Happy New Year! Where the hell have I been?

Happy New Year everybody!

 I've been sick. Starting to feel better now (FINALLY) and will once again be updating this blog on an almost-sorta-kinda-daily basis. Thanks for your patience.

G!

Amazon Vs Macmillan! Goliath Vs Goliath! I'm a little David with no rocks to be found anywhere!

As I was alerted by the talented Ms. Colleen Venable, and directed to this article on the New York Times, Amazon (they get no link) has pulled down all of Macmillan Publishings titles in a dispute with the publisher over the price of ebooks for their Kindle reader. Now both First Second and Roaring Brook Press, two companies with whom I have published the majority of my books, fall under the Macmillan banner ( as well as Henry Holt, St. Martins, FSG and others) so they're all yanked; What's worse, since all of my work has included full color illustrations, they weren't even eligible for Kindle-ation, so I'm just an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.

Realistically, this will all be resolved soon, I'm sure. However, if you're reading this, and you were planning to buy one of my books at some point in the near future, may I humbly suggest you do it right now, at a place other than Amazon?

Well, at least I can draw good...

How's this for the least photogenic man alive? While doing a Google vanity search the other day I can across this monstrosity of a photo on the Publisher's Weekly site. On the right is Rivkah, the cartoonist behind Steady Beat from Tokyo Pop. Nice photo of her, right?

Now, on the left, we have me. One will instantly notice the glassy half-lidded eyes, slightly askance to the wall, and think, "my, what a terrible photo". Oh, but there's more. A closer look at my right paw reveals that I am unintentionally flipping the bird at the viewer. How do I let something like this happen? What was wrong with me that day? How have I not learned to not hold a piece of paper like that? I wonder how many people saw this photo and thought terrible, unkind things about me? "Well, I was going to do a cover story on Mr. O'Connor, but after seeing that photo..."

Lesson learned? Always use my index finger, and invest in sunglasses.

...and that's when the C.H.U.D.s came at me

So, I don't know if this happens to anyone else out there, but from time to time I periodically get obsessed with a silly word or phrase, and start looking for excuses to use that word or phrase. Right now, I'm experiencing that feeling with the word C.H.U.D. WHy C.H.U.D.? I don't know. I'm pretty sure I've never seen even one tiny bit of either film (Betcha didn't know that there was a sequel, C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. Seriously). It's just a fun word. Say it a few times, roll it around your tongue. Very satisfying to pronounce. C.H.U.D.,C.H.U.D., C.H.U.D. C.H.U.D. C.H.U.D. Practice calling your cat or loved ones C.H.U.D. See how nice that is?

It's things like this that made me realize I need to get out during the day more...