Overnights Perspective

No, it's not a typo with the "s" at the end of overnights in the title line. We're talking TV ratings here (much as, I say self-reflexively, characters in the Diff'rent Strokes extravaganza talked about overnight ratings). Basically, "overnights" are the preliminary rankings based on a smaller sample set than the overall Nielsen sample set... but the projection made off the number is usually highly accurate. Let's just say that the Strokes movie didn't do well. OK, fine... it got clobbered by pretty much everything on TV Monday night.

But here's where perspective is valuable. Despite being a mere blip in the ratings, Diff'rent Strokes was watched by over four million people.

May all my writing friends (and me!) write books that reach that same audience!

I'd say it's back to "routine" but the thing is...

I don't and never really have had a writing routine. Don't get me wrong -- I spend many, many hours a day working. But I think the whole reason I became a writer was to avoid routine.

Well, and to avoid having to shave on a daily basis.

Oh, and to find a job where a t-shirt and jeans would make me overdressed.

And, of course, there's that little issue that I can't imagine doing anything other than telling stories.

OK, fine. Forget that whole routine comment, other than the fact that every day remains different, and that's the way I like it.

Around these GottaParts, though, I hope to return to daily posting, after being a little slack over the summer. I've got an Oddaptation coming later this week, new poems in the offing, Fib stuff, and the never-ending adventures of a volunteer librarian who still has a library to unpack and new books (yay!) to enter into the system (despite not yet having any system in which to do such). Plus I hope to read my blogging pals even more regularly.

But not in any sort of set routine, of course.

Three stars! And yet...

In my futile efforts to tie Behind the Camera: the Unauthorized Story of Diff'rent Strokes to the world of children's literature, I would like to focus on something that the finished movie and a finished book can share: reviews.

People magazine gave the movie three stars (out of four). Not bad, agreed? In fact, it's great. Three stars means they say "watch this!" And yet really the only adjectives they used in the course of the review were "cheap and undistinguished." Now, it's true that I was vastly, vastly underpaid, as all writers are, so I'll agree on "cheap," but the point is that it's kinda a funny counterpoint.

Then again, there have been better ('above-average') and worse ('like I'm gonna put them in here? it's my blog') and more interesting ('cheesetastic') words used in various reviews. But you, of course, will be the final judges.

I know. I know. Some of you read this blog because of Fibs, and you're stuck in a pop-culture timewarp. Don't panic. This too shall pass (after 8PM on Monday, actually).

A First Day of School Poem

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
by Gregory K.


I don’t know the teacher.
I sure hope she’s nice.
But what if she’s mean with a heart cold as ice???
What about bullies?
There might be a bunch.
And what a disaster if I mess up lunch!
I don’t like that playground:
The slide hits the sky!
And now here at drop-off, I can’t say “goodbye.”
My stomach is queasy.
My stress can’t be greater...
But then a voice calms me,
“Bye, Dad! See ya later!”


Good luck to all parents (yeah, and kids, too) as the first day of school comes 'round once more. And happy Poetry Friday to all!

(for your procrastinatory pleasure, links to this and other poems here on GottaBook are collected to the right under the headline "The Poems".)

If you want to get all my new poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

Eeps!

Everywhere I turn, I have a deadline, be it self-imposed or utterly, totally, intractably real. And there's lots of them. So I've decided the right thing to do is to blog for a bit. What? You expected me to say I had to clean my desk?? That's later, silly.

A friend of mine was asking me what I'd learned while writing the Diff'rent Strokes movie. No, not sitcom trivia and arcana, but about writing. I always do try and figure out what each project has taught me, so I actually had an answer of two very valuable personal lessons: true stories are hard on sooooo many levels AND I don't like to spend all my time working on depressing storylines. Strokes was a departure for me on many levels, and I'm glad to have done it, but it's safe to say that on a personal level, I don't have as much fun writing when I'm dealing with lots and lots of human tragedy. So I can tip you off here and now that the 14 Fabulous Fibs will NOT be one of the darker books you'll read.

I know. I know. Y'all who read my blog are SHOCKED by that. I'll see you all tomorrow when you've recovered....

Oooh. It's all connected.

Like all of you, I'm sure, I'm gearing up for the September 4th showing of Behind the Camera: the Unauthorized Story of Diff'rent Strokes (at 8PM on NBC and written by yours truly). What? You're not. Well forget all this back to school/end of summer stuff. Let's focus on what's REALLY important over Labor Day Weekend -- nostalgia and unbelievably painful stories! Having seen the movie tonight, I'm reminded again of the fact that I really never should complain about anything much career-wise. Or really in general, come to think of it.

I'm also reminded that it was during this project that I attended my very first SCBWI conference, started learning about the world of children's literature, and made the connections that would ultimately have me writing what I'm writing today -- the 14 Fabulous Fibs.

This undoubtedly proves something profound about cycles, luck, timing, and all that good stuff, but I'll leave that for the philosophers... though I understand that Plato reads my blog on a daily basis which, of course, is a name that brings us full circle back to Diff'rent Strokes.

Yes, connections are everywhere... though sometimes we have to tilt our head and squint to see 'em. And since I've been doing that a little too long this evening, I gotta book.

Yo, heave ho!

Tomorrow we finally get to start moving our library into its new home, having cleared space at last. The downside is that we've got some 150+ boxes of deadweight books and a ragtag band of volunteers to move 'em. At least I'm hoping some sort of band shows up, otherwise I'll be back tomorrow as GottaBadBack.

But I liked the pirate-esque title today, because I realize that my year of being a volunteer librarian has made me view this as a chance to, once again, uncover buried treasure. Those books in boxes... last year they made kids laugh, they made kids ask questions, they made me a better writer, they made me a better reader, they made me a volunteering nutcase, they made kids see connections, they helped build community, and those books helped kids learn to read.

So I'm looking forward to unburying some treasure tomorrow. I just wish the treasure was a helluva lot lighter....

Mighty fine readin'....

The new issue of The Edge of the Forest is up, and once again it's packed with fun kidlit reading. Want reviews? Got 'em. Want in interview with Linda Sue Park (who, I'm pleased to say, likes Fibs!)? You got it. Articles and ruminations and links, too! Who could ask for more?

A Pluto Poem

I have been remiss in participating or even noting Poetry Friday of late.

So today, I present...


THE PLANETARY WEEK IN REVIEW
by Gregory K.

Poor Pluto.
Got the boot-o.



(For some more Poetry Friday fun check out Jen Robinson's blog or Liz's links at A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy.)

For your procrastinatory pleasure, links to this and other poems here on GottaBook are collected to the right under the headline "The Poems".

If you want to get all my new poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

A post on (gasp) writing...

I don't normally talk much about craft type stuff, as it's just not my thang here on GottaBook, but someone asked me an interesting question the other day that I thought I'd answer publicly (particularly since I found a great video online that will re-inforce my thoughts!). Basically, someone was asking if I found my screenwriting experience helpful in writing a novel... and if so, how?

Well, it is helpful, if for no other reason than I'm used to writing and plotting complex stories. My picture books, actually, often benefit from the fact that they, like movies, are a visual medium. Also, I'm used to working on a deadline, which I suspect will help me later. But I think what's more interesting to me is how screenplays and novels are very different.

A screenplay isn't truly made to be read. Instead, it's the blueprint for a totally different finished product -- a movie. As a result, choices you make can be impacted by everything from budgetary limitations, what's possible/not possible in special effects, and, when you get into production itself, by what actors are available what days. Also, directors and actors bring a ton to the words... and, much like in the book world, a good editor can fix a badly written scene (even though the originally written scene was shot in full).

At their heart, of course, novels and screenplays have the same goal -- telling a great story. But as forms of writing... well... luckily I stumbled upon this commercial made by Canal Plus that I think sums things up rather nicely.

A search... Haiku?

Those of us addicted to all things about our blogs are occasionally known to discuss how folks have found us. I've posted search Fibs from time to time, just cuz I can. Of course, there's little poetic I can do with three of the search terms that've brought folks here that I find totally without splic (as in, inexplicable):

Places in Brooklyn that keep parties that can hold approximately 300 people

Little children use bar soap to wash your hands while eating bread*

And one that will bring a tear to all my bookseller/librarian pals...

Books where I don't know the title or author and vague idea what it's about


Now, I can only imagine the frustration/confusion for all those folks when they ended up here in GottaBookland (and, in the case of the last one, there was likely already confusion/frustration). However, the next person who enters the following (which I have broken up in three lines as I'm sure was the intent of the first searcher who got here this way) will get a good answer. Haiku:

Some five syllables
Another seven go here
Finish with five more


I'm off to find papers lost on the desk o'plenty, so I gotta book and do a real search. Until then, tip o' the cap to the algorithm designers at Google, MSN, and Yahoo for keeping us all on our toes....

* TWICE!!!!!

Mermaidabilia!

Wow! The Disco Mermaids are having a contest with a great prize: a signed copy of the full dePaola Code. Signed by whom, you ask? Tomie dePaola AND all three Mermaids!

Follow this link for all the details.

Whew (pt. 2)

A whirlwind weekend of running hither and thither is now done. For the record, the appetizers were better in thither, but the weather in hither was divine. In my absence, I see that Fuse #8 returned and immediately posted reviews and news and links. I thought the whole point of vacation was that you could use it as an excuse to take a couple days to "ease back in" to normal.

