My email box has been full of holiday cheer, Percy Jackson style. Thanks to Erica, Sarah, Rebecca and Mary who made up the following song to the tune of "Jingle Bells."
Crashing through the snow on an automan horse draw sleigh,
Over the shields we go, Kronos' minioins exploding away,
Bells on Blackjack's wing, Riptide shining bright,
what fun it is to slash and swing our clubs and swords tonight,
Oh! Kronos smells, Kronos smells, Percy's on his way,
Fighting lots of monsters as he comes to save the day, Hey!
Kronos smells, Kronos smells, Mrs. O' Leary's come to play,
Chewing the heads off monsters as she comes to Percy's aid,
A dream or two ago, I saw a rising tide,
a horse and eagle fight,
a thunder bolt by my side,
the eagle got hit and sank,
some time the horse had bought,
Posiedon's face turned blank,
as he foiled Zeus' plot,
Oh! Kronos smells, Kronos smells, Percy's on his way,
fighting lots of monsters as he comes to save the day, Hey!
Kronos smells, Kronos smells, Mrs. O' Leary's come to play,
Chewing the heads off monsters as she comes to Percy's aid, Yay!
Kronos smells, Kronos smells, Percy's on his way,
fighting lots of monsters as he comes to save the day, Hey!
Kronos smells, Kronos smells, Mrs. O' Leary's come to play,
Chewing the heads off monsters as she comes to Percy's aid.
Also thanks to Cody and his dad who created some Percy-themed holiday treats. Here are two examples:
Percy Popcicles:
You need lemonade, blue food coloring, and and ice tray.
You simply pour the lemonade in a bowl and mix in the blue food coloring. Then you pour the blue lemonade into the ice tray. You then cover the ice tray with plastic wrap and put tooth picks in each ice cube spot. You put it in the freezers for a few hours and then you're ready to enjoy.
Annabeth Appletarts:
Crust ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons sour cream
Filling ingredients
About 6 medium apples, peeled, pitted, and sliced
3 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Glaze ingredients
1/2 cup apricot preserves or jelly
1 tablespoon frozen orange juice concentrate
Mint, for garnish
Whipped topping, for garnish
And finally a big thank you to all the Brazilian fans of Olimpianos RJ, who staged a Percy celebration for the winter solstice on Dec. 21 -- which of course is the summer solstice in Brazil. From the pictures above, you can see they had a great time.
That's our round-up of demigods this week. Keep reading and fighting those monsters!
When I was in New York two weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing Gail Carson Levine. She told me she'd just started a blog, and if you haven't checked it out yet, you should.
Like most authors, I get a lot of email from aspiring writers, both kids and adults, looking for advice. This is understandable. Writing can be a frustrating endeavor and the publishing world can be bewildering. While I offer advice on my own website, I also frequently recommend Gail's book Writing Magic. It's full of practical advice and journaling exercises to hone your skills -- much better than anything I could come up with! Gail is also a generous mentor to the young writers she meets. I shared a school visit with her a few years ago and she went out of her way to read students' work at lunch, then seek them out so she could offer advice and encouragement one-on-one. Her blog is an extension of this good work. The blog is only a few weeks old and she's already got quite a lively dialogue going with her readers about what makes good writing. Aspiring writers, take note. This is a blog to follow!
Two great emails this week deserve special attention.
The first was from Chester. I get hundreds of emails each week and it's very rare that someone asks a question I've never had before, but Chester did it. He's interested in inventing a new English word, hoddle, a verb meaning 'to twitch,' and wanted to know if I'd use it in my next book so eventually Webster's Dictionary would include it as a word in common usage. Very creative, Chester! I probably can't put it in a book, as that would drive my copy editor crazy, but I've mentioned it in this blog, and we'll see if it catches on! I have a lot of respect for invented words. Shakespeare added several words to our vocabulary, and Lewis Carroll was also a master of invention. Will Chester's word catch on? We'll be hoddling with anticipation to find out.
Our second demigod of the week is Jeremy from Ohio, whose dad wrote to tell me about a Percy Jackson Club that Jeremy is forming. He's already written his own by-laws as follows:
I, Jeremy, President of the Percy Jackson Club (PJC) make the following laws;
1. No "real" fighting 2. Capture the flag is to be played fairly 3. No bad words 4. Respect others 5. Obey orders first time given
Jeremy, by the way, is eight years old. I'm thinking he's a born leader! It sounds like his club is off to a great start.
