MILO BOOK LAUNCH

It was a wonderful fall night - not too chilly and not yet rainy, which was good because I had to schlep a lot of stuff from my car into Paragraphe bookstore in Montreal.

Eyeball brownies! And lots of them!!

It was so nice to share the night with author/friend PJ Bracegirdle, whose 2nd Joy of Spooking book, "Unearthly Asylum" was also celebrated. Seems we both have the Montreal goatee thing going on (but his mustache tips are waxed!)

Paul reading from "Unearthly Asylum"

Members of the Montreal Goatee Society

Friends came out to help us celebrate and it was so nice to get the chance to chat (even briefly) with all of the people who wanted to support us. Thanks to you all!

After Paul read from his new book - it was my turn to see if my audio/visual equipment was going to work. Sitting at the low table with the microphone aimed at me I felt like I was doing a gig at a piano bar. Lucky for all - the projector worked great and my apple mini-remote came through like a champ, which gave my reading the added kick of showing my cartoons as I read from Milo's "Halloween Party" chapter.

One of my fave pics - this girl reading along with me!

As an added bonus to the great night - I had been contacted by a young fan who wanted to come to the launch but said she couldn't because it was her birthday. I wrote her back and told her to have a great birthday - but if she did decide to come to let me know so and I would have a cake ready!

After reading my Halloween chapter - we all sang "Happy Birthday" and helped Kinneret celebrate her special day!

Kinneret and her (half-eaten) birthday cake!

Eyeball Brownies! Milo talks about the eyeball brownies at the Halloween Party, which were inspired by the brownies my son and I once made when he was in 2nd grade. So I decided if that was the chapter I was going to read - then I would bake Eyeball Brownies to add to the snacks at the party!

I almost forgot to hand these out - (Thanks Kalie!)

It was an exciting night for me to finally share Milo with the friends and fans who've been so supportive while I was working on the book.

Paul, author (and cafe-pal) Jill Murray, Kalie and moi

Carol Ann and Susan

So one more time: Thanks everyone for coming out and celebrating and for making me (and Milo) feel warm and fuzzy....and full of brownies!

IT'S OFFICIAL!

Well it's official.

Tuesday, MILO: STICKY NOTES & BRAIN FREEZE had it's real-live book birthday and I couldn't just sit on my butt at home. No siree, I had to have visual proof that the book was actually IN bookstores. Besides, I was too excited to actually stay home and write and so I drove downtown and hit the trio of book sellers there.

First up, Indigo books - a huge chain of stores in Canada. I went to their "flagship" downtown Montreal location. This was my very first stop and I was filled with excitement...anticipation... and ultimately, DISAPPOINTMENT!


Like Old Mother Hubbard, I went to my bookshelf, careful to follow the alpabetical path to the "S" names. To my horror - "Silberberg" did not exist. I quickly accessed one of their nifty search kiosks and what I found was...."zero available in this store". Oh, fortuna how low you have spun me!

Lucky for me - another chain store was just up the street. And so, hat in hands, I trudged off to visit the equally huge Chapters bookstore (owned by the same company as Indigo I might add).

I walked into the basement level kids' section with trepidation. But what did I see? The familiar BLUE COVER and white lettering! Eureka - MILO EXISTED!

Now I'm usually a shy guy - but there I was gleaming at the bookshelf, camera in hand, and it wasn't long before a helpful bookseller asked if I needed anything. I told her I needed to wish my book a Happy BookDay and she eagerly obliged!

Not only did I find wonderful sales help - but while I was there (okay, because I was there and opened my big mouth) I was witness to the very first sale of my book. Technically, it was the first sale that happened in front of my own eyes, but let's not quibble over details. SOMEONE wanted to buy my book!!!

Soline was looking for books for her daughter and 12 year old son and I offered her a quick review of MILO. As it turned out she was also a therapist and immediately thought the book sounded like something she might be able to use with families dealing with grief and so, eager to give it to her son first - she bought a copy!

my FIRST sale! Thanks Soline!