On this end, the week will consist of our first plaintive attempts to dive back into the school library situation. When last we left our 10,000 books, they were packed up in boxes and moved to the grounds of our new location.... However, we didn't have access to what will be their new home, so they're in storage. Sigh. Feels like we've been moving books for the last 15 months (which, of course, we have). Perhaps I'll return to thither.

I'm more excited about the fact that I see chunks this week. By this, I happen to mean solid chunks of writing time (hereby defined as 3 solid hours or more) not big blocks of meat or anything. Still, chunks have been hard to find this summer, so I'm looking forward to it.

Though I gotta say... my desk is starting to look a little messy.

Whew.

So, with little time for blogging today (I know. I know. I'll speak to the folks in charge about that), I decided to add blogs to my blogroll (which is over to the right and down (--> and down in semi-rebus format)). Lotta great new blogs I discovered due to the SCBWI Conference and a few I was reading before, too.

Boy, there is such a wealth of information, conversation, and conviviality out there, it's almost mindboggling.

I'm particularly happy to add rhcrayon: The Blog! to the roll (EDIT: now with the link WORKING. Oops. My bad). Not just cuz there are pictures of me there which aren't embarrassing and not just cuz she's incredibly funny and talented, but mostly cuz her kinda semi-blog-coming-out was right here on GottaBook when we passed the laptop around at the Golden Kite lunch. Sure, she was blogging in private before, but I like to think it was after her appearance here that she knew it was time to unmask. Or something like that.

Anyway, my blogroll keeps growing, and one day, perhaps, I'll organize it again. But regardless, I highly recommend y'all go check out some great voices, particularly as I'll be somewhat scarce this weekend. Between the 'roll and the Carnival there's plenty of good stuff, so I've got no problem in saying that I gotta book.

Carnival of Children's Literature number 6, reporting for duty

I was so disorganized that I barely submitted a link to the 6th Carnival of Children's Literature, but I see now that our hostess has gotten the whole thing up early! Go figure.

So, welcome to the latest kidlit carnival, hosted at The Castle of the Immaculate.

Lotta good links I've already visited, plus some new voices (even with a few regulars on summer break). So... whatcha waiting for?

Clicking the day away

One of the great things about blogging is that, as Mother Reader noted in her post today, you see all sorts of cool stuff courtesy of fellow bloggers. I nodded in agreement as I read her post, knowing full well that I was going to pilfer one of her links (which was nicely self-reflexive, as she had used one in her post that she found here!). Anyway, after watching this video of the band OK GO, I can't decide if I want to dance or work out or simply applaud. Well worth a looksee.

Of course, you also run into blogs where folks are working on great ideas of their own. Over at her blog, nrkii (who put some rather hilarious entries in my recent list-making post) is compiling a list of great antagonists from children's literature. I would dub this the antagolist (trademark pending). So go on over and read... and maybe you'll have a contribution or two?

Tag. I'm it.

Ya know, you offer someone tech support, and the next thing you know, they're tagging you with a meme. It's so wrong. Wrong, I tell ya. Then again, that same someone did invite me to speak on her blogging panel at the SCBWI Conference and introduce me to fantastic people AND provide me with cookies, so I would actually do far more than mere memery for her. (But Lisa, if you're reading this... you didn't read that!)

One book that changed your life -- Sorry to report, I don't have one. I can't even make an argument for one right now. I'll give this more thought.

Book you have read more than once -- Strange but True Baseball Stories (by Furman Bisher). I read this book so incessantly as a child that a couple years ago when I unpacked it from a box sealed up for decades, I could still turn immediately to the page where a player was referred to as a "retread" (which as a child I had mistakenly read without the second e and with the r and a reversed).

Book you would want on a desert island -- Encyclopedia Britannica, though I gotta ask... why can't I be trapped on a dessert island???

Book that made you laugh -- one book? ONE book????? Fine. Be that way. I'm going with Absolutely, Positively Not by David LaRochelle, though if Lisa hadn't tagged me I mighta gone with her Millicent Min, Girl Genius whose very first sentence made me spit out my coffee in laughter. I did not drink coffee again while reading Millicent and stayed clear of all beverages with Stanford Wong. Wise choice.

Book that made you cry -- Without Feathers by Woody Allen. I literally laughed until I cried... though it was many, many years ago and when I re-read it more recently, I could not remember what, exactly, had gotten me that hysterical.

Book you wish had been written -- Everything Totally Explained in Language You Can Understand Yet Doesn't Take the Magic of Discovery Away.

Book you wish had not been written -- The Official Yougarian Joke Book

Book you're currently reading -- The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend

Book you've been meaning to read -- this is an embarrisngly long list. Let's not go there.


I'm not tagging anyone, but if you happen to read this and want to answer the questions, by all means do.

The week in preview.

Thanks, folks, for adding to the list in the post below (and to the folks who emailed me their suggestions but asked for me not to post 'em... awwwww, please can I post 'em?????). I'd like to see that list grow so that I can, uh, re-post it later on a day when I have no original thoughts!

Or maybe I should save this link for a day when I have nothing else to say. But then I wouldn't be sharing, and really, that's just not nice.

This week, I've realized, is the first week this summer that I can devote entirely to writing (and yes, blogging is writing). I have ludicrously big goals, comically egotistical belief that I'll achieve said goals, and an enormously large vat of iced coffee in the fridge. I don't see how I can fail.

Unless... hey, I haven't visited Babble in a few days! I gotta book.

A List -- famous authors and the children's books they'd write

At this year's SCBWI Conference, I was reminded of a list that sprang up at a prior one when, during a panel discussion, an editor said James Joyce instead of William Joyce. Quickly a list was born: adult authors and the kids' books they'd write. Amazingly, I found the original list, and offer up a dozen to get things started....

Faulkner -- My Mother is a Fish Out of Water
Hemingway -- The Old Man and the ABCs.
Hardy -- Near and Far from the Madding Crowd: a Book of Opposites
Beckett -- Learning Patience: Waiting for Godot
Cervantes -- How Windmills Work
Freud -- My Potty Book for Boys
Pirandello -- Six Characters: A Search and Find Book (with 36 flaps!)
Sophocles -- Happy Mother's Day, Oedipus!
Aeschylus -- Orestes, Merry Gentleman (a Christmas story)
Plath -- Your Thumb Instead of an Onion: All About Your Body
Wolfe -- You Can Always Go Home Again
Clancy -- We Spy

Again, that's just a sampling, but I hope y'all will feel free to make this list grow. Sure, we might not end up as long as Jen Robinson's great lists of cool boys and cool girls of children's literature, but ya never know!

My past catches up to me!

Long before I was a Fibber, I was busy writing, giving birth to various projects for TV and movie screens instead of the page and computer screen. During the excitement of the past weekend, I failed to notice that one of my babies will soon see the light of day. This project was unlike any I'd ever taken on. In a lot of ways, really. And oh my, are there stories to tell, many of which are flooding back to me now.

Sure, lots of kidlit bloggers break news about release dates of the Harry Potter movie or casting on Coraline. But me? Well, I think I'm breaking this news in the kidlitosphere.

So what is this particular project, you ask as you sit on the edge of your seat, the tension almost too much to bear?

Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Diff'rent Strokes!

My favorite thing about that link on IMDB is that the movie already has seven votes, but the darn thing has never aired! Whatchoo talking 'bout, voters? Now, after September 4th (on NBC from 8-10pm) we'll see if the movie can hold that 6.9 rating, but for now I'd take it with a grain of salt.

Perhaps this movie will become a running topic on the blog, if folks are interested, but for now I'm simply announcing da news.

Final SCBWI Conference notes...

Gal darn it... I wrote down quotes at the Conference so I could blog about 'em, so I will do just that, even if it didn't end up being day-of stuff.

Nina Laden, talking about picture books, said "the words are the bones and the pictures are the flesh." Nice image, I thought. Mo Willems had said "if you read a picture book text and can see everything... it's not a good picture book text." It truly is a collaborative medium... more in the sense that the pictures and words must collaborate, not just a writer and illustrator. Editor Elizabeth Van Doren had much to say about PBs, but I wrote down this as kinda a unifying theme in what she thinks helps make a good PB story: a universal experience treated originally. We heard the artistic side of the PB equation talk about what goes into making and designing a lasting picture book. As a writer, it was fantastic to hear that perspective explained so clearly. And did I mention that Jodi Reamer said that the picture book market has improved?

Again, and I do think this is wildy important, we were constantly reminded that publishing is a business. You have to accept that and treat it appropriately. As editor Nancy Siscoe noted, publishers are not patrons of the arts. They DO love what they do, love their books, and are wildly passionate advocates for them. But at the end of the day, there is a bottom line.

Some of that bottom line "stuff" was demystified when agent Edward Necarsulmer IV and editor Mark McVeigh conducted a mock contract negotiation in front of us all. Not only where they hilarious, but the explanations they about what choices have to be made, what processes they go through, and WHY it all happens was something that made much of the business end clear in a way I'd never heard before.

And mixed in with all that information were nuggets of inspiration from countless sources. I think I'll end with two quotes, the first from Paul Fleischman: "Doubt is to writers what headwinds are to cyclists." You have to believe in what you're doing, and you truly do have to love it. And finally, the plucky Jane Yolen delivered the closing speech (and, it was noted, had been the keynote at the very first SCBWI Conference). As she has 287 books published, she felt she was in position to offer some useful observations in the form of 10 Rules for Writing Success. Trust me, everyone listened!

