Gennifer Albin's Blog

Did you know Crewel was recently named one of the best books to read with your kids by Redbook?  Pretty exciting!  And with my past life as a parenting blogger, it just made sense to visit with some fellow parenting blogs about motherhood, the writing process, and how my life has changed since my book deal.

AND THERE’S PRIZES!  Each stop will be giving away a copy of Crewel along with a collection of picture books, so mother and child have lots of reading material to cozy up with as autumn descends upon us.

THE CREWEL PARENTING BLOG TOUR:  THE SCHEDULE

October 8: Jodi Kendall – interview 

October 9: Connected Mom – Transitions with a focus on Montessori education

October 10: Authentic Parenting - Encouraging creativity in children

October 11: Mamadweeb – When mom travels without the kids 

October 12: 

Stop by and check them out!

Wren loved the change of season.  It crept up and happened so quickly most people missed it, but Wren never did.  She took a thermos and cups to the edge of the woods and waited for it.   At first it was a brittle yellow edge to the leaves, then the yawp of squirrels as they hoarded nuts, and finally with the chilly biet of October, the lingering smell of smoke from nearby chimneys.

But that wasn’t why Wren took two tea cups to the stump every October.  She enjoyed the fleeting moment before winter came to the trees and stripped their leaves and frost painted the grass silver.  The world was at its most beautiful on the verge of death when it embraced wild colors and produced its harvests.

And it was death that brought her there that day and all the fall mornings before it.

She didn’t venture beyond the stump into the wild.  But she’d brought a cup of tea in case the little girl who did thirty years ago ventured back.  Sometimes Wren heard leaves crunch or saw a fleeting shadow darting through the columns of trees, and when she closed her eyes, the hot ceramic mug seared her palms and she heard tinkling laughter.

Once a deer padded up to her, and his eyes were deep and sorrowful, and Wren wondered if he knew.  So she asked him, “Have you seen my sister?”  But he turned his long face away and retreated to the woods.

And then one October there was no shadow or  distant laughter, and Wren closed her eyes to say goodbye.  When she opened them,  she wasn’t alone.

So Saturday I took a much needed break from all of the writing and PR and general Crewel-stuff I’ve been obsessing over lately, and spent the day with my family.  This week marks a series of trips to promote Crewel with booksellers, and then before I know it will be release day (zomg, can you believe it?) followed by the Fierce Reads tour.  I decided it was best to give my attention-starved kids some quality time.  We went to the local fall festival, saw friends, and bounced in the bounce house.  We came home and lounged.  I read a book Macmillan sent me for the Great MCPG Banned Books Drop this week (Annie on My Mind, which I had never read before).  And then it was time to drop off the kiddos to spend some time with my neglected husband.

We opted to go to the local amusement park for their Halloween Haunt after he promised not to push me at the cannibalistic clowns like the last time we went.  He was a good sport and let me cling to him all through Asylum Island, ensuring I didn’t see a thing, although he did equate it to dragging an 80lb sack of sand behind him.  80 lbs is generous.

Most of the lines were too long for people with season passes to endure, so we only rode a few rides.  And wouldn’t you know it I encountered a first.  About 20 seconds into the tornado ride, it came screeching to a halt.  And I thought hey, at least, we’re on the down side right now.  But then it leveled out and we waited.

Soon a frustrated employee walked up to a seat three down from ours.

He’d stopped the ride because someone had pulled out a cell phone.

Yes, that’s right.  Someone was so bored with having fun, they had to text.

My husband instantly slipped into dad mode and started in on what would happen if the phone slipped from her hand during the ride and hit someone, but I just was sad.

I am a self-described networking junkie.  I’m constantly on twitter or facebook or  reading emails, but let me tell you given a choice between being whirled through the air and having my stomach drop out and laughing, laughing, laughing for 30 seconds or sending a tweet, I’m choosing the ride, y’all.

As we exited, we heard the teen operator mutter some really colorful words about having to stop the ride AGAIN.  This apparently happens all the time.

I don’t want to sound like an old lady shaking her cane at the young’ens.  But I’m sort of glad I was in high school before cell phones hit.  Yes, I was dependent on pay phones or the one friend whose mom let her take her cell phone to use for a ride home to call my parents, but I didn’t spend all my time with other people plugged in.  At the amusement park, people who didn’t have phones out in line were in the minority. No one was talking to each other.  Except for one group of teens who took about 300 pictures of themselves in line until I strongly considered bashing their phones into the sidewalk.

I love all the ways that the internet connects me to people across the world, but sometimes I just want to enjoy the person next to me.  I think its one of the biggest chances I’ll face as a parent, raising kids in the technology era.

Also I’m kinda hoping that this is the twist behind the new show Revolution.  Someone got really sick of having their amusement park rides stopped midway.

An original short available for free on tor.com.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how debuting is like getting married. Well, planning a wedding.

