Kendra in Korea

Yesterday, I went to Insadong, a popular street market in Seoul, and visited one of my favourite cafes there. It is called “Insadong Stories.” You can enjoy a delicious cup of tea and jot down your own story, poem, or drawing inside one of the many notebooks supplied.

Some people leave their stories or drawings inside the notebooks, while many others tear off their pages and hang them on the walls. As you can see, there are a myriad of stories! Some are sad and woeful, others hopeful or full of joy and exuberance.

Of course, I made sure Kendra left her mark!

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Is this how Eens clean their feet?

Yesterday, I journeyed from Jochiwon, the small town in the countryside of Korea where we taught our time travel camp, to the teeming metropolis of Seoul.

Oh, sweet cityscape! One of the first things I did was go relax in a massage parlor. My favourite part? Dipping my feet into the pool and letting these little fish nibble off all of my dead skin (they call it Doctor Fish; I kid you not). A little disgusting, yes. But also very ticklish. And a little Eenish, if you ask me.

Travelling through Time

"Time Tracker" Megan pauses from her writing.

We just wrapped up time travel camp and we sure are exhausted. If only I could turn back time and get some sleep!

The camp was a massive success (and I even managed to get a bit of drawing done for the new Kendra book). Plus, if you were so lucky as to be at the Time Travel camp you were given a sneak peak at the rough draft of the new Kendra book (well, the humble few chapters that I’ve completed thus far). Well, such is the reward for having to spend six whole days with me and listening to me begin each and every day in song. Yes, I sing. Not well. But everyone should sing and dance in my opinion—even if they cannot sing and dance.

The Time Trackers build their own machine for cosmic travel.

We engaged in some excellent activities at this camp. We built time travelling gadgets, made cave paintings, and even went on a “journey of the mind.”

Are mascot: the time travelling mouse (or, as we like to call him, "Cosmo.")

Want more images from our camp? Just check out our video on youtube.

This is how much I love kimchee

One of the greatest things about being in Korea is the kimchee. What’s kimchee, you ask? It’s a Korean specialty, spicy pickled cabbage—and I LOVE it. In Korea, you can eat kimchee breakfast, lunch, dinner. And, on this trip, I found out you can even eat it for DESSERT. That’s right! As a matter of fact, yesterday I had my very first KIMCHEE DONUT. If you don’t believe me, here’s the photo:

And yes. It was dee-licious!

A Trip Across Time

One of the major things that prevents me from working on my latest Kendra book is travelling. But this time I’m just not travelling across distance; I’m travelling across time.

That’s right! I’m off to Korea tomorrow to teach a creative writing camp to students aged 9-15, all on the theme of Time Travel. Over the next week,”Captain Wiz” and his trusty sidekick “Doctor Kallie” will be visiting ancient Egypt, the Medieval Age, and even the Future.  We’ll also be exploring some alternate time lines, as in the spirit of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

But don’t worry, Kendra fans. I travel with sketchbook, pencils, and pens in hand and hope to get a few things done in between my time jumps.

Authors Like Us: Marianne Mancusi

James McCann and I just posted our interview with vampire and zombie aficionado, Marianne Mancusi, the author of Blood Coven and Zombie Valentine. Check out the interview at the Authors Like Us website, or subscribe at iTunes.

Also, be sure to check out this youtube link of Mari at DragonCon, to find out whose side she takes in a panel entitled “Vampires versus Zombies.” When she isn’t writing, Marianne can be found on the nationally syndicated TV show Better TV.

Land of Giants?

This must be what it feels like to be an Een trying to eat dinner in the Castle of Krodos (which, for those of you who don’t know—and if you don’t, shame on you—once belonged to the giants).

Well, I’ll confess it’s not Krodos. During my recent trip to  Sumner, Washington, for a bookstore visit and school workshop, I managed to sneak away to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. I couldn’t help thinking of Kendra and her diminutive stature when coming upon this display of an over-sized dining room!

Ring of power

For all of you patient Kendra fans out here, here is the main centerpieces of  the new book. It’s called the Kazah stone and, as you can see, it’s hardly a work of perfection . . .

Like all good objects of magic, it has a special power that will bring Kendra and Oki all sorts of adventure . . .

Biggest Oki Fan?

Oki is a pretty popular character, but I didn’t think he would ever become THIS popular . . .

Yes, it’s an Oki tattoo! And it belongs to Paige, a bookseller at A Good Book Cafe in Sumner, Washington, and she claims to be the biggest Oki fan. Getting a tattoo of our reluctant little hero indelibly inscribed upon her skin might just mean she’s proved it.

I had the privilege of seeing the tattoo in person last night after a lovely event at A Good Book Cafe. This is one of my favourite bookstores in the world. It’s a maze of nooks and crannies, stacked with books old and new—but, best of all, the people who play there  are bursting with literary joy. If you are ever in the Puyallup/Auburn area of Washington State, they are worth the visit (plus they are NEVER out of Kendra books)!

Now, for all you kids out there, I highly recommend NOT getting a permanent tattoo. I mean what if you like Oki today, and then by tomorrow your favourite character is Ratchet? Best to stick with just getting an Oki T-shirt!

The Wizard’s Study

Charlotte did such a wonderful job in her drawing of Uncle Griffinskitch’s study (see the last post), so I thought I would show the sketch that she was looking at when she got it in her mind to do her own version. Charlotte included a lot of interesting tidbits in her drawing (such as titles on the book coves and spines), so I obviously will have to do a much better job on my final pen-and-ink illustration if I want to match her eye for detail!