My lovely Aussie friend, Elizabeth Bezant, challenged me to reveal seven weird things about myself. The toughest part was narrowing it down to just seven.

Here goes...

1. I hate hot food. And by hot, I don't mean spicy, I mean the opposite of cool. Even steak and potatoes have to be room temperature before I'll take a bite. Hot food has no flavor.

2. I collect dolls of people and things that make me happy. My doll collection includes, X-Files Barbie & Ken, Sharon Osborne, Frankenstein's Monster, Sir Robin from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", and Harry Potter. I could name more, but there are some that I'm embarrassed for you to know about.

3. I have a cold nose. Always. I don't know if it's a medical condition or if I'm descended from the K-9 family, but my nose is always numbingly chilled. And it probably wouldn't be so bad if I had one of those cute little button noses like movie stars buy from their plastic surgeons, but mine is a major honker. One day I intend to make an ice sculptor of my nose, and it will look and feel like my real nose. And when it starts to melt, it will drip like my real nose too.

4. Oh...here's one I shouldn't admit. I literally can't stand Matthew Perry. You know...the actor? I'm sure in real life he's probably a lovely person, but his onscreen persona (which is the same in every movie or show!) absolutely climbs up my last nerve. Needless to say, I would not want Matthew Perry for my friend. (Get it?)

5. I'm a pop culture fiend. If it's the latest and greatest and pretty much mindless, I'm there. I keep up with all the newest trends, language, and youtube videos. Yes, I've even seen that one with the two girls and one cup.

6. I've always been attracted to skinny guys. And by skinny I mean really thin! Examples of God-like body structure to me would be David Tennant, Topher Grace, and Adrian Brody. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but even stick figures get me going.

7. Road rage. On two legs, I'm a sweet, passive person who doesn't understand war and crime and man's inhumanity to man...but get me behind the wheel of a car and I morph into the Terminator. Don't tick me off because I WILL cut you off in traffic while screaming obscenities that would even make the South Park guys blush. People are generally sweet, kind and good unless they're toodling along around me in traffic. Then they're raging idiots.

Well, that's my seven things. So now I'm issuing the challenge. What are seven weird things about you?  

I'm in awe of illustrators. I think it's because I can't even color inside the lines. And my stick figures never resemble people. Sadly, I can only draw with words. But luckily, we have folks like Karen Lee around to make up for those of us with an inaptitude for art. Her latest picture book, My Even Day, by Doris Fisher and Dani Sneed (a couple of my local SCBWI friends), is definite proof of her wonderful illustrating skills. I asked Karen a few nosy questions, and she gave me some thoughtful answers.

1.)    Your illos have such deep colors and a fantasy feel to them. Have you ever illustrated anything with a more "portrait" look? Would you like to?

It's interesting to me that you see the colors as deep. I work in watercolor and I am always trying to get the color richer and since it is inherently a transparent medium it doesn't want to be deeper and richer. I have had more than a few people suggest that it may be time for me to switch to an opaque paint but I keep falling back on this old technique. I did more portraity kinds of work in college and on my own early in my career but it's been a while. I would love to come back to it again someday!

2.) What inspires your illos? Any particular music or cartoons?

I have so many influences and am inspired by so many things it's hard to nail them down but I find myself looking at the same artist's work over and over.  Kadir Nelson, Tony DiTerrlizzi, Peter Ferguson, my old friend NC Wyeth and Adam Rex all have dynamic drawing and powerful compositions. I also love Tim Burton's movies and his musical cohort Danny Elfman's scores. I love unusual instrumentation in music – the use of orchestral instruments, accordion or banjo plus a totally rocking bass line. I love the cartoon Teen Titans (I have a crush on Robin) for the clever use of style changes to convey emotions. I guess I look for those things in my art too. If I weigh what attracts me to books, music, movies, art –everything - the main elements are humor or irony – preferably both, a mastery of skill, a unique twist on common themes and a sense of wonder and magic.

3.)    Do you have a favorite color? Are there any colors that you have to stop yourself from overusing?