Want to know the difference? Look no further than my favorite movie, Father of the Bride (yes, I love many films, but Father of the Bride has a special place in my heart. I have the whole thing memorized. For realz.)

I used to think a wedding was a simple affair. A boy and girl meet, they fall in love, he buys a ring, she buys a dress, they say “I do.” I was wrong. That’s getting married. A wedding is an entirely different proposition. I know. I’ve just been through one. Not my own. My daughter’s. Annie Banks-MacKenzie. That’s her married name. MacKenzie. I’ll be honest with you. When I bought this house seventeen years ago, it cost me less than this blessed event in which Annie Banks became Annie Banks-MacKenzie. I’m told that one day I’ll look back on all this with great affection and nostalgia. I hope so. You fathers will understand. You have a little girl. An adorable little girl who looks up to you and adores you in a way you could never imagine. I remember how her little hand used to fit inside mine. How she used to sit in my lap and lean her head against my chest. She said that I was her hero. Then the day comes when she wants to get her ears pierced and she wants you to drop her off a block before the movie theater. Next thing you know she’s wearing eye shadow and high heels. From that moment on, you’re in a constant state of panic. You worry about her going out with the wrong kind of guys, the kind of guys who only want one thing–and you know exactly what that one thing is because it’s the same thing you wanted when you were their age. Then she gets a little older and you quit worrying about her meeting the wrong guy and you worry about her meeting the right guy. And that’s the biggest fear of all because then you lose her. And before you know it, you’re sitting all alone in a big, empty house, wearing rice on your tux, wondering what happened to your life. It was just six months ago that it happened here. Just six months ago that the storm broke.

I imagine that future books will feel a lot more like getting married.  I’ll write the book, do the edits, squee over the final copy, but debuting is like a wedding.

It is stressful.

You constantly second guess everything.

You spend more time at the post office than at  home.

Everyone keeps asking if you are excited.

You alternate between wanting to frolic through fields, glowing, and needing to sob hysterically.

You are painfully aware that you are losing sleep, worrying constantly, and working every single second for one.single.day.

You want to “enjoy the moment,” you just don’t know how.

You feel like you should lose 10 lbs.

You brainstorm favors that are inexpensive but tasteful, even though you know no one wants them.

You eat too much ice cream and drink too much wine.

Everyone wants to throw you a party, take you to dinner, call you up on the phone.

You keep thinking, “I’ll only do this once!”

Unlike a wedding, there’s no beach vacation after.  Although hopefully there will be cake and champagne.  And maybe if I’m lucky dancing in the moonlight.

Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.

J. K. Rowling

Can you believe CREWEL comes out in 7 weeks?  7???!  I can count to 7 on my fingers.  And in anticipation, I’m doing a giveaway this week , celebrating its tagline “what a tangled world she weaves.”

Now I wanted to make it a sewing, weaving, crafting contest, but the going opinion on twitter was that was killer – in a bad way.  (I never said it had to be GOOD!)  So I went easy on you.

#Crewel Giveaway (US and UK winners). Details:

Take a photo of you with a needle, thread, yarn, knitting needles, crochet hook, spinning wheel – whatever you can find – and tweet or post it on my FB page with the tagline “what a tangled world she weaves – Crewel (Oct. 2012)” You have until Sept 3rd to enter! Winners receive signed copies and swag.

You’ll get one of these lovelies, bookmarks, buttons, and bracelets (who knew my swag was so alliterative).

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As you are reading this I’m tucked away in a quiet lake house, working feverishly on the still-secretly titled book two of the Crewel World trilogy.  Unless, of course, I’ve been hacked to bits by an axe murderer.  That’s always a possibility when one stays at a secluded lake house.

Today’s inspiration comes from the photographic art of Vania Stoyanova, whose the badass behind VLC Photo.

Copyright Vania Stoyanova. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Doesn’t that make you want to tell a story?  Why don’t you try in the comments.

We’re taking it to the street!  Alice at Rotten Apple Reads is starting an official CREWEL WORLD street team to spread the love for debut novel, Crewel by Gennifer Albin, and she’s looking for a group of Soul Spinsters to join her.

We’ll be working with Gennifer and the team at Macmillan to bring team members exclusive access to content and swag.  We’ll be approaching people to serve as team leaders this week and then recruiting team members to share fun Crewel-centered activities and swag online and in local bookstores and libraries.  So if you want in on the Crewel life, let us know in the comments or find us on twitter @AliceBelikova for more details.

I’m going to try to host a weekly post on Wednesday that has some food for thought or inspiration, either a photograph, a quote, a painting – something to inspire.  Today is my first one, and how fitting, considering I sent my son off to his first day of school. I can definitely use the inspiration right now.

Source: google.com via Genn on Pinterest

Definitely a sentiment I hope to instill in my son!