Next up - the last downtown bookstore, Paragraphe. This is the store that will be hosting my book launch next month. On October 14th, Paul Bracegirdle and I will be having a joint launch party for our new books at Paragraphe. More details to come!

I love Paragraphe because it's a cramped space packed full with books and weaving my way to the kids' section was kind of like navigating a wild maze of books. And to my delight - I saw stacks of MILO. Yay! Again I needed some help and so got the fabulous book buyer to blow the streamer for Milo!
I pulled up a chair (gotta love those little kids' tables) and signed a few copies. Nothing cements that "I'm an author" feeling like inscribing books!

My search began with a big fat "zero" at the first bookstore but ended happily with one real-live book sold, a bunch of signed books, and then a hundred or so TWITTER BOOK PARTY tweeted messages.

Hey authors - are you a member of Twitter Book Parties? If not - why not? This brain child by author Mitali Perkins is genuis because it makes the usual lonely part of having your book come out turn into a joyful day of tweet "greetings" from all the members of the book party universe. Not only does it make you feel kinda sorta special - every tweet is also telling that person's followers about your new book. Social marketing and fuzzy feelings all in one click!

Later this week, I hit some of the smaller book stores in my area. Hey, I like to know MILO is in good hands!

Milo's Book B-Day

CLICK HERE FOR MILO'S GREETING!

AROUND THE WORLD WITH MILO

With one month to go until pub date (okay, 28 days - but who's counting?) - I wanted to sharethe latest great news about my new book, MILO: STICKY NOTES & BRAIN FREEZE.

Yeah - the book has gotten some rocking reviews; like this one...and this one.

But I can now officially let loose with the news that the book has been sold to the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. I also got word that Milo will be published in Thailand and Israel too. I wonder how they say "Freezie" in Hebrew?

I can't wait to share the international covers online, but that won't be for awhile. Not that I'm in a rush to see how awesome they'll look...

Way cool, huh?

BEST DAY EVER!

I have always marveled at the people who can point easily to the perfect days in their lives and say without pause, "That was the best day." I mean, I'm a writer. Ask me to point to a miserable day and I can deal out a dozen or so in a heartbeat.

But the game has changed because I now have that day, that PERFECT DAY, etched forever in my brain-box. It all began with a weekend trip to New York to visit with my editor, Liesa Abrams, at Aladdin. Apparently there were people in her office who had read MILO: STICKY NOTES & BRAIN FREEZE and wanted a chance to meet me. Cool, I thought. I'll just drive down from Montreal and take Milo with me on the one condition that I control the radio.

The weekend fun was kicked off by walking from our hotel through Times Square on our way to meet Liesa and her husband for a matinee of AVENUE Q. Times Square always smells like a hot summer day so it felt normal to be bombarded by the sights, sounds and smells of a 92 degree, humid summer Sunday.

After Milo and I sweated through clean shirts and baked under the July haze - we got to the theater and sat through the hysterical musical. Everyone says the puppets are "so racy" - but even Milo thought the show was kind of tame. I guess that's what watching so much SOUTH PARK will do to a kid's brain!

Had a lovely dinner with Liesa and James and as super-fantatstic as that Sunday was, it was just the precursor to the Monday that was to come. First I had to check-out of my hotel and though I had a minor freak-out that I'd lost my passport (found after a frantic search through the suitcase that then fell apart) the morning began slightly less humid and with a vente iced latte, so all was good.

Milo and I arrived outside the Simon & Schuster offices and he was immediately awed by the building.

We went inside and rode the elevator to the 4th floor. Stepping off the elevator the first thing I saw was this wall of MILO books. We both felt a surge of caffeine-adrenaline and posed for a picture taken with exquisite care by the multi-talented Liesa Abrams.

Not only is Liesa an incredibly talented editor and a great photographer - but she is the coolest person in the world because she loves all things BATMAN. This is a shot of a shelf in her office.

