He was a skater boy!

First an apology. I recently changed my settings so I'd have to approve every comment. I assumed Blogger would email me to let me know a comment required approval. I was wrong. So, upon logging in today (to write this post), I found many comments awaiting approval! Now they are approved.

Of course, you can imagine how I felt with no comments on my most recent post: unloved, my dear readers. Well, much better now, so thanks to all for the congrats and shoe advice. I decided to go with the classic black-white checker slip-ons, rather than the black and charcoal ones pictured below. By the way, besides my undying love of the canvas sneakers of my youth (Chucks and Vans, that is), I wanted those kicks because a character* in Two Summers wears them. It is an homage--an homage that I can't wear in public because it will embarrass my wife, but an homage just the same.

In other news, School Library Journal and Kirkus have terrible taste. However, Second Star and Guys Lit Wire are wonderful and thrilling in every regard. Please go watch Kellie read some Lily:


And read GLW's thoughtful, in-depth, and fairly long review of |-1|.

*The character in Two Summers is not actually Avril Lavigne, who is in no way associated with this blog, except that once I saw her perform on the Radio City Music Hall sign as she rehearsed for her appearance on the MTV Awards. My then-office was less than a block away.

Sacrifices must be made

First, some news, which you may have already seen in my Twitter stream. The release party and reading for |-1| has been scheduled! It will be at Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis on September 23. This gives you plenty of notice and time to plan, so get those airline tickets bought now if you need them.

The trailer for |-1| will be showing up very soon.

I've let my WoW account expire. This was mainly to make me a more productive writer, just like last time I took a long WoW break, when I finished |-1| and started YA MS the Second. Ironically, though, I plan to use the otherwise wasted time to now finish YA MS the Second, which is about a girl who plays WoW too much! Truly, the mind reels, does it not?*

Also ironically, YA MS the Third is done! Which is to say, it somehow earned agent ENIV's approval last week, and this week he might, ya know, show it to someone else. So that's fun.

Also fun: the last touch it needed required a smidge of research. I went down to the art supply store and rather sheepishly explained I needed some newsprint and vine charcoals. Then I got to do something I haven't done regularly in far too long: draw. I chose a desk lamp, for reasons I won't get into now, and had a great time. This was all so I could better describe the experience of drawing with charcoal on newsprint--the feel of it, the smell, the smudging on the sides of my fingers, et cetera. Anyway, there are like 49 more sheets of newsprint on that pad, and I intend to use them.

*The crying Night Elf above is not my toon, but some random level 13 I chose simply to illustrate a crying Night Elf. If you happen to recognize this toon (called Swan, by the way), perhaps it is yours. If so, I urge you to spend your four talent points. They don't get better if you let them age.

Announcements!

Some big announcements today--relative to recent announcements, anyway. But first, to sum up:

On Saturday, the honorable Kurtis Scaletta alerted me to the fact that local YA author Swati Avasthi was reading at the Loft from her just-released debut SPLIT. I went to the reading. It was fantastic. I'm not far into the book yet, but so far it's superbly and vividly written. Great voice, serious subject matter handled well. I recommend it! Of course, I got my new copy signed by the author while I was there and we chatted a bit. It's nice to live in a town (err, twin town) with such a strong community of writers for young people. In fact, I'm at the Loft right now. My class begins in 90 minutes or so.

What have I been doing down here all afternoon? Well, I've finished my first read-through of YA MS the Second, and it . . . wants for much, let's say. I like it, mind you. I really do. It's even okay in some places where I thought it was utter garbage. But there's this one interesting character in particular who literally vanishes after page like 15, never to return. I ask you: wtf.

Okay, so, on to fun announcements. I'm nearly ready to end the signed ARC contest, but I'm going to give one more chance to enter, and this one will be the biggy--LOTS of chances for entries, such that previous entries will seem like chicken feed, kind of like that bonus round on the Family Feud. Watch for details on that in the next few days.

