Debra Garfinkle's Journal

Grin and bare it
I am such a bad blogger. Once my life calms down, I'm going to take pictures and figure out how to get them on the computer and how to put them on my blog. It could be a while til my life calms down. Maybe when my youngest kid goes to college in ten and a half years.

Anyway, I didn't even remember to bring a camera to the International Reading Association conference in Atlanta. If I had, you'd see a lot of pictures of me grinning. Reading teachers are incredibly dedicated to kids and books, and they were so kind to me even though I am neither a kid nor a book.

I did four signings of the Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) of the first Supernatural Rubber Chicken book. Mirrorstone gave away hundreds of ARCs, and they ran out at every signing. People were lined up 40 minutes before the starting times. It was awesome! When the ARCs ran out, I signed adorable little rubber chickens Mirrorstone provided, and there were lines for that too! Also, I talked about literacy and laughter at a cocktail party Mirrorstone sponsored and signed ARCs there, and we ran out then too. Ed the grouchy but nice supernatural rubber chicken is really getting around!

I also got to hang with authors Candice Ransom and Lisa Yee and Brent Hartinger, and lots of other nice authors and editors. Plus, I met a lot of Mirrorstone people for the first time, and I'm still in love. Hard not to be, after they fed me delish Southern food and desserts every night. But I must avoid the scale for a while or I will cry.

If you saw me at the conference on Wednesday, please note that I did not know my wraparound blouse had kind of come unwrapped. Sigh. I normally do not try to show a lot of cleavage at reading conferences, especially given that 98 percent of the people there are female. Earlier that day, I wore a sweater set, but had to change after I spilled coffee all over the front of it. Sigh again.

I can die happy now
It's really, really real! I got the first two Supernatural Rubber Chicken books in the mail today-- one of each-- and they look adorable! Wow, I think they're really going to be published now! (Officially June 10.)

Now I have books dedicated to each of my three kids, my husband, and my mom. So I can stop writing any time I want. Not that I'd ever want to, but, still.

I celebrated my book twins with pistachio/cafe latte frozen yogurt with M&Ms at Golden Spoon. Okay, I go to Golden Spoon all the time. It's a mile from my house. But this time I didn't feel so guilty.

Gushy, gushy, gush
IRA: I don't mean the Irish Republican Army, nor the Individual Retirement Arrangement, nor my high school friend Ira.

No, I'm talking about the International Reading Association, which is much more fun than any of those. (My friend Ira was fun, but then turned out to be kind of a jerk.)

I'm going to the IRA conference in Atlanta! I'll be signing advanced reading copies of SUPERNATURAL RUBBER CHICKEN at the Wizards of the Coast/Mirrorstone booth on Tuesday, May 6 from 11-2 and on Wednesday, May 7 from 11-12 and 2-3. I'll also be speaking about "Laughing and Literacy: Using Humorous Books to Turn Reluctant Readers into Eager Readers" at a cocktail party at the Hyatt on Tuesday night from 6-7.

Almost as much as I love my family and dog Edna, I love my publisher Mirrorstone. Not only are the people there really nice, but they're sending me to the conference and arranged for a written Teacher's Guide to my series-- which I just saw and which is excellent-- and otherwise doing a great job to promote the SUPERNATURAL RUBBER CHICKEN books, which I love writing.

Five for Friday
1. I got a terrific email from a preteen STORKY fan today.

2. After being away the last three weekends (L.A./Boston, New Hampshire, L.A.), I'm really looking forward to staying home this weekend and being as lazy as possible, which I'm quite good at.

3. To start the weekend off right, I read People Magazine cover-to-cover-- except for the Suri Cruise article, because, honestly, I don't even want that much information about my relatives' babies.

4. I am the object of true, deep love. From Edna the dog, who follows me from room to room, sits on my lap, and also scratches at our bedroom door every morning around two a.m. I really need to Ferberize the dog.

