Mike Jung's Blog, page 32

We haz a winner, yo

I identify with the Gentleman Bug. I'd hang out with him if he was, you know, real.

The winner of the Julian Hector picture book giveaway extravaganza, held in honor of the 2011 edition of Random Acts of Publicity, is Pat Zietlow Miller! Congratulations Pat, I'll hunt you down via one of the many social media networks we're both on – once you've sent me your address and the name of your indie store of choice I'll get your copies of MONDAY IS ONE DAY, THE GENTLEMAN BUG and THE LITTLE MATADOR out in the mail right away.

My first round of line edits are done, by the way! Exciting stuff. We'll see how much more polish that puppy needs, but in the meantime I have a couple of other writing projects to get back to, including a new mystery project that I feel very happy to be a part of. I honestly don't know if I can spill the beans about it yet – I've been so consumed with other stuff that I actually haven't made the effort to ask if it's okay to go public – but there's been something like radio silence around it, so I've held off on saying anything. So keep your eyes peeled for this confidential double-secret probation writing news at some point in the future. No, it's not a new book deal, but it's very cool nonetheless. Until then, minions…

m.

Random Acts of Publicity 2011: Julian Hector!

Come on, how can you not love a guy who makes a birthday card like this?

Ahhhhh, line edits due VERY VERY SOON! No time to blog! Must make this really, really fast! Here's the official scoop on the very cool event known as Random Acts of Publicity:

The 3rd Annual Random Acts of Publicity, September 6-8, 2011 is a week to celebrate your Friend's book, or your favorite book, by doing a Random Act of Publicity:  Blog, link, Like, review, or talk about the book . (BLLuRT!)

Awesome stuff, huh? Darcy Pattison, a mainstay of the kidlit community, came up with the idea a few years ago, and it's built up quite the head of steam ever since.

So! The friend whose work I want to celebrate is the guy who thoughtfully whipped up the lightning-fast yet hilariously funny birthday card at the top of this post.  He also collaborated with my own editor (and picture book author par excellence) Arthur Levine on the wonderful ode to working parents and their children, MONDAY IS ONE DAY. Yes, it's Julian Hector! A trio of huzzahs for Julian!

Aw, look at this little guy, iddint he the most adorable thing ever?

One of these days we'll meet in person, Julian and I, but for now I'm gonna celebrate his work with this stunningly generous multibook giveaway! I know what you're thinking – "well gee whiz Mike, I want to give you a balloon animal because you are just such a swell guy." I am, in fact, an extremely swell guy, thank you for noticing.

But enough about me – to enter, just leave a comment on this post about a picture book author, illustrator, or author/illustrator whose work you admire as much as I admire Julian's, which is to say, a whole lot. I'll randomly select a winner, who will receive an Indiebound order (from the indie store of that person's choice) that includes three selections from the Julian Hector ouvre – the aforementioned MONDAY IS ONE DAY (illustrated by Julian, written by Arthur A. Levine), THE GENTLEMAN BUG (written and illustrated by Julian), and THE LITTLE MATADOR (also written and illustrated by Julian).

I'll take entries until, oh, midnight on Friday, September 16. The winner shall experience feelings of tremendous glee and contentment and own three awesome picture books by one of the rising stars in the biz. The winner will also have to wait a couple of weeks, because I have a deadline and I've already spent too much time goofing around on the old bloggy wog, but it's three free books, for crying out loud! What, you're gonna complain? I HAVE DECREED IT TO BE SO, AND SO IT SHALL BE. Got it? Ready? OK GO!

m.

P.S. Just so you know, the contest is closed. Thanks to everyone who entered!

I want to show you my, what do you call it, oh yeah, right, my COVERRRRRR

Sheer perfection, right?

The thing is, I don't have much to say about this cover that I haven't already said in a thousand other places. Yes, those of you who rely on my blog to provide information  FIRST have been royally screwed, but then again, if you are relying on my blog for first alert info, err, you're not paying terribly close attention as it is…

THIS IS THE COVER FOR MY BOOK GEEKS, GIRLS AND SECRET IDENTITIES! I have a cover! Designed by Phil Falco, no less, who's also done stellar covers for the likes of How to Say Goodbye in Robot, The Eleventh Plague, and Tentacles, and illustrated by Mike Maihack, who's done about a zillion cool things in the comic book world.

