Pam Calvert's Blog, page 5

New Things That I'm Obsessing Over...Proceed With Caution!

Now that it's unplugged August, I'm plugged in more than ever (isn't that strange? Kinda like prohibition! LOL!) Anyway, I've discovered some amazing things in my self-imposed unplugged-ness so I thought I'd share.

1. Pinterest: This is for those who obsess over all things. Yeah. THINGS! Anything you can think of or care about that's in pictures, you can "pin" and share with your friends. This is good if you have a book that needs a little ambiance. You can search for mood pics, characters, anything and put it in a book folder. I haven't done it yet, but I had fun looking at my daughter's pinterest folders. AWESOME! Can't wait to start. I'll share my own later. Have you started this?

2. Angry Birds: Yes, I'm late to the party. I had no idea about this incredibly addicting game because as my kids would say, I have a ghetto phone. I'm one of the only holdouts that doesn't have an iphone or droid. Hubby has a droid. Kids have iphones. I'm soooo uncool. Hubby was playing this game on his phone during my birthday. I fell asleep watching him annihilate green pigs with the most dastardly birds. Fun stuff. So, I got my own game on Google Chrome. Dumb when you're not supposed to play (@!($)#*@ unplugged August!)

3. My agent: Can't help it. She rocks. I'm going to post all about her once she gives me the green light. (I haven't asked her yet.) You can read about one of her amazing deals with another client here: Jenn Johansson. I will save all my info about her (and our meeting which was miraculous, really) in my future post.

4. Water for Elephants: I saw this movie on the plane coming home from LA and now I see Robert Pattinson in a whole new light. He can act! LOL! Anyway, once this movie gets on DVD, I'm buying it. I need to read the book!





5. Princess for Hire series: I saw Lindsey Leavitt in LA and we decided to exchange books--her second book in her series for my second book in mine. And they looked pecularly similar:

Don't see the similarities?


Well, look at the first books!












See??? I'm not crazy am I? I wonder what her third book will look like...I'm reading the second book right now! I'll write a review when I'm done.

My Most Memorable Experience of SCBWI LA

Okay, so I'm going to plug in for a little bit because I have to report about my SCBWI experience before I lose the memory. When you pass 40, you never know what might fly out of your brain at any moment.




Now, you'd think my experiences would be full of things like meeting Jon Scieszka (a man whose work I admire, adore, and would love to copy I mean...love to cherish), chatting with Harold Underdown of The Purple Crayon (he's YOUNG! We told him to get a new picture! NOW!), seeing Judy Blume IN THE FLESH (what an amazing woman! So graceful and inspiring--I cried at the end of her talk,) meeting editors (the WONDERFUL Jenne Abramowitz--so adorable and nice,) meeting MY FABULOUS AGENT (that will be in another post), and hitting the pavement in my light up fairy costume for the PJ ball. Oh...did I have fun or what? (Um...I have NO pictures because I lost my camera after the ball...another story...egad!)

But that's not what I'm going to talk about. The most memorable experience happened like this:

