Meet Lenka!
Hey all–I’d like to introduce my friend, Lenka from Lenkaland. She’s not really from Lenkaland, because Lenkaland isn’t really a place it’s just what she calls her journal and now I’m rambling. Anyway, she is BRAND SPANKING NEWBIE and is totally cool and writes fantasy novels. Y’all will love her–she was writing werewolf fantasy books before YA was even called YA. We were fellow Banana Slugs at UC Santa Cruz; roaming through the towering redwood trees on our ocean-view campus, protesting our writing program being “almost” shut-down by the “man”, and eating daily Taco-Hell as she cruised me around on our windy and glorious hippie town in her old beat-up Volvo. She just earned her MFA in Writing for Children and her thesis DIRT: The Dark Lord is awesome. She lives in the sticks, is a mom to an adorable preschooler, and wants/desires some fellow writers (fantasy or otherwise) to chat with. So…voila…I told her about lj.
So here she is in all of her Lenkaness. Please stop by and welcome her to our zany little community that fills me with daily joy. =)
http://lenkaland.livejournal.com/
The Most Gorgeous Book Cover!!!
If you haven’t already, check out today’s Longstocking’s post where Daphne Grab’s novel cover is debuting in all of its poetic glory. Even the title’s font reading, ALIVE AND WELL IN PRAGUE, is elegantly divine. Just so you know, when and if SEA gets acquired, I am so AFTER that designer. Wow! Congratulations, Daphne! Can’t wait to read your beautiful book! http://thelongstockings.blogspot.com/
Ladybug’s Case of the Missing Caterpillar
ONE SHOW ONLY! TODAY ONLY!
Hi all–today was our pee-wee performance of my original play, “Ladybug’s Case of the Missing Caterpillar.” If you missed it, you’ll have to wait for the sequel: “The Snail Strikes Back.” I’d say our premiere was a big success. The camcorder wielding parents were thrilled. Said thrill-level was evident by dozens of: “That was amazing! How did you get thirty kids to sit still?” (Answer: we hypnotize them first). Further proof of thrill-level was my bear-hug embrace from a parent I’ve never met. (Yes, he was kind of cute, but still.) And the random-parent-embrace was nothing compared to a way awesome-high-five from a smiley grandpa and a squeeze-of-the-hand from his equally smiley wife. Further proof of success: None of our fireflies, snails, dragonflies, ladybugs or wasps were boo’ed off the stage, instead they celebrated with chocolate cupcakes and I got pink roses! Yay! I love my sparkly kids and their awesome parents! So…I’m trying to think of ideas for the fall show(s) so we can reuse our wings and antennas. I was thinking something with fairies…cuz I hear fairies are this year’s princesses, and yes I realize I spend too much time with preschoolers. Seriously, if anyone has any fairy related story ideas that could easily translate into a fifteen-minute pee-wee play, please pass ‘um on.
Cheers,
Seaheidi, Director Extraordinaire
Protected: Yay! Somebody told G.W. about Darfur!*
Protected: GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…UMP LEVEL DECREASED
Confessions of a Crazed Book Buyer
Halo–just in from dinner and MORE book buying! I’m insane. Someone must confiscate credit card immediately. It all started when I couldn’t wait to see Carrie Joneses new book “Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend,” which is on order from cool indy store, but it’s not here yet…so…we popped into Borders, just to have a looksy. Couldn’t find it at first, then did the computer search (which is so fun, I love to have an excuse to use it,) Fun Screen said it was in the store so I went back searching and found a stack 5-high on the big YA summer read table! Yippeeee! So hub said, “Wait till it comes in at the indy store.” And I said. “Well, I need to buy a copy for blank, you know my friend who had two boyfriends who came out to her in high school.” And he said, “Okay, but don’t buy the other books here.” And I said, “Well, if Borders is buying her book, then I must support Borders too.” Fairzie’s Squarzies, you know? NO HITTING ME, L-cat! So…I accidentally also bought at the giant chain store: BEAUTY SHOP FOR RENT, by Laura Bowers, because she seems so sweet and nice and her book looks adorable and I love its cover (especially the minty green backdrop contrasting the orange shirt the cute blond girl is wearing.) And then (because the minty-sea green cover MATCHES the other minty one on the BEAUTY SHOP cover), I accidentally also bought BLOOM by Elizabeth Scott (because she seems so sweet and nice and I love the cover with the daisy tucked behind her hair and both Little Willow and Melissa Marr gave it such lovely reviews.) And then I also HAD to accidentally buy CUT, by Patricia McCormick because Rachel Cohn said it was a must read and because I’m a wee-bit ashamed I hadn’t read it yet and then after dinner we were walking across the street to the indy book store so my husband (who only supports indy stores, yay husband!) could further max out our c.c. on MORE books and it was CLOSED FOR MEMORIAL DAY! Shades drawn, no peeps anywhere so I didn’t feel bad at all but my husband still needs a cookie and I’m just now reading HOW I LIVE NOW, which is a brilliantly lush honeysuckle of a novel and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it and I wish I would have read it before I wrote SEA so I could have copycatted her style and written my whole book in one long sentence instead of using dialog and quotes and commas and all those nuancey little things that get in the way of story telling. Not that I would have come close to her brilliance but I could have TRIED! =)
Seaheidi’s Summer Reading List!
I just drained my bank account buying gorgeous new books, and now must imagine myself lying on a tropical beach somewhere reading them. In reality, I may pull off a chapter or two before stumbling into bed each night. But wherever and however I devour them, here they are- all enthusiastically recommended by the children’s book buyer at the fabulous indy book store near my home. Enjoy!
1. BLACK AND WHITE, by Malorie Blackman *this is one of the best book i’ve ever read, says bookseller
2. A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT, by Laura Whitcomb *you will love this, says bookseller
3. HOW I LIVE NOW, by Meg Rosoff *incredible, says the whole world (including bookseller)
4. SO. B. IT., by Sarah Weeks **uh, chosen because the narrator’s name is heidi. plus, I’ve heard it’s great.
5. POPPY, by AVI *a father’s day present for my dad, because his grandpa name is one and the same
6. WILDLY ROMANTIC, by Catherine M. Andronik *beautiful, amazing, powerful. i accepted the recommendation because this non-fiction book is gorgeous, first off. secondly, it tells the stories of my favorite romantic poets: lord byron, percy bysshe shelley (*sigh*), wordsworth, and keats in an accessible YA (and she promises sultry) way. who cares, she had me at shelley. (*double sigh*)
7. TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (EX) BOYFRIEND, by Carrie Jones. *on order-with an encouragement by ravenous book buyer to purchase some copies for the store.
8. TYRELL, by Coe Booth *on order
9. DEVILISH, by Maureen Johnson *purchased to support her Bermudez controversy
10. NEW MOON, Stephanie Meyer *apparently i’m a sucker from romantic vampire stories
11. WICKED LOVELY, by our gal Melissa Marr *still not in, but book buyer started frothing at the mouth raving that she read it in one sitting, and it was beyond fabulous.
12. *if i manage to finish these, i’ll head in for another round. i happily accept suggestions. =)
Have a great weekend, y’all, sipping pina coladas, writing bestsellers, playing naked volleyball, or whatever it is you crazy cats do. One more thing: I saw a rainbow in a cloud while at the playground an hour ago. A rainbow in a cloud?! Seriously. Is that normal or a sign from the gods that something really awesome is about to happen?
Protected: Exclusive No More!
Protected: Word Count=Page Number formula?
Protected: Double-spaced vs. 1.5
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