Aimee Said's Blog, page 9
May 2, 2011
Little Sister blog tour, day 2
Today I'm hanging out with My Girl Friday, talking about the challenges of writing about social media in fiction.
It's a special honour for me to be a guest on Steph's blog because not only was Finding Freia Lockhart the very first book she reviewed on her blog, but she was the very first person to comment on mine! As well as being a very fine reviewer (you can read her review of Little Sister here), Steph is a movie buff and Polyvore maven.
Yesterday's blog stop: Inkcrush.
It's a special honour for me to be a guest on Steph's blog because not only was Finding Freia Lockhart the very first book she reviewed on her blog, but she was the very first person to comment on mine! As well as being a very fine reviewer (you can read her review of Little Sister here), Steph is a movie buff and Polyvore maven.
Yesterday's blog stop: Inkcrush.
May 1, 2011
Little Sister blog tour, day 1
It's the first day of the Little Sister blog tour! Today I'm visiting Inkcrush* to answer some probing questions about the book. (While you're there, make sure you enter the Inkcrush blogoversary giveaway - open till 10 May.) Thanks for having me on your blog, Naomi!
* where I get a lot of my best reading recommendations from - Naomi's reviews are spot-on.
* where I get a lot of my best reading recommendations from - Naomi's reviews are spot-on.
April 30, 2011
Little Sister blog tour
Today is the official publication date of Little Sister! To celebrate, some of my favourite YA bloggers have kindly agreed to let me visit them for a mini blog tour, starting tomorrow. Here's the schedule:
Monday: Inkcrush Tuesday: My Girl Friday Wednesday: Literary LifeThursday: In the Good BooksFriday: The Younger SunIt's a busy week chez Fantapants. As well as the blog tour, we're going to see Meg Rosoff at the Wheeler Centre* on Wednesday, and then it's off to Sydney for the Little Sister launch on Friday.** All too exciting! I feel a bit like these guys:
* Hopefully if I get a chance to meet her I won't turn into a blathering fangirl - she's one of my absolute fave writers and bloggers.
** Are you coming to the official launch in Sydney or to the Melbourne not-a-launch par-tay on Saturday 14 May? If you are, don't forget to RSVP so we know how many people to cater for - I'd hate to run out of cake!
Monday: Inkcrush Tuesday: My Girl Friday Wednesday: Literary LifeThursday: In the Good BooksFriday: The Younger SunIt's a busy week chez Fantapants. As well as the blog tour, we're going to see Meg Rosoff at the Wheeler Centre* on Wednesday, and then it's off to Sydney for the Little Sister launch on Friday.** All too exciting! I feel a bit like these guys:
* Hopefully if I get a chance to meet her I won't turn into a blathering fangirl - she's one of my absolute fave writers and bloggers.
** Are you coming to the official launch in Sydney or to the Melbourne not-a-launch par-tay on Saturday 14 May? If you are, don't forget to RSVP so we know how many people to cater for - I'd hate to run out of cake!
The final countdown
Eeek! It's suddenly publication eve - Little Sister hits bookstore shelves tomorrow!
In anticipation of next week's blog tour (full details tomorrow), I've done a wee guest post on Literary Life about Ten lessons I learnt while writing Little Sister. Thanks for having me, Megan!
In anticipation of next week's blog tour (full details tomorrow), I've done a wee guest post on Literary Life about Ten lessons I learnt while writing Little Sister. Thanks for having me, Megan!
April 25, 2011
Star picks
I can't believe it's already Tuesday! This long-long weekend business is all very well and good, but my to-do list didn't get the relax-it's-a-holiday memo and is chiding me with its many unticked boxes. A few of the blog posts that distracted me from what should have been the business at hand last week were:
The Tales Compendium's review of Little Sister - the first review (as far as I'm aware) of my new book. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the title in my Google reader list!news that Morrissey's autobiography is almost ready to go (although I can't help feeling a tiny bit sorry for his editor-to-be - I imagine Moz has some pretty firm ideas about retaining editorial control of his 600-odd page tome)Josh Berk's explanation of gefilte fish, that unloved Passover staplePip's not cross buns, which Mr Fantapants and I attempted to make (I did the measuring and he did the kneading because of my bung shoulder) - ours didn't turn out quite so photogenically and were a bittough heavy dense, but making them together was fundiscovering Cute Roulette (warning: may lead to extreme procrastination in animal lovers).
