Remember this entry?

Below the cut are photos of that same branch after it leafed out (leaved?), and those weird snaky shoots as they look now. Maybe someone knows what they are – the plants with the pretty little white bells?

To round out the Friday Five, I also included a photo of my angel birdbath and a blue columbine.

Have a floriferous weekend, all!

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Okay, clearly I am excited about 2009. My book baby will be born in the fall!

But lots of Oregon authors are having a pretty good year, too. I want to take a minute to show a little Oregonian literary pride on this penultimate January day.

For starters, Christine Fletcher's historical novel, TEN CENTS A DANCE, was selected as one of the 2009 Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults, by the American Library Association! Yay, Chris!

I loved this book, and I’m glad to see it getting the recognition it deserves. I did an interview with Chris a few months ago, here.

lisa_schroeder's novel-in-verse, I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, was listed as a 2009 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers by the ALA. Well-deserved! Yay, Leese! Lisa also did an interview with me, way back in May of 2008. You can find it here.

aprilhenry's latest YA thriller, TORCHED, will be released in early March. I can’t wait to read it! Yay, April! So far, I think my favorite among her books is LEARNING TO FLY. April was kind enough to allow me to interview her, as well, here.

Some of the most gorgeous writing I’ve ever read, for children or adults, can be found in Laini Taylor’s FAERIES OF DREAMDARK: BLACKBRINGER, a middle grade novel about … well, it’s a book that is very hard to synopsize. I’ll just say that there’s a fierce faery heroine named Magpie (’Pie, for short), a tattooed hero named Talon, some gruff and lovely crows, creepy villains, and one of the most fully-realized magical worlds I’ve ever read. Oh, and the meaning of life, and stuff. :-) Laini writes in exquisite, almost Tolkien-esque prose … a talent that does not occur very often, anymore.

The paperback of the book comes out May 9. Yay, Laini! Look at the subtle changes in cover art. Laini also has a YA novel coming out later this year - LIPS TOUCH. Double yay!

Suzanne Young, who recently relocated from the middle of Oregon to this corner, just announced that her earlier two-book deal has been augmented by two more books! WOW! We will have four SMITTEN KITTEN tales to lap up ... the first one appearing in 2010. Yay, Suzanne!

Five authorial Oregonian stars to keep your eye on ... who knows how many more will shine in the future? We have a growing kidlit community here, full of people who are passionate about books for children and teens.

Happy weekend! I'm going to watch an episode of "The Tudors," then get back to work on my WIP.

1) Look!




A Lisa, a Lisa, and a legend!


I went to lisa_schroeder’s book signing Saturday – it was so fun to meet dampscribbler in person there!

I had Lisa sign a copy of her book for a teen reader friend. And look what else I found? lisayee’s new YA novel is out – I can’t wait! I loved her funny middle grade novels … I can hardly wait to see what she does with YA.

And the third book? It looks like one of the legendary Carolyn Keene’s Nancy Drew mysteries, doesn’t it?

Wrong.

Even better:



2) It’s a journal!

I needed a new journal for my current WIP – I’ve been using one Moleskine for two different projects – and once I saw this awesome Nancy Drew journal, I had to have it. Now I will have a dedicated Boy Book # 2 journal.


3) Do you guys ever watch the Food Network?

Believe it or not, it hasn’t been on my radar till lately. I’m just not that into cooking. I’m proficient at it … but it doesn’t light up my circuits.

But my friend Laureen?

She is a FANTASTIC cook! She’s a paralegal, but for the past few years, she’s been entering (and frequently winning!) lots of recipe contests. Did you know there’s such a thing as competitive cooking?

And next week she’s one of the contestants on the Ultimate Recipe Challenge!


January 25. Set your DVR!


But before that … you know the best thing about this week? The thing that will make me happy for at least the next four years?

4) This guy is going to be my President:



And his lovely wife is going to be a gracious, brilliant First Lady.

And his two little girls are going to be adorable First Children, and I’m sure their dog will be the perfect First Dog.

Happy sigh.


5) # 4 is so big I think it counts for # 5, too.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

1




Looking forward to reading this next!


2
I was just about to go to bed the other night when I noticed a spider spying on me from the place where the wall meets the ceiling.

I am a big spider-releaser, except when I find them in my bedroom at bedtime. Then I am a spider-killer, because they should not have invaded my sanctuary. But I was feeling non-murderous, and besides, this guy was still in the bathroom. He had not crossed the boundary into my insect-intolerant zone.

I grabbed my son’s drinking cup and a clothes hanger, and I knocked him to the floor (the spider, not my son, hee!), then I trapped him under the cup, prior to relocation.

