Skype Video Interview with Allen Zadoff

May2

I talked to Allen Zadoff about writing fears, finding inspiration, pushing through self-imposed blocks, theater influences and reanimating Shakespeare. He inspires me! Allen is the author of the YA book, FOOD GIRLS AND OTHER THINGS I CAN’T HAVE and MY LIFE THE THEATER AND OTHER TRAGEDIES. Visit Allen @ allenzadoff.com

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Skype Video Interview with Jennifer J. Stewart

November18

I talked writing and super hero assistance with Jennifer J. Stewart, author of If That Breathes Fire, We’re Toast!, The Bean King’s Daughter, & Close Encounters of a Third-World Kind. We also talked about her new picture book The Twelve Days of Christmas in Arizona, just released in time for the holidays, with illustrator Lynne Avril.

Here is one of Lynne’s adorable illustrations from the book. Thanks for letting me use it Lynne!

Learn more about Jennifer at her website: www.jenniferjstewart.com

Jennifer is also the board of directors for Make Way For Books: www.makewayforbooks.org

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Video Interview With Kelly Milner Halls and *BOOK PACKAGE Give Away!

October26

Kelly Milner Halls sat down and talked with me about her process of writing both non-fiction and fiction books. She also shared her great news, CONGRATS KELLY! And we had some great laughs over Darth Vader and cat hairballs too.

The drawing is closed, we have a winner! Congratulations to Pamela Ross who’s name was pulled from the pewter trophy bowl!! Thanks to everyone who watched and participated! *Kelly also is generous with the give-aways. She has a BOOK PACKAGE that she’s put together for you that I’m going to be drawing a name randomly for. Leave a comment on this post between today and November 2, 2010 midnight-my time here in Arizona, to be put in for the drawing. This offer is only available to people in the continental United States and people who are not relatives or close friends…..sorry mom. I will announce the winner sometime on November 3rd. Please make sure you’ve left a way for me to get in touch with you or you won’t be eligible despite your location or DNA status.

Sorry, the drawing is closed.


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Skype Video Interview with Janette Rallison & 2 BOOKS TO GIVE AWAY*

September23

EDIT October 2, 2010: WE HAVE THE WINNERS! The drawing is over, thank you for watching and commenting. Congratulations go out to KathrynC. and LomaR.!!! Ladies, check your email! Comment here to be entered into the drawing to win one of Janette’s books; the hardcover of Fame, Glory, and Other Things On My To Do List OR How To Take the Ex Out of Ex-boyfriend. We will be drawing a name randomly for each title. The cut-off for the drawing is Friday October 1st at midnight, 12am Arizona time. I will draw and announce the names sometime the following Saturday, October 2nd before midnight. Please make sure you’ve left a way for me to contact you.

*Offer good until date specified and only in the United States. Void after the date of the drawing. Thank you!

I had so much fun talking with Janette Rallison! Janette is smart and funny and writes some pretty kick-ass books. I hope you enjoy the laughter and the video as much I did making it.

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Skype Video Interview with Larry Dane Brimner & BOOK GIVE-AWAY!

September20

***BOOK GIVE AWAY*** Watch the interview video and leave a comment here and please make sure you leave a way for me to contact you. We have one copy of TRICK OR TREAT OLD ARMADILLO to give away. Thank you Larry! Names/comments will be taken at this post until 12am-midnight Arizona time, Sunday September 26, to be included in the drawing. I will draw a name on Monday September 27th and I’ll announce the name before the following Tuesday. Offer is only good for people in the US. ***This drawing is over, WE HAVE A WINNER! Thank you for watching the video and commenting. Be sure to check out Larry’s new book TRICK OR TREAT OLD ARMADILLO, it’s a great Halloween read!***

Larry Dane Brimner rocks non-fiction in a lyrical way. Author of more than 150 books for kids, his non-fiction books WE ARE ONE, the story of Bayard Rustin and BIRMINGHAM SUNDAY informed me and affected me at the same time. I would bet that there isn’t a school child anywhere who hasn’t encountered one of Larry’s works. Larry chatted with me and shared with me his writing insights and why he loves fiction as much as non-fiction. He also scared me with his talk of what he would do to zombies with knitting needles.


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Elizabeth Law talks books and gives away a galley!

August30
UPDATE: The “free galley” contest is closed.  We have a winner, thank you for playing.  More importantly: Thank you for reading and watching!!

