

Happy reading (and coloring)! 

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Look Who Showed Up With Her Cape and Her Shadow

So I was working diligently on the scenes of the WIP...

...when there came a knocking at the door.

Remember this post?

So did Dave. Through the magic of Andrea Zuill and Etsy, we have a new house guest...

Thanks, babe! Can't wait to get her framed.

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Author Panel on Books and Technology

Last week, I helped man the SCBWI booth at the annual Texas Library Association conference, in San Antonio this year (and 5 minutes from my desk at Magik -- very convenient). I took advantage of my staff ID to attend a panel of great authors talking about technology and writing. They were:

Cynthia Leitich Smith  (ETERNAL, HOLLER LOUDLY)
Cory Doctorow  (MAKERS, LITTLE BROTHER)
Jay Asher  (TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY)
Judy Blundell  (WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED)
Maureen Johnson  (SCARLETT FEVER, GIRL AT SEA)

A moderator and a few librarians asked questions. I've paraphrased the answers below.


Does technology play an inspiration role for your writing?

JA - Technology is mostly good for procrastination, but he uses Pandora to set the mood for writing particular scenes.

JB - is a self-labeled Luddite regarding technology. Other than pen and paper, she avoids technology while writing.

MJ - inspired by LOLcats. :)

CLS - uses images online for inspiration. Also takes photos in her neighborhood and sometimes attends open houses to photograph settings.


How do you deal with technology in your books?

CD - doesn't explain how to do everything (as in some descriptions he cites in Heinlein). Instead, he plants keywords readers can Google later if they wish.

JA - doesn't deal with technology in his books ("My latest has cassette tapes!")

JB - authors walk a fine line between making their books relevant to current teens and not dating the book with the technology it mentions. Notes that in early 39 CLUES books, characters steal GPS; now they would just get an iPhone.


How do you keep in touch with your audience as regards technology?

JA - blog, MySpace

CD - Boing Boing, Craphound, Twitter, Skype

CLS - Skype (great for schools with tight budgets), blog, Facebook, Twitter

MJ - blog, Twitter. Doesn't like MySpace or Facebook; sites too clumsy and crowded with apps (supported by CD re: Facebook)


How do you manage communication vs. writing?

JA - doesn't want to seem cold, but keeps responses short

CD - too much data to read everything. He feels the good stuff always resurfaces via reTweets, etc; he'll catch the good stuff that way.

JB - has two pen names; keeps an online presence for only one of them (Judy Blundell).

MJ - gets a lot of requests for her to do her fans' homework. She's onto you guys!


What is your writing/creative process?

CLS - uses research and prewriting exercises; firm believer in BIC

CD - writes every day, treating writing as his job. Tries not to be heroic in his goals. If he isn't sure what comes next plotwise, he'll make things worse for his main character.

MJ - holds that plot is a long series of stuff going wrong. Once asked by an adult audience member if she was mentally ill because she inflicts problems on her characters. Realized then that not everyone understands that story must have inherent conflict.


What do you like about writing for a young audience?

MJ - YA readers are braver than adults about trying new books and genres. She feels the current golden age of YA owes thanks to the internet and the community it nurtures.

CLS - has been active in the internet conversation on books since 1997 as a representative of the Native American community. Has found that kids want to connect with authors and other readers.

CD - adolescents provide great stories because they are continually having First Experiences. Also, the internet allows and encourages sociability, which inevitably leads to discussions of books.

JA - the most frustrating part of writing for kids: the adults in their lives. Adults often focus on less-important aspects of a book.

JB - is a trustee of her local library and gets complaints about books available to their children. Feels that if parents aren't willing to read those books themselves, they can Google the authors for information.


Why is YA so appealing to adult readers?

CLS - half of her reader mail comes from people 25 years and older. Believes that good stories naturally appeal to a broad market.

JA - anybody who can read his book the way a teen would read it will enjoy it.

CD - enjoys reading YA himself.

MJ - packaging is a big factor in crossover appeal. SUITE SCARLETT was given away as a free ebook with purchase of another hardcover. She gets a lot of mail from guys in their 50s who are enjoying the book, but probably wouldn't have bought the paper version with the red cover. Likes ebooks because there are no covers to prejudice readers.


(to Cynthia) How do you connect with other authors?

CLS - Through Cynsations. She quit her full-time job to shine a light on new and under-represented voices. It's a journalistic pursuit: she wants to tell good news to people who want to hear it.


Thanks to all of the authors for a candid panel!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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Korean Feast

Our coworker, Yusook (Sook)...

...offered to teach us how to cook some Korean dishes. We were all about it. So she and her boyfriend Joey came over Sunday evening.

The first dish began with sweet potato noodles...

...to which we added garlic-spinach...

...and, uh, some other stuff...

...and it became this awesome treat, topped with egg ribbons...

We totally could have stopped there. Instead, we mixed up some Korean pancake mix with kimchi...

...to make...kimchi pancake...

We reconstituted seaweed to dip in spicy sauce...

We put together a beef bulgogi...

...and some spicy pork...

to make little packets using rice, lettuce leaves, and sesame leaves...

So good!!! Thanks, Sook and Joey!

Lucky for us, they want to come over again. WOOT!

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Vacation Photo Posts Begin

In late March, we hopped a plane to Europe. We got to check out some cool sights in France and visit good friends in Germany.