And finally, BEA! I'll be there, signing on Wednesday late afternoon. But even more exciting is the Carolrhoda LAB big event on Monday night. It's a swanky, invite-only affair, and I'll be (gulp) at the front of the room waxing intellectually with the AE. What, me worry?

The droghte of Marche is totally about to perced to the roote

Gracious, it's the last night of February. Happy March Eve, everyone.

Here's how February went, well known among many as my least favorite month:

1. YA MS the Second and YA MS the Third are done. Caveat: both are drafted. YA MS the Third I considered strong enough to send along to ENIV; I second guess that decision on a frequent and regular basis. YA MS the Second I finished drafting only a few days ago, and I know full well it's not close to submission to the Otters, never mind ENIV.

2. I wrote a short story for my Loft group. I haven't written a short story in years, nor anything not specifically for young readers, teen or younger, so this was a nice departure. In working on it, I've come to feel a lot more comfortable with the revision process, on a nice small scale, than I ever have been before.

3. I saw the nearly final cover of THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF -1! This was, oh, a week ago or so, and I cannot yet show the world. But soon, my pretties. Soon . . .

4. |-1| is also totally on Amazon now! Pre-order!

5. New York pizza is all about home-cooking now, since I learned how to make, stretch, and even hand toss a really good dough. With my homemade tomato sauce and some mozzarella, I can make a pretty passable NY-style pie. Now if I could just get my oven to 800 degrees, we'd be all set.

6. It's March in like five hours and change. Rejoice!

Annivalentarry Day! (with apologies to Lau)

I'm Steve Brezenoff, and here's the news.

YA MS the Second -- that's right, the second, because I left it behind like a year ago to work on YA MS the Third -- is building up steam. Over the weekend, I dropped about 2500 words on its wallowing butt, and the whole plot is synopsized, nearly to my satisfaction. It's certainly enough of a synopsis for me to finally finish a working first draft. Once that's done, I think I'll have a pretty easy time of finding where it needs heavy repairs.

Harry the dog is seven! His birthday was yesterday. Disclaimer: we have no idea what Harry's birthday really is, but based on the vet's estimate when we first adopted him back in 2004, and based on our own romantic tendencies, we chose February 15 as his birthday, it also being the date that we first shared an apartment together, back in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. Holla back!

Valentine's Day! We kept it low-key, as is our way, this year enjoying a late lunch at the Midtown Global Market (have you been, Twin Cities? If not, goodness, go!), and a delicious treat from the Salty Tart and Izzy's for dessert. But the highpoint for me was this gift:

The short version of the story: that date is our wedding date, and that quilt was initially constructed and not finished by Beth as a first-anniversary gift for me. However, things got complicated in our life (I'm looking at you, Samuel!) and the quilt went unfinished for a little while. Totally in secret, Beth managed to get the thing finished while I was in NYC for SCBWI, and voila! Completed anniversary quilt as a Valentine's Day gift! Woo! It's hell of comfy, too.

Resolutions, but not the kind you expect

You'll notice I haven't posted any resolutions this January. I suppose I could--like finishing both my YA WIPs; like cutting my cholesterol and getting back on my bike this spring--but I don't feel like it. So let's just say it's those three things and move on.

Here's a rare Sam update: We got him this little blue chair, still a little big for his modest frame. Still, he uses it well. He pushes it all over the house, then uses it to climb up to places he ought not, like toy chest tops and kitchen counters and dining room tables. So that's fun.

Beth has taken to bakin'. There is fresh bread all the time. It's fantastic.

Today was red-carpet day in children's books, as most of you probably know, and I have a lot of reading to do, for sure. You may recall a mention of one winner here at the Exile some time ago. I loved it then and am happy with the choice, for sure.

