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THANK YOU, school librarians!

Photo: With Carrie Davies at Nerd Camp. I continue to be grateful to school librarians for sharing my books and works by fellow creators with young readers. I was lucky enough to meet teacher librarian Carrie Davies (see photo above) in person at Nerd Camp Michigan years ago. I’ve also . . .



How to support indie bookstores by including indie bookstore links

(Feel free to scoop the above image for posting elsewhere. You can also access the animated gif version on my GIPHY page.) I’ve had book creators ask me how to find book links for indie bookstores, so here is a short tutorial. For U.S. indies, it’s relatively easy. Just go . . .



Art Process: Bread Tag Guy

I’ve had more questions recently about my art process and materials behind some of my pieces, so I’m going to start posting details about how I create some of my art. If you like my found object art, I encourage you to check out GURPLE AND PREEN by Linda Park . . .



HAPPY #CAPSLOCKDAY!

Happy Caps Lock Day! And yes, it is a real thing. Apparently (I’m still looking for a reliable source to verify, since the CapsLockDay domain seems to have been taken over by someone else, be warned), software developer Derek Arnold created Caps Lock Day to poke fun at “typographical conventions.” . . .



Halloween Read Recommendation: HARDLY HAUNTED by Jessie Sima

Five-Bat ? ? ? ? ? review for HARDLY HAUNTED by Jessie Sima is such a spookily (is that a word?) fun story about a house who fervently wants a family to move in, so tries NOT to be haunted until she realizes that it’s better to just be herself. “She . . .



Discovering Savoury Oatmeal

I’ve never considered myself a cook. Don’t get me wrong; I used to enjoy cooking, back when we lived out in the countryside and when I was still trying to get published and had more time. I was never one of those intuitive cooks, however, and my rare attempts to . . .



Winners of the I’M Book Reader Gallery Contest!

Thanks to all who submitted photos for my I’M Books Reader Gallery, featuring fun images of readers and/or various types of creatures with I’m Bored, I’m Sad, I’m Worried, or I’m Sorry. It was too hard to pick just one winner, so Michael Ian Black and I finally declared a . . .



Creative Art Challenges During October

I should have posted this earlier, I know, but I’m still posting about October creative challenges just in case anyone wants to jump in as a creative participant or as a creative cheerleader (ideally BOTH, of course!). Suggestions on how to start participating as a latecomer: Don’t stress about it. . . .




Finding Focus

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I found it much more of a challenge to FOCUS on creative projects during the pandemic. Things are getting better now, but early on? Forget it. I did way too much doom-scrolling online, worried constantly about loved ones as well as . . .