Heidi R. Kling's Blog: Witch's Brew (Spellspinners 1) Launched!, page 45

Blue Supermoon over a still California sea.Photo credit to...

Blue Supermoon over a still California sea.

Photo credit to Stephanie Lisa Tara who replied when I asked to post, "She's not my moon," and went on to do a moon meditation.

"We do not choose what happens to us. We can only choose what we do after. What we do now. We can..."

""We do not choose what happens to us. We can only choose what we do after. What we do now. We can only choose to keep going." -Deni from Sea"

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Since the tsunami hit in Japan, I've received so many messages from readers: teachers, librarians, parents, teens—telling me how much more they are affected by this recent tragedy after reading Deni and Sienna's story. 

But it was email from my friend Debbie Duncan, who is visiting her daughter, an English teacher at a Bahamas middle school, that inspired me to host this fundraiser. The students  have one copy of Sea that they share, that they love—this well-worn book has opened the discussion for them about this current tragedy and brought it to a whole new level of understanding. Thank you, Debbie, for sharing the book with them, and the story with me.

My intention in writing Sea, was to give a face, a name, a back story to a faraway place, dealing with an unimaginable disaster so teens could relate to it here. Now it's happening again.

A reader uploaded the above quote from Deni onto Goodreads. It's one of my favorite lines from the book. And it's true. It's so hard to do, but it's true. Going on is our only choice.

My husband works primarily in non-profits, and has donated his time overseas. He knows a lot about which charities are doing the best work, who give the most of their donations to the people themselves.  He recommends giving to Doctors Without Borders or Partners in Health.

Starting on my birthday tomorrow, our family is going to donate 20% of any new purchase of Sea, whether it be via Independent bookstore, Amazon, Nook, Kindle, discount stores, used online, or from me*, anywhere they sell books— to Doctors Without Borders.

As long as I know about the purchase.

What you need to do, is take a picture of your receipt and send it to us at:

sea4tsunamivictims@gmail.com

Your email will automatically enter you to win one of TEN "Dare to Love" tank-tops, available in turquoise and peach in all sizes,  and a signed poster of SEA. 

*What about those of you without credit cards, without a nearby bookstore?

U.S. FRIENDS: snail mail me $25.00 CASH ONLY to P.O. Box 7837, Menlo Park, CA 94026, with your name and address. I will purchase a copy for you, sign it and ship it to you. Please only do this option if you have no other way to purchase the book. I will purchase the copies at a local indy store.

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS: Send $30 AMERICAN DOLLARS to P.O. Box 7837, Menlo Park, CA 94026, USA.  I'll get a signed copy shipped out to you. Include your full name and address.

You will all be entered to win the drawing.

Why am I offering to ship the books myself? Many bookstores are closing. Many of you don't have an indie nearby. Or a credit card to order online. This shouldn't prevent you from reading Sea.

I realize its ambitious to tackle this huge project when my dear husband is having surgery on Monday. But the work he does is incredibly important, and the more people that recognize the mental trauma experienced after a disaster like this, the better.

His prognosis is good, and he should be just fine after a month of recovery. If you could keep him in your thoughts and prayers, I would appreciate it. He does so much good for this crazy world. (Never mind his crazy wife. :) )

Thank you for spreading the #sealove & for reposting this fundraiser on your blog & website.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Love,

heidi

PS. If you already own a copy of Sea, and still want to spread #sealove, I kindly suggest you donate your new copy to a public or middle or high school library near you. They are in desperate need of support—now more than ever.

I will post how much money we were able to donate and the list of donators when the fundraiser ends, if you wish to remain anonymous, please specify that in your email. Thank you!

http://twitpic.com/49ayty

http://twitpic.com/49ayty:

Well-loved SEA at a Bahamas Middle School

Anthologies! I love 'um! So you can imagine how excited I...

Anthologies! I love 'um! So you can imagine how excited I was when fellow 2009 Debutante, Jessica Verday (The Hollow series), proposed a group anthology for twenty-five of us to contribute to!

Her innovative pitch was a collaborative e-book, that will be sold on Amazon Kindle and other devices for CHEAP, Cheap, cheap! After proposing and discussion themes for the book, which will be an eclectic mix of realistic, fantasy, paranormal, dystopian, what have you—we decided on the theme of "Firsts." The possibilities are endless: first kiss, first job, first day of school, first day realizing your parents are actually people and not alien infiltrators—-you get the point. Check out the list of contributors! Are you as excited as we are?

Contributing authors : Jessica Verday, Carrie Ryan, Rhonda Stapleton, Cyn Balog, Lauren Bjorkman, Leigh Brescia, Teri Hall, Stacey Jay, C. Lee McKenzie, Janet Gurtler, Jenny Moss, Jackson Pearce, Kristina Springer, Charity Tahmaseb, Jon Skovron, Heidi Kling, Saundra Mitchell, Jennifer Hubbard, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Lara Zielin, Shani Petroff, Kurtis Scaletta, J.A. Yang, Jennifer Brown, and Sydney Salter.

More info: http://jessicaverday.blogspot.com/

Little Miss slept in today so we were a bit late for school. She...

Little Miss slept in today so we were a bit late for school. She wanted me to carry her inside where her friends were already playing. Usually she jumps down, ready to dive into the action, but today she had a little trepidation. Until her boy-friend (a boy who is a friend- hey, they are two-years-old) walked across the room carrying a gift.

