Wednesday, November 16, 2011

cracked me up

So, this guy - Steve Riley - came to our local school last week as a visiting author/illustrator. Not only did have have the rapt attention of every child in the room, but the teachers were completely captivated as well. Think Jim Carrey meets Bob Ross (that guy who used to paint in real time on PBS) meets Dr. Suess. The kids at our school got to create a character named Professor Floppyshoes - an overweight mouse sporting a mohawk and - you guessed it - huge shoes who encountered his nemesis the Evil Sandwich. What a hoot!

If your school is looking for a visiting author, I can't think of a better person to get kids fired up with the joy of reading, writing and illustrating. Here's one of Steve's art lesson's on YouTube - it's tame, down-to-earth and not focused on hilarity as his classrooom performance was, but you get the idea.

Monday, November 14, 2011

heeeeeeere's Katniss!

Crikey. I can't WAIT until March 23!


Thursday, November 03, 2011

Goodreads

How has it taken me so long to get on Goodreads?
While I know not the answer, I do know that I'm on there now, so friend me if you'd like. Let's swap favorite book recommendations!

:-)

P.S. My handle is Nicole McInnes

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

NaNo? or NoNo?

People, NaNoWriMo starts today. Wait. Cancel that. It started today. Which means I'd already be behind if I was going to even DO NaNo this year, which I have wholeheartedly decided not to do for a whole host of reasons.

But, what if....?

Couldn't I just...?

What's the worst that could happen...?

These are the questions I ask myself as I come down from a month (October) of three consecutive birthday weekends, an inSANE teaching schedule plus preparation for my upcoming holiday shows at which I'm going to hawk my little soap company's wares as I've done for the past million years. (For the record, October was actually great, but I was also pretty maxed out on most levels).

Two years ago at just this exact time I was working up to a really awesome case of shingles from the stress of it all. So, since then, I've worked pretty hard to keep the kerfluffle to a minimum as much as possible (mainly by jettisoning those things from my life that aren't necessary and/or don't bring me joy and/or peace).

It's not easy.

And while NaNoWriMo isn't necessary, exactly, writing is. Because writing brings joy AND peace.

Still, I regret to say I'm going to have to resist. Unless I change my mind after publishing this post and decide to throw all caution and mental health to the wind for the next 30 days, in which case please pray for me.