It's a drag...

To contact us Click HERE
If you live in the Pioneer Valley and like ballet and holiday traditions, why not drop by Northampton's Academy of Music for the Pioneer Valley Ballet's annual production of the Nutcracker.

The show runs for the Weekend of Dec. 7th-9th.  On Sun. Dec. 9th at the 4:30 pm show I will reprise my role as Mother Ginger for the 3rd time.  


Even so, you should still go see the show. The kids are adorable and the dancers know their stuff.

Tickets are here.  See you at the show!

Nice News/Looking back at November...

To contact us Click HERE
Thanks to you, DON'T LET THE PIGEON FINISH THIS ACTIVITY BOOK! debuts this week on the Indie Bestseller list at #11 in the Children's Interest catagory.  It is, folks seem to think, the first activity book to break into the list.  Very exciting for everyone  on the team!

Also, Elephant and Piggie are at #7 on the series list!


Now, a look back!Here's a few pictures from last weeks adventure helping guide the Wimpy Kid Balloon through the streets of New York for 3.5 million of my closest friends.

The costumes were the latest in old cheese fashion.

Greg is very big.

Jeff & his creation.

SO cool!  Thanks again to Charlie Kochman & Jeff Kinney for the chance of a lifetime.

In case you missed the gaggle of illustrators at the R. Michelson Gallery opening earlier this month, here are some images from the evening.

Hanging out with the great Jerry Pinkney.

The whole gang!

You can see many more here.

Here are some pix from my visit to Tulsa.  What great crowds!

When It's Time

To contact us Click HERE
Tuesday morning I drove up to my childhood home in Idaho Falls to put my mother in a care facility. Now that it's Wednesday night, and I'm writing this completely exhausted from two days of filling out paperwork, moving furniture, and setting up her room, I can tell you that this was the most difficult thing I've had to do in my life.

My mother has been battling mental illness for years. My father had grown incapable of managing her meds and was at the end of his rope, ready to flee with a packed suitcase to lord knows where. He just couldn't take it anymore. And the process was physically exhausting. I hit the road for an eight-hour round trip and had my first care facility appointment at noon. Then another at 1:00. Then a break for lunch and mom's doctor at 3:00 where we asked her, "Do you believe it's time?" And she responded, "Yes."

So we picked out a place, and I got 100-pages of paperwork to fill out (I'm serious). Living will, resuscitation, medicare, insurance, supplemental, social...all kinds of questions. Then came the part where we had to set up the room. This included picking out furniture, moving a 300-pound solid wood dresser, dolls, things that would give my mother some peace in her new home. All the while she was yelling at us, cussing us out, wondering what the hell is going on.  Then she fell twice, once outside. My dad just sat on the couch in a "fugue" state and said "Your mother fell down." And then just left her there so that I could go and scoop her up. He refused to answer simple questions. "Which pillow do you think she would like?" His response, "I'm not going to answer questions about that. Your decision."

He washed his hands of even the simplest questions.

Long-term care insurance had been lost. They were buried in one of three shoeboxes filled with hundreds of paper receipts from voided checks that should have been thrown away to receipts for stuff he's bought in the last ten years. Pure chaos. He couldn't find the keys to his truck, couldn't find my mother's dentures, was pretty helpless really.

So my brother and I did it all. We got my mother's clothes labeled with sharpies, we bought  cleaning supplies and spit-shined all the furniture going over, we selected all the photographs for her door display so that the residents could see who she was and be curious, we put away her clothes, hung the pictures in her room, connected the television, got her set up for her meds to be delivered already in bubble packs directly from the pharmacy with speed pay, signed all the papers, and then took her there.

I got emotional driving her there. She thought we were going to iHop which is one of her favorite restaurants. When we ended up at the nursing home, she knew what this place was, despite all of her mental issues. So I cried...I tried to stop it, but I couldn't.

If you ever have to commit your mother to a facility, I know your pain. My mother loves me so much. Though most of her is gone, this is one of those milestones where you know that a loved one's life left on this earth has grown short. And despite this love, I couldn't take her home. She wanted to go home to the dog she loves, to the place where she was comfortable, and she isn't going to go home ever again. This facility is now her home. I had to move out of state to find a job. I can only visit twice a year because of vacation. And you simply cannot live in this country if you don't have a job. So there's a mandatory 40-hours of my week that is gone. And honestly, there's no way I could care for her even if I lived locally.

So yeah, this week has been hell. I'll remember it for the rest of my life. I think she'll make new friends and lead a healthier more social lifestyle so perhaps this will be a good fit. The home I put her in seemed like a really good one.

