June 30, 2009
Here in the States, we like to drag our Independence Day celebrations out for as long as possible. There are many events and festivals in the Chicago area. Ours began last week with the local Trout Valley Fourth of July party, which actually took place on June 27, so as not to interfere with the other celebrations taking place during the July 4 weekend. The day began with a softball game, following by a new bridge dedication, and a children’s parade. My five-year-old rode her bike (without training wheels!) decorated in red, white and blue. My two-year-old kicked back while she was pulled in a little red wagon, which was decorated with miniature flags and glittery pinwheels.
The parade ended at the riverfront lodge and park, where games were set up for the kids. There was a dunk tank, a moonwalk bounce house, an inflatable obstacle course, a fast pitch batting game, a money pit game, face painting, and a snow cone booth. My oldest daughter, husband, and step Dad also participated in organized yard games that included a water balloon toss, various types of races, and Simon Says. The girls enjoyed watching their Daddy and Grandpa take first place in the adult water balloon toss, while my five-year-old was thrilled to place second in the hula hoop competition. The day was wrapped up with a big cookout and potluck dinner, followed by fireworks and a live band that performed late into the night.
This upcoming weekend, we will likely stop by the Lakeside Festival in Crystal Lake to enjoy some of the local food venues, bands, carnival rides, and games. We will probably also make an appearance at the 29th Annual Taste of Chicago, taking place in Grant Park June 26 through July 5. The crowds are daunting with more than three million people from all over the world who turn out for this event, but the 70+ food vendors featuring cuisine from popular local restaurants, along with dozens of bands, fireworks, and other forms of entertainment are well worth all the chaos.
June 25, 2009
I’ve recently been diagnosed with mild asthma. After my oldest daughter was diagnosed with it, I began to do some research and learn more about it, and suddenly I found myself saying, “Wait a minute. I have those symptoms too.” It seems we are often more attentive to the health of our children than we are with our own well being. I drag my girls to the doctor for every little cough and fever, yet I put off going myself as if it’s just not that important, or as if there is some sort of victory in not admitting I am sick.
Now that I know I have asthma, I am much more aware of it. In this sweltering 95 degree heat and humidity, the air seems thick and sticky and feels as if it takes a significant amount of extra effort to inhale and exhale. I have begun taking some medication, and I am seeing an allergist in a couple of weeks to try to get to the heart of what my allergies and triggers might be.
My daughter’s asthma and allergies seem to be under control at the moment, and I am optimistic that she may yet outgrow it. I don’t think, at my age, I can hold out the same hope for myself. I think the key will be learning the triggers and getting into a good routine where I can manage it well. Any advice?
June 16, 2009
Readers, please take a moment to cast your vote in the NETFLIX – FIND YOUR VOICE competition. Specifically, please give five stars to “Half Truth.” My friend Steak, and her company Steakhaus Productions, is creating this film, which is a semi-finalist for the Netflix competition. If she wins, they get up to $350,000 in cash and resources to make the movie, and you can help by voting. Please go give five stars to “Half Truth.”
Here’s the link:
http://www.netflixfindyourvoice.com/index.php
June 10, 2009
I am on a writing retreat. During my last writing retreat, I was working on an entirely new novel (being only halfway through the first draft of the previous novel I’ve spent the past many months working on). The main character of this new novel suffers from the failure of technology all around her. She is partly autobiographically inspired.
I think I jinxed myself creating such a character. Just 3,600 words into the story, my hard drive crashed and burned. I lost everything — my work to date on both novels, two nonfiction book proposals, the original text from my nonfiction book (which fortunately was already published), my poetry, several short stories, all my music, several years worth of photographs… the loss was immeasurable. To top it off, the back-up that I thought I had done a few months back somehow got wiped out too. Keep reading →
June 7, 2009
My five-year-old spent the night at a friend’s house last night. In her absence, my two-year-old daughter clung to the security of her imaginary friend, John. She asked me set up a sleeping bag for him on the floor, so that she wouldn’t have to sleep by herself. He also joined us for dinner, a ride in the car, and breakfast this morning, but apparently he likes to sleep late because he almost slept past breakfast.
Sometimes she talks about two separate imaginary friends — Little John (who is two-years-old) and Big John (who is five). Usually though, it’s just “John.”
This is my first experience with an imaginary friend. Although I was convinced when I was a kid that faeries, trolls, gnomes, ghosts, witches, and other supernatural creatures existed in the shadows of the world all around me, I never had a specific invisible friend who was human.
Has anyone else had experience with imaginary friends? What are your thoughts on the subject?
