Happy Holidays – I’m off to New Zealand

Well, it’s finally time for my long overdue honeymoon.  Ian and I are heading to New Zealand to hang out with sheep and penguins and do lots of hiking and photo-taking.  I’m well armed with lots of fantastic books to read and I’ll be doing a little travel writing as we go.  While we’re gone, check out the pets on our webcam here.

I hope you have a fantastic holiday!

Best wishes,

Tanya

After my heart

The local librarian wears gloves to work every single day.  Not, white ‘wow I respect books so much’ gloves but fuzzy black ‘I need a quarter inch of cotton between me and everything I touch’ gloves.  I love her style.  It speaks to the germaphobe in me.

The things kids say

Add to the list of things I never thought I’d hear in a library: a two year old dropping the f-bomb at full volume.  You may think that going to the library every day is boring, but the experience never ceases to amuse me.

My blogoversary!

It’s my one year blogoversary today and I’m super excited.  For the last year I’ve posted five days a week, pretty consistently.  The only times I’ve really slacked off on this have been the last few weeks, which have been filled with graduation and weddings, weddings, weddings.  My goal with this blog moving forward is to post when I have something fun to say, but not worry about posting daily.  I’m sort of an all or nothing person when it comes to routines, so hopefully I’ll still post frequently.  My bigger focus at the moment is to get my novel into shape and ship it out the door.  Cross your fingers for increased productivity!

Fall happened

It’s getting dark way too early around these parts, I tell you.  When did it get to be fall?  Unfortunately, when it’s nice and dark out, it makes me want to curl up in bed with a book.  This is not good for the writing, or the (cough cough) exercising that I need to be doing.  Bring on daylight savings.

Dog Days

I keep trying to convince my dog that if he stops barking I’ll be able to write my book and if I can write my book then I can try to sell it and if I can sell it then maybe I can buy him some dog food.  He is very food motivated, my dog, however he only understands food in concrete terms.  Since all this food I’m bribing him with is abstract potential food, this does not make for a good bargain.  So until I can get him to understand food in the future tense, I’ll be at the library.

ANT(P)M?

I just want to toss out there that I’m totally into this season of America’s Next Top (Petite) Model.  Sure I promised myself I would stop watching the show four season ago, but my DVR just keeps picking up new episodes at the start of the season.  Then I tell myself that I’ll just watch the first episode, but after that, sadly, it’s too late to break myself loose.

The good news about this season is that it features short girls, and though I personally wouldn’t be at shoulder level with any of the “short girls,” it’s still nice to see them featured.  I would like to point out, however, that there seems to be a rule that the girls aren’t allowed to wear any sort of heel to judging.  They show up in perky flats and Tyra towers them over in stacked platform shoes.  Really?  Also, the fact that Tyra continually calls them “the next top petite model” instead of just “the next top model” like every other season is super annoying.  It’s singling them out for their size instead of embracing their talent, and it’s a totally mixed message.  To me this just perpetuates the cycle of seeing short people as “the other” instead of the norm.  Tsk, tsk, Tyra.

P.S. Oh god, I’m analyzing reality television – some of my media studies classes must have rubbed off on me.  To think – I may have actually learned something in school!

For the love of books

If you’re a children’s book writer and you talk to people outside of the publishing industry about your work, one of the first things they always say is, “Hey, you could write the next Harry Potter.”  This has been my experience, at least.  Then you have the choice to either nod and smile (because, hey, maybe you could be the next J.K. Rowling) or tell them the truth that the odds of you being the next J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer are slim.  This is not to downplay any talent you have or any goals you might want to accomplish, this is because of that darn thing called reality.  Fiction writers and reality aren’t always the best of friends, but it’s important to have a balance when it comes to publishing.

I think as a writer it’s important to have confidence in your work, but also recognize those fantastical publishing-success stories are, well, fantastical.  They happen, but they’re rare.  And this bring us back to the idea of why we write.  It’s not to make a million dollars, though that would be nice.  I write because I can’t not write.  It’s the pulse in my wrist.  If I don’t write, I don’t sleep.  It’s that simple.  So when the uninitiated ask why I’m shuttling off to the library four nights a week and working countless hours if not for the money, I say it’s for the love of books.  I love books and story and the joy of creation.  That’s what makes it worth it.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday everyone!  This past weekend my husband and I drove to Santa Barbara to shoot a wedding, then drove home all in one day.  That being said, I slept in late on Sunday and my whole body clock is off.  When that happens, it makes my brain mush.  Not exactly the perfect formula for fresh writing.  I’m hoping this week will be productive, and my plan is to spend lots of time in the library, butt in chair.  Conveniently, this should  also help counteract the heat wave that’s supposed to happen.  That and lots of popsicles.  Mmmm.

Look! There’s me!

So I was reading the blog of the lovely Lisa Yee today and look what I stumbled on!  It’s a whole post of pictures of Peepy at the SCBWI conference.  Take a look at the photo of Lisa’s panel on writing for multiple ages.  If you look in the front row of the crowd, on the right side of the screen, next to the aisle, and squint really hard, you’ll see me.  Ha!  I’m strangely proud.