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.

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!

He's all muscle under that shaggy hair

It just occurred to me that I haven't updated the Exile with my feelings on Jellicoe Road. I did write a full review* for my class, but here I'll just say this: upon closing the book, I turned to Beth and said, "That was the best book of all time."

Now, yes. I do tend to speak in superlatives. But obviously I loved it, and am fully onboard with the hype, as I proceeded to Twitter, as well.

In other news:

1. Harry got his summer short do, and looks like a completely different dog. (Less like Eddie, and more like Wishbone, that is.)

2. To the right, you will see I've added a little glossary of acronyms I use on this blog frequently, at Roo's request. If any come up that I've forgotten, do let me know. I think it looks a bit skimpy as is.

*The ongoing assignment in this class is a Mock Printz Award Nomination thing, for which I will be reading 10+ YA titles and either nominating or rejecting each for the award. I'm a little concerned about this, since I don't want to make a habit of "rejecting" any of my fellow YA authors' works. Diplomacy will be of the utmost, I suppose. I'll probably make an effort to only read greats, so that even if they get a rejection (I can't nominate everyone, after all), I'll have lots of nice things to say.

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.

"**" = "ss"

I chose the windiest, coldest day in the history of the month of May to get back on my bike. It wasn't too bad, though, and down here to the Longfellow DBC from home ain't that far a ride, to be honest.

What am I doing down here, you ask? Well, today is Write Your A** Off Day, so I'm working on YA MS the Second with gusto -- more gusto, in fact, than I have had for this project since that seven-day explosion back in December, during which I banged out about 35,000 words. Many of those words were very good, but many were directionless and tangenty, so now I'm doing some nuts and bolt work: outlining. I hate outlining. Have I ever mentioned that? I hate outlining.

Anyway, in about two minutes Beth and Sam are going to show up to join me for my lunch break at Longfellow Grill. Then I'll get back to work.

Oh, almost forgot. My one-day-late birthday supper was last night, at Luci Ancora. So good. Our appetizer was these croutons with gruyere and bacon with a balsamic reduction. Amazing. My Caeser salad was insanely garlicky, but very, very good. And my entree -- spaghetti with white wine sauce and mussels, was nearly perfect. For dessert, one of my favorites: flourless chocolate cake. So yeah. Recommended. Expensive, but recommended.

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.

Down with the sickness? No. Not down at all.

I've got a wicked cold. It seems a bit better today than yesterday.

Sam's got a wicked cold. It seems about ten times worse today than yesterday.

Sam had a load of trouble sleeping through the night. Babies shouldn't take Nyquil, you see. For that reason, I had slight trouble sleeping through the night, but the Nyquil I was allowed to take helped. Beth, on the other hand, was up for too long, too many times, soothing a sick baby. And also soothing Sam. Ha! Kidding. But in truth, my extra-loud-because-of-my-stuffed-nose-and-Nyquil snoring definitely didn't make Beth's night any easier.

Here's the point: I can't get a thing done. Well, I did get a load of laundry done, but I do laundry in my sleep nowadays. I mean writing. I'm not getting any writing done. I have YA MS the Second to work on, plus the next FTM, which is due Friday. I've got a write-night scheduled for tonight, so hopefully I will (A) actually use it, and (B) get something done.

My first class of the summer semester is Thursday, which is also ps my birthday.

You know, if this weren't Tuesday morning, I'd totally head to Azeroth right now. For real.

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?

Day in photos

Today was a rough day down at S&S Children's, my former home away from home. I miss those guys, and my heart goes out to all of them. Those of you who know me know that I don't drop platitudes like that without meaning them.

So, in the hopes of dropping a little happiness, I'll post a few nice photos from our day--the last day with Mom in town.

We went to the zoo at Como Park this morning. Though many of the animals are still being kept inside most of the time, it was a good time. That "walking carpet" is a sloth. Didn't move at all. And this orangutan (I think?) got a kick out of walking back and forth in front of the glass, saying hello to all the students from a high school field trip. And Sam got his first-ever ride on a carousel. I do believe he had fun. Though from the pics, maybe not as much fun as his mom and grandma did!

