Dee Garretson's Blog, page 13

Who were the smartest U.S. Presidents?

Who were the smartest presidents of the United States? It's not the same question as rating the effectiveness of presidents, and I'm not writing this to open up a debate on modern presidents.  I'm just having a geeky history moment here.  The president in my soon-to-be-released book is very intelligent, and it made me start wondering about actual presidents.

Back when I was teaching, I did quite a bit of research into the different forms of intelligence, because I quickly learned from the...

Book Stonehenge and a Cat, of course

My author copies of WILDFIRE RUN arrived today! What a great feeling, after all these years of work. I couldn't just let them sit in the box, so my kids and I put together our version of Stonehenge. (Kids are SO ready to go back to school) I'll be giving away a copy on a new group blog of middle grade writers launching soon. Details to follow!

WILDFIRE RUN book trailer – Escape from Camp David

After watching scores of book trailers trying to get a feel for what works, I'm so happy to be able to post the trailer for WILDFIRE RUN. I'm also very excited to post the news that WILDFIRE RUN is a Junior Library Guild Fall 2010 selection.

Road Trip-Tennessee Aquarium

Here are some pictures from our recent visit. We did the behind-the-scenes tour and learned some amazing facts. In the old days, aquariums got salt water by sending railroad cars to the ocean to fill up with water. Now, they have something called 'instant ocean', which is a powder they mix with water. One of my favorite exhibits was the upside down jellyfish. They just hang around on the ocean floor upside down.

New publisher for THE UNBREAKABLE CHILD by Kim Richardson

Happy news for my writer friend Kim Richardson. Her book, THE UNBREAKABLE CHILD, which received a starred review in Booklist, will be released in the fall by Behler Publications, after her first publisher closed their doors. This is a harrowing true story of her life in a Kentucky orphanage in the sixties, and how her enduring faith helped her overcome the trauma of the abuse to find forgiveness.

To read more about it, click on the Amazon link:

http...

New Title, New Cover but still about an Escape from Camp David

The path to a book's publication is long and winding. For all my friends who have joined with me during this path, you may be confused by my various posts about what seem to be different books with different titles. It's all the same book, really!

When I first queried my agent, my manuscript had the title of 'Escape from Camp David'. After the book was purchased by HarperCollins I was thrilled to be asked to write a second book in a middle grade series, and a series title was added...

Volunteering too much? Is this you?

I just had to post this because it struck me as the funniest thing I've read recently. For all of you who routinely volunteer to chaperone field trips to garbage recycling centers (dumps), bake cupcakes for two hundred, read first drafts of 200,000 word epics, or deflea stray cats at a shelter, this is for you:

My friend Claudia Reilly posted this on Facebook in response to a discussion of how it is too easy to volunteer to do things you really don't want to do.:

"What I find especially...

The Agent Search Part 1- Basics of Writing a Publishable Manuscript

Part 1 of many

Since it took me several years and more than one manuscript to sign with an agent (the fabulous Caryn Wiseman of Andrea Brown), I wanted to share some of my many mistakes in hopes that others won't make them. At many of the conferences and meetings I've attended recently, I see too many new writers already setting themselves up for disappointment, and I wish that wasn't the case.

Sometimes getting an agent seems like it's at the top of an impossible climb, so I'm going to...

Danger's Edge Advance Copies are Here!

Danger's Edge: Wildfire at Camp David ARCs are here, and one copy is ready to make its way out into the world. Since the story is all about adventure, I'm sending a copy out on its own to as many places as possible.

Do you know a school librarian or children's librarian (outside of Ohio) who would like to host a copy for a week? If you do, I'd love to send it to them with a prepaid envelope for them to return it to me, so I can send it out again. I'll post its travels on my blog and on...

Movie Stars of Old

Who is your favorite actor from a pre-1980 movie? I'm watching old movies this week as part of my research for my WIP. It's hard tough work, let me tell you. Cue tiny violins. As you can tell from the picture, mine is Gregory Peck.

I have a soft spot for old movies and the actors in them, because they seem so much bigger than life, compared to today's actors and the nitty gritty details we know about them. Even without reading celebrity magazines and following celebrities on the internet...