Now you have to realize that Liesa had tried to prepare me for what was to come by hoping that I'd be ready to "share the love" around the office. But I had no idea that Milo (the book) had so many fans already! I walked into the conference room and was met by dozens of people who had read and LOVED the book and it was probably the most overwhelmed I'd been in a long while. I had a chance to speak to the group and explain how personal Milo's story is to me.

Then I had Milo pose with everyone.

This was the first moment that my book felt like it was really out in the world and I made sure to bask in the feeling that it was a story that was touching people. Writing a book about parental loss and grief was an emotional journey for me and seeing that the emotion carries to other people touched me very much. Because the final book isn't ready yet I signed printed copies of several of the book's cartoons for people, which again just hit home how real the experience of publishing Milo felt.

The morning was made even more special because my wonderful agent, Jill Grinberg was there too. Thanks Jill!

Liesa, Me, Milo and Jill

Life is supposed to be full of great days but sometimes I've had a hard time finding them. I am so thankful to everyone at Simon & Schuster who was part of this incredibly special day for me. Of course I feel lucky just to have a new book being published - but to be able to feel the support and emotion of what my book is starting to mean to the people reading it is giving a new meaning to the BEST DAY EVER.

For me and Milo anyway.

MILO Summer

It's getting pretty real. Milo's publication date is actually something concrete to me and not some distant date that has no meaning. Still - September is just far enough away and no one wants to start thinking about that season that comes after summer. (Shhhh...pub. date is Sept. 14) But I've got the date circled on my calendar!!

Also want to give a shout out to Fuse8 over at School Library Journal, who not only gave Milo his first review - but it's a pretty GREAT one at that! (Thanks, Betsy!)

So summer is sizzling and Milo's just doing what he should be doing...hanging out!

MAINE!

seen from the road in Rumford, Maine

I recently went on my family's annual trip to Maine, where not only was I greeted with spectacular scenery...

kayaking at sunset

But I also had a package waiting for me that looked like this:

Seeing a Simon & Schuster logo on it could only mean one thing: I was finally getting to hold a copy of my MILO ARC!!! I knew the ARCS existed - I just hadn't actually held one yet and let me tell you in case you haven't had the pleasure of seeing an advanced reader copy (ARC) of the book that you spent the past year and half slaving over - actually getting your paws on a facsimile of what your real book is going to be like is better than a year's worth of s'mores (which we indulged in aplenty while in Maine!).

MILO: STICKY NOTES & BRAIN FREEZE (the full title) tells a very personal story for me and being able to share the book with my family was especially meaningful because the book tells the story of my mom's death when we were all kids. I was so proud to be able to have my sister read the book while we were in Maine (yes, she loved it - though tissues were used).

Here's a shot of my sister Debbie and me posing with the newly arrived book.

The week was beautiful and I was able to NOT write at all, which was hard for me because I always feel like this escape into the beauty of the Maine Coast should be a "writing retreat" for me. In truth, it is a writing retreat because I am letting my brain toss and turn all the ideas of my new book while I kayak, bike ride, and relax with a good book.

Me, Zeus and a good book

One of my weirdest images from the week is this bizarre sight found while on a great 5 mile seaside bike ride I took with my son. (folk art or crazy cousin of an Ent???)

Most delicious memory of the week: Pizza night!!!!

As happens every year - the week speeds by in a blur and we all frantically pack our cars on Saturday morning and go our separate ways - but the memories are so strong and tangible that I'm already counting the days until I get to return!

HANGING OUT WITH JILL MURRAY

I may not win the award for most frequent blog posts - but I do hope to snag a blue ribbon when it comes to having great guests drop by for a little one-on-one chat. Jill Murray is not only a friend and fellow Montreal author she is also the voice and code behind the wonderful kid-lit writer site Y-Eh!

Jill's first YA book, BREAK ON THROUGH was followed by the recently released RHYTHM AND BLUES, a "thoughtful and glittery young adult novel about a teenage girl's quest for - fame, love and self-identity". I loved this book and think Jill has this amazing sixth sense for capturing the voice of her main character, Alya.

