2012 Highlights, Plus My Best Xmas Present

Some said the world was supposed to end on 12/21/12. I am so glad it didn't, because there's still lots I want to do. That said, I did manage to pack a whole lot into 2012. Let's go backward and take a look at some of the highlights. (Note: The stuff that's highlighted in a link goes to the blog about whatever I am blathering about.)

DECEMBER

Traveled to Edinburgh to visit Daughter who was going to school at the University. She's studying to be a children's book editor (!!!) and got me a signed copy of this for Christmas . . .



Yes! My very own autographed-by-J.K.-Rowling-copy of THE CASUAL VACANCY. Next week, I'll be blogging about how Daughter managed to get the book. But in the meantime, here's a photo of Peepy in front of her new house, formerly known as Edinburgh Castle . . .



Oh, but speaking of castles and that sort of stuff, in December, we also got to meet Downton Abbey's Lord Grantham . . .



NOVEMBER

Amish country and a conference in Pennsylvania were on the calendar for November. We had a lovely room with a view and also got to work on SEVEN DAYS DOWN, my next young adult novel for Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic . . .


(These red marks are notes to myself.)

OCTOBER

October was a busy, busy, busy month. We were at The Brooklyn Book Festival and The South Dakota Festival of Books, school visits in Texas, and more.

Behold, Jon Sciezka doing a guy thing as I moderated the Guys Read panel. Joseph Bruchac and Gordon Korman look on . . .



It was all very fun, but the jet lag got to me a bit. Here I am with fellow jet laggee (is that a word?) Sherman Alexie . . .



SEPTEMBER

As the space shuttle Endeavor made its way to Los Angeles aboard a modified 747, I was one of 40 people selected to cover the event for NASA. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime event as seen HERE and HERE and HERE . . .



Here's the video of the take off. We were 500 feet away . . .



AUGUST

Anyone up for a flash mob of kid lit folk? We were! August is always a great time because of the SCBWI Summer conference!



JULY

Ah, Comic Con. Yes, it's every bit as crazy as you've heard it is. Since we wrote a book called WARP SPEED, about a Star Trek geek who gets beat up, we were on a panel . . .



July was also the American Library Association Conference. We saw Newbery winner Jack Gantos. However, he misbehaved. Badly.



JUNE

Did someone say "radio"? Yes! That was me on Jarrett Krosoczka's show Sirrus Show THE JJK REPORT . . .




Here's a video of the radio . . .



MAY

We visited Kent State in May, plus were at the Los Angles Times Festival of Books, where we ran into old friend (as in we've known him for a while) John Green. Plus, we watched Lauren Myracle get arrested . . .



APRIL

Northampton, MA is like a children's book author/illustrator mecca. I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks there and got to hang out with my dear friend, Jeannie Birdsall. We were on the radio together!



Peepy and I also had lunch with Mo Willems and Tony DiTerlizza . . .



We also got to visit Tony DiTerlizzi's lair and were so taken with it, and him, that we bought him this most awesome sweater . . .



MARCH

We learned the secrets of Scrivener from the creator of the program, plus found out that Austin, TX has great BBQ . . .



Visiting Vancouver was a blast. It was fun seeing Allen Say, again . . .



FEBRUARY

Jeremy Lin, the Chinese American basketball player, took the NBA by storm. Even people who didn't know what a basketball was, knew about Jeremy Lin. I wrote about him on this blog, and it was picked up by USA TODAY. Here's my dad, a three time varsity player in high school . . .



Speaking of Chinese American's, here's Ivy Ling. I wrote about for American Girl. Ivy had a cameo on the Simpsons . . .



And finally, JANUARY. As we have in the past, Peepy and I went to the Rose Parade, I (finally) updated my website, I tamed my internet addiction, and WARP SPEED got named to lots of lists!



HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

NEXT BLOG: Exploring Edinburgh



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Oh, look! These books make lovely gifts for you or someone you know, or someone you may know sometime. If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's. Be sure to tell them that you'd like me to sign them, and include the name(s) of who the books should be made out to. Then they will mail it/them to you!"





