Vegetable Lambs
Another delightful creature to be featured in The Griffin’s Boy: the vegetable lamb. According to legend, these lambs grew on stalks, rather like fruits, but would die if plucked–or starve if they grazed alway all the foliage in reach.
Either way, a short and difficult life for the poor little thing. Its wool was said to be exceptionally fine.
It’s possible the vegetable lamb is based on the cotton plant–which does, to be fair, produce a wooly substance that can be made into a very nice fabric.
New Book Deal!
I’m so happy to report that the book I’ve posted about a few times–full of delightful legendary creatures–will become a reality! My agent and editor are hashing out the details, but The Griffin’s Boy will be hitting the shelves in…oh…two years or so, if everything stays on track. (I know, the dizzying pace of modern publishing has you breathless.)
As well as the amphisbaena and wyvern and many others (including the ever-so-cute vegetable lambs and ferocious tiger lilies), it will feature, of course, a griffin. Can’t wait!
Happy Pub Day, Save the…Rhinos!
Delighted to announce that Save the…Rhinos! is now available. Each of the books in these nonfiction series has an intro by Chelsea Clinton and is full of fabulous animal facts and true stories of conservation success.
The best rhino fact–a contented rhino (lots of grass, plenty of warm sun, no other bothersome rhinos around) makes a noise like this: mmmmmwonk.
May your day be full of mmmmmmwonk!
The Wyvern
Another delightful creature that I hope will be featured in a new chapter book (still waiting to hear back from the editor who’s interested): the wyvern. Yes, it looks like a dragon, but you can tell the difference by counting the legs–a dragon has four, and a wyvern has two.
Read MoreCan Reading Be Stealing?
If someone takes your book off a shelf in a bookstore without paying for it, that’s theft.
If someone reads your book online without paying for it, ditto. They may not have a physical book in their possession, but they’ve taken hard creative work without paying a dime. And writers cannot live when readers do that.
But if an AI sweeps up your online book and reads it without paying for it, that’s…innovation?
When the AI reads your book and uses it along with many, many others to create new works that nobody needs to pay for because, hey, nobody actually wrote them, that’s…
I don’t now what that is. Nobody does. But I’m worried that it’s the beginning of the end of a world where writers work hard to knit words together to create characters and plots and worlds and visions that we can share.
Stephen King has some thoughts about this too.
The Amphisbaena
While waiting…and waiting…and waiting for an editor to get back to me about a new manuscript, I’m hoping so hard that I will get to write this fantasy chapter book with all sorts of delightful legendary creatures–like the amphisbaena, a venomous reptile with a head on each end of the body. Both heads bite. Avoid at all costs.
Read MoreLie? Lay? Help! Part 2
Lie and lay would not be confusing at all if not for the past tense. That’s where it all goes bad.
Lie, remember, takes no object. Chickens do not lie an egg!
Past tense of lie: lay. Past perfect tense (the one that goes with have): lain.
Like this: I lie down today. I lay down yesterday. I have lain down many times.
Lay takes an object. You cannot simply lay; you must lay something. A chicken lays an egg.
Past tense of lay: laid. Past perfect tense: laid.
The chicken lays an egg today. The chicken laid an egg yesterday. The chicken has laid many eggs.
For extra credit: if you are lying, as in telling fibs, none of this applies. You lie today, you lied yesterday, you have lied often. Shape up and start being more honest.
For extreme extra credit: why does the children’s prayer say, “Now I lay me down to sleep?” I’m not a chicken; why am I laying?
Lay is correct in this case (a bit archaic) because it takes an object: me. The speaker is laying something (themselves) down to sleep. Please do not use this as a model in your head when you are trying pick between lie and lay. It’ll just confuse you. Stick to the chickens.
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly