kathyerskine

Here's a local book festival where Alice Leonhardt and I (and dozens of authors) are appearing:   www.bookemfoundation.org/  A police officer started this and the idea behind it is great -- educate kids, teach them to read, help keep them out of jail.  So, that's what I'm doing tomorrow.  How about you?

If you want a beautiful bookstore with warm, intelligent staff, complete with coffee shop, teacher section (and, OK, toys, too), I highly recommend Givens Books in Lynchburg, VA -- either for a signing, or for your viewing enjoyment.  

I was there on Saturday giving a SASSY little writing seminar and signing books.  I even had Matt, the main character of QUAKING, there with me, all Goth-ed out.  But Matt and I are not good at remembering to take pictures so I have none!  Note to self:  at least use your iPhone, silly!

Please come to my blog and see Sara's interview -- and did you know she's doing a Twitter Chat on Sept. 30th? WAY COOL!

kathyerskine.wordpress.com

OK, Jerry Dog is not mine but this video cracks me up every time. Click here when you need a laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PcL6-mjRNk

Her tail is wagging but it's hard to see that. I thought of posting a video . . . .

If you're a published author or illustrator who plans to vote for Obama, you might be interested in adding your name to the list of Authors and Illustrators for Children, AIC, who support him. Some of you LJ'ers are already on the list and may have already blogged about this. Anyway, I added my name (it takes a couple of days to appear) and just thought I'd post it in case others hadn't heard.

Here's the link to the list and the site itself.
http://www.aiforc.org/obama/thelist.html
http://www.aiforc.org/

I'm on Kimberly Pauley's blog! Thanks, Kimberly, for including me in your party and CONGRATULATIONS on SUCKS TO BE ME! I just got it and can't wait to read it!

http://kimberlypauley.com/2008/09/09/book-launch-party-day-15-kathryn-erskine/

I wish you a day of peace . . . .

http://annemariepace.livejournal.com/ tagged me so here goes:

Rules:

A) People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs & replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

B) Tag 8 people to do this quiz.


1. What are your nicknames?
Just love names from DH. :o)

2. What do you do before bedtime?
Read and do Sudoku.

3. What fandom(s) are you most into at the moment?
Obama.

4. What is your favorite scent?
Coffee.

5. If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it?
Travel. Safari in Africa, trip across Australia, Siberian Express, etc.

6. What is the song you've played more than any other on iTunes?
I don't have many songs on iTunes (I only recently got an iPhone) but I think the top two I've played are Dire Straits, "Walk of Life," and Sade's "Smooth Operator."

7. What's one place you can't forget and want to go back to?
South Africa.

8. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think?
Think. Sometime over-think.

9. What's one thing that you think makes you a good writer?
Being a dreamer from way back -- I can't see someone or hear something without coming up with my own story. (This is why I got "needs to pay attention in class" on my report cards.)

10. Do you have a good body-image?
Body is fine; face could use improving.

11. What is your favorite fruit?
Pears / guava / nectarines. Sorry, couldn't decide.

12. What websites do you visit daily?
LJ, bbcnews, the kids' schools, blogger, anything that interests me at the moment.

13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately?
Cooking with local foods, usually involving olive oil.

14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
Anne Marie is smart, thoughtful, kind, fun, funny, very capable (of just about anything), an amazing mom and wife and friend, an incredibly talented author who hasn't hit the right editor yet but I can feel it coming soon.

15. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?
Skip to My Lou. My daughter's learning the clarinet.

16. What’s your favorite item of clothing?
My comfy shoes.

17. Do you prefer funny or serious movies?
Funny, especially if they're clever / witty funny.

18. What would you do if you see saw $100 lying on the ground?
I'd take it to the head of the establishment closest to the $100. If it was far away from any location, I'd give it to the local food bank, figuring it could benefit some people who need it most.

19. What items could you not go without during the day?
Coffee.

20. What should you be doing right now?
Finishing the edits on my ms., so I'll go do that right now!

But first, I need to tag . . . just ignore me if you've already been tagged for this (or if you don't do these): cassandra w, goadingthepen, julieswanson, kbaccellia, lgburns, kristydempsey, moyer girl, tracyworld

I read the most romantic thing in THREE CUPS OF TEA (the story of Greg Mortenson, who failed at climbing K2 but turned to building schools for children, especially girls, in Pakistan & Afghanistan). This conversation transpired the evening he met his wife-to-be, ending up at her apartment:

Her: "Welcome to my home."
Him: "Welcome to my heart."