But awards day is something else to me too. It's a day I get particularly fired up to do the hard work it takes to write a really good book. Last year, I had just submitted a complete MS to the AE for the first time, and was taking a little break before shooting off to SCBWI in NYC. This year, I haven't submitted anything to anyone in far too long, and I have a week and a half and a couple of write days and nights before SCBWI in NYC. So I plan to take advantage of the ALA-inspired fire in my gut. With that in mind, I'm making not New Year's resolutions, as I mentioned above, but instead, ALA Awards Resolutions:

1. YA MS the Third: this thing has been sitting about twenty feet from the goal line for months, no exaggeration. Plenty of excuses, but no exaggeration. There are a few scenes I know I need to write, but that will also mean lots of revisions to existent scenes that I love and don't want to revisit. That idiocy ends now. The work will get done on Wednesday and Saturday.

2. YA MS the Second: this needs a synopsis. This time last year, I thought I was about to finish it. I had written about 40k in about a month, and was loving every minute of it. Then plot holes and wrong turns reared their ugly heads (as did another book by a brilliant writer also about a girl and her werewolf man), so I put it on the back burner and have only tweaked it slightly over the last year. That idiocy ends now. I will synopsize this beast by the middle of February.

And that's it. Beyond February 15 (happy seventh birthday, Harry!), I'm not making any promises. Sure, there's that middle grade series that I want to rewrite YA, and there's the story of a couple of background characters in |-1| I want to revisit, but I'll probably make a nice set of post-BEA resolutions.

Oh, and I promise to blog more. Natch.

The Secret of Roan Pizza

More excellent pizza!

This time it's on the east side of the Metro, and, though Hiawatha Pizza is certainly closer to home as the crow flies (or the bike rides), getting down there in the car is a huge pain thanks to the clusterfrak that is Lake Street. So, we present Pino's of Woodbury. I won't get into a whole review spiel here, since an excellent review is already up at S4xton. (Photo is from S4xton.) It's spot-on. I think Hiawatha is a little closer to perfect NYC-style slices. It's also a little cheaper and the slices are bigger. However, since Hiawatha does very little business, the product is often a little sitting-aroundy. I also have no confidence that Hiawatha will still be in business a year from now, whereas Pino's seems in good shape.

I'm out for some write time at the moment. Been stepping back and forth between my two most important WIPs (YA MSS the Second and the Third, that is). I'm 99% certain that the first 25 pages of YA MS the Third will be my first submission for crit at the Loft. Thing is, I feel like I'm just teetering on the edge of eureka with both projects. Like, at any moment, the thing that's going to make plots really work and feel organic is just around the corner.

So what am I doing here? Who knows. I'm probably a little afraid to get there.

Beth and I watched The Secret of Roan Inish last night. I still love it. Beth was very against it from the get go. I think the scene in which cousin Tadgh tells Fiona about the family's odd mating history is what got her turning around on the issue. Either that or she just said at the end that she liked it to shut me up and she actually didn't like it. Who knows. Anyway, I very much want to read the book on which it's based, The Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry. Has anyone out there?

MN-SCBWI

First, apologies for downer post on Thursday, particularly to my mother, who apparently cried.

Now then. The Minnesota chapter of SCBWI had its annual conference all day Saturday. Here's how it went down:

I met several people, of whom I remember few names and I thought to give a business card to maybe two of them. Of course I also saw a few people I already knew, such as Tina Lee, local pre-published writer, the AE, and Kurtis Scaletta, fellow Otter.

According to Kurtis, I write "pornography for teens."

Jill Dembowski gave major love to Sara Zarr during her talk on the "Do's" and "Don't's" of publishing. (Kurtis: "I hear she'll blurb anything.")

Mark McVeigh's presentation was highly informative. He's an immensely bright man. Also dapper. Oh, and he said thanks to the AE, Carolrhoda is an imprint he wouldn't hesitate to work with. His words seemed to be intended, in fact, to encourage the conference goers to get excited about another awesome, cutting edge place publishing YA in our hometown (in addition to Flux, of course).

