BookLust

Bloor West Toonin'/Town Cryin' 20

I haven't posted any of my Town Crier 'toons lately, so I guess I should remedy that situation. Here's the April cartoon in all its glory.

Some of you folks might be aware of the fact that Toronto's Mayor Miller has now joined the wondrous world of Twitter. An amusing tidbit, but, in my opinion, not exactly headline news, and certainly not news to be discussed over and over and over again. But apparently a large number of journalists seem to think otherwise. Call me a party pooper, but I dunno, I thought there were more, like, um, pressing matters to discuss concerning our city – things like infrastructure and the budget and transit and the like. But I guess I'm a grump. I mean, sheesh – I'm on Twitter, too, ya know. Anyone want to write about that? 

Something else I should mention regarding my Town Crier 'toons. Apparently I've been nominated in the category of Cartoon of the Year (over 10,000 circulation) for the Ontario Community Newspapers Association 2008 Better Newspaper Awards. I'm one of the three finalists. Tonight is the awards dinner, to be held at the Bloor-Yorkville Marriott in downtown TO. Totally unexpected news when I got it, because I had never heard of these awards, and didn't know that the Managing Editor of the Town Crier had sent in some of my cartoons for the award, not until he emailed me a couple weeks ago with the subject headline 'Congratulations Patricia'. I thought the email was probably spam, and was just about to delete it, but curiosity got the better of me, and I opened up the email to get the good news.

Oh, and if you're on Facebook, here's an album with all the Bloor West Village/Town Crier cartoons I've drawn to date.

Anyway, I always love the opportunity to get gussied up and go wining and dining, so it should be a fun night, regardless of who wins. I'll post an update here when I get home tonight!

UPDATE: Holy crap!! I won!

Talkin' to Tara

I really should have posted this earlier ('cuz Tara hosted a book giveaway, too, and I missed mentioning it here, sorry!), but like I said, I've been taking a relaxing mental health break.

Tara Lazar is an aspiring children’s book author, mother, foodie and boogeyman assassin (currently booked at 3am nightly). She holds a BA in English/Creative Writing from Rutgers College. Her first job was as an Editorial Assistant at a large publishing house, but her career zig-zagged and she landed in high-tech marketing. She's finally returned to her first love–writing fiction. She writes picture books and middle grade novels. She also dabbles in micro fiction for adults and has had stories published in flashquake, Six Sentences Volumes I & II, Boston Literary Magazine and Six-Word Memoirs.

She also does wonderful online interviews with children's authors and illustrators on her delightful blog, and she recently interviewed me.

Thanks again, Tara!

Calloo Callay, Book Giveaway!

Well, after finishing up that them thar Pirate & Penguin book, this little creator had to have a much-needed mental health holiday. I still had other projects to work on (not the least of which was my damn taxes) but I managed to take some precious time to read a bunch of wonderful, delightful books.

I'm back now, and am (sort of) bearing gifts. You've got until Friday April 10th, 8am EST to enter into another book giveaway contest! This time though, it's being hosted by the very talented writer and blogger Felicia Sullivan. So what are you doing still here? Get over there, now, baby! Oh, and while you're there, you might want to check out Felicia's amazing book, The Sky Isn't Visable From Here which has been getting fabulous reviews since it came out (it's in paperback now – much more affordable, and so very portable!)

Toodles!