Healthy Writers

Blogging today at Healthy Writers about the awesome health benefits of broccoli.

In researching, I found this adorable video of a son filming his father cooking broccoli salad.

Vegetable Day

Today's my day to post over on Healthy Writers. The vegetable du jour is summer squash. What do you do with all that bounty?

Come on over and let me know about your gardens or cooking.

The Power of Talent

Short blog today; I'm going to let others do the talking for me.

One of the things I love about the internet is the opportunity to experience the talents of others in ways I'd never know otherwise.

You may have seen this video before, but I just discovered it yesterday. I'm in awe, first of the scope of the project, but more of the man himself and what it is in his character that gives him the idea to reach out like this and then the ability to make it work.




Don't you just want to dance?

I love the happy feeling I get watching this video.

If by chance you've never seen it before, you can find much more about the project at his website.



More on intriguing talents next week. :)

The Hunger Games

I was all set to post this blog about The Hunger Games trilogy today, but Susan beat me to it.
Come on over to her fabulous blog - Inkspells

No need for me to blog it when she's already started a discussion, right? Except I can't help it. I have to say something.

This series is AMAZING!

The reader in me is SO grateful to Suzanne Collins for a book that recaptures that "Don't talk to me, I'm reading" feeling. That "read under the covers with a flashlight" because I can't put it down feeling. That "need to recommend it to everyone you meet" feeling. Even that "need to blog about it even though someone else did" feeling. ;)

The writer in me wants to know WHY it works that way.

What amazes me about Hunger Games is that I can analyze it as a writer without losing any of the reading pleasure. That's rare for me.

I was discussing Hunger Games with a friend via email last night and she suggested that the writing puts her completely in the world of the story. I absolutely agree, but HOW and what else?


First of all, despite the subject matter which sounds harsh, The Hunger Games is extremely readable. You don't feel like you have to work at it; you're just absorbed into the story. You immediately want to root for Katniss against terrible odds because she's had such a hard life, she was so heroic in taking her sister's place, and she doesn't think of herself as anything extraordinary. Then there are all the little jabs of tension. In Book One, every time you get lulled into what is happening, there's a reminder of what's really ahead and how she can't trust anyone. By the time you get to the actual games, you're already completely captivated by the story. Forget putting it down then.


And of course there's the love triangle (verdict still out for me on that one).


Hunger Games reminds me of a cross between Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and the TV show JERICHO (that dystopian theme) with maybe a little Lord of the Flies influence. But it's so much more than that.

So have at it, if you will. Have you read The Hunger Games? What do you think makes it so compelling? And of course I have to ask, which team are you on?

Apparently I'm not alone in needing to discuss it - the Dear Author website had over 1000 comments! Dear Author is one of Scholastic's official District Blogs for this. So if you want (make that NEED) to discuss The Hunger Games more than just here or on Susan's blog, you can follow along on a different website each day up until the release. Each District has fabulous prizes to give away.


If you haven't read The Hunger Games and Chasing Fire yet, there's still time before the Mockingjay release next Tuesday (August 24th).



ETA: The teacher, writer and reader in me all love that there's so much excitement about this trilogy. Scholastic even has a countdown clock on the website.




If by chance you somehow missed all the hoopla about the trilogy this summer, just Google The Hunger Games, you'll get something like 7,290,000 results to choose from.

Healthy Writers - Not My Mother's Vegetables

Today marks my debut as a columnist on the Healthy Writer Blog.

If you're not familiar with the blog, I hope you'll drop by and check it out.

Healthy Writer was started about a year ago by writer Trish Milburn to chronicle her efforts to live a healthier lifestyle. Writing may be a sedentary career, but it doesn't have to be an unhealthy one!

Over the year the blog expanded with Michelle Butler, Tawny Weber, Keri Mikulski and Rachel Kleinsorge each taking a day and focusing on a different aspect of living a healthier life. Today I join them with a Saturday column on vegetables.

My post today is called Not My Mother's Vegetables and the vegetable du jour is the amazing superfood Kale.

I hope you'll come by and check out some of the videos and recipes.

WriteonCon

A week or more ago we were talking about all the people heading off to various conferences and what it felt like to be the ones left at home.

Well this week, all that changed. If you haven't discovered it yet, head on over to WriteonCon, an awesome online FREE conference. The conference is aimed at writers for the Kidlit market but the advice being offered is applicable across genres and the entire idea is extremely cool.

For example, if you're in need of motivation or validation, try this presentation by HarperCollins editor Molly O'Neill - Give Yourself Permission

Last night I participated in/really just observed an online video chat with agent/former editor Mark McVeigh - Working with Agents and Editors

Today there is a workshop on Plot and Pacing that I'm looking forward to spending time on.

There are also upcoming live video chats on querying, building an online presence and the revision process from both the author and editor perspective.

Be sure to check out the schedule of events. It's mind-boggling.

The conference actually started on Tuesday but almost all of the sessions are available as blogs or transcripts on the site.

Huge KUDOS to the organizers of this event. It's absolutely amazing.