A vote: SpaceHive, Space Hive, SPACEHIVE? You'll note there's a new title for my book, and I've chosen SpaceHive. Consultation with my publisher, Cheryl Tardif, confirmed the middle graders need a new title.

Jive Hive is the name of the planet from which the aliens spring, and will remain in the book as their place of origin. SpaceHive is the name of their huge Mothership and will be changed throughout.

Anyone who can come up with a better name will win a $5 amazon.com gift card.

Image courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

•  ONE TWO THREE - EVERYONE WINS!!!! All who enter the contest will win a $5 amazon.com gift certificate. 
•  Think what you can do with a $5 amazon.com gift certificate!!!! You can...ermmmm...well, you can WIN for certain, and winning is not always a sure thing.
• Yes, siree, see what all the buzz is about.
• Make a beeline to my blog and add your comments.
• If blogger won't let you comment email me. You'll find the link on my profile.
• GOOD LUCK!!!!

WHY we should write is because we have to, we've always written stories and poems and articles, and when we couldn't - well, we'd tell them out loud. The art of telling stories goes back to the earliest history of humanity. Certainly goes back to our childhoods, as all writers know. When I was five I rhymed "stars" with "Mars" and beguiled my older cousins with my little  intergalactic poem. I told my sister fairytales every night after lights out (we shared a room). I drove the horse to school and entertained my brothers behind me with brave stories of knights and swordsmanship.

Always, always wanted to be a writer. I called it "journalist" in those days, didn't know better, I wanted to write, and I did. I was never a journalist. In February 2010 I published my first article, unpaid, but Rick Lauber at Alberta Caregiver gave me a start and I'm grateful.

WHEN should we write?

• WHEN THE MOON IS SILVER AND GOLD OVER THE YARDARM
• WHEN THE MOON IS BLUE AND COLD AND WE'RE LOST IN STARDUST
• WHEN WE CAN'T AFFORD COFFEE
• WHEN THE CAT JUST THREW UP ON OUR FOOT
• WHEN OUR SPOUSE BUYS A TRUCK AND IS GONE FOR TWO MONTHS
• WHEN HE'S WORKING ON THE ROAD
• WHEN HE'S HOME AND FEELS ROMANTIC WE CAN SAY
• NOT NOW, HONEY, I'M WRITING.
• IF NOT NOW, WHEN?
• IF NOT HERE, WHERE?
• WHEN OUR PEN RUNS OUT OF INK AND WE HAVE TO USE A LIPSTICK ON THE BATHROOM MIRROR
• WHEN OUR COMPUTER CRASHES LIKE A NORTH KOREAN MISSILE
• WHEN THE STARS RUN OUT OF FIRE AND THE EARTH BOILS
• WHEN LOUISE BLOUIN MACBAIN PAINTS SAM MCGEE IN THE FURNACE AND SELLS IT TO YELLOWKNIFE TOWN HALL
• WHEN READERS DON'T LIKE IT
• WHEN PUBLISHERS DON'T ASK FOR IT
• WHEN OUR CHILDREN TELL THEIR FRIENDS WE'RE LAWYERS WHO WORK AT HOME
• WHEN OUR LOVED ONE IS A STRANGER
• WHEN OUR PROFESSORS ARE FRIENDS
• WHEN OUR TEACHERS WANT US TO BE...
• WHO AND WHAT WE REALLY ARE...
• THAT'S THE MOST FUN IN THE WORLD
• I WISH IT FOR YOU, MY FELLOW WRITERS
• MY CRITICS AND MY READERS
• MY REVIEWERS
• THERE IS NO JOY GREATER THAN CREATING A WORK OF ART FROM ONE'S OWN HEAD
• RIGHT NOW.
• BEFORE LUNCH
• AFTER LUNCH
• WITH AN AVOCADO SANDWICH ON THE PAGE AND A CUP OF TEA ON THE KEYBOARD
• WITH A CAT DRAPED OVER THE SIDE OF OUR DESK
• WHEN THE SUN COMES UP
• IN THE AFTERNOON
• WHEN IT'S NINE IN THE MORNING IN ENGLAND
• AND WE LIVE IN ALBERTA OR WASHINGTON, DC
• IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
• DISCIPLINED OR LAISSEZ FAIRE LIKE ME
• BEFORE LAST CALL OR WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK
• WHEN YOU HAVEN'T HAD A DRINK FOR NINETEEN YEARS
• JUST WRITE.

My publisher sent me the draft book cover of SPACEHIVE yesterday and it blew my sox off; it's awesome! Will sure appeal to a young adult reader. We're also calling the book SpaceHive rather than the original name. See explanation on my blog.

There's the ominous BLACK GENERAL standing at the controls of the SpaceHive, and the Wasps in outer space peering at the Earth with neon red compound eyes.

Very nice, Ryan and Cheryl. Thank you.


The cover will be featured on this blog and elsewhere soon. Please look for it. All comments welcomed.

Wish I had said this:

When I add a spoon of honey to my tea, I give thanks to a dozen bees for the work of their whole lives. When my finger sweeps the final drop of sweetness from the jar, I know we've enjoyed the nectar from over a million flowers. This is what honey is: the souls of flowers, a food to please the gods. Honeyeaters know that to have a joyful heart one must live life like the bees, sipping the sweet nectar from each moment as it blooms. And Life, like the world of honey, has its enchantments and stings.... ~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff "The Honey Sutras"

Evil wasp General, good evening.

Bzzzt ZAP Don't waste my time, puny writer.

How did you acquire such a fine physique, General?

I'm nine feet tall of bile and poison, puny Earthling.

<writer ducks>

Tell us about your childhood, General.

Spent with Bee nurses, mostly puny things seven feet tall, striped orange and black, silly things like to dance. Fed me rotten meat and fruit. I grew in size and cleverness. Lived in the paper caverns in the Hollow Hills under the three moons that spill their red light like putrid blood into the valley. Grew to serve the Queen. Spiked my father through the neck when I grew tall enough to take over control of the Black Watch, the soldiers with the black patches who serve me and the slug-like Queen on our planet, Jive Hive.

What interests you on Earth, General?

It's eight light years away and the humans are weak and selfish. We can easily rid the Earth of the vermin that crawls upon it and make a paradise for the Bees and Wasps for at least a hundred years, when we must expand again.

What is the biological imperative, sir?

Bzzzt Zap I'm the hungry General, the biological imperative is to serve our Queen. We will make a warlike Queen, a young Queen fitting to come to Earth with us. The old Queen is soft and lazy. We'll leave her here on the old Jive Hive.

It seems to me there's no stopping you, General.

I wait for Paradise. It will be very hard to kill me.

<flings his poisoned barbs at the writer, who ducks>