Julie Schumacher, author of Black Box, also presented, on a topic near and dear to my heart: "trauma" lit for teens. I personally think the alleged recent explosion in the subgenre is bunk. Frankly, if we're seeing an explosion in a subgenre of YA, it is in my mind simply because we're seeing such an explosion in YA in general. But who knows. The point is, I was a proofreader on Black Box and it's quite good. Julie Schumacher reminded me of Joey Ramone a little bit, too. You can take that as you will. Anyway, I like her.

Donna Jo Napoli is a delight. She is lively and hilarious and a brilliant writer and critic of prose. One of the highpoints of the conference came after First Pages. As soon-to-be honcho of MN-SCBWI Quinette Cook was wrapping up, Donna Jo called out, "May I say a few things?" Quinette of course called her up, and Donna Jo ran, quite literally, to the mic from the back row. She then offered, rapid fire and from notes, her take on the first pages, with serious and substantial suggestions and criticism. Seriously, I was hell of jealous of the members whose first pages were looked at, because I would love to some real notes from Ms. Napoli (no offense, Otters).

Speaking of Quinette Cook, I hadn't met her before, but I knew her name: it appeared on my missed call Caller ID last week, and is pretty unforgettable. Turns out she was calling me for some last-minute material she might use in one of her intro talks or something, since she'd heard (through the grapevine) that I'd had such a great year thanks in no small part to last year's conference. I was flattered and frankly stunned that someone had sort of heard about me. Hopefully we can work something out so next year I (and other pubbed locals) can be more hands-on in the conference.

Tomorrow morning, Sam begins ECFE. Did I mention the kid took five steps on Friday? Yup. And it's happened a few more times since. I wholly expect he will be up and walking like a pro by the end of this week.

Wednesday night, I begin my first class at the Loft. It's an advanced fiction workshop. Today, I spent a little time with the WIP I'll likely focus on in that class, better known on the Exile as YA MS the Second. I'll tell ya this: the old advice about putting your frustrating WIPs aside, to distance yourself from them, is not to be ignored. When I returned to it this morning, I found slicing whole chunks, scenes, even characters that were taking the story nowhere, to be much easier. I think, with no unforseen problems, I have a chance at finishing this WIP sooner than I thought. Ooh, plus, thanks to Donna Jo Napoli's keynote address, I won't worry as much as I usually do when I find a hole; I'll just keep going. Just finish it. I can fix it later.

Seriously I should have that painted on the wall of my office if I ever get one: Just Finish It. Fix It Later.

And finally, I've spent free minutes here and there over the last few days throwing together a trailer for The Absolute Value of -1. I think, if I can convince Beth to do some narration, that it will be ready to premiere fairly soon.

"Self-destructive"

I have a blog? How 'bout that.

Yup, been gone a week. No good reason for it, frankly.

My last Thursday afternoon for work, with MIL sitting Sam, is today. I'll be working mostly on an SAB title, which is nice. My two most promising WIPs (aka YA MS the Second and YA MS the Third) have been gathering dust, not for lack of time (though I haven't been taking write-nights as religiously as I ought to), but for lack of get-up-and-go. I think writing a quick football title for SAB will help me to feel potent again. Let's hope so, 'cause YA MS the Third is so freakin' promising, and yet I am afraid to approach it.

This has always been a problem for me, and I assume for many writers. I write and write like a house afire, and then, upon reaching some roadblock, stop. YA MS the Second has been wallowing for some time thanks to that issue, and I am afraid YA MS the Third is destined for the same fate. Heck, YA Novel the First wallowed on and off for about twelve years. It took some interest from the AE to really bang it into shape.

This afternoon, I have contractual obligations to attack that SAB title. It's due on Monday, after all. But after this weekend, I'm getting my BIC on, religiously. In fact, here's my vow: YA MS the Third will be agent-ready by Halloween.

Not to put to fine a point on it, but just typing that sentence gave me a small anxiety attack.