My friend, Meg O Hair, and I had just finished a fun filled lunch at the Pink Taco. Earlier in the week, we'd made friends with the owner, general manager, and assistant manager. That meant free kamakazees for us. Yum! So, Meg and I were happily shopping at Gelson's market in the trendy mall on the Avenue of the Stars. After we'd made our purchases, chatted with the lovely cashier, and scared a few customers by our over-the-top behavior, we skipped toward the sliding glass doors. On the way, I noticed a very tiny, yet beautiful woman paying for a salad. Instantly, I recognized her as Paula Abdul. I pointed (yes, kamakazees make me VERY annoying), and said to Meg, "Oh, isn't she cute?"
     Paula waved at us and smiled.
     Then we walked out.
     I thought this was very strange. Why, you ask? Well, for anyone who knows my friend, Meg, you know that she's not scared of any star with or without the consumption of kamakazees. In fact, the last time we were in LA together, we met John Edwards (yes--before the scandal). He looked like a movie star waltzing through the lobby of the Century Plaza Hotel. Meg darted for him, told him she loved his $400 haircut and forced me (because I'd never vote for the guy) to get my picture taken with him. To be fair, he was very charming and kind.
    So, I thought Meg wouldn't miss this opportunity to meet Paula. When she didn't say anything, I shrugged and thought that was the end of it. As we ascended the escalator to the rest of the mall, in front of us stretched a huge poster with Paula's face on it, advertising the upcoming X-Factor tv show with Simon Cowell. I pointed and announced, "Oh, wasn't that cool? We just saw her."
     Meg blinked her eyes like she had a piece of fluff in them. "We didn't see Paula Abdul."
     "Yes we did," I said.
     She shook her head. "No. That was just a cute girl in there."
     I laughed, wondering how she didn't recognize her. "That was Paula Addul."
     In a flash, Meg was gone. Seriously. She'd disappeared like Samantha Stevens on Bewitched.
     When I turned around, I saw a flash of a person zip into the grocery store.
     I tilted my head, thinking, "I guess it's time to meet Paula." So I hopped on the descending escalator, hoping we weren't going to make too much of a scene.
      Meg and Paula were instant friends by the time I got back to the store. They exchanged doggie pictures, chatted about life, and Meg even prayed over Paula for help in defeating the bad press she may get if she does something, I don't know...kooky. It was surreal!
      Paula was so NICE! I can't say that enough. She made sure she stopped and took the time to be with her fans. Even though I was the sidekick in the story, Paula asked me to be in the picture with her and Meg. I couldn't get over how tiny she was. As Meg put it--she was a bone with a belt. She made me look like I needed to lose 100 pounds. Ugh!
      After we were finished, Paula had somewhere to go (she was all decked out in rhinestones and platinum). Her stretch Escalade swooped over and her assistants ushered her into the back seat. She waved at us out the window, blowing kisses. LOL!
     So, that's it. The most memorable experience. I wonder who we'll meet next time we're in LA? Snooki?
    
    

Unplugged August!

Several years ago, my husband and I got sick of how our children would constantly want to watch movies, tv, videos, and play on the computer during the summer. So, we decided to unplug for a whole month just to see if we could do it. And I mean we because I'm probably the worst offender. I don't watch much tv but I'm an incessant blogger/social networker. (I also LOVE video games--I got a PS3 for my birthday. I wonder how many 40 something women ask for that from their loving hubbies?) Well, once we did it, we found we actually played games with each other at night, read more books than ever, and had real conversations with our teens. (I also got a lot of writing done, too!)

It was awesome!

Since we did it in August, that's been our tradition. The kids hate August--it means unplugged and school starting. LOL!

But I'm looking forward to it. I won't be back until September. Maybe I'll finally get that novel done. I have five chapters to go but that's been the same all summer. HA!

Wish me luck!

Cupcakes!

Summer is winding down and as I'll be out of town (SCBWI LA!) and then it's family vacation, I decided to do something fun with my little girl while the big kids and dad were gone (camp and work). :-)

I bought a fun magazine with some amazing recipes entitled, Taste of Home FUN FOOD. You can access some similar recipes here: Kid Friendly recipes.

We decided to do the cute cupcakes on the cover. :-)

So here was our process!



First, we took a box cake mix and whipped up the ingredients. My daughter carefully poured the mixture into baking cups.



Next, we put them in the oven according to pkg directions!
Don't forget hot pads!
Now we waited until they were done!







Once they cooled, the fun began! We frosted!


(The lighting was very strange...sorry about that!)
Then we used Nutter Butter cookies for the monkey ears by cutting them in half. (I think a few didn't make it onto the cupcakes. Mmmmm...)
Next, we cut Nilla Wafers for the mouth!


Using M n' M eyes and gel sparkle frosting for the goofy features, my daughter used her creative talents for an assortment of faces. She's modeling one here!
And so...the finished products!
We had a lot of fun (as you can see,) but the most fun was devouring, um sampling them and sharing!

If you know anything about me, you know I love cupcakes. Here's another blog post where we make Princess Peepers cupcakes.
HAVE FUN!

When School Visits Go Wrong

I was really excited last week to be going to Alabama. A bookseller who helps out his local schools by contacting and coordinating authors from all over the nation chose me to visit. I was very honored.