I was lucky to get some time with Jill, who not only is rumored to make her own ice cream - but is busy getting ready for a big trip to do research for her next book.

And now - without further ado - give it up for Jill!

Jill: Wow. The applause is deafening.

Me: I know. If a blog article was posted in the woods would it make any sound?

Let me jump in with my first question. When I started writing MILO; STICKY NOTES & BRAIN FREEZE, the book was going to just be a silly story about a kid in junior high. As the pages added up, I realized that I was writing something deeper. I was telling my own story - a story of parental loss at a young age and the writing experience became a different journey for me.

How important do you think it is to "write what you know"? Or are your own works of fiction totally made up?

Jill: I adore hands-on research. Before I started writing Break On Through, I’d been very amateurishly trying out breakdancing for a few years, so I had a good sense of what it was like to try to break dance, and what the atmosphere is like at a battle, and how b-boys behave around each other, and a lot of little details like that. All the stuff about being confident and knowing you’re going to win— that was totally made up, ‘cause I am not like that at all, especially not about dancing, especially not in front of people.

For Rhythm and Blues, I had some past experience working with indie music, and I’ve played a bunch of instruments throughout my life, but voice wasn’t one of them. So I took singing lessons with pop-jazzy Montreal chanteuse Amanda Mabro, because I wanted to be able to get across what it feels like to learn to sing.

Finally, you may also note that my protagonists, Nadine and Alya, are black and hispanic, but if you check out my headshot, I, the author, am clearly descended from the blog-dwelling peoples of northern someplace-English. This was a case of wanting to represent the people in my neighborhoods and my life, and give some airtime to interesting voices.

What can we conclude from all this? Writing is an exercise in empathy, and “what you know” may be an emotion or a truth or a value. It’s not necessarily as constricting and literal as it may at first appear. You may know more than you give yourself credit for!

ME: In my book, not only does Milo struggle with the fog that settles in whenever he feels uncomfortable – he is in love with Summer Goodman, the prettiest girl he’s ever seen. Of course it’s a one-way crush and she’s never even spoken to him. I remember my own unattainable crush from Junior High (Janet Grenier why didn’t you like my poems?). Did you have a one-way crush back then – and how did you deal with it?

JILL: Wait. Hang on. Are you telling me there are also two-way crushes?

In the junior high years I dealt with crushes in the same way that I dealt with everything else: I hid in my room and waited to be 20. I have to say, it didn’t really work, and I’d recommend that kids today try something else.

ME: Good advice! Here's a question about your own writing process.

Because MILO borrows moments from my life, I relied on balancing the fiction of the story with things I remembered. The awful smell of hospital visits. The kindness of neighbors who wanted to help me. Waking up and then remembering how different everything then was. The memories became an important part of my palette. What role does memory play in your own writing experience?

JILL: I know I just told you that I make a lot of stuff up, and that I study new things to give life to my writing, but also, I think it’s worth pointing out that memories tell you what’s important enough to bother writing about. If a memory is still with you, chances are there’s something about it that needs further exploration or that if you share it, other people might relate to it too. Bottom line, it’s going to get its job done much better on the page than in your head.

ME: As awkward as Milo feels at his new school he is thankful he finds Marshall, an equally odd kid who likes the same movies that Milo likes and shares a passion for freezies. Friends are so important at that age. Milo would be even more lost without Marshall. Who was your junior high best friend and what was the one food thing that you both loved?

JILL: Friends are important at any age. Like right now, I have friends who share my love of onion rings, olives, summer drinks on balconies, indian food, coffee, vegan ice cream sandwiches, avocados and oatmeal. But maybe this is more about how much I love to eat. When I was Milo’s age, my best friend had moved away, and it took me a really, really, REALLY, long time to find another one. There was an incident in high school where a friend and I spent an hour daring each other to go ask the elderly couple at the next table if we could borrow a french fry “just for a minute.” But we were too polite to actually follow through.