Ack – I always use the same palette – it drives me nuts. I set out to do something different – go so far as to lay out paint swatches and do little thumbnails of a color palette that is different and I still end up using the same old blues and greens. My husband works digitally and he will park an image with a color scheme he likes on the side of his painting area to sample colors from – it is one of the nicer things about digital imaging – you really can click a few buttons and slide a few bars to change your palette.

4.)    You ALMOST went to clown college? What kept you? Can you paint some wicked scary clown faces?

Okay – here's the Freud on that. I come from a pretty big family – five kids – so I felt like I had to work a little harder to stand out. I am an attention seeker deep down but also an introvert. I chose rebellion - I come from a family of engineers and accountants so for me the thought of going to Clown College was pure rebellion, but more than I could really swallow. So I chose art school – much safer. I haven't painted clowns because I don't really like them.

5.) If your life was a movie, which actor would be cast to play you and why?

Because she can do absolute geeky, goofiness as well as hand wringing angst and tight lipped disapproval, I choose Emma Thompson to play my role. Plus I'd be so cool with a British accent.

Talk about an unexpected treat! I opened my door last Friday to three packages. One was a case of soy bars I'd ordered. Tasty, but not unexpected. Another was the author copies of my brand new tween mystery, Hidden. That was fun. But the biggy came when I opened the third, the proofs for my book, Man In The Moon coming out from Delacorte next summer.

I was expecting the proofs so I didn't open the package right away - after all I owed a few people copies of Hidden and needed to get those in the mail. But when I did finally open the package from Delacorte...WOOT!...inside were a small stack of book jackets for the book! I didn't even know the cover had been designed!

Here's the thing about book covers - the author usually has little say. So you get what you get and you don't throw a fit (not to the publisher anyway) and you learn to live with it. Well, I DID throw a fit when I saw this cover. A fit of joy!!! Look at it. It's beautiful!

I didn't have a .jpg to post, so I scanned the front and spine for y'all to see. I'm really happy with it. And hopefully, the story inside will live up to the cover. :)

My younger daughter turned 17 yesterday, and, while this is the first year we didn't have a party, she got the gifts she wanted - The Mel Brooks Collection, a desktop replica of Big Ben, an Old Navy gift card, and a Link Larkin calendar (look it up). Since she's never actually cared for cake, she asked for a pan-size chocolate chip cookie instead. No problem...Pillsbury to the rescue. But when I mentioned buying the cookie dough, she said, "Oh, I thought we'd make it from scratch."

Alrighty. Those who know me well (including my daughter) know that I avoid cooking and baking at all costs. It's not that I can't...it's that I can't stand it! To me, the kitchen is just a place to store my Diet Coke. But I thought, why not? It's her birthday after all. And you only turn 17 once. (Believe me, I checked into it.) So I bought all the ingredients listed on the back of the Nestle's Tollhouse Chip package and we were in business.

The recipe asked for two sticks of "softened" margarine. Now back in the old days - when I actually did my best impression of Betty Crocker - I would set those two sticks of margarine out on the counter to soften. But it'd been a long time since I'd bake cookies from scratch, and I just didn't think ahead. So my solution was to melt the margarine in a saucepan.

Have you ever smelled slow-melting margarine in a saucepan? When I'm on my deathbed, I want that to be the last aroma I experience. Even if I'm under an oxygen tent, ignore the hazard signs and bring in a hotplate, saucepan, and a couple of sticks of margarine. If it explodes, know that I died happy with the silky scent of melting margarine teasing my senses. Hey, it's my deathbed. I'm dying anyway. Let me die happy...even if it's not in one piece.

Anyway, I dropped the two sticks of margarine in the saucepan over a low fire. As I stirred and watched - careful not to let the butter burn - my daughter continued to add ingredients into the mixing bowl, including the chocolate chips. Satified that my margarine couldn't get any softer, I poured the melted liquid in and...you guessed it...it melted all the chocolate chips! Suddenly my cookie dough looked like brownie batter. Once it cooled a bit, my daughter poured in more chocolate chips so that it would be a chocolate chocolate chip cookie, but I still felt pretty stupid about the whole thing. Why didn't I tell her to hold off on the chocolate chips until the butter was stirred in?

