Appearance in December

For those of you following, I'm self publishing a children's Christmas book and will be at Willamette Writers meeting in Portland on December 6th to promote. Hope to see you there! Here's all the info:

Please join the authors of Willamette Writers at our Writers Faire 12/6 Old Church 7 pm Support local authors! Infohttp://www.willamettewriters.com/1/PMeetingColumn.php

Follow Willamette Writers on Twitter at@wilwrite 

The Gift Giver: A Children's Christmas Story

I've been working hard trying to get my book ready for publication by Thanksgiving weekend. Thought I'd toss all of you a sample of the artwork. It's a grind, but well worth it.

MORE TO COME, SOON!

East India Press Writing Comptetition

Noted fantasy/scifi novelist Dave Farland has created his own publishing company called East India Press. You'll know his name from the interview I posted with him for his new novel Nightingale. This particular competition is pretty cool because if you're the winner, you'll have your short story published at the back of his book! The details are all here. I'm entering. How about you?

Movies, movies, movies

My marital bedchamber was sorely lacking in space, so about a week ago I started to build a wall unit so we could get rid of the clutter of two bookshelves and a mountain of plastic containers. If I do say so myself, it's awesome! I did the building and the wife did the painting. Looks great. Now that I have a great place to put the TV, I'm in a movie buying frenzy.

I need more funny, though. Any suggestions on comedies?

A Great Rejection!

So, every author goes through rejection. It happened when I was looking for an agent and it is bound to happen as my agent and I look for a publisher for The Incredible Misadventures of Zadora Zane. Well, I've reached a milestone: Just got my first rejection from a publisher. But it's a great letter! Editors at publishing houses can sometimes be very harsh in their rejections of new material. By my rejection letter rocks. Here's a quote from the email Tori Kosara from Hyperion sent my agent:

"Thank you for sharing THE INCREDIBLE MISADVENTURES OF ZADORA ZANE by Paul Anthony Navarro. I very much enjoyed reading it. Middle-grade is one of the things I love that I get to read as an editor, but, as you know, it is difficult to find well-written middle-grade. I think that Paul has absolutely nailed the voice, the characters, the fun details—everything I absolutely love about writing for this age group. I was sucked into Zadora's adventures from the start, and found myself engrossed in the story and connecting with the characters easily. Unfortunately, however, and with regret, I'm afraid that due to similar titles that we already have on our small list, we are unable to extend a publishing offer for this project. This is due entirely to the types of books that we already have signed up.

I'm sorry not to have better news, as I think that this author is quite talented and the story has such promise. Thanks again for thinking of me, in any case. I wish you the best of luck in finding the perfect publishing home for ZADORA, and that we will find the right project to work on together soon.

Best wishes,

Tori"

It is a little bit of a bummer because Disney owns Hyperion and I think Zadora would be a good match. But despite that, I'm encouraged. Thanks Tori!

Nightingale is Finally Released

I just got word from the Dave Farland camp. You can see the book at www.nightingalenovel.com Also, by tomorrow, they'll have an on-line ereader at the site so that everyone can sample the enhanced version of the novel, read the manuscript, listen to some of the 45-minute sound track, and enjoy some of the 100+ pieces of art and animations, plus video interviews with David and read his author's notes. So this is intended to be a special advancement in enhanced novels. I for one will be soaking it all up this weekend.


If you like the site/book/all the extras, go to www.facebook.com/Nightingale.Novel and "Like" it.


Have a great weekend and let me know what you think about Dave Farland's website and enhanced content.

Thor Rocks!

I finally saw Thor last night. I forgot it was even on my Netflix queue. I actually wasn't expecting much, especially after Green Lantern was just okay. I thought it would be just another okay superhero movie. I guess sometimes low expectations are good because I was totally into Thor. Action packed, great visuals, and a pretty decent story. I had no idea that Kenneth Branagh had directed until the very end and then I realized just why I liked it so much. I LOVE KENNETH BRANAGH MOVIES! I'm assuming that's why Natalie Portman signed on as well. You don't typically see her playing the damsel in distress, but hey! It's a Kenneth Branagh movie. She did a great job as well. Played it a lot differently then I imagine someone like Megan Fox would have played it--much more dimensional.

But, enough about me. Did you like it?