Later, Beth's folks were over for that early Mom's Day celebration. After the guests had left, and we'd cleaned up the dinner debris (big shout-out to my mom for doing dishes duty her whole visit--holla!), Beth spotted a rare double rainbow. It was a sight to see.

So that's our day in photos. Mom is New York-bound tomorrow afternoon.

"And who should I make it out to?"

(Or is that "Out to whom should I make it?"?)

I'm going to try to write an entry, even though Sam is not currently napping. He seems pretty focused on the rug in the hallway.

Big day! I had my first-ever book signing! It was at the International Reading Association north convention in Minneapolis, at booth 1526, to be specific. I must have signed about forty or fifty books. Maybe? I'm not sure; should have kept track. It was pretty thrilling, though. Now, I'm no fool. I know full well that most if not all of the people I signed for today were responding to the big "FREE" on my placard. Still, it was really flattering. Most visitors (librarians and teachers, most of them) were genuinely glad to meet me and have me sign their free book. One teacher said her ELL students had read Mummy at Midnight already, and had liked it a lot. AND one librarian said her boys love the Jake Maddox books. Eric Stevens will be so proud when I tell him. By the way, of the two available books, I Dare You! was the more popular choice by far. We ran out of stock. I think people are looking for "boy" books, and the male narrator and spooky cover fit the bill.

In other news, Beth's mother-in-law is still town, living in the attic. She and Sam get along like a house afire. Tonight, she will babysit so Beth and I can go out for supper. We're thinking Tanpopo. And tomorrow afternoon, in celebration of Mother's Day a little early, we're having Beth's family (or some of it) over for a cookout! Turkey burgers! Turgers! And one veggie burger.

It's all about moi.

Just a quick note: The wonderful Christy Raedeke, fellow Tenner, has posted an interview of me on her blog! Go there now and read it.

A short break

I just noticed my last post was my 100th on this blog. Oh well. Pretend there was fanfare.

Sam is napping at the moment, so I should be scrambling to get some words down on a freelance job for the SAB. But the next scene I have to write will be of a dejected teen covering up his fear of failure in front of his parents, and it seems like it might be fairly trying, so I'm taking a short break while I decide if this should include just Dad, Mom and Dad, or just Mom.

I have a tendency to create characters with only one parent. In YA Novel the First, actually, all three MCs have two parents, but the constant threat is "Yes, but for how long?" I've heard the theory as to why this--that is, absent parents--is a frequent theme in children's lit: to do with ensuring that the protagonist is independent. Pragmatically, too, a story isn't bogged down by niceties like what is being made for supper, and who's making it, and what these people do for a living and what cars they drive, if they do, et cetera. Still, I feel the need to buck the trend to some degree. I'm a trend bucker.

No I'm not. But "trend bucker" sounds neat.

Actually, in YA MS the Second, we've got a missing parent, haven't we? Yes.

In other news, the longest semester has finally ended. My only class's last meeting was last night, and I think I even passed. The next class begins two weeks from tonight, and I can't wait for it: Adolescent Literatures. Can you stand it? I can't. Is it wrong, by the way, that I am sort of looking forward to the first class (on my birthday, p.s.), when during introductions I can say I'm a YA author? I predict a spit-take. I should remember to buy coffees* for everyone to be sure it happens.

Mom arrives tomorrow afternoon. I plan to make appointments to take Harry to the vet and my car to the shop while the live-in babysitter is in town.

*I tried for quite a while (too long) to find a photo of Julia Louis-Dreyfus doing the spit-take from that '80s SNL skit in which she was a talk-show host a little too fond of coffee and feigned surprise. Couldn't find one. So this photo had to do. No idea what it's from.

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.)

Free Tree

Today is Earth Day. To celebrate, if I go to the grocery store, I will bring my own bags. As usual. And if I finish a gallon of milk today, I'll recycle the empty bottle. As usual. Oh, and also in two days at McDonaldses in Minnesota, they'll give you a free tree for Arbor Day. I swear. It was in the Strib.

Sam won't take his nap and he's making me mental.