Her speech was the perfect conclusion to the Conference, because she noted that we can talk craft, analyze, research, join the community and so much more, but the one thing we all need to do to have a chance at success could be summed up by her very first Rule:

Write the damn book.

In fact, I gotta book, since that is exactly what I need to go do.

Back to normalcy, such as it is

I sat down at 8:30 this morning with my yellow pad and started taking notes about what the speaker in front of me was saying. I wrote "you're my vehicle baby. I'll take you anywhere you want to go." I had trouble applying that to my writing life, though I suppose one could say the blank page was my vehicle. But the point is I realized that I was no longer conferencing but was listening to the radio as I ran errands. Sigh.

Later today or tomorrow, I'll go back through some of the notes I took to post here but never had time to do. For now, though, I wanted to give a shout out to the many folks I met at the Conference who said they'd head over and read my blog. Hi!

As I noted many times at the Conference, if you simply come to my blog today, you can't imagine how I got a book deal in large part cuz of this place. Don't get me wrong: those conference entries were charming and witty and chock full o' utterly useless stuff... but ya, there's nothing remarkable about them. And while this place has turned into a lovely community, that's true of so many other blogs out there.

The excitement on this blog really relates to pure Fibbishness, so I wanted to point to the links over to the right (inspired by illustrators this weekend, I insert a clever graphic: ---->). The links under The Fibs, particularly the posts The Fib, More Fibbery and Fibs are Fab, are the hubs of the excitement... and where nearly 1,000 Fibs reside in the comments. The Oddaptations and poems linked on the right are also something that I point people to, but again... Fibbery is the answer to just what the heck turned a sleepy kidlit blog into a book deal. Well, that and my dashing cyber looks. And some bribes.

I must say I'm also looking forward to checking out a bunch of new blogs myself, but for now, I gotta catch up on four days worth of regular life....

Blogging the SCBWI Summer Conference (pt. 6)

It's over. Done. Fini. I am officially home. If I had to pick a single word to use to describe the Conference, I'd fail. But me? I'd say "tired." Like bone-weary tired.

I don't think I can sum up all the seminars and sessions and information since the last time I tried. We all got to watch a mock negotiation between an agent and editor that demystified they "whys" of contracts and of the process an editor goes through to acquire a manuscript. We heard market info and details that truly let you understand the business (and SCBWI members will get a detailed market report in mid-Aug, I believe, on the website).

Oh yeah... and I spoke at Lisa Yee's blogging panel (along with the funny, eloquent Disco Mermaids) and lived to tell about it. Better than that, it was a lot of fun. Mine is a story that does give a fine example of why one might bother to blog, so it was a hoot to share.

I know I keep mentioning this, but to me it's the community that exists at the Conference -- 800 people who share a passionate interest -- that makes it such a remarkable experience, and it's hard to encapsulate what the weekend was like. I guess I can just say that it was great for me to meet so many new friends, see old friends, and remember that writing doesn't have to be such a lonely journey.

I hope to find some more good quotes from the various panels tomorrow, but I've simply GottaSleep. G'night, y'all.

Blogging the SCBWI Summer Conference (pt. 5)

Well, we're waiting for dessert here at the Golden Kite luncheon.,. and by we I mean about 800 of us, but more specifically, at my table, I'm talking fellow bloggers The Disco Mermaids (again, co-winners of the costume contest at the big party) and Don Tate. So what else should we do but pull out a laptop and have a little group blog love! We're also gonna introduce a few new folks to the wonderful world of blogging. What will happen? I don't know!!!!

From Don Tate: Hot Man of Children's literature ( I forget which one): Hello to all of you in kid-lit land. Wish you were here. Knew I couldn't make it a full four days with out blogging.

Maria P.J. having a group blog blast here

This party is so hot that I keep meeting party crashers! 'Nuff said. --Rita Crayon Huang

This is so cool... I mean, really COOL. It's freezing in here. Note to self, bring a sweater next time!!! --Monique Ruiz

If this table could talk, it would definitely say, "What a wild lunching group." Thank you for letting me join you. Dorrie Newton

It's DiscoMermaid Evie here...great people, lots o' alcohol and Jay in drag. Doesn't get any better than this! God, I love this conference!!! Bloggy Peace to y'all.

DiscoMermaid Jay: This is like a BlogWarp, Greg. I'm freakin' out, man! I can't believe how much fun this weekend has been. Getting to hang with fellow bloggers like Greg and Don, and non-(but maybe future-)bloggers. Okay, I gotta go, some guy's trying to take my dessert away and I've gotta fork with his name on it...

DiscoMermaid Robin: Wow! Group blogging! It's like hot tubbing with your closest friends...only less wet and more sober.

Let me just say one word to sum up this wonderful experience...Tacone. And yes, it is what you're thinking--a taco in a cone!!!! And that's what we are all hungrily eating at the Golden Kite Luncheon (just kidding--it's chicken). Seriously, this has been the ultimate party! What a blast!--Leslie Muir

And I'm back. I'd note that the last comment is from someone who I'd only known from online. Leslie's in my fantastic online critique group and won an SCBWI Grant which she used to come out here for her first Summer Conference.

I think what you see is that the Conference is great fun, besides being a remarkable place to learn, talk craft, admire amazing talent, and drink really horrible coffee.

You also didn't notice a long lapse here, but we have taken breaks for awards. Last up was the fantastically talented (and nice) David LaRochelle who delivered a touching and funny speech as he accepted his Sid Fleishman Humor Award for Absolutely Postively Not. What a treat to be here and see him get that richly deserved honor.

More awards coming up, so I gotta book.

Blogging the SCBWI Summer Conference (pt. 4)

Ya know, it's just... it's like... it's not like starstruck or anything, but I am up in the lobby here, about to go to the art exhibit (where, in years past, I've said "holy smokes, I am surrounded by people who can draw like nobody's business. My stick figures don't even look like stick figures.") and everywhere I look there are folks whose names I recognize cuz they write or edit or illustrate books I think are extraordinary. And you can talk to them, even.

Ya, I know. Helpful to folks who aren't here. But the point is that there's little else I can do to convey that aspect of the Conference. It's really what makes this such a singular event, I think.

The big topic of conversation here, of course, is "what will the Disco Mermaids wear to the big party tonight. Now, if they weren't charming, funny, and talented, no one would likely care as much. But they I'm not joking when I say that folks are curious.

Also, since Fuse #8 and Mother Reader have shared Mo Willems moments, I feel that I have to share mine. In a (great) session on picturebooks, he actually singled me out. Yes, he did. To hold up something. Not of mine, of course, but hey... I was INVOLVED, I tell ya!

Art to see, a party to attend, so clearly I gotta book. More tomorrow, including a report on the "Why Bother to Blog" panel.

Blogging the SCBWI Summer Conference (pt. 3)

How did you start your morning? Was it, by any chance, hearing a grown man say "This pig just came to me one day" when hearing the story of how the book Punk Farm began? No? Well, those of us lucky enough to be up and listenting to Jarrett J. Krosoczka here at the SCBWI Conference got to hear that and much more. What's always fascinated me about hearing the keynote speeches at these conferences is how much you end up "rooting for" the speaker. They're all incredibly talented, of course, but there's always a tremendous sense of humanity. You think "damn, everyone is sooooo nice here!" And, well, they are. To top the speech off, he showed a hilarious film about the process of making a picture book, culminating with the joy of actually getting it. Seeing someone paint as "Eye of the Tiger" plays... excellent.

Again, "ideas" was a key theme here. Caronline Cooney echoed the thought about the question "where do you get your ideas?" that "ideas are the easy part... but the better question is what do you do with them once you have them?" She gave a great primer on how she works through an idea, how she makes choices in plotting and character.

Plus, she ended with a quote I think any writer will appreciate, and with which I'll end this post:

"I love writing... except when it's really hard and I hate it."

Blogging the SCBWI Summer Conference (pt. 2)

I write to you from poolside here at in Century City. I cannot see a cloud, there's a lovely breeze, and the wireless is easy. It's a hard job being your correspondent, but someone's gotta do it.

There's been a lotta talk about "ideas" today. Mo Willems noted that ideas are the easy part... but not all ideas can be fed and nurtured to become something worthy. Jacqueline Woodson said that characters come to her and tell her stuff and she writes it down and it doesn't always make sense... but she knows it will eventually. And Elise Primavera spoke of NOT telling everyone your "big idea" right when you have it, as you'll get overloaded with feedback and lose what was special about it.

Of particular interest to me and many o' my picture book pals was the almost throwaway comment by agent Jodi Reamer that the picture book market has really improved. Yes, she really said that.

School visits, editors, writing tips, marketing ideas... it's flying all around. As are folks I only know from the blogosphere/online. Very fun. Oh, and jokes.

I'd also note that this year, I'm one of the 16% of attendees who are male. This means little, of course, except when restroom breaks are needed. Then it's swell.

Time to watch the sunset, then ead to a wine and cheese reception. I know. I know. The things I have to go through....

Blogging the SCBWI Summer Conference (pt. 1)

Is this thing on?

Cool. Wireless in the lobby lets me dash on for a fast post.

What can you say about a morning that includes old friends, new friends, Jacqueline Woodson AND Mo Willems? how about "rocking!"