The first school visit went well. They welcomed me with a dazzling display in their window. The kids were so smart and I loved every moment! This was going down as one of my best visits. Here's a pic of their welcome! It says: "PAM + CALVERT = VIP" in a nod to my math books. Very clever!


The next day started out no differently. The school welcomed me with a huge poster signed by all the students and the library was decorated with TONS of cute glasses on everyone and everything. Take a look:

I knew there had been reports that we were to receive bad weather later in the day, but thought nothing of it. Of course. I'd lived in tornado alley cities much of my life and really only had one scare to show for it. But in the middle of my third session, right before lunch, we were told to go into the hallways and take cover. I wasn't frightened at this point. The librarian had the weather radar on her t.v. and we could see the red zone was to our north. Nothing to worry about.

The poor children had to wait in the hall for nearly an hour. They did so well trying to be quiet. Since there was no impending danger, I sat in the library signing books and discussed how I'd make up my last session the next day. By this time, my stomach was growling. They'd offered me the sandwiches they were giving the children for lunch, but I thought I'd get something later.

Wrong decision.

As I was dropped off at my hotel, I waved good-bye to the coordinator, and ventured into my room. I was about to walk over to Applebees when I thought, "It's raining so hard, I'll wait until it goes away and get an early supper."

So, I fell asleep.

In my dream, people I knew were hiding in the lobby of the hotel, and I was discussing things with them as a loud tornado siren blared in the background. I felt the noise was so realistic. And then suddenly, I woke up to an ACTUAL air horn blasting outside.

This was no dream.

My hotel phone rang, and I was told to go into the hallway to take cover. This lasted about two minutes as everyone congregated to the floor to ceiling window filled lobby. Curiosity sent all of us outside. Video cameras caught a large swirling wall cloud several miles away pass us by. In the meantime, the power went out. I was trapped out of my room.

During all of this, a few people came to the hotel wanting to check in but knew there was no use, so we all chatted, not knowing the horrible destruction happening around us, only a few miles away. I'd been in a tornado before--I knew when to be alarmed. Dirt clods, insulation, debris drops out of the air. I didn't see any of that.

After about thirty minutes, the storm had passed. It was time to go back to my room. The power was still not on. I was sooo hungry. But nothing around us had power. The Applebees staff went home. We watched them drive away.

And even more storms were coming.

In the darkness of my hotel room, I talked with my husband and daughter on my cell, then decided to go to sleep early. I figured someone would alert me if I had to take cover again. And sleeping would help abate my ever growing hunger. I turned on the light next to me, hoping the power would come on later, waking me.

It never did.

In the morning, everyone in the hotel was up, talking about what had happened. Reports from the hotel staff told us there was no power for miles--a major electrical artery had been severed. There wouldn't be power for at least three to five days. My cell phone wouldn't work--the cell phone towers were down. The man who was supposed to pick me up did not come at the expected time.

There I was--stranded in Alabama with no way of getting home. Everything was closed. The hotel only had a few muffins and bottled water to feed us. Before panic could set in, a man who was leaving for Kentucky with three of his co-workers offered me a ride to the Nashville airport where I could fly back home. I had to make a decision quickly. I was worried about my school visit contact, but knew it would be better for everyone if he didn't have to worry about me. So, I took the ride. On the way to the airport, I caught some of the destruction along the road. Here are some of the images I saw:


This is a billboard that was mowed down as if it were a paperclip.

















Here is a mangled 18 wheeler filled with volatile liquid. You could see the dirt and grass it must have dug up as it was dropped from the sky.

                                                                                                                                                                         This might be harder to see but the trees are uprooted, many of their tops have been ripped off and blown to bits.

The school librarian that I was supposed to visit that day contacted me yesterday. They still do not have power to the schools and are closed. She said, "(Our town) looks like a war zone where bombs have leveled blocks and blocks of businesses and homes. I just can't describe the enormity of this tragedy!" There have been 351 deaths from these storms in Alabama alone. All I can say is I feel very thankful to be able to come out of that storm alive, well, and without injury. The people in the hotel did not take that storm seriously, myself included. If the tornados had decided to come our way, there would have been nothing to protect us.