I finally finished this paper for class. One of two papers due. The other is not done, and yet is due tonight. I'm thinking I'll skip class. Truth is, I could use a write-night, as it's been ages since I got any writing done, besides an SAB job or two. (And speaking of, I'm still on the two-per-month schedule for them, which means if I don't get some YA MS the Second work done in the next few days, I'll have missed my window.)

And that's not to mention that this weekend will be almost exclusively dedicated to cleaning up this pig sty we call home. My mom, you see, is coming to visit on May the first. And the place has to be presentable. Even the guest room--which is also my office that I never use--is in complete disarray, mainly thanks to my intricate filing system known as "fling papers around the room while looking for old pay stubs."

Oh! One more exciting thing: I registered for one summer course. It's called Adolescent Literatures, and actually goes toward my teaching license! I hope it will be as fun and awesome as it sounds.

Ah, and one more thing. I've been brainstorming for a way to promote my fellow Tenners here at the Exile, so over the coming weeks, keep your eyes peeled for the occasional special Tenner of the Week thing, or something similar.

Lofty!

It' s just about nine on this Saturday night, and I'm actually getting ready to go out. Beth and Sam won't be coming along, since Stasiu's on a Saturday night is no place for an eight-month-old child, and that's where I'm going to wield a bass.

Today was day one of the Kidlit Conference at the Loft, which is not the official title. First, I hadn't been to the Loft space, or Open Book et al, and it's pretty great. I had no idea there was a coffee shop there, with the wifi and everything, and it's only about a block from the Greenway, the part that runs up the lightrail line near the baseball building, whatever it's called. But the conference. I enjoyed it. Most excellent was the lunch. And I'm not just being typical me by focusing on the food. No no. What was great about lunch was the fact that every conference goer signed up for a table based on which member of the faculty would be the center (or something) of the conversation there. F'rinstance, I chose the Patrick Jones table, and therefore the conversation was focused on YA lit, mostly contemporary and realistic. I think the SCBWI conferences I've been to, both local and national, could take a hint from that idea, rather than just letting people sit at random tables and finding out (as happened to me) that they're stuck with a couple of people there on a lark because they want to write children's television, or a woman who lives with nineteen cats and wants to tell you why each and every one of them should have its own chapter book series. (An exaggeration . . . or is it?!)

Oh, by the way, since the last book-review entry here, I read Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl and Heather Duffy Stone's This Is What I Want to Tell You. Zarr's was fantastic. I didn't want to put it down. The protagonist (who reminded me not a little of my own dear Lily) was perfectly voiced and I loved every minute with her. The opening chapter, which sets up the prot's particular psychological background, is a wicked punch in the gut, and it sticks with you as you read on. Very powerful. Oh, p.s., everyone who reads this has to act as witness that I wrote Lily long before I read this! For serious.

Stone's book is also very strong. The absence of quote marks and the alternating POV could have been pretentious, but it worked. My one complaint about this book was that I never got a chance to breathe. I never felt like these characters had a chance to breathe either. While the pace is nice and urgent because of this, and the character's anguish is very clear, I wanted someone to crack a joke or drop some good sarcasm now and then to let me smile.

Two slices of heaven

I've been away too long, once again.

The biggest news is of course that it's finally spring around here. Temps should be in the 60s all week, and Beth tells me there's some hope for 70s. Which I think is a bit much for April, but it certainly beats snow.

I just finished and submitted the latest FTM, about which I believe I can't say much, but I will say that the theme is near and dear to my heart.

And speaking of near and dear to my heart, many readers no doubt know about my obsession with pizza, and know that I am not actually exaggerating when I use the word "obsession." I won't get into the details of my pizza woes here in the Midwest, but I will say that I haven't found any decent pizza of the NY style, and so have had to enjoy only Neapolitan pizza, of which there are two excellent sources in the TC, to my knowledge.

But now, as of Saturday, I have a new second home. Not far from the apartment in which Beth and I lived when we first moved out here from the Big Apple is a new pizza place: Hiawatha Pizza. Online rumors claimed this was the real deal, and that the owner and pizzamaker was in fact an ex-New Yorker himself.

You will forgive me for having my doubts.

