It's almost here! My new middle-grade humor novel, Roll Up the Streets! is nearly here. Barnes & Noble has finally put up the cover art so you can see what it looks like. I'm pretty excited. Corndogs will do that to you, especially if they're EVIL corndogs. It's a fun story about a sarcastic 12-year-old, (is there any other kind?) Jake Machet, who moves to a small town that smells like the inside of his shoe, and I think we all know what a 12-year-old boy's shoes smell like. The only problem is that he's the only person who can smell it. Well, that's not the only problem, there are the greasy, plastic tasting corndogs everyone eats all the time, and the gooey streets and some kind of conspiracy to take over the world. But other than that things are just peachy for our hero Jake and his only friend Sammie, a smart-alecky girl with a history of pig-poop busting. Did I mention that it's funny too? Pick up a copy for your sarcastic 12-year-old.
I had an idea for a picture book this morning while putting on my sock. Actually I was checking my email on my IPOD while putting on my sock, but something I saw there gave me a story idea. I shoved the IPOD in my pocket, ran for a pad of paper with one shoe on, and started scribbling my thoughts down before they turned to breakfast. Oatmeal can ruin any idea. Halfway through my frantic scratching there was a knock on the door. Someone wanted to trim my shrubs. But rather than interrupt my thoughts, and say that I don't want my shrubs trimmed no matter what they look like, I dashed into the basement with my pad and pen and finished writing while sitting next to the washer and dryer. (My shrubs really need trimming). Once I had my idea down on paper it was safe to eat. I now had time to get out the laptop and commit my masterpiece to digital form. This of course leads to today's question. What do you do when you have an idea for a story? Do you write it down immediatel
Review copies are the coolest thing in the world. I just got a big box of my new book, Roll Up the Streets! dropped on my front porch. Inside were these glorious brand-spanking new books with shiny covers and filled with words that I had written. Now all those people who thought I'd made up those stories about getting published can see the actual proof. A real hardcover book is so much cooler than a flickering image on a screen. I just love the corndogs and the swirling ketchup and mustard on the cover. My favorite image is this one from the back cover. You'll have to read the book to find out who the lovely, and for some reason annoyed looking woman is. Now to get it into other people's hands.
Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteRich Bladek of Sparta, NJ