He didn't say a word—I don't think he can talk—but he knew just what my daughter needed. He handed her the little gift, she cuddled it to her chest, and they went off together. Sometimes all it takes is a cozy pink blanket with a bear head from a friend who knows just what you need.

"My, what big eyes you have."

"My, what big eyes you have."

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Heidi's Review: Visually pleasing is the best thing I can say about this movie. Perhaps I'm ruined for life by the the genius of Firefly, but one can only suspend disbelief for so long in a world built of stale dialog and cliched characters. Not sure how? Refer to the other famous wolfie fairy tale—a house of bricks always gonna beat out a house of straw, no matter how many red hood on snow shots you take. Disturbed priest who hates paranormal creatures! Imagine that! The special needs kid is the first suspect! Ooh, that's original! And these aren't even the worst offenders. What bothers me is this idea that if a movie is built for a teenage audience, it can be insipid. The world falling in love with the Twilight franchise doesn't mean the world will fall in love any old otherworldly adaptation. The world ALREADY loved Twilight before the movie, because they loved the books. The only line I remember from the original Little Red Riding Hood story is the one above in the quote. That, and a woodsman comes into play at some point. I think Grandma bites it. So you're going to have to sell us on something more than that to get us to care about  your characters.

The set and the cinematography were yummy eye candy, true, but just because something is pretty doesn't mean it has depth. And guess what? Teens understand that, too. They had the talent, star power and financial backing to make this an awesome movie. So why wasn't it awesome?

With television programming as high quality as it is now, Hollywood's going to have to step it up a notch to steal back our waning attentions.

Mom's Review: "Heidi, you need to start writing screenplays."

Like you, I was shocked and saddened to wake up this morning...

Like you, I was shocked and saddened to wake up this morning with news of yet another devastating earthquake and tsunami. My heart goes out to all of those in Japan suffering loss of loved ones, homes, lives.  Not surprisingly, I've been thinking about the Acehnese tsunami survivors who inspired SEA all day. My friend Usul told me whenever he hears about a disaster like this, he is transported immediately back to that moment when he lost everything in 2004. Now, whenever these tragedies occur, I think of everyone who has has been devastated by a natural or man-made disaster, and hope, wherever they are now, that they are okay.

How to help: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/...

About the ShowAuthor Betsy Franco's "Metamorphosis: Junior...

Me & James Franco backstage!


Me: "My friend's husband loves you!"


My teen buddies & author James


Too many flashes


Super cute pic!


Signing his novel, PALO ALTO


Betsy and son James onstage!


Explaining theatre collaboration


Cast member! (Next James Franco?)

About the Show

Author Betsy Franco's "Metamorphosis: Junior Year", adapted from her young adult novel of the same name, performed at the Palo Alto Children's Theatre to a sold out and extremely excited audience last night. She and her son James— you may know him, Oscar nominee, hosted the Academy Awards, played Spiderman's frenemy, also wrote a novel based on the town his mother produced her play in, Palo Alto?—were filming a documentary about the process of putting on a play in a special "Command performance".

Cameras circled the actors as they confessed, in intense monologue-style bursts, inner trials and tribulations of teen life. Ovid, the protagonist played by Finn Mayer, was particularly affective in his role, but the entire cast was wonderful. Though we were warned of stops and starts during the show, the director only redid one scene after the final bow, a particularly evocative sequence of a modern day Narcissus and his Echo. Betsy's other son created the artwork that shone on backdrop screens. Overall, the play has a hopeful and positive message of being oneself and opening up to the people around you about inner truths, and following your dream. (Ovid dreams of art school while his overly protective parents are pushing for Ivy Leagues.) 

How did I get to meet James?

Teens and eager grown-ups were so excited to get into this special performance, that a dozen of us were waiting outside after the bulk of the crowd got in. We joked that it was like a concert crowd waiting for the band to come on stage. When I asked what my wait list number was, I mentioned I was an author on the listserve with Betsy & I had called to reserve a ticket earlier—the box office wasn't used to this sort of crowd—she said she'd be right back. She called my name and said Betsy let up one of her seats for me, which was so sweet! I said, "These girls were first in line, so can you help them get in?" (To the box office girl). She said she'd do what she could.

One lady shouted, as I waved goodbye, "It's like Annie getting adopted  out of the orphanage!" Funny gang out there. Anyway, the girls ended up getting in (yay!!) and I saw them inside. After the show, we ran into a cast member I know from Little League (my son and her bro play together), she's a SEA fan, all around great actress and girl, and she whispered to me, "Want to meet James?"

My friend's husband LOVES James Franco to the point where he wakes her up in the middle of the night to watch his You Tube's etc., so I whipped out a note card to try and get an autograph for him, and we followed our FairyTeenMother backstage. James was tucked back beside the wall being interviewed. A gaggle of teen girls were waiting to talk to him. He was just as gracious as his sweet mom posing for pictures with his fans.

I now have a signed copy of her book and another fantastic  theatre experience under my belt. Thanks, Betsy & James! I'm so excited to spread the word about your documentary.

For more info on this great show*:

http://voice.paly.net/node/26600

It runs through March 12. :)

*Like Betsy says, the content is definitely upper YA for language, sexual situations, self-mutilation, drug use and more.  

Happy Book Birthday to Saundra Mitchell and THE...

Happy Book Birthday to Saundra Mitchell and THE VESPERTINE!

I'm picking up my copy today—you should too! 

RANGO was sold out so we saw this adorableness instead. :)

RANGO was sold out so we saw this adorableness instead. :)