If there’s one thing Southern gals know how to do, it’s gab. Silly or serious, all it takes is a glass of iced tea and time. Pull up a chair, kick off your shoes, and make yourself comfy…get ready to dish!
No Book for You!
The teen reading world is dealing with Richter-level quakes this week ever since the news broke that Stephenie Meyer, of Twilight fame, has announced that she will shelve Midnight Sun, a retelling of Twilight from the vampire Edward’s point of view. Apparently, a rough (very rough, she admits) draft of Midnight Sun was posted to the Interwebs, and so now she’s put the book on hold “indefinitely.” Of course, the reading juggernaut that is teenage girls is up in arms. They’re posting on Meyer’s site, on...
read moreBig Yellow…Taxi?
Yesterday, DH broke down and bought Frick a cellphone. I’ve been anti-phone, mostly because this is a kid who can’t find his own shoes half the time, and also because, well, he can’t find his own shoes half the time. I wasn’t too keen on having him have to keep up with a phone. Plus, he loses his natural mind around electronics, so I had these nightmare visions of phones going off in class, him answering, then shushing the teacher because he couldn’t hear the bonehead on the other end. But DH was worried about...
read moreHere Comes the Sun
The sun’s out! I had the top down on Inga this morning, and it was wonderful! Now that it’s afternoon, it’s threatening to storm again. Go figure. Summer in Florida, huh?We could use a little more sunshine in the Sunshine State these days. Oh, well.
read moreCool Chick: Jennifer Garner
Frack and I adore the movie 13 Going on 30. Sure, it’s a remake of Big, but it’s the girl power version. It’s the mark of great casting when you can’t think of anyone else in a role, and I have to say that Jennifer Garner is perfect as Jenna, the 13-year-old so disgusted with her life (and herself) that she wishes herself into a 30-year-old über-bitch magazine editor. Thankfully, that über-bitch becomes both human and fun because the 13-yo brain is now running things. What woman my age didn’t want to run to the...
read moreDog Paddling
It’s wet here in Central Florida. This is our fourth straight day of rain, and it doesn’t look like it’ll be slowing up anytime soon. At least we’re not in Brevard County. They had a freakin’ monsoon yesterday–25 inches in one day! They had to close the Melbourne airport because of all the snakes and gators on the runways. It’s not quite as bad in our neck of the woods, but we did hold walk/wade/swim in registration for fall Little League this afternoon, hahaha. Poor kids at school looked like drowned...
read more10 Favorite Olympic Athletes of All Time
We’re home from school today (scary storm out there not raining on us right now, but oh well), so let’s catch up on some blog stuff. Bruce Jenner – Decathlons are for badasses.Jackie Joyner-Kersee – Heptathlons are for female badasses. And she won three Olympic medals (two golds, one silver) in it!Edwin Moses – Do you have any idea how hard it is to run the 400 meter hurdles? Ed Moses looked like a gazelle.Jean-Claude Killy – Because his name is fun to say.The 1980 U.S. Men’s Hockey Team –...
read moreWelcome Back to School! Or Not…
First day of school today! The kids actually popped out of bed this morning and got dressed with very little prodding (or begging, or threats). Got the cute back to school pic, fed them real breakfast–chocolate chip pancakes, thank you very much!–and sent Frick off to the school bus. First day in middle school! Good thing he was early, because so was the bus. Frack is loving being the queen of the elementary school now that big bro is off amongst the tweens.My day went pretty well, too. Nice kids, good questions. They mostly got...
read moreOuch!!
Today was the big go-to-the-Convention-Center-for-some-learnin’ day (aka “Professional Development Day”). These are all-day extravaganzas with breakout sessions and usually a vendor exhibit with all manner of educational items for sale. Not that anyone has any money to buy anything in this lean year, but there you go.So I’m strolling the booths when I get accosted by a salesman for a giveaway. Fill out this pink card, and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free iPod! I guess I didn’t exhibit the...
read moreMmm…New Pencil Smell
Teachers go back to school today for pre-planning (which is kind of a redundancy, since “planning” implies something you do ahead of time, but I digress). The first week of school where teachers are back but students aren’t are kind of the back bar of teaching. It’s all the inner workings without all that messy teaching and grading going on. Just the adults, doing their thing, and being able to eat lunch at a normal pace for the last little bit until the students arrive.Plus, you get to unpack all your brand new office...
read moreWhither High Concept?
One grace note to my Dream Agent smackdown at National was that she praised me for my ability to create a high concept story. I always thought “high concept” meant something truly groundbreaking and new, which meant that there was no way in Hades I’d ever figure out how to do it.However, Dream Agent explained that an ability to capture the essence of the book in a fresh way that editors and publishers can grasp and market is the core of “high concept.”In my case, that means controlling metaphor. For each of my...
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