Guest Blogger -- Hammy the Hamster

In honor of Hammy's world-famous YouTube video hitting over 30,000 views, I invited him to create today's blog post.  Take it away, Hammy!

I'm Hammy the Hamster.  That's me on the cover of How to Survive Middle School, written by What's-Her-Name.  She's busy writing her new novel, so she asked me to write today's post.  And she's not even paying me.  Cheapskate!  And I don't even have fingers.  Just really cute paws.

Anyway, here I am in this video created by the awesome team at Page Turner Adventures.

"I'd like to thank my mom and dad and my 17 brothers and sisters and--"

"Ahem, Hammy, could you please get back to the post?"

"Sure.  Sorry."  Bossy writer lady!

Because I LOVE books about hamsters (They're DELICIOUS!), I wanted to let you know about some other hamster books I think are yummy, er, super fun to read . . .

Try Betty Birney's Humphrey books.  Check out the entire series . . .

Also, there's the I, Freddy series by Dietlof Reiche . . .

Need a dose of pun fun?  Try Bruce Hale's Chet Gecko mystery series book, The Hamster of the Baskervilles . . .

You might even like The Great Hamster Massacre by Katie Davies about, gulp, hamster homicide.  I don't!!!  Even the cover gives this hamster hives.

Rev your engines for the awesome Hot Rod Hamster by Cynthia Lord . . .

Cynthia Lord has some cute photos of her guinea pig, Cookie, on her blog. 

I like guinea pigs.  They're funky!

And this video (for Scholastic Book Fairs) by Page Turner Adventures proves it . . .

"Now, I'm going to recite for you my 12-page hamster ode that I created to--"

"Say good-bye, Hammy."

"Good-bye, Hammy."

Florida SCBWI 10th Annual Conference

Ten years ago, I sat in an elementary school cafeteria and listened to Barbara Bottner, Joyce Sweeney, Sue Corbett and others teach the craft of writing. I also ate lots of food and met new friends . . . all for the grand total of $35.

I went to that same conference nearly every January in Miami ever since.

The price has gone up a wee bit, but the conference still provides words of wisdom on craft and marketing, good food and the opportunity to make and reconnect with friends and industry professionals.

I had the great pleasure of being on the faculty of the 10th annual Florida SCBWI Conference in Miami this year. Linda Bernfeld is the mastermind behind this amazing conference. A lot of incredibly dedicated people help create the magic every year. A big thank you to each of them!

Here's Linda, surrounded by her family (and her fairy wings) at the Saturday evening ball:


There was a bevy of exceptional speakers -- authors, editors, agents, etc. You can read the faculty list here.

Here's a fun photo of Bruce Hale, dancing. (During his keynote, he was also singing.)


There was so much fun, friendship, information, inspiration and joy throughout the weekend. It's always terrific to reconnect with my tribe of lovely folks, who are dedicated to creating high quality books for children.

I loved giving my Quirky Characters workshop Sunday morning. Here are some of the fine folks who were kind enough to laugh at my bad jokes . . .




I was delighted to meet Audrey Vernick and her agent, Erin Murphy. Audrey has some great books out, like this one and this one and this one, too. And FIVE more books in the pipeline (so far).

Stay tuned, loyal blog reader, because I will be giving away an autographed copy of this book soon . . .



Here's a photo of Audrey and I holding each other's books:



I can't say enough good things about this conference. It was an honor to be part of the magic.

As much as I enjoyed the conference, it was nice to get home to my guys, both tall and furry. (Even the dog gave me a hug. And oldest son actually came out and dragged my suitcase into the house.)

Then reality set in as the washing machine overflowed. But the teens saved the day by unplugging the thing, moving furniture and grabbing armloads of towels to sop up the mess until I could fix the blasted thing.

Now? It's back to work with renewed vim and vigor!