I'm praying for those who lost their loved ones and for the people who have lost homes and businesses. This will be one school visit journey I'll never forget. May God help the people suffering from this tragedy!

Housewives of Children's Literature Part 3

In this episode, Meg and Pam run into three bad girls of Montgomery County. They also force a store owner to open her shop to let them peruse her bling (at the Rhinestone Cowgirl: http://www.rhinestonecowgirlwear.com/

Housewives of Children's Literature Part 2

In this episode, Meg and Pam make cookies with the recipe from Alice's blog: Savory Sweet. YUM! And in a spoof on the Housewives series, they discuss the finer points of living with acrylic nails. PLUS! Meg offers encouragement to writers submitting manuscripts to publishers.

The Housewives of Children's Literature in TEXAS! Vol. 1

Come join Meg and I on the first episode of the Housewives of Children's Literature in TEXAS!

School visits!

I have seventeen school visits this spring and I've done about twelve of them. All have gone so well, I thought I'd share a few of the photos.

From a school in College Station! Some librarians should be artists!
The next one is from Plano:
This is my Paradise visit! :-) They went all out!
My camera broke for most of the visits and I just bought a new one, so this is all I have, but if you're thinking about doing school visits--they are really fun (as you can see!) I receive many questions from the kids, but mostly they want to know if I'm famous. I tell them I'm only famous to my mother--but that's not good enough for them. They WANT me to be famous! LOL! One kid got SOOO angry with me that he crossed his arms and "Grrrd!" at me when I said I wasn't. Then he wanted to know if I made a lot of money. Because he was so miffed that I wasn't famous, I decided to play along and tell him what he wanted to hear, so I said yes. Well, he REALLY got mad then. He yelled, "That's not fair!" and stomped away.
Kids. Hilarious!
Here are some funny fan letters I've received:

I love the line at the end: "Do you think you could come to my house?"






















This cute letter warmed my heart (and I LOVE they way she spells): "Where did you get your name Pam Calvert because I think it is butiful. You are the best arther I no."  Awww...


















I love this line: "I haven't read all your books but I'm thanking they're still good." LOL!

Celebrity Apprentice: Children's Lit Edition--My Thoughts

I was overjoyed when I finally got to see the Celebrity Apprentice episode this week. Princess Peepers did indeed receive her FIVE SECONDS of fame!! And believe me, this is five seconds more than I would have ever thought would have appeared on that show or any other show for that matter. So, I was IMMENSELY HAPPY!!

There's a lot to talk about behind the scenes--mainly that Margery Cuyler gave A LOT of advice to the contestants, but it only appeared that she quipped a few sentences. I loved seeing her sparkling face during the skits when the contestants presented their plays, and overall, thought the teams did a fantastic job in the little amount of time they had.

It's HARD to write a good children's book.

Neither team wrote a particularly charming children's story and both didn't have much in the way of creativity. I knew that Margery had given Princess Peepers as an example of story structure and it looked as if the men's team's offering was a blatant copy of that structure--(kids making fun of a child who was unsure about their looks; kid finally realizing they were great just they way they are.) Unfortunately, there wasn't anything to escalate the drama nor did the child solve the problem--the teacher did. So, don't lose heart, children's authors! They didn't produce a winning children's book in a day (as most people think it's easy to write a picture book). And neither did the women's team, but I liked their rendition better--the kids seemed to enjoy it more, and it was way more kid-friendly, imho.

Overall, I was pleased with the show--especially when the screen flashed all the Marshall Cavendish books! If you didn't get to see the show, you can enjoy it here: Celebrity Apprentice: Child's Play  And you can do what I did--pause the video when all the books are being shown! Maybe obsess over Princess Peepers being on the table--in the hands of some of the contestants. LOL! ;-)

If you want to read more about some people's thoughts on the show, here are a few funny and interesting blog posts:

1. Lynne Kelly's blog: More Children's Books from Celebrity Apprentice

2. Michael Rex's take: My Time in the Tower