10.24.2005

On writing short stories

Alright, I've asked all my friends to stop sending me those cute email attachments that seem to navigate through cyberspace with a life of their own. For once I'm glad this one friend ignored my request. You got to laugh at people's creativity. I did this morning when looking at this image. Enjoy!

10.18.2005

ZITS: Understanding Teenage Boys

I love the cartoon strip ZITS. When I first discovered it years ago, I realized my son was absolutely normal. It helped me understand boys more than any other self-help book I'd read on the subject. Since then, every mom I talk to about ZITS is convinced that Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman are basing the character of Jeremy on their son. I know different. Scott & Borgman are basing Jeremy's character on MY son!

Today's strip again made me laugh. It's on blogging, a topic we've been going over in my writing group.

ZITS by Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman
In the strip you have a father (an orthodontist), a stay-at-home mom (representing so much of the way I and other moms relate to our sons), and Jeremy, their son (representing my son...or is it yours?). The interaction between them, with Jeremy's teenage POV coming through every time, is hilarious! I love getting my daily dose of laughter through reading this cartoon strip. My kids are grown and gone now, but reading ZITS brings back memories and, along with the laughter, understanding.

As a bookseller I keep waiting for the day these two brilliant writers of this amazing cartoon strip will put all their strips together and publish them in a book. I would immediately become their own private marketing machine!

Until the time when ZITS comes out in book form you can read the daily strips in your local newspaper and, if they do not currently carry it, you can pester them until they do! It's really one of the best strips around. You may also consider paying $15 for an annual subscription to DAILY INK. The $15 is worth every penny for me. I picked several strips I enjoy reading and receive them all together in a daily email from them. Click to read more about membership to DAILY INK



P.S.: After receiving a comment to this blog I was alerted to the fact that ZITS books are indeed available! I just posted another blog about it. Read Zits, Zits, and more Zits where I've linked to amazon.com where many of the books are now available. :-)