Kirby Larson's Blog, page 67
August 18, 2011
The Three Musketeers Hit the Road
Neil, Winston and I are piling into the car in a couple of hours for a drive to Olympia (with a short stop at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant at Renton's Coulon Landing) where later tonight I'll be speaking at the Scholastic Book Fair Northwest Region's Season Kick-Off meeting (that's a mouthful!). The event is at the dog-friendly Red Lion which is why Winnie gets to come along but he told me he'd rather stay in the room and watch Animal Planet than come hear me speak. Kids these days!
Winston does love his TV. But he only gets to watch educational channels.
Good friend, Cindy Lord, spoke to the Northeast region last year and gave me a great topic idea. In addition to telling some of the stories behind the stories, I'm also going to tell these enthusiastic book sellers about the responses I get after they put books in the hands of readers. Wish me luck.
It looks like a nice day for a drive! If you're headed south on I-5 today, too, honk and wave.
Winston does love his TV. But he only gets to watch educational channels.
Good friend, Cindy Lord, spoke to the Northeast region last year and gave me a great topic idea. In addition to telling some of the stories behind the stories, I'm also going to tell these enthusiastic book sellers about the responses I get after they put books in the hands of readers. Wish me luck.
It looks like a nice day for a drive! If you're headed south on I-5 today, too, honk and wave.
August 17, 2011
Friends Don't Let Friends Dance to Frank Sinatra
It's been a long summer for my friend, Barbara O'Connor as she heals up from her thumb surgery. But after a recent post, I'm a little worried about her. I've heard of dancing with wolves. . .but dancing with dogs?
Just saying.
Just saying.
August 16, 2011
Messing Around
I've been playing around with the look of my blog. If you hate it, let me know but nicely. Compliments are also welcome but I'm a writer so I'm wired to expect critique rather than praise!
I have decided that switching things up here is the key to acquiring a nice even 100 followers. What if I offer an incentive? Autographed book to follower #100? Deal.
(In case you didn't know, this is the kind of post one posts when one is stuck on one's work in progress.)
I have decided that switching things up here is the key to acquiring a nice even 100 followers. What if I offer an incentive? Autographed book to follower #100? Deal.
(In case you didn't know, this is the kind of post one posts when one is stuck on one's work in progress.)
August 15, 2011
58 is a very good number
That's how many years these two kids have been married (though they've been sweethearts longer than that).
Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!
Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!
August 13, 2011
The Friendship Doll has a friend!
You have to love a blogger who not only chats up your book in a positive way, but also creates an adorable craft to go along with it! Valarie Budayr writes a blog called Jump Into a Book: Making Kids Books Come Alive. Here's her review of The Friendship Doll and here are the darling origami Friendship Dolls she was inspired to whip up:
At her site, she offers a downloadable pdf of instructions to make the dolls. I haven't tried it yet, but am thinking it might be a great craft for the American Girls book club I'm meeting with on September 7 at the Woodinville Barnes and Noble!
Thank you, Valarie!
At her site, she offers a downloadable pdf of instructions to make the dolls. I haven't tried it yet, but am thinking it might be a great craft for the American Girls book club I'm meeting with on September 7 at the Woodinville Barnes and Noble!
Thank you, Valarie!
August 12, 2011
Questions from a Reader
I received this email recently and thought other readers of The Friendship Doll might be interested in my answers to Jess' questions:
Dear Kirby: I'm interested to hear more about your research for The Friendship Doll. It's fascinating to hear about sources. I think sometimes doing research for books is like being a word archeologist... you never know what you'll find buried in newspapers and journals.
What kind of sources did you seek out after you found the first photograph of the girl with the Japanese doll to find out more about her? And how did you discover the one doll that wasn't missing?
Dear Jess: I love that idea of being a word archeologist. . . but I think I'm more of a mucker-arounder. ;-) Since I started the research for this book so long ago, I can't recall when I learned that the dolls were called "Friendship Dolls," but once I did, that gave me focus. I found Bill Gordon's site and managed to acquire the book Dr. Gulick had written (gotta love Alibris!). I use eBay for maps and photos, diaries and letters and my library allows me on-line access to the historical New York Times archive which is fabulous! I visited museums and did just about anything else I could do to track down information, including interviewing Michiko Takaoka, who is a leading expert on the dolls (if not THE leading expert), when she was director of a Japanese language school across the state from me in Spokane, Washington. I also used the Library of Congress site -- they have a great resource there called American Memory.