5. My friend Mark E. read the first SUPERNATURAL RUBBER CHICKEN manuscript to his third grade class, and they sent me wonderful pictures and letters. Many kids cited the underwear scene as their favorite part, but others liked when the bird pooped on Mr. Song's head. Does this book sound like a Newbery winner or what?

I'm a master... at procrastinating
I got up at 5:30 today, eager to get to my young adult manuscript. I have only one more chapter to draft and I have a good idea about how to revise the beginning.

So I went through the manuscript and made a timeline of events.

Then I made a list of every character, even those whose names were only mentioned once.

I decided I didn't like the coach's last name.

So I went to this census site I found on someone's blog awhile ago (sorry, forgot whose blog) and made a list of last names to use for this manuscript and future manuscripts.

Once I finished that, it was time to help the kids get ready for school.

Sigh.

Stop the presses. I watch TV and read.
Wasn't Survivor great tonight? Those cocky jerks never last long. Funniest line of the night was from James: "And I thought I was the stupidest Survivor ever."

I just finished reading GOLLYWHOPPER GAMES by Jody Feldman out loud to my sons. We all loved it! It's a fast-paced adventure story with a very likeable main character. My boys and I tried to do the puzzles together and guess who would be eliminated each time. It's like Survivor in a book, only a lot better. The greatest thing is that my fifth grader, a very reluctant reader, grabbed the book when I was about halfway done reading it out loud, and finished reading it himself in about two days. Then he listened in while I finished reading the book to his younger brother.

Adult books I've really enjoyed recently: THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED by Jo Barrett, a funny beach read novel about a woman's revenge on her ex-boyfriend.

And YOU'RE LUCKY YOU'RE FUNNY, a funny memoir by Phil Rosenthal, the guy who created and wrote Everybody Loves Raymond. There are also great tips for humor writers in the book.

Adult book that disappointed me recently: Well, I don't want to post its name. I LOVED the author's recent YA novel that came out at about the same time as the adult novel, so I was surprised that his adult novel didn't do much for me. It's kind of reassuring to discover that authors may not hit it out of the ballpark every time. Er, what if you only ever get to second base though?

Long time no blog
I was gone for nine days. First, I spoke at the Passport to Reading Festival in L.A., where I got to talk to actual teens and also hang with awesome author Alyson Noel and her sweetie hubby.

Then I flew to Boston, where I vacationed with hubby and kids. Lots of good food and art museums, a nice visit with my cousins, and fascinating historical stuff. I walked around my alma mater, Brandeis U., and then went to the Friendly's I worked at in 1983. It hadn't changed a BIT. I even got the Reeses Pieces sundae I used to always get there. What a time warp!

My website guy/friend/author/lawyer Greg Fishbone picked up author J.L. Bell and me, and we stopped off at Greg's place to see his lovely wife and totally adorable baby. Then it was off to New Hampshire for the New England SCBWI conference, a wonderful experience! I got to meet so many people I'd only known online. Totally fun!

Laurie Halse Anderson gave two very inspiring talks. I love her books and her work ethic and her humor. I want to be just like her. I just need a tattoo. And, uh, a lot more writing talent. And not to consider a hard day of writing to mean two hours of work. She bought my book, Stuck in the 70s! So sweet! If I'd known she was going to do that, I would have revised it a few hundred times more.

I took great workshops on character development and writing tools, and the workshops I gave went well, I think. Though presenting the Rule-Breaking one wasn't the same without Sarah Darer Littman, who did it with me two years ago in L.A., where we debated writing and publishing rules while jokingly insulting each other. Maybe this time I should have planted a heckler in the audience.

Because I had the writing engagements, my darling hubby flew with the kids to Boston and back while I flew out separately. When I got home a day after the rest of my family, I discovered hubby had done all the laundry from our trip and gone grocery shopping to boot. What a guy!

