David Lubar's Blog, page 40

Blogged down

I started and deleted about five different posts, because I'm really not sure why I'm blogging or who my audience is. Make that five and a half -- I just deleted several versions of this second sentence. Things are in danger of turning into some sort of Borges-style entry. What did I start to write about? Thank you for asking. I just finished book four of my series, and thought about discussing the whole issue of writing quickly, including my own annoyance/amusement/disinterest when I he...

Ex cetations

In a life-immitates-art moment, I was asked last week to fill in on short notice at a university talk becasue the scheduled speaker got a chance to go to the Arctic to study whale songs. Really. Something like this just happened on The Big Bang Theory. So, yesterday, I spoke at DeSales University. After so many middle-school audiences, it was a strange pleasure to face people who sat still and listened.

This is a long stretch for me. I'm traveling and speaking until right before Thanksgiv...

Root 'cause

I've decided I need to pick a professional football team to root for. I currently don't have a favorite. (When kids ask me for my favorite team, I tell them I like the only team in the NFL named after a work of literature. Their guesses in response to this are often amusing.) Living reasonably close to Philly, it would be natural for me to root for the Eagles. But I'm still not sure how I feel about their decision to glorify Michael Vick (or Terrell Owens, for that matter). I guess I co...

Uno mas

Tomorrow is the last day of the tour. I might be on national radio. I'm not sure. As the magic eight ball says, (paraphrased) things are fuzzy. Then again, I just discovered a restaurant right next to my hotel with 300 tequilas (and awesome mole), so the fuzziness might not stem from exterior sources. The place offered three-drink flights so people can sample a variety of tequilas without dying.

I was at Hicklebees today. Fellow author and blogger Susan Taylor Brown came to my signing. ...

Ban Dead?

As I mentioned the other day, I mgiht have been banned from a school at the start of Banned Books Week. But I wasn't able to find out exactly what happened. Here's what I know. But first, a bit of background. I'm on a book tour to promote My Rotten Life, the first book in my series, Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie. In a typical book tor for a YA or middle-school book, the author is hosted in each city by a book store. That store arranges school visits or library programs. The sto...

Banned if I do, banned if I don't

Irony is my favorite micronutrient, so I'm savoring the probability that I was banned from a school at the start of Banned Book Week. This is just too delicious not to delve into. I don't know the details yet, and I may never learn everything, but I hope to find out more tomorrow. I'll be traveling all day, so I might not get a chance to post until later, but I'll definitely share whatever I discover.

Speaking of irony, I got back to my hotel room in water-starved Burbank yesterday to disco...

What is "Lex Luthor Burbank"?

That "before and after" question is for you Jeopardy fans. I have no answer to go with it. (And, yeah, I know there's a Luther/Luthor issue, but I'm giving all of you copy editors the weeked off.)

So, anyhow, Burbank is interesting. There's a lot to see, and the people are nice. The main drag is filled with restaurants and dojos. I guess the concept is "grab a burger, kick some butt." But I actually enjoyed walking around in the 100-degree heat. I'm absorbing as much sunshine as I can a...

Tour me a new one

A new city, that is. I'm heading for Burbank. I'll be at some schools there tomorrow, and at the library on Saturday. Rumor has it, they've moved the whole Los Angeles area closer to the sun this week.

The fist rule of Book Tour

(Note -- due to the brief amount of time I have and my pathetic typing skills, I'm going to leave all typos unfixed.)

The first rule of Book Tour is: Never complain about book tour.

Let me explain. Its fine to say stuff like, "Tomorrow will be a long day." That's a fact. But I think it's bad form to ever complain or grumble about anything while on a book tour because not that many people are fortunate enough to be sent on one. It would be very poor form to say stuff like, "I hate this hotel...

Killer day

Today marks the transition from school visit to book tour. The killer part it that I'll be doing both -- first, full day at a school, followed by an evening book store event, after which my Sherpa will drive me from Dayton to Cincinnati. (I call the wonderful folks who drive writers around and keep us alive "Sherpas" because the industry term "escort" just feels wrong somehow.) By the way, the Beavercreek High School English Department is awesome.