To my horror, I saw that my attempt at saving his life had resulted in a loss of limb! He was now a septopod instead of an octopod. Ack! His poor amputated leg lay pinned under the rim of the cup.

I actually cried out, “Oh no!” I carefully slid an envelope between the floor and the cup, so I could transport him downstairs and outside, but he was scrabbling around madly, and I think I probably injured him some more. When I lifted the cup with its paper cap, a sliver of space opened up and he fell out, fleeing on his remaining legs.

I put the cup over him again, and … well, there were no more tiny body parts as testament to my Brobdingnagian bumbling, but I have a feeling he was wondering how much longer I planned to torture him.

At this point I considered the squashing option.

But we had come so far, and suffered so much together, that I became fired with the determination to SAVE HIM.

And I did.

But I wonder if he got out into the wilds of my front yard and longed for death.


3
I’m working on two books at the same time. (Not the SAME same time, you know what I mean. Alternately.)

I’ve never done it before, and in fact, always believed that would be impossible for me. But I have two main characters demanding my attention, so what else could I do? I remembered castellucci’s writing-advice-in-five-words-or-less: “Don’t be precious.” And since I have an abhorrence of preciousness, I have knuckled down to the task.

I thought it would be really difficult to distinguish between the two voices. But it’s not. They are completely distinct. And in fact, when I get stuck on one manuscript, I switch to the other one. One is a rewrite of an old manuscript, so maybe that’s easier than working on two brand new ideas from scratch.


4
I haven’t been able to watch all the Olympics, but it was a joy to see Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Frazer run.

And what a tragedy about BOTH the U.S. men’s and women’s 4 x 100 relay teams bobbling the baton!! Wouldn’t you just kick yourself forever?


5
I have a MySpace page now and I’m slowly trying to figure it out. There are so veryvery many networking sites I feel quite faint.

Friend a sistah? http://www.myspace.com/lkmadigan.

1
Before I go any further, I would just like to thank Michael Phelps for being the lean, clean, swimming machine that he is … all sculpted and intense and mantastic and beautiful and meriting a lot of Internet research in my spare time.





2
I officially hate Kenley. How mean to laugh at Daniel while he was being eviscerated by the judges! Whatever you think about his taste, or lack thereof, she didn’t need to kick him when he was down.


3
My baby niece is adorable, and divides her time between eating, sleeping, and studying faces with almost unnerving calm. She tried to tell me things about her land, but I don’t speak New-on-Earth, so her secrets must remain with her. And like all babies, by the time she speaks our language, she will have forgotten the secrets.


4
My toddler nephew is golden and smart and certain. He likes “deez daysa-deeyas” (cheese quesadillas) and “yuv-yee nacks” (lovely snacks). We went to the San Francisco Zoo, just the two of us, and had a terrific time. The “deem enden” (steam engine) was his favorite part of the experience … bubbles came out near the end of the ride. It was Big Righty’s first time in a pair of tennis shoes in three weeks. He did okay, but he was happy to get home and go commando.


5
This is for my land-locked friends.

This was the section of beach outside my window while I visited my sister. They’re renting a beach house for the last few months before they move to South Dakota, which made my visit that much more awesome. I filmed a couple minutes of pure ocean to last me awhile, because who knows when I will get back to Half Moon Bay?

1
Don’t you wish you could have your mailman … sorry, postal carrier pre-sort your mail before it ever hits your mailbox? Kind of like recycling bins. I would want things sorted this way:

Real mail that I want to read, i.e. postcards, actual hand-addressed letters, and envelopes containing checks! (green bin)
Bills, bank statements, report cards, and NY Times Book Reviews. (yellow bin)
Everything else. (red bin)

2
I just finished Skin Hunger.




WOW.

When is the second book coming out?! Do I have to order it from England?!

This book is told in alternating voices. Sadima is a young woman born during a time when magic has been banned. Two hundred years later, magic is alive again, but only available to the wealthy. Hahp is the second son of a heartless father. He has been sent to learn magic at a school for wizards, mostly because his father wants to get rid of him. Sadima’s and Hahp’s stories are separated by centuries, but closely entwined.

If you are envisioning kindly Dumbledore and homey Hogwarts, you could not be more mistaken. Whether or not Hahp will even survive his horrifying education is in doubt through the whole book. Sadima leaves home to find love, but at what expense?

This is a dark and compelling read. Now I must track down the second book!


