A Single Layer

Thanks to my brilliant sister, I finally have a link to my Pinterest boards up on this blog. Go ahead and click through the button on the left to view all the pretty pictures I've been collecting this year. Here's a sampling. You can find all their sources by clicking through the images on their respective boards:

Michael Blake, author of Dances With Wolves and The Holy Road (currently pictured in my sidebar), will be chatting on blogtalkradio this evening at 7PM, about his books, his ranch, and his life. Click on the link to listen in.

The cereus is blooming twice over tonight. We are huddled round the plant, which is some sort of cactus, watching the buds turn from tightly woven pods to starry trumpets and at last to beautiful white flowers. This plant has a special history. It was my grandmother's, and my mother inherited it upon her death some fifteen years ago. It bloomed for the first time only a year ago, and now has a miraculous six buds gracing its succulent stems. Two of them are opening right now, and we are watching the petals move before our eyes, ever so slowly, from cocoon to flower. It's a lesson from nature in waiting, perseverance, silence, patience, and doubtless a dozen other things the Puritans would better understand than I do.

I really didn't think I'd be writing another blog post on the YASaves issue, now so many weeks outdated, but I started drafting a comment to one of my favorite book bloggers, and it just got waaaay too long. So I am posting it here instead. Favorite Blogger was actually writing in response to a different article - an opinion piece in the Huffington Post - written in support of Gurdon's socially disastrous WSJ article and against the ensuing broo-ha-ha. If you can follow that at all, let me try a little better to summarize the issue. Gurdon says certain books aren't appropriate for teens because of their violence and sexuality and general too-much-like-the-underbelly-of-the-world nature. Teen writers and readers (some of them, mostly the ones with twitter accounts) unite in a social networking frenzy to say that Gurdon's attempt to ban books from their category is small-minded and quack. Huff-Po opinion piece says this isn't banning; it's good parenting. F...

I have waited to blog about this. I considered not mentioning it at all, but there's something about the hashtag YASaves that requires reasonably-minded people to stand up and say "Who made you God?" For those of you who haven't been following it, here's the short version of the most recent young adult literature internet squawk: 1. Meghan Cox Gurdon, a seasoned children's and young adult book reviewer, wrote an article criticizing the increasingly dark subject matter of YA literature. 2. YA authors protested her criticism on Twitter, grouping their comments under the subject heading #YASaves. I know. This sort of thing happens all the time. It's not really news. Except it bothers me. Plenty of people are in uproar about Gurdon's criticism, but few who object to the article have said anything very helpful, at least that I've noticed. Most, in fact, are more defensive about their own work than anything else. Because a large body of those p...

I don't have anything to say, really. Just wanted to give a little hello to you readers, to let you know I am grateful for you and have not forgotten you.

I feel like I should have written something, here or on Twitter or Facebook or somewhere, about the epic season finale on Castle a few weeks ago. Monday nights won't be the same for a while - at least, not until we find out that Beckett miraculously is okay but mysteriously remembers nothing of the last few moments before blacking out. Not that the show is in any way predictable... I also said nothing about the NCIS season finale, probably because it wasn't nearly as epic as Castle's. It did, however, answer the soon-to-be-tiresome question of how they will let DiNozzo be a grown up without leaving the team. The fact is, much as we love Playful Tony, we prefer it when he acts like a man. It was the only good thing about the Jeanne Benoit season, and we're glad to see that has an opening again. I don't watch much else, except maybe House every now and then on Hulu. I'm still catching up to the last season of The Office (U.S.)... So I have no other remarka...

I have been editing a lot lately, several books at once, in fact. And there's something interesting that happens when you have a lot of work to do that is almost creative but not quite. You start having really deep urges to create your own work, projects that will take a lot of time and mental energy that you simply don't have. There are two particular novels that I someday want to write, both related to one another, but which I always imagined in two distinct genres. The first would be literary fiction, and it would be about a young woman to whom not much happens (I've never been very good developing plot). The second would be a fantasy novel about the first novel's main character's sister. Lots happens to this girl, though I never could quite figure out what exactly. I know she gets imprisoned, more or less, and that she goes on a journey which involves a train and a walrus and a small raft in the middle of the ocean right above the Marianas Trench (work with me...

GAH!!!!! First photos for The Hunger Games have made their debut on Entertainment Weekly, and I am so distracted with excitement I almost can't remember what real work I'm supposed to be doing right now. See that look in her eye?? See that?!? It says: "Don't matter who they cast next to me, I'm gonna make this movie rock your world."

