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A number of Guardian Angel Publishing authors and illustrators will be in St. Louis today and tomorrow.
This afternoon from 1:00-4:00 pm, they will be hosting a series of activities at the Children's Illustrated Art Museum in Crestwood Mall.
Tomorrow from 11:00-1:00, they will all be signing books at Borders at South County Mall.

Please stop by for a visit if you can.

We are in Japan during Golden Week. It is very busy as this is the time of year that many Japanese take their vacations. It is also one of the beautiful times here as azaleas and wisteria are in bloom.

I had a great time with the young students of Yokosuka, Atsugi, and Zama. We are off today to northern Honshu (the main island) to schools in Misawa.

Shutta

Another wonderful review of my latest picture book, Humberto the Bookworm Hamster!

This time by Judy Mercado from Pilgrim Soul Blog.

"As a self-admitted bookworm, I had expected to find Calvani’s book interesting. What I did not expect was that this beautifully illustrated children’s tale would apply so resoundingly to my current life, particularly my blogging life. Since I began blogging, I have been struck by how much fun it is to write for my blog and also to read other blogs. I can be carried off for hours and, in the meantime, dinner is not prepared, clothes are not washed, my dear husband has not received a hug, and friends and family have not heard from me. Humberto is a powerful reminder that we are social beings in the flesh and not just on the page." --Judy Williams

Read the complete review HERE.

I had a fun time talking with April and Margaret today on the Robin Falls Kids Show.

Deb Diesen is a wonderful writer, good friend, and perhaps(?) an alien abductee. You may not know that her first book, THE POUT POUT FISH, was named by Time Magazine as one of the top ten children’s books of 2008. Check it out–you can’t help but smile.  Enjoy this lighthearted interview with Deb, and check out her website at Jumping the Candlestick.   Shutta

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1. Let’s start out with something kids often wonder. How old were you when you first started seriously writing?

My first period of “serious” writing came in elementary school.  When I was in third or fourth grade, I decided to try writing a poem about a butterfly.  I put a lot of work into the poem, then typed it up on my Mom’s typewriter (this was WAY before computers).  I went downstairs with my carefully typed poem, and showed it to my Mom.  She told me it was great.  Then she said, “But put a date on it.  Writers always date their work.”

My mom had no idea the significance of those words to me.  Not only did she instill in me an excellent habit (I still always date my drafts and revisions), but more importantly she gave me belief in myself as a Real Writer.  I took that belief and immediately poured it into a very productive writing period, penning poem after poem, and even a “novel” (a thinly veiled rip-off of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, but I was earnest about it).  All through elementary school, I knew with certainty that I was a writer, and write I did.

Unfortunately, my belief in my writing slowly faded over the years.  By the time I reached the age of thirty, I’d pretty much set aside my writerly dreams.  But then I became a parent; and the experience of reading and re-reading and re-re-reading wonderful children’s books to my kids reawakened my own desire to write.  About a decade ago, I once again picked up my pen. I haven’t set it down since.

2. How many book rejections did you get before you got your first acceptance?

Spread across the various manuscripts I was submitting, I had had exactly 99 rejections before I got the wonderful phone call telling me that Farrar, Straus & Giroux would publish my story The Pout-Pout Fish.

I now have two other books on the way, and though I stopped counting rejections after the first acceptance, and I don’t think I had a full 99 more before either of the other contracts, I do continue to receive plenty of rejections.  They go with the territory!

3. How do you make up names for your characters?

I must have used up all my naming energy in picking names for my two kids, because my characters have some pretty unimaginative names!  The main character in The Pout-Pout Fish is, um, “Mr.. Fish,” and his pals are, er, Ms. Clam (a clam); Mr.. Jelly (a jellyfish); Mrs.. Squid (a squid); and Mr.. Eight (an octopus).  I guess you could say I use the Captain Obvious technique for character names.

(Either that, or no technique at all…  None of the babies in The Barefooted, Bad-Tempered Baby Brigade (Tricycle Press, 2010) have names!)

4. When you write do you like quiet, music, or lots of activity around you?

I definitely need quiet to do my writing.  Most of my writing is done either late at night or very early in the morning, when no one else in the household is stirring.

Fortunately, ideas for my writing show up in all sorts of circumstances.  Good thing, because it’s usually pretty chaotic around my house!

5. What’s the earliest childhood memory you can think back to? Does it appear in any of your writing?

That’s a great question which I unfortunately don’t have a very good answer for!  For whatever reason, I don’t have a lot of strong memories of my childhood.  Those things that I do recall tend to be snap shot sensations that come back to me here and there, mostly out of the blue.  They feel almost like poems, rather than like memories, if that makes any sense at all.

6. What age child do you have in your head? Is there more than one child up there?

It’s standing room only up in my head!  I’ve got kids of every age and disposition.  Luckily, most of them are fairly well-behaved, with a tendency to be sweet and silly.  But there are a few pranksters amongst the bunch, and they’re all of them rather LOUD!