Quick highlights, since that's all there's time for, include Jacqueline Woodson's comment about herself when she's writing: "I work hard at not having doubt." Entertaining, inspiring, and thought provoking, she was a great leadoff speaker.

And it turns out she and Mo Willems know each other. Who knew? He was funny, as expected, as well as telling a pretty amazing life story to date. The highlight, I think, is when he lead the approximately 800 of us in a "draw the pigeon" exercise. Mine is available to view if you stop by and ask.

More as time allows, but there's another speaker about to go on, so I gotta book.

Oddaptation: Hop on Pop

Ahhh, how does one Oddapt a classic book full of... well... full of lots of words? If you check the Oddaptation links to the right, you'll see that everything else I've posted so far has been a book with at least a modicum of plot. But the good Dr. throws a curve with this perennial. Still, I think I found a few key elements of the book -- both "plot" and style -- and added the needed point of view to make this seem like an Oddaptation to me. And since it's my word... heck, yeah! As always, I'd love to hear your suggestions for other candidates....


HOP ON POP
by Dr. Seuss
Oddaptation by Gregory K.

TOT GOT
What book’s tot got?

NOT PLOT
There’s not a plot.

USED BRUISED
Pop’s used and bruised.

Hey, this Pop is not amused!

SO SLOW
This book’s so slow.

OH WOE
More rhymes to go.

BUM NUMB
My bum’s gone numb!

Read it again? Go ask your mum.

Last minute frenzy AND a report on a great evening...

I'm busily getting things ready to survive the four day absence from my desk (ya, big crisis, I know). Hey... maybe I'll put something up for Poetry Friday before I sleep? I wouldn't bother y'all with this, but I wanted to note that (at least) one GottaBook reader was at the King/Irving/Rowling evening and has blogged about it.

Check out NRKII's post right here!!! Wish I coulda been there....

Oooh. Wireless!

So, they (and in this case that means the person who answered the phone) tell me that there's a wireless network in the lobby of the hotel where the SCBWI Conference is. I'm thinking I might try and blog the Conference a wee bit for y'all who aren't coming this year. Might even be able to snag some special guests, I'd think. I contemplate this mostly cuz there simply isn't enough ELSE to do in the next four days. Still, many lunches and breaks and evening drinks take place up where they claim that network is. Hmmm. Verrrrrry interesting.

Cure for what's buggin' me...

Flies, I tell ya. FLIES! I came home today to find five of them gathered in what I believe was a book club meeting at the kitchen sink. I'm not sure how the fly population in GottaLand went from zero to five, but so be it. Now, near as I could tell, they were analyzing the classic A Fly Went By and when they disagreed with my assessment of both the role of the pig AND my theory that the cat was a Horcrux, I took action, grabbing a kitchen towel and remarkably killing four of them within a minute. The fifth continued to "went by" me quite often. Pesky little devil.

But that's not the cure. The cure really came yesterday and had nothing to do with insects. But ya see, I have been bugged by the fact that I've had no time to write much poetry beyond Fibs of late. Not that I'm complaining about having a lot to write -- it's WONDERFUL -- but I've been feeling like something was missing from my writing routine. Then voila, yesterday I got an honorable mention in the Smartwriters.com W.I.N. contest. AND that honor came from the incredibly talented judge, Sonya Sones. AND FoGB Susan Taylor Brown got TWO mentions in the contest (poetry AND picture book), as did a member of my remarkably, uniformly talented online critique group.

Anyway, it was a nice little jolt to remind me that I should find the time to write the fun stuff I love... and positive jolts are always better than the negative.

Now I've got a blank piece of paper in front of me, so I gotta book.

A bit more Fibbishness

I'm gonna toss up a search Fib (and I see that Fuse #8 also was talking search terms today), but before I do, I wanted to remind folks about The Fib Review. If you like writing Fibs, check out the Review and see if you, like a couple other GottaBook readers, might not send in your best work and see it collected.

As for the search Fib, well, I won't argue that this one is poetry, necessarily, but the middle sequence all came within a week or each other. What, precisely, these folks were looking for I cannot say, but apparently it's a scalable thing!

Fibs
Fiiiib
Tici
Big tici
Really big tici
Pushups emoticon baby.

Getting a jump on the week.

If I had one word to use to describe the Summer SCBWI Conference, and explain why I keep going back, that word would be "inspiring." Or maybe it would be fun. Or friends. Or informative. Or exhausting. Or... well, the point is, I don't have to use just one word.

Anyway, yesterday I got some of that same mix when I attended a Harry Potter podcast here in LA. There were over 300 people there, and I can safely say that about 95% of the conversation was totally over my limited-Potter-head. But the thing is, to see that many people talking about something that a writer created -- a writer, like I'm a writer -- and to see them really analyzing literary conventions, subtext, imagery, you name it... it's simply fantastic. I think one question came from a seven year old, and there were certainly people far older than yours truly.

PLUS, I got to yak with, among others, Disco Mermaid Eve, Lisa Yee, AND Cheryl Klein. That alone encompasses most of the word choices I batted around up above. Excellent times indeed, and really has whet my appetite for the upcoming four days o' kid-book insanity.

Moving right along...

With only 6 days left before the SCBWI Summer Conference, I wanted to encourage any GottaBook readers who are attending to make sure you find me and say "hi." Or say something different than "hi." There's no requirements here....

On this end, the question remains how much I can get done before next Friday, both in terms of work AND, of course, cleaning of my desk. The heat has broken (some) thus taking away my last great excuse for procrastination. Yes, we do move the library this week, but the packing is all done, and unpacking will be a longer process. Mind you, I'm not saying I'll write all 14 of the Fabulous Fibs between now and then... but being somewhat Fibbish would let me have far more fun at the Conference.

Hey... I wonder if the hotel has wireless? How many bloggers are gonna be there? And how many bloggers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Too many questions. Clearly time to clean the desk....

A volt to the system...

Yup, at 2:30 this morning, power was restored in GottaLand. A very tired but hard working crew climbed a power pole, did some... stuff... and voila! I'm pleased to say only two lights came on and no appliances started up, though there was a raft of blinking clocks (whose re-setting was left til later in the morning).

Also today, there was more library packing, though some VERY hardworking and efficient fellow volunteers had already done the bulk of it. We're finding boxes hidden in crannies and nooks that have required attention (and some headscratching). We rediscovered my favorite book that ended up accidentally on our shelves: The Same Phrase Describes My Marriage and My Breasts : Before the Kids, They Used to Be Such a Cute Couple.... Yes, we found it before a first grader (or worse, a parent!) did. I think it's the cute font that let it sneak on the shelves.

The library was so hot that I didn't read a single book, and that's good, I suppose, in terms of time management. But the heat also made me less inclined to weed books I really probably shoulda. I think, having spent a year gathering 10,000 books, we're having real parting issues. Seriously, I think I'd get over it with central air, but as it stands, I couldn't get rid of a copy of The Search for Delicious Icy Coldness no matter how hard I tried....

Swiss Army Kitchen

As we continue our quirky adventures in power disruption, I've managed to cobble together a series of surge suppressors and extention cords, thus giving GottaHome some semblence of a working kitchen. That's not something that impacts y'all much, I know, EXCEPT that it gave me access to coffee and thus the caffeinated afternoon energy needed to come blog.

Oh, yeah. And to write. Sure, that, too.

I admit that the return to regular GottaLife hasn't been as smooth as anticipated, and I've lost precious writing time to things like ice, sweat, and a really fantastic collection of bugs living in harmony with some electrical wiring, but I've been able to keep calm. How? It's easy!

Admit it... you feel better.

You GOTTA love the Net!

The DWP must know me...

Once again, there's darkness in GottaBookland... except this time, it's not total. One whole room has power as does one circuit in my office -- the one which powers my UPS (thus my computer, modem, network, printer, etc) and a single light. The other office lights (and my best friend, Mr. Oscillating Fan) are kaput. Elsewhere, the fridge is down. The microwave is dark. Yet the clock on the stove still works, thus implying there's an outlet somewhere in the kitchen that's still working. The bedrooms are dark, but really there's no harm in that in the nighttime. Flipping breakers is no use -- this is an outage beyond my skills. But again, thanks to the powers that be power powerful for letting me work tonight.

Plus, thanks to the blessed outlet, I'm able to sign on and note that my latest Book Talk column is up over at momready (where there's always goooood reading). If you've got power, I recommend you check it all out. And if you don't, thanks a lot for finding a refuge and checking me out. Good choice!

What's new in the land of Fibs?

What a great question. Thanks for asking.

I have to say that I'm continually surprised to see Fibs popping up on the web (and elsewhere). Examples, I hear you (and by you I mean someone who reallllllly cares) cry. Well, then, sometimes it's Fibs in an online magazine. Perhaps you'd prefer Fibs factoring in as a clue in The Schoenberg Code, a now-complete 12 part classical music parody of the DaVinci Code? And then there's a completed contest at Kenyon College. Fine Fibbery all around.

There's more Fibs to be found, but for those who enjoy writing them (or haiku, etc.), what about a syllable counter? A handy online tool indeed, though it clearly doesn't account for accents and personally quirky pronunciations.

And finally in Fibville... why not click here and e-mail me to join the Fib mailing list? Sure, you get MOST of the news here, but as the 14 Fabulous Fibs moves from a notion to an idea to a manuscript to a book, there'll likely be bits of tid that'll be email only. So feel free to sign up now, as it's never too early to get started. (Editor's note: that "too early" comment does NOT refer to mornings but was deeper and more philosophical. Any time before, say, 9 AM, is too early. For anything, really. Even with coffee.)