Oh yeah...and I was supposed to preheat to 375 degrees, but we had a weird power surge last year that fried that button on my oven, so now it won't go above 350. I couldn't help but think 25 degrees really wouldn't matter, but to be safe, I kept the brownie/cookie in about five minutes longer than the recipe said. I'm smart that way.

So we sang happy birthday and she and my husband each had a piece (I don't eat sweets, which probably explains a lot about my disposition), and they both said it was the best brownie they'd ever eaten. I guess it's kinda like my novels. They never turn out the way they started.

So okay, my daughter asked for a chocolate chip cookie, but she got a big ole brownie instead. The way I look at it, I gave her the best gift of all - a story to tell her own children some day.

I admit it. I'm envious of multi-talented people. You know the ones. They sing, dance, act AND write. A quadruple threat. Until I started writing, my only talent was whistling the entire piccolo part to "The Stars and Stripes Forever." And I can't even do that anymore.

Lucky for us, there are mulitfaceted gems out there who can basically do it all. One is author and poet, Kim Norman - a gem indeed! Kim's first picture book, Jack of All Tails came out this week.

And if you haven't heard her song parodies at her website...well, you're in for a major treat.

I asked Kim some pressing questions about her books and her writing, and she graciously answered: 

What inspired your books, Jack of All Tails (Dutton Children's Books) and Crocodaddy (Sterling)?

Well, as for the premise behind JACK, I like to "confess" to school kids that, "I stole it." (You can hear a pin drop in the audience when I whisper that into the microphone.) Then, of course, I explain that I'm exaggerating. I actually found just a kernel of the idea and morphed it into my own story. I have an old book of letters written to & by P. G. Wodehouse, the early 20th century British writer. In one letter he speaks of a visit from Lord Dunsany, the early 20th century playwright. Dunsany shares the plot of a play he's trying to have produced, something about a man who loses his job and takes a job as a watch dog -- a real watch dog. I have no idea what the play was called or if it was ever produced, but the premise tickled me and really stuck in my mind.

The Crocodaddy was a "real" creature who lurked in our own backyard pool. My husband, of course, playing a favorite pretend game with our two boys. I don't even remember who came up with the name; probably me, but I can't lay claim to it for sure. Might have been one of the boys. It took several years -- and many long morning walks -- for me to come up with something workable, (an imaginative boy hunting the wily Crocodaddy) -- and several revisions before I came up with the bouncy refrain around the word "Crocodaddy." Wrote the strongest revision while on vacation in Maine, in a sunny room with a view of Lake Kezar... which was where I was inspired to moved the location from a pool to a lake, of course!

Do you ever see yourself writing a serious book? Angst?

I've got a chapter book which I pull out now and then with the working title of "Smoke Rings." It's loosely based on my own life as the nerdy, biological child in a family upon whom descend a threesome of smokin'-drinkin'-cussin' older, teenaged foster sisters. I really struggle with longer works, though. That evil inner editor can be really vicious when I'm blindly trying to find my way thru a longer work.

Smoke Rings has humor, too, but it's much closer to the bone, since I was raised in a family which housed innumerable foster kids over the years. Oh the stories we can tell. And the neighbors loved us. I mean, what's not to love about a family who has the word "WHORE" spray-painted across their front fence when one girl in the home is feuding with another girl in the home? I gotta say, it was always interesting!

Is Jack of All Tails released yet? Is/Was there a big launch planned?

It's out!! Came out June 14th, and we had a lovely lush party in the garden of a nearby restaurant. Nature graced us with record cool temperatures, so I was able to wear my glamorous black & gold suit. It was a great turn-out, and -- from where I was tied to my signing table -- it looked like everybody had a great time. I certainly did!

Have you had any problems working with two publishers at once?

Not so far. I've been lucky to have kind, skilled editors at both houses, (Dutton and Sterling) who are always quick to answer my newbie questions. Things seem to work a little differently from one house to another, but I haven't felt like I'm in such different worlds between them that there's a different form of etiquette, say.

You're the Weird Al Yankovich of the publishing world. I love your song parodies. And you're also a performer, acting as well as singing. Do you perform much anymore or is it strictly writing? Do you want to get back into the spotlight?

