SCBWI Inside Story - May 5 - UW Bookstore - Bellevue, WA

Twice a year, once in spring and once in fall, the Western Washington region of SCBWI (The Society of Children's Bookwriters and Illustrators) hosts a really fun and important event called Inside Story. Authors from the region gather together to present (alas, very briefly) their new releases, meet and greet the public, sign copies of their books, and much more.

I was originally planning on attending the event this past November, but then my release date was postponed to, well, actually, yesterday, April 28!

INTERLUDE- Fibonacci Zoo is out!! Actually, the books are all in the process of being shipped to booksellers around the country, but I can now finally say, after nearly two years of work on this project, that my book is out and available for sale. Woo-hoo!!

Ok, interlude over. So now it's almost May, and the time has rolled around for me to attend. The event will be this coming Tuesday, May 5 (just one day after Star Wars day - you sci-fi nerds know who you are) at the University of Washington Bookstore (Go Dawgs!) in BELLEVUE (not the main branch by campus).

Photo credit: www.starwars.com

The event runs from 7:00-9:00 and there will be 28 of us there promoting our books. I would love to see some 'fans' out there welcoming in Fibonacci and coming to say hello! We THINK (hope, pray) we will have books there in time for signing after the event, but we're cutting it close. Regardless, you'll get to hear some of the back story behind the writing and publishing of this exquisite book (and no, I'm not in any way biased!) along with many others, and there will be fun for the whole family - details below!

TUESDAY • MAY 5 • 7:00PM

SCBWI Inside Story

Bellevue Store

Love children's books? Crazy about kidlit? University Book Store and The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators of Western Washington are excited to present this spring's "Inside Story" event for booksellers, librarians, teachers, and children's book lovers. Featuring over 25 local children's book authors and illustrators, the evening will feature behind-the-scenes looks at all of the authors' and illustrators' most recent or upcoming publications. Additional activities will include fun trivia games, cool prizes, tasty treats, time for book signing, and the opportunity to meet and chat with dozens of talented authors and illustrators from the area.

Participating authors and illustrators will be:

Kevan Atteberry, Martha Brockenbrough, Dori Hillestad Butler, Stacey R. Campbell, Andrea Gabriel, Kathryn O. Galbraith, Joanna Gorham, Shannon Grogan, Brenda Z. Guiberson, Steven Henry, Patrick Jennings, Kelly Jones, Doug Keith, Karen Kincy, Sara Nickerson, Margaret Read MacDonald, Craig Orback, Julie Paschkis, Katherine Pryor,
Tom Robinson, Jeanne Ryan, Suzanne Selfors, Rori Shay, Dana Sullivan, Derek Sullivan, Laurie Ann Thompson, Carly Anne West, and Toni Yuly

Presented by The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators of Western Washington in partnership with University Book Store.


Thanks to everyone who has been so encouraging and anxiously waiting along with me for this book to be released. I hope you really like it. I sure do!

The Golden Wha....?

So there I was, minding my business, paging through the latest issue of....well...erm...let's just say it is a popular home decor magazine, aimed primarily at women, which we will call...."GH." Anywho...

As I was reading about the keys to picking the right size and style for my new chandelier (wondering if people really go out and buy new chandeliers, but realizing that this magazine article indicates they actually do!), I see "The Golden Ratio." Sweet - Fibonacci lives, even in the pages of a home design mag! Well, not so fast...

Ah, the Golden Ratio...just what you need to pick out a....wait, is that a chandelier?

What you don't see here is that in the paragraph above this box in the article, is the text below: 

Nothing like a good 'equation' to determine how big your chandelier should be, right?

So apparently the Golden Ratio is an 'equation', cool. Though, I don't see any equal signs, and I don't even see any variables. Still, 'phi' lives on! Wait. What is that again?

Let's go back to the top image. This so-called 'equation' just says to measure the length and width of the room and add the two numbers up. Change the units to inches and that's the size you want. Um...what about 1.618...? Is that some kind of ratio between the sides of your room? Or maybe how tall and how wide the chandelier should be? Maybe you need to have the number of lights and the number of chairs at your dining table in the ratio we know as phi. Something, right?

Nope. Nothing at all related in any way to Fibonacci, the actual Golden Ratio, or the number phi. It's just a term someone made up, thinking it sounded math-y enough to catch readers' eyes. Mission accomplished but for all the wrong reasons.

Note to 'GH': next time you want to share a mathematical FORMULA (which is what this is, not an equation) and you want to give it a fancy name, make sure that name doesn't belong to something else that actually IS math-y and relevant. This is no Golden Ratio. It's neither golden nor a ratio. It's simply a way to measure your room and pick out a chandelier.

Now, if I could only find a chandelier for my 21'x13' room! Wonder how big it would be....