We're baaaaack

Home!

This was a good vacation, almost entirely, which is a pretty good score.

There was my first visit to BEA, and as a signing author no less. There was the Great Pizza Tour of 2010 (more on that in a bit). There were several books read, which when you consider my reading speed is really great. There was a visit to old friends at S&S. And there was the tummy flu -- which is less fun, but no vacation is perfect.

First up, the books. As mentioned previously, I finally read The Freak Observer. Powerful stuff. I also picked up another Carolrhoda ARC, this time for a middle-grade called I, Emma Freke. So good! I don't read as much middle-grade as I used to or as I'd like to, but I found this book positively enchanting. If the gorgeous cover sets the bar pretty high, the book itself is right there with it.

And speaking of high bars, Angela Johnson, I am sorry for not reading you sooner. I picked up an ARC of Sweet, Hereafter (the book came out in January of this year, so I don't know why an ARC is floating around, but anyway), and my mind was blown. What this woman accomplishes in under 140 pages is astounding. Gut-wrenchingly astounding. Heart-breakingly astounding. I have an ouevre to purchase and devour, I think.

Okay, so. The pizza tour. The first thing I ate when I arrived in Manhattan last week was a slice and a sicilian slice at a random joint on 9th Avenue, called appropriately enough 9th Avenue Pizza. The plain slice was good. The sicilian was about 30 minutes past its prime. A photo I sent to facebook:

Of course if you know me at all, you know that was only the beginning. There was also the requisite trip -- okay, two trips -- to Eddie's. But friends, this visit to NY set a new standard. My accomplices and I began dinner at Motorino, the new-ish VPN joint housed in the space that once belonged to Una Pizza Napoletana (probably where I had the best VPN pie of my life). It was great. Better than Punch? Hard to say -- at least for the margherita pie. But the special we got -- a white pie with brussell sprouts and pancetta -- was amazing. Probably the shining star of the evening.

From Motorino, we headed west to Keste. Here's a photo:

Keste was good, but I think not as good as Motorino nor as good as Punch. The cheese on the margherita, while touted as buffalo and might have been, felt undercooked and slightly rubbery. It didn't have that wet ooziness that Motorino's pies had so well.

Finally, we stopped quickly at Joe's on 6th Avenue, just around the corner, for what is the best good old NYC slice in town. When people say NY-style, this is what they mean, and what none of them can do quite as well.

So there ya have it! Our trip to NYC in a nut shell. Now I have loads of laundry to do, mail to go through, groceries to buy, and this pesky tummy flu to wrangle.

Party down.

Today is my birthday. I am no longer a member of the coveted 18- to 35-year-old male demographic. So leave me alone, advertisers and survey takers!

To celebrate, thus far I have biked for about an hour, enjoyed a margherita pizza with spiced salami and arugula (my new favorite pizza topping) from Punch, and have now settled in at Caribou with an iced mocha and nothing but time. (Shout out to MIL for babysitting today so I can take my traditional "computer on my back, hop on the bike, and see where the day takes me" birthday.)

Gifts: Beth and Sam gave me their excellent gifts last night. From Sam, a combo DVD/VHS player. Sounds weird, I know. The gift from the nineties! But keep in mind that I have a huge collection of VHS tapes up in the attic -- including the last VHS release of the original Star Wars trilogy before Georgie added crap -- that I haven't been able to watch in years. So now I will. And I will make Beth watch the original Star Wars trilogy! WHICH SHE HAS NEVER SEEN.

From Beth, two months of WoW time. Shut up.

'Tis a silly place

Here's what new:

Sam is feeling quite a bit better. Beth and I, however, are feeling quite a bit worse. I sound like Tom Waits after a bender.

My new website, you may have seen on Twitter or Facebook, is now live. Please do visit it and send me comments and such at stevebrezenoff.com.

In the last few days I've watched all of season one of Merlin, a BBC series showing in the U.S. on Syfy, and also available on Netflix Watch Instantly. However, there are no eps available beyond season one, and season two is (I think) nearly over on TV.

UPDATE: I'm told season two IS available online. Many thanks to AOB!

Listen, the point is this: I had forgotten how much I can geek out over a TV show. Many of you think that's ridiculous, I'm sure, and you're right. I mean, come on. But more importantly, and more fun, I'd forgotten how much I can geek out over Arthurian legend! I love this stuff, my friend, even (maybe especially) new, unorthodox interpretations of Arthurian legend.

The further point is, get a load of this short Twitter conversation:



In a fit of awesomeness, not only did R.J. Anderson know what in the hell I was talking about, but she is also the newest among the ranks of Carolrhoda Lab authors! We are good company.