Power. I need more power!

I was in the middle of a fine old post... about 5 hours ago when the power went off. I'm not really complaining, as there are folks out there with far bigger power problems than what happened here. I merely mention it now cuz it's too late for me to finish up the earlier post. Not "too late, chance missed" but literally too close to a reasonable bedtime.

I am reminded, however, of one of the greatest writing lessons of my life. And what's that, you all ask in unison? Well, one day I lost a HUGE amount of a complex screenplay rewrite because the power went out (only for five minutes, to add insult to injury). I had no universal power supply that woulda given me time to save. I didn't save on a regular basis (and this was before OS X or Word's auto-backup function or any such). Power strip? Yup. So there was no damage, other than psychological. Now I set auto-saves, and I have a great UPS... and I was able to save my post in progress today but it'll be just as good tomorrow when I don't have to deal with coolers full of ice and food.

In fact, the kitchen awaits, so I gotta book.

Links galore in a Carnival o' fun....

Kelly over at Big A little a has put together the Fifth Carnival of Children's Literature (while abroad, it appears. Gotta love the Net).

There are wonderful links to fantastic bloggers AND a witches theme, to boot. So go on and get your fill of reviews, ideas, lists, interviews, and ramblings. You'll be glad you did.

Time (pt. 2)

I am pleased to report that flying cross-country (including a layover and change of planes) took less time than the last flying experience on the GottaVacation. A relief, indeed... though returning home to record temperatures wasn't exactly the plan. Still, the last few days brought more lessons in "time" and how it is a sliding scale, no matter what science and clocks have to say about it.

Today is the post-vacation maintenence day around here which will prove that time ticks slowly as there will be nothing particularly fun or pleasant going on (other than iced coffee a little later!). And tomorrow returns me to full-on work on two fronts: 14 Fabulous Fibs writing and library packing. Guess which one I'd rather do. This will also be a lesson in time-speeds, believe me.

Other things in the near future? A Carnival of Children's literature due later today, time to read all my favorite blogs (and discover new ones), and a desk that honestly, genuinely needs to be cleaned. No, really. I mean that.

Flying time....

Vacation time has zipped past faster than I'd ever expected, and one day soon you'll find me back at my desk and you'll see me take on a more serious font again and.... Oh, forget that. I'm never more serious.

I did not discover the time it takes to drive this battery to zero (though I came close), and I did not become the golden tan boy of my youth. Apparently I'm the lucky type for whom sunblock works as an impenetrable shield that woulda made life on the Enterprise much easier for Kirk and the gang. Endless books have been read, too many giant meals digested, boats, planes, and fountains admired, work accomplished, and family and friends seen. Oh, yeah, and did I mention I had lunch with my editor? I'll have to check back posts to see if that came up.

Remarkably, I see that the annual SCBWI Conference starts in TWO WEEKS, and I have a school library to move before then as well as 14 Fabulous Fibs to write. It promises to be an intensely busy month or so, and I'm looking forward to it greatly. Thanks to you all for coming on vacation with me, but there's a bit more beach time available so I gotta book. Catch ya on the other coast....

Beach Fib

A BEACH FIB
by
Greg Pincus

Waves
Shells
Tide pools
Minnow schools
Bright, sun-kissed faces
Sand in the most awkward places

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Why Bother to Blog?

The talented, funny, Mento-obsessed Lisa Yee will be teaching/hostessing/leading a workshop called Why Bother to Blog at this year’s annual SCBWI conference. She’s asked yours truly AND the Disco Mermaids to speak as guest bloggers, each with our own experiences and points of view.

Now, I’m obviously a huuuuge lover of blogging, as GottaBook is clearly the reason I got a book deal how and when I did. And while I always planned to do “stunts” like Fibs once I had myself up and going, I’d be lying if I said that I started blogging so I could get a book deal in two months. Nope. Not true.

So why bother to blog? Well, for me it started out as a desire to be part of the wonderful, fascinating, ever-growing kid-lit-blogging community (dubbed the kidlitosphere by Melissa Wiley, I believe). Writing is a lonely thing, so organizations like SCBWI are wonderful in helping find folks who can support, commiserate, and cheer for you. But cyberspace is 24 hours a day... and distance is way less of an obstacle online. Also, the kidlitosphere is full of book lovers, librarians, reviewers, and teachers, as well as writers and illustrators – and this diverse group is one I truly enjoy being connected to and from whom I’ve learned a ton, making me a better writer, more informed reader, and definitely a cooler, more useful volunteer librarian.

From an aspiring/still-unpublished writer’s point of view, I had numerous other raisons-de-blog. To keep this post from becoming an epic, I’m gonna skip to my big one beyond community: Cyberspace is an odd, connected place, and you just never know who’s gonna stop by and read you or what can happen in the net-ether. From the start, I viewed my blog as a promotional tool, though not in an aggressive way as that’s just not my style (nor do I think the spirit of the blogging community I like). But yeah, having a presence in cyberspace can lead to who-knows-what (like, say, an invite from Lisa Yee to talk at the SCBWI Annual!). And frankly, the net is simply “the future,” so learning how to have a useful presence here seemed like a worthwhile endeavor to me… and I figured the time to learn about it was before I “needed” to use it (if ever). I think I’ve learned a lot already, and by the time I have a book to promote, I think my experiences will prove invaluable. As I said, this wasn’t the primary reason to blog, but it was definitely a factor.

Interestingly, I can see that the reasons for blogging once one is a published writer might be very different. I do NOT view this blog as a way to connect with my books’ kid audience (he says as he imagines that there ultimately is one!), though I’ve certainly had entire classes descend and post Fibs. Still, I don’t think this blog will change to try and connect with that very different community. That might happen via another blog, a web-site or something else entirely. But I do know that I’ll still want to be connected to the kidlitosphere... which is why I bothered to blog in the first place, and why you find me here on vacation typing away.

Egrets. I've seen a few...

... but then again, too few to mention. Or at leat too few to make the body of a blog post, as clearly I mentioned them....

So far, the laptop battery has not powered down, but that's more to do with the exhaustion created by a full day on the beach than it is by tremendous advances in battery technology. Today, braving thunder and lightning, your intredpid gottabooker moseyed over to the one place in town with a high speed wireless network so I could try and catch up on some of the e-mail that's piled up and try to read the folks on my blogroll. I'm having withdrawal! However, vacation efficiency levels being what they are, I got through about half of what I'd intended before realizing I needed to post this and hurry off to join others for a Southern Fried Fish Fiesta (TM pending). By the way, yesterday, to continue the food theme, I had a cheeseburger at a place dubbed by Emeril as having the best cheeseburger in America. How can you beat that?

I admit I have been inspired to pull out the yellow pad a few times at odd moments, jotting notes for the 14 Fabulous Fibs, scribbling the bones of a couple poems, and even outlining a still-vague idea for a new picturebook. And heck, by the time I return home and get to the SCBWI Annual, I should have a tan that'll make me rival Adonis. You know, if Adonis was kinda pale, needed a shave, could exercise more, and wasn't quite as tall as he is usually pictured.

Fresh fried fish awaits, so I gotta book.

Time.

Now, I know full well that time measurements are not variables: a second is a second, a minute is a minute, and an hour is an hour. I get it. But let me state unequivocably that time bends when one is stuck waiting at an airport. I'm not talking the first hour delay. That's not so bad. The second hour? Dealable. By the third hour, there's little question that time is beginning to move at a new pace. When your flight is then cancelled, time stands still for a moment... then when you ultimately get rebooked hours later, there's kinda a weird time-standing-still effect. Then, after 8 hours as you wait for "the pilot and flight crew to land" from points unknown, thus delaying your rebooked flight... well, there's NO question that a second is lengthy, a minute is endless, and an hour is simply longer than an hour spent undergoing root canal.

On the plus side... well, actually, there was no real plus side there.

But a night of sleep and a beach nearby and all is forgotten. I hope to spend time this coming week overlooking the ocean and writing. Yes, there's chocolate around, no high-speed access (so apologies for unanswered email, if any), and sunsets, so if that's not a recipe for success, I don't know what is. Time will return to its normal pace, perhaps passing slower in a good way, and if nothing else, I'll find out how long this laptop battery will last with screen open and operator staring at the water. As I said, it's all about research (except for time in airports).

"Research"

One of the great things about being a writer is that you can convince yourself that everything you do is 'research' for some yet unthought of project. So, while it's likely true that I'm not going to write a book all about flourless chocolate cake, there's nothing wrong with testing the density of a few just in case I ever come up with a character who is obsessed with that delicious dessert. Likewise, I think I'd be remiss if I didn't compare said treat with, say, cheesecake to see which one creates stronger cravings and/or higher levels of satisfaction.

Sadly, my research is incomplete. I didn't realize it would be so hard to reach conclusions, and I'm thinking I'll have to add pecan pie, at least, into the mix in order to really understand this imagined character.

On other fronts, I realize that in my brief synopsis of my Scholastic visit, I failed to mention something that I think will be of interest to all my fellow writers: OH MY WORD that pile of manuscripts is really huge. I mean, I know we always hear editors talk about the big pile of manuscripts (whether they call it slush or whether it's solicited) they have to read, but when you actually see it up close and personal, you suddenly understand why it can take months and months to hear back. If they had no other work to do, it'd probably STILL take longer than we writers would like, but egad, it was quite something.