It was a great trip that yielded some nice photos, such as this one here, taken in Chartres.

I'll post a vacation day's worth of photos every day beginning now at Nomads Unlimited. Enjoy Day 1!

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Teen Book Dropped!

Blogged about TBD on Tuesday.

I chose my copy of THE HUNGER GAMES, by Suzanne Collins, for its intense pacing and great premise...

Printed and applied my TBD book plate (available here). For some reason, "readerguy" printed better than "readergirl"...

This playground next to The Magik Theatre attracts teens at night and on weekends. Perfect...

It's raining today, so I made my book drop in the adjoining shelter house...

Have you made your drop? Tell us about it, or link to your TBD blog post.

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Mental Fitness: Does Artificial Memory Help or Hurt?

Been thinking about how I store information.

What I know is in my brain.

But all the other information I use to survive is stored somewhere else -- phone numbers, email addresses, account numbers, event dates, much of my log-in information. It's in my cell and spreadsheets and the byte-hungry hands of Google. (If I were to begin praying, and was going to beg mercy for the health of anything on Earth, it'd be Google's server system.)

I put all of that data in those other places exactly so I don't have to remember them.

Common conversation between me and my boss:

Richard:  When is Such-and-Such Grant due?

Me:  Let me check my spreadsheet.

Richard:  *blank look*

Me:  I can't remember them all!

But that's the thing. My grandfather would have been able to remember them. His generation and all before it were trained to remember things -- really remember them. We don't have to. We can put them in our phones and spreadsheets and servers. But it makes us dependent on those other methods.

My question to you: is it worth it? Have we made quantum leaps in human technology at the expense of our mental fitness? Or do the tools we use train our brains to work in other -- enhanced -- ways?


[image source]

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Operation Teen Book Drop

Fellow Upstart Crow and all-around awesome gal Martha Brockenbrough is helping get the word out about Operation Teen Book Drop, which delivers books to tribal schools in the United States (in particular) and encourages reading among teens (in general). I'm all for both, so I jumped onboard.

Want to participate? Here's the word from Martha...

Operation Teen Book Drop is this Thursday, April 15.

We are thrilled that you're participating in the Authors & Friends portion of the drop, and we'll try to keep it simple for everyone's sanity.

It's a two-step process with an optional extended dance mix:

1) On Thursday, drop a book off in a public spot for some lucky reader to find. If you'd like, you can download a bookplate from this page: http://www.readergirlz.com/tbd.html (this is where we've also listed all our participants)
2) Write a blog post or tweet about it using the hash tag #operationtbd. This helps us get the word out AND it helps us keep track of your progress. When we see those #operationtbd tweets go out, we will post about it on our blog (sending the love right back in your direction).

Something like this would work nicely (but feel free to use whatever language works):

I rocked the drop! You can find my book [insert location] [link to your blog] #operationtbd

The extended dance mix
We'd also be thrilled if you could tweet about any of our other activities that grab you:

The GuysLitWire Book Drive (tweet about this early and often, if you can!)
Buy a book for a teen at a tribal school. http://tinyurl.com/ycohksh #operationtbd Please RT.

The event itself
Operation Teen Book Drop: 10,000 books brought to Native teens today. Thanks, publishers! #operationtbd http://www.readergirlz.com/tbd.html

The chat that night at 6 p.m. Pacific
I'm going to the Operation Teen Book Drop chat! http://readergirlz.blogspot.com/ #operationtbd

Thank you SO VERY MUCH from our whole team on behalf of the kids whose lives will be enriched with your stories.

We appreciate your participation and welcome anyone else who'd like to join.

Best wishes from rgz, GuysLitWire, YALSA, and If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything.

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Images: Little Red

One of my favorite exercises when I'm stuck is to pick a fairy tale and rewrite it. Sometimes I stay close to the original, and just knowing the story gets my fingers and brain moving. Sometimes I change things along the way, and fun stuff emerges.

I've heard other writers suggest looking through Flickr or Google Images for ideas. Each one's worth a thousand words, right?

Today let's play with both ideas. I image-Googled "little red" and found a great painting by Andrea Zuill. Even better, she gives three progressively wider perspectives on her painting of Little Red (one of her favorite subjects, she says - I can see why). Let's have a peek.

What do you take from each one?

OK: cute. Got the red cap. Sweet pudgy tummy and cheeks. Weird little bulbous forehead. Disconcerting blue (or blank) eyes.

Pan out a little more...

Ha. Great stance. Funny teeny feet. Hand is both graceful and ready for action. Skirt suggests movement. Shadow gives depth.

That second image is what I found on Google, and my first thought was, It'd be so cool if her shadow was wolf-shaped.

Thank you, Andrea Zuill:

Awesome, right? Now what story do the images give you? Share in the comments.


What came to my mind was this (highlight for hidden text):

A girl on her way to her grandmother's, fighting her mental demons along the way. Shoo, demons. When she arrives, Granny does something that sets Red off, and Red kills her (Wolf eats Granny). Then Red tries to deny what she's done, though the evidence is increasingly apparent ("What thick fur you have, Granny!"). When Red finally faces what she's done (recognizes the Wolf), she cries for help. In a final act of self-preservation, Red blames her other self for her crime (tells the Woodsman that Wolf ate Granny).

Dark, but that's what I love about the original märchen.


Note: Andrea's artwork is available at Etsy.

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