So, I'll look forward to seeing season two, and soon three, and meanwhile I'll go read Mordred's Curse again.

Big, cold week

It's super cold out again. We had a mini-March of sort for the last seven days or so, but as of yesterday, and certainly as of today if my cold toes are to be trusted, January is back, 110%. Let's all put our heads down against the wind and get through it.

That is, as soon as I get back from New York. I'll grant you, New York isn't much of a respite from winter blues, but it's a little one, if your winter blues are Minnesotan -- especially if while in New York you get to go to the SCBWI Annual Conference! Which of course I do. I'm extra excited (and nervous) this year because I get to meet my inimitable agent, ENIV, and hopefully a handful of Tenners, of which I've met exactly none, at least in person. Online we are not counting for these purposes. Or porpoises. I have a cold and feel very foggy in the head, but I'm sure I mean "purposes" or "porpoises."

I like dolphins.

Yesterday morning, I finally decided to send a finished draft of YA MS the Third to ENIV. I know it's not perfect, so yesterday's decision was about letting it not be perfect, after lying awake night and night and anguishing over every paragraph and plot decision for the past several months. I think it's good. I think it still could use some work, but let's remember that agents and editors (if this book ends up seeing any) are very helpful people when it comes to creating a book. Now, I will look forward to hearing from ENIV and his thoughts on what I've written.

Is it okay to say I know a lot of it is really good?

Now, back to life. Everyone here is sick with a cold; Sam probably picked it up at the Rosedale Mall play area late last week, and has been good enough to share it with myself and my wife since then, by all manner of coughing and sneezing on our faces.

"I drink with DAMN, I'M DEAD!"

This has been a tough week, and it ain't over yet.

For a lot of you, it's probably pretty much over. Friday afternoon, everything winding down. Go home, have a nice cup of tea or a glass of wine or a bottle of beer, enjoy your weekend. For me, it won't really end until I finish my homework for class tomorrow morning, get through class tomorrow morning, and then wait for Eric Stevens to finish his assignment, too, due Monday.

But those little items aren't stressing me out like they normally would on a Friday afternoon. Nope. Compared to the last five days, those are a cake walk, because on Sunday night (shortly after posting my last entry, actually), I spilled an entire cup of tea -- piping hot and with milk and sugar -- into the keyboard of my laptop.

I didn't sleep well that night, wondering if the innards would dry, if the hard drive would survive, if all the writing I'd done in the last two years would be lost!

Well, not two years. I mean, I have backed up now and then. But plenty of work that I really, really loved, including the latest complete draft of YA MS the Third . . .

Beth did some quick research, and I removed the hard drive and whatever else I could safely unbolt from the underside, then opened the laptop and laid it on a towel, per some instructions on the web. Then, I proceeded to not sleep at all.

At 3:30 in the morning, I got up, thinking maybe the thing was dry now, and got it put together and plugged in and pressed the power button. The Dell start-up screen appeared! The little loading bar got longer and longer! It's working, it's working!

Then nothing. A flash of light and blackness. Total. System. Failure.

I blacked out.

The next thing I remember is waking up under the dining room table with a pot on my head.

Not really. But at 7:59 that morning, Sam and I were at the local computer repair shop. They laughed at me, then pantsed me, then laughed again. Then they said, "We'll call you to tell you it's beyond hope in three days."

Or it would have been, if the hard drive hadn't been spared by some miracle. The thing was bone dry. The folks at the repair shop removed the hard drive, encased it in adamantium (I assume), and turned it into an external drive. All my files -- WIPs, invoices, photos and videos of Sam, completed work -- are safe.

Of course, the motherboard on the old laptop is shot. The thing is beyond repair. So I've gone ahead and bought a new laptop. The amazing thing is that it's a better, faster laptop than my old one, and cost me like 300 bucks less. So that's nice.

And hey, tax write-off!

Going back east, sans laptop

I am saddened, for two reasons:

1. I lost a follower on this blog! I'm back down to 30. Sadness. I think I get a few followers here who aren't terribly interested in anything I have to say but are merely hoping I'll follow them back. I get a tremendous number of such followers on Twitter, too. Oh well. Good riddance, I suppose.

2. My laptop--aka, the most important inanimate object in my life--is in dire need of repair. The display simply doesn't work, 9 out of 10 times I try to start it up. And that 10th time, it usually goes black after a few minutes. The thing is still on warranty, so I'll have to ship it out to Dell and wait for it to return to me.

I am cheered, as well, though. For beginning Tuesday of next week, my family will spend a week in New York! This is great for all the usual reasons (i.e., food), but also because we will finally meet Sam's cousin Jaden, born to my brother and his wife in California way back in December!

