Links to publishing information

Oh my -- Everything you ever wanted to know about publishing has been collected (with links) in one place on Nathan Bransford's blog.

If you're a writer, you need to look at these. (just ignore the 114 comments below his post.)
-wendieO

Storms

A line of thunderstorms raced through the East Coast on Tuesday, causing damage everywhere. A good bit of Maryland was without electricity overnight. (I don't know about the rest of the states, but I imagine that similar problems of downed wires and trees existed all over.)

Naturally, my husband's I-POD worked fine.
I was at work. He was at home with the 9-year-old.
He sent me a message about the electricity being out at home -- where were the flashlights?

Unfortunately, I couldn't see his e-mail, because there was no electricity at work, either. (It's a half-hour drive from home.) Plus, I was having the same problem at work -- where were the flashlights? There used to be rechargeable flashlights at every Information desk, charging away to be ready for emergencies. Except, we had discovered that they gradually died, making them unavailable once we did have an emergency.

Maintenance had installed emergency lights in the librarian's office, which has no windows and is dark as pitch when the lights go out. What a nice surprise when they went on.
ADM said that we couldn't close. Wait for an hour or so to see what happens. Well, what happened is that we discovered that the emergency lights are only good for a half hour. By the time we were allowed to leave, the office was pitch black, again.

Did the customers leave when the computers died?
No.
They simply sat at their computer and waited. (laying claim to the one they had been using) I kept seeing lights over by the computers, so I went to see what was going on. They had their cell phones open, shining cell phone light onto their dead computer.

Finally most gave up and left. Except for three middle school boys and one lady. The three boys wandered around the library, waiting for the rain (hail/ wind/ storm!) to stop, because they had to walk home. They finally settled in over in a corner by some windows -- watching something on a Blackberry or I-Phone or something. The lady settled down at a table doing the same thing -- watching a movie on her Blackberry or I-Phone or something.

It's amazing how quiet a library gets when there are no computers running/ no electrical things running at all. (except for the library staff chatting over by the check-out desk and the murmur of the two movies running on those phones.)

Gradually the light through the windows died and it reached 7 pm. Ah. Officially we could close. We turned off every switch that might possibly have been on when the electricity stopped.
I drove home to discover I had to detour around a sparking fallen wire near home.

When was electricty restored?
2 am at my workplace, according to staff members who live a few blocks away.
And not until 7:30 in the morning at our house.

We had expected to get a good night's sleep, since there was "nothing to do" at home.
How-ever --
the 9-year-old kept waking us up.
She couldn't get asleep. It was too quiet. It was too dark.

How did the storms affect your area?
-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday -- Even an Ostrich Needs a Nest

Even an Ostrich Needs a Nest, Where Birds Begin by Irene Kelly. New York: Holiday House, 2009. Available now.

Birds' nests.
If you live anywhere near trees, you've probably seen birds' nests.
But only some birds of the world build their nests in trees. Some build in Cacti (ouch) , some in holes in the ground or a cliff, and some pile up a compost heap which warms the eggs as the leaves rot.

Some birds don't build nests at all, depending on their body or feet to keep the eggs warm.

But the strangest of all is probably the bowerbird -- who spends weeks building and decorating and sometimes painting a huge building of a nest -- only to have the chosen female build a simple nest elsewhere to actually hatch her eggs.

The lightly colored pen and ink drawings were checked for accuracy by bird expert, Margaret Hart. A world map at the end shows where many of these birds can be found.

Remember the title?
You would think that an Ostrich's nest would be featured in this book, right?
You'd be wrong -- no Ostrich. weird. I have to admit, with no index, it was difficult to determine this, but I searched every page for an Ostrich and found nary a one. A definate OOOPS moment here.

Links to other nonfiction monday posts can be found here. -wendieO

A Thundering Herd of -- Kitten

Thumpetty-thumpetty thump-thumpetty-thump!
Here comes a herd of
Kitten?
One kitten?
One kitten is making all that thunder?
Around the corner. Leaping onto the rungs of the stool. Balancing like a gymnist. Swinging around the bar, catching another one, flying off onto the floor into a heap.
(lick/ lick -- smoothing fur -- I meant to do that. cold stare. walking away with tail aimed straight at the ceiling.)

Yes, our new kitten gets larger and stronger every day.
You can't sit at the dining room table without something (someone) attacking your legs or pant leg or skirt.
No wonder we call her "Monster cat" -- MC for short.
-wendieO

7 Things Editors Wish Writers Knew

Jon Bard, Managing Editor of the Children's Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children's Writers sent this message:

Hey folks,
I've got another another free children's writing video for you. This one's called "7 Things Editors Wish Writers Knew" and it's based on our years of discussions with editors at publishers large and small. There are some good tips here that will help writers really impress an editor.

The video is waiting for you right here.
(you-all know to click on the link when I say 'here' or 'right here,' don't you? -wendieO)

What to do in Summer

Summer - time
And the livin' is eeeeeezzzzz.
Fish are jumpin'
and the cotton is high............

Not at our house.

What's a writer to do when the kids are out of school?

The writers over at "Through the Tollbooth" are discussing the problems of being a writer and having a life during the summer. Go check it out. Five different writers give five different views.
Which one do you agree with?
What's your summertime writing plan?
-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday -- Don't Lick the Dog

Don't Lick the Dog, Making Friends with Dogs by Wendy Wahman. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2009. Available now

If you like busy, busy bright pictures/ people and dogs with exaggerated features/ sentences divided into short phrases/ words printed in a large type-face -- you'll like this book.

With all this busy-busy, you might worry about the readability. Words placed on busy, colorful backgrounds are often impossible to read. Not to worry. All of the sentences have been carefully placed on the bright background color, in an open space, making them easy to read. One page has white words on black -- which works because they are on a large expanse of black.

This book is full of excellent advice about making friends with strange dogs, presented with a dash of humor in a series of one or two full page spreads. Children will quickly pick up the rules which will make their encounters with strange dogs a happy one.

Other Nonfiction Monday posts can be located here.
-wendieO