Delays are inevitable: stuff happens. And so it is with my latest book, Clay in the Potter's Hands.  I was on track to release the first printing in July. As it turns out, we've still got a way to go (technical difficulties? human error? life intervenes? all of the above?).

In the meantime, you can still buy the Preview Edition, and it's still only $9.99. Buy three, and get free shipping.

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/clay-in-the-potters-hands-preview-edition/11781984?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/2

Sierra lends a hand to Steve Denyes of Hullabaloo.

Better than Barney. More creative than Raffi. As much fun as that Peter, Paul, and Mary’s classic “Peter, Paul, and Mommy.”  Sierra and I just discovered Hullabaloo. http://www.hullabalooband.com/

As part of its summer reading program, the Glendora Public Library sponsored a folk concert during its regularly scheduled story time. I hadn’t heard of the group, but I was intrigued by their description as “farm-fresh free-range organic kid-folk in a genre filled with ding-dongs and twinkies.” We found their website, sampled their videos, and in flash, “Dinosaur in my Backyard,” “Polite Pete the Pirate” and “Blah Blah Blah” became daily fare in the Glyer household.

The concert was even better. It takes a special talent to be cheerful and energetic enough to capture the attention of 5, 6, and 7 year olds for a full 45 minutes. Hullabaloo managed it, with room to spare.

Hey, coffee addicts: don’t miss the instant classic “Grown-up Sippy Cup.” It’s addictive.

Oh, BTW. We had a friend visiting from out of town, a man who reviews classical music concerts for a living. He was tapping his toes and belting out “Run, Bunny, Run” with the best of them.

Last week, I was invited to give a talk in my daugher's a second grade class. The students were doing a unit on careers, and I was invited to talk about  being an author. Here are some of their questions, and my answers:

How do you prepare for your career?

Get a little notebook. Start writing every day: describe the things you see, write down your most interesting conversations, copy down great passages from things that you read or wonderful quotes that you hear. Pay attention: look, listen, slow down. Pay attention to what is going on all around you; pay attention to the dreams that God gives you and the ideas that bubble up in your imagination. Don't go anywhere without your little notebook. Pay attention. Write it down.

Would you recommend your career to others?

Yes, I would. I also would say that being a writer is a great second career. Your daytime job might be being a teacher or a mom or a pilot or a lawyer. But you could still be a person who writes great stories.

What is the best thing about your career?

I get to use my imagination, and I get to read and write all day. [Looks around at all the little kids in the class]  I also get to travel a lot and talk to interesting people.

Wow, did you ever get to talk to Eric Carle?

No.

Did you ever get to talk to the President of the United States?

No.

Did you ever get to talk to Oprah?

No. But I published something in her magazine.

At this point, the teacher jumped up to take a picture of me holding a copy of O Magazine,

and absolute mayhem ensued.

*SIGH*

http://www.matchstickmarvels.com/MinasTirith.htm

I received this heartening note from my friend David Bratman:

I am reading a small book called Shakespeare's Modern Collaborators by Lukas Erne (London: Continuum, 2008), and found this gratifying, and rather familiar-sounding, statement in the Introduction (p. 1):

"Shakespeare's play texts as they reach us are the result of collaboration. What this emphasis on collaboration entails is a view of Shakespeare that contradicts a Romantic understanding, or misunderstanding, of Shakespeare as a solitary genius whose original ideas found direct and perfect expression in his plays, unhampered by any material and social constraints.  Rather, a well-informed view of Shakespeare needs to start with the acknowledgement that what we think of as Shakespeare's plays have been shaped by at least four different forms of collaboration."

And he enumerates them:

1) Actual co-authorship of some plays
2) Collaboration with actors, including writing parts with specific actors in mind to play them, and playhouse alteration of the text, particularly abridgment
3) Printers, who introduced "alterations, omissions, substitutions, transpositions, interpolations, as well as additions"
4) Modern editors, whose choices of texts and of corrections tremendously affects our view of the text.

And #4 is what the book is about, hence the title.

Yessir. That's what I'm talking about.

PW:  The theme of what it means to be/to have a dad in Cosmic is wonderful. Did that emerge on its own, or was it deliberate?

FCB:  No it emerged on its own, rather late in the day. People think that inspiration comes at the beginning but one of the joys of writing is the late moment of inspiration that comes after months of slog. Cosmic was just about cars and laughs and then I woke up one morning and thought, "Oh, THAT's what it's about" and started all over again.

It's priced at $9.99, but you can get an extra 10% off with the coupon code GREATBOOK.

More soon.