It's....Here!

I am so thrilled, exclamation mark! The booktrailer for my debut children's novel, Dragon Wishes, went live.

That makes me sound so very hip and up to date culturally. Truth be told, up until six months ago, I had no idea what a book trailer was, and I was sketchy about what a movie trailer was, too. Sad, but true. Sigh.

But if I can learn to blog, I can learn about book trailers. Basically, it is this amazing two minute video with pictures and music! about my book. I really had a great time learning how this was put together, giving input, and ultimately, sitting back and enjoying the results. If you get a minute, please take a look, and then tell me if you're not just a wee bit curious to read Dragon Wishes!

Holy Mexican Jumping Beans, Batman!

I've been waiting years to come up with a new Robin exclamation directed at Batman. It took a trip to Tucson, Arizona, this weekend to finally fulfill that lifelong desire. Tongue and cheek aside, I traveled to the sunny state to be a part of my oldest friend's wedding. It was so much fun catching up with people from high school that I haven't seen in over twenty years (and ageing at the same time). Staying up late, toasting to my friend's lifelong happiness, even enjoying a day of just me and my husband time paled to the discovery I made while I was there.

Mexican jumping beans.

For those who grew up in snow country, childhood may not have included watching these "beans" jump around, so you may not be feeling that sparkle of magic from reading those three little words. While I spent my childhood in Indiana, my mom's family all lives in Texas, and I spent many a summer there. I'm not sure what it is about those beans that is so mesmerizing for a child, but I was hooked at a tender age.

Mexican jumping beans are actually seeds. There is a specific type of moth that plants its eggs in these seeds. The larvae spend there whole wormy stage cocooned in the seeds, moving around to find the choicest morsels to eat, which is why the beans jump.

To a kid, they're magic. You can't predict when they will move, or where the little pods will hop to.

When I found them on my trip, I knew I had a great souvenir to bring home to my children. Sure enough, my girls stayed up half the night watching their beans hop around. Now they are waiting impatiently for the larvae to turn into moths. Poor things. The moths, that is. They still have a few months to go.

In the meantime, our house has been taken over my Mexican jumping bean madness. We've found books on the Mexican jumping beans, a game to play with them, and they have been all the rage for show-and-tell at school.

Holy Mexican Jumping Beans, Batman! Who knew that in today's world of technological savvy a little worm and seed could still cause such excitement.

Author Visit by State

Have you ever searched for the hometown author for a school visit, but you didn't know where to look - under a rock, in the nearby cave on the outskirts of town, a coffee shop? We authors aren't always the best about putting ourselves out there. A lot of us are kinda shy, actually. We like to steal away with our stories and write, write, write. There are, however, some high functioning authors who are really good at spreading the word about their school visit programs. One such author, Kim Norman, decided to open up her marketing genius to other authors and librarians. She's created a web page where authors who do school visits can list themselves and their websites. It's a great resource for teachers and librarians looking for speakers. Please check it out: http://www.authorvisitsbystate.com

Thanks Kim!

Conference Jitters

Yesterday, I hosted my first ever joint panel with a group of children's authors - PJ Hoover, Jenny Meyerhoff and Barrie Summy. We are all members of the Class of 2k8 debut children's novelists, and we all spoke yesterday at the Oklahoma School Librarians' Conference, EncycloMedia.

I sweated the details of the conference like a first-time parent. I really really really wanted us to do well. And I really really really wanted us to have an audience. I had visions of the lone cricket sawing away at his music in the back of an empty room. Oklahoma librarians had another vision. They came out in huge numbers to support and listen to a group of slightly nervous but very excited debut authors, who put on some really funny, heartfelt, clever, and entertaining talks. No two were the same. I learned as much from giving my own speech in front of a real audience - as opposed to my silent computer screen - as I did from listening to each of their differenct styles.

Here's a huge SHOUT OUT to the amazing authors of 2k8 that traveled long distances to speak in my home state and the wonderful Oklahoma librarians who came to hear us all talk. It was a huge success that I was honored to be a part of. One I'll not soon forget this day.

