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May 02, 2007
“Motionless Fascination”
The Internets have been bursting with exciting things lately.
#1 – Fuse #8’s gone and written an article for The Horn Book about blogging. Woo hoo, Fuse! (For the record, I understand that Fuse has a first name and that it is Betsy, but I have a hard time referring to her that way.) Woo hoo to The Horn Book, too. The article’s bound to bring blogs to the attention of a lot of folks who haven’t been reading them. Fuse also created a list of “Kid-lit Bloggers to Watch,” and watat is on it! Her annotation even makes my lack of focus sound like it might be fun. Brilliant!
#2 – If you are not checking Brotherhood 2.0 a few times a day in case Hank or John Green have updated and bloglines hasn’t bothered to tell you yet, it’s because you have never watched one of their videos. I’ve been trying to keep my addiction a secret, but this week John had M.T. Anderson on Monday and Hank had Neil Gaiman on Tuesday. I cannot remain silent any longer. I love the Nerd Fighters.
#3 – MotherReader is taking signups for this year’s 48 Hour Book Challenge, which will be held the weekend of June 8-10. I signed up and have been busily making a list of what I hope to read. It will be the kickoff to My Summer of Reading All the Fiction I Haven’t Been Reading While Writing the Homeschooling Book. I get all warm and fuzzy every time I think about it.
#4 – I don’t know how I missed this when she first posted it, but Alkelda from Saints and Spinners made a swell “Some Blog” graphic that she's inviting everyone to use. How cool is that?
#5 – I very recently made a last-round decision to go to this year’s BookExpo in NYC. Peer pressure from Jason, the siren song of NYC, and all the coolness the conference is promising all acted against thoughts like, “What if I need to finish up the book that weekend?” or “Won’t I be tired?” and “Haven’t I traveled enough lately?” This will be my third BookExpo, which is a busy, tiring conference that I love because it is entirely devoted to books. No conference has more authors and publishers, and no one talks about issues I’ve had enough of, such as the plusses and minuses of allowing cell phone use in the library (which is so 2005 – get over it, people). As a bonus, I think I may meet some other kidlit bloggers IRL. For the rest of you, there’s still time! Check out the schedule, register, and let’s plan to get together for coffee or drinks. Needless to say, I plan on picking up plenty more books to read during the 48 Hour Challenge and My Summer of Reading All the Fiction I Haven’t Been Reading While Writing the Homeschooling Book.
#6 – Don’t forget the Series Binder Wiki. I didn’t used to understand about wikis, but I have learned that they are almost as addictive as Brotherhood 2.0. We’re adding to and improving the Series Binder all the time. Link to it, become a contributor, use it for nefarious purposes. We made it for the masses.
Posted by adrienne at May 2, 2007 09:22 AM
Comments
I've debated going to Book Expo, but with everything else going on, I'm afraid it might kill me. Of course, now all the cool kids are going. I will be at ALA though. Are you going?
Thanks for the 48 Hour Book Challenge link. I'm getting excited already with the large sign-up.
Posted by: MotherReader at May 2, 2007 11:45 AM
I hate to advocate a course of action that would lead to your untimely demise, MotherReader, but I cannot go to ALA this year and we're all going to have so much fun at BEA.
This is the line of peer pressure that eventually caused me to cave.
Here is my favorite BEA story: One year, in the first hour or so of the trade show, my friend Olivia and I happened on the Farrar, Straus, and Giroux booth. There wasn't a mob of people in front of it and they publish some authors I really like, so we beelined it over for ARCs. With nary a look at the person staffing the book, I was all, "Look! The new Ruth White! Awesome!" (It was Buttermilk Hill -- good book.) That's when the human behind the booth was like, "I love Ruth White!" Then, without looking up, I said something noncommittal along the lines of, "Really?" (I suck at talking to strangers.) Then the guy started going on and on and I looked up and realized that it was Jack Gantos going on and on. I had all I could do not to be like, "OH MY GOD I LOVE JOEY PIGZA AND THOSE JACK BOOKS ARE BRILLIANT AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY MORE PEOPLE AREN'T READING THEM!!!" I played it cool, though (by which I mean, "I mostly didn't talk").
That's the best I can do, peer-pressure-wise.
In the end, though, I'd hate to be responsible for anything that caused you to, say, update your blog less frequently. I will happily drink an extra drink for you in your absence. :) I do what I must.
Posted by: adrienne at May 2, 2007 12:37 PM
I LOVE Brotherhood 2.0! I met John Green at TLA and he is so geeky hot.
Posted by: Holly at May 2, 2007 04:22 PM
OMG! Did you guys see today's Brotherhood 2.0 in which John gets all forceful about defending intellectual freedom and supporting librarians?
RAH!
Posted by: adrienne at May 2, 2007 05:06 PM