The Tales Compendium's review of Little Sister - the first review (as far as I'm aware) of my new book. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the title in my Google reader list!news that Morrissey's autobiography is almost ready to go (although I can't help feeling a tiny bit sorry for his editor-to-be - I imagine Moz has some pretty firm ideas about retaining editorial control of his 600-odd page tome)Josh Berk's explanation of gefilte fish, that unloved Passover staplePip's not cross buns, which Mr Fantapants and I attempted to make (I did the measuring and he did the kneading because of my bung shoulder) - ours didn't turn out quite so photogenically and were a bit
April 19, 2011
Win a copy of Little Sister!
What she made: matzoh balls
Passover officially began on Monday but since Mr Fantapants and I spent the whole day at the taping of a TV game show on which Mr F may or may not have been a contestant, all we could manage afterwards was home-delivered pizza (obv. we are not very observant about the no-leavened-bread rule chez Fantapants). I did, however, make some matzo balls (aka kneidls) for dinner last night. And they were delicious!To me, matzo balls are the ultimate comfort food. They are stodgy and a little bit bland, and they float (or if you're stingy with the soup like I am, sit) in a pool of chicken stock (in my case vegetarian 'chicken' stock). My dad makes them using his Aunty Lily's recipe, but I use this much easier vegetarian version. I substitute cinnamon for cayenne, which makes them taste almost as good as Dad's.
Although neither of my parents is religiously inclined*, my sister and I grew up celebrating Easter, Christmas, Passover and Roshashonah (Jewish new year). It was the best of both worlds, particularly since for my family each of these holidays revolved around food. The added bonus of the Jewish holidays was that they often fell on a school night, which usually meant a day off the next day to nurse our overly full tummies.
These days, Passover is probably the only holiday any of us observe with any ceremony. My dad, who has been the main cook in the family since I was about six, makes a huge meal of both traditional (chopped liver, chopped herring, brisket, etc.) and non-traditional ('egg thing' - invented for me as a vego alternative to chopped liver) foods. Mum sets the table with the best tablecloth and silverware, and the crystal wine glasses that are only used at Passover and Christmas because they can't go in the dishwasher.
The traditional Passover sedar (ceremony) is** rather long and involved. There are blessings, prayers and songs. It can be a long wait for dinner. Since few of our family friends are Jewish (and those that are are usually celebrating with their own families), my dad invented his own. It's a short service that each person at the table takes turns in reading (although Dad always has to do the blessings, because they're in Hebrew). It includes the bible story of the first Passover, blessings over the food and wine, the noisy reciting of the plagues***, the youngest chlild at the table asking the four questions, and, finally, some highlights from the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which reminds us that there are still people in our world who are enslaved by their circumstances. The we eat. And eat. And eat.
I missed being with my parents and family friends for Passover this year, but making and eating my matzo balls brought me just a tiny bit closer to them.
*and Mum isn't Jewish, so Dad is the only official Jew in the family
** from my recollection of going to more observant friends' houses when I was a tiddler
*** where you dot a drop of 'blood' (red wine) on your plate for each of the plagues of Egypt
April 18, 2011
Star picks
Star picks is tardy because a) my web browser is on the fritz and b) my shoulder is still on the fritz. Typing is both slow and hurty, so here are the abridged highlights from my blog feeds last week:
Writers and Kitties (how could I not know about this until now?!), the Periodic Table of Storytelling and a new take on the idea of a bed-time story (via The Book Bench)the ultragenerous Maureen Johnson is giving away(!) the ebook of 13 Little Blue Envelopes!Megan posted about the dreaded Second Book Syndrome (currently competing with alopecia as my #1 cold-sweat inducing fear)my alter ego, Nora Noseyparker, is loving the Open Book Project and Rania Matar's photo essay on teenage girls in their bedroomsKate's Smiths-esque review of Where She Went had me humming all week.And now I must go and put frozen peas on my shoulder...
Writers and Kitties (how could I not know about this until now?!), the Periodic Table of Storytelling and a new take on the idea of a bed-time story (via The Book Bench)the ultragenerous Maureen Johnson is giving away(!) the ebook of 13 Little Blue Envelopes!Megan posted about the dreaded Second Book Syndrome (currently competing with alopecia as my #1 cold-sweat inducing fear)my alter ego, Nora Noseyparker, is loving the Open Book Project and Rania Matar's photo essay on teenage girls in their bedroomsKate's Smiths-esque review of Where She Went had me humming all week.And now I must go and put frozen peas on my shoulder...