On Saturday, though, since I have to check out every pizza place at least once, and since a few voices on Chowhound were saying such great things, I decided to drop in for a late lunch. Now, you can't really get a more Minnesota name for your pizzeria than Hiawatha Pizza, and the store front, in the same shopping center as a Cub and a Target, is as bland and Midwest-mall as it could possibly be. Still, I kept my chin up and strode in.

Empty. Of course, it was not exactly peak pizza hours, but I like to see my pizzerias as hangouts. Aside from a group of local teens hanging out on the curb out front, the place was deserted. I went up to the counter, hoping to see the New York City institution of pizza: by-slice-pies, ready to reheat and serve, sitting under glass. No such luck.

A man called out from the back. He had a thick Middle Eastern accent. I recalled someone online saying the place was halal. "What can I get for you?" he asked me.

"Do you have any slices ready?" I asked. He assured me he did. I ordered two and grabbed a can of soda (SODA, not pop) from the fridge case.

After a few minutes, he called me back to the counter, and there they were: thin, big--a sheen of oil floating on their surface. I didn't believe my eyes. My host went to the back to fetch the parmesan sprinkler while I put on some hot pepper flakes. When he returned with the cheese, I partook of that, as well, then took a seat.

After the first bite, I knew. I immediately sent a text a to Beth: I'm at Hiawatha Pizza. And then another, after the second bite: I'm coming here every day. I devoured the pizza and brought the empty tray up to the counter. As my host rang up the purchase, I said, "So you are from New York, huh?"

"How did you know?" he asked, a little suspiciously.

I just pointed at the empty tray.

So finally I've found the real deal, right here. I wish it were a little closer to home, but with spring finally here, and that bike trailer for Sam I've got in the garage, I think a ride over there once or twice a week would do me good--body, mind, and soul.

Girl

Just this minute finished reading Blake Nelson's Girl. (Same Blake Nelson who wrote Destroy All Cars.) Voice grasp is miraculous, I think. Some of the language and certainly most of the fashion and music is mondo dated (dudes are constantly getting "faced," which, if I may suggest, is a term that is ready for a comeback), but like any great YA, the characters and their motivations could never be dated. This was Beth's favorite book as a teen, and now that I've read it, it's so obvious that it must have been.

I'm very glad I didn't read it before I wrote Lily's section of Novel the First, because frankly I'd have been intimidated and no doubt influenced, which I think would have been unhelpful.

Next in my to-read list is Story of a Girl, by Sara Zarr, which I bought last night, and not simply because I'm reading books that gradually add words to "girl" in the title.

Ooh, I'm embedding the video preview for the 1998 film version of Girl. It looks not remotely faithful; in fact, and maybe it's just this trailer, it feels a little like they took the raw material of Girl and turned it into a teen comedy sex flick. I hope I'm wrong about that. But it's clearly not as good as the book. Still, I'll probably check it out. How many future stars can you find in the preview?

What's up, Doc?

Some news.

First, the release date for Novel the First is set for Fall 2010. Because the Imprint is part of a larger company--a company that is in fact a school and library publisher--we're looking at a two season, even two-release-date, schedule: January or July. So Fall 2010 essentially means finished books next July. (Release, btw, does not mean in stores; it means at the warehouse and available. Or it did at S&S, anyway. I can only assume.)

I learned this last night, over my first-ever editor lunch, albeit a dinner. It was at Ngon, which I am still not confident trying to say out loud. But the food was fantastic. I had two appetizers, including the tofu lettuce wraps, and one other that I won't mention because I think some people who read this might faint or never speak to me again if they find out I ate rabbit. Oops.

But I'll definitely eat at Ngon again, and they're even baby friendly. There were like three babies there last night, actually, and Editor mentioned he and his wife brought their own baby there too. He liked the pho. (Baby did, I mean. Though I'm sure Editor did too.)

In related news, I have become a Tenner. This thrills me more than you can imagine. If you want to get an idea of how awesome they are, look at all the comments in my first entry. They are a supportive and welcoming crew!

Some links this morning:

Head over to Carrie Jones's blog, because she waxes poetic about my new agent and her deep affection for him!