ME: Sitting in the right cafe….curled up with the dog on my lap….tucked away at a book store with people reading all around me. Those are some of my favorite places to write. Where do you like to write?

JILL: As you well know, I like to write at Cafe Shaika, in Montreal, across the room from either you or P.J. Bracegirdle, so I can peer over the top of my laptop at you and wonder if you’re being more productive than I am, and then interrupt you if it looks like that might just be true. I also like to write on trains, and on my front balcony when it’s warm but shady.

ME: Selfishly I always like to hear how other writers deal with the dreaded “writer’s block”. I have days that seem impenetrable when it comes to being creative. When I’m stuck I like to doodle or read a book…or do laundry. What do you do when the muse just won’t show up?

JILL: That slackerly muse! It’s so hard to find good help these days.

Actually, I don’t have a muse. It’s all “writer’s block” to me. Uphill, everyday, dragging the heavy burden of unwritten manuscripts.

I took a creative writing workshop with writer Kent Nussey once in the early ‘00s (I like typing it that way because it makes me sound like I’m 130 years old.) and he’d spent a lot of time worrying about writers block, and ultimately decided that it’s really just “failure of the ego.” By that, I think he meant that it’s not that you can’t write, it’s just that you think you ought to be having better ideas than you actually are, and that embarrasses and disappoints you, and so you don’t write.

That’s how I decided to take it. And I simply can’t have anyone thinking my ego is defective, so I just imagine I’m some kind of donkey or workhorse, and I put on my yoke and drag the till endlessly across the field, feeling sorry for myself as I write embarrassing, disappointing things. Eventually, in revisions, everything starts looking up again, and I remember that no, actually, I am awesome.

ME: In revisions, thankfully - we're all awesome! Thanks for taking time out from your crazy schedule. One last question: So we can all be jealous - what flavor ice cream did you recently make?

JILL: Mint chocolate cookie dough.

ME: Yum!! You truly are awesome!

MILO on FACEBOOK

I recently wrote about being a Facebook newbie, and to be honest I'm still pretty green when it comes to poking, friending and deciding whether I want to comment on someone else's decision to like "Big Bang Theory" or "100 things I never want to eat".

Still as all my writer friends continually urge me - Facebook is just one of many places we need to put our best word forward and shout about our books, school visits, favorite book stores and what we had for lunch (tuna sandwich, very tasty). I know everyone is hungering to know what is happening in my oh-so-exciting life, which really boils down to doing a lot of laundry and asking the dog if he needs to pee.

But with a new book about to be published I have to face the reality that we writer-types have to do whatever we can to tell anyone with ears that we have a new book coming out. So here I go: MILO: STICKY NOTES & BRAINFREEZE is being published by Aladdin on September 14th. For all you BEA attendees, drop by the booth and pick up an ARC. Tell them, Alan sent ya!

For everyone else - be forewarned: I am on a Milo mission and even though I am usually a pretty reserved guy, I will stop at nothing to mention him. Heck, Milo's even got his own Facebook profile. So if you need a new friend who is 13 years old and has a passion for Freezies - check him out there! You'll not only get to know him - but you'll also meet some of his friends.

More on TRIPP ZOOME

First the good news: Yes, I wrote the Disney Channel movie, DADNAPPED. Now for the bad news: No - there aren't really any Tripp Zoome books. Bummer, right? Because if you were a fan of the film you'd probably be a fan of the books that the main character writes.

If you don't know the film (and if you don't have kids or aren't already a kid - then why should you?) Dadnapped is the story of a famous writer whose main character is a popular teen, super spy named Tripp Zoome. Tripp is smart and clever and can get in and out of trouble using everyday stuff, kind of like a MacGyver character - except he uses a lot of dental floss, preferably minted!

I first came up with the idea for this film after spending the night in a horrible motel in Miami where there was a huge fight going on in the room next to mine. All I could think about was how I wished I could get another room and when I opened the phone book - a matchbook fell out with a phone number handwritten on it. Really - that was all I needed to start the ball rolling in my head.

