Lance Rubin's Blog, page 4

Ray and I talk with the charming Charla Lauriston, a stand-up...

Ray and I talk with the charming Charla Lauriston, a stand-up comic and writer for the upcoming Netflix comedy The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Also, our horrible New Year’s resolutions.

I’m delighted to announce I’ll be at the 3rd Annual...

I’m delighted to announce I’ll be at the 3rd Annual San Antonio Book Festival  on April 11th, 2015. If you or someone you know lives there, I’d love to see you (or your rando friend).

A Message to the Gatekeepers

A Message to the Gatekeepers:

elloellenoh:

I write kids books. I love kids books.
There’s no doubt to me how important children’s literature is to the growth and
development of our future generation of global citizens. The importance of
diversity in children’s literature is simple and based on two important reasons
– 1. we need to provide…

I am so on-board the We Need Diverse Books movement, the importance of which Ellen Oh powerfully sums up here.  

My heart.

My heart.:

beckyalbertalli:

I can’t believe I can finally say this: I’m flying to
Cincinnati tomorrow to celebrate the launch of one of my all-time favorite
books.
I’ve never read a book quite like MY HEART AND OTHER BLACK
HOLES, but I’ve known kids like Aysel – kids who feel confused and alone, kids
grappling with…

I love this book by Jasmine Warga. It’s lovely, sad, smart, funny,
honest, and moving. And it comes out TOMORROW. Becky Albertalli has
beautifully articulated here why it’s such a meaningful read. 

Books my now-one-year-old son loved this year.

My son Sly had his first birthday on Sunday. Since one of the cool parts about this year has been rediscovering the wonder-filled worldof children’s books, I’ve composed a list, in no specific order, of The Books
Sly Has Most Enjoyed This Year.

Knuffle Bunny, by Mo Willems

A
toddler named Trixie, her daddy, and her best stuffed friend Knuffle
(pronounced Kah-Nuffle!) Bunny take an ill-fated trip to the
laundromat in this book, which was the first one that Sly had visceral
responses to, likely because of the simple yet profound story and
captivating cartoon/photo illustrations.
There was a week when, every time we got to the page where
Trixie bawls (“WAAAA!”), Sly would open his mouth and make a bawling
noise
with her. 

It was delightful. But then, like so many things in a baby’s
always-changing, constantly-ephemeral first year, he stopped doing it a week
later, and my fun party trick was ruined.

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild,
by Peter Brown

After Knuffle Bunny, this was the next book to get a primal
response out of Sly. He would screech along with Mr. Tiger’s first ROAR!

This book has amazing art that pops
off the page, and as my wife Katie astutely pointed out, “This is the same
story as Transparent.”

My Favorite Thing, by Gyo Fujikawa

Our
copy of this very sweet book, which is simultaneously lively and
poignant, is actually Katie’s from when she was a kid, so she’s starred
all the pages that have her favorite things on them (being in a snuggly
bed during winter got a star; going camping did not). Sly’s personal
favorite is the adorable two-page spread of a dozen unsupervised babies at the seashore.

B is for Brooklyn, by Selina Alko

We
have read this book at least a hundred times, and we’re still
discovering new details in Selina Alko’s unique, wonderful renderings of
all things Brooklyn, which often include random found materials, like
newspaper clippings and ticket stubs. Since Katie and I have lived
in four different Brooklyn neighborhoods together, reading it also
becomes this weirdly touching nostalgia trip.

Pat the Bunny, by
Dorothy Kunhardt

Though it’s been so much fun to see Sly learn to interact
with this undeniable classic more and more over the months, I find this to be
the most problematic of this list, for two reasons:

1. There’s
a subtle, slow-building undercurrent of creepy that runs through the whole
thing, and not just because Paul and Judy are vaguely unsettling characters. Patting the bunny? Okay, that’s cute, I
guess. Playing peek-a-boo with Paul?
All right, sure, why not? Sticking your
finger through Mummy’s ring? Um, nope. Shaking
Mummy’s button box? I am officially uncomfortable.

2. There’s
this one page where you’re supposed to smell the flowers, and it gives off this
potent, nausea-inducing fragrance that is highly upsetting.

I feel like having
a smell in a book was really cutting-edge when this came out in 1940, but
no one’s bothered to update the smell since then. They should. It’s the worst.