Id est

I didn't realize it had been five days since the last post.

As I think I mentioned, Saturday (i.e., two days ago) was WYAODII for me, and it happily coincided with a Tenners weekend event, known through the Twitterverse as #ChapterChallenge. All in all, though I didn't follow the oh-so-strict guidelines as establish by Trish Doller and Josh Berk (i.e., write one chapter per day, Friday to Monday), I did manage to write on Friday, Saturday, and a little bit today over 5000 words, in a total of four chapters and change, most of which, even in the cold light of the morning, seem pretty good. This is for YA MS the Second, naturally, which you will recall enjoyed a Eureka! moment over lunch with Beth last weekend.

The rest of the weekend was spent grilling with friends, of course, and going on many, many walks, including two good ones today alone. I even got out on the bike for a short while today with no place special to go.

In other news, holy crap Sam is pulling himself into a standing position. I'm glad I got a lot of writing done this weekend, because it may have been my last chance for a long while.

BEA is this week. I remain jealous of those attending.

The "check engine" light came on in my car this weekend, too, and, having exhausted my own know-how in car maintenance (i.e., I checked the oil level; it was A-OK), I'm going to have to bring the ol' Camry in to Midas this week. Hopefully, the student art show is still showing at Harmar Mall!

Metallic Pea!

Productive weekend!

So, WYAOD proved very helpful for YA MS the Second. Although I spent a good number of hours outlining before my lunch with Beth and Sam, much of the work I did was tossed after lunch. "Then why was WYAOD helpful?" you're no doubt asking. Well, over lunch, Beth and I did some brainstorming about plot problems with the then-outline, and the solutions we came to were superb! So, the few hours I continued working after lunch were spent salvaging certain existent scenes, removing others, and sketching out a new outline that actually covers the full plot arc of the novel! This is a first for this MS. This coming Saturday will be WYAOD2 for me. I am very excited now.

Well, that was Saturday. Sunday was all about laundry, farmer's market, dog baths, fancy grilled suppers, lawn-mowings, and the like. When it came time to hit the sack last night, I was out in an instant. Felt good!

Unfortunately, this weekend's productivity on the personal side meant no paid work got done. So Eric Stevens is missing a deadline as we speak. His editor is okay with it, I'm told, so he can play catch up over the next few days.

Finally, started reading Jellicoe Road for class. I like it very much so far, about a third of the way through (it's 400+ pages). I am wondering if I would like it more than I do, even, if not for all the reviews I've read that have praised it up and down the mountainside. Also, I constantly have in my head "Jellicoe Roooooaaaaad" sung to the tune of "Holiday Road" from Vacation, with Chevy Chase.

Bonus features

It's fairly early on Saturday. The curtains and blinds are still down, since the rest of my family is still asleep. The house is ours once again, and it's very quickly becoming slightly messy. I should nip that in the bud.

I want to get back to work on YA MS the Second. There's been some "soft writing" going on (a term I learned from the awesomely named Alex Steele, a honcho at GWW, not to mention a playwright and author), and I have some ideas on how to solve various plot malfunctions. But it means scrapping so, so much. It pains me. It always pains me to scrap so, so much, especially when I think the main character is so freakin' hilarious.

Can we start a trend, like DVDs, of having deleted scenes at the end of a book? Bonus material: Jessamine can't sleep!

Still, I really should get back to work on it. Hopefully some time today I can sneak away for a couple of hours or even up to the attic office. I should at least outline this beast in earnest so there's hope of real progress.

Is it possible that I get worse at Bejeweled Blitz the more I play it? Did I mention I turn thirty-five next week?

The Truth about Naps

My apologies for another string of silent days here at the Exile. Here's what's new:

I read Sara Zarr's latest, Sweethearts, and while it didn't have quite the same effect on me that Story of a Girl did, it was of course great. She humbles me at every turn of the page; I maintain the slightest hope that she will stoop to blurbing YA Novel the First.