I knew the dad in the story would be a famous author (and this was years before I even considered writing books) and wanted his creation to be larger than life - a teenaged James Bond. The name Tripp Zoome fit perfectly - it has a sophistid feel as well as a sense of cartoony fun. He needed to be larger than life with a bit of a wink to how fake everything about him is.

I hope this answers some more questions about Tripp Zoome and Dadnapped. If not, feel free to email me or post your questions in the comments section!

FACING FACEBOOK

I used to be an early adopter of all things tech but have to admit I was resistant to joining Facebook mainly because the last thing this attention deficicient writer needs is something else that I can check up on and obsess over.

But alas, I didst succumb to the siren's song. (Okay, the siren was my editor and marketing exec at Aladdin - and their song was more of a pleasant chat). So here I am on FACEBOOK. Yay. And yes, I am wasting all sorts of time, thankfully avoiding building farms or becoming a hit man - but still I am now watching my wall grow and staring at the stream of comments from people I know, or sort of know, or know someone I know or once knew. Phew...

I know we writers are supposed to be the leaders of our own PR parades and that's why I jumped in. With MILO just a mere 4 months away from pub date I know that I need to be doing everything I can to be visible. And as much as I kicked and screamed about social media - I am having lots of fun posting and linking and commenting and counting "friends" like a growing number of jellybeans in a jar (which is always within reach of my wandering desktop mind).

So if you're reading this and want to know what I'm thinking and linking to - come on over. But if you expect me to link to a Twitter account I'm still resisting that one...this week.

The Blue Metropolis Festival

Montreal has so many wonderful things from the best bagels I've ever had to smoked meat sandwiches that could clog 1,000 arteries. Of course there are countless other jewels that don't relate to food - and one of them just completed its 12th year. The BLUE METROPOLIS LITERARY FESTIVAL is a wonderful mix of workshops, panels and speakers; toss in the shmoozing and book signing and I'd say it's a festival that can't be beat.

I had the fortunate experience 2 years ago to speak to a group of 250 kids as part of the Blue Met's Children's Festival and this year I was asked to be part of a panel called "Breaking Into the Red Hot Kid-Lit Market". My fellow panel members Jill Murray and Joyce Scharf and I got to speak to a roomful of aspiring writers of all ages and hopefully we didn't bore the pants off of anyone (in either language). We had the pleasure of being guided through the hour by Raquel Rivera, who had her hands full navigating the questions.

It was a wonderful event and I look forward to next year's festival.

HAMMY TIME

Anyone who knows me knows I love a good book trailer as much as I love mid-day snack foods. That's why I have to link up to this hysterical clip for Donna Gephart's new book, "How To Survive Middle School". A great review for the book was just online from PW Children's Bookshelf. Check the video out and if you have a pair of parachute pants hanging around - now's the time to wear them again. (If you don't know what parachute pants are - just be thankful you avoided another fashion disaster!)

Milo's New Cover

I can't believe the amount of time that has elapsed since my last post. Can I write it off to the slumping economy? Global warming? Canada beating USA in the gold medal hockey game? (and with that sentence I think I just admitted that yes, I am finally adjusting to life in Canada!)

Many new things to write about but for now I just want to SHOW OFF the brand new cover for Milo. Oh, and the title now officially is: Milo: Sticky Notes & Brain Freeze. (My giddy ego loves that the book is already up for pre-order on Amazon - reminding me it's really getting published.)

I love the simplicity of the letters and how the solid color background makes my characters pop. And we worked long and hrad to get Milo's expression just right. Karin Paprocki, Art Impressario of Team Milo, really worked overtime to get the cover perfect and I can only boast (yet again) of the wonderful collaboration going on between me and my editors at Aladdin. Thanks Liesa and Karin!

So, what do you guys think of the cover? I'd love to hear some unbiased feedback....as long as it's all glowing!!!!

MILO and his Editors

After a 2 month absence from blogging I am back. Wish I could explain away my lack of posting because of travels to mysterious and exotic locales - but the truth is I have been busy working hard on getting MILO into the kind of shape he needs to be shaped into.

