Doreen Cronin with my youngest

What’s with the noisy title in this edition? Thank you for asking. I bet that those of you with young kids may have figured it out. We met Doreen Cronin, author of Click, Clack, Moo; Thump, Quack, Moo; Duck for President and Diary of a Worm (Amazon affiliate links) — to name a handful. I think a parents enjoyment of reading a book is a good way to measure the quality of a children’s book. You can bet I laugh lots when we read Cronin’s books especially the ones with the cows and duck.

I asked her what she was working on. She said it was the sequel of a chapter book that comes out in the spring. I looked up the chapter book to see if details were available — not yet. I think it’s a great move on her part because the kids — like my youngest – who know her duck and cows book best now read chapter books and beyond. My older son could have discovered her books when he was in the picture book stage — but we didn’t meet them until later.

Dallas Children’s Theater is performing a musical version of Giggle, Giggle, Quack. We hope to catch that one.

Brain food…

• Six Ways Authors Can Promote Books on Facebook: Authors need to take marketing into their own hands and here’s one way to do it.
• 15 Inspiring Home Offices: Kind of makes me appreciate mine more. These setups rock — I like not being against the wall.
• 101 Blogs That Accept Guest Posts: Love this list because it lists the more popular sites as well as the pagerank — but remember pageranking changes and plenty of lower pagerank sites are worth the guest blog post. I also accept guest posts as long as they meet my guidelines. [Link: @txwriter]
• The Cognitive Itch — From Earworms to Déjà Vu: Dealing with can’t get song out of my head, déjà vu moments and tip-of-tongue problems. [Link: Lydia Dishman]
• Become a Book Review Ninja: 10 Steps to Mastery: I’ve been sitting on an how to article for doing book reviews for months. It need spiffying and more storytelling. Well, this is exactly what I was looking for — don’t know that I would’ve used the ninja theme, but I knew a theme would work.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 16 Eye Popping Pixel Sculptures You Have to See: Ah, I remember the days of 8-bit graphics. Who knew it could be taken to another dimension?
• 25 Cool USB Drives: I use a boring basic one. What I need isn’t a cool one but a very short one because the one I have keeps getting hit because of the way it sticks out. Wax seal one brings back memories. Yes, I had one. [Link: Jessica Strawser]
• Beautiful and Funny Illustrations by Tokyo Go Go: Something different, colorful and fun to look at. [Link: @bkkmacdaddy]
• 10 Hilarious Yet Ingenious Solutions to Everyday Problems: I could probably use the t-shirt … but it’d help to make plans to travel to another country first.
• Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air: (Big Fish Games affiliate link) I love this PC game series because of its gorgeous screens, absorbing puzzles and captivating storytelling. Right now, it’s only available as a Collector’s Edition, but this gives you time to try the original, Eternal Maze and the Chosen Child.

Tell us about a time when you met an author in person or a celebrity.

This week is book fair week at my youngest child’s school. I’ll be volunteering at the “Book Fair Diner,” this spring’s theme, and trying my best not to buy too many books. We have a theme every book fair to make it fun.

When I was a wee kid, I loved the Scholastic Book Fairs in my elementary school. When I was a student teacher in college, the school I worked at had the book fair, too. Now as a mom, I go to at least four book fairs in a school year. Plus, my youngest brings home book club booklets for ordering in between book fairs. (Each elementary school has two book fairs per year and I have two kids in two elementary schools.)

My favorite class in college: Children’s literature. So yes, I bought children’s books after I grew up and before I had children of my own. We have so many children’s books in this household that I’ve bought duplicates. Too bad we didn’t have the apps we have today for book inventories. I could never begin such a project now.

Brain food…

• Why You Need a Content Strategist: Explains what they do and how they work with your web site. [Link: Deborah Edwards-Onoro]
• How to Find Work Without Using the Freelance Job Boards: Most of my finds are through word of mouth and referrals. I keep myself out there so people remember me when the need comes.
• 8 More Business Buzzwords I’d Like to Ban Because They Make Us Sound Like Tools (Part Two): been trying to avoid “solutions” but couldn’t find a workaround. Here’s part one. [Link: Jeff Hurt]
• Experience Is an Action Word: Christina Katz discusses experience. Know that even experienced writers have moments when they lose self-confidence or wonder why they’re in the business.
• 5 Great Reasons to Use Gmail: I’m using Gmail more and more and meryl.net email less (except for business cards and all). Spammers keep using my domain and sometimes my emails end up in people’s junk folder. So Gmail works well. [Link: Melinda Emerson]
• Public Speaking – How I Prepare Every Time: Speaking can be simple. Tim Ferriss shares his process. If you know your stuff — just practice and it’ll turn out. Be passionate like Gary Vaynerchuck — without the F-bombs. Not necessary.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren’t Allowed to See on Google Maps: Also from cheth.
• 826 Poster: Are you ready to publish your novel? Humorous look. [Link: WD]
• 50 Clever, Hilarious and Geeky Twitter T-Shirts and more at Zazzle. Tino Valdez made my IRL @merylkevans Twitter shirt (see photo).
• A Volcanic Rainbow in the Hottest Place on Earth. Not the colors you expect… if you’re thinking “rainbow.” [Link: Shelly Kramer]
• The Forbes Fictional 15: Who knew Forbes had a sense of humor? Of course, the top 15 richest fictional folks. [Link: Andy Hayes]
• 15 Amazingly Clever Logos: Love this stuff. Shame my domain/company name doesn’t lend itself to anything exciting.
• What Stormtroopers Do on Their Day Off: Who knew Stormtroopers had personality??? More Stormtroopers in Part One. [Link: Mark Hurst]
• 40+ Hilarious Facebook Comic Strips: Prepare to nod your head in agreement to many of them. Oh, and laugh, too.