Authors Now!, class of 2010, has graciously accepted my membership. Not sure when my profile will be added to the site, but I'll check occasionally and keep y'all posted. (Not that anything terribly thrilling will be on my profile.) So far, both debut-author-promo groups I've joined have been hella understanding about my previous pubbed work, and therefore nice and loose with their definition of "debut."

I went and joined a crit group via MeetUp.com! It's a weekly group, which is so much more frequent than most I've heard about. Also, it's not strictly children's, which is fine with me. The folks I've met so far haven't been the slightest bit dismissive of YA as a veritable genre of literature, and in fact enjoyed the first chapter of YA MS the Second quite a lot. In many ways, I think YA is as suited with a group of writers of adult lit as it is with a group of writers of children's, especially picture book or chapter book writers, or more so.

Anyway, last night was my first meeting with the group. Only five of us discussed long-form stuff, which was nice, since everyone who submitted material got a good amount of crit in the two hours we spent around the table. At one point, the group leader suggested I go last, because that way I'd be "dessert." I assumed that was a bad thing, like, they were going to eat my piece last, like a drooling cave monster might save the tastiest adventurer to really savor the kill. Of course, you realize I had that wrong, because you, unlike me, are not a crazy person. In fact, "dessert" simply meant "treat," because everyone really liked the chapter I supplied. (I confessed to them that while, yes, I'm confident with my characterization, it's my plot arcs that typically need help. They should stay tuned for the trainwreck that is the continuing YA MS the Second.)

I feel like I probably digressed.

In other news, Sam has one tooth, now visible, as reported by Beth a few days ago. This means his eight-month-long freedom from brushing his teeth before bed has ended. Each night, for the rest of his life, he will have to brush before bed. For now, Beth will do it for him most nights, naturally, but there's no turning back now.

I guess he needs a second tooth before he can floss. So that's something.

Today we're cleaning the house to prepare for the arrival of Beth's mother-in-law, which is a roundabout way of saying "my mom." She arrives Friday afternoon. And you know what that means: live-in babysitter!

Naps seem much longer when you're not taking one.

(That's a lot of text. I better find some images to put in here so your eyes aren't bleeding before you reach the end.)

Dreamland

Two days in a row! Now we're talkin'.

Sam and I just returned from an hour long walk, all across Midway and back, essentially. It is nearly the perfect temperature out there, in my humble opinion (I wrote it out!), and the cool breeze is even nice if one has a brisk pace and needs some air on one's neck now and then.

Christy Raedeke asks on her blog today about ideas for books coming in dreams. My bio with Stone Arch Books highlights my tendency to get ideas in my sleep, and of course MG Book was so inspired. In fact, that book came up in dreamland several more times, leading to additional scenes and so many great concepts that MG Book is now MG Trilogy, woefully unfinished.

Beth will no doubt recall the night, back in 2004, I think, that I jumped up from the bed and ran to my computer. I'd been inspired in dream to write an adult piece of fiction, one that I still believe has a lot of promise. If I ever really feel like working very, very, very hard on a very, very complicated literary novel, I'll return to it. If I can find it! Uh oh. Anyway, in future, it's LF MS.

My point, though, if I have one, is that I haven't had a really excellent dream inspiration in too, too long, and I think I can safely blame the fact that I'm just not sleeping as well as I used to.

They say parents should expect to remain exhausted for the first twelve months of their baby's life, and that the overwhelming tiredness begins to fade (who knows how quickly?) thereafter. If that's true, maybe I'll be able to rely on dreams for inspiration again someday.

Meanwhile, I better get back to work on YA MS the Second. And Eric Stevens' next project. Oh, and maybe some Mad Libs. And the next FTM. And . . .

Answers!

I am taking this opportunity to answer some of the questions posed by me, myself, yesterday.

So.