There's my little protagonist Vincent Wu with that one cute little clenched fist, standing front and center! Ain't he a tough little guy? My brother described the robot as "Kirby-esque," which of course makes perfect sense to all of you old-school Marvel Comics aficionados who remember the halcyon days of Jack "King" Kirby, who partnered with the legendary Stan "The Man" Lee in creating a new world order for superhero devotees like yours truly. Pretty cool to have that kind of association with my little book.

I mean, dude, it's AMAZING, is it not?? I'm kind of in shock over how good it is – it's like a #$%&ing dream how these incredibly good things keep happening right at the very start of my career as an author. Either I'm on an incredible hot streak of good luck (which I might be anyway), or somebody up there just likes me. Or the planets are all aligning in exactly the right way at exactly the right moment or something, I don't know. Whatever, man – I'm gobsmacked and blubberingly thankful for my good fortune. It's the cover of my book!

A letter to my dad

Dad, you'd be thrilled to see your grandchildren in action. The 4.93 year old can do a pirouette and remember the words to the Whole Foods Parking Lot rap! The 7.5 month old is crawling and standing up in his crib, and he's getting his fifth tooth! I'm doing okay too. My book's coming out sometime next year with Arthur A. Levine Books - Arthur's a wonderful guy, you'd like him. My agent, Ammi-Joan Paquette, is equally wonderful, you'd like her too. In fact you'd like everyone at the Erin Murphy Literary Agency – it's a remarkably warm and welcoming group. I feel so attached to them already! I get to work with the best people, I've made some new friends, and for the first time in my entire life I feel like I may have found my calling. I know how doubtful my prospects for doing that have seemed at times, but I think it's happening now.

I can't go back and change the past, though, no matter how much I might want to. I was a terrible son. I hurt you on more than one occasion, either through blind, lashing anger or thoughtless indifference, and I don't know that either of those is less destructive a reason than the other. It's far, far too late, and it doesn't mean much (if anything) to say it now, but I'm sorry.

I can't really make it up to you by trying to be a good dad, can I? I don't think it works that way. I am trying, though. It's kind of easy to try, actually – they're such great kids, Dad! They're so funny, both of them! And smart, and creative, and affectionate, and happy, and full of life…you'd love them, and they'd love you. We have one of each, a girl and a boy, and they love each other! It's astonishing, wonderful, miraculous – they bring me such joy. I'm incredibly tired every single minute of the day, but I'm so happy that they're here with us. I love them so much, and I think I have you to thank for how easy it is to love them, because I've never forgotten your obvious, overflowing love for kids. It always showed. Cousin Sandy has the best story about how you were there for her after Tom's birth, when she was feeling so sad and lonely and left to her own devices.

It's been a few years now since you passed on, and the pain of your departure has been rounded and softened by the passage of time, but it's still there. And it has its flipside, of course. I'm horrendously sad that you can't be here to talk to and play with your grandchildren, but that's because I know how much love you would shower them with, and I also know that there still is a path your love can pass through to reach them. The path runs through me, of course.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. I know it's good that you're no longer in pain, struggling along in a state of physical diminishment and emotional hardship. You're at peace, and that's for the best. But I still miss you, and I wish you were here.

The event comes together despite bad planning and vomiting children

Aw look, they love my agent as much as I do. *sniff*

Yesterday was quite the eventful day – my inaugural SCBWI event on building an online presence was at 2, which of course meant I went into a bit of a panic when my daughter started violently throwing up at 10. I mean, holy cow, it was terrible. But superheroic dad that I am, I did my part to get her comfortable and taken care of, frantically polished off the rest of the Saturday morning errands, and managed to arrive at the event venue with my composure intact and no discernible smell of vomit in the air. Victory!

In the end it was a great event, and while my (possibly overambitious) plans didn't all come to fruition, enough of them panned out to keep me from sliding into a state of despair, and the members of the unexpectedly large crowd were patient and enthusiastic participants throughout. And of course I got the very best in logistical support, facility booking, audience management and baked goods from my region's ace squadron of SCBWI organizers, led by friend and generally awesome human being Keely Parrack.

Anyway, there's all kinds of stuff I promised from this event, specifically in the form of video clips, so here they are, yo!

