One Week

My blog spoke to me. It said "It's been one week since you blogged on me, typed your words on my page and showed you loved me; Five days since you checked you stats saying 'where'd ya'll go, wontcha come back and see me.'"

I can always look back at my year and identify different events in my offline life by looking at gaps in my blog and, specifically, Fridays when I don't even mention Poetry Friday or mention it late in the day (and for the record, this week's roundup is at Toby Speed's Writer's Armchair). 

I wonder if the uber-active on Facebook or Twitter can look back at an individual day and say "oh, see that one hour gap in activity? I was really busy doing xxxxxx and talking to yyyyy" or if it doesn't quite scale the same way? Questions. I've always got questions....

Happy Halloween, y'all! If you end up with any extra of those adorable little Reese's cups, be sure to save me a few!

Not To Sound Like a Broken Record...

Actually, I don't think I will. Instead, I have a question:

How many people, when they hear that phrase, know what a broken record sounds like? Do any kids today know it? At what age does it go from being something that has no relevance to something that, for me at least, brings up specific LPs that stuck and repeated like, well, like broken records.

Writing for kids, we're always told it's best to avoid slang that dates your book (unless you're trying to be of a certain time, of course). I wonder if a phrase like this, which is one I can use naturally, is going to disappear from the lexicon? And what other phrases are like this, based on something that we just don't experience with regularity anymore?

Now You're Talking

Or really, "Then We Were Talking" would be more accurate....

No matter, though, I wanted to put up a link to the transcript of last night's #kidlitchat conversation about the differences between Middle Grade and YA... and whether any of it matters.

We had authors, editors, readers, agents, and teachers weighing in on a whole range of issues related to the topic. We talked about "upper MG" and "teen" and chapter books, and whether it's all about marketing or not.

Good times and a good convo, I thought. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!

Is it YA? Is it MG? This Week on #kidlitchat

Can you define the difference between YA (young adult) and MG (middle grade)? Is it about content? Theme? Language? Sex vs. no sex? All of this and more? None of the above? And why do any of these distinctions matter... or do they?

That'll be the topic of conversation tomorrow (Tuesday, October 19th) at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific at #kidlitchat. I hope you'll come join us.

#kidlitchat is a weekly chat on Twitter, co-hosted by Bonnie Adamson and me, and featuring an incredibly smart, vibrant, ever-changing collection of others passionate about children's literature - writers, illustrators, editors, agents, librarians, readers, teachers, and beyond. Everyone's welcome. I think it's always informative and a blast, though I suppose I'm biased.

If you have never participated in a Twitter chat (and even if you have!), Debbie Ridpath Ohi has a must-read article that will explain the whats, whys and hows of it. Feel free to ask questions here or find me or Bonnie on Twitter and ask there.

You can also check out the transcripts of all prior #kidlitchats at their home on my other blog, The Happy Accident.

Hope to see you there!

This is Not a Poem

This Is Not a Poem
By
Gregory K.

This is not a poem:
It’s a moment caught in time.
It isn’t full of imagery
Or meter, form, or rhyme.

This is not a poem.
It can’t be heard or read.
It’s nothing but a small idea
Now planted in your head.


I've written many a poem when I should've been listening or working on something else. This one probably had its roots in M.T. Anderson's breakout session at the SCBWI Summer Conference this year... or maybe at a recent visit to the BCAM here in LA. Or maybe it's never had roots because it's not a poem :-) No matter, though, the Poetry Friday roundup (full of poetry and NOT poetry, perhaps) is up today over at Liz Garton Scanlon's Liz in Ink. That's always a lovely blog to visit, so you should go there just cuz.

And if you want to get all my new poems (and only the poems, yet including the "not a poems") emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

Fibonacci EVERYWHERE

It's not just in poetry or nature. Nope, Fibonacci... and the Golden Ratio... show up the darnedest places.

Like Twitter's new design!

Sweeeeeeet!

With a Link, Link Here....

And a link, link there!

Here's a link to the Poetry Friday Roundup over at at Jen Rothschild's Biblio File.

There's a link to the new Carnival of Children's Literature over at Great Kid Books.

Everywhere (well, I wish!) a link to nominate books for this year's Cybils awards.

(And again, if you happen to be coming to the Orange County Children's Book Festival on Sunday, be sure to say "hi!")