FEED ME!
The year is only a handful of days old and I’m already feeling the weight and pressure of having a blog. It’s like having a large, annoyed plant in the basement that’s always bellowing out, “Feed me! Feeeeeed Meee!!!!” Some folk seem to nourish their blogs easily and often, and even manage to do it without an embarrassing amount of self-promotion. Take a look at Betsy Bird’s A Fuse #8 Production over on the School Library Journal site for a prime example of a smart, funny, informative, and generous discussion of books for young readers and the book world in general (and much more besides). When I grow up I hope to have a blog like that.
But for now I’m stuck here with this nasty plant wondering what to write about? At first I thought it might be fun to write about what some are calling the “new nonfiction” for young readers (I’ve also heard it referred to as “passionate nonfiction”). Aside from the fact that anytime someone proclaims something “new and improved” I smell a patent medicine salesman at work, I saw a number of misleading implications bandied about during these discussions and some potential problems in leading nonfiction readers, reviewers, and writers down this road. But then I remembered that 2009 was a great year for nonfiction for young readers and that I had been a part of it, albeit in a small part, with the publications of A SAVAGE THUNDER and TRUCE. Best to put the past aside (for now) and look forward to what the year holds.
So what do the days and months ahead have in store? My wife, Alison, and I are finishing up a revision of an as yet untitled book about tuberculosis, a history of a killer disease that just won’t go away. Sounds nasty, right? Well, get use to it since just about everything that ails you disease-wise follows the same pattern and kids should know it! I’ll also be completing a text about the Boston Massacre, the incident (some say a staged incident) that provided just the right propaganda to push the colonies into open rebellion. And sitting on my desk right here are the first pass pages for THE CROSSING, a look at how badly George Washington handled the opening months of the war as Commander of the Continental Army and how close we came to losing the revolution. Which wouldn’t have been all that bad in my opinion considering how delightfully charming British accents are. That’s about enough shameless promotion (for now).
The other venture I’m a part of is a videoconferencing company called INK Think Tank, which was started by author Vicki Cobb and a number of other nonfiction authors. I’m just a hired hand (and so new I don’t yet appear on the official website roster: www.inkthinktank.com), but I’m excited about the potential to “visit” schools around the country from my comfy office. The first hurdle, of course, is getting all the equipment up and running, but that’s the challenge and excitement of a new year, right?
Ooops, there it goes again with its “FEED ME!” I’ll save my good news of the week for my next feeding and instead try to figure out how to post this before I become its next snack. Later.
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