Actually, I would like to propose to all my editor-readers (or to any here who have editors' ears), that you think of installing a web-based "Slush Cam" so we can all see the giant pile in real time. Pick among yourselves who has the most absurd pile, and go from there. It'd be eye-opening... plus we writers could probably turn it into a drinking game as we anticipate when the next manuscript will be pulled from the pile. I know I'd watch, but I am a professional crastinator, after all.

Time to fly (literally), so I gotta book. See y'all in another state soooooon.

Crossing out of the blogosphere. And lunch!

Yesterday was quite a day in blog related action, as I met -- yes, MET -- two fellow bloggers who had only been cyber acquantainces before. Oh, yeah... I also had lunch with my editor. Ahhhh, I've wanted to say "my editor" for some time, so forgive me for not just saying "I had lunch with Arthur" or something less ME-based.

Lunch was nice, of course, and not business-y. I may even have had dessert, and if I did, it might've been warm berry crumble with mint-vanilla ice cream. But I won't say for sure. I also got to see the Scholastic offices, chat with the stupendous Rachel Griffiths again and meet editor and blogger extraordinaire Cheryl Klein. I also managed not to go broke in the Scholastic store. I view all of this as goooooood.

As if this wasn't enough, earlier in the morning, I'd met the funny and charming Fuse #8! It is true, as she oft states, that she works with the original Winnie the Pooh watching her. But what she's failed to mention is that Eeyore and Piglet are watching, too. That's a lot of pressure, though she clearly handles it with aplomb. Fuse becomes the first person I've met who I've only known from the blogosphere, so I view this as a day where somehow things moved to a different level. Don't know what that means, exactly, but it's another phrase I love saying since I think it leads to confusion and open-ended interpretation. Cool.

More later, but there's a big city out there and much to do. So I gotta book.

The Sporadic Season

You may or may not see a dropoff in blog posts over the next short spell. It's vacation time in the land of GottaBook, though it's not as if I'm going to be where the Net don't shine. Whether I avail myself of the Net daily or not remains to be seen... though it's already well known that I do face a certain level of blogaddiction.

We can also view this as a test, since I'm bringing some 14 Fabulous Fibs work with me. Will I work or blog? Will I find ways to procrastinate on vacation? Is that an oxymoron? Tune in tomorrow (or in a day or two) and maybe I'll try and answer. But now it's time to pack, so I gotta book.

GOAL! -- A Soccer Poem

In honor of the World Cup final this weekend (and for Poetry Friday)...


GOAL!
by
Gregory K.

Goal!
Goal!
I scored a goal.
Oh, what a perfect day.
I kicked the ball so hard and true.
Oh, what a perfect play.

Boo?
Boo?
Why would you boo?
This always was my dream:
I shot it past the goalie and...
Oh, he’s on my team.


(for your procrastinatory pleasure, links to this and other poems here on GottaBook are collected to the right under the headline "The Poems".)

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a single-phrase Search Fib

I have to give this one a title, as this is the longest search term that's brought anyone here and thus more than 20 syllables. When I first saw this phrase/sentence, I couldn't figure out how it would bring anyone to GottaBook... but this blog is where you'd end up if you clicked "I feel lucky" after typing it on Google. Go figure. Still, in truth, I find this plaintive/emotional and far more like a poem than many of the random collections I've called a Search Fib before. So, with no further ado:


Get Me a Site...

Where
I
Will stand
A chance of
Communicating
With people who are studious

Thousands of books!

Yes, it's school library time here again, even though I'm a volunteer librarian and even though it's summer. Weeding the collection is a big summer task for me but there's a sense of urgency: that which I can weed doesn't need to be packed up, as we're taking our wonderfully created elementary school library on the road to a new location. Ugh. And yay.

But here's my problem... I've started in the picture books, taking out multiples (either for classrooms or other schools). That's easy. But then there's just soooooo many books I still haven't read that I flip past looking for multiples. That's hard. I swear I'm the slowest weeder around, as I sit on the floor in an incredibly hot room and read book after book after book. I oooooh at art. I laugh at puns. I cringe at bad rhyme and nod at great imagery. Sometimes I find titles that, serviceable as they might be, we simply aren't going to have room for on our new shelves (and there's a good reason for that space problem, as I'll talk about at some point in the future). Those get weeded, too.

And slowly, with each pass through, I'm thinning out what's gotta be packed. Plus I've found a whole bunch o' books for next year's read-alouds. Today I should get to the end of the picture books... but I can't even imagine how long middle grade and young adult will take me. Ah well, at least I'm doing my summer reading....

Hard Work

You can tell the weather is turning to summer when even outlining on a yellow pad causes you to break into a sweat. And I'm not talking about a nervous "will I ever break the story???" sweat. It's just hot enough that it feels like manual labor.

I have been silent hereabouts cuz I'm in heavy work mode, and that's all good, but I truly do have withdrawal symptoms. I can't even imagine what'll happen when I take a vacation!

Hope those who get a long weekend enjoy it....

So, do you wanna...

... see my latest Book Talk column on MomReady?

... read and see some great Fibs with photos? Fibs were a writing prompt on one deep breath this past week, and the linked post gives links to 21 poets (at last count) who combined a Fib and a photo. Fantastic stuff for those who love Fibs.

... see a totally bizarre but wonderful Folgers commercial?

Well, if you wanna do any of those things, click on a link and have a good old time.

Happy Morning, indeed!

Oddaptation: The Lorax

What's this, you say? An Oddaptation of Seuss? Well, it had to happen, as the good Dr. wrote soooooo many classics/best-sellers and, well, those are what a guy like me has to Oddapt.

For those new to my Oddaptations, you can find out more via the links on the right under the headline The Oddaptations. But basically we're talking about mixing picture books with Cliff's Notes (synopsis, analysis) and a "pointed point of view." Dealing with a master rhymer like Dr. Seuss presented new challenges, of course, but why only take on the easy targets?

As always, feel free to suggest other titles you think are deserving....


THE LORAX
by Dr. Seuss
Oddaptation by Gregory K.

The Lorax -- bossy, loud and rude --
Says to Onceler, “Listen, dude,
You’ve turned air all black and funky.
You’ve made ponds turn thick and gunky.
Trees are gone and now there’s weeds…
And no one needs your ugly thneeds.”
The Lorax doesn’t offer help.
All he does is moan and yelp.
Soon he’s overcome with stress,
And leaves behind one word: Unless.
Time goes on as time must do.
Onceler finally gets a clue.
When he’s learned he misbehaved,
He tosses you the seed he’s saved.
I say put it in your pocket
Then inside a safe and lock it.
Cuz if a forest blooms anew…
That Lorax will come back here, too.

Word Choice

I just took a walk around the neighborhood and even in doing that, the power of words and word choice was again driven home.

First off ... a nearby residence that had been for sale now has a second sign on it: BOUGHT. Yup, not sold, but bought. Different message. A carefully chosen word.

Unrelated on another FOR SALE sign, a realtor had added their slogan: Treating You Like Family.

Ahhh, yes. Family. A powerful word. Contrast the use on that sign with the ad I overheard on a radio just before I had rounded the corner to see that sign. The ad was for a weight-loss product I'll dub xxxxxxxx. And the ad said....

"Thanks to xxxxxxxx, some of my own family doesn't even recognize me anymore!"

Yes, indeedy. I'm sure the family members are grateful, too.

Thinking about words and word choice is why I started Fibbing (see those links over to the right of the blog under The Fibs for more of an explanation), but laughing at words and word choice goes back wayyyyyyyyy longer. And who knows, maybe that's why I'm a writer? Either that or it's just cuz I hate shaving.

More later, but for now, I gotta book.

A moneymaking idea?

You know you have a viable product idea when friends say "I'd buy it," and you search EBay and can't find something similar for sale.

So I want to invent a "plot laxative" for when you're stuck on an idea. Ya know, everything's bottled up inside and you're so close but you just can't get it out... on paper.

Not that I'd ever need this. All my ideas burst forth fully formed, of course. But, I mean really, I talk to other writer pals and this is something THEY need.

Please alert me to any pre-orders....

Weekending....

In odd bits of time for the past week or two, I've been frantically sneaking books, trying to keep ahead of the school kids I've been librianing for. There are holes in my reading knowledge above the picture book arena (and in it, too. I'm only human!), and I feel like I have a summer reading list like so many kids. This week, with jury duty looming, I've been trying to think what book(s) would be best/most amusing/worst to carry into the room as attorneys decide if I'm to be selected. Certain books would likely help gain me a seat on the jury. But I imagine if I brought in Everybody Poops and kept laughing hysterically.... Well, it's a fun game to play. But the truth is, I'll simply bring my yellow pad and get some work done.

BTW, for all the latest goings on at the ALA Convention in New Orleans (or if you just want to be amused), head on over to the always entertaining Fuse #8 for on-the-spot reportage (like her post today on suitcase clogging swag). Gooooood stuff.

Search Fib (III)

It amazes me just how many different ways folks search the web, the blogosphere, and their own computers. Frankly, though, it's perfect for someone like me, as it helped put an end to my "one syllable problem." Now, I'm not saying my Search Fibs are great poetry (or even poetry at all!), but I particularly like thinking about the confused look that must have crossed many of these searchers' faces when they found themselves here. So consider these Fibs a way of sharing that amusement. And now, more search terms that have gotten folks to GottaBook, presented in Fib form...