I keep pinching myself about how lucky I am to be working with my wonderful team at Aladdin; Liesa Abrams, editor extraordinaire is helping me edit the story into a trimmer tighter tale. Not only is she brilliant at story, she is that rare breed of editor who is careful to couch any "cutting" comments with positive and sensitive spin. She couldn't possibly be more respectful of my story. 

I am also having a ton of fun working with Karin Paprocki, the art director on MILO. Together we have been redesigning the 4 main characters of the book and though at first it was really hard for me to have to reimagine what Milo looked like...

(old Milo designed on the adolescent "me" who lived this story)

...I am now really happy with what he looks like (see top of post!) The back and forth of sketches and the discussions that followed is not only helping define the look of all the cartoons but helped us see Milo as the kind of main character kids will relate to in a visual way. Sure it was hard to change how I saw the character - afterall, I'd been doodling him  for over a year. But again, I am blown away by the careful way Karin has been directing her comments to me about what makes one drawing work better than another. And like I said, the end result is wonderful.

What strikes me is how much everyone behind the book is BEHIND the book (and respectful of my process).

With publication just a year away and deadlines for final text and artwork coming soon - I am swimming in the fun part of making a book, my book....my Milo!

DOIN THE DANCE

I see the Snoopy dance in my head as I write this post. I just got the edit notes from Aladdin and feel like dancing in tight circles with my head in the air. Of course no one (and I mean NO ONE) wants to see me actually dance - so doin' THE MILO will have to express it for me.

I am so lucky. I have a wonderful agent who helped introduce MILO to the one editor he needed to meet. I am even luckier because that one editor is the most amazing, generous, intelligent person I have encountered in my travels in Book-land. Did I mention her love of Batman? Talk about icing on the cake!

I am still reeling from the notes. By the way, it's the good kind of reeling because I'm knocked out by the positive feedback and praise of my writing. And because this story is so personal to me - praise for the story is affirmation on a monumental level. A healing is taking place and it's a deep, deep wound.

I have nothing to complain about even the notes that say "lose this", "tighten that", "show don't tell"(ugh - I'm such a teller). Gracious. She is more than that because her notes also read "heartbreaking", "beautiful", "amazing". I know, it's like being back in high school where you scan the margins of your paper looking for the red check-marks, praying not to see the dreaded BLACK PEN. But Doin' The Milo means basking in the glow of being a writer and right now that means moving through the maze toward the next step - EDITING.

I have to just say that I feel so fortunate to be playing the part of the writer in this chapter of my life. I am also infinitely grateful for my agent and in love with my editor (platonic and healthy love that is).

Last - I'm just plain psyched and since you all can't see me - I might just do THE MILO right here and now!...Oh yeah!

DOWN TIME IS UP

How is it possible that it is now mid-May and my last post was in March? I think the answer is pretty simple: I was kidnapped by Zombie aliens who confiscated my computer and forced me to watch episodes of Nanny 9-11 until my eyes bled.

Either that, or I've had the blog-blahs. Symptoms of BLOG-BLAHS are easy to spot, by the way. Aching brain, calloused fingers, numerous deadlines safety-pinned to a shirt as constant reminder to HURRY UP AND DO all the things that need to be DONE!

The good news of being a writer is often the bad news: Open ended days filled with too many distractions and free wi-fi. The lack of structure is really no excuse NOT to blog (or to get any of my work done) and the thought does occur to me that building a "Blogging hour" into my day would actually resemble (gasp) STRUCTURE. Still, I go through periods when there's just too many hours in a day - and work that needs attention...and rather than my being able to attack that huge pile I get overwhelmed by it all and end up watching TV and wondering when the elves will appear to do the work for me.