Now my vacation is over, the conference is over, and the kids' spring break is over. Waah!

Five things on a Friday
1. I'm looking forward to speaking at the Passport to Reading festival at Taft High School in L.A. tomorrow morning.

2. I'm excited about hanging out with other writers and presenting workshops at the New England SCBWI conference next weekend.

3. My kids have spring break next week, so I won't be on the computer much. Stop laughing. It's true. I can step away from the Internet any time I want to. Sort of.

4. Is this season of Survivor kind of boring, or am I (and the rest of my family) just tired of the show after so many years? I'm glad about the vote last night, though.

5. I'm glad about this week's American Idol vote too. I thought she was boring too. I miss Amanda the biker nurse.

Eek!
I did something incredibly strange and rare for me: I forgot to eat dinner!

Maybe it was because I was so busy today helping the kids with their school stuff and revising a zillion pages of my bad writing.

Or maybe it was because I was full from snacking all day on half-priced Easter chocolates and kettle corn.

Let's go with the first reason, shall we?

Five things on a Friday, er, late Saturday night
1. I've been so busy (see #2 and #4), I'm listing my Friday Five now. So sue me.

2. I had a great time speaking to fourth and fifth graders at Alta Vista Elementary School in L.A. on Friday, and then having a long (so long we were the last ones there and the caterers were giving us dirty looks) fun lunch with other authors.

3. I really enjoyed the young adult novel MY LIFE AS A RHOMBUS by Varian Johnson. It's a fun, romantic read that also tackles serious issues such as abortion. The main character is African-American, but race doesn't figure into the book much-- which is kind of refreshing. Not that I don't like books about race. Uh, is this clear or did I just offend all three of my blog readers?

4. Today I worked like a dog (not like my dog Edna, who mostly sleeps on the couch and eats hubby's glasses, but like a NYC corporate lawyer-type dog). I finished preparing for the series writing workshop I'm giving in two weeks. I also finished revising the hardest scene (involving much research and angst, on my part) in my young adult manuscript. And I just finished drafting the fifth Supernatural Rubber Chicken book. Hooray, hooray, hooray!

5. My son won a school prize-- a cute little toy frog that expands in water. We put it in a small bowl in our kitchen. The thing kept growing. It grew so big I had to put it in bigger and bigger bowls of water. It's still in our kitchen, it's still growing, and it's disgusting. It's also gross. And horrible. And did I mention disgusting? I would like to find a way to get rid of the gigantic frog without my son later writing a scathing memoir of his tortuous childhood just like the Mommy Dearest book except for the coat hangers.

Workaholic
I've often held two or more jobs at once, and at one time juggled four part-time jobs. Counting all my babysitting jobs as one job and being an author as another job, I've had at least 28 jobs!!!

Favorite job: Shakey's Pizza. I worked there in high school, making pizza, taking phone orders, and cashiering. The best part of the job was that I was the only girl there. And I was in my peak boy-crazy years.

Least favorite job: This place in Massachusetts I blocked out the name of. It was just like Walmart but it wasn't Walmart. I stocked shelves there and feared I would die of boredom.

Job with longest longevity: Lawyer job, working for a terrific judge. Eight and a half years.

Job with shortest longevity: Walmart-ish place. I never came back after my lunch break the first day.

Job at which I gained the most weight: Brighams Ice Cream in Massachusetts. When it rained, no one came in so we sat around eating the merchandise. It rained a lot, I tried every flavor ice cream, and gained ten pounds in one summer.

Weirdest combination of jobs held simultaneously: Waitress on the graveyard shift at Denny's/LSAT teacher for Stanley Kaplan Centers. One of my students once ran into me at Denny's and almost fainted.

What do you like better for the title of the fifth Supernatural Rubber Chicken book: CHICKEN IN THE BASKET or CHICK MAGNET? Other suggestions are appreciated. In this book for children aged six to ten, Nate and Lisa aren't allowed to go to the class picnic unless they take their visiting cousin Fergus with them. But Fergus thinks he's ugly and refuses to go out in public. So Nate and Lisa make him super good-looking. Chaos ensues. Please vote on your favorite title.

