I almost started this post with “Ooh la la!” but then I stopped myself from being stereotypical in my post about being translated into French. Although, I suppose I still wrote it, so I failed at that. Still, I am over the moon that my first two books have been translated and are available in Quebec and French Canada through Editions Scholastic. They are also available in France, through Actes Sud Junior.

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying seeing the little differences in the two translations, and the covers for the France editions are pretty adorable too.

The little Arthur Bean that could! A Year in the Life of a Total and Complete Genius is available in Brazil! Now I need to learn Portuguese in order to do my next book tour. Not only do I get to see my book in a language I don’t understand, but I love love love seeing all the promotional stuff coming out of Brazil to sell Arthur Bean. Know people with kids in Brazil? Here’s the link to the wonderful Geracao Jovem.

Plus, check out the cover, and the swag! Mouse pads, lollipops, three different bookmarks, buttons… amazing! I wear the button on my coat every day, hoping someone asks me what it’s for, and why the guy’s head is upside down. No one has… yet…

A Year in the Life of a Total and Complete Genius is also available in Great Britain. The amazing Andersen Press has published the first two books in the Total Genius trilogy.  The covers are opposite colours than the Canadian versions, and Arthur Bean has a face on these versions!   

Getting A Year in the Life of a Total and Complete Genius published with Scholastic Canada was my best and greatest dream come true. My name! On a book! In bookstores! And not just in bookstores, but in the Scholastic book fair?! And in the book orders?! Scholastic order days were the best school days of all time, and now my book was going to be part of that! And then there wasn’t just one Arthur Bean book, but two! And now there are three! Truly, I couldn’t be happier.

But then, Arthur Bean started to travel! The first two books have been picked up in the United States with the delightful and growing publisher Sourcebooks. I love seeing the different covers from the different publishers. Also, interestingly, the
title of the first book has changed slightly. See if you can spot the difference!

It’s been a whirlwind of a six months since A Year in the Life of a Total and Complete Genius was published, and I’ve been learning all kinds of new things, about publishing, about myself, and about my writing habits. I’m procrastinating on book three right now, so, to make myself feel better, I thought I should strike something that is long overdue off of my to-do list: a blog post to recap the last little while.

Things I have learned:

1) I am terrible at keeping a blog. You think I would know this, since I have two other blogs out floating out there in the ether of the internet, one with approximately six entries over two years, and one with none. It has a great title though. I wish I could remember what I was going to say on it. My guess is book reviews, but who knows?

2) I love talking about myself. I find myself so highly entertaining that school visits, and chatting with kids about my favourite subject (me) gives me an adrenaline high that takes hours to wear off. It’s pretty great.

3) I really thought I could get into good writing habits, and every week I try a new tactic to fool myself into writing more. None of them work.

4) Netflix is the devil. A beguiling, enticing devil.

Here’s a photo overview of my life, to date.