I haven't done as much acting since my kids came along. (Boys, 19 and nearly 14.) But I have managed to do a show every other year or so. It's been a year since I was in TINTYPES, a 5-person show that's nearly all music, with tough barbershop harmonies. I love singing harmony, so I'm always happy to take alto roles, although I'm actually a soprano. (A lower and lower soprano, the older I get!!) Many people at my local theater think I'm a belting alto because that's all they've heard me sing, (like evil Miss Hannigan in ANNIE. Now THAT was a fun role!)

And, of course, roles are scarcer for women of ... ahem... a certain age... and dress size. But I've really enjoyed taking it easy the past couple of years as my boys have taken an interest in theater. It's a lot less work being a stage mom than learning lines!

But even if roles weren't scarce, I'd have to limit myself. It does take so much time and energy. I find I produce next to NO new writing when I'm in a show... or at least in the final weeks when rehearsals become more demanding. And that is not good!

Here's a silly question: If your life was a Broadway musical, which one would it be?

Oh what a fun question!! Well, we'd have to boil it down to 2 categories: ROLES I have loved, and shows which come closest to my own life.

For the former, favorite roles, the top three would be:

1. the Mother Superior in NUNSENSE, (because her songs are so great and that nun's habit really puts you into character -- plus no need to lose weight for opening night!!)

2. the singing narrator in JOSEPH & THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, (because that's just about the best singing gig ever -- and it's much easier learning lyrics than lines)

3. and Roxy Hart in CHICAGO, (because I was 27 and skinny and what's not to love about being 27 and skinny?)

As for musicals that resemble my life... I'm pretty boring. Can't imagine my life being the subject of a musical. Maybe it would be a combo: "Annie get your Nun." Ouch. Sorry.

I'm probably most like the character I played in Marvin Hamlisch & Neil Simon's THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG. I can't even remember the lead female's name now, but she was a lot like me, creative, scatterbrained and an odd dresser. (HER clothing habits were based on eccentricity; MINE are based on fluctuating weight. I like her reason better.)

This was fun, Dotti! Thanks for having me over for a visit

OK, those who know me in real life and in fandom know that my favorite TV show is the CW's "Supernatural" (Thurs. 9/8c). It's my favorite for a couple of reasons. 1.) I love scary, and each episode is like a mini horror film. 2.) Have you seen those actors who play Sam and Dean Winchester? Oh. My. God! That alone is reason enough.

So when I heard that Jensen Ackles (Dean) was heading to Fort Worth to star in a production of "A Few Good Men," I immediately hopped over to Ticketmaster.com.

OK, I could tell you how great the play was and how fantastic Jensen performed (...and looked. Man, that boy can fill out some military uniforms!), but the real treat came after the show when my daughters and I ducked around back to the stage door to await his exit. Our wait paid off!

Jensen came out smiling and chipper, ready to greet us. I really appreciated this because that guy had just finished the second of two performances that day, and it was nearing midnight. Being "up" for his fans couldn't have been easy.

He signed autographs and answered questions.

I was lucky enough to talk to him a couple of times. And what a great guy. Instead of rambling off answers while signing, he graciously looked me in the eye when he spoke. I LOVED that!

Since a fellow character in the play was named Sam, I asked him how it felt to say 'Sam' while looking down (Supernatural's Sam, Jared Padalecki, is 6'5"). He laughed and said, "Jared was here a couple of nights ago. He said everytime I said Sam, he'd perk up." Then Jensen did a cute little act-out, popping his head up and looking around.

Someone asked him about the movie he filmed last year, "Ten Inch Hero." He said it's still looking for distribution. My daughter asked him what they call the '67 Impala (fans call it Metallicar). He said, "The show's third lead."

Someone asked him about the third season, and he said, "We need more viewers." I told him I'd overheard two old ladies in the restroom saying, "He's so cute. I have to start watching that Supernatural." Jensen beamed and said, "Recruiting! We need all the viewers we can get!"

My younger daughter, Adrienne, was the lucky one. She managed to push her way to the front, get his autograph, and ask for a hug. Jensen said, "We can't start that. It'll cause a domino effect." She held up her palm and said, "Can I get a high five?" He hesitated and she asked again. "Can I get a high five?" He didn't slap her hand, but did give her a powerhouse of a high five, his palm lingering on hers for about a full second. And though it's cliche'...yes...she vowed never to wash that hand again.