One of the things I love about conferences is hearing the stories behind the books. Nobody tells these better than editors/agents/publishers. Authors are fun to listen to too, but we’re too close to our own stories to tell them and there’s nothing like the industry’s point of view.

When I interviewed Egmont USA’s vice-president and publisher Elizabeth Law a few weeks ago. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLiQXw8T7Jc ) I told her how much I loved these stories. Then I took a deep breath and asked her quickly if she would consider talking books with me again. She say she would and this video is the result of that.

Elizabeth also wants me to give away a free galley. I’m going to let Elizabeth choose which galley to send to the winner and I’m very envious that I cannot be included in this drawing. I’m pretty sure it will be one of the books featured. I’ll collect comments from this blog entry and my facebook too. I’ll give you until Sunday, September 5th, 2010, midnight-Arizona time to enter. I’m bad with numbers and lots of other things, so I’ll let you figure that out. Then, the following Monday, I’ll draw a name from slips in a bowl and post the winner.

I’m also going to ask you to leave some love for Elizabeth while you’re here. She took time to do this and she had one of those days when it seems that all things made of technology were working against her. You’ll see in this video the technological trials we were run through and in the end we lost audio completely. You will also see what a great sense of humor Elizabeth has, you will be simultaneously charmed and solidly cracked up. You have to see her reaction when I pitched a picture book manuscript to her!! FUNNY! She then followed that up with some really sweet advice about interacting with her at conferences. This is a special lady who wraps her heart and soul around the books she acquires for her company. She is exactly who we want to choose the books that will offered to our kids to read!

Enjoy this video of Elizabeth talking books!

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I got to talk to Adam Rex on Skype!

August30

And I recorded it so that all of you could see it too, wasn’t that nice of me? We talked about balancing writing and illustrating. If you’re familiar with Adam’s work, then you know that he is just a scary creative genius who has put out a phenomenal body of work and he just keeps more coming all the time. We also talked about that all too familiar dilemma of what to do when a basket of were-puppies has been abandoned on your doorstep.

You can find a complete list of the books that Adam has either illustrated or written or both here. His picture book Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich had me LOL-ing so hard the cats came running to see if I was dying. Okay, they didn’t run, but they did lift their heads off the floor-interrupting their naps because of it. I just finished The True Meaning of Smekday and let me tell you that was a FUN read. Adam also has a website set up just for Smekday with a video to watch and chapter to read.

I’m looking forward to reading his newest novel Fat Vampire, a *never* coming of age story. Here is the Fat Vampire website to answer all your questions. At least about Adam’s book Fat Vampire.

Without further adieu…which was fun to type-here’s the video, Enjoy!

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Skype Interview with Vice President and Publisher of Egmont USA Elizabeth Law

August8

Elizabeth Law chatted with me via Skype and I had so much fun with her. Elizabeth is charming and smart, and has a GORGEOUS apartment! Elizabeth is vice president & publisher at Egmont USA; “At Egmont, our motto is that we turn writers into authors, and children into lifelong readers.”

We talked about scuba diving and E publishing. Elizabeth put some editorial smackdown moves on me and I’m a better writer for it! She also told me what she would do if a fairy bit her while she was in her kitchen. Then she gave me some exclusive sneak peeks at some upcoming Egmont USA books for kids. You don’t want to miss this one! (You don’t want to miss any of the interviews I’ve done so be sure to check out my YouTube channel if you’ve missed any of the four I’ve done so far.)

Enjoy! I know that I sure did.

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Skype video interview with Paula Yoo!

August4

I’m having so much fun! I got to chat with Paula Yoo via Skype and Paula is just made of inspiration! If you aren’t familiar with Paula, she is an award winning children’s book author, a classically trained professional violinist, a screen play writer and a substitute teacher. She is currently working as an Co-producer for the Syfy channel’s original show EuReka. I learned from Paula that “producer” is what they call television writers.

Since YouTube extended their max upload video amount from 10 minutes to 15 minutes that means I can now pack more into the interview. Paula and I talked about writing and time management. We talked about her NaPiBoWriWee, or National Picture Book Writing Week project that has taken on a life on it’s own and definitely something all picture book writers should know about. We also talked about what to do if you find a troll in your shower! But you can go listen to it all yourself, enjoy!

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Skype video interview with Janni Lee Simner!!!

July28

Ooops, I did it again! I Skyped with Janni Lee Simner about writing, peanut butter and the zombie apocalypse. We also talked about her newest book THIEF EYES and things she’s got coming up. Janni really gave me some great writing tips. I hope you enjoy watching this video as much as I enjoyed making it.

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