7. Why do you like to write for young readers?

Books and reading played a hugely significant role in my own childhood.  Writing for kids is a way for me to circle back to that — to acknowledge and celebrate the lifelong impact of books on kids, and to hopefully touch the life of a child or two in the process.

8. What do you have hidden in a dresser drawer? (We won’t tell, will we everyone?)

A shorter answer might be to list what I don’t have in my dresser drawer (I’m a bit of a clutter prone packrat, I must admit).  But I went just now to look, and found a set of three tiny pinecones on a small twig.  Wow! I’d forgotten they were in there. Perhaps they’re magical!  At the very least, they’re beautiful.  Maybe I should liberate them from the drawer and set them on my desk.  In fact, I think I will!  Ah. Much better.  (And more room for my socks that way…)

9. What do your favorite pair of socks look like?

Oddly enough, they look just like pine cones!  Just kidding.  No, my favorite socks are bright red and patterned with yellow and blue diamonds and sunbursts and other designs.  They’re completely different than the other 99.99% of my sock collection, which is based entirely on the traditional concept of Solid Colors.

10. If you woke up in the morning and found someone else’s shoes in your refrigerator, what would you think?

Initially, I’d simply move them aside to get to the creamer for my coffee.

But once the caffeine kicked in, I’d immediately figure my kids were up to something…

11. Have you ever been abducted by aliens? If so, did they wear socks? What did they have hidden in their zormorpholaters? And were they missing any shoes?

If I were to tell you that the shoeless aliens wore ankle socks with little puff balls (as were popular in the 1980s) and hid dark chocolate in their zormorpholaters, this should not be construed as an admission of a brief but enlightening alien abduction that occurred exactly three years and twenty-two days ago.

12. Will you name a character in your next book after me?

Shutta, every book should have a character named after you!

Just a few more photos from the big game on Tuesday night.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Last night I stayed up to watch Barack Obama as he claimed his victory in the U. S. presidential race. I wanted to be a part of this important time in history. I was not disappointed. His speech was inspiring-- hope-filled. A unifying speech for all of our people.

Okay so, Thursday night I was interviewed on BLOG TALK RADIO by the fantastic, Yolanda Renee. I just gotta say, the show was amazing! You guys who might have missed it, feel free to grab some coffee or whatever floats your biscuit and kick on back. You can listen to the show here.

I talked about the unbelievable response to and launch of TREI Literary Magazine, which you can check out by hopping on over to http://www.treimagazine.com. I can't believe how many people have written to me about the magazine. OMG! YAY! I'm so excited! I'm like a drunken sailor turning down the sobbering gift of coffee. I just do not want to wake up from this euphoric feeling.

I also want to thank everyone who's signed the guest book there. OMG! I'm so humbled by everything you guys have written there, here and across the web. It's just....it's just so....

*blushing*

Well, I'm honored to say, this is only the beginning, my dear and cherished friends. Oh my, my, my,.....what I have instore for you guys and your books is going to BLOW YOU AWAY! It's going to pull the world aside, shake them off their rocker, and make them listen while YOU shout that YOU are coming, YOU are here, and YOU are going to ROCK THIS JOINT!

Dnow, don't forget....October is our HORROR issue, and I want YOU all to scare the hell out of me and every reader out there. I have been bombarded by submissions, but, in the words of a certain little vampire...I WANT SOME MORE. I want the scariest short stories imaginable and dark poetry. I'm looking to feature illustrators of dark art. As for those of you who've written to ask me about being a guest columnist for TREI. Well, what I'd like to do is a multi-author interview. Sort of a How-to-Write horror article from the view points of 3-4 authors of horror. I think it's a great way to get into the minds of a variety of horror authors. So tell everyone you know who writes or is into horror. THIS IS REALLY GOING TO SET THE BAR!

Now, back to the show.....

I also spoke about DAVID THORNE: The Golithian Orbs, my edgy tween fantasy about a boy's deperate fight to save the life of the first friend he has ever had....a man charged with murder.

And then I was asked about my book cover, done by the amazing Doron Ben-Ami (www.doronbenami.com).

Want to listen in on children’s writers talking to each other about writing technique, their books, life, and more? Then check out PENPals–conversations between children’s and YA writers and illustrators via email. The series is created by PEN (an association of writers working to advance literature, defend free expression, and foster international literary fellowship).

The first in the series is a conversation between Markus Zusak, Australian author of The Book Thief, and Susan Campbell Bartoletti, American author of non-fiction Hitler Youth, and The Boy Who Dared.

This looks like an interesting series; I’m looking forward to other author conversations.

Thanks to Fuse #8 for the link.

The Snevil Author, The Winner in the City, and The Show that Broke the Seal (blog I posted on my page on July 2, 2008)
Okay so.......

cue magical music that lingers in the air with mysterious bravado.....