Poetry Friday: Crows, a haiku

On the Spot haiku for Poetry Friday:

Crows

Crows flap, swoop, and pulse
typing on the blue sky screen
the story of fall.

Lorie Ann Grover, 2008

Month Change at rgz

I'm whipping the last minute deets together for the month changeover at rgz. The whole team is busy contributing!

We are looking at blog posts on voting, and a chat with Joseph Bruchac and Cynthia Leitich Smith on November 6th to celebrate Native American Month.



Plus a trivia blog contest. There's a great addition to announce on the 3rd in a forthcoming press release, and meetings for TBD 09. And yesterday I gave the group forum stripes like my stripey socks.

Playlist, slideshow, issue, and community service are done! Woot!

Now a few more days to chat with Rachel Cohn. Perfect.

Maybe I need another cup of coffee...

Poetry Friday: Sunrise Haiku, Writing on the Spot

Poetry Friday! Writing on the Spot. This haiku popped out for breakfast. :~)

Sunrise

Rupturing the dark,
the yellow bulge pops and runs
like a broken yolk.


Lorie Ann Grover 08

Novel Confirmations

Sometimes as an author you wonder if your books are really out there. Is anyone hearing your voice? Of course blogging helps, but still. Your novels. Are they being read?

And then confirmation flies in when you don't expect it. This last time it was from two people in one week.



Book Chic in Washington D.C. was sweet enough to write:

"So I'm now volunteering at my local public library and I'm at the front desk taking in checked out materials and guess what I saw today? Someone brought in On Pointe! I had no idea my library even had that book of yours, so I'll definitely have to check it out sometime."

Ha! Fantastic!

And then the wonderful author Melissa Walker sent me these photos from her phone! She ran across On Pointe in a tiny library in Vermont.















And the copy had been donated in memory of a dear love.















Okay. That's enough to warm my heart. My whispers are being heard. How nice is that? Thanks, BC and Melissa!

Jay Asher's Meme: High School Photos

Okay, thanks, Jay Asher, for this fun meme. So here I am in high school, 1982. This was actually the second photo as puff levels were exceedingly wide on the first round.


There you go. This is who I see in the mirror still. Don't you all? Hmmmm.

The Plain Janes Booked, and Stop in the Name of Pants!

I'm so happy that we've been able to book Cecil Castellucci at rgz for her The Plain Janes and Janes in Love. How cool is that?



So even though MINX is being discontinued, making us full of sadosity, the books will still be available in July when we'll feature them. Yay for great graphic novels!

And it may be obvious that I just finished the fab Stop in the Name of Pants. As usual, Louise Rennison had me howling. I lurve Georgia Nicholson and her mates.



I wonder if we could ever get her to visit hamburger-a-gogo land online at rgz? Wouldn't that be double cool with knobs? Which could actually cause me to have a nervy spaz. I think I should go and do The Viking Disco Hornpipe Extravaganza to let off a little energy after that thought.

Ah, Georgia, you are vair vair groovy, fabby, and marvy! But could we just talk a bit about Dave the Laugh?

Pip pip.

Poetry Friday: Spider Haiku, On the Spot Writing

It's Poetry Friday before I know it! Teen Read Week has flown past!

I tested myself to write a haiku that's been sweeping through my thoughts. Here it is:

Shivering

Hunched on icy lines
spiders curl into cold balls
frosted until dawn

Hm. Maybe the On the Spot Writing is going to need Saturday Revision.

Contemporary Bites, Snape, and Yaks in Small Towns

Contemporary Bites was awesome last night at rgz. Maureen Johnson, Ally Carter, and Justina Chen Headley were in the limelight as we discussed contemporary writing. Snape made another appearance I have to add. Believe me, I'm not loading him in the threads!



Anyway, I saw Justina's post on yak hair and just have to say: one can find yaks in little ol' Sumner, Washington. Seriously, Justina. You do not have to live around the world for your research. *sigh*

To our Sumner yakhood:


Off to get ready for Fantasy Bites!

MINX Discontinued?

Are you kidding me? I just got a tip from GuysLitWire, Colleen Mondor, to read The Plain Janes and Janes in Love for rgz. I do and they are awesome graphic novels for teens. I'm psyched to get ahold of Cecil Castellucci and invite her to be a feature author for readergirlz. We've been looking for the right graphic novels for the group. Here they are. Tada!



And then rgz diva HOLLY CUPALA tells me they discontinued the graphic line, MINX. WHAT? The publisher of The Plain Janes.