Books
Greg
Elfchen
Cryptoquip
Pull it sir prizes
Frisbee written in Japanese

I missed it!

It turns out yesterday was GottaBook's four month anniversary.

Four months? Wow.

It's safe to say a lot has happened in these parts since I started blogging, and I'm glad to have so much company for the ride. Some of you pre-Fib readers will remember my occasional musings about finding a "tone" for the blog and wondering what I might end up talking about. I'm STILL thinking about those issues, but at least I can see, content-wise, how having actual adventures in writing a book, working with an editor, re-writing, re-writing, re-writing, and sometimes re-writing will be good fodder. But really, right now in looking at things, all I can really say for sure is...

Four months????

Wow.

It's so nice...

... when other folks do all the work, then I get to blog about it.

Kelly not only runs Big A little a but she puts together The Edge of the Forest, a monthly collection of articles, interviews, and reviews all pertaining to children's literature. The June/July issue has gone online today, and I've already spent my morning coffee time reading... and I'm sure I'll be back again on my next coffee break. Go ahead and check it out for some fine reading.

The top 25 nouns!

Oh, baby, the excitement. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary has announced the top 25 nouns (as in the "most often used"). Using the Oxford English Corpus (lots of real words tracked), the top 25 nouns are...

time, person, year, way, day, thing, man, world, life, hand, part, child, eye, woman, place, work, week, case, point, government, company, number, group, problem, fact.


There is some controversy, of course. Many believe that "part" has been taking performance enhancing drugs in an attempt to move up the list. Also, "death" and "taxes" maintain there is a cultural bias that keeps them off the list. Nonetheless, I present the list without editorial comment, as I know that you can barely contain your excitement at seeing it.

(related article right here)

And now what?

For the first time this year, I didn't read to kids on a Wednesday morning (oh, wait. There was one week off for Spring vacation. Ignore that week, please). You'd think that means I got to sleep in, but as fate would have it I woke up startlingly early and, believe it or not, cleaned my desk as opposed to using that as a mid-day procrastination.

I decided to use the now-free reading time to think about all the best picture books I'd read this year, to see what I could learn (again) for my own writing. I'd definitely say I learned that there were some wicked good ideas I wish I'd had. But I also (yet again) came back to the importance of word choice, the way the best picture books have art and text that work together as more than the sum of their parts, and the fact that when push comes to shove, I love "funny." Yeah, I know. You're shocked about that last one.

I also did that overview for another reason: to sum up my thinking before taking a wee break from picture books. You see The 14 Fabulous Fibs isn't going to be a picture book. Even though the same writing lessons apply across the board, I didn't want to focus too much on any one mode of thinking. Besides, now all that good stuff is percolating in my brain and... hmmm... that reminds me that it's time for a cup of coffee, so I gotta book.

Well lookie here...

The Southern California region of the SCBWI publishes a quarterly newsletter called Kite Tales, and as of the Spring issue this year, that newsletter is available online. Not only is it full of updates about area writers and news, but it's got market information galore as well as interesting articles and more. The Summer issue has just gone online, and among the "more" in this issue happens to be a poem of mine. Longtime blog readers will recognize it as my poem Reasons Why I Don't Write, aka my third post ever!

I have tended to keep my poems grouped by collection and have not sent out individual ones in general (and yes, a voice in the back of my head says "that's not a strategic decision, Gregory K. That's laziness!" But in truth, it really is a choice I've made). But I am thrilled to have this poem appear in Kite Tales, and in thinking about it, I realize this is my first poem in print since my high school literary magazine! Yow. That was, uh, four years ago AT LEAST! Actually, I'd do the math and tell you how many, but, wouldn't ya know it, I gotta book.

The end of the 48 Hour Book Review Challenge...

Mother Reader has posted the "winners" of her 48 Hour Book Review Challenge. Where? Right Here! Frankly, I think all the rest of us are the winners here. A ton of reading went on this weekend, and anyone interested in finding some good books for kids in, say, 4th grade on should really check that post and head on out to the reviewers linked there. Great stuff indeed. Read on... and tell those reviewers to get some sleep!

Fib sighting

Besides my upcoming Fib related book, I see that Fibs made another jump outside of the online world. Sadly there's no link to the article, but there's a sidebar column about Fibs in the current issue of Seed magazine.

Pretty darn cool to see Fibbery continuing to spread....

Father's Day?

I am not a big fan of the made-up-need-to-be-singled-out kinda holidays, but I don't really call myself a curmudgeon. So in the spirit of the day, let me wish Dads tremendous happiness.

As a recent Scholastic-Yankelovich report showed that reading drops off after the age of 8... but that parents can have a huge impact on that. Reading aloud is great as is letting your kids see you read. So Dads, continue showing your kids the right way to live... and READ!

Books, I tell ya.

Just like June itself, reviews are busting out all over as part of Mother Reader's 48 Hour Book Review Challenge.

I don't really review books here, but I guess the closest I come is in mentioning library read-alouds. So, in what will likely be the last list until the fall...

And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street - Dr. Seuss
Learning to Fly - Sebastien Meschenmoser
A Giraffe and a Half - Shel Silverstein
Traction Man is Here - Mini Grey
Oh, the Places You'll Go - Dr. Seuss


It's a gorgeous summer day here, and while I could say "I'm off to great places, I'm off and away" instead I'll just say that I gotta book.

A poetic challenge

OK, work with me here. It's Poetry Friday. But it's also the start of something else that a lot o' my online pals are doing, so I have tried to combine the two....


Looking for some weekend plans?
I’ll tell you what to do…

Gather up a mound of books
(Or maybe gather two).

Sit yourself down on your couch
Or try the park or zoo,

Then read for hours -- 48!
(It needn’t be straight through.)

Yes, Mother Reader challenged folks
To try out something new...

So join your fellow bloggers and review, review review!


If you can forgive the doggerel, it's just to point out that today marks the start of the 48 Hour Book Review Challenge. That link'll get you to the "rules," and you can also see a list of participating bloggers. Let's just say there's gonna be a lotttttt of book reviews posted over the weekend, and I hope to make a nice summer reading list out of the top picks.

Ch...ch...ch...changes?

Thanks for all the congrats/good wishes both on and off blog. I wanted to comment on the e-mail that surprised me most... wherein the writer was concerned that my collecting a mailing list meant the end of GottaBook. Nahhhhhhhhhhh. Y'all are stuck with me! You hang around these parts you'll still get poetry and Oddaptations (like one coming up next week) and Fibs and library stories and anything else that comes to mind.

Plus, you get the added bonus of hearing a writer discuss how his project is wonderful/horrible/frustrating/satisfying/pointless/exciting/terrifying sometimes all at once. It's just that folks on the mailing list will likely get a slightly more concentrated dose of Fibbishness.

So no panic is necessary :-)

That said, now I gotta book.

Fib news: I gotta book deal!

I’m utterly, totally thrilled to say that yours truly has a two book deal with the wonderful folks at Arthur A. Levine Books (an imprint of Scholastic). Now, for those of you in the kid-lit world, you’ll understand when I say that I feel as if I won the lottery. And for those who don’t know of Arthur and his remarkable cohorts, the bottom line is that I’ll be working with people from whom I’ll learn an incredible amount and who will always make sure I deliver the best possible book I can deliver.

And what will that first book be, I hear you ask? Well, I can tell you that the working title is…

The 14 Fabulous Fibs of Gregory K.

Yes, there will be Fibs in it, but it won’t just be a book of Fib poetry. We’re talking story and character and all that good stuff. For more than that little tease, though, you’re gonna have to stick around to see how things develop. Or for updates, why not e-mail me and let me know you want to be on the Fib mailing list? Excellent.

This deal, I have to say, is a testament to the power of bloggers and the Net. Yes, the Levine Books folks knew me before Fibs, and I knew them thanks to SCBWI conferences and me submitting (and them liking but rejecting) my work. I believe we’d’ve worked together at some point, regardless of Fibs. HOWEVER, the wonderful Fibbing of friends, family and a few blogging pals set the stage for the remarkable Fibbery of the Slashdotters. From there, Fibs spread through the Net… and the buzz ended up getting me in the New York Times (a mere two weeks after the first Fib post!). After that, Arthur came to me with a brilliant pitch and voila… there’s a book with Fibs in the future.

I know the Times article and book deal would not have happened without the Net activity before it, so, I truly, truly thank all of you who Fibbed and linked and pointed others this way, be you bloggers, poets, mathematicians, teachers, MSNBC.com, CBS.com, Word Freaks, gamers, actuaries, musicians, librarians, knitters, or something else entirely. And I also hope some of you are inspired: watching a mention on Slashdot create the opportunity for a kids' book deal (with poetry!), you start to realize that thanks to the Net, almost anything is possible.

Who knew?

So, we're approaching the end of the school year... which normally wouldn't mean all that much to me. But this year, well, I find that I've rejiggered my schedule to make sure I get in to read one last time to every class in the school. I've talked here often of how we've built a library this year (now of over 10,000 books) and how the kids love it, but there is absolutely no question that it's been a transforming experience for me, as well. Best project I've worked on in Hollywood, as I often say. And while it'll be great for the kids when we finally get a true librarian, I have a feeling I'm gonna be doing read-alouds for a long time to come.