And since I'm already begging for help... I'm writing an essay about reluctant readers. There's a line, "My son took to reading like Republicans took to Michael Moore, like J.D. Salinger took to the media, like Donald Trump took to Rosie O'Donnell." All those comparisons are ho hum. Funnier suggestions would be much appreciated. And keep 'em tame. No "like the Spears sisters took to birth control" lines, please.

It's all cool
Cool: A fan of my THE BAND trilogy sent me an awesome email today!

Cool: Drafting 500 words a day of a chapter book means finishing in 18-20 days!

Uncool: I've been drafting my chapter book (Supernatural Rubber Chicken book 5) for 11 days, so I'm not finished.

Cool: I finally got around to researching an issue for my young adult manuscript and I found it fascinating.

Uncool: Now that I've done the research, I have to practically demolish an entire chapter and replace it with a realistic version.

Cool: I'm going to speak at the Passport to Reading event at Taft High School in Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) on Saturday morning, April 5. Lots of authors and illustrators will be speaking there, and I believe it's open to the public.

Cool: Taft High School is very close to Chatsworth High School, my alma mater. I get to return to my Valley Girl roots!

Cool: On April 12 and 13, I'm giving writing workshops on breaking rules, writing series, and humor at the New England SCBWI conference in Manchester, New Hampsure.

Uncool: I spent about three hours preparing for the how-to-write-a-series workshop last night, and still have more to do.

Cool: I think the people who attend my series writing workshop will appreciate it. Or else!

Uncool: My fave rockin' nurse/bookworm Amanda got voted off American Idol.

Cool: Maybe if I stop watching American Idol, I can finish writing my manuscripts and preparing for the workshops.

Write your legislators!
My fourteen-year-old is going to a birthday party Friday night. Saturday night, she's going to a temple youth group bowling party from 10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Next weekend, she returns to her weekly Saturday 7 a.m. running practices. In July, she'll be practicing with the high school track team five days a week from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. In August, the practices are scheduled from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.

So I propose a change in California law. Change the driving age to fourteen! Who's with me on this?

It's almost done. Just another decade or so to go.
I'm about half done with the draft of the fifth Supernatural Rubber Chicken book and about three-fourths done drafting my Great American Young Adult Novel. The GAYAN manuscript is now over 47,000 words and I think will be well over 60,000 words if I can ever manage to finish it. Yikes.

I finished reading the so-so memoir. I think the biggest problem I had with it is that the author seemed to have so much going for her (great family, great job, great friends) but she was miserable. She kept complaining that she could never have children because she hadn't met the right guy and she was in her late thirties. When I was single, having children was so important to me that I knew if I didn't find the right guy I'd raise a child or two myself. I wanted to tell the author, "Stop yer griping and either artifically inseminate or adopt." Call me Ms. Sympathetic.

Now I'm reading a memoir that's so funny and humble and sweet and terrific I have to force myself not to spend every moment reading it. (Because, you know, I have to write the GAYAN manuscript that goes on forever.) It's called SIT, UBU, SIT by Gary David Goldberg, the guy who created the TV show Family Ties and other shows. I'll probably finish it tonight. Which would leave me bereft except that I have a pile of about 20 books on my nightstand.

I'm in love
I LOVE my second grader's teacher. In fact, I may keep my son in second grade every year for as long as she's teaching it. She gives my little Einstein his own challenging math work. She also has lots of gross bugs and animals in her classroom. And I'm not just talking about the mice and ants that have infested the school. She keeps her gross bugs and animals in the classroom on purpose. And she's incredibly patient with all the kids, unlike *some* people who sometimes want to scream at the kids, "Leave me alone!" after an hour of volunteer work. She was just deservedly named teacher of the year for the school. I heart Ms. Hine.