Jay Asher, rags-to-riches author of 13 Reasons Why, has a great little post today in answer to the question "What is wrong with these kids today?!"

Finally, someone up and bought kidlit.com! I suspect it's going to be big, what with the excellent URL. I recommend subscribing to the feed now to stay ahead of the mob.

Lots of food!

It's snowing this morning in Saint Paul. When I got into bed last night, it was raining. I remember turning the corner onto our block, finishing up Harry's nighttime walk, and thinking about "Aprille with his shoures soote," feeling glad that, according to Chaucer, it was a very springlike night.

Now Father Winter is punishing me for my hubris.

But I actually came in here this morning to say something else. There are many, many phrases and words on the list of keywords that directed people (via Google, mostly) to this blog. Among them is "be patient and tough," tied with my own name, which I think is unfair because "be patient and tough" ought to send people to Peter Cameron's site, if an author's at all other than Ovid. At any rate, my favorite keyword is:

jewish rye loaves at cecil's, st. paul

I think that's wonderful! It really sums up the heart and soul of this blog: what can a Jew do in Minnesota when he needs to get down with his Jewish bad self and have some back-east love? (That and being a writer, obviously, but anyway.) Well, since that search, or a variation of it (involving the question of Jewish rye at Cecil's), has occurred twice since February 1st, I will answer the question.

Yes, Cecil's on Cleveland Avenue in the Highland Park neighborhood of Saint Paul, does have great Jewish rye, with seeds, and a nice dark Russian rye, not to mention a great marble rye, if you're into that sort of thing. They also have terrific matzo ball soup, and they make egg creams with real Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup. So while they are (obviously) not kosher, if you're like 99% of the Jews I've ever known, you probably want kosher style, not the real thing, because otherwise you can't have an egg cream with your pastrami on rye. (Oh, ps for the hardcore: they also have Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray Soda!)

Oh, and the latkes are HUGE. Be warned. They are not for the faint of heart.

And since I'm here, why not ramble on about food? As mentioned previously, Beth, Sam, and I went out for supper on Friday night to El Meson in Minneapolis. Terrific! Although I was at first a bit stressed out, because it looked like a pretty adult place (ie, not entirely as baby friendly as I'd thought), everyone seemed okay with Sam's being there, and a few other patrons under the age of ten eventually showed up, putting me further at ease. (As it happens, Beth ate most of her meal with Sam on her knee, but she was okay with it.) My entree (a grilled pork chop; it was the special of the evening) was excellent. The last time I'd had a pork chop was over a year ago, and that one had not been so good. Pretty sure I was slightly ill from it. But the real winners at El Meson, from our experience, were the appetizers we got. We shared a ceviche that was amazing, something called peras, which were pears, stuffed with brie, and wrapped in Spanish prosciutto, and a fresh tomato, avocado, and queso fresco salad called a Dominicana. We could have gotten one more appetizer between us and been very happy with the meal, I think.

Maybe next time we'll just get tapas. You get to try more things that way.

Stumped

It's Friday! This evening, in celebration of the book deal, I'm taking Beth and Sam out (or maybe Beth is taking me and Sam out) for dinner at El Meson. We haven't ever been there, but it's so rare we get the chance and excuse to try a new place. Plus, it seems they don't mind babies in the dining room. Big plus.

This morning I registered for the Loft's Festival of Children's & Young Adult Literature & Illustration. At first, I was thinking, Why bother? I've got my book deal. But then I decided, heck, a conference got me here, and I can never really know enough about writing, specifically for teens, nor about the business itself. Plus, I can never really get out there and meet people enough, which is something I occasionally need a good kick in the rear to do at all. So what the heck. So I won't register for the Paths to Success panel specifically about getting that first deal.

My first contribution, such as it is, is up on the Spectacle today. (It's not an entry I wrote, merely the clues I contributed for this week's Stump the Bookseller.) Click over and try your luck! No one's gotten it yet; we even had to add some bonus clues.

It's poetry Friday today, which is something I have never really taken part in, mainly because I don't think I know enough poetry, nor enough about poetry, to really contribute anything. I was thinking about dropping a poem on you today, but then I got scared of copyright infringement and decided not to.

So thanks for stopping by.