I’m a Nerf gun enthusiast, which is not to say I am in any way, shape, or form a gun enthusiast. I prefer a fly rod when it comes to nature sports with something in my hand. I also like tennis, but that probably doesn’t count. In any case, my 7 year old nephew went off on me with the Nerf gun to end all Nerf guns during the holidays. I dodged most of them, but dang, that kid can shoot.

In other news, I’m writing a lot. What’s new? PC

Winter has settled in for the long haul in eastern Washington. This time of year I drive my car to work and park about a quarter mile away from the front door to my office. The office is right downtown, so it’s all two hour parking. All of us office dwellers park in one of several parking lots outside the main downtown. Lately, I’ve been thinking it might be worth the cost to skip the walk and park in front of the building. The bone chilling walk is starting to make me wonder how many parking tickets I can fit into the budget. It’s also got me thinking about a trip I took to Florida recently. A few weeks ago I had the privilege of speaking on a panel with James Patterson and Jerry Spinelli. Super guys, and I got to wear a t-shirt. And shorts. Because, you know, it was Florida. To see some pictures of the event, check out this photo gallery.

In other news, I saw Avatar with Jeffrey (the studio director of development) and Squire (the illustrator for all the interior art on Atherton) and we all thought it was pretty good. I think Peter Jackson can spend a couple hundred million a little more effectively, but still, Avatar is worth ten bucks and three hours for sure. Giovanni Ribisi, I think, steels the show as a really bad dude.

As books go beyond printed page to multisensory experience, what about reading?

By Monica Hesse
Monday, December 28, 2009

The mysterious man looks completely wrong to me.

In the text of conspiracy thriller “Embassy,” an online novel by Richard Doetsch, the character is described as “a starkly thin fellow with a protruding Adam’s apple.” My brain goes: Alan Rickman!

But when I click on the chapter’s accompanying video, the man is younger, tanner, scruffier. He’s dressed like he should be bumming clove cigarettes at a concert, not spying on the Greek Embassy.

What I’m reading is a Vook — a video/book hybrid produced in part by Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books. Interspersed throughout the text are videos and links that supplement the narrative. In one chapter, the Greek ambassador receives a mysterious DVD, and readers must click on an embedded video to learn what’s on it. In another, kidnapper Jack ominously tells his hostage that he’s going to prove that he means business.

Read the rest of the article here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/27/AR2009122701973.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

I had a chance to visit Leavenworth, Washington last week and do some Christmas shopping. Time Magazine ranked Leavenworth one of the top ten places to find the most holiday cheer, and I would have to basically agree. I shot some video of what it looks like when the place is really hopping. It’s my holiday video postcard. If you’re ever in the area, Leavenworth has a cool bookstore called A Book For All Seasons, where I’ve enjoyed signing books a few times.

You can also catch this video at the Facebook fan site.

Happy Holidays! I’m off to eat, drink and be merry.

PC

Launching a new website for my books and studio projects turned out to be a lot more work than I expected it to be. Hats off to Josh, my super amazing fantastic webmaster! The old sites had, like, a thousand parts and pieces in the form of videos, audio files, news stories, book pages, photos, and blog entries. And let me tell you, pulling the curtain back revealed an Armon the Giant size mess. Getting it all organized and ready for a new decade of readers was a monster challenge, and Josh slogged through two months of work getting here.

I’ll be focusing in on different areas of the site in future entries, but the main thing to say right up front is that the new site is designed to be more interactive (please comment and discuss!), more engaging (please look around!) and ever expanding (daily Tweets, weekly blog entries, lots of new videos, and the latest updates).

A few pages you might enjoy taking a peek at:

The cover for my first YA novel can be seen here, along with a note from my editor about the project

Enter the world of Elyon at an all new Elyon mini-site

Check out the virtual touring program if you’d like to have me visit your school

Thank you for reading, watching, and participating in the world of stories. With any luck at all, we won’t be designing a new site until 2017!

PC