1. Not much more, I don't think. Today he only put up with a few spoonfuls before growing tired of it and refusing to open his mouth again.
2. Yes! I just did. Pretty thrilled about it.
3. Some reading is due. The speaker canceled, too, which means we'll be working in small groups. Groan. Some people know how I feel about working in groups: not entirely good.
4. Holy crap, so far six slices of toast, and considering it's only Tuesday, I'm doing fairly well, I think. Almost through the first jar of jam, too. Or jelly. I can never remember which is which.
5. Since #2 has been answered, and since I mentioned YA MS the Second on the phone with the receptive agent in question, I suppose I better get on that in full. That will be my Thursday evening, I expect.
6. Today it has a little. So yay for that!

In other news, I am now in my third week of obsession with Squeeze's "Vicky Verky." If there is a better, more positive, more optimistic song about abortion, I haven't heard it yet. (I bit that line very slightly from a very old friend, and I don't think he'll mind.) Anyway, I have been thinking about writing a novel based on that one song. That's how rich Glenn Tilbrook's characters often are. I'm sure the urge will pass.

Or maybe "Separate Beds." That's such a YA too. Not quite the oomph, though, that "VV" has.

Magnet Space Wheel

Folding laundry at the moment, wondering if and when Sam, Beth, and Harry will decide to climb out of bed. In their defense, they were all three up earlier this morning, for anywhere from a couple of hours to twenty minutes--it varies from individual to individual--and then returned to bed. Still, it's after ten and I'm feeling restless.

I have this weird urge to get out on my bike this morning, despite the slush and ice. Fact is, it's been so long so I took the thing out, I bet it needs a little tuning before it could even go anywhere. I'd probably make it to the garage before saying, "Ah, screw it," and coming back inside.

I haven't gotten a productive thing done in the last two days or so. The other night I started a read-through of YA MS the Second, and still love a lot of it. There are some seriously excellent scenes, not to break my arm patting my own back or anything. Of course, quite a bit is complete garbage, but I'm glad I wrote those bits too, since they all taught me a bit more about central characters. I've sketched out a few new scene ideas, which is something I've always done with fiction and until recently considered a bad habit; this writing in scenes thing seemed to always get me into trouble when it came to really tightening up the plot. But if Richard Peck says he does it that way, then hell, I can too.

I bought one of these yesterday, ostensibly for Sam, but I love it. I mean, he enjoys watching the wheely thing roll around, but it's for me. I'll let him play with it when he's older. Maybe. If he's good. Oh, and saying I "bought" it isn't entirely true either. It was for sale at the World Market closing sale last night, but as it didn't have a price tag or bar code or even any packaging, I wasn't charged for it. So I guess you could say I didn't buy it. I simply took it. Or was given it.

On the Island

In New York now, and updating my blog from the seat at the kitchen table I sat in as a child every night for dinner. Unfortunately, there is not a bowl of macaroni and cheese in front of me as there might have been during many of those years.

The flight was kind of a mess. First off, due to all the east coast weather yesterday morning, residual delays meant our 5:20 flight took off at around a quarter to eight. Not typically a problem, but we were flying into Newark, rather than Queens, which means a much longer drive home. We ended up landing at 11 pm, which had my poor aging mother schlepping to Jersey in the dead of night on unfamiliar roads. And of course it had me, after this insanely long day, driving from Newark on unfamiliar roads back to Long Island. Needless to say, I fell asleep pretty quickly. Sam and Beth are napping even as we speak.

Readkiddoread.com is up, from James Patterson, and I like it. But it doesn't have a section for kids who struggle with reading but don't want to be left with books written at kids younger than them. In other words, it needs some high-low and high interest: Jake Maddox style!

Anyway, we're off in an hour or so to our local kosher-style deli. Very excited.