Braless in Wonderland

Now that's an eyecatcher of a title! But it's not from me. It's from Debbie Reed Fischer, author extraordinaire and fellow member of the class of 2k8. Her book, Braless in Wonderland, debuts today. Read more about it on the 2k8 blog. There, you can meet up with all the recent debut novelists in 2k8, like M.P. Barker, whose book, Bringing Home the Boy, just launched last week.

If you're in the market for great reads for the summer, stop by the 2k8 website. It's an amazing group of authors and books, some already picked for the ALA short picks, others getting super write ups on childrens_lit.

Enjoy!

Everything is Bigger in Texas

I spoke on Tuesday at the Texas Library Association Conference in Dallas, Texas. Mind you, I'm a native. I was born in Houston. Still, every time I get back to the Lone Star State, I'm impressed with how big everything really is, even their library conferences. Everything really is bigger in Texas. Even the panels.

I was on an amazing panel with Linda Joy Singleton, Beverly Patt and Gabriele Goldstone. Each of us talked about multiculturalism in our books. And we must have done something right because we were asked to come back next year to TLA when it is in Houston, my home town. Very cool.

I have to say, conferences really are the best for authors. They are a great chance to get out of the worlds we create and into the one teeming around us. And I got to meet people. Real people. Not the ones I've created. I'd never met any of the authors on my panel face to face, except one, so going to the conference and meeting up with them was like meeting up with real live pen pals. It was a great. We brainstormed, we talked, we exchanged book ideas.

If you're reading this and wondering how to get your hands on their amazing books, as well as a very cool listing of our favorite multicultural books, search no more. We came up with a Multicultural Book Picks list. Just click here to download: http://www.stacyanyikos.com/multiculuralbooks.htm. There is a pdf file there with all the books listed.

And if you missed us this year, please come on down to Houston next year. We'll be joined by the amazing Cynthea Liu, a debut children's novelist with two books coming out next year. So yes, even our panel will be done, well, Texas style. Bigger and better!

The MD 80 Affair

I've never had a strong opinion about flying, one way or the other. As a kid, I loved to fly. I loved the novelty of it. As an adult, I'm grateful I don't have to drive to all of the school visits I do each year from coast to coast. But when I walk into the airport, I always send up a prayer to the gods of flight that I make it where I'm going more or less on time and in one piece.

Yesterday, American Airlines had the ear of the aeronautical gods. I was supposed to be on a flight to El Paso to speak at the New Mexico Library Association Conference in Las Cruces today. And I was speaking on my upcoming middle grade novel. I was totally psyched.

And then I watched the news. Hundreds of flights grounded. What about mine?

You guessed it, grounded too. A very patient customer sales person put me on a flight to Albuquerque, where I could get a one way rental car and drive the three hours to Las Cruces. Okay, I thought, I can do this.

Until I got to Dallas. Those pesky little flight gods hadn't held the magical wand over my head while I was flying. My connecting flight to Albuquerque had been canceled while I was en route.

Again, a reshuffle, a new flight. Hours in the airport. I have to say, I'm not the most patient traveler when it comes to waiting for a flight, but this time, it was almost like I was sitting back and watching all of this happen to me. Because of course that flight was delayed, delayed, and delayed, until finally it was so late, I wouldn't be able to pick up the rental car because the agency would be closed by the time I arrived.

Apparently, the gods decided to throw me a bone. AA cobbled together a late night flight to Tulsa for its many stranded passengers in Dallas. I got on at about midnight and was home by one-thirty.

There was a will, but just no way to Las Cruces.

So what have I learned, me the character in this latest drama? Always bring a really good book. Never lose your cool. And above all, make sure your cell phone is charged so you can get caught up on all of those calls you put off. All my friends now know what happened in Dallas. It's been dubbed the "MD 80 Affair." And then get out a pen and start using all that material...after you've slept of course!