I’m currently editing one of Jeff Sampson’s new books (he’s 

here on LJ; go join the Fu Tang Clan!), and I must reiterate how funny this guy is, especially when it comes to dealing with kender, a hobbit-like race in the Dragonlance world. I see kender much as I see children: they see the world from a much different perspective–it bugs me when people think of children as somehow “lesser” because of this different perspective, even to the point of assuming them stupid or slow-headed or annoying–but the truth is kender (and children) can be really just more quirky and different, in a very good and sometimes entertaining way. And a
good author who writes for children knows how to tell a story embracing those wonderful qualities of childhood to tell something funny and unpretentious, while still able to touch on deeper matters as the story demands.

Well, let’s just give you a little taste of what The Stolen Sun, book 3 in the Suncatcher trilogy, will herald. In the (unedited) prologue (i.e., subject to change), two human characters are talking to each other about their journey to Sindri’s homeland. They’re in a wagon traveling and neither can sleep. One says to the other, “You do realize we are heading for an entire countryside filled with kender?” 

“Wilden chuckled. ‘I do. You’re saying I’ll need all the rest I can get?’

“‘I would say that, yes.'”

I will be spending the rest of my week giggling, I’m sure. So go start reading The Wayward Wizard if you haven’t yet, and you’ll be all caught up by the time this one comes out!

On Monday, I volunteered at the Scholastic book fair, where I sold several copies of 

saraclaradara

 CONFESSIONS OF A CLOSET CATHOLIC. I also convinced myself to buy a stack of books that I’m pretty sure I don’t absolutely need. Wanna hear the top question asked at the book fair? It was–Got any books about dragons?

I brought the new toy to work. 😀

Pictures behind the cut. There’s no real guessing involved–I’m sure you can figure out what the objects are–but I thought you’d get a kick out of them. One of the objects is from

. Can you guess which one? 

Oh, and I couldn’t resist sharing my two favorite recent cat photos. 

You have made my dish-packing day.

Did I mention I was moving this weekend? Here’s hoping the new place–hardwood floors! yay!–will be good for my allergies!

Is the book review section of the newspaper relevant to you? asks MediaBistro’s GalleyCat. And they’d like your feedback–the feedback of regular people who read, rather than just industry insiders.

So pop on over and take the quiz, whether you read the newspaper or not. 

For me, I wish it gave you the choice for several options, rather than just one. I use blogs, personal recommendations, what jumps out at me on the shelves, reviews in journals such as SLJ, VOYA, or the Horn Book–all those except the newspaper review section. Hm…

I’ve decided that today is my running commentary blog day. 
I just have to say out loud that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition always makes me cry. They do good things for people who need it. I’ve had my concerns in the past about the supersizing of small homes–tax burdens on poor families, utility burdens, that kind of thing–but the direction they’ve been taking, making sure to build more “greener” when they can, looking for people who don’t just have small or worn-down houses but who have something very special about them who can’t do for themselves what needs to be done. I’ve seen them help two families whose houses burned down–tonight’s is making me bawl because not only did their house burn down, but then the oldest son died in a car accident not much later–I’ve seen them help families with foster children with special needs (AIDS and such), and so on and on. If you watch the show you know what I’m talking about.
Sigh. So sad and so lovely all at once.
I must say, I still have my reservations because problems aren’t solved by making your material dreams come true, whatever they are (though I’d love them to come in and pay off my student loans, don’t get me wrong!)–but when you’re at a point in your life where you don’t even have a place to live, or that place to live is slowly killing you (in the case of the moldy house with the special needs foster kids), when you can’t make those ends meet, it’s really hard to work out your other problems, and a little joy like this for these people brings hope they might not have otherwise had. So, kudos for them, and kudos for them to spread the trend by encouraging people to get involved in their own communities. As I’ve watched the show, there have been so many times the community has gotten together to pay off a mortgage or set aside a fund for utilities or get the funds together for whatever special need the family has, and that’s really nice.

I haven’t been over to JacketFlap for a while, simply out of negligence, which means that recently that when I figured out how to do buttons on my sidebar I forgot to add this one:

… (well, one similar to it) which you should see now over there on the right. Especially if you don’t already do the LJ friends-list thing, JacketFlap is a great way to aggregate your children’s publishing related blogs all in one spot–blogger, LJ, all of them.
In their own words, “JacketFlap has become the world’s largest and most comprehensive resource for information on the children’s book industry. Writers, illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, and publishers visit JacketFlap every day. JacketFlap is one of the best resources available for getting your blog in front of the right people.”
My blog reading is usually just reading my friends page here on LJ, because it’s the easy way to do it for what I know how to do, but Tracy and the JacketFlap people have really been doing a great job in creating interesting content and figuring out all the good blogs and getting them all in one place–another reason I haven’t been over there, because I know if I add all the interesting blogs to my reader I’ll spend all my time over there!
So anyway, if you don’t know what JacketFlap is, check out the link. If you’re a children’s or YA author and your blog isn’t listed, check with the JacketFlap people about how to go about doing that.
Now I’m going to go figure out all the blogs they’ve added since I last browsed…

I must say, there was a reason I loved Romper Room as a kid. I waited and waited, and she never did say she saw Stacy. But I had hope every time.

So if you’ve been reading this LJ for a while, you know how facinated I am to connect with people all over the world. Well, the next best thing is to connect with people from home. Or is it the other way around? All I know is, I’ve had a recent visitor from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I must say hello, because how could I ignore my alma mater? (Sort of. I spent 4 1/2 years there but ended up graduating from BYU.)

So to you fellow Illinoisans out there, welcome! (Even if you’re not an 8th-generation one like me. 😀 Which of course my being in Seattle makes many a farm-bred relative ask, “What do you need to be all the way out there again for, anyway?” To which I point to my old friend from my Galva High School class who lives in Tacoma and say, “It’s not just me!” Which reminds me that spring is coming and I need to make a field trip to the Tacoma Museum of Glass. Can you believe I’ve lived here nearly two years and never taken my high school friend who works there up on the offer to see it??? I can’t.)

Off to read a book, and I’m not sure whether I want to go blast the Marching Illini to embrace “Alma Mater” going through my head (yes, I played mello and LOVED being in the band that Sousa loved) or go find something to take the nostalgia away.

I promise, as soon as I get Heroes started (after this post), I’ll write that post I promised on Take Joy, which is sitting right here next to me. But first, since you all enjoyed spring so much, a sample of the joy that is my telephoto macro lens on my new camera body. 

Playing with my new digital camera. These are going for a little more of the light study thing, along with using the two different lenses, the macro, that sort of thing. Originals here.

I think this next one is my favorite because of the detail you can see in the salt crystals, on the lower right.

What do you think?