REMOTE HECKLING: AN INTRODUCTION

The issue of who'd handle the camera, when to cut, where to point the darned thing…err, yeah. Not planned, any of it. Which is why Jeannie Mobley's remote heckling served as a kind of pilot video for the whole process. Here I am, suave and authoritative, dishing out vague and wobbly instructions for the madness to come, which was to have not-in-attendance  hecklers send their derisive comments in and have a proxy heckler speak in their place. Yeah, I know – this is a very questionable idea.

 

REMOTE HECKLER #1: JEANNIE MOBLEY

The lovely and super-fun Lisa Schulman was READY to serve as Jeannie's proxy heckler! I mean, yowza, Lisa was ALL IN. A command performance.

 

MY RESPONSE TO JEANNIE

 

REMOTE HECKLER #2: JIM HILL

Anne Nesbet came through with a bravura proxy heckling session despite the fact that she knows NOTHING about Dungeons & Dragons, which forms the basis for Jim's obscure but potent heckle…

 

REMOTE HECKLER #3: AMY SPITZLEY

Edna Cabcabin Moran was actually the perfect choice for Amy's proxy heckler…

 

WISH YOU WERE HERE

I freely confess that this is the clip where my planning broke down to the greatest degree – I wanted to acknowledge everyone who sent good wishes and pre-event congratulations via Facebook or this blog, but due to my hasty, overcaffeinated delivery of instructions and the overall rowdiness of the crowd (these children's writers and illustrators, I swear, they like to paaaarty), probably half the names I planned on having read were left scattered around the room on assorted sheets of paper. Those of you who were left out, I'm sorry!!! You know my affection for you is a dashing, leaping, gazelle-like thing, right? RIGHT??? AAAAAGGGGHHHH

 

It's okay Arthur, we forgive you.

LINKS TO SOME OF THE STUFF I SHOWED YESTERDAY

Verla Kay's Blueboards
Lisa Yee's 2009 Bodacious Book Contest winners
Dystel & Goderich first lines contest
Tara Lazar and I review NEIL ARMSTRONG IS MY UNCLE
I howl at the moon
Nan Marino gives me a special prize
Tara Lazar and I review WHEN YOU REACH ME
Betsy Bird gives my blog a shoutout!
Kathleen Duey on Shrinking Violet Promotions
The Maureen Johnson internet manifesto
The Enchanted Inkpot
Me and my editor at SCBWILA10 (scroll to the bottom)
Me as a zombie

Thanks again to everyone who attended! The crowd is no less important than the speaker, at least when it comes to MY events, so y'all did it up right, and I'm grateful.

Reporting to you live from Upchuck City,

m.

Wherein the blogger shamelessly pimps his own event

Molly O'Neill is right, this DOES look like something from a Lisa Yee book cover.

YEEEAAAAH, I'm gonna do it. Marketing. Promotion! EVENT PUBLICITY! Oh I feel so cheap and tawdry–oh wait, that's right, I always feel that way…

DON'T BE A PINHEAD: Building an Online Presence Before Landing a Book Deal 

SCBWI California. San Francisco East/North Bay Area: A Beyond the Bay event

Sponsored by Deborah's Rotten Tomato Stand and Arthur's Transatlantic Croissant Delivery Service

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

1924 Trinity Avenue, Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Hecklers welcome

Mike Jung has an agent and a book deal, but before that stuff happened he was just another irritating guy spending too much time on the internet blabbing on and on about nothing. Find out how he pulled the wool over everyone's eyes and started a career as a published author anyway. Mike is represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, and his debut novel GEEKS, GIRLS AND SECRET IDENTITIES is forthcoming from Arthur A. Levine Books. Yes, in fact I AM writing about myself in third person. TRY AND STOP ME. Yes, in fact I AM inviting people who live as far away as France. YOU SHOULD BE FLATTERED. That's an unreasonably long way to travel, I must really want to see you there!

Fun, inventive and possibly masochistic activities that you may be asked to participate in at this gala event:

You will have the opportunity to serve as proxy for a heckler who cannot attend.
You might be forced to hold a ridiculous homemade sign and participate in a group photo.
There will be at least a couple of attempts to coerce you into doing something silly that will eventually appear on YouTube.


Err, um, it's not free. I think it's $10 for SCBWI members, $15 for non-members. But if you attend I'll give you a free doughnut! Promise! FREE DOUGHNUTS! (Psssst, actually they're cookies, and SCBWI will provide them, but JUST PRETEND THEY'RE DOUGHNUTS)
http://www.scbwi.org/Regional-Chapters.aspx?R=9&sec=Events&g=1438

My unproductive day off, or yeah yeah, it’s been a while since I blogged…

I'm totally writing a Claes Oldenburg-ish character into a future book. IT'S MY IDEA, HANDS OFF...

…and please curb your expectations, because I’m not yet ready to get aaaaaaaall the way back into the regular every-week-or-so blogging thing. I’m coming off a pretty intense round of revision, my kid’s adjusting to his crib by waking up 3 or 4 times a night, and I did a couple of raggedy posts over on EMU’s Debuts. Also, when my social media hiatus ended the vast power of my online addiction reasserted itself with terrifying speed, so I’ve been updating my Facebook status every 90 seconds. I’m busy, yo.

So yeah, I’m trying to reel it in and restore a feeling of moderation around here, but I feel vaguely inspired today. I had the day off, and nobody else in my family did, so for the first time in recent memory I was able to go do whatever I felt like doing. The ability to do that on a regular basis is something you toss overboard for a while when you start a family, of course, so I ain’t complaining, but it’s admittedly fabulous to get a day like that once in a while. Of course I had to screw it all up on a psychological level by agonizing over this question, which I’m sure many of you are familiar with: I kinda want to just goof around, but shouldn’t I use this time to write?

Most of the time I’d say “duh, yes,” because an entire day of writing time is a crazy, rare, wonderful thing, neh? And you gotta seize those opportunities! Discipline! Sacrifice! Park your flabby behind in that chair, Mike! Yes, yes, yes, of course, yes, that’s all true.

But, err, it’s okay to take a little time to goof around too, isn’t it? In fact, isn’t it reallyreally important? Yes babies, I have supporting documentation – observe this post that my agency/publisher compadre Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich made on the Spilling Ink website last fall. Also this follow-up post. Great stuff, huh?

These posts acquired an extra layer of relevance for me this past month as I barreled through that previously-mentioned high-intensity revision, but I loved them plenty enough before that. They ring SO true – I’ve always been a believer in the power and necessity of letting your creativity out for frequent rambles in the way Gbemi describes. I also think often of this interview with ICM agent Tina Wexler (who is another person I hold in high regard) when she implored aspiring authors to GO! DO!

These stairs totally lead into a villain's underground headquarters, right??

So I did, obedient little feller that I am. I spent the bulk of my day rambling around San Francisco. I took a picture of Claes Oldenburg’s 2002 public sculpture, Cupid’s Span, at the Embarcadero. I drove up to the Marina, browsed the shelves at Books Inc., and lunched on a fatty concoction of chicken-apple-sausage bagel-dog weirdness from the weak shadow of what was once Noah’s Bagels.

I also went to the De Young museum, where I took some time to goof around on Twitter before checking out the Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico exhibit. That was cool (if a bit lower on giant stone heads than I’d hoped for), but the real prize of my visit to the De Young was the Baliencaga and Spain exhibit, which I didn’t expect to get much out of. I am neither knowledgeable about nor terribly interested in fashion, but I thought eh, I’ll give it a whirl (mostly because I’d already paid for it with the Olmec special admission). Wonder of wonders, it was terrific, partly because they really hooked me with that whole “Picasso of fashion” thing, but mostly because the exhibit did a great job of showing how Cristobal Baliencaga wove so many things into his work as a fashion designer – the culture and history of his native land, his status as an exile during the Spanish civil war, flamenco music, the subculture of professional bullfighting, the dresses worn by the princess and her attendants in the immortal Vasquez painting Las Meninas, and of course the immense and enduring influence of the actual Pablo Picasso.

I looked at all of it. I took pictures of the art, the architecture, and the people. I pondered the relationship between music played in rural fields and dresses paraded down the runways of France. I stood on the base of a giant rendition of Cupid’s bow. I watched the ferry boats leave the docks, and I saw a man in a fuzzy silver jumpsuit and three-foot-tall bunny ears ride a unicycle past the Gap corporate headquarters. I didn’t write at all. And that’s not the choice I’d make with most of my days off – in fact it’s not a choice I’d make with very many of them at all. The opportunity to write for an extended period is, for the most part, too good to pass up. But once in a while you gotta do it. So today, I think my choice to not write was, perversely, the best thing I could have chosen to do for the sake of my writing. Funny, eh? Not ha-ha funny, more like “Mike, whoa dude, you are so incredibly profound, I stand in awe of your wisdom” funny…

Please don’t punch me in the face because of that last part,

m.

