Home-made Trailer

A Texas librarian offers up a great little trailer for Impossible on a blog called Regina Bibliotheca. Seems like somebody was genuinely impressed by the book -- this sort of riffing qualifies as a sincere form of flattery.

Book Burden

Heretofore, books were not a problem for me. I loved them, unless I didn't, and could take and leave them amidst the competing threads of my life. I never thought of myself as a reader. Then Nancy came along, and, well, you can guess the rest. It's not just that she talks about books all the time, it's that she has a never-ending supply of them at her fingertips, and is always brimming with suggestions.

As a result I find myself staggering under the burden of a backlog of nine books. Nine. That's got to be at least six or seven more than I ever had to deal with before Nancy, and at any given time I was just as likely not to be reading a book, if you can imagine such a thing. (I understand that some of you can't.)

I'm currently well along in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn -- which I'm loving, by the way -- and on deck is a borrowed copy of The World Without Us. I've put on hold for the moment a book about the Giants that my brother bought for me, and I've got Allende and Patchett and McCracken cooling their heels in the wings. (I've got almost as many metaphors as books.) It's so bad that I can't even remember everything that I'm intending to read.

I'd bear up under it all, and stoically at that, but for the fear that still more is on the way. I expect I'm not going to get much sympathy from you lot, but understand at least that I'm coping with a new and bewildering world. Sort of like Francie in the book I'm reading. Only different.

Children's booksellers are into Impossible

Publisher's Weekly announced their 2008 Cuffies, in which children's booksellers vote on their superlatives from the past year. Impossible scored not once but twice, earning an honorable mention for Favorite Novel of the Year, and a second one for Best Novel for Young Readers That Adults Would Love If They Knew About It.

And these aren't just the sort of honorable mentions that are given to anything that's remotely close -- they mean that Impossible made the top three in both categories. Wow.

So which is cooler? It's a quandary. But though the latter speaks volumes, I think I've gotta go with the former. "Best" is great, but "Favorite" is best.

They *did* ask nicely

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is seeking nominations for the Dear Author Bitchery Writing Award for Hellagood Authors (DA BWAHA). I know a smart bitch who doubles as a hellagood author. She even has a soft spot for trashy books. I'm not sure that I can ethically nominate her, though. Anybody else want to step up?

Look for a spike in North Shore housing prices

Who needs reviews? Here is the sincerest form of flattery: someone is using Nancy to move real estate (see the second paragraph).

If Jed Clampett had had web access upon striking it rich, he'd be living in Peabody right now.

Off to a good start

Nancy was the first-ever interview for the eponymous blogger of Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf. Lauren conducted a nice interview for her first time out, and it even includes an interesting little tidbit about Nancy's next novel for the impatient among you.

A good book

When I open a fortune cookie, I generally hope to discover within the sort of fortune that tells me that I stand to gain something. I feel a bit cheated when I get a mere observation on life -- I don't see how that constitutes an actual fortune, and besides, I prefer to gain things. But I liked the observation that was stuck in the bag along with my beef and broccoli yesterday:

"A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever."

The assertion is somewhat questionable, but the supporting logic is unassailable.

Impossible is Booklist 2008 Editors' Choice

Hey, look -- Impossible is a 2008 Editors' Choice on Booklist! Kudos keep coming, one upon the next. Not all of them are created equal, however, and this is the sort of kudo that makes Nancy a little happier than usual...

What Doesn't Your Girlfriend Know?

All right, young readers, let's see what you've got. This comes from Sonya Sones:

"This is to let you all know that What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know just came out in paperback. Yay! And to celebrate, my publisher is having an awesome writing contest.

"The winner of the What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know Writing Contest will win a free six-week online writing class from Gotham Writers' Workshop. And the winning entry will be posted on my website. 10 runners-up will receive a year's subscription to Teen Ink and an autographed copy of the book.

"To enter the contest all you have to do is read What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know, and when you get to the very last poem, write a continuation of the story. Keep it short but sweet - ten pages or less. And, of course, write it in the same style as What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know - in a series of poems.

"You can read about how to submit your entry right here: www.Writingclasses.com/Sonyacontest."

So there you have it. If you'll be between 13 and 18 on the date of entry, you can write it the way you want it written.

Impossible wins Wilde Award

I'm a tad late with this, but Susie Wilde of the News & Observer in North Carolina has an annual awards list, and selected Impossible among the best children's books of 2008. Not much new in the brief write-up, but it's nice that it made the list.

Nancy, me, and 2008

Where to begin? 2008 was just a phenomenal year for us. While lots of bad things were happening around us, our fortune was astonishingly good. Our heroine accepted a proposal from and married your humble blogger in 2008, and of course she got Impossible published. A book tour, speaking engagements, social occasions, and much more...one good thing after another for Nancy and me. Let me put it to you this way: both of us say without any hesitation that this year was the best of our respective lives, and given the number of years we've tallied between the two of us, that's saying something.

It's all going to be tough to top in 2009. But while this year should be a lot calmer on paper, we're thinking that we're going to continue to be very happy. And we know, with the world doing what the world does all around us, that we can't ever take that for granted. So we're just going to feel really, really lucky...