3
I miss tae kwon do.

4
Hey, Crackulous, I mean Scrabulous players! Did you know that a new game has taken its place on Facebook? It’s called Wordscraper, and I started a game with susanwrites. The board looks wacky, but we’ll figure it out, and she will beat me, like she always does. ☺ What’s that you say? I should be working on Book 2? What?? I’m sorry. I can’t heeear you …

5
Actually, I do feel like writing. Bye! Happy SCBWI-LA to those attending, and happy general weekend to everyone else.

1)
Never fear, I have no plans to stick Big Righty in your face today. But if you’re jonesing for some digits, click for a large handful:

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Big Righty asked to address his readers, the hammy phalange. I fear I’ve created a navel-gazing toe. I include his thoughts here:

I’m currently purple, black, and yellow, thanks for asking. I need a pedicure, but I don’t want anyone to touch me. Yesterday, even though Lisa was wearing her rigid shoe-thing, she bumped into her son, and when I made contact with his sneaker, she screamed for both of us.

It’s those graceful motor skills that landed me in this velcroed contraption.

Lisa has been doing a lot of lolling lately. Not by choice, of course, but she doesn’t need to combine the lolling with bowls of Love Potion #31, does she? Someone needs to remind her that hobbling doesn’t burn that many calories, so she should ease up on the groceries.

2)
I am the proud auntie of a brand new niece. Welcome to the world, sweet baby B. I get to meet her in 15 days, yay! Mother and baby are doing very well. YAY!

3)
See my icon? The Simpsons have already thought of everything, haven’t they? In FLASH BURNOUT, my main character’s dog is named The Dog Formerly Known as Prince. Now I see that I’m not as clever as I thought I was. (I re-learn that all the dang time.) I swear I never saw that Simpsons’ episode. But I’m not changing it, no way!

4)
I finished N.A. Nelson’s book, BRINGING THE BOY HOME, and loved it! Now my son is reading it. I’m afraid he’s becoming a “reluctant reader,” so I’m thrilled whenever he gets captivated by a book.

5)
“Mom, can I ask you something?”

My son always sounds very serious when he poses that question. I always say, “Of course,” while mentally gearing up to address something like “Why is there cruelty in the world?”

But so far, they have always been questions along the lines of: “Which rap group came first? Grandmaster Flash, The Sugarhill Gang, or Run DMC?”

Whew!

I hope when the hard questions come along that I’m up to the challenge.


Special note to lisa_schroeder: Lisa, they had LP #31 at Baskin-Robbins in pre-packed quarts!!!!

1) I'm going to start off the list with maximum excitement, so get ready: I tried a new shampoo.




At first I was hesitant to try it, because I don't like fennel.

Um, hi? Like I was gonna drink it?

But it smells really good, and will apparently help KEEP my color.


2) I got Nina Nelson's - lucky_life - book! I can't wait to read it. I paged through the first chapter and got sucked right in. But I had to set it aside ... I'm looking forward to getting back to it.





3) A girl from Portland is on Project Runway! Here's her bio.


4) The other morning my kid told me he was trying to “normalize” his hair. :-)


5) Summer is officially here. I made potato salad for the 4th of July … I’ve made my first blueberry cobbler … and I can’t wait for watermelon!


Have a nice weekend, everyone. I'm planning to finish my revisions!

1.
Fifty percent of the members of my critique group (The Garret) have sold their novels this year!

Okay, there are only four of us in the group. :-)

But we’ve been writing, revising, editing, and cheering each other on for several years, so to have TWO of us sell our books within the space of a few weeks felt like winning the lottery twice. We’re hoping to celebrate 100% in book sales before the year is through! Go, Garretistas!

Here’s the Publishers Marketplace blurb for Lee’s - sealy38 - book:

C. Lee McKenzie's BAD ASS ATTITUDE, in which a high school teenage girl, a cutter abandoned by her mother, flees Vegas to find refuge at her unknown paternal grandmother's ranch in California, to Evelyn Fazio at Westside Books, for publication in Fall 2009 (World).

2.
I’m going to the Oregon SCBWI conference tomorrow. [Edited to add: At which the talented lisa_schroeder will be speaking!] I haven’t been to a conference in, like, five years. The last one I attended was the national SCBWI conference in New York, where I met my friend Yvonne. We bonded over lunch, and stayed in touch via email. She invited me to apply to her crit group, I did, and was accepted. A few years later, I felt ready to start my own group. The old one was wonderful, but I had trouble keeping up with all the deadlines and requirements. The group I started is much looser and anti-deadline. We manage to provide timely feedback for each other even without deadlines, because we want to read and respond to each other’s work.