Anyway, if I haven't had time to visit your blogs this week, this is why. This is what I've been doing. I've got one more day to wrap up and finalize some things, take my mom to a doctor's appointment, and replace a phone that I dropped accidentally in the hot tub at the hotel I'm staying at. Sigh. When this week is over, it shall be a big relief.

Insecure Writer's Support Group May Edition

To contact us Click HERE
Welcome to the May edition of the Insecure Writer's Support Group.

This is a blog hop associated with Alex J. Cavanaugh who created it. Read about it HERE.


Lately, I've been insecure about word count. As my bloated sequel swells to 160,000 words (and yes I'm trying to trim it), I feel more than ever that the editing and rewrites I've done over the last month or so is finally beginning to take shape. In other words...I've reached the point where I can almost say "I have a second draft".

That makes me happy.

But the word count doesn't.

Oh well. I'll read through it one more time to see if there are things I could cut in order to streamline what I want to say in a better way. I hate you word count god. *shakes fist.

***
On Friday, I'll be starting my blog tour beginning with Alex's science-fiction blog. I'll be giving away fun prizes like this SLIPSTREAM spider. I hope you'll stay tuned :)
They really sparkle in the sunlight. Have a great Wednesday.

I'm at Theresa Milstein's blog today and a big welcome to Alyson Burdette and Nightfire

To contact us Click HERE
Today is the third day of my blog tour. I'm at Theresa Milstein's blog which she calls Theresa's Tales of Teaching Tribulations and Typing Teen Texts. Patrick Dilloway would be proud of such alliteration. I would appreciate a visit over there to say hi if you have the time.

Today I'm turning my blog over to a talented debut author named Alyson Burdette. I just purchased Nightfire two days ago on my Kindle and haven't gotten that far. But the prologue was good (Yes! she had the courage to write a prologue).Why You Should Be Writing.

Some people think that it takes a certain sort of person to write a book. (Insert mental image of furrowed brows, typewriters and crumpled papers.) I, personally, think anyone can, and should write a book. Sure, it’s a lot of hard work and incredibly time consuming but the payoff is worth it. It’s a great feeling to know that you’ve finished something so few people do.

I also think that every individual has something unique and interesting to say. No one else in the world has your perspective, beliefs or experiences in the world. You can take your life experiences and put them into fictional characters, a memoir, a poem, or any other form you can think of. Writing is a great way to solidify and understand who you are as a person. It can be great therapy, or even a simple distraction to get you through a difficult time. And it’s a great way to share who you are with the world.

Think you don’t have time to write a book? Think about it this way. If you write just 1,000 words a day, in less than two months, you will have a short 50,000 word book put together. In four months at that pace you will have a 120,000 word book done. That’s writing 3-4 double spaced pages a day. If you write just a little at a time, it becomes a much more manageable task.

So if you are writing, Great! Keep doing it and try not to let the frustrations of the writing world overwhelm you. If you aren’t, why not start? There’s no better time than now.

Look, I did it. If I can do it, so can you. Just peek at the blurb below- my 60,000 word paranormal romance, Nightfire, was an idea floating in my head and now it’s an E-book. Real-live people can buy and read it.

Nightfire Blurb:
When a murder shakes the small town of Peninsula, all eyes are on Olivia Townsend. She may look eighteen, but the townspeople can sense there’s something darker hiding behind her pretty eyes. Olivia knows the smart thing to do is to get out of town. Suspicious neighbors can only mean trouble for a vampire. But leaving becomes much more difficult when William, a mysterious man from her past, arrives. Finding out what brought him back is a temptation Olivia just can’t resist. William’s kindness and interest in Olivia only makes leaving harder. As she starts to fall for him, she’s forced to decide if sticking around is really worth the risk of being discovered. Of course, her mystery man has a secret of his own-and he’s not talking.

I know everyone of you is capable of creating something amazing. So do it.

Alyson Burdette currently lives in a small town in Ohio. She graduated from The University of Akron, where she majored in Anthropology. When she’s not writing, she spends her time hiking, dancing, and hunting for ghosts.

You can find her at: http://alysonburdette.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/AlysonBurdette

http://www.paranormalpursuits.net

or contact her by email:

Alyson_burdette@yahoo.com

Nightfire is available atMusapublishingAmazon
and other major E-book retailers.

Mo' Dining Room Dinner Doodles...

To contact us Click HERE
Here are a few more recent dinner doodles.  I've been getting reports from pals all over that have begun putting paper and crayons on the dining table and having a blast.  How cool!

Old school commuting penguins.

And some new stuff

Having fun with wonky perspective..

Here's a doodle by my daughter who likes to draw both realistically...

...and Manga style!

My wife is into abstractions.

Speaking of doodling and drawing, thanks to NY's Newsday for putting DON'T LET THE PIGEON FINISH THIS ACTIVITY BOOK! on their Holiday gift guide.
 