But I forget that sometimes this "down time" (which can often stretch on and on) is actually okay. It's okay to let ideas live their own lives while I go for a metaphorical long walk (or an actual one!). Sitting idle is part of the life I've created. And when I raise my head above the water - I am able to see that the couch need not be a feared thing - but a necessary comfort. Idle hands is the devil's work - but an idle mind is often a writer's creative down-time when ideas simmer and gestate and often emmerge, if not fully-formed, but fattened-up and full of energy.

But I am looking on the positive side. I'm writing this post, and I'm not even doing it while on the couch, which means my brain is ready to rock and the creative vacation it took (while I was lost in the woods of worry) is now over. It's time to work again. To write again. To express myself and be part of the world again.

What I love about the writer's life is that it's a beautiful Friday morning and I am sitting in a wonderful Montreal cafe doing my "job". Letter by letter. Word by word. Off the couch and ready to embrace the world I've made!

MILO & MARSHALL SAY...

Spring. A false promise when you live in Montreal where the groundhog shrugs in February and doesn't even bother checking on his shadow. Spring just lingers on the sidelines as the long days full of sunlight trick us into thinking the warmth will soon follow. And it will follow. But it will be in May.

Spring. A busy time for me. MILO is now in front of me and as I jump in with my fabulous editor at Aladdin, Liesa Abrams, I get to re-visit the story and fix my boo-boos and strengthen some of the connective fiber that feels a tad flabby.

What I am loving is getting my cartooning muscle back into shape as I add and fix the cartoons that make Milo the special project that it is. I love the feeling. And love how my narrative can stop and then a cartoon makes the punctuation mark. Like in this cartoon from MILO - where he and his friend Hilary have just had a heavy talk and then Milo sees some older kids and wishes he could be as cool and wear a wool cap all year long...


...and then back in the narrative Milo gets it. And vows to burn all his wool caps when he gets home.

Being busy is a good thing. And watching your work grow and bloom is a springtime gift even if I still have to wear my winter coat. It's springtime in my office. And for now, that's good enough for me.

THE PASSING OF THE CROWN

Exciting news! I just found out that the Thurber House has announced this year's Children's Author in Residence which means I must yield the crown I was lucky to wear this past year.

Hope Anita Smith - author, poet, recipient of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award for her book "The Way A Door Closes" will be moving into the attic apartment written about in Thurber's story "The Night The Bed Fell". It's also the attic where I spent four amazing weeks last summer - and though no beds fell on me, I fell in love with it.
I am excited to hear all about the advenures Hope has this summer while continuing the tradition that Shelley Pearsall, Sam Swope, Lisa Yee and I all shared. The Thurber House Children's Author in Residence is a truly unique experience run by such caring, nurturing people who do everything humanly possible to make sure you to use the time to fulfill your creative needs as a writer. The only obligations (I called them the bonus stuff) are the weekly writing workshops the resident gives to kids in the Thurber Writing Camp and the workshops at the Dowd Family Center.

Three cheers for Hope - May her summer be productive and filled with the magical sound of the summer cicadas as they serenade her muse as they did mine....oh yes, and may the Thurber ghosts welcome her with open arms too!

TRIPP ZOOME BOOKS

For anyone who DIDN'T watch the movie I wrote on the Disney Channel - DADNAPPED - (and not having kids between 8 - 14 is no excuse!), the plot revolved around a famous author who writes books featuring a super-cool teen James Bond-type named TRIPP ZOOME.

A TRIPP IN TIME, ZOOME TIME/BOOM TIME, and TRIPP'S LAST TRIP are just a few of the books my Dad character wrote featuring the self-assured sleuth. These books are big stuff and fans just can't get enough of the former dentist's crazy plots and frequent use of dental floss as a deterrent.

What's been fun since the movie's been airing is I'm getting lots of searches for "Tripp Zoome Books". Seems kids are curious how they can read the same books that inspire my teen heroes in the film. Though the plot is light and silly - one thing I'm proud of is I created teen characters who love to read. Books are important to the story and okay - this movie isn't winning an Oscar, but "Reading Rocks" is definitely one of the messages.

Maybe reality should follow fiction and I should write the books that I wrote about in the movie...