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House of Penguin

Yesterday was Penguin Day.

This is the fun part of being an author; meeting my new publicist, Allison.

Videotaped some online publicity pieces.

Best part of the day: meeting with 8th graders from the Little Red School House and hearing their comments on WINTERGIRLS. (More on this tomorrow.)

We had a party back at the House of Penguin with a cake that looked like the book and I got to say thank you to everyone, especially my editor Joy and the talented team who came up with the WINTERGIRLS cover and interior design.

There was a bunch of meetings and a dinner and I crashed into bed. Off now for another meeting and then to the airport.

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Eating in Greenpoint

Ready to dash off to meetings, but wanted to share some pics from yesterday first.

I flew to NYC and met up with daughter Bookavore so she could show me her new world.

She lives close to this amazing bakery.

When you already have a tattoo that matches the name of your bookstore, it’s a sign you should be working there.

Greenpoint is a largely Polish neighborhood, which was very cool because I had such a good time in Warsaw a couple of years ago. This is where we ate lunch.

This is what lunch looked like. The name of it, loosely translated, is “Polish comfort food, with sauerkraut.” Very yummy.

Also yummy was the sheep’s milk yogurt I had at breakfast.

Off to the meetings. And no, I am not wearing a flannel shirt.

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What do you get when you cross a writer with a computer programmer?

What do you get when you cross a writer with a computer programmer?*

You get a book-loving daughter who manages a bookstore in Brooklyn and writes a column about technology. My oldest, Stephanie, aka Bookavore, has started a regular column on Shelf Awareness dealing with developing technology that can connect booksellers to readers and authors.

Her first article explains Twitter and how fast, easy, and useful it is for all of us living in the bookosphere.

BTW, if you do live in the bookosphere, you ought to sign up for Shelf Awareness. It comes out M-F and contains publishing news, bookselling news, library news and great reviews. It’s the only e-newsletter I get.

Other tabs to close. The Christian Science Monitor has a very nice review of CHAINS.

If your Internet habit is interfering with your writing, you should read Cory Doctorow’s advice.

I still have a handful of questions about writing and publishing to answer. I’ll get started on those tomorrow. Right now? Another chapter!

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* I would love to claim credit, but it was Stephanie who came up with this line. Her biological dad, Greg Anderson, is the computer programmer. Which would make me the writer, yeah.

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Listen

As part of the 10th Anniversary of SPEAK, I wrote a poem that shares some of the reader reaction I’ve received in the last decade. Below is the video of me reading the poem at NCTE/ALAN last November.

You can find a higher quality version of the video on the “Speak Up About Speak” page that Penguin has created.

If you want to be a part of this effort, Uncle Penguin would love you to contribute your comments about how the book has affected you on that blog.

On a completely unrelated note, this story of compassion and sportsmanship shown by two basketball teams in the Midwest is guaranteed to make you happy.

I’m off to get ready for my trip to New York and, one hopes, write many more pages.

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