It's a drag...

To contact us Click HERE
If you live in the Pioneer Valley and like ballet and holiday traditions, why not drop by Northampton's Academy of Music for the Pioneer Valley Ballet's annual production of the Nutcracker.

The show runs for the Weekend of Dec. 7th-9th.  On Sun. Dec. 9th at the 4:30 pm show I will reprise my role as Mother Ginger for the 3rd time.  


Even so, you should still go see the show. The kids are adorable and the dancers know their stuff.

Tickets are here.  See you at the show!

When It's Time

To contact us Click HERE
Tuesday morning I drove up to my childhood home in Idaho Falls to put my mother in a care facility. Now that it's Wednesday night, and I'm writing this completely exhausted from two days of filling out paperwork, moving furniture, and setting up her room, I can tell you that this was the most difficult thing I've had to do in my life.

My mother has been battling mental illness for years. My father had grown incapable of managing her meds and was at the end of his rope, ready to flee with a packed suitcase to lord knows where. He just couldn't take it anymore. And the process was physically exhausting. I hit the road for an eight-hour round trip and had my first care facility appointment at noon. Then another at 1:00. Then a break for lunch and mom's doctor at 3:00 where we asked her, "Do you believe it's time?" And she responded, "Yes."

So we picked out a place, and I got 100-pages of paperwork to fill out (I'm serious). Living will, resuscitation, medicare, insurance, supplemental, social...all kinds of questions. Then came the part where we had to set up the room. This included picking out furniture, moving a 300-pound solid wood dresser, dolls, things that would give my mother some peace in her new home. All the while she was yelling at us, cussing us out, wondering what the hell is going on.  Then she fell twice, once outside. My dad just sat on the couch in a "fugue" state and said "Your mother fell down." And then just left her there so that I could go and scoop her up. He refused to answer simple questions. "Which pillow do you think she would like?" His response, "I'm not going to answer questions about that. Your decision."

He washed his hands of even the simplest questions.

Long-term care insurance had been lost. They were buried in one of three shoeboxes filled with hundreds of paper receipts from voided checks that should have been thrown away to receipts for stuff he's bought in the last ten years. Pure chaos. He couldn't find the keys to his truck, couldn't find my mother's dentures, was pretty helpless really.

So my brother and I did it all. We got my mother's clothes labeled with sharpies, we bought  cleaning supplies and spit-shined all the furniture going over, we selected all the photographs for her door display so that the residents could see who she was and be curious, we put away her clothes, hung the pictures in her room, connected the television, got her set up for her meds to be delivered already in bubble packs directly from the pharmacy with speed pay, signed all the papers, and then took her there.

I got emotional driving her there. She thought we were going to iHop which is one of her favorite restaurants. When we ended up at the nursing home, she knew what this place was, despite all of her mental issues. So I cried...I tried to stop it, but I couldn't.

If you ever have to commit your mother to a facility, I know your pain. My mother loves me so much. Though most of her is gone, this is one of those milestones where you know that a loved one's life left on this earth has grown short. And despite this love, I couldn't take her home. She wanted to go home to the dog she loves, to the place where she was comfortable, and she isn't going to go home ever again. This facility is now her home. I had to move out of state to find a job. I can only visit twice a year because of vacation. And you simply cannot live in this country if you don't have a job. So there's a mandatory 40-hours of my week that is gone. And honestly, there's no way I could care for her even if I lived locally.

So yeah, this week has been hell. I'll remember it for the rest of my life. I think she'll make new friends and lead a healthier more social lifestyle so perhaps this will be a good fit. The home I put her in seemed like a really good one.

Anyway, if I haven't had time to visit your blogs this week, this is why. This is what I've been doing. I've got one more day to wrap up and finalize some things, take my mom to a doctor's appointment, and replace a phone that I dropped accidentally in the hot tub at the hotel I'm staying at. Sigh. When this week is over, it shall be a big relief.

Insecure Writer's Support Group May Edition

To contact us Click HERE
Welcome to the May edition of the Insecure Writer's Support Group.

This is a blog hop associated with Alex J. Cavanaugh who created it. Read about it HERE.


Lately, I've been insecure about word count. As my bloated sequel swells to 160,000 words (and yes I'm trying to trim it), I feel more than ever that the editing and rewrites I've done over the last month or so is finally beginning to take shape. In other words...I've reached the point where I can almost say "I have a second draft".

That makes me happy.

But the word count doesn't.

Oh well. I'll read through it one more time to see if there are things I could cut in order to streamline what I want to say in a better way. I hate you word count god. *shakes fist.

***
On Friday, I'll be starting my blog tour beginning with Alex's science-fiction blog. I'll be giving away fun prizes like this SLIPSTREAM spider. I hope you'll stay tuned :)
They really sparkle in the sunlight. Have a great Wednesday.

I'm at Theresa Milstein's blog today and a big welcome to Alyson Burdette and Nightfire

To contact us Click HERE
Today is the third day of my blog tour. I'm at Theresa Milstein's blog which she calls Theresa's Tales of Teaching Tribulations and Typing Teen Texts. Patrick Dilloway would be proud of such alliteration. I would appreciate a visit over there to say hi if you have the time.

Today I'm turning my blog over to a talented debut author named Alyson Burdette. I just purchased Nightfire two days ago on my Kindle and haven't gotten that far. But the prologue was good (Yes! she had the courage to write a prologue).Why You Should Be Writing.

Some people think that it takes a certain sort of person to write a book. (Insert mental image of furrowed brows, typewriters and crumpled papers.) I, personally, think anyone can, and should write a book. Sure, it’s a lot of hard work and incredibly time consuming but the payoff is worth it. It’s a great feeling to know that you’ve finished something so few people do.

I also think that every individual has something unique and interesting to say. No one else in the world has your perspective, beliefs or experiences in the world. You can take your life experiences and put them into fictional characters, a memoir, a poem, or any other form you can think of. Writing is a great way to solidify and understand who you are as a person. It can be great therapy, or even a simple distraction to get you through a difficult time. And it’s a great way to share who you are with the world.

Think you don’t have time to write a book? Think about it this way. If you write just 1,000 words a day, in less than two months, you will have a short 50,000 word book put together. In four months at that pace you will have a 120,000 word book done. That’s writing 3-4 double spaced pages a day. If you write just a little at a time, it becomes a much more manageable task.

So if you are writing, Great! Keep doing it and try not to let the frustrations of the writing world overwhelm you. If you aren’t, why not start? There’s no better time than now.

Look, I did it. If I can do it, so can you. Just peek at the blurb below- my 60,000 word paranormal romance, Nightfire, was an idea floating in my head and now it’s an E-book. Real-live people can buy and read it.

Nightfire Blurb:
When a murder shakes the small town of Peninsula, all eyes are on Olivia Townsend. She may look eighteen, but the townspeople can sense there’s something darker hiding behind her pretty eyes. Olivia knows the smart thing to do is to get out of town. Suspicious neighbors can only mean trouble for a vampire. But leaving becomes much more difficult when William, a mysterious man from her past, arrives. Finding out what brought him back is a temptation Olivia just can’t resist. William’s kindness and interest in Olivia only makes leaving harder. As she starts to fall for him, she’s forced to decide if sticking around is really worth the risk of being discovered. Of course, her mystery man has a secret of his own-and he’s not talking.

I know everyone of you is capable of creating something amazing. So do it.

Alyson Burdette currently lives in a small town in Ohio. She graduated from The University of Akron, where she majored in Anthropology. When she’s not writing, she spends her time hiking, dancing, and hunting for ghosts.

You can find her at: http://alysonburdette.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/AlysonBurdette

http://www.paranormalpursuits.net

or contact her by email:

Alyson_burdette@yahoo.com

Nightfire is available atMusapublishingAmazon
and other major E-book retailers.

"I like the pigeon booock bekuz is fune in the boocks' YAY FAN MAIL (Nov)

To contact us Click HERE
Another wonderful batch of fan mail faves for November. I particularly enjoy when my characters start to meet new characters created by the kids!

(click on any image to enlarge)

Love that the Pigeon is jealous of Piggie.

 

 

This drawing is too funny.

 

Good advice.

   

So many great Pigeons!

This is pretty much how I write the dialog when I'm starting as well...

Love Knuffle Bunny's new pals!

So simple, so perfect

Looks like Pigeon got 1st, Wilber the Naked Mole Rat 2nd, and the others are happy.

Great word bubble.

That punk Pigeon rocks!

He looks nervous about his big bottom.

"Bananas Ya!"  Love it.

Huzzah!

Please note the Fan Mail address has changed.  It is now:


Mo Willems Fan Mailc/o Ricardo Mejias Hyperion Books for Children (and Pigeons)1133 Avenue of the Americas, 33rd FloorNew York, NY 10036 I love to read and reply to your mail, but due to the volume of correspondence, please follow these guidelines:  Please be patient as it takes a while to get the mail forwarded to me, processed and returned.

Teachers, a cover letter with the grade of your students is appreciated.

Teachers, please send all mail in single envelope.
Do not send books to be signed.  They will be returned. No pitches/business opportunities/or offers will be considered.   Fan mail for me to communicate directly with my readers, not open Nigerian bank accounts. Thanks!