May 22, 2009
Kim Harrison’s new young adult supernatural fantasy, Once Dead, Twice Shy, will be released at the end of the this month. Harrison is the author of the New York Times bestselling urban fantasy series featuring witch and private detective, Rachel Morgan. Once Dead, Twice Shy marks her first full-length novel geraed toward the young adult audience, though the prequel to the book can be found in the short story collection Prom Nights From Hell.
In addition to its target audience age-range, the other distinguishing feature that sets this novel apart from Harrison’s Hollows series is that the characters are all new. Rather than witches, vampires, and pixies as main characters, Once Dead, Twice Shy revolves around angels, reapers, and timekeepers. The characters serve as a cutting edge variant in the paranormal fiction genre, a refreshing introduction to mystical beings far different from the vampires and witches we’ve come to consider commonplace in fantasy novels these days. Keep reading →
May 19, 2009
Whole Foods is opening a new flagship grocery store in Chicago, IL on May 20, and I was invited to preview some of the samplings from their wide array of restaurants that will be located inside the store. At this pre-opening “dress rehearsal”, my family and I were given a store tour and encouraged to spend Saturday afternoon tasting entrees, side dishes, and beverages from their abundant restaurant venues featuring menu selections with a Chicago flare.
Keep reading →
May 14, 2009
Aprilynne Pike’s debut novel, Wings, is a paranormal fantasy featuring an entirely new twist on the mythological realm of faeries. I recently published a review of Wings, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to conduct an author interview with Aprilynne Pike, a fresh new voice in the young adult urban fantasy genre.
Damian: Your debut novel, Wings, manages to weave an intricate alternate history into a realm of faerie tale fantasy set in a modern world. You indicated in your bio that you have been “spinning faerie stories” since you were “a child with a hyper-active imagination.” Where do you find inspiration for your characters and their stories?
Pike: My brain has always been a well of strange—and often very strange—ideas. I can’t really say that I know where they come from. But I think one thing that helps is that I am always pondering, “what if.” Often about simple things like, “What if I had worded that question differently?” Or, “What if I had turned around two seconds earlier.” But sometimes it wanders more. “What if that guy really wasn’t human; what if the love of her life had to kill her.” Constantly juggling “what-if’s” leads to all kinds of fantastical answers and every answer can be developed into a story.
I also draw inspiration from my teenaged self. I think that for me—as the perpetual nerd/loner in school—I always liked to write about the person I wished I was. I thought I wanted to be the popular cheerleader with perfect hair and clothes and the hot boyfriend. Now that I’m an adult, I take a slightly different spin on it. I like to write about characters I wish I had wanted to be. You will rarely find uber-popular main character in my novels because that is a world I am completely unaware of. But I consciously try to write characters who are confident and willing to do things that are un-popular simply because they want to. They stand up for themselves and their values and quirks. And even if they aren’t that strong at the beginning, I like to help them make that journey throughout the book or series. One thing I am really excited to do with Laurel is take her from a slightly uncertain young woman who doesn’t know where she belongs, to the incredibly strong, visionary heroine she will be at the end of the series.
Keep reading →
May 7, 2009
Preschool Prep Company has created a series of educational DVDs that focuses on teaching sight words to young children. Sight words are commonly used short words in the English language that do not always follow traditional rules and are typically better learned through sight recognition rather than phonetically sounding them out. Examples of sight words are “of,” “the,” and “you.”
The first DVD is titled “Meet the Sight Words 1” and features sixteen frequently used sight words. The colorful animated graphics and repetitive use of the words throughout the video seem to be an effective means for teaching these sight words. Though this DVD is recommended for children ages 15 months to 6 years, it seems geared for kindergarten or pre-kindergarten education.
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May 5, 2009
Aprilynne Pike’s debut novel, Wings, hits the book store shelves this week. This young adult fantasy features a new twist on the traditional faerie archetype that, to my knowledge, has never before been written about. Pike’s unique interpretation of faeries strikes an intriguing balance between magic and realism and is likely to capture the imagination of readers.
The story unfolds when high school sophomore Laurel Sewell wakes up one day to find something resembling wings growing forth from between her shoulder blades. Already struggling with the other aspects of her life that make her feel like an outsider — being adopted after being abandoned on a doorstep at roughly the age of three, moving to a new town, and being a first-time student at the public high school after being home schooled through all of her early education — Laurel must now deal with this alarming new development.
“Long, bluish-white forms rose over both shoulders. For a moment Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful — almost too beautiful for words.”
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