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A Harry Potter Repeat, Plus a Casual JK Rowling Autograph!!!!

Taking a blogging break this week, but still blogging. "How?" you ask? Simply. A rerun.

This is from a few years ago, but it's timely because it's about JK Rowling and I got a SIGNED COPY OF THE CASUAL VACANCY FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR!!!!!! Sqeeeeee!!!!



And here's the blog from before. It's so retro that some of the links no longer link . . .

Harry Potter is huge in our house. HUGE. Routinely, we've braved the midnight lines to snare copies of the books . . .


The sight of J.K. Rowling in the United States is as rare as a husband asking for directions, and both last took place in the year 2000. However, recently it was announced that Scholastic would sponsor a J.K. Rowling Open Book Tour. The New York audience would be made up of contest winners. New Orleans and Los Angeles would be school children selected this way.

When I heard that J.K. Rowling was coming to Los Angeles, I thought OMG!OMG!IHAVETOGO!IHAVETOGO!OMG!!! I mean, J.K. Rowling and I are like best friends, sort of. Well, we did hang out together, kind of, a little, almost. If you don't believe me, it's even been semi-documented here.

So, there is a certain bond between the two of us. After all, we are both authors, and . . .
1. We are both moms.
2. We are both richer than the Queen of England.
3. We were both discovered by the same marveloooous editor, Arthur Levine.
4. We are both interviewed by Inkygirl -- click here.
(Two of the above are not true, although one of us probably doesn't need overdraft protection and the other one of us is on Inkygirl's blog.)

Via begging, threats and bribes, I managed to snag an invite for myself and one family member. EEEeeeeeeEEeeeeEEEeeeek!!!! Eeeek! Eek! Erp.

(Above: Oops. To read ticket, simply hold your computer up in front of the bathroom mirror.)

The Sorting Hat selected Son to go . . .


We were arrived EARLY so as not to be late. (This was quite a feat since I got home from NYC to LA at 2 a.m.) Alas, once at the Kodak Theater we went to the wrong place. However, when we peered through the locked doors (they were made of glass) we witnessed J.K. Rowling's press conference. (Eek!) Then it was to the theater for us. We were THE FIRST people they let it and we had the place to ourselves for a bit. Then the school kids started filling the auditorium. 1,600 of them.

Once everyone settled down, there was a short film about Harry Potter Mania before J.K. Rowling strode onto the stage. On cue, the crowd leapt to their feet and went WILD. I wanted to cry. Hundreds of kids cheering, screaming, weeping . . . for an author. How cool is that?

Jo (as I am sure she would want me to call her) sat in a golden throne upholstered in red velvet (note to self: get throne for office) and read from BOOK SEVEN. It was wonderful hearing her interpretation of the voices, her cadence, her words. Soon it was time for questions from the audience. I wish I had taken notes, but I was too enthralled to move. Also, no photos were allowed in the theater, so I will have to draw from memory . . .


The questions were brilliant and so were her responses. Things that I can sorta recall because of my memory-loss-and-jet-lag-situation in no particular order -- She would rather write seven more Harry Potter books than be Queen. English teachers are wonderful. Lupin and Tonks were the hardest deaths for her. She didn't kill people off for the fun of it. Jo has to love a book/concept before writing it. She would like to slap Snape.

After her talk, it was time for autographs. Son got permission to get in line and brought his own book, the one he had Arthur Levine sign last summer. When it was his turn, Jo paused when she saw Arthur's inscription and then spoke to Son. Eeeek!!!

Afterward, I put Arthur in my fabulous sports car and we headed to lunch. Well, okay, we headed in the wrong direction, got lost, then headed to lunch . . .


. . . and Son headed back to school where he was heralded as a hero.

Later that day, being tired and jet lagged from this, I decided to take a nap. The TV was on and I heard a promo about a news segment on Jo's LA visit. I leapt up to tape it and who should I see? J.K. Rowling and SON-- together . . .





What a magical, marvelous day.


(Above: Here's a clip from British TV.)

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Oh, look! If you'd like an autographed book o' mine, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"





Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...