My unproductive day off, or yeah yeah, it's been a while since I blogged…

I'm totally writing a Claes Oldenburg-ish character into a future book. IT'S MY IDEA, HANDS OFF...

…and please curb your expectations, because I'm not yet ready to get aaaaaaaall the way back into the regular every-week-or-so blogging thing. I'm coming off a pretty intense round of revision, my kid's adjusting to his crib by waking up 3 or 4 times a night, and I did a couple of raggedy posts over on EMU's Debuts. Also, when my social media hiatus ended the vast power of my online addiction reasserted itself with terrifying speed, so I've been updating my Facebook status every 90 seconds. I'm busy, yo.

So yeah, I'm trying to reel it in and restore a feeling of moderation around here, but I feel vaguely inspired today. I had the day off, and nobody else in my family did, so for the first time in recent memory I was able to go do whatever I felt like doing. The ability to do that on a regular basis is something you toss overboard for a while when you start a family, of course, so I ain't complaining, but it's admittedly fabulous to get a day like that once in a while. Of course I had to screw it all up on a psychological level by agonizing over this question, which I'm sure many of you are familiar with: I kinda want to just goof around, but shouldn't I use this time to write?

Most of the time I'd say "duh, yes," because an entire day of writing time is a crazy, rare, wonderful thing, neh? And you gotta seize those opportunities! Discipline! Sacrifice! Park your flabby behind in that chair, Mike! Yes, yes, yes, of course, yes, that's all true.

But, err, it's okay to take a little time to goof around too, isn't it? In fact, isn't it reallyreally important? Yes babies, I have supporting documentation – observe this post that my agency/publisher compadre Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich made on the Spilling Ink website last fall. Also this follow-up post. Great stuff, huh?

These posts acquired an extra layer of relevance for me this past month as I barreled through that previously-mentioned high-intensity revision, but I loved them plenty enough before that. They ring SO true – I've always been a believer in the power and necessity of letting your creativity out for frequent rambles in the way Gbemi describes. I also think often of this interview with ICM agent Tina Wexler (who is another person I hold in high regard) when she implored aspiring authors to GO! DO!

These stairs totally lead into a villain's underground headquarters, right??

So I did, obedient little feller that I am. I spent the bulk of my day rambling around San Francisco. I took a picture of Claes Oldenburg's 2002 public sculpture, Cupid's Span, at the Embarcadero. I drove up to the Marina, browsed the shelves at Books Inc., and lunched on a fatty concoction of chicken-apple-sausage bagel-dog weirdness from the weak shadow of what was once Noah's Bagels.

I also went to the De Young museum, where I took some time to goof around on Twitter before checking out the Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico exhibit. That was cool (if a bit lower on giant stone heads than I'd hoped for), but the real prize of my visit to the De Young was the Baliencaga and Spain exhibit, which I didn't expect to get much out of. I am neither knowledgeable about nor terribly interested in fashion, but I thought eh, I'll give it a whirl (mostly because I'd already paid for it with the Olmec special admission). Wonder of wonders, it was terrific, partly because they really hooked me with that whole "Picasso of fashion" thing, but mostly because the exhibit did a great job of showing how Cristobal Baliencaga wove so many things into his work as a fashion designer – the culture and history of his native land, his status as an exile during the Spanish civil war, flamenco music, the subculture of professional bullfighting, the dresses worn by the princess and her attendants in the immortal Vasquez painting Las Meninas, and of course the immense and enduring influence of the actual Pablo Picasso.

I looked at all of it. I took pictures of the art, the architecture, and the people. I pondered the relationship between music played in rural fields and dresses paraded down the runways of France. I stood on the base of a giant rendition of Cupid's bow. I watched the ferry boats leave the docks, and I saw a man in a fuzzy silver jumpsuit and three-foot-tall bunny ears ride a unicycle past the Gap corporate headquarters. I didn't write at all. And that's not the choice I'd make with most of my days off – in fact it's not a choice I'd make with very many of them at all. The opportunity to write for an extended period is, for the most part, too good to pass up. But once in a while you gotta do it. So today, I think my choice to not write was, perversely, the best thing I could have chosen to do for the sake of my writing. Funny, eh? Not ha-ha funny, more like "Mike, whoa dude, you are so incredibly profound, I stand in awe of your wisdom" funny…

Please don't punch me in the face because of that last part,

m.