Corduroy, by Don Freeman

Here’s a classic that holds up a little better. Sly loves Corduroy’s touching journey to find his
lost button, especially the
part where Corduroy rips a button off a mattress. One small gripe: I
feel like Corduroy isn’t always operating at the top of
his intelligence, especially when he gets on an escalator and is like,
“Is this a mountain?” You live in a department store, Corduroy. Are you
seriously telling me you and the other toys haven’t discussed very basic
details of what the other parts of the store are like beyond your
little shelf? But maybe they haven’t. Gotta give Corduroy the benefit of
the doubt on this one, I guess.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst; illustrations by Ray Cruz

And to complete the Classic Trifecta, this one’s still awesome, too. What’s not to like
about a book where the message is, “Some days suck, from morning to
night, and that’s just what it is”? I love it so much. And Sly freaks
the hell out about the illustrations in here; something about the
scratchy black and white art makes him want to shout random noises.

My Very Own Name, by Maia Haag; illustrations by Mark Mille

This
is one of those personalized books, where all the animals in the
forest, under the firm leadership of the Owl, come together to spell
Sly’s name (which, since his full name is Sylvester, means those animals
got a lot of work to do). Sly loves this book, and I don’t blame him;
all humans love seeing their name in print. It’s a fact.

Fortunately, by Remy Charlip

This
was a book I loved growing up, and I still love it now. The protagonist
Ned gets invited to a party. Unfortunately, it’s in Florida and he’s in
New York. Fortunately, his friend loans him a plane.
Unfortunately, the plane explodes. (That is a real thing that happens in this book.
Terrifying). You get the idea. It’s funny and dark and clever and
captures, in a very simple way, the surprising and unpredictable nature
of life. Unfortunately, Sly usually likes us to read this one many times
in a row.

We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems

I’m
starting and ending this list with a book by Mo Willems because I had
never heard of him before Sly came into our lives, and now I think he’s a
goddamned genius. Seriously, the man is prolific. As if all three Knuffle Bunny books aren’t impressive enough, we learned he’s also written this
fantastic series of Elephant and Piggie books (not to mention a beloved
series of Pigeon books we haven’t delved into yet), which are hilarious, sweet, and full of great lessons. This one, a meta- joy
where Elephant and Piggie become aware they’re in a book, is Sly’s
favorite. There’s a moment where they start cracking up
because they’ve made the reader say “banana,” 

and one day Sly started doing this fake-laugh along with them, a disingenuous “Ah ah” sound.  It was easily one of my favorite moments of the year. As Katie said, “What a good audience member he will be at his friends’ Level 1 improv shows.”

Thank you to the various people who gifted us books on this list. And to the people who gifted us books not on this list! I assure you your books have been in the rotation, too, just couldn’t feature them all here. 

And if anyone has suggestions of kids’ books they absolutely love, especially those by diverse authors, please let me know! We’re always looking for new favorites. 

As we head into Super Bowl weekend, it’s only fitting that...

As we head into Super Bowl weekend, it’s only fitting that I recommend a book that changed the way I think about professional football.

I read this in the fall, and it still pops into my mind all the time.

It’s set in 2004, Thanksgiving Day at a Dallas Cowboys game, where 19-year-old soldier Billy Lynn and his squad are on the last stop of their USA victory tour after being deemed heroes for a firefight with Iraqi insurgents. 

We’re in Billy’s head the whole time, experiencing all of his very conflicted thoughts about war and cheerleaders and football and the Hollywood producer who wants to option his squad’s story and even Beyonce, who’s performing at the halftime show that the squad will appear in. (The kernel of inspiration for this book was an actual Destiny’s Child halftime performance at a Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day in 2004.)

It’s funny and smart and insightful and very sad, absolutely one of the best war books I’ve read, and, while we’re at it, one of my favorite books about America in the 21st century. 

Just learned Ang Lee’s directing the movie version, which could be really amazing. So read it before that comes out.

I read this book in the fall, and I still find myself thinking...

I read this book in the fall, and I still find myself thinking about it.

It’s set in 2004, Thanksgiving Day at a Dallas Cowboys game, where 19-year-old soldier Billy Lynn and his squad are on the last stop of their USA victory tour after being deemed heroes for a firefight with Iraqi insurgents. 

We’re in Billy’s head the whole time, experiencing all of his very conflicted thoughts about war and cheerleaders and the Hollywood producer who wants to option his squad’s story and Beyonce, who’s performing at the halftime show that the squad will appear in. (The kernel of inspiration for this book was an actual Destiny’s Child halftime performance on Thanksgiving Day in 2004.)

It’s funny and smart and insightful and very sad, absolutely one of the best war books I’ve read, and, while we’re at it, one of my favorite books about America in the 21st century. 

