Stories and Squirts!

Well, after two tries, no one has showed for this wet writing workshop I'm trying to get goin' on in Brooklyn. If you're reading this and you're sweaty but you like making up stories, COME to Brooklyn this Friday at 10am for some writing and some squirting. A wonderful editor from the NY Times was kind enough to list and feature the event in the paper last Friday but I think the TV weather people trumped the Times and parents made their kids stay inside taped to their air conditioners, while my son and I were getting soaked at Greenwood Playground.

One last hope that I get to squirt a bunch of eight year olds:

Stories and Squirts!
Friday, July 2792011
10am

Greenwood Playground
E 5th Street at Greenwood Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
(F or G to Fort Hamilton Parkway)

Read the short feature in the Times about Stories and Squirts!

I'll be leading writing workshops with kids ages 8 and up. Every 15 minutes, I'll squirt everyone with a water shooter. Come hot and ready to write. Bring a pen and notebook (and squirt gun if you want). We'll focus on creating memorable characters, beginnings, middles, and ends, and what makes a good story. At the end of the workshop, I will ask a wet-themed trivia question, and whoever answers correctly will win a (damp) signed copy of Next to Mexico.

FREE
Sponsored by Friends of Greenwood Playground

We have made it to 25!

Hip hip Hoor-exico! I'm sending out the first copy of Next to Mexico to:

Mass General Hospital for Children
55 Fruit Street
Boston, MA 02114-2621
(877) 543-764

My cousin Mary Jo is a nurse here. She is a saint, and she works with children who have cancer. As I type this, all of my "worries" don't even add up to a pile of sugar cookie crumbs.

Keep those posts coming.

Ho ho ho, Merry Mexico!

This is the first annual Next to Mexico book giveaway! Leave a comment here, and for every 20 comments, I will send a book to a children's hospital as a gift. So far we have eight comments from eight cool and funny people (okay, I am one of those people but it still counts). Thanks, and keep them coming! Spread the word!

Hello and help!

BREAKING NEWS: Five copies of NEXT TO MEXICO must be sent to needy children. And only YOU can get them there. For every 20 posts on my blog, I will donate one book to a children's hospital in the USA. But you must act fast! The books want to get there before Christmas (and if possible before the last night of Hanukah, which is in three nights!). Why the rush? To make it FUN. So hop to it.

Post a comment on this blog. Write about anything you want. Books that you like, why you like them, favorite snacks, etc. Lylice and Mexico eat quesadillas and fried ice cream in NTM. And there are also cookies. Flower-shaped cookies. But you already knew that, because you read the book.

Just post, and for every twenty comments, a book goes out to sick kids. In the book, Mexico has diabetes (but you already knew that). She would be able to identify with the children who'll be receiving the book when you post.

Write about school or work or your favorite music or website. A piece of news that you heard about that you thought was interesting. Lylice writes for the Suffragette Weekly Reader at school...okay, okay, I know YOU'VE already read the book, but after you post, pass the word on to someone you know who hasn't!

THIS JUST IN: the 100th commenter on this blog receives a FREE COPY of NEXT TO MEXICO. Get ON this, people. Details will follow, once we get to 100.

Post post post! Put a new book in the hands of someone very deserving.

Gracias and adios!