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Thursday, February 21, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
What Makes a Writer Smile
Photos like these! Check it out, friends in DC took this one at their local Barnes & Noble:
How happy did that make me?
Then a friend in the Bay area sent THIS is, from her local B&N:
Which made me say:
Then today, friends in the UK sent me this shot, showing what they've been up to lately:
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That's how you make a writer smile.
How happy did that make me?
Then a friend in the Bay area sent THIS is, from her local B&N:
Which made me say:
Then today, friends in the UK sent me this shot, showing what they've been up to lately:
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I grinned so wide and hard that the rest of me disappeared.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
What Writers Don't Know About Their Book Sales or - Just About Everything
So, you're a writer and you're busy writing your third book. Your second book just came out, and it's doing okay, you think.
And you think that but really you have just NO FLIPPING IDEA how it's doing.
People ask me how book sales are going, and the truth is I don't know.
And that's because there is no one source for book sales, and some sources won't share their info. I can look at what Amazon tells me on my Author Page, but those numbers don't include: 1. Sales from independent book stores who don't use bookscan. 2. Kindle sales. (No, really. Amazon won't tell me how many electronic copies they've sold of my books on Kindle. You would think that would be the easiest thing thing for them to track and to share with an author. But no.) 3. Nook sales. (Barnes and Noble doesn't even have an Author page or its equivalent, so forget it!) 4. Kobo sales. 5. Sony E-Reader Sales. 6. Random other sales that apparently happen that nobody knows about.
You would think in this age of electronic whatchamajiggies and tracking thingamabobs that it would all be known.
No, it is not flippin' known!
So when I get a cool @reply on Twitter from a friend telling me that OTHERKIN has hit #94 on the Amazon Teen Fantasy (Kindle) charts, I rush out and squee and tweet about it. And I watch obsessively throughout the day, refreshing the OTHERKIN page to see if it's moved. And it did move! All the way up to #81 on that chart! Then it was on two charts - Kindle Teen Fantasy and Kindle Children's Books at spots 84 and 99!
Now today, it's not on either chart, but is (as I type this) ranked #4,694. OTHERMOON isn't far behind.
But what does that mean?
Say it with me:
I do know it's a good thing to be on a chart somewhere. Being in the top 100 (or top 10, as OTHERKIN was on the Sony Reader store Children's list last year for awhile) is better than not being in it.
Now this may vary, depending on your publisher. Another writer told me that her publisher sent her weekly emails with sales numbers.
I hope she's right. But I can't quite believe it. It's like believing in fairies or the Easter Bunny. You want it to be true, but if your life depended on believing it... like, if a vampire was coming at you and you held up a picture of the Easter Bunny to fend it off, would the vampire flinch back? Or would it laugh and tear the picture from your hand, saying, "Your lack of faith will be your doom!"
What if the Easter Bunny was a vampire? Oh wait. They did that story. And it was awesome.
So I celebrated and tweeted being on the Amazon charts yesterday. But I have no idea what that really means for my sales. It's good - don't get me wrong. But I can't quantify "good" for you. I wish I could.
Eventually I will get royalty statements. I'm looking forward to those.
Sort of.
I think some part of me is glad not to know, not to quantify my writing too much. It's a creative process. Getting numbery about it isn't conducive to my creativity.
Meanwhile, a three day weekend is coming up, which means ... more writing away at book 3. Wish me luck. Wishing you a happy:
And you think that but really you have just NO FLIPPING IDEA how it's doing.
People ask me how book sales are going, and the truth is I don't know.
And that's because there is no one source for book sales, and some sources won't share their info. I can look at what Amazon tells me on my Author Page, but those numbers don't include: 1. Sales from independent book stores who don't use bookscan. 2. Kindle sales. (No, really. Amazon won't tell me how many electronic copies they've sold of my books on Kindle. You would think that would be the easiest thing thing for them to track and to share with an author. But no.) 3. Nook sales. (Barnes and Noble doesn't even have an Author page or its equivalent, so forget it!) 4. Kobo sales. 5. Sony E-Reader Sales. 6. Random other sales that apparently happen that nobody knows about.
You would think in this age of electronic whatchamajiggies and tracking thingamabobs that it would all be known.
No, it is not flippin' known!
So when I get a cool @reply on Twitter from a friend telling me that OTHERKIN has hit #94 on the Amazon Teen Fantasy (Kindle) charts, I rush out and squee and tweet about it. And I watch obsessively throughout the day, refreshing the OTHERKIN page to see if it's moved. And it did move! All the way up to #81 on that chart! Then it was on two charts - Kindle Teen Fantasy and Kindle Children's Books at spots 84 and 99!
Now today, it's not on either chart, but is (as I type this) ranked #4,694. OTHERMOON isn't far behind.
But what does that mean?
Say it with me:
Now this may vary, depending on your publisher. Another writer told me that her publisher sent her weekly emails with sales numbers.
I hope she's right. But I can't quite believe it. It's like believing in fairies or the Easter Bunny. You want it to be true, but if your life depended on believing it... like, if a vampire was coming at you and you held up a picture of the Easter Bunny to fend it off, would the vampire flinch back? Or would it laugh and tear the picture from your hand, saying, "Your lack of faith will be your doom!"
What if the Easter Bunny was a vampire? Oh wait. They did that story. And it was awesome.
So I celebrated and