3.
My son and I have been reading THE TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY together. (I read it first, and loved it so much I couldn’t wait to start reading it to him. I was dying to do the Boov’s voice!) Even though the main character is an eleven-year-old girl – which might have been a deal-breaker for a 10yo boy – she is accompanied by an alien (the Boov), who is on the run from the rest of the aliens. It’s fast-paced and sooo funny. My son laughed so hard at one point that a new space opened up in my heart which now belongs to the author, Adam Rex. “My chest feels like it’s going to explode,” said my son, when he could breathe again. The next day he asked if we could read “some more of that book about the Boov.” This is huge. He’s more of a comic book reader, so to see him eager to return to a novel warmed the cockles of my heart. (Oh, and SMEKDAY has comics in it, too!)

4.
A friend of mine has launched a website for her jewelry. (I always, Anglophilically, want to spell it ‘jewellery.’) She made a gorgeous pair of custom earrings for me. If you’re in the market for some pretty new baubles, check out her site: http://www.katiejeans.com.

5.
My cold veered with unexpected violence into a sinus infection a few days ago. I’ve had sinus infections before, but never one so painful that my entire face hurt. When I looked in the mirror, I was surprised that my cheeks were not swelling into purplish-red pockets of throbbing pain … because that’s how they felt on the inside. I was able to persuade the Keepers of the Antibiotic to give me some without a pilgrimage to the urgent care clinic. Last year at this time I was suffering from a (less vicious but still persistent) sinus infection, and had to beg for a prescription two weeks after my visit to the doctor, where the primary person on duty had told me condescendingly, “You have a cold.” I can’t help but refer back to last year’s gratitude:

And it came to pass that on the 21st day, Lisa did beseech the Jealous Keeper of the Antibiotic for relief. With heart and sinuses full of hope and green mucous, respectively, she did make her petition. And lo, unto Lisa was delivered the miracle medicine. And the powerful pills did slay the infidel infection with the righteous wrath of the Lord and the might of modern medicine. And Lisa did sing hosannas unto the Lord and the Amoxicillin for many days.

Happy weekend, everyone!

1.
I just went through a weird spate of reading books that didn’t do it for me. Here are a couple of notes from my list of books read:

“Meh.”

“Simultaneously icky and overly cute. Didn’t finish.”

“Bad chick lit that is rife with cliché and not even funny, despite the blurbs. Gave up after 30 pages.”

“It may be a classic, but it’s boring.”

“Stuck with it for 120 pages before throwing in the towel.”

That last one was an adult mystery by an author whose books I have previously enjoyed very much. I don’t know what the heck happened with this one, but I finally put it down, probably never to pick it up again.

Finally I picked up one that my sister had sent me, and was immediately pulled in by the fresh language and characters. Whew! Saved by the book! I highly recommend Love Walked In, by Marisa De Los Santos. More “women’s fiction” than chick lit, I would say. More in the style of Joshilyn Jackson than Jennifer Weiner, for the sake of comparison.

I’m relieved that the next book in my to-be-read pile is E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. As I have said before on this blog, you always know you’re in good hands with E. Lockhart.

2.
I hear it’s National Poetry Month. You know we prose-y (as opposed to prosy) types envy the poets. They can pack a whole story into 600 words. It takes me 60,000.

I haven’t stretched my poem-y muscles for awhile. Maybe I will do that this month. But more likely, I will be receiving my editorial letter soon, and will immerse myself in Blake’s world once more. A couple of years ago, I spent an entire April working on a narrative poem, as a self-imposed assignment to step outside the comfort of prose. It was HARD. I am definitely a novelist.

But I’m not ashamed of my effort, and since I don’t have anything new to offer, here’s the two-years-old poem:

http://lkmadigan.livejournal.com/42590.html

3.
My son asked me to download Coolio’s “Gangster’s Paradise” for him today. Hee. I got “Fantastic Voyage” for him, while we were at it. Blast from the past! He’s oddly fascinated by Michael Jackson’s old hits, too. I blame Weird Al Yankovic: he parodies the songs, my kid loves the parodies (in this case "Amish Paradise,") then he wants to hear the originals. I’ve caught him (my son) trying to do that twisty-knee move from “Beat It.” :-D

4.
I’m going back to my WIP now, so let’s leave it at four. Have a great weekend, my friends.

Edited to add:

I just remembered!

I DO have a 5.

I have fan art!

FAN ART, people.

From my favorite (don't tell the others) Deb, Saundra Mitchell:

http://anywherebeyond.livejournal.com/23964.html

Don't get upset, Heidi! I'm just kidding! I love all my Debs. xo