>Junior Library Guild

>?The Hunchback Assignments is officially a Junior Library Guild selection. This is so cool! And I was only hoping for Lollipop Guild membership! : ) It's especially pleasing to have a book that features the nefarious Clockwork Guild and the suspicious Permanent Association being recognized by a real guild in the real world.

The Junior Library Guild reads about 3000 books and selects 336 to be recommended to various libraries. Read more about the selection process (and see some cool graphics, too) here.

It's a great kick off to the series!

Art

>Book Dumps!

>Isn't it funny the things an author gets excited about?

? This is what the dump bins (that is the bins that are used to sell books in book stores) will look like in Australia. Very cool! It's like Modo is going to leap out at you if you don't buy the book. Finally, he's in 3D. I am disappointed that no one is going for my idea of a steam-powered, mechanical giant that picks up the customers, shakes out all their money and slides a book into their pocket. Apparently it's tooooo expensive!

Art

>?It’s day 12 of being the facilitator of the "writing for young adults" lab at Sage Hill Writing Experience. Yep, it's over. It's done! 12 Days (11 for the students) of time to write, critique, laugh, listen to my mind numbing lectures, eat amazing food, write, rewrite, and play frisbee. To my calculations there were 2 broken arms, 2 broken legs, 1 slashed arm and six dead (Uh, I'm talking about characters in books, not students btw).

I'm blogging from home (must use treadmill desk to lose the weight I gained). It already seems like a dream...

Art

>Day Seven....

>?It’s day x of being the facilitator of the "writing for young adults" lab at Sage Hill Writing Experience. Okay, I'm losing track. I think it's day nine right now, but I'm going to write about day seven which was the 20th Anniversary Celebration of Sage Hill. Yeah, Sage Hill is officially out of the teen years. The event, like all good events, started with a bit of banjo/drums/violin and singing. Just a typical day at Sage Hill.
? Next we moved into the church to listen to Richard Ford's keynote address. It was about "becoming a writer" with the preambled warning that he was a writer so it would be hard to tell truth from fiction. His gloriously southern-accented voice took us for a stroll through his childhood in Mississippi, his relationship with his parents, and his first publications. The talk was well received and well attended despite the fact the Saskatchewan Roughriders were playing at the same time (they lost--stupid Roughriders).
We then went outside to the ? tent. There was free champagne. Yes, you read that right. These galas are decadent aren't they! And a wonderful jazz trio from Saskatoon. And there were speeches that made me salivate. Well, they were excellent speeches, but I was salivating because I could smell the hamburgers. There's nothing like hamburgers and champagne. Oh, and cake, too. Mmm cake (this is getting kind of stream of consciousness, isn't it?). I'm just trying to explain that this event had everything.
Even famous science fiction writer ?Robert Sawyer. Notice how I'm attempting to steal his spotlight. There were paparazzi everywhere taking his picture and I made sure I was in every snap. Did I mention there was free champagne?

Oh, there were classes that day, too. And that was the day I told them the secret to being published and making millions of dollars. I would share that with you, too, but the FBI are watching so I can't.

Art