April 10, 2011
Star picks
Sparkling gems from my blog feeds last week:
As if being included on the 2010 White Ravens list announced at the Bologna Children's Book Fair wasn't exciting enough, I spotted a copy of Finding Freia in Alien Onion's report of the fair! Not sure whether to be chuffed or slightly depressed that my book is on its way to being better travelled than I am...Bibliophile Brouhaha joined the growing call for 'older' YA. It'll be interesting to see where this goes - I can see it taking off in the US in a big way.Persnickety Snark reminded me how much I loved Press Gang (although I must admit I watched it more for Spike than for Lynda). Amanda Palmer's post on going to an under-appreciated Duran Duran gig is 100% pure AP, with a dose of meeting Simon le Bon (and touching!) thrown in for good measure - long but hilarious, esp. for old school DD fans like me.* (Language warning if you're sensitive/surrounded by nosy parkers whose eyes are magnetically drawn to every four-letter word on your screen.)Tahereh's post comparing getting published with being naked in the middle of KMart struck a chord, esp. since it's only three weeks till Little Sister comes out. I'm getting more excited by the day, but also nervous that people will think my new baby is hideous.Forever Young Adult got shat upon for alluding to what turned out not to be the script of the Hunger Games movie. All I can think is that if the movie studio had been smarter they would have recognised the huge potential of using FYA to reach their audience. Meet Me at Mike's drew my attention to Knittas - cosying things up for a more positive future.* Also, did you know that Neil Gaiman wrote a DD biography? I'm on a quest to find a copy!
As if being included on the 2010 White Ravens list announced at the Bologna Children's Book Fair wasn't exciting enough, I spotted a copy of Finding Freia in Alien Onion's report of the fair! Not sure whether to be chuffed or slightly depressed that my book is on its way to being better travelled than I am...Bibliophile Brouhaha joined the growing call for 'older' YA. It'll be interesting to see where this goes - I can see it taking off in the US in a big way.Persnickety Snark reminded me how much I loved Press Gang (although I must admit I watched it more for Spike than for Lynda). Amanda Palmer's post on going to an under-appreciated Duran Duran gig is 100% pure AP, with a dose of meeting Simon le Bon (and touching!) thrown in for good measure - long but hilarious, esp. for old school DD fans like me.* (Language warning if you're sensitive/surrounded by nosy parkers whose eyes are magnetically drawn to every four-letter word on your screen.)Tahereh's post comparing getting published with being naked in the middle of KMart struck a chord, esp. since it's only three weeks till Little Sister comes out. I'm getting more excited by the day, but also nervous that people will think my new baby is hideous.Forever Young Adult got shat upon for alluding to what turned out not to be the script of the Hunger Games movie. All I can think is that if the movie studio had been smarter they would have recognised the huge potential of using FYA to reach their audience. Meet Me at Mike's drew my attention to Knittas - cosying things up for a more positive future.* Also, did you know that Neil Gaiman wrote a DD biography? I'm on a quest to find a copy!
April 3, 2011
Star picks
Starred posts in my Google blog feed last week included:
many posts celebrating Shaun Tan's Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award win, but none sweeter than Shaun's ownKhyrinthia of Frenetic Reader wrote about whether book bloggers sell books and why it doesn't (and shouldn't) matter to bloggersSteph Su reflected on tru luv teen romance in YARyan Novelline made a ballgown out of Little Golden Book covers (scroll down for photos of the construction process - incredible!) (via the Hairpin)Forever Young Adult preached the gospel of YA (like Sister Erin, I was saved by Meg Cabot)
And...I'm not quite sure what this is all about, but spending a night writing in the beautiful New York Public Library sounds pretty-freaking-amazing:
many posts celebrating Shaun Tan's Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award win, but none sweeter than Shaun's ownKhyrinthia of Frenetic Reader wrote about whether book bloggers sell books and why it doesn't (and shouldn't) matter to bloggersSteph Su reflected on tru luv teen romance in YARyan Novelline made a ballgown out of Little Golden Book covers (scroll down for photos of the construction process - incredible!) (via the Hairpin)Forever Young Adult preached the gospel of YA (like Sister Erin, I was saved by Meg Cabot)
And...I'm not quite sure what this is all about, but spending a night writing in the beautiful New York Public Library sounds pretty-freaking-amazing:
