HONK IF YOU HATE ME may have a few laughs at the expense of the fast food world, but in reality the fast food world needs no help from me when it comes to inciting giggles. Here are some stand-out fast food moments from the past year: McDonald’s, Part I: “Salt lands McDonald’s employee in […]
Honk If You Love Holes in the Ground
I pulled Monalisa Kent, the reluctant star of my novel HONK IF YOU HATE ME, out of a hole in the ground. An eight-inch-round hole, to be precise. One of the first things I ponder when I read a new book is the inspiration for the story. What sparked that initial idea, or image, or […]
Honk If You Love Men in Tights
HONK IF YOU HATE ME is a book about secret identities, about the wish to be greater than who you are, about the need to feel like you’re more than the schlup that the outside world sees. Kind of puts you in the mind of superheroes, doesn’t it? Think Superman. Think Batman. Think Wonder Woman. […]
Shout out to Hillsdale Middle School
Hey, all you Huskies in Ms. Walther’s and Ms. Morrison’s classes. Thanks for two great days of book talk, hot dog talk, tattoo talk, and all the other stuff we yakked about. And a special thanks to all of you who shared your stories with me. Looks like there are some future novelists at Hillsdale. […]
“Odd” Jobs
I was a professional video game player. No lie. Someone actually paid me to play video games five days a week, eight hours a day, for nine months. My mission? To figure out the secret codes and hidden levels in the hottest games and then work them into one-page summaries of the games’ instruction booklets. […]
Honk If You Love Futons
Futons. What a fabulous word. Go on, say it: Fuuuutonnnns. Can you hear it? Doesn’t your mouth love making those sounds? Ain’t it just plain fun? And isn’t it completely spectacular that there is a person in this world who could, in all seriousness, give a piece of furniture such a delightfully quirky name? I […]
Pickin’ Bones
I’ve got a bone to pick with New Line Cinema. There I was, so excited to be playing on their “Golden Compass” movie website and getting “matched” with my personal daemon that I wrote a blog post telling the world about the great site (okay, so maybe the whole world doesn’t read my blog, but […]
I Need an Extra Head … Or Seven
The late 19th century ushered in some big things for the USA: the concept of Manifest Destiny, the abolition of slavery, the opening of the U.S.’s first hotel in Saratoga Springs…important stuff like that. The 1880s, in particular, were quite interesting: Americans cheered the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Treasure Island, they […]
My live tv interview Nov 3, 2007
I’ll be interviewed live on San Diego’s Fox6 News in the Morning Weekends on November 3, 2007. The show airs 7-9:00 a.m., with me tentatively scheduled to appear between 7:30-8:00. If you can’t see the interview live, you can watch it on my website www.DeborahHalverson.com. Just select “About Deborah” then “Interviews.” I’ll be discussing my […]
A Presidential Kind of Day
My third teen novel, now in progress, is flavored by the ultra-paranoid mindset that saturated our country in the days immediately following 9/11. In creating that flavor, I researched trivia about President George W. Bush this morning. I now know, thanks to the always credible Internet, that Bush’s SAT score was 1260,
Big Burgers, Big Eater, BIG MOUTH
Even if my second novel, BIG MOUTH, wasn’t about competitive eating, this news would’ve caught my eye: Joey Chestnut just ate 103 hamburgers in 8 minutes to win the Krystal Square Off IV World Hamburger Eating Championship. You read that right: 103 hamburgers in 8 minutes. That’s a world record. Or does that go without […]
Honk If You Love Biological Billboards
Biological Billboards. Human Directionals. Banner Shakers. Sign Twirlers. Whatever you call them, they’re eye-catching. And they’re in Honk If You Hate Me.
Hangin’ with the Girls
Last night I hung out with a great bunch of girls in a beautiful home built in 1893. Girl Scout Troop #6493 invited friends, moms, teachers, and a dad to join us in that grand house atop the hill for an evening of book talk, bookmark making, and cookies and lemonade. I’ve always loved talking […]
Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers
Hot diggity dog! A friend of mine just reported the third Wal-Mart sighting of HONK IFYOU HATE ME. Amazing. It’s still so incredibly strange to know that a book with my name on the cover sits on venerable bookstore shelves, but in Wal-Mart, too? Gosh. From my decade as an editor at Harcourt, I know […]
Honk If You Love Meat Mobiles
When I left the house tonight, I had every intention of going to the gym. But instead of pumping iron, I found myself on a dark street corner with the Meat Man. Uh-oh, that sounds bad…. But don’t worry, this is a G-rated post, I promise. On my way to LA Fitness this evening, I […]