Awww.

Here's something equally romantic, tho' very different, that just happened to me:

Teenage son, already p.o.'ed at me, cuts me off as I'm trying to help him with something, and asks DH instead.
DH (or should I say, DDDDDDH) replies, rather hotly, "I have NO interest in helping you after the way you just treated my wife." Burning gaze elicits contrite apologies from son.

Warmed my heart.

While I have my hopes set on one of them, here's how I get to a "10" for both:

(OK, it's a joke, but there's a hint of seriousness to it, too.)

If you accept the idea that this is the current (unfortunate) hierarchy in the U.S.:

White male
Black male
White female
Black female

and we assign 4 points for white male, down to 1 point for black female, AND

If you accept that, while picking a female VEEP is huge, the PRES slot is still worth twice as much as the VEEP slot, THEN

3 points for being a black male, weighted twice = 6, plus 4 pts. for white male, makes the Obama ticket a 10
4 points for being a white male, weighted twice = 8, plus 2 pts. for white female, makes the McCain ticket a 10

:o) Whatever you think, it's going to be an interesting, exciting campaign!

My sister & bro-in-law just brought this back from Japan. The funny brush thing is a wooden whisk. The tea is REALLY green and STRONG. Or I didn't make it right. I can't read the Japanese directions. It's supposed to be excellent quality and have a lot of caffeine. I can feel the buzz already so I'm off to see if I can outdo someone's (whose name is Anne Marie) progress meter, or at least try catch up to it. Sending green tea writing strength to everyone!

This is the new thing that happens every morning when I try make my bed -- she hops on top. Gee, I wonder where she hangs out when everyone's out of the house?

Maybe I can convince her to stay there when I get THE EDITOR call this morning. It's really distracting trying to sound intelligent on the phone when she brings squeeeeky toys or tells me it's time for her walk (she has a loud voice). Then there's the flipping my hands off the keyboard trick by sticking her snout under my wrist and flinging. Does anyone else have these pet issues? I know there's the cat on the the keyboard trick . . . .

Really, she's a sweet dog, but it's a good thing I don't spoil my kids like I spoil her.

Just a reminder from the above website that there are only 19 Mondays left to make a point of doing something nice. Go here and see what you can do:

http://www.doonenicething.com/

We found him in Ohio. Isn't he cute? Boy, how I love kitsch!

I'm thankful my daughter's first day of middle school went well except for not being able to open her locker, but even that was OK because "Zach, he's hot, but mostly he has a really nice personality, got my locker open for me." Big grin.

I'm thankful my son is still a lot of fun even though he's a teenager.

I'm thankful my husband is thoughtful enough to ask what I want to do for my birthday even though it's over 2 months away.

I'm thankful I have the time, equipment, health, etc. to write.

I'm thankful the ants are gone, again, and maybe they'll stay away this time.

I'm thankful I have money to pay the bills and can help those who can't.

I'm thankful I've gotten to the point where I don't sweat the small stuff (as much) and realize (more often) that so much of it is small stuff.

This is just so cool:

Skeletons uncovered in friary dig (in a Scottish city)


Archaeologists in Perth have uncovered more than 50 skeletons at the site of a medieval friary.
The team is excavating land at the corner of Riggs Road and Jeanfield Road before retail units are built.
As well as the bones, the team has discovered pieces of grave slabs, window glass and further evidence of the 13th century Carmelite friary.

Here's the kicker: "Probably the most unexpected thing is the amount of burials that we found that are all post-Reformation - that means they're all after the friary's gone - because there was no record of this site being used for burials that late on.
"So, I've no idea what they're doing here, but there's certainly quite a few of them and they seem to be buried in family groups."

See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/7533920.stm

OK, this isn't about writing -- but who's to say it's can't spur some great novels?

We Can Solve It. www.wecansolveit.org.

I blogged about it at http://kathyerskine.blogspot.com/.

Forgive me for being a couple of weeks late with this but I've been cyber-silent for some time and really missed some great stuff like the coming out event of HEALING WATER, an excellent and intriguing story of the leper colony in Hawaii and the people who both worked and lived there. Wow. I read this in manuscript form and I was blown away. Since then, with Carolyn Yoder editing it, it got even better. Run! Get your copy now!

Congratulations, Joyce, on bringing the life, the fear, the love, and everything about a scary disease to all of us in very real terms. Sure, it's historical fiction. But we have the same kinds of things happening around us today. This book is fascinating for young people and adults. Awesome writing!