David Lubar's Blog, page 30

Another weenie goes soft

Now available in paperback

Bite into thirty-five more stories full of drifting ghosts, creepy dolls, evil orthodontists, angry insects, scary movies, hungry witches, annoying vegans, super-hot peppers, and other horrors. Find out the worst thing that can happen on a carnival ride (it even creeped me out), and the best way not to give a cat a bath. This might be the tastiest weenie collection yet.

Lubar's creativity is still going strong in these 35 short stories that present suspenseful...

Yeast of Eden

My wife did some serious baking last weekend. Behold:



I don't know the whole process, but the dough was brought to life the day before, and went through various risings and kneadings. I suspect there is a fair degree of skill required. The brioche were gobbled down right out of the oven the next morning.




Life is good. I am a fortunate one.

Bing it on

It's bad enough that the governor of Florida has a name only one letter removed from that of a savior. Now, the mayor of Detroit has the exact same name as a search engine. This does not make for quick headline skimming.

Edited to add: The instant I posted this, I realized the final sentence contained an interesting error. I decided to leave it there, just for fun. (You folks will spot it easily enough.)

Questioning the practice

I got a letter from a kid the other day. After the opening paragraph, where he told me several reasons he liked my book, he wrote, "I have a question." This sentence was followed by 22 questions, ranging from "When did you get your first A+?" to "Are you rich?" I think the question I'm going to answer is, "Do you like getting letters?"

Okay -- I know there are lots of teachers out there. Maybe one of you can answer my questions. Why do these "write the author" assignments always involve...

The Gilless Girls

Bristol Palin is going to be on a reality show. I can see where this could eventually spin off into a scripted series about a teen mom who has witty conversations with her kid about sketchy guys, fashion, politics, and the fossil record.

Half days

My goal is to sleep for 10 or 12 hours. No, I'm not trying to become a house cat. I'm trying to survive. I got up at 4:00 this morning, drove 110 miles, and did a school visit from 8:15 to 3:00. Then I drove another 50 miles to my hotel, near my next visit. I've learned that one way to get through traveling season is to sleep as much as I can when I have the chance. As a bonus, I've rediscovered the blissful luxury of extended sleep, which is something every teen could tell us about. Nig...

Pea Soup

Publishers Weekly has the third Nathan Abercrombie Book, Goop Soup, listed in new releases as Good Soup. A worthy title for a book, perhaps, but not in the spirit of my zombie series. It's goop with a p, as in "poet."

In other news, I'm about to disappear into the maw of travel. I'm glad I won't be flying until March, and only flying four times during the rest of the school year, but I'll be driving all over NJ and PA. I enjoy school visits, but I wish they'd hurry up and perfect the telep...

And now, a word of inspiration

I accidentally wrote something inspiring and supportive in the comment section of a blog. (I try very hard not to do that, but sometimes I slip.) The blogger mentioned, in a short and humorous way, that she felt she'd never finish her current project. (It feels like it would be somewhat rude of me to include a link to that blog, even though it is not locked. If you are the blogger, and would like me to add a link, let me know and I'll edit this.)

Anyhow, the point of this introduction, is ...

Writing from the heart

In my entire body of work (insert body-part joke here), I seem to have only crafted one brief paragraph about Valentine's Day. Here it is:

"Happy artificial holiday with strong commercial overtones." Lee handed me a wrinkled white paper bag. She was wearing a shirt with a heart on it. I guess in honor of Valentine's day. Except it was a real heart.

"Happy that to you, too." I looked inside the bag and shook it a bit. Jelly beans. All black. "I don't have anything for you."

"Reciprocit...

Man down

Well, I couldn't resist checking out VOYA's new "Man Up" column. (If you have no idea why I was curious, it really isn't important.) I was amused to encounter this sentence toward the end:

"Teenage guys could care less about retired athletes, even if he is named Michael Jordan."

Fifteen words, two errors. Granted, one of the errors is debatable, but most people who care about grammar recongize "could care less" as sloppy. There is no wiggle room in the other error. The singular/plural mang...