With any luck at all, my laptop will be back in my possession shortly after we return home in early July. Then I can get cracking on YA MS the Third, which I am re-excited about after a long discussion with my agent yesterday. Oh, and YA Novel the First? I have to write the two tiniest little passages you ever heard of, which I'll probably do this weekend on Beth's laptop (using it right now!), and then I do believe the editing portion of our show will be over. Woo! Then it's final title, cover ideas . . . I can't stand it.

Oh, and speaking of early July, here is a public service announcement: Please, if you live near a family with a dog, don't shoot off firecrackers or fireworks. Thank you. Oh, also if you have fingers.

Stand, fall, sleep, write, go broke

My goodness, I've gone clear from Monday to Friday without updating. For shame! In truth, I've been a busy guy this week. For starters, as I think I mentioned, Sam is standing with the help of anything he can find. That means he is also falling. That means I spend most of my time following him around the house, wondering what he will use to pull himself up. Some options include the couch, a toy drum, the step stool in the kitchen, an empty coffee can, the laundry basket, and my lap*.



Also, since Eric Stevens was so late with his last job, I had to make up for his lazy ass by getting my latest job in early, specifically today. I've also sent in one spec sample for some new work-for-hire stuff (I'll have to let Eric Stevens and Deirdre Black fight it out to see who gets that job--if the samples are enjoyed, that is), and been working a bit on YA MS the Second.

NEWSFLASH! Just this morning, a new addition to my repertoire of silly nicknames: YA MS the Third! It came to me in the last couple of days, and, as I lay awake in bed this morning from 2 to 3:30, I wrote the first page or so in my head. Upon crawling out of bed at a little before 6 (thank you, Misters Sam and Goddamn Cardinal in the Lilac Bush Outside Our Bedroom Window), I typed it out, mostly as I had planned, I think, and it came to three pages. Clearly not an auspicious, mindblowing start to a new project. But it does feel right, and frankly brilliant, so although it can't get my attention right away, keep your eyes peeled for more on YA MS the Third.

And finally, the engine light. $2100 later, the light is now off. I made the guy behind the counter promise to give Sam a job when he turns sixteen so he can pay for his own college tuition. Zing!

*The video title was not my idea, but Beth's, so don't think I'm judging my wife because Sam fell. Babies fall; Sam is a baby. Ergo, not the worst mother by any measure.

35 is alive.

Today is my thirty-fifth birthday, or so they tell me. I don't remember my birthday, after all; I was just a little baby at the time.

Speaking of birthdays, or more to the point, cakes, this was yesterday's Laugh-Out-Loud Cats, #1133.

There won't be much in the way of celebrating today. I'll be hanging with Sam, as usual, and I'll probably get some pizza for lunch. Then this evening is my first class of the summer semester. I'm pleased about that. The meals (which is how I celebrate birthdays) begin tomorrow night. We're going to try Luci Ancora. I'm pleased about that, as well. And on Saturday, I plan to take part in Write Your Ass Off Day, even though I can't physically join the gang gathering in New York City.

Today seems like as good a day as any to review my New Year's Resolutions. I think I'm not doing so well. Here's the list:

1. Finish both my YA manuscripts! -- Well, I finished the first one, and hell, even sold it. So not too bad. The second is still a WIP, but I have quite a ways to go in 2009 so far.

2. Finish at least one of the titles in my middle-grade trilogy. -- This seems less likely to happen this calendar year. I was a bit naive about just how much time being a dad would take up every day.

3. Blog five times per week. -- Epic fail. But the spirit of this resolution (to not let the Exile fester, unused) I think has been fulfilled.

4. Cover the windows over the couch in plastic. Soon. -- Another fail, but now that it's spring, I don't suppose it matters.

5. Teach Sam to talk, walk, and eat solid foods. -- Solid foods are done. The other two, we continue our efforts.

6. Eliminate caffeine entirely. That is, from my diet, not the world in general. -- DONE! In fact, I often go days with no caffeine at all. Granted, I occasionally have a Mountain Dew. I'm only human. But I no longer suffer headaches if I skip my coffee, which I usually skip.

7. Get an agent! -- DONE!!

8. Stop buying coffees everywhere. Even decafs. -- Well . . . I do buy quite a few decafs still. I'll work on this.

9. Get that pesky old cholesterol down where it belongs. -- Hm. Another epic fail. 2009 thus far has been the year of the hamburger, I'm afraid.

And, if I can do all that stuff, one final resolution:

10. Get my druid to level 80. What?! Not, like, next week, but eventually. Jeez. -- Ha! Done. I think I had this one finished second, after finishing YA MS the First.