Who knew?


A few more of the books read this year:

The Recess Queen -- Alexis O'Neill. Illus. by Laura Huliska-Beith
The Scrambled States of America -- Laurie Keller
Starry Messenger -- Peter Sis
Polka Bats -- Calef Brown
The Best Pet of All -- David LaRochelle. Illus. by Hanako Wakiyama
When Everybody Wore a Hat -- William Steig

...pation!

Some of you "longtime" GottaBook readers -- and by that I mean those who read me back in the dark ages before there was a single link to Fibs on the right of the blog -- may recall my an...tici... excitement about the launch of Fibs. Yes? Good. Both of you who remember can stay after class and clean my desk with me. The point is, however, that I'm once again teasing y'all about something that excites me greatly... and will be appearing here in the cyber-pages o' my blog sooooooooooooooon. Is it Fib related? Is it poetic? Is it library related? Is it a combo?

Only time will tell... so I hope y'all will stick around.

Sippy Cups Rock!

Lest you think GottaBook has suddenly become a site reviewing the options for children to drink from, please note that I was actually referring to the band the Sippy Cups who I had the pleasure to see in concert today.

Now, I'm not gonna start reviewing children's music on a consistent basis or anything like that (try zooglobble or Chilren's Music that Rocks for lots o' kid music fun), but the Sippy Cups were a blast: juggling, comedy, original songs, and wonderfully picked (slightly re-jiggered) rock covers (Blitzkreig Bop and Space Oddity as two that had the kids dancing or enraptured, depending). It's a great mix, cuz, for example, when parents start bopping and shouting out "Hey, ho, let's go!" you can be darn sure the kids will, too. Good times... and good night!

Search Fib II

Yes, another Fib made of search terms that brought folks here. I'm noticing that the one syllable ones are, well, identical to last time. Hmmm. If that continues, I'll probably have to re-evaluate the idea. I'm particularly tickled by the searches that find me via typo, so I've included one here...

Fib
Fibs
weltsherz
cryptoquip
Pink Floyd’s great question
Yesterday today tomorrow

Books and bands mashed...

I ran into this on Fuse #8's blog first, and it's well worth passing along here:

Booking Bands

What's that, you ask? Well, it's a great list of new titles you get when you mash a book name and a band name together. You get things like...

The Reverend Horton Heat Hears a Who
Horton Hears The Who
One Fish, Two Fish, Hootie and the Blowfish

(those are credited to Aaron Kelly, Jason Caldeira, and Ryan Miller, btw)


There are tons of hilarious mash ups at that above link, including many with a children's lit bent, so I'm not even off-topic in posting. But I'd've posted anyway cuz it made me laugh....

A Fish Story (a Poetry Friday poem)

Wow. Two weeks in a row here with a poem on Poetry Friday. Rockin'. I happen to be up late working, and I ran into this in a folder where I wasn't expecting to see poetry. Seems like as good a reason as any to put it on the blog, don'tcha think? Maybe I should work late every Thursday....


A FISH STORY
by
Gregory K.

I caught myself a fish today.
It’s almost four feet long.
It’s green and red with shiny scales.
Its teeth are mighty strong.

I wish this fish could talk to me.
That really would be cool.
'Cause I know what I’d ask it first...
“How’d you get in my pool?”

Making a list...

People make Top 10 lists or Top 100 lists or Top Whatever lists all the time, but whenever they're matter-of-opinion lists as opposed to purely statistic-based, well, that's when it's fun. I mean, we can argue all day who the best baseball hitter EVER was, but there's no way to really debate who has the highest career average.

Anyway, in response to some other recent listmaking, Fuse #8 is asking for suggestions for the Top 25 American Children's Books of the Last 25 Years. You can read her brief rules and then post your ideas, too (as many did in the first, less defined post on the topic).

This not only promises to be fun, but for me (and maybe y'all?) it's also gonna be a good place to pick up some new book ideas, as I'm sure there'll be plenty of titles tossed out that I either don't know or have forgotten about. So check it out and chime in!

Oh, goodie.

Yes, today blogger was giving some of us problems, and I learned a very valuable lesson: I might as well face it, I'm addicted to blog.

This probably comes as no surprise either to people who know me OR to people who blog. And now, of course, that blogger's working, I gotta book. Go figger.

Recent library read-alouds:

Terrific -- Jon Agee
Bark, George -- Jules Feiffer
Knuffle Bunny -- Mo Willems
Leonardo the Terrible Monster -- Mo Willems

A comment on a comment

A see that the post Fibs are Fab has now hit 100 comments as well (joining The Fib and More Fibbery), with the latest comment being a self-referential Fib, no less.

At one point, I had planned to count all the Fibs written on the blog, but it's pretty clear to me that even though I'm a professional crastinator, I will not likely find the time to get a full count. An estimate? Somewhere over 700 but under 1000. And of course, that's just here on this blog. Quite an outpouring, I must say. Fib on!

Fits and starts

I've started a new post to the blog about half a dozen times since the last post. Then I've either run out, gotten busy elsewhere, or decided the post was blah-worthy, not blog-worthy. Then I realized that I'm working on a manuscript and going through the exact same process: starting, stopping, editing, going on tangents... then lather, rinse, repeat.

The great thing about blogging, though, is that a self-referential post is still a post. Writing about this in my manuscript... not so swell.

Regardless, I blame it on June. When I figure out why it's June's fault, I'll let you know.

The first Search Fib

I've seen other folks mention odd searches that have brought people to their blog, so I thought I'd share a couple of ways people have found me. But why not do it in Fib form? But of course! I've included the original punctuation that was with each search, as appropriate. And if anyone knows what, exactly, that last person was searching for, I'm all ears. So, from the last week, I present you with my first "Search Fib." (Now edited for syllabic correctness!)


"Fib"
"Fibs"
"Les Fibs"
"Baseball book"
"Back up or backup?"
And... "the inventor of beer: mop"

Hot.

While we have not been reduced to sitting around in our bones ala the Shel Silverstein poem, it's been mighty hot here in LA this weekend. So I started wondering if there was a "hot day" book that was kinda the equivalent of Ezra Jack Keats "Snowy Day." Not a "my day at the beach" book, mind you, but something with that feeling of joyous exploration/new worldness... but in this case all about excessive heat, sweat glands, and a sun so bright you get burned by even thinking about it. Anyone got one? No? Huh. And here I thought there was a book about everything....

In the meantime, here's a few of the recent library read-alouds:

Ah - Josse Goffin
Say Hey!: A Song of Willie Mays - Peter Mandel. Illus. by Don Tate
Duke Ellington -- Andrea Davis Pinkney. Illus. by Brian Pinkney
Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride - Pam Munuz Ryan. Illus. by Brian Selznick

Tuxedowacky -- A Jabberwocky Parody

Kelly at Big A little a started a Poetry Friday blogging "tradition" not long ago. I haven't been as active a participant as I'd like, as you can see if you look at her previous Friday posts with links to those who joined in the fun. But this morning when I saw that Bookshelves of Doom had gone with Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky for the day, wellllll... I have dusted off a parody of the Jabberwocky I once did and post it as my contribution to Poetry Friday. So with apologies to Mr. Carroll (and to you all for one particular stanza I still don't love!)....


Tuxedowacky
by
Gregory K.

‘Twas bluish with a ruffled shirt,
Did shine and shimmer in the light.
The glare from patent shoes did hurt
All through that special night.

Beware the rented tux, my son!
The pants that make you look rotund.
Beware the large lapels and shun
The overstretched cumberbund.

He took his high school love in hand.
Long time this moment had he sought.
He’d driven far in Mom’s old car,
Now stood awhile in thought.

And as in nervous thought he stood,
The rented tux, with cuffs too wide,
It taunted quite the best it could
And made him go inside.

One, two! One, two! “Okay. You’re through.”
A picture taken at the door.
The day’s now past. The photos last,
Preserving evermore.

And has thou worn the rented tux
With too short arms, my poor, poor boy?
Indeed, it’s true. Bow tie askew --
The pictures bring no joy.

‘Twas bluish with a ruffled shirt,
Did shine and shimmer in the light.
The glare from patent shoes did hurt
All through that special night.



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weltschmerz

I love to learn new words, as I think does every writer. But sometimes, a word is just so perfect. In reading the news about this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee, it turns out that the word that knocked out the second place speller was "weltschmerz." I'd never heard of it, but it means, per the article, "sadness over the evils of the world."

Wow.

Great to have one word that sums that feeling up. Weltschmerz. I'll remember it now... and hope that I never have a need to use it.

My hat is tipped to all the remarkable Spelling Bee spellers... and with that, I'll proofread this for the 3,000,000th time and hope I didn't make any mistakes.

Busy, busy.

The combination of (gasp) work, end of the school-year stuff, and upcoming summer has kept your GottaBook host running around wildly. Today, with hopes of another post later, I bring you a couple links to keep you busy:

MotherReader has more info on her 48 Hour Book Challenge.

Jen Robinson has a great list of Cool Girls from Kid Lit. Folks are still suggesting names, by the way. Great reading list as well.

Don Tate talks about Black males in children's books. Good list and good comments there.

And finally, I'm happy to join other bloggers in welcoming Esme Raji Codell to the blogosphere. Her blog looks like it'll be offering tons of great reading/read-aloud suggestions, so I'm looking forward to following it and finding lots and lots of gems.

More later, but now I gotta book.