So I found this link this morning from PW The Beat:



"Over at CBR, Andy Khouri reports that DC has canceled the Minx line, the much-talked-about line of GNs aimed at the female YA market, launched with much fanfare last year...CBR News was told that Random House, DC’s book trade distributor, has not been able to successfully place MINX titles in the coveted young adult sections of bookstores like Barnes & Noble."

Are you kidding me? They expected teen girls to find this amazing imprint for them in the graphic novel section? Not YA? And is two years really long enough to test the success? The works received star reviews!

Here's Cecil's announcement. http://castellucci.livejournal.com/474170.html

The PW post says that now the books are creeping over to the teen sections, but it's too late, right? This is just sadness. Cecil, rgz loves these works. Can anyone tell me if they'd still be available next summer for our girlz?

National Book Award Finalists

Brava, YA authors!

Young People's Literature:
Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains (Simon & Schuster)
Kathi Appelt, The Underneath (Atheneum)
Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied (Scholastic)
E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (Hyperion)
Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now (Knopf)

*do a little dance*

Teen Read Week, Verse Bites

I'm so excited to host Stephanie Hemphill and Lisa Ann Sandell tomorrow (Tuesday) at rgz Verse Bites, Night Bites. Tonight's Multicultural Bites went so well with Coe Booth, Mitali Perkins, and An Na. I know the fun is just going to continue at rgz.

Stop in at 6 PST, 9 EST if you have the time.

Happy Teen Read Week!

John Green says, "Hi!" to rgz!

Woohoo!



How fun is that?

WLMA Update, John Green, and Boutiques

So...what has happened today? *do a little dance*

I MET JOHN GREEN! LOOK AT THIS PHOTO! I'm posing with readergirl Myria Jacobs, daughter of librarian readergirl Mary Jacobs, and JOHN GREEN. NERDFIGHTERS!


So his speech was intriguing, funny, and thought provoking. The librarians LURVED him.

Then it was on to Justina's talk and signing. How fun to hear her story as an audience member. Is she not the coolest? Is her heart not passionate for philanthropy? Three of the librarians said her talk was worth the ENTIRE CONFERENCE!


Then it was time for a cup of coffee with Liz Gallagher. What a sweetheart. It was great to hear about her latest work in progress.


So where are we now? Take a look!



We are at a boutique hotel in downtown Portland! And it's time for cocktails in the lobby. Woot! Could this be any more fun? Nope.

I found Justina!

I found her, readergirlz! I found Justina!!!! Okay. She found me. She pulled up to my house and drove us down to Portland for the amazing Washington and Oregon Library Media Association Convention.

Tell me. She does NOT look like she's been awake for 30 hours, does she?

And who did we meet at the author meet and greet party? Jone MacCulloch, amazing blogger who hosted the Kidlitosphere Conference with Laini Taylor just 2 weeks prior!


What a flurry of a day as Justina spoke, we chatted with librarians, and eventually made our looooong way back to the car.


We deserved that loaded burger and milkshake, right? Okay, off for her keynote speech this morning! *waving from Portland*

Poetry Friday: Aspen

Aspen

I am
a white aspen
in a
crooked canyon.
Dew
sprinkled leaves
clattering
with delight.
Deep holes
of mystery
at my root.
Branches ringed
with
the weight
of thought.
Trunk
curling and twisting
yet
reaching
finger branches
to
the
spiral dawn.

Lorie Ann Grover, 2008

October: Breast Cancer Awareness Month and My Thyroid Cancer

I've batted around this post in my mind for a few weeks. Since this is October and Breast Cancer month, and since I wrote Loose Threads about my grandmother's breast cancer, and my friend recently had a breast cancer scare, I thought I would write about my own thyroid cancer.

It's actually been a year now. A year since I was in isolation for five days because I was radioactive. Of course that followed the full removal of my thyroid. Both sides were removed as a precaution. The cancer was in the lobe they didn't suspect. I'm so thankful my surgeon was capable and cautious.

Everything came flooding back as I sat in the waiting room and my friend received her biopsy a couple weeks ago. The smells, the anxiety, the possibilities. The reality of redefining normal. The tenderness of partners waiting nervously beside their loved ones. A parting with the words: "I'll be right here waiting for you." It's such a journey for everyone involved. I'm so thankful my friend does not have cancer!

It was incredible to me to meet two others touched by thyroid cancer at the Kidlitosphere Blogging Conference. We compared scars, stories, and current medication doses. So it is normal to feel like a hamster running on a wheel because you have to take a high dose of Synthroid so your cancer doesn't try to return. Do you know how helpful that is to hear? There are other hamsters out there!

If you know someone being treated for cancer, extend a hand, an ear, a shoulder. Share hope this month. Share your own strength.