This blogger responds to the article that got passed around a couple days ago claiming that we're hard-wired to reject scientific data that contradicts our beliefs. I was skeptical of the original article, mostly because it was intentionally titled and tagged to annoy people who believe things. Have a faith? Well, watch out, 'cause neuroscience proves you're a fool. It was good to read a response that was a little less annoyed and a little more coherent than my own skepticism. The blog post also reminded me of how intertwined our scientific programs and our public policies are. There's nothing wrong with having an agenda, but there's definitely something wrong with ignoring the influence your agenda has on your results. This doesn't just apply to science.

The trouble with loving Pinterest as much as I do is that it can be hard to marry my activity there with my activity here, on my home of internet homes. Yesterday's very small collection of a few of my favorite fireplace shots was so much fun to compile that I thought I'd share a few springtime pictures today. Where I could, I have included their sources. Sometimes original links can get lost on Pinterest (especially with photos from tumblr). Most of them are flowers, which is actually very odd for me. Hope you enjoy: I have always wondered if there was a creative and untacky use for doilies. The DIY community has recently answered my curiosity with a host of options, this wreath being one of my favorites. Details on how-to can be found over at Martha Stewart . Origin unknown. I am also not very good at identifying flowers, but I have a feeling that all the flowers posted here are ranunculus. Perhaps they are my favorite. Who knew? I can get carried away with decor...

From FreshHome.com , an amazing collection of bathrooms with a happy bias toward tubs with fireplaces.  From Simon Dale 's incredible hobbit hole home built by hand in Wales. Maybe next year's birthday present for me? Definitely should be HGTV's inspiration for the Dream Home 2012. Speaking of HGTV, a fire in the kitchen! From their collection of rustic spaces.

The past few months saw the wonder and franticity (made-up word) of my obsession with the HGTV Dream Home , an odd sort of obsession, since I mostly spent my time figuring out how I would completely renovate the place to make it better. Okay, not completely renovate, but I had ideas. For example, I deeply resented that there was only one fireplace, and that despite the grandeur of its presentation in the living room, it was so very very small. I moved it to the master bedroom, replaced it with a larger one, and installed a third where the television sat in the guest room. I also mentally replaced the very small master tub with a spa tub and opened the guest room windows onto the jacuzzi patio with French doors. The most impractical room of the house, the awesome eight-bed dorm room, I left as it was. Go figure. Needless to say, I did not win the house. Which is just as well, since I would have spent every penny of the cash prize on renovations instead of banking it for next year...

More videos!! via Ayjay

Having already tweeted, "liked," and double-"liked" this video, I shall now embed it here, adequate thanks being due entirely to Bookshelves of Doom .

I am so very excited to get to work with Jessica Therrien, new author over at ZOVA, in large measure because she is a very excellent blogger. She's only just barely begun blogging (and I mean she's got like five posts), but she's a natural. Since I simply love reading blogs from writers, and YA writers in particular, I'm super excited to ride the waves of her future. Take a look at it here .

No comment needed: http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/03/17/hunger-games-gary-ross-jennifer-lawrence/

If you're a fan... Cassandra Clare and Holly Black will be answering questions from readers over at Amazon's amazing book blog, Omnivoracious , in anticipation of their upcoming book releases next month. Holly Black will be releasing Red Glove , the second in the Curse Workers series, and Cassandra Clare will be releasing the much-awaited follow-up to her Mortal Instruments series, City of Fallen Angels . I'm already debating whether or not to attend their Southern California appearance at the Mission Viejo Library following the release - debating, not because I don't enjoy these authors (because I do) but because I predict some hefty crowds.

For those of you who follow YA news, film adaptation news, or popular media news in general, you should be at least vaguely aware of the significant casting decisions currently being made by our Hollywood brethren in regards to the upcoming film adaptation of Suzanne Collins's bestselling Hunger Games series (previous posts on the first , second , and third books here). One of the most pervasive conversations in the blogosphere is the question of Katniss' race. The most recent acknowledgment of the problem that I've read is Gwenda Bond's article over at Heroes and Heartbreakers. Katniss is described as having dark hair and olive-toned skin, yet none of the actresses considered have been people of color. What gives? Despite our outrage at other instances of whitewashing (anyone remember the original cover of Justine Larbalestier's Liar ?) this is one I'm just not getting behind. In the first place, most people who have a problem with the casting of a blon...