Snakes! On a plane! and a Lady! In the water!

Yes, I fell for the internet hype and saw Snakes on a Plane yesterday, and dammit, I liked it! Granted, I had low expectations, but I found it entertaining, scary, hilarious, icky, heart-pounding, eyes hiding behind fingers, good. And yeah, some of the acting was bad, but most of it was decent (Juliana Margulies was in this movie, how weird is that?), and it's great for the kind of movie it was. I've realized that it's all about expectations. This happens sometimes while reading manuscripts--after a while of not reading anything I like, I start expecting the worst, and then something comes along that doesn't suck and I enjoy it and then have to remember to compare it with good writing. But no, really, I enjoyed Snakes on a Plane. But yes, I did have very low expectations.

Speaking of low expectations and movies, a few weeks ago I also saw Lady in the Water and liked it. Now, lest you think I just have bad taste in movies...well, that may be the case, but I found the movie to be funny, heart-warming, and overall, unique. One thing you can say about this movie is that it's not like any other movies you've seen, and in a time when so little is truly original, I found that refreshing. I also thought it was a wonderful children's movie--not young children, but I thought it was probably made for that bright-eyed twelve-year old, rather than the jaded, pessimistic adult. And since I think I have more in common with the naive, optimistic kid, I liked it.

Any movie recommendations? I've been wanting to see An Inconvenient Truth and Little Miss Sunshine. If you seen these, let me know how you liked them...although maybe you shouldn't praise them too much, because then I'll be disappointed.

BAD Kirkus, GOOD Booklist, Good Dog!

So, last week I got the good news that Chowder by Peter Brown got a STARRED REVIEW in Booklist: "Everything works here. The tongue-in-cheek humor melds delightfully with Brown's distinctive acrylic-and-pencil artwork...Inventive is the best word to describe the design...But along with the glitz, there's also a real story here, starring a very winsome protagonist."

And at the same time heard that there was a not-so-good review of it in Kirkus. Well, I just read that review now and couldn't help but rant a little about it. This was the last part of the review: "Chowder himself is not a particularly appealing character. He has mean eyes and a scary coutenance, particularly on the cover, where he looks like he'd like to bite an unsuspecting reader."

WHAT?!?!?

First of all, mean eyes? You can't even SEE his eyes on the cover! And does he look like he wants to bite someone? His tongue is hanging out, for Pete's sake.

It's all subjective...it's all subjective...it's all subjective...

But really. C'mon. "Mean eyes and scary countenance"?!?!?!?

Okay, I'll go back to the STAR. "Everything works here."

Yay!

new post and still sick

Okay, not to whine but I actually felt sicker today, so I stayed home even though there was so much going on at work. I managed to take care of at least one thing that needed to get done, in between trips to my bed. I had no energy at all today. I hope TWO days at home in a row will help me feel better by tomorrow! I really hope to make it in to work. Partially because there's lots to do, but mostly because I have the awful feeling that I left a mug with a used tea bag in it on my desk, and if I don't make it in until Monday, I dread what it'll look like. I could ask my assistant to clean it for me tomorrow, but I don't like to ask assistants to do stuff like that.

In the meantime, check out my new post about In the Break by Jack Lopez over at the Blue Rose Girls site.

The curiosities of health

I'm taking a break from working at home, editing a manuscript on my kitchen table. I love these work-at-home days, one of the perks of being an editor. Of course, it's just as well because...

This morning I went to the doctor and apparently I have a slight case of bronchitis, and inflamation of the lymph nodes and other nodes, etc. It's kinda surprising, because all things considered, I don't feel that sick. And, in fact, I ran 10 miles on Sunday and 3.5 miles last night. I did feel like I was coming down with something at the end of last week, but I guess I convinced myself that it was allergies. I am a strong believer in the power of your mind to heal your body. I tend to ignore sicknesses or "fend them off" (I heart Airborne!) and in general I don't get sick very often. And when I do, I try to power through it and try not to complain about it. I used to scoff at my whiney friends who would wallow in their sicknesses.

I also don't usually go to the doctor when I'm sick, but last night I discovered a lump on my neck that was weird (like little marbles under my skin), and Sachin said over and over, Go to the doctor. Go to the doctor. Get it checked out. Go to the doctor. I guess that's one thing good (one of many!) about significant others: they make you do things you should do that you don't really want to do. I've had this kind of thing before, although usually on my throat, not the side of my neck, so although I wasn't too worried, I also knew it was probably the type of thing that would require antibiotics, and I was right.