I also just read two totally fun books: First, an advanced reading copy of SUCKS TO BE ME by Kimberly Pauley, a young adult novel about a girl whose parents are vampires and may become one herself. I'm not usually a fan of vampire books, but this one has romance, friendship issues, lots of humor, and a great voice. Second, I read THE SPELLMAN FILES by Lisa Lutz, an adult novel about a private investigator whose parents and siblings and uncle are all in the P.I. business. The whole family is wacky and the book is a laugh riot.

And now I'm reading an adult memoir. It's one of those books you keep wondering as you read whether you should put down or not. Not so bad that you know after 50 pages it's a waste of time, but not so good that you know you have to finish. I'm about halfway through and figure I might as well read to the end. A ringing endorsement, no?

Favor request
What a great couple of weeks! I spoke to very enthusiastic third graders at Oak Grove Elementary School in Orange County last Friday, and spoke to 500 wonderful elementary school students at Castille Elementary School in Orange County yesterday.

Yesterday's talk was a milestone. I gave my first Powerpoint Presentation. And it actually worked. Okay, I had help setting it up from an expert, my teenager. Actually, she didn't just help me set it up. She did the entire thing herself. I knew having kids would pay off one day.

It seems that half my writer friends just had books published. I'm very excited for Debbi Michiko Florence, whose activity book about China (called "China," duh) looks totally fun. And I've heard great things about Jody Feldman's children's novel The Gollywhopper Games.

At yesterday's school visit, the kids wanted to know what famous authors I knew. They were impressed with the names I rattled off, though I lost a few points when I admitted I hadn't met J.K. Rowling. So, writer friends, please do me a favor and become as famous as J.K. Rowling. Thanks a lot.

The athletic gene has been passed down
I was in L.A. all weekend because my 14-year-old just RAN THE MARATHON in the "Students Run L.A." program through her school! I feel so proud!

Hubby and sons and I were rooting her on in flourescent green T-shirts that said "Team [Daughter's Name] L.A. Marathon 2008" on the front and "Better Her Than Us" on the back.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as I've run races myself.

Actually, only one race.

A 5k.

In 1990.

I came in second to last.

My year so far
I had all these things I meant to blog about but never got around to because I was very busy with important things like rating books on goodreads.com. Let me sum up my thoughts:

Bruce Hale author talk: Very good.

CVS pharmacy: Avoid!

Paula on America Idol: Don't get me started.

Me carry grudges?: Forever.

Why I adore the other library volunteer: Makes me feel relatively responsible and nice. (I don't mean you, Lisa, in case you're reading this. I mean the other other library volunteer whose last name aptly rhymes with %$^&!@.)

The Christian Scientist-acting Jew: Me, kind of. (See above mention of CVS.)

Well, that was not only easy but I got a lot off my chest. Maybe I should switch to just doing these types of blog posts every other month.

Friday Five
1. I'm up to 45,000 words on my young adult proposal. Okay, okay, it's not a proposal anymore. It's almost an entire manuscript, by golly. I think I have about 15,000 words to go.

2. Another brush with our fifth grader's teacher-- this time whether People Magazine should count for his 30-minute required daily home reading. I say yes, on the theory that the most important thing is to teach kids to love to read. And, hey, I've been a People subscriber for 17 years. And I know most of his classmates' parents don't make the kids read but sign the form anyway-- a nice lesson for kids on the art of cheating and the negligibility of reading.

3. I like that teen David on American Idol; but given that he won Star Search several years ago, his purported astonishment that the judges like his singing every week seems as fake as Tori Spelling's body.

4. I'm excited about the baby shower I'm throwing on Sunday. I think the guests will enjoy it as long as I don't cook.

5. Hubby's been traveling a ton lately, which is a bummer, but at least I won't feel guilty about all the traveling I have lined up this spring.