Library & Literary Miscellany

It’s that time of year again. Today begins the second annual Summer Blog Blast where authors and bloggers get together and have a blast (also known as an interview). You can read all about the Summer Blog Blast from Colleen Mondor over at Chasing Ray; she has also posted a day one SBBT round-up.

But just in case you haven’t already seen the week’s schedule and you don’t want to leave this site, then here’s a taste of the “who” and the “where” for you. I’ve also added in some information about the who and where of today in case you’re not familiar with the author’s names and/or works.

Monday (i.e., today)

Adam Rex at A Fuse #8 Production

• Adam Rex is both an author and illustrator. He’s the illustrator of The Dirty Cowboy (2003), Lucy Rose: Here’s the Thing About Me (2004), Ste-e-e-e-eamboat a-Comin’! (2005), Lucy Rose: Big on Plans (2005), Lucy Rose: Busy Like You Can’t Believe (2006), and Small Beauties: The Journey of Darcy Heart O’Hara (2006). He’s the author/illustrator of Tree-Ring Circus (2006), Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich (2006), Pssst! (2007), and The True Meaning of Smekday (2007) not to mention the forthcoming Frankenstein takes the cake (September 01, 2008).
• A Fuse #8 Production is a part of School Library Journal’s website and is written and directed by Elizabeth Bird.

David Almond at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

• David Almond is the author of numerous works including Skellig (1998), Kit’s Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003), Clay (2005), My Dad’s a Birdman (with Polly Dunbar, 2007), and The Savage (with Dave McKean, UK publication April 2008; US publication October 2008)
• Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast is “a blog about books” by Jules and Eisha. With a blog title that that, who can resist?

R.L. Lafevers at Finding Wonderland

• R.L. Lafevers is the author of such works as Werewolf Rising, The Falconmaster, the Lowthar’s Blade series (The Forging of the Blade, The Secrets of Grim Wood, and The True Blade of Power), and Cybils nominee Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos. Also watch for the coming-soon sequel to the latter, Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris (November 01, 2008).
• Finding Wonderland is the Writing YA Weblog by contributors Aquafortis and TadMack. Yet another well-named blog (I’d love to find Wonderland myself).

Dave Schwartz at Shaken & Stirred

• Dave Schwartz‘ first novel Superpowers is set for release in June 2008.
• Shaken & Stirred is written by Gwenda Bond who is herself an aspiring YA author. She has made some of her writing freely available online.

Elizabeth Scott at Bookshelves of Doom

• Elizabeth Scott is the author of Bloom, Perfect You, Stealing Heaven, and Living Dead Girl (September 2008). Her website mentions she has more works planned for 2009.
• Bookshelves of Doom from a “Librarian. Okay, okay. Uber-librarian. Minus the MLS. That might happen. Someday.” She lives in (and loves) Maine. She reads (and loves reading) books.

Laurie Halse Anderson at Writing & Ruminating

• Laurie Halse Anderson is the author of novels such as Fever, 1793 (2002), Catalyst (2003), Prom (2006), Speak (2006), Twisted (2007), and Chains (coming in October 2008).
• Writing & Ruminating is “one children’s writer’s journey”; it’s the fine ruminations of children’s author and poet Kelly Fineman.

Susan Beth Pfeffer at Interactive Reader

• Susan Beth Pfeffer is the author of post-natural disaster survival story Life as We Knew It and its upcoming (and purportedly darker and more horrifying, we’ll soon find out) sequel the dead and the gone (June 01, 2008). She has other, older works too such as Twice Taken, Kid Power, and The Year Without Michael.
• Interactive Reader is written by Jackie Parker, teen librarian. She quips, “hopefully they won’t eat me alive” (the rest of the blog is equally witty).

And that’s just today. What’s coming up for the rest of the week you may ask? We have a variety of authors coupled with a variety of bloggers to create a variety of interview and book options for you. The schedule is as follows:

Tuesday

• Ben Towle at Chasing Ray
• Sean Qualls at Fuse #8 Production
• Susane Colasanti at Bildungsroman
• Robin Brande at HipWriterMama
• Susan Beth Pfeffer at The YA YA YAs
• Debby Garfinkle at A Chair, a Fireplace & a Tea Cozy
• Jennifer Lynn Barnes at Writing & Ruminating

Wednesday

• Delia Sherman at Chasing Ray
• Ingrid Law at Fuse #8 Production
• Polly Dunbar at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
• Tera Lynn Childs at Bildungsroman
• Siena Cherson Siegel at Miss Erin
• Barry Lyga at A Chair, a Fireplace & a Tea Cozy

Thursday

• Elisha Cooper at Chasing Ray
• Dar Williams at Fuse #8 Production
• Jennifer Bradbury at Bildungsroman
• E. Lockhart at The YA YA YAs
• Mary Hooper at Miss Erin
• Charles R. Smith at Writing & Ruminating
• Mary Pearson at A Chair, A Fireplace & a Tea Cozy

Friday

• Varian Johnson at Finding Wonderland
• Jincy Willet at Shaken & Stirred
• John Grandits at Writing & Ruminating
• Meg Burden at Bookshelves of Doom
• Gary D. Schmidt at Miss Erin
• Javaka Steptoe at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

So there’s quite a bit going on this week. And when you’re done reading author interviews, there’s always the option to head to the library to pick up their books (unless, of course, you wait until Memorial Day when many libraries will be closed, but why wait?).

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I have a few posts from a blog I started in graduate school that I’m transferring over to this new one, beginning with beginning blogging. So here it is (originally written in January 2007):

Since this is a blog, I thought I might as well begin at the beginning of my journey into web information services by reflecting upon my current knowledge about some aspects of blogging as well as my current lack of knowledge about other aspects of blogging. So here are some of my thoughts on the information communication tool on the web known as a blog…

A definition and delineation is always a good place to begin when thinking about something. What is a blog and what is it not? A blog is a web site that contains a person’s online personal journal replete with his or her reflections, and/or anything else they care to share with the web community. A blog is interactive and dynamic. Blogs frequently contain comments (feedback or conversations) by other bloggers or blog readers as well as hyperlinks to other resources that the blog writer deems to be of interest. For novice bloggers and/or those who are reticent to venture into blogging, the thought of putting one’s thoughts out there publicly can be quite intimidating (or maybe that’s just me). A blog may be (depending on how the privacy settings are managed) but is not designed to be kept entirely to oneself.

Thus, the easy part is defining the blog, and the slightly more difficult (but still utterly manageable) part is beginning to blog. How does one get from a blank blog page to a page filled with sagacious reflections and other tidbits that others want to read? I guess just begin typing…

As for the mechanics of beginning to blog, one must first decide whether to get some blogging software and host a blog or to sign up at some blog hosting site on the web. Being a beginning blogger, I thought the latter sounded more appealing, but oh how to choose which blog hosting site to go with (other than of course the essential factor of their offering some sort of free membership option).

To assist me in my oh-so-important blog hosting decision, I visited a few sites such as About.com’s Blog Software and Hosting Page. In the end (after considering every blog hosting service known to mankind and almost being won over by LiveJournal), I decided initially to go with WordPress.com as the host of my blog. It seemed to be easily navigable and had a free membership option and that was good enough for me. I’ve since transferred over to WordPress.org which is perfectly suited for downloading the software and hosting the blog on one’s own server space.

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