A Very Short Post in the Midst of Much Blogging in Other Places

This is a total non-sequitur image, but my wife came through with a valentine she knew I'd like.

Yes yes, perhaps I'm cheating YOU, the beloved readers of my personal blog, by doing all this blogging in other venues like EMU's Debuts, where I posted last week and where I'll post again next week. I suppose I should think of a topic for that post, huh?

The stuff running through my head these days is all about transitions – from non-published writer to pubbed author, from deal to debut, from pre-editorial-letter manuscript to post-editorial-letter revision – so there's no shortage of material. For THAT blog, anyway – there are multiple shortages right now for THIS blog. Writing's like that, though, iddnit? As is life in general? Do you see how the brevity of this post doesn't stop it from being conceptually titanic and profound?

And yes, I'm afraid that's the whole post, because with EMU-related blogging obligations last week and next week (plus that whole silly "revising my book for my editor" thing) I gotta cut my losses a bit and come back to this blog later. But hey, if Arthur Levine can write really short blog posts due to a shortage of time, I can too, right? Oh I know, "Mike Jung, I know Arthur A. Levine, and you are no Arthur A. Levine" – yeah yeah, I know that, as my daughter would say.

Farewell for now, oh bloggy wog readers, we'll get back on the horse sometime in March. In the meantime, go to Ellen Oh's blog and tell her how upset you are that I didn't win her haiku contest. OH I'M JUST KIDDING, geez, calm down – I'm not bitter. You know what, instead go check out this gift I gave Ellen to congratulate her on her shiny new book deal and make some positive comments about me. Apparently Ellen's kids, who used to adore their online friend Zombie Mike, are kind of grossed out by the "shoe in mouth" photo I posted on last week's EMU post. I could use some good PR with them right now.

m.

AAARGH, must fight off procrastination urges

Yes, it's a carnivorous monster fish lamp. Yes, my children actually are scared of it.

You know, that might actually be a little dramatic – I DID spend a total of about an hour today working on the manuscript for GEEKS, GIRLS & SECRET IDENTITIES, after all, and with everybody back at work and the baby still doing his thing that feels pretty good for a weekday. Still, I've been having these urges to do other non-revising things, as I periodically do. What, Mike, do you mean like writing a blog post? Oh HAR DE HAR HAR, you're really funny. No, I mean making tangible, 3-dimensional stuff with my hands, like I used to do back in my art student days, or even in my pre-parenthood days.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Not being able to make frightening sculptural objects that frighten the children because I'm putting all my creative energies into the book that I have under contract is the situation I actually want to be in! OBVIOUSLY, duh, why go to all the trouble of pursuing the book deal otherwise? But I do like engaging in more than one kind of creative activity when it's possible – it's like cross-training, right? Or taking a multidisciplinary approach to things, if you prefer vaguely organizational-sounding verbiage to vaguely athletic-sounding verbiage. I think this line of thought may have been spurred by this post Adam Rex made on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, which I dimly remembered and decided to go hunting for after THE TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY recently won the Odyssey Award. Cool, huh? The post about the image for the Headless Horseman's Blog, that is, although it's also very cool about the Odyssey Award too. There's a real and huge benefit to being an author/illustrator, I guess – you really are required to do the two different art forms. It's not quite so necessary when you're crafting the prose all by its lonesome, although that doesn't stop Maggie Stiefvater from making awesome book trailers or whipping up Sharpie guitars to give away in contests.

I should be able to come up with some cross-creative thing as my very own shtick, don't you think? Giant fish-shaped floor lamps aren't really in the cards right now, partly because of space issues, and partly because the one pictured above actually does scare the crap out of my children (I gave it to a friend). Maybe I should start practicing the ukulele again? But that's a performance-oriented thing. I guess I could write  a new song and play it on the ukulele and record a video of myself playing it and edit the video with some still photos and b-roll footage and get the old band back together to play along and borrow a friend's ProTools setup to record the song and…aw forget it. If I did all that stuff I wouldn't have time to shirk my revising obligations via this blog…

m.