Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee

To say I’m a fan of Lisa Yee’s writing would be like saying I’m a fan of sugar – I love them both in a big way and can’t get enough.  My local bookstore keeps selling out of Yee’s books, but I managed to track down a copy of Millicent Min, Girl Genius the other day.  I’ve enjoyed Yee’s blog for a while, and I’m happy to say I loved her book as much as I thought I would.

The story follows Millicent Min, a super-smart but socially awkward girl.  At eleven years old she has nearly completed high school, but she doesn’t really have friends.  The summer before her senior year, her mother signs her up to do two dreadful things: tutor Standford Wong and join volleyball.  The results are sometimes disastrous, sometimes painful, and always funny.  This book made me smile all the way through, and Millicent has such a great voice.  Please, please read it.

Feeling the burn

Yesterday my husband and I decided to take our new kayak down to the marina for a little ride.  Ian had previously taken it out a few times, so it was my chance for kayaking glory.  We launched off a little boat ramp and away I went.  The good news is, I was able to ride out to some rocks to see seals.  A few of them were playing around and jumping all over the place, but when they started swimming towards me out of curiosity, I decided to let them be.  Odds are, they’re much better in the water than I.  The bad news is, after a long ride out, the ride back to shore felt considerably longer.  I’m feeling the burn and I’ve got blisters on my hands.  Which makes typing this considerably harder.  It also rules out handwriting my next book sections, so I’m going to try writing things directly on the computer.  It doesn’t flow as well for me, but hopefully it’ll work.  Things are coming together nicely in my WIP, and I’m hoping to have something in shape for the conference next month.

Lost in the Library

I just want to say that when I was in the library the other day, a little kid who had lost his dad walked up to the help desk and asked the librarian to find his dad.  Dad was quickly located to cheers of “yay!”  Not two days before that, some little kid had wandered away from his grandma and started whimpering.  All of the other people at the library continued typing away at their laptops, oblivious to the ever increasing panic in his voice.  So I went over and said, did you lose your mommy?  The little kid burst out wailing.  Let’s go look, I said, and held out my hand.  He took it, crying ever louder.  At last gradma came running and snatched the kid up.  She shot me a dirty look, like it was me who caused the kid to cry, not her negligence.  I bet things would have been different if I was the librarian.  Jeeze.

What’s orange, ten and half feet long, and weighs 48 lbs?

My husband woke me up in the middle of the night on Wednesday to whisper, “I bought a kayak.”  In my half-awake dream fog, I pictured this to be a far off thing, like it was a kayak on layaway or something.  Fear not, by the time I got home from work yesterday, there was a ten and half foot kayak in my living room.  A bright orange ten and half foot kayak, mind you.  One that does not fit around corners or in closets or even spare bathrooms.  So now I have a kayak living in my living room.  I feel like I’m on Friends.  I laughed a lot and then shook my head, because really, when you’re not using a kayak, all it does is take up room.  Pull out a tape measurer ten and a half feet and it makes you go, “uh oh.”  That’s my life.

The kayak makes my husband really happy though.  He wanted to take advantage of living by the beach, hence the purchase.  He bobbed around yesterday in the marina, saw seals, pelicans, and even two dolphins.  I’m jealous, and also annoyed by how orange it is.  So I’m making the kayak a little kayak cover.  Not the decor choice I had in mind, but life doesn’t always care about decor.

Resource Thursdays: AgentQuery

Whew!  Is it Thursday already?  This week has rushed by in a blur, and I’m looking forward to the weekend.  For the past few weeks my schedule has been: go to work, on lunch break research SCBWI Summer Conference faculty, finish work, get home, eat dinner/walk dog/hang out with husband, go to the library, type away at WIP, come home and read books by conference faculty (and whoever else strikes my fancy), sleep, repeat.  It’s been fun but tiring.  As I’ve been going through the researching portion of my process, I came across AgentQuery.  Writer’s Digest just named AgentQuery one of the Best Websites for Writers for the fifth year in a row.  Clearly they’re on to something.

AgentQuery is a large database of literary agents, and what’s great about it is that it offers an agent search.  You can narrow down agents by the type of queries they accept, books the represent, etc.  The site also offers really useful information on the publishing process and agents.  It also lists a bunch of other resources for writers.  Overall, it’s worth spending some time if you’re in the search for the right agent, or if you just want to learn more about the business.

Birthday lessons

Lesson learned: Do not wear mascara while receiving birthday presents from your husband.  The presents will make you cry (in a good way) and you will be a mascara monster.

Second lesson learned: homemade cake is the best thing on the planet.  (Okay, I knew that one already.)

The best birthday present

From the moment I walked into Children’s Book World in LA, I was in love.  Not just in love with the fantastic selection of children’s books stacked ceiling high and bursting from the shelves.  Not just in love with the mini couches waiting to be sat on, or the sunlight streaming through the windows.  I was also in love with their customer service.

My husband took me to Children’s Book World on a shopping spree as my birthday present.  We had been by the shop on a visit to the nearby Food, however we didn’t have a chance to go inside.  Boy was I missing out.  As soon as I walked through the door, I was greeted with effusive hellos.  I had a look of glee/panic on my face, as the selection is ridiculously overwhelming, and one of the staff members stepped right in to help.

I asked her to point me in the direction of popular middle grade books with quirky female characters, and the staff member was on a roll.  She exuberantly walked me and my husband from book to book telling me what she loved about each title.  We ping-ponged back in forth in this high-energy chase for the perfect books, moving on each time she remembered her next favorite.  She gauged my reactions and tailored the books she recommended.  Then she told me all about the baker over at Food, and how the baker had been coming to Children’s Book World since she was three.  I love when people love what they do, and it just showed in every member of the staff.  All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.  Not only will I have the books to enjoy, I also had a wonderful afternoon.

My Bookshelf

This weekend my husband took me on a book shopping spree for my birthday (more on that tomorrow), so I then treated us to a nice new bookshelf.  We still don’t have a dining room table, but we have four bookshelves in the living room alone.  It’s obvious where my family’s priorities lie!  For your viewing pleasure (note brown chaise of awesomeness):

My bookshelves are arranged by category (children’s books, adult fiction, nonfiction, travel, etc.) and then by color.  I love the result as a design choice, and grouping by cover helps add splashes of color to the room.  The only problem comes when I get new books and need to rearrange…

As a side note: if you’re interested in any prints like the ones you see in the above photos, check out www.distinctphoto.com or inationalpark.com.

Attack of the Spam

Okay, only one question for today.  Why does my spam feel the need to argue with me?  Even if a real person wrote “That’s interesting but I’m not sure that I completely agree with you,” I would think twice before approving the comment.  Obviously, my ego can’t be challenged.  But seriously, antagonistic spam?

Resource Thursdays: Literary Rambles

Yay!  While doing research on the faculty of the SCBWI Summer Conference, I came across the Literary Rambles blog, run by Casey, an aspiring writer.  Casey has spent awhile learning as much as possible about the publishing business, and it completely shows on her site.  I found her site because her Agent Spotlight section happens to feature a number of agents about whom I am currently doing research.  Pretty cool, huh?  In addition to being a fun read, Literary Rambles is thoroughly researched and well-written.  I’ve just found a new favorite blog to stalk.