I close with my neck smile. Happy to be here in 2008. xox

Sno-Isle Library and Librarian Dawn Rutherford

Okay, these photos aren't exactly representative of the moment I'm speaking of, BUT they do show who I am referring to. And they rock.

I'm giving a shout out to the AMAZING Dawn Rutherford, Librarian Extraordinaire. I mean just note her hair and glasses. And I don't even have a photo of her hip motorcycle boots.

Dawn had Dia Calhoun and I speak this past week about rgz to a room full of YALSA librarians for college credit. They got it. We didn't. :~) Very cool. Then we joined a panel with Colleen Mondor of GuysLitWire, the awesome brother site to rgz.

Here's Colleen. This captures her much!

We were moderated exceedingly well by postergirl, librarian Jackie Parker .

So, she's not actually moderating here. But you get the gist of life with Jackie around. (Pictured: postergirl Miss Erin, my daughters Em and El, and Jackie.) It kind of looks like a panel, right?)

We had a great time discussing our sites, teen girls, and teen boys.

It was a great event at Sno-Isle Library. Thanks so much to all the fab librarians we met! And I'll try not to forget my camera next time. Grrr.

Lunch with Robin Hobb and Kat Ogden

One of the BEST perks of being an author is having the opportunity to meet other authors. Recently, Dia and I received an invite in our rgz MySpace inbox to have lunch with Robin Hobb! Yes, that amazing New York Times Bestseller of adult fantasy who happens to live in our area. Robin Hobb!


Here Dia and I are with Robin at the restaurant. It was great fun comparing our writing history and how writing for adults differs from writing for children. Seriously, rgz, Robin's work is sold and shelved as adult, but with teen protagonists, I know you'd love diving into her worlds!

Dia will be bringing an interview with Robin to rgz soon. So stay tuned.

We had amazing food during this fun time. Is this "Swimming Lady" not gorgeous? Yay for me for trying something new.


One more pleasure was getting to meet Robin's daughter Kat Ogden who is heading up her own film company, Sabotage & Dialogue Productions. She was energetic and full of enthusiasm for her own work, her mom's, and her family. I hope to have an interview with her for our rgz. Definitely a gutsy woman making a stand in her field. And she's offered to do visual work for our group! I'm thinking TBD 09. Wahoo!

Here's to fantastic fantasy, lunch with friends, and great film!

Diva to Diva: READ Poster Event

Dia Calhoun and I recently attended the KCLS Bellevue Public Library READ Poster Event. It made us miss Justina Chen Headley so much, I pieced this together for her. Diva to diva...

rgz TV: rgz panel highlights, Kidlitosphere Conference, 2008

Finally, I have the movie made of rgz highlights from the opening panel at the Kidlitosphere Blogging Conference. Can you BELIEVE the opening Holly Cupala made for this series. HA!

MSN Cinemama Review of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

I loved Martha Brockenbrough's post as Cinemama over at MSN about the Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist movie! Thanks for the sweet quote, Martha!



Dia Calhoun and I loved the movie last night. We went to the opening! Congrats, Rachel! Now off to hang with Ms. Cohn at rgz.

rgz in The Christian Science Monitor

Do you hear me squeeing over the mention in the Christian Science Monitor. Linked to rgz? Screaming yellow zonkers! *do a little dance*

GalleyCat, Ron Hogan, and rgz

Have to give a shout out to Ron Hogan over at GalleyCat.

He is made of awesome optimism and holds up the truth that teens are reading!

Look at this great post where he talked about rgz, GuysLitWire, and gave me a mention. Woohoo!

Kidlitosphere 2008, Part Three, Voodoo Donuts

Okay, getting back to the kidlitosphere conference, I have to show Voodoo Doughnut.


No comment on the tag. None. Anyway. Why did we go? Jackie Parker. The woman was on a mission. So we all piled in Holly Cupala's Prius and hauled it into Portland.

That's Colleen Mondor, Dia Calhoun, and mission director Jackie Parker. So what did we find at Voodoo Doughnut? I'll let the photos do the talkin'.


Except, I have to interject that this was the first time I could ever buy panties with my donut.


Yeah, so, that's what I bought. And I did have a bite of the maple bacon bar, Colleen Mondor! Ha! Anyway, I thought everything was going to be fine, until I spotted this arm just ready to creep out and steal my donuts. I'm not kidding. It was like a dehydrated arm!

Yep. There's really nothing more to say. Thanks for the run, Jackie! You can always count on a librarian to add spice to your conference, right? Or at least a few sprinkles to your donut.