Thanks to our two demigods of the week, and to everyone else who's been writing. Remember, read the contact information page first if you'd like to send me an email as a lot of questions are answered there in advance, as well as some things I will not respond to.
What a week! I’ve been avoiding travel to focus on my writing deadlines, which will be coming fast and furious now that I’m working on two series at once – Kane Chronicles and Camp Half-Blood. However, this week I made an exception and headed to New York City on Tuesday.
There were no public events, so don’t feel like you missed me if you live in the area. However, I did visit Books of Wonder to sign stock while I was in town, so if you are looking for a signed Percy book for a holiday present, I would definitely contact them, as they have plenty in stock and ready to ship. While there, I got my first look at the deluxe hardcover edition of The Lightning Thief, with John Rocco’s full-color illustrations. It’s beautiful! I also did some promotional videos at Disney headquarters for the Kane Chronicles, which I’m sure you’ll be seeing on the web as the release date, May 4, gets closer. I stayed overnight at the Standard, a new hotel in the Meat Packing District, and my room had a great view of the Empire State Building. Yes, I did wave to the gods.
The main purpose of my trip was a meet-and-greet for Disney. We had a very nice mixer on Wednesday night with a lot of people from the film division and book division. Disney, as you might imagine, is a huge company, so it’s good to have a chance for everyone to meet each other and put names to faces. My editor Jennifer Besser and agent Nancy Gallt were there, and it’s always good to see them. It was also a chance to catch up with some of my Disney author friends. Eoin Colfer had flown in from Ireland and told me a new Artemis Fowl book is on the way – woohoo! Jonathan Stroud had come from England, so I got to tell him how much Becky had enjoyed the Bartimaeus trilogy (and how much she cried at the ending). Ridley Pearson and I got to talk about the wild world of Twitter. He’s been kind enough to tweet me several times, and was the first person to report seeing a Lightning Thief movie billboard. His Excellency Jon Scieszka was in the house, as were Mo Willems, Cinda Chima, Sharon Flake, Melissa de la Cruz, Ally Carter, and a whole host of other talented folk. The evening was a lot of fun, with much talk about movies and books.The book group had dinner afterwards, though I had to leave a bit early to catch some sleep before my 5AM flight.
Interesting side note: I’ve gotten many emails asking why the last two books in the Percy Jackson series were published by Disney. Many people wanted to know if I’d changed publishers. This is because Battle of the Labyrinth and Last Olympian say “Disney” on the spine, but the first three books do not. There was no change. Hyperion Books for Children has been part of Disney for a long time. The only difference is they started to put their name on the books as Disney-Hyperion, but it’s the same publisher.
At any rate, it was a quick but productive trip, and Thursday I flew to Houston and rented a car to meet up with my son Patrick’s fifth grade field trip to NASA. I got to do this trip when Haley was in 5th grade, and it’s always fun. We got to visit the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, which was a rare treat because the astronauts were actually working in the huge pool. We got to see them come out, surrounded by divers, and get hoisted from the water in their 275-pound suits. Pretty amazing. After that we went to Space Center Houston for a number of activities. Patrick’s favorite part was the tour through the displays, where we saw Skylab, a Mercury capsule, a lunar lander and many other cool exhibits. The kids made rockets out of balloons and robotic arms out of sticks and string. Then we all headed back to the hotel and crashed hard. I’d been up since three in the morning, but I think the kids were even more exhausted than I was.
The next day it began snowing. No kidding – a freak snowstorm in Houston. We decided to cancel the day’s activities and head back to San Antonio, which was a wise choice. Patrick and I got home safely and we’ve enjoyed a chilly weekend at home since then.
Over the weekend I had two nice presents. The Christian Science Monitor named Last Olympian one of the best children’s books of 2009, and just this morning, the New York Times named Last Olympian a Notable Children’s Book for 2009. What an honor!
Next week, it will be back to writing for me. I have finished work on the Red Pyramid and am now turning my attention to Camp Half-Blood. Oh, man, I’m having so much fun with the new series, and everything is just clicking into place, but I can’t share any details with you yet!
Happy holidays, everyone. Stay warm and keep reading!