Oh, and on the YA MS the First front, editor reports riveted, but that was Friday. I am expecting something more soon, and am appropriately excited. I have done essentially no work in almost a week now, with the exception of updating my resume and WIPs for the conference, mainly by adding yet another several sports/Maddox books and a little blurb about YA MS the Second. I need to edit it, however; it doesn't touch as heavily on the fantasy/supernatural aspects as I'd like it too. Here is the blurb! You can tell me what you think:

A Terrible Mistake
Jessamine Parson’s mother died in childbirth, and on the same day her grandmother was found dead and clutching a mysterious note: “There’s been a terrible mistake.” Nearly eighteen years later, Jessa is a foul-mouthed, socially inept, and extremely reluctant college freshman. She plans to spend as little time as possible living a typical college life, preferring to game away the hours in a violent and magical online world. But Jessa’s real-world college experience turns out to be more amazing—and dangerous—than the one she leads online.

Within days of starting her college career, Jessamine is already attracting more attention than she wants: Rope, the wiry resident assistant, seems to be around whenever Jessa needs help; Thomas Priestly, Jessa’s anthropology professor, makes an unexpected appearance in game; and fellow freshman Henry is having the strongest effect on Jessa of all—it’s something in his eyes.

WARNING: This book does NOT contain vampires.

I hope I can find a wifi signal at the conference.

Stay on target. . . .

I skipped another day. I shouldn't be playing this fast and loose with a resolution (5/week, remember?) so early in the year.

The fact is, with YA MS the First done, I've been keeping away from the blog, I suppose. But that's a folly. So here's a small update:

1. I submitted the latest, longer draft of YA MS the First to aforementioned editor. When I first submitted this MS (albeit a much shorter version), he read it in one night. I don't hold any such hopes, but still, waiting blows so much.
2. Second meeting of my only class for this semester was last night. I'm not finding it to be very valuable as far as my education education (intentional double) goes, but I am learning a little about the Indigenous nations of North America.
3. The vacation in Azeroth is not the thrill I thought it would be. I don't think I will have any trouble making it only a vacation and giving up the game once again at the end of the 30 days.
4. I've decided while I wait to hear about YA MS the First, I'll get back to work on YA MS the Second. My plan is to make a very firm, strong outline to finish out the title, and to not shrink from the long road ahead. I intended this to be in two parts when I first conceived of it, but upon reflection, that felt daunting. I say daunting it shall be, then! And I will make it happen anyway.

All right, I suppose that's all I've got. I haven't mentioned Sam, but know this: he is right next to me, asleep. He snores a little sometimes.

The Morning After

Groan

Woke up late* on New Year's Day. I guess, if you stay up past your bedtime**, that'll happen. I staggered into the kitchen and sighed; who likes cleaning up after a wild New Year's Eve***? Nobody, that's who. Empty cans**** everywhere, food debris***** . . . all manner of mess to deal with.

But I push on, because it is a new year, and I am starting on a few of my resolutions right away, including number 3, with this entry, and number 1, for which I will later today head to DBC for a few hours of solid work time, if they are open. [ETA: They were not.]

I have not yet begun work on resolution number 9, and instead made crepes for breakfast at Beth's request. They came out really good, and we ate them standing in the kitchen over the counter like savages--savages with crepes and expensive-looking jellies!

*7:30 am
**9:15 pm
***Punch pizza and in bed by 10:30
****Specifically four empty diet caffeine-free sodas
*****The remainders of a nice mesclun and prosciutto salad with pine nuts. It was quite nice.

Resolute

I have never done this before, but what the hey.

RESOLUTIONS!

1. Finish both my YA manuscripts!

2. Finish at least one of the titles in my middle-grade trilogy.

3. Blog five times per week.

4. Cover the windows over the couch in plastic. Soon.

5. Teach Sam to talk, walk, and eat solid foods.

6. Eliminate caffeine entirely. That is, from my diet, not the world in general.

7. Get an agent!

8. Stop buying coffees everywhere. Even decafs.

9. Get that pesky old cholesterol down where it belongs.

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.

Happy New Year!