Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds Newsletter #39 (March-May 2025) Mark Gruenwald Update My biography of Marvel editor and writer Mark Gruenwald (1953-1996) is closer than ever to publication! I recently filled out a "marketing questionnaire" for the publisher, which is a sure sign that we're nearing the final stages of production. Keep your eyes glued here for the cover reveal and publication date! My Berenstain Project I can finally reveal the project I've been working on with Mike Berenstain!...
5 months ago • 1 min read
Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds Newsletter #38 - January / February 2025 Farewell to a Hopeful On February 23, word came that Hopefuls bassist Heath Henjum had passed away at the age of 55. While working on The Hopefuls, I had the pleasure of interviewing Heath at a coffee shop in St. Louis Park. He was frank and funny and super informative. I'm really bummed he's gone. Please take a moment to read the tribute I wrote here. Hello Hello, Sun! The newest Beginner Book marks a fascinating - and...
8 months ago • 1 min read
Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds Newsletter #37 - November/December 2024 A Christmas Story There are two Christmas stories in my as-yet-unpublished children's chapter book The Groundhogs of Linden Manor. As a gift this holiday, I thought I'd share one with you. I hope it brings you joy and comfort. Read "Up on a Housetop" Eleanor Cameron and Karen Rose About a year ago I got an e-mail that sent me on down a fascinating rabbit hole. Read about what happened here. Jack Kent Rarities Jack Kent was...
10 months ago • 1 min read
Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds Newsletter #36 - September / October 2024 Eleanor Cameron Gets the LitWits Treatment I had the pleasure of serving as a consultant to the LitWits, Becky and Jenny, on a presentation about Eleanor! They both loved The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet as kids, and it was particularly special to them because they lived not very far away from David and Chuck home in Pebble Beach. Here's a link to their video, which includes some fantastic interview footage of...
12 months ago • 1 min read
Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds Newsletter #35 - July / August 2024 The Beginner Books Encyclopedia In I Can Read It All By Myself, I wrote about every single Beginner Book. Since Random House continues to trickle new Beginner Books into the world, I continue to write about them. The latest is a sequel to last year's How to Love a Pony, by Michelle Meadows and Sawyer Cloud. Check out the ongoing Encyclopedia update here. We Only Do '80s Joel, Sir! On my blog, 3 Minutes 49 Seconds, I'm doing...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds Newsletter #34 - May / June 2024 I've Seen London. I've Seen France In early June, Peter and I went on a World War II-themed tour of London, Portsmouth, Normandy, Versailles, and Paris. It was arranged by a social studies teacher at his school and run by EF Tours. We saw a bunch of amazing things, but I thought I'd share some of the the literary connections I made. In London we went right up to the reconstructed Globe Theatre, and while on a brief visit to the...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
Newsletter #33 - March / April 2024 Welcome back! Hope you've been well. Free Words! I thought I'd kick things off this month by sharing a "deleted" short story. "Zuzu Goes to School" I wrote as part of my children's chapter book The Groundhogs of Linden Manor. After all was said and done it didn't fit the tone of the rest of the stories. I hope you like it! "Zuzu Goes to School" Zuzu woke up thinking about all the things she was going to do today. She got out of bed. She went to the bathroom...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
Newsletter #31 - February 2024 Hello! Nice to see you again. Writer's Break After nine years of constant work on one book or another, and always knowing what big project was coming next, I now find myself on a break. This is partly by design and partly by circumstance. Becuase of the way my last three projects piled up on each other, I purposefully didn't look to start anything new. At the same time, I just haven't encountered that spark that insipred my other books. I'm okay getting off the...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
Newsletter #31 - December 2023 / January 2024 Happy New Year! This double edition of the newsletter takes on the theme of looking back and looking forward. 20 Years of 3 Minutes and 49 Seconds November 2023 marked the 20th(!) anniversary of my music blog, 3 Minutes and 49 Seconds. While it has definitely been a lower priority for me in the past ten years than it was for the first ten, it's still where most of my "published" writing lives. If you're interested, here's a history I wrote for the...
almost 2 years ago • 2 min read