Posts for category ‘the world’

Until about an hour ago, I had an Internet-free weekend—yay! But I have the kind of week ahead that made me want to get some emailing and bloggy stuff out of the way before tomorrow so here we are.

- Here’s an interview with me over at Moonlight, Lace & Mayhem. In it, I talk a little bit about what I like about writing for anthologies. Anthologies such as…

- Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd, which is apparently in a store near you! Oh, so you have the ARC? Well guess what, my story isn’t in the ARC! Mwwaaahahahah! (Through circumstances totally not in my control, I swear.) It is a great collection including contributions from so many of your favorite YA writers. So many!  Like Lisa Yee, Barry Lyga, Wendy Mass, John Green, Scott Westerfeld, MT Anderson and MORE. (If you’ve ever traveled to meet in person someone that you only knew online, Kelly Link’s wonderful story will make you squirm in the best way.)

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At BEA, some of us supergeeks got together to celebrate the book through a random act of bowling. I took it very seriously.

Maybe I got swine flu from that bowling ball, or from Andrew Smith of Little, Brown, the fabulous publisher of Geektastic.

- Have you seen any or all of Michael Apted’s “Up” series? I have seen all of them. ALL OF THEM. On a recent episode of the fantastic radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge, one of the subjects of the “Up” films talks about how he got picked for it in the first place, and why he still participates even though he has some issues with Apted and the way the series is edited. As a fan of the series, I was fascinated to hear a participant talk outside of the context of it. You can listen to the segment here.

- Are you getting CSA this summer? Not sure what to do with all your veggies? I have invented something I like to call CSA Slaw, and it requires no cooking. Grate anything you got that’s grate-able: carrots, zucchini, raw beets. Chop finely whatever is choppable and edible raw: fresh corn, green beans, garlic. Toss it in a bowl. (I like to add cabbage, too, from the regular store since it’s not coming from CSA yet.) Make a dressing out of: equal parts plan yogurt and peanut butter, then add lime juice, salt and pepper and hot sauce to taste. I sometimes add good curry powder and possibly more garlic. You could use tahini instead of peanut butter if you like it and have it on hand. Mix all! Serve with something you grilled, or just throw in a can of garbanzo beans to make it a complete veggie meal for a hot night.

That ought to tide you over for awhile. And then some. (I need to learn how to write shorter blog posts, methinks.)

• Amanda Coppedge interviews me on her blog about Once Was Lost, and about being a writer who is a Christian, but not a “Christian writer.” I expect I’ll be engaging in lots of conversations about this over the coming year, which is fine with me, especially if the questions are as thoughtful as Amanda’s.

• This link is kind of old, but I just discovered it: Frank Schaeffer (aka Frankie to evangelical insiders who saw him grow up next to his father, Francis) articulates his regret over being part of the movement that established the Christian Right as a political movement. The interview is not just about regret; Schaeffer does a crackerjack job of deconstructing exactly what went wrong and why, basically, the entire movement was/is in theological error. Coincidentally, I found this interview on the same day that Robert McNamara died. McNamara also publicly humbled himself in regret – in his case, for his role in the Vietnam War (if you haven’t seen The Fog of War, you should). In both cases, of course, the expression of regret or apology does nothing to change history or alter the fallout and in that way is dissatisfying, but it’s so rare for a public figure—or for that matter, anyone, in a culture that is so much about staking your position and digging in your heels—to say “I was wrong.” I like these examples of humility, and how it’s possible to change, evolve, and come to new understandings about things you once thought were absolute.

• The National Book Foundation has kicked off its “60 Years of the National Book Awards” blog: “The blog will run from July 7th to September 21st, starting with Nelson Algren’s The Man With the Golden Arm, ending with Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country, and including works by Ralph Ellison, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, and Alice McDermott. Discover lesser known but equally talented National Book Award Fiction Winners such as Conrad Richter, Wright Morris, and Robb Forman Dew. Then return here, on September 21st, you will have a chance to select The Best of the National Book Awards Fiction and win two tickets to the 2009 National Book Awards, the first time in its history the Awards will open to a public vote.” (I’m not sure I’m clear on that last point…) Anyway, add the blog to your feed and join in the discussion.

Fun facts about Canada! Or maybe not so much facts as bits of information I picked up during my visit of very limited scope and duration…

1. What we call stocking caps are called “tubes” in Canada. I learned this when we took our cruise on Lake Minnewanka and it was so cold and windy that I needed to purchase a hat from the shop at the boat dock. I said, “Do you have any stocking caps?” “No, just what’s in the box. The baseball caps and the tubes.” EDIT! In the comments, Shari says, our stocking caps are actually “toques” (sounds like “tukes”). Quiller over on LJ also said it, and Wikipedia says it, so now I know it’s true. Toque/tuque, not tube. See, this is how rumors gets started and misinformation is spread, like a game of telephone! Here I am in my toque:

2. As in the south here, iced tea in Canada is by default sweetened. In fact, I could not find a restaurant with unsweetened iced tea. That was sad, because I don’t drink soda and unsweetened iced tea is my drink of choice when out.

