A teenager's breakfast

Because I think everything is novel research, I submit this...
This morning, this is what my 12-year-old chose for breakfast.

Kid questions

Favorite questions from my preschool children.

1. Kid: What's in that fire truck?
Me: Water
Kid:...Then what's in a water truck?


2. Kid: When birds die, do they get four wings?

Can you believe

...everything looked like this around here about three weeks ago? And now we're all out in t-shirts.

I just received a copy of the latest reprint of Fakie in the mail today from Lobster Press. It has cool reviewer quotes plastered on both covers and on a page inside. It made my day.

One Last Scar is due out in about three weeks. HIP Books sent me a preview of the interior art, but the cover is still being tweaked. So you'll have to wait a bit for that one. I'll give away some free copies around release day. Details to follow.

Off to grade, write, organize a comic literacy con and pick up the kids. "Too many irons in the fire," as a friend of mine used to say.

Blizzard-Imposed Writing Retreat

You would think that with school cancelled and two blizzards less than a week apart I’d have had plenty of time to finish this novel already. But that would assume that I live in a secluded mountain retreat where there’s no one else around to talk to me during writing. Instead, I have four other people in the family and four pets.

So here’s how my time really goes.

1. Shovel path for dog to go outside
2. Play in the snow
3. Play board games
4. Play in the snow
5. Mario!
6. Mope because Feb 6 Young Author Conference is cancelled b/c of blizzard
7. Finish reading two books I started at the same time
8. Rearch for sequel. (I’ve gotta plan ahead, so I can see how to end this one)
9. Watch 24
10. Dig out car and forage for food
11. Write like 5 pages
12. Play in the snow
13. Spend too much time on facebook
14. More games
15. Make Play Doh versions of the kids
15. Take cat to vet (her foot was suddenly swollen 3 times normal size) on the one day the roads are passable
16. Take opportunity on road to fight crowds at store for supplies for storm #2
17. Throw “cook” in there about every other line. I have three growing kids
18. Do taxes

Now with 5 days remaining, I see I need to shovel up some solitude so I can finish this one.

Waaaay too late

So It's about 1:00 and I've been writing for about six hours today. And I'll still probably write for a few more hours. Which brings me to today's topic.

The Writing Groove.

The most popular writing question I hear is "How do you write through writer's block?" And I usually give the answer walk away from it. Go do something else.

Today, after writing for maybe two hours, I went out and cut the grass. It's been rainy, so the grass was long, soggy. It forced me take it slow. The drone of the push mower drowned out all other distractions. During that time, I plotted out the rest of my story. Not word for word or anything, but most of the main twists and turns.

And now, since I've been typing pretty solid for the last three hours, I believe I'm in the groove. That is, my words and ideas are just coming together like they are already written and just waiting for me to make them appear on the screen. And it's possible that if I stay awake long enough, I could finish the whole thing tonight. However, since I type with two fingers, it's highly unlikely that will happen.

It's not often I get in the groove. And I can't make myself get there. So once I'm there, I'd be crazy not to stay and ride the groovy train.

Yeah, you knew I had to throw a cheap pun in there.

That's all my insight for tonight.
Back to work.

Good thing I kept my aluminum foil brainwave protector beanies

So in Canada, scientists have created a machine that can tell a person's preference between two items using a fiber-optic headband and a near-infrared light aimed at the head.

Basically, it measures oxygen levels through light absorption.

Their explanation: "When your brain is active, the oxygen in your blood increases and depending on the concentration, it absorbs more or less light," one scientist said. "In some people, their brains are more active when they don't like something, and in some people they're more active when they do like something."

Hmmm. Why do I care? Jack Bauer's interrogations will be more reliable. The government and aliens that want to read my paranoid thoughts can get a closer look.
My wife will have proof of all the thoughts she's accused me of having!

I'm doomed.

reference link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/newdevicereadsmindsprettywell

Now this is what I'm talking about!

Spider-man and Obama comes out next week! The future president has said he read comics as a kid. Now he gets to star in one. I don't think my Spidey collection will be complete without it.