Just learned Ang Lee’s directing the movie version, which could be really amazing. So read it before that comes out.

I recorded the Denton audiobook this week. It was a lovely,...

I recorded the Denton audiobook this week. It was a lovely, surreal experience. I’ll be talking about it in more detail on Tuesday.

But since I didn’t get to post otherwise this week, I wanted to share this comic that the guys over at Unshelved made about my book.

This comic overwhelms and moves me. Seeing someone else’s artistic interpretation of this thing I wrote is truly special.

So, thank you, Unshelved. 

And thank you, Reader, for rolling with this precious moment I’m having.

My book comes out three months from today.

This is what the cover looks like, in case you haven’t seen it yet.

I am excited. If you feel inspired to pre-order, I would be endlessly grateful.

The Internet Will Always Be Dessert This Year.

             I had one of those days yesterday where I think all the answers to my life are on the internet.  

            Not coincidentally, the Please-Internet-Make-Me-Feel-Better-About-Myself Days often happen when I’m working on something scary or overwhelming or incredibly meaningful, i.e. the days when my Resistance Machine is working at full tilt. As I talked about a little while ago—as inspired by Steven Pressfield’s must-read The War of Art—Resistance is an insidious force that pops up in all of us in a multitude of ways and always has one goal: to keep you from making and doing the things you are meant to do.

            And the internet is Resistance’s best fucking friend in the world.

            Case in point: yesterday, when I was getting ready to start chopping apart the most recent draft of my second book, to officially start rewriting in the hopes that I will, within approximately fifty or so days, end up with a Much Better Version of said book, I couldn’t truly buckle down. I worked, but in drips and drabs, always somehow finding my way back to my email or my Twitter feed or a Variety article about who might be directing some Marvel movie coming out in 2033.

            We’re all aware, of course, that the internet is antithetical to getting work done. This is not news. Most writers will tell you that if you want a prayer at any sort of productivity, you should turn your wi-fi off.

            And yet.

            It is a lesson I am forced to learn again and again.

            Because Resistance is so powerfully uncomfortable, it is constantly triggering my Go to the internet button. Yesterday, Resistance was a voice in my head telling me that I have a huge task ahead of me and not a whole lot of time to do it and my next draft better be awesome because I like how the first book turned out and right now the second book is simply Not As Good.

            Yes, here again, a classic case of Awesomeism happening. It’s a daily problem.

            That Resistant voice in my head makes me feel small and powerless and so I run to the internet where I have some control. I can get something else done that will get me my power back! So I come onto this Tumblr and slightly edit one of the sentences in the About section, or I look up the address of a restaurant I might be going to next month. And then, since I’m already internetting, I figure I might as well check my Twitter feed. And then I read some random article about the Knicks, which is beyond dumb because the Knicks are literally the worst team in the NBA this year, so what the hell is there to read about? And then, if I’m going to be really honest here, I end up Googling the title of my book, just to see if new stuff has popped up about it that will make me feel like I have worth in this world.

            When I get to that last step, I know the shit has hit the fan: I’m in a full-blown Resistance spiral. Searching sadly and desperately for some piece of affirmation that will right the ship and make me feel like less of a time-wasting failure.

            “But it’s too late,” I tell myself. I’ve already gorged myself on too much internet before getting actual work done. The ratio is messed up, and it leaves me with the same empty feeling I get ten minutes after I eat a Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwich.

             But on those days when I get right to work as soon as I sit down, and I’m able to push through the struggles, through the discomfort, for at least half an hour, I don’t feel like that. Even if I don’t have a ton to show for it, I feel good, like I’ve done my part, like I’ve earned a quick dip into the internet pool.

            Ideally, the ratio would look something like this: fifty minutes of continuous work earns me a fifteen minute break, which would include as much dick-around/email/Twitter time as I want.

            Then back to work.

            Just so you know, I’m rarely able to maintain this kind of discipline. But I want to.

            So here’s one of my intentions for 2015:  

            Time on the internet will be deliberate and mindful, a reward for a period of work productivity. Once I sit down to work, I can never lead with an internet binge. Never.

            Put another way:

            The Internet will always be dessert this year, never the main course.

             As always, I’m writing things like this mainly as a way of imprinting these ideas into my head and holding myself accountable. So if you find the above words irrelevant to your life, I applaud you. You have an amazing work ethic and you should never change. 

            But if this resonates with you, then thanks for making this piece part of your internet dessert. Now go get some work done.