3. There is a food item I was told again and again to try while I was in Canada: poutine. Which is a really fancy-sounding name for fries smothered in all manner of gravies and toppings. As much as I love fries, I have to admit it didn’t appeal. Gravy is not a favorite. Maybe next time. Convince me!

4. Speaking of food items, I almost fell over when in the Calgary airport shops what did I spy with my little eye but the legendary Kit Kat Dark. It’s been legendary to me, anyway, ever since reading Steve Almond’s wonderful book Candyfreak. He scored a case somewhere along the way while researching and became obsessed. I was restrained and only bought two, along with a bag of 70% cocoa M&Ms. Dark chocolate treats and my diabetes get along really well. I may have to move to Canada for health reasons.

5. Noticeable differences in restaurants there vs. here, other than the iced tea thing: They do not obsessively keep your water glass filled, and in fact may let you run dry for a long time. They do not rush you out by giving you the check five minutes after serving your food. We had to ask for it every time in every place, after sitting for long periods after a meal. Which was fine. What’s the hurry, anyway? And they call it the bill, not the check. Canadian readers: am I making sweeping assumptions based on limited experience? If you haven’t dined in the states, there is a total compulsion with topping off water. I noticed in general Canada (at least in Calgary and Banff) seemed greener–recycling bins in hotel rooms, dual flush toilets, etc.—so maybe the water thing is part of that.

Okay, have a good weekend!

This, believe it or not, is the Korean edition of Story of a Girl. Though Deanna Lambert in Pacifica would never wear that dress, the Korean Deanna very well might, and I love the hand gesture and expression on her face—I can see it pretty clearly, having a physical copy of the book in my hand right now, which is really great quality from Sallim Books in their Friends line. And, oopsie-doodle, it looks like they made it into a National Book Award winner instead of finalist. Who am I to complain? (Sorry, Sherman! Surely you will not begrudge me Korea.) Actually the hard copy of the book does not have the little medal decal on it like the electronic image does.

In case you’ve been away from the Interwebs all day, this is Buy Indie Day or Shop Indie Day or some such. I didn’t run out and buy anything today, but I try to shop and buy indie pretty much all the time. Here are some reasons why.

My favorite thing on the twitter today: Sara Ryan posted a link to this video of some guys in Mexico who have already written a Decemberists-esque folk song about the swine flu. For some reason I find it endlessly entertaining.

On that note, have a great weekend!

I saw 17 Again yesterday. I didn’t really get the Zac Efron hysteria before, but now I do. He is completely adorable, and actually a really good actor. I laughed, I cried, I admired his skin. But, if he wants to really transform his career from hearthtrob to actor with longevity, a la Johnny Depp, I have an idea: he should play Tommy in the Story of a Girl movie. We could de-cute him a little bit, add a scar, leave him unwashed for a couple of days. It would be brilliant. Zac! Have your people call my people!

Doesn’t he look a little Tommy-esque here?

Earth Day. I don’t know how I feel about it, as a day, which mostly feels like yet another opportunity for capitalism to taint what should be common sense. But, here are a few of the major though easy things I’ve done in the last couple of years. 1) I really, really, really try to avoid buying bottled water. For one thing, good, drinkable water should be free. Like air. For another thing, when I realized how many bottles I was tossing into recycling bins (when available, and they aren’t always), not to mention how much money I was spending, I felt lame. Recyclable doesn’t necessarily equate with desirable. All that recyclable stuff still has to be processed. 2) Re-usable cloth grocery shopping bags. They’re like 99 cents each. And who doesn’t want to stop the reproduction of plastic bags under the kitchen sink? I keep a couple in my car for spontaneous shopping trips, or in case I forget to take them from the house (happens all the time). 3) Flushing only when necessary. Enough said. 4) I air dry a lot of my laundry. I live in a very dry climate, so most articles of clothing that aren’t really heavy will dry in a day. 5) I’m obsessive about going around and turning off lights. Ask my husband. Next step: turning off the power strips when the things attached to it are not in use.

Someone on twitter posted the following from the Association of American Publishers: February publishing stats: adult hc down 0/9% in Feb, 17.7% YTD; adult pb down 38.8% for Feb, 29.5% YTD; mm down 18.3% for Feb, 14.7% YTD. Childrens/YA hc up 62.1% for Feb, 46.4% YTD; childrens/YA pb up 13.4% for Feb, 17.4% YTD. Ebooks up 131% for Feb and 177.2% for year ($6.7m) Very interesting. I certainly do not want to see any stats down, but jeez, seeing any segment of the economy grow at an over 50% rate right now is incredible, and makes me grateful I’m in the business I’m in. (That’s only one of the many things I’m grateful for lately.)

Everyone have a great day!