Photo: Easter Egg Wreath

Saw this wreath during a walk during the weekend.

Selling my place of business

Just received the following (spam) e-mail:

Hi Debbie

I thought I would send you a quick note to see if you are considering Selling, Buying or need to Expand your current space for your business.

I work for Metropolitan Commercial Realty in downtown Toronto handling all facets of real estate transactions and specializing in the sale of investment and redevelopment properties and the leasing of office, commercial, industrial and retail properties.

Please let me know if I can be of assistance or provide you with a free Opinion of Value.

Regards,

Makes me wonder how this fellow is getting his target contacts.

Lunch with the Tolsons

Photo: Andrew Tolson.

I met Andrew Tolson through the Toronto Area Middle Grade and Young Adult Group (Torkidlit). Andrew's one of those über-creative types with multiple careers. He used to be a drummer for a rock band and more recently performed with The Back Issues in Newzapalooza. He's been a prop-maker, making barbed wire for a production of Miss Saigon in London. Now, he's a writer as well as the director of photography at Maclean's magazine and has photographed many luminaries, including Voldemort/Ralph Fiennes.

Andrew and his family invited me over for lunch today. Wow…his wife Melody and his daughter are just as fun, fascinating and creative as Andrew. Check out the cover of the current Maclean's issue (in photo above): that's Andrew's wife and daughter on the front!

Photo: Andrew Tolson

I especially enjoyed chatting with Andrew's daughter, already a talented writer and artist. I had fun showing her SketchBook on my iPad:

And check out the cool place card she made for me at lunch:

Gourmet popcorn…Andrew's homemade Ginger Squash Soup…beautiful salad…apple crumble….mmmm….

To the Tolson family: thanks so much for the wonderful lunch and conversation!

Photo: Andrew Tolson.

My contributor's copies of TOMO arrived! Proceeds benefit teens affected by the 2011 Japan Earthquake

YAY! My contributor's copies of TOMO arrived today!! TOMO (which means "friend" in Japanese) features 36 stories for teens by authors and artists around the world. One of these stories is by me: it's my very first graphic short story, which is sort of a fantasy/romance/horror. Here's the first page:

Looking forward to reading other stories!

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will benefit teens affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Please do consider buying a copy, and tell your friends! You can point them to this online postcard about TOMO.

Find out more about the anthology here: tomoanthology.blogspot.com/ (includes an interview with me)

From Kirkus Reviews:

A broadly appealing mix of the tragic and droll, comforting, disturbing, exotic and universal, with nary a clinker in the bunch.

Buy on Indiebound

Buy on Amazon (On sale for $9.95 right now)

Be sure to visit the Tomo website to learn about our events this March at Boston Children's Museum and the New York Public Library in Manhattan.

I'M BORED Scrapbook -- plus Michael Ian Black talks about the book

For those interested, I've started posting about the whole I'M BORED experience, from start to finish, in the I'M BORED Scrapbook. In the most recent entry, author/actor/comedian Michael Ian Black talks about what inspired him to write I'M BORED, plus also says some very sweet things about me. :-)