I leave no stone unturned! But it's not a job for wimps. After spending a day reading microfiche, I generally have a headache and my neck and back complain big time. None of those machines are ergonomically correct. It's a problem, truly. So I love it when I can get newspapers on-line. And I can't tell you the number of hours I spend looking for things I never find. So prepare for a bit of frustration, should you choose this path.
When I was a kid, I played Man From UNCLE with my neighborhood buddies and dreamed of being a spy or detective (preferably one like Honey West, who had a pet ocelot). I feel like my childhood dreams have come true through my work as a writer of historical fiction -- but without the danger.
Dear Kirby: I'm interested to hear more about your research for The Friendship Doll. It's fascinating to hear about sources. I think sometimes doing research for books is like being a word archeologist... you never know what you'll find buried in newspapers and journals.
What kind of sources did you seek out after you found the first photograph of the girl with the Japanese doll to find out more about her? And how did you discover the one doll that wasn't missing?
Dear Jess: I love that idea of being a word archeologist. . . but I think I'm more of a mucker-arounder. ;-) Since I started the research for this book so long ago, I can't recall when I learned that the dolls were called "Friendship Dolls," but once I did, that gave me focus. I found Bill Gordon's site and managed to acquire the book Dr. Gulick had written (gotta love Alibris!). I use eBay for maps and photos, diaries and letters and my library allows me on-line access to the historical New York Times archive which is fabulous! I visited museums and did just about anything else I could do to track down information, including interviewing Michiko Takaoka, who is a leading expert on the dolls (if not THE leading expert), when she was director of a Japanese language school across the state from me in Spokane, Washington. I also used the Library of Congress site -- they have a great resource there called American Memory.
I leave no stone unturned! But it's not a job for wimps. After spending a day reading microfiche, I generally have a headache and my neck and back complain big time. None of those machines are ergonomically correct. It's a problem, truly. So I love it when I can get newspapers on-line. And I can't tell you the number of hours I spend looking for things I never find. So prepare for a bit of frustration, should you choose this path.
When I was a kid, I played Man From UNCLE with my neighborhood buddies and dreamed of being a spy or detective (preferably one like Honey West, who had a pet ocelot). I feel like my childhood dreams have come true through my work as a writer of historical fiction -- but without the danger.
August 11, 2011
Thought for the Day
"All art requires courage."
― Anne Tucker
― Anne Tucker
August 9, 2011
September 10
If you are in the vicinity of Village Books in Bellingham, Washington (and you should be because it's awesome AND dog-friendly), wander on over around 2 pm on Saturday, September 10, to hear me talk a bit about the newest book, The Friendship Doll. There will not, alas, be any tap dancing but there will be photos and fun and maybe even something tasty. Tell your friends!
August 6, 2011
Personal Passion
If you came to my house, or to Shangri-Lar, you would see many, many beautiful handblown votive holders. Judy Patneaude (yes, spouse of the amazing YA author, Dave Patneaude) got me addicted to these amazing treasures, called Glassybabys.
If you've ever held one, you know the heft of healing; if you've ever seen one aglow, you know the joy that only light can bring.
Now, the founder of Glassybaby, Lee Rhodes, is up for Entrepreneur of the Year. If you are addicted to them like me, please go vote for her. If you don't know about them yet, drop what you are doing and go find one. You cannot imagine the pleasure that this simple, handblown work of art can bring.
If you've ever held one, you know the heft of healing; if you've ever seen one aglow, you know the joy that only light can bring.
Now, the founder of Glassybaby, Lee Rhodes, is up for Entrepreneur of the Year. If you are addicted to them like me, please go vote for her. If you don't know about them yet, drop what you are doing and go find one. You cannot imagine the pleasure that this simple, handblown work of art can bring.
August 5, 2011
I love librarians!
Well, who doesn't love them. But I am especially loving Kelly Butcher who graciously shared her uber-cool graphic-making tips with this techno-goof. She not only shared but she made this for me:
I'm trying to talk her into coming to Seattle for a personalized mini-in-service but until we can work that out, I'm going to take her advice and check out Picnik.
My Keynote presentations are going to be AWESOME from here on out.
I'm trying to talk her into coming to Seattle for a personalized mini-in-service but until we can work that out, I'm going to take her advice and check out Picnik.
My Keynote presentations are going to be AWESOME from here on out.
