HATS OFF TO GREGORY K!

Like cheering on that marathon runner who has just a few final steps to go - I raise my glass in a toast to the one and only GregoryK!

For those who don't know - (and whoever you are - how could that be?) GregoryK of GOTTABOOK has spent the last 30 days writing hysterical, original poems as part of National Poetry Month.

If you haven't had the pleasure of his silliness check out his site and read his month-long stream of poems (...and his Oddaptations are pretty darn funny too!)

And in my best rhyme-schemed way - I say:

Here's to Greg K -
Or GottaBook, as he's known.
Spent the last month
makin' up poems.

His rhymes made me laugh
In all sorts of ways -
I guess it's back to the prose
Starting on Tuesday.

Way to go Greg! It was really fun to read 'em and I imagine funner to write 'em.

BRAINSTORMIN', WRITIN', SCHMOOZIN'

Hey - just read that Sarah Mlynowski's new book, "Gimme A Call" was snapped up by Delacorte for a release sometime in 2009. Sarah is the YA author of the trilogy "Bras and Broomsticks", "Frogs and French Kisses", and the soon to be released "Spells and Sleeping Bags".

Now I don't know Sarah, but next Monday she is one of five authors participating in the Young Authors Workshop sponsored by the Montreal Jewish Library. The other authors who will be giving workshops for the 5th -6th grade kids are Eva Wiseman, Kathy Kacer, M.C. Millman, and moi.

The best part about the two days is I get to meet and schmooze with other authors. Any chance I'm given to leave the dungeon and actually converse with live beings is a plus - but when I get to chat with writers....it's PLUS X PLUS SQUARED!

I've given workshops - but never within this environment. It's a two day thing (different kids each day) and we'll be doing two workshops a day for an hour and a half. I'm having a blast brainstorming ideas to try out with the kids and hopefully no one will spitball me!

If anyone has some great writing exercises they want to share - I'm all ears!

HORNED TOAD TALES

This Saturday if you're in the Houston area, specifically the Cypress-Fairbanks burb - then you just have to drop in at this Barnes and Nobles.

The Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School System is celebrating their second annual Horned Toad Tales list by having their school librarians and media specialists read excerpts from the selected books every hour.

And what books are on this list of recommended reads for kids in 3rd - 5th grade?
Take a look!

And yes....(blush-blush) Pond Scum is hopping around with the toads (much better than sleeping with the fishes)!

Thanks Horned Toad Tales committee - and have a blast this weekend!

HELLO? SPRING...YOU OKAY?

On this thoroughly yucky Montreal day - a few musings:

#1: The Disco Mermaids contest rocks! The prizes are the coolest - but it's the submissions of celebrity book titles that give my procrastination props! (love reading what people have come up with so far)

#2: If it doesn't stop snowing soon I'm going to go a tad nutso. It's APRIL! Flower buds and songbirds should be outside my window - not icicles and slush. IT'S JUST WRONG!

#3: Thank you to everyone who viewed my new BOOK TRAILER and linked it or shared it or did things with it that I'd rather not know about! PR is the hardest part of this job - and without the help of friends who are strangers, and the strangers who are becoming friends - book awareness can be about as futile as the spring that hasn't yet sprung!

#4: Lastly - on a real and tragic note - I am filled with sorrow and confusion over yesterday's Virginia Tech shootings. It was just last Sept. that a Montreal school was rocked by a smaller, though no less tragic shooting - my heart is full and my head filled with questions. (sigh)

POND SCUM BOOK TRAILER Part Deux

If you read my previous post you know I was a tad reticent to post this on YouTube cuz it looks a little less crisp than I like. But my inner circle has convinced me that this is the way to go so....

The Author's Self-publicity plea holds: Feel free to share this Book Trailer with anyone with eyeballs! (free cookies to the one who has the most friends)

If this one seems too scrunched up and iddy-biddy and you crave to watch it in its BIG SCREEN GLORY - take a gander here!

IF YOU LIKE IT - LINK IT!

It's no news that being an author means having to "BE" so many other things. "Researcher", "Actor", even "Guy-Who-Naps-Often" are all roles that can sometimes add bolts of electricity to the creative process (well - mine anyway).

There's one role however that just saps my juice - that's the dreaded "Publicist" role. I know, until any of us achieve the pinnacle of publishing success where books just fly off shelves while we toil at our keyboards - this is a job for us. It's Author 101 that to sell our books - we have to use the ol' DIY approach to get the word out there.

Don't get me wrong - though all-consuming, I don't mind doing this stuff (tho I write a lousy press release). I'm thrilled to bits-of-chocolate that in promoting Pond Scum I've made wonderful connections with terrific people, places and bookshelves. It's just a lot of work...time that might be devoted to actually finishing a follow-up book!

All that to say I just spent the last week having a BLAST making a BOOK TRAILER to celebrate the PAPERBACK release of my book. Yeah, BIG FUN making it....way too much wasted time trying to get a decent-looking copy onto one of the sharing sites...(YouTube, GoogleVideo, et al) they convert my tiny crisp file into mud...so at the risk of spending even more time solving this one...please view the above Quicktime movie or for an even bigger image, my WEBSITE.

And remember: IF YOU LIKE IT - LINK IT!

That's my publicist pitch anyway - and thanks in advance!

NOT JUST A FLOOR WAX...

So it was in a moment of pure brain-cell-meltdown that I took a break from Book #2 and wandered to the GOOGLE button to see what's what with that thing that we shall call Book #1.

Obviously, to me - POND SCUM is a book, a fabulous book, a book now out in paperback!

But imagine my surprise to see what else is going on with the gooey stuff:

Pond Scum a possible cure for Alzheimers!

Pond Scum the next big thing in biofuel? (note to self: order that hybrid car now...)

Pond Scum as art??? (I was surprised to see this creative force comes from Montreal!)

Pond Scum and a connection to John Water's new Court TV television series. Wow - if any director could bring my book to life...it probably wouldn't be Mr. "Hairspray" Waters - but lucky for us all the script for this episode of his new show is here to peruse!

There were plenty of other uses: many "lawyers are pond scum", "boyfriends are pond scum", and apparently to the St. Louis Cardinal fans - the NY Mets are pond scum too.

With so many useful (and abusive) applications of my title I ask YOU - if "POND SCUM" has new meaning in your life?