This cause is close to my heart - please sign: sign.moveon.org/petitions/br...

My biggest complaint with “Severance” is that Gemma isn’t British.

After Twitter became a hellscape, I came over here. But then I felt like BTDT for so many years that I abandoned this platform, too. So that’s why I’m not here often. Now people are telling me to create a Substack. When will this madness end?! P.S. None of it helps me sell books, unfortunately.

Who else is doing StoryStorm this year?

The #Storystorm 2024 Mug (featuring Flurry the Bear by Courtney Pippin-Mathur) is now available at the Zazzle store. All proceeds benefit The Highlights Foundation. zazzle.com/storystorm_2...

Yay! The reason I always look forward to January!! Thank you, @taralazar.bsky.social !! #StoryStorm

The annual list of stuff you want! taralazar.com/2023/12/17/g...

If you're going to be participating in #Storystorm, the Journal is available for purchase now! Proceeds to go to The Highlights Foundation! taralazar.com/2023/12/07/s...

For those of you who miss Dave...a Letterman holiday toy showcase worth the watch! www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBbZ...

As a PB author, I love to play with words. Internal rhyme on first base, Alliteration on second, Onomatopoeia on third. #notahaiku

Apple’s “Fuzzy Feelings” holiday commercial, with George Harrison soundtrack, is so well done…sweet but not cloying…not your typical holiday fare, but an instant classic. Like a finely-paced picture book. m.youtube.com/watch?v=LMH5...

Finished rewriting a picture book this weekend. Kept wordplay (including title) but it’s a totally different story. First time *I think* I tackled it successfully. Took months of making small changes, stepping back, and thinking.

Apple’s “Fuzzy Feelings” holiday commercial, with George Harrison soundtrack, is so well done…sweet but not cloying…not your typical holiday fare, but an instant classic. Like a finely-paced picture book. m.youtube.com/watch?v=LMH5...

There should be an app like Shazam for identifying celebrities…just point your camera at the TV and figure out who the heck they are. Yes, I’m old.

I randomly selected STORYSTORM guest bloggers today! Y'all will hear soon!

I know Humphrey Bogart passed relatively young; TIL he was 57. My husband is 58. So, in a way, my husband is older than Humphrey Bogart! How is that possible???

Is this the first time character balloons are appearing BEFORE they become popular icons? Leo and Uncle Dan? Is this a new kind of marketing? I thought characters needed to be known before they appear in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?!

TIL that my daughter’s high school teachers put the students’ phones in a “photel” during class. Nice portmanteau!

Thank you for the bright & shiny, glowy FLAT CAT review, @sylviaichen.bsky.social. You made my week! 🐈❤️📚

Just saw this... SAWDUST IS MAN GLITTER ...and yeah, I approve.

My cat actually hates boxes!

Looking to get a signed copy of DON'T TRUST CATS by me and @MikeBoldt? You should be! Chip is a smart dog with more important life tips to share. It will be out 1/2 and you can pre-order a signed copy from my exceptional hometown bookstore Mr. Mopp’s! www.moppsbooks.com/signed-pre-o...

This is important: know from whom you are getting your publishing advice. If the person hasn’t worked in publishing or published a book, how can they tell you what you need to know?

Did you know the actor James Mason loved drawing cats? www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/02...

I’ll be at the Middletown Township Public Library this Saturday! I hope you can make it!

How FLAT CAT got its start...and how you can guest blog for Storystorm: taralazar.com/2023/11/01/f...

Who remembers? They did not let you down!

YOU GO FIRST looks so cute, @arielbbooks.bsky.social!!!

Look to Charles M. Schulz for picture book pointers! taralazar.com/2023/10/25/u...

😂❤️

(2/2) Some of Mike Boldt’s incredible work, in books by @taralazar.bsky.social , @devpetty.bsky.social , Mike Boldt himself, Adam Mansbach & Camila Alves McConaughey

Now I remember why I haven’t been an enthusiastic Instagram user. I’m constantly bombarded by stuff like this. “DM us! We’ll promote it!”

So you want to publish a book? Let's get real. Getting a book published is the relatively easy part. The difficult part is selling that book to consumers. Remember that. Hardly anyone says it. The difficult part is selling, not publishing. (Publishing is still hard, but not as hard as selling.)

I think I just sold a book to the representative who answered my call at United Healthcare. Desperate times call for desperate sales techniques.

Team Yuck here.

Today’s New York Times Connections featured a fat cat instead of a flat one. Oh well.

Ah, to be as content as a cat

I was today years old when I learned there are baguette vending machines in France, mostly for small villages who don’t have bakeries. Bon appetite!

New invention!

I keep getting ads on my phone for diaper pails. Do they know something I don’t???

Snoopy made his Peanuts comic strip debut this week in 1950! www.history.com/news/9-thing...

Which was your favorite as a kid? I’m roast turkey 🦃

I wanna know why in the Ruggable commercial a woman folds a huge rug into a basket to take it to the washing machine. Just walk it to the machine! Use the basket as a planter for your succulents! Yeah, I know you have succulents.

I’ve got nothing pithy. Read my books if you wanna laugh. 📚

The photo Chappaqua Children’s Book Featival featured in their recent email includes my number one salesman, also known as my long-suffering husband! In the waaaaaay back…

It’s gonna be may! 😂😂😂

From Tilbury House “As Matt Forrest Esenwine’s words offer the advice that the title promises, Sonia Possentini's vibrant illustrations let the stars light up the fabulous night sky" THE THING TO REMEMBER ABOUT STARGAZING www.teacherdance.org/2023/10/its-...

Goose, why is it not MEESE???