All Things Middle Grade

Taco Kitty rules!!!!

(please pass the salsa...)

Timp - that's even better than the banana costume my sister puts on her cat every year!

loritayseastep - I have gotten all my beta readers from the AW thread for betas as well as making friends here on the kid lit forum. They have all been excellent and professional and have improved my writing immensely.

jtrylch13 said:

Timp - that's even better than the banana costume my sister puts on her cat every year!

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I don't know how people even get their cats into costumes. Any effort to dress my cat up would only result in her not wearing a costume... and me bleeding.

Smish said:

I don't know how people even get their cats into costumes. Any effort to dress my cat up would only result in her not wearing a costume... and me bleeding.

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My cats would get their revenge by peeing on the walls.

I still have scars on my wrist from carrying my cat into an elevator. Looks like I had a tragic episode in my youth...

I have a cat or two that would tolerate being dressed up. I have one that loves riding in a baby stroller. One loves a bath. One lies on the porch and watches the birds eat her food right out of her bowl that's not three feet away.

Then there's old Molly. She'll hiss if I look at her and say, "Good morning, precious."

All of my cats are rescue animals, but only some of them truly appreciate it.

Hi! I'm back! Miss me? Probably not since I never gave anyone a chance to KNOW me. Oi. Too much going on... ANYway, I'm back either way. What's up in here tonight?

Ah, cats... I had a cat when I was in my early twenties, but mostly I'm not a big cat fan...

Hi Morgan... *waves*
I'm here, but soon I'm going to go work on my NaNo project. No--I am. Really.

Has anybody seen Hugo yet? I think it looks amazing. We might go Sunday if I'm well by then (or at least not coughing and able to talk).

Hi Ruth! *waves back*

I'm not doing NaNo... I never do because every time it rolls around I already have a project I'm deeply invested in. Meh.

I have not seen Hugo, and I want to... I just hope it doesn't ruin the book. I always worry about that with book-to-film-transitions, and I HAVE a film degree. LOL

i'm here, but promptly ducking back out to work on my first draft WIP. i'm not NaNo-ing either, because at the first of the month i had an agent-requested revision to work on. Spent a few weeks on that, and now i'm getting going on the new WIP. i've just set my own personal goal of getting 10,000 words in before December 1st, though.

ooh, the Hugo movie's screenplay is written by my college playwriting professor and mentor John Logan. he's so absolutely brilliant. i haven't read the book yet, but i bet the film will be great, between John and Scorcese.

I want to see Hugo, but I haven't read the book yet. Usually, I try to read the book first, but I might have to do it the other way around this time.

I did read the book, and so far the preview clips make it look like they've changed things. So... I don't know if I want to see it or not.

Changes aren't always bad. Sometimes they're needed to make a book work as a movie. Still, I almost always prefer the book.

I did watch How to Train Your Dragon before reading the book. In fact *looks ashamed* I still haven't read the book. But I adored that movie. So good.

Don't worry Ferret... I haven't read the book either. It's PB, right? I think I remember that from the special features...

I want to thank everyone for their comments on my thread. I can't thank you there (and I totally understand why it's done now), but you helped SO much! :-D

I've been on an absolute write (and writing) hiatus, but I'm back. Hello all.

I was going to pick up Hugo for the Kindle, but I didn't see it available. I guess the pictures are as much a part of the story as the words. The movie looks fantastic.

As for writing, I'm in revision mode right now on a MG fantasy. I figured now that it is Nov 30th, I should write like it is Nanowrimo.

Hi Wordcaster.

I'm usually okay with movie/tv adaptions of books where they change the storyline unless the casting is way off. I still remember a BBC production of the stories of one of my favorite mystery writers, Ngaio Marsh, and the casting of the 2 main characters was so different than my image of them in my imagination, that I couldn't finish watching it.

timp67 said:

I'm ashamed to say I tried to read HUGO and just couldn't get into it. So I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.

*hangs head*

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I have to say I liked it well enough, but wasn't swept away by its brilliance. And I doubt either of my sons would be that enthralled by it. But then, they prefer books where someone dies, preferably by decapitation.

timp! I love the cover of your paperback edition! I think kids will definitely pick it up.

Smish said:

timp! I love the cover of your paperback edition! I think kids will definitely pick it up.

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Me too!!!
I was wondering where you have been.

timp67 said:

I'm ashamed to say I tried to read HUGO and just couldn't get into it. So I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.

*hangs head*

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Me too, kinda... well, I looked at it in the bookstore several times, and it just didn't grab me. But the movie looks really good. I'm thinking this might be the rare case where the movie makes me want to read the book instead of the other way around.

ETA: And congrats, timp!!! The paperback cover looks great!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret was good but not amazing. I'm a bit skeptical of the movie because 99.9% of movies just end up enraging me. But anyways, his new book Wonderstruck is like really, really, really, really good. So just read that instead! It's extremely fat but is maybe 60% illustrations. I think the target audience might actually be intimidated by the size of the book. (And if the art looks familiar, he's the same dude who illustrated Frindle!)

Hugo... My family really loved it. And my fil loved it and that is rare. Usually movies I love, he hates and vice versa. But, it was such a beautifully filmed movie. I saw Scorsese on the Daily Show. Great interview. It made me want to see the movie. We saw it in 3D. I've never picked up the book, but we will look at it next time we are in BN. Excellent story. The previews made it seem like a fantasy, but it wasn't at all.

I was a little freaked out because there were elements of my book, small elements, but a clockwork theme and some other things that were similar. But, not the same story line at all. What do you do when you see thinks on tv, movies and in books that are similar to your WIP? Even though you hadn't seen it before writing it?