This made me think back to my CA trip. My mother, as usual, brought me to see a Taiwanese doctor who tested my energy levels and took a blood sample and looked at it under a microscope. Apparently, my health had deteriorated since my last visit, and my blood was unhealthy--all clumped together with microscopic bugs in it. He said my immune system was down and that even though I felt healthy, that he tends to see health issues before they manifest themselves as symptoms. He prescribed some herbal medicine for me, which I have reluctantly been taking. I couldn't help but wonder if he had predicted this sickness, or if the mere suggestion that I wasn't healthy was enough for my brain to allow myself to get sick. And I wondered if stretching myself by running was what aggravated the sickness. And I wondered if the flooding on Thursday night was what caused it--if the water had jarred loose mold and dust from the building that caused my symptoms, first allergies, then cold, then bronchitis. And I wondered if living in the city, in general, was taking a toll on my health.

Who knows. At any rate, I'm supposed to take it easy (lucky for me to have already scheduled a work-at-home day today so I don't really have to leave my apartment), and no running for 5 days or so, which is okay since I should be fine in time for the half marathon on the 27th. She prescribed me an inhaler for when I do run again--cool! I've never used one of those before. I wonder if they're illegal to use for the marathon.

And now back to work again...although I may need to squeeze a nap into my day, too. I haven't slept well, and last night I was so congested that I would let out little moans involuntarily that would wake me up. Weird. My doctor suggested taking Claritin before bed to help me sleep. I'll see how tonight goes.

Stay healthy, people!

Chowder and Friends

My new favorite dog has a great website and a new blog. Check them out! The book is not officially pubbing until September, but I saw books in a bookstore already in MA when I was up there a few weeks ago. I also found Hippo! No, Rhino, so I was happy.

My weekend, and burnout prevention

I just had one of the best Sundays in a long time--because I had nothing planned. Well, I guess I had three things I wanted to do: laundry, clean the bathroom, and run 10 miles. And I did all three. I also was able to catch up with a Project Runway marathon, preparing for my run by eating leftover pepperoni from Tanya's baby shower.

I had a baby-filled weekend. My book group trip up to Westchester county was so wonderful. A 9-month baby to play with--I love that sturdy baby age, when their head no longer lolls around, when you don't feel like you're going to damage them by holding them. We talked about the book, of course, and our usual publishing gossip, and another thing we talked about was the possibility of burnout in our careers. Many of us were on the brink. The past few weeks have been extremely stressful, but I don't feel like I'm quite there--and I know that Sundays like this help prevent burnout. I overextend myself, I know. I want to go out, have fun, plan wedding showers and baby showers for my friends, read manuscript for all my coworkers, go to conferences, travel to visit friends, entertain friends and family in NY, run marathons, be in multiple book groups...it's part of the reason one of my New Year's resolutions was: Take more time for myself, don't over schedule, have at least one free night each week.

I don't know if I've quite fulfilled that resolution, so I should be more vigilant about it. Because unscheduled days like this go a long way in preventing burnout. I need to not think about work, not do any work.

Saturday was the baby shower--the mother-to-be managed to get up all 6 flights of stairs, and it was a lovely time. Antonella had her baby with her--about three-months-old, so not quite at the really sturdy stage, but getting there. So sweet. Great food--too much food. Food of our childhoods. Mini burgers, ants on a log, Flavorice, cupcakes decorated with umbrellas, Pringles, and more. In keeping with the theme, we played "stick the pacifier on the baby." Too bad there wasn't room to play musical chairs. It was a beautiful day, so we chilled on the terrace afterwards. Perfect, perfect, perfect weather.

And then today. I slept in, puttered around, posted the Blue Rose Girls' Question of the Week, and then did all the rest. I wasn't feeling too hot health-wise--have had a scratchy throat since Friday morning and was congested and sneezing all day Saturday, but my Rose told me that even when she's feeling under the weather, she finds that once she starts running she forgets about it, so I decided to run any way, and I'm glad I did.

It's funny--part of my motivation for making the whole 10 miles was that I knew I could write it in my blog. At the conference I talked to a few people about running marathons, and running in general, and one thing we agreed on is the attraction to the sport in that it's uniquely measurable. Nobody can take away the fact that I've run 10 miles. When I started running in college, I had never run even one mile without stopping, and because of this I was so proud at each milestone. On the way back from the track, I would stop in my floormates room and announce how far I'd run. After a few weeks of this, my friend said in an annoyed tone, "Why do you always announce how far you ran?" and I realized that it was a motivating factor for me, I was proud of my progress and wanted to announce it.

So, this blog is good for something, I guess. I RAN 10 MILES TODAY! There. Next week, I plan to run 11 miles, the most I've ever run. And then the half marathon is in two weeks. I'm feeling good about it. But I'm not going to overdo the training--don't want to burn out before November.

As I was waiting for the bus the rain came down on me

Tonight as I was walking home from work, the sky looked threatening and dark, and it was starting to thunder. Right when I got to 57th Street it started raining and then pouring, and since I didn't have my umbrella I decided to take the bus (and I realized while on the bus that this is one of the only times I've taken public transportation home from work since I moved to this apartment!). The rain didn't look to be letting up, so after I got off the bus I stopped at the grocery store to get stuff for the baby shower, and although I was able to get there without getting too wet, I got soaked running the half block home on my street and almost knocked one of my contacts out. But I didn't really care since I was just going home to my cozy dry apartment anyway. But now...

I open the door to my apartment building, and something isn't right. I hear the sound of rain, and it's loud. It's raining in the lobby! I can hear the rain gushing in the elevator shaft. As I walk up the stairs, I see water raining down on each landing. I remember that my room leaked in the corner above one of my book shelves during a big rain last year, so I worry about what I'll find when I get up there. I open my apartment door...whew, no rain pouring down in the kitchen, although the windows were open and the floor is somewhat wet, but no biggee. I run up to my room, and thankfully the corner where the previous leak is dry. I think I'm home free. But then I hear dripping--where is it coming from? Finally I realize my ceiling is leaking near the wall by my computer. But it isn't bad yet, and I pull my computer out away from the wall. I have some buckets to catch the drips now, but it seems to have slowed down. Guys who live in the apartment have been running up and down the stairs to and from the roof, and I think they've fixed something--something about the drains being blocked.

Hmm. How did you like the present tense?

Seriously, I love my apartment, but it really is falling apart. So sad! The rain seems to have stopped for now. Man, our elevator is probably completely dead...and the baby shower is Saturday! I don't want pregnant Tanya to have to walk up 6 flights of stairs...

Last night was a goodbye party at Loreley for Eveline (who is moving to China), and Mathieu (who is going back to France), and both flew out today--not the best day to fly, both weather-wise and bomb-threat wise.

I was exhausted from my LA trip, but managed to stay out till 11 and have fun doing it, dammit. But the Randoms are now minus 2 key members. I'm sad.

And now this post reminds me of a poem I wrote in 8th grade that was published in the school paper, even though it was bad. Take it out of rhyme, people! But I still have some of it memorized:

As I was waiting for the bus
The rain came down on me.
Without an umbrella, there I was,
It rained so hard I couldn't see.

And then I forget the rest. All for the best.

I want one of those

Just a quick post before doing yet more work--I'm back in NY! I had a fantastic time in LA and at the conference, but I'm totally exhausted, too, and work is bearing down on me, hence why I'm procrastinating. This week (what's left of it) is already totally packed, I'm hosting a baby shower at my apartment on Saturday (yay for Tanya!), and I'm feeling anxious about getting at least a 10 mile run in before the half marathon on the 27th. But I'll try not to think about that right now, and instead will share a quick funny story from the conference (and there are many--including one of Mo and Jarrett sitting on the toilet together on the bus).

Jarrett was showing me this great website made by some of his fans, and as he was scrolling down there was this picture of an adorable kid wearing an adorable My Buddy, Slug T-shirt.

me: "I want one of those!"
Jarrett: "Yeah, me, too--I can't wait to have kids."
me: "Uh, I was talking about the T-shirt."

Hahahahahaha.

Okay, more later if I can come up for air. I'm drowning!

Self-defe...er...deprecating

I recorded my audio recordings last week (at my company, all editors make audio recordings of our book presentations for each list and make CDs to distribute to our Sales force so they can listen to them in their cars to get more familiar with the books), and used the word "self-deprecating" to describe the writing in one of my YA novels. I ended up having to do this particular recording three times because I kept messing up, and the more I said "self-deprecating" the more I thought I had it wrong. I'm always paranoid about that word because once my friend said "self-defecating" by accident and we endlessly made fun of him. But I've said it jokingly that way so many times that now I'm paranoid that I'll say it at the wrong time. And on a Sales CD would definitely be the wrong time. Then again...I wonder how many people would actually notice?

Greetings from beautiful Diamond Bar, CA. I never thought I'd be coming to Southern CA to escape the heat!

No Blueberries for Al

So, we didn't go blueberry picking, but I didn't mind--and I had all the fruit I could eat: fresh strawberries, peaches, apples with cinnamon, bananas. The weekend in Boston was chock full of good food (mostly home-cooked, including a 6 hour brunch of fruit and riccota crepes, frittata, fruit, and more fruit), nice walks from Davis Square to Harvard Square, jogging around Jamaica Pond, and children's book talks with my fellow Blue Rose Girls. It was fun to be there with Sachin, too, and I only wish we had more time there.

One business thing that came out of the trip is a new blog that will focus on children's book publishing. We'll try to post something every day, so please visit us here! I'll still be posting my random musings here, too.

And now I'm off to the SCBWI Annual Summer meeting in LA. Two nights at my parents' house in Diamond Bar first, and then off to be surrounded by children's book professionals. Say hi to me if you see me, and come to my workshops!