After a while, autographs had been signed, and Jensen looked out at the cluster of fans and said, "Are we cool? Are we cool?" (Oh honey, not nearly as cool as you!) But that was his way of wrapping it up. We thanked him repeatedly, and he managed through our small group and headed off into the night.

We sailed back to the hotel room (not counting the two times I got lost because I was sure I knew a shortcut), and we couldn't get to sleep until around 2:30 AM. As old as I am, I was still giddy and flustered over the whole ordeal. I wonder how silly I'll look when I'm 80 and still hanging out backstage for an autograph?

Here are some more photos I took with a crappy disposable camera.

The online writing world is a vast place. I know literally hundreds of authors through the internet, and out of that mass, there are only a handful I've made my goal to meet personally. Among that handful is Kerry Madden, one of the sweetest, generous, and most supportive authors on the net. Add to that an excellent writer who delivers a smooth blend of voice, plot, and character. For me, reading Gentle's Holler was like floating down a lazy river on an oversized innertube. If you've ever done that, you'll know what I mean. Kerry now has a new book called Louisiana's Song. And I was lucky enough to be one of her hosts for her blog tour this week.

I loved the book, Gentle's Holler, and now you have a follow up, Louisiana's Song. Why do you feel Livy Two's story is so important to tell?

Thank you, Dotti. Livy Two is a kid whose lifeline is the bookmobile and she longs for adventure, and I was like that too. I've also done a lot of writing workshops with teen moms and foster kids – and many of these young writers have never been told they could have adventures. They are more often told, "Don't get above yourself! Don't use your big dictionary words with me!" Of course, I tell them opposite – "Absolutely get above yourself and have all the adventures you want!" And I wanted a character that truly longed to tell her stories and explore the world.

Was there a specific reason for setting those books in the early 60s?

I thought of how old my sister-in-law would have been in 1961, which is age ten…and then I picked Maggie Valley, because I loved the name of the town…and then I discovered that GHOST TOWN IN THE SKY was built in 1961 in Maggie Valley, so it all fit together quite unexpectedly.

You have a deliciously lyrical southern flavor to your writing. Does that come easy for you? Do you prefer it to an overall contemporary tone?

Thank you…I think moving around so much gave me an ear for language. I listened hard to accents at each new school – Winston-Salem, Ames, Manhattan, KS, Pittsburgh, Knoxville – and I learned to speak like the kids at each new school, so I wouldn't be such a freak. (Though, I never really felt comfortable saying "Howdy" at age fifteen.) I've also seen COALMINER'S DAUGHTER probably fifty times…and my husband is southern…he'll say things like "It's pouring the rain" which sounds funny to me…but the Weems' kids say it too.

Your books have a heavy emphasis on family. Does this have to do with having a close-knit family of your own? Are any of your characters based on family members?

I was the oldest of four kids, and as the bored babysitter, I livened things up by forcing my siblings to act out parts of Oliver Twist, Jane Eyre, Little House on the Prairie, or just made-up tragic boarding school stories. I served gruel, and of course they rebelled and the gruel went flying… Our patient, panting black lab was always the kind grandmother in a kerchief.

I have tried not to be such a tyrant director with my own children. We're all close – they're great editors and inspirations. My son, Flannery, went through a mummy/Egyptian phase like Cyrus in the book…my daughter, Lucy, loves to paint like Louise…and my youngest, Norah, loves fairies. I took her to the Smoky Mountains for two weeks last summer and watched her play. A family of groundhogs lived under our cabin and now they're in the JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN, the third book. Norah's eight…and she's a lot like Caroline. And my husband, Kiffen, is one thirteen children, so all of that is part of the story.

What's next for Kerry Madden? Is it too soon to reveal any current works in progress?

JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN is in copy-edits. Lucy drew the birds for the book, so her illustrations will be in the book as part of the mama's diary from the 1940s…I am also writing a YA adult biography of Harper Lee that will be published by Viking in 2009 in the new UPCLOSE series. I had an amazing trip to Monroeville, Alabama with my sister, Keely Madden Kovalik, and we just soaked up stories together, doing interviews and walking the streets. It was a wonderful time this past April. Now I have to get writing.

I do hope to write more Weems stories, and I'd like to write the story of my grandparents in Leavenworth, Kansas…my grandfather played the silent movies until the talkies put him out of business. It's a story that I think about all the time...

Okay, so there's no such website as mymessyspace.com (I checked), but if there were, I'm sure my messy office space would be included. Check it out.

Okay, I just thought I'd share because people think I have it so together. But...you know...people can be so mistaken.

According to American Heritage Dictionary, to doodle means:

   
V.

1. To scribble aimlessly, especially when preoccupied.
2. To kill time.

When Ruth McNally Barshaw doodles, there's nothing aimless about it. But she did decide to kill a little time with me, discussing her fantastic new children's book, Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel.

I love the look of your book, Ellie McDoodle. Are you Ellie?

Thank you! Halfway through working on the book, my agent and editor both declared I am Ellie, which made me laugh. She's me, but she is also a bit of each of my three daughters. She has the self-confidence they had as kids but that I lacked. And she's probably more wise than I'll ever be. I have always observed and analyzed people, and drew and read nonstop, just like Ellie. I grew up

with many of the same challenges as she has: Family issues, pranks, teasing, loss. And I was scared to death of that frog pond, and mortified when someone else found my private work. And, my first love at camp was a boy named Scott. Those parts of Ellie are me.

How is Ellie McDoodle different from past projects?

Well, for one thing, I am getting paid well to do it, I have total creative freedom, the people I am working with are brilliant and they think I am also, and I get help sharing the load when I need it. I have validation and support from my family, and I get lots of fan mail. I'm being asked to appear at events and sign books... This volume of good stuff is pretty unusual for me. I'm much more accustomed to feeling rejected from life.

Before starting Ellie, I was sure I'd make my mark on the publishing world with picture books. Ellie's a nonstandard graphic novel -- they're calling it a highly-illustrated middle grade novel, and a graphic novel hybrid. It's done in a very simple black and white quick-sketching style. The picture books were all a bit more labor-intensive and aimed at younger kids. I was at the personal rejections stage with picture books when the idea for Ellie came along. But Ellie's actually a throwback to my dream, the one I typed up  and pasted to my computer desk many years ago: I longed to do "art for the world in my humorous cartoony-sketchy style, and to get paid a fair wage." I didn't know how to make that dream come true, and tried many things. Now that this one has worked out, it's sometimes overwhelming but always very gratifying.

What are your favorite things to sketch?

Kids, people, animals, contraptions, emotions, and anything I see while touring, whether it's New York City or the local zoo. I go on a lot of field trips with my kids' classes and I love sketching what we learn, and sharing the sketches with the teachers and kids. I've sketched weddings and funerals and a couple births. I like sketching momentous occasions to remember later, but I also like finding something special in the mundane.

How did you transition from keeping a daily sketch diary to writing and illustrating for a large publisher?

I took the sketchbook on my first trip to New York City, for a national SCBWI conference in 2005, and drew as much as I could. Upon returning home I put all 180 sketchbook pages on my website and sent the link around to fellow writers and illustrators, so that those who went would have a souvenir of their trip and those who couldn't go would see what it was like. An avalanche of email followed, many of them from writers telling me to do a children's book in that same sketchy style. I argued that the world wouldn't buy my books in that style since I'd struck out with comic strips, rubber stamp companies, Disney World sketches... But they persisted so I started a book. Within a week an agent contacted me. I signed with her, and she sold my book to Bloomsbury a few months later. It changed my life so completely. My life is a Cinderella story.

What forthcoming projects are in the works?

I'm so excited about what's coming next! I'm working on the sequel to the Ellie book, where Ellie moves to a new city and school, and has to make new friends. That book will come out in July, 2008 and the first draft is due to the publisher right NOW, so I am scrambling to finish. In between deadlines on that, I'll be working on a couple other book projects. One is a character-driven picture book, about a girl who is a tree. It's very funny and silly. My agent asked if I'd like to illustrate other people's words, in picture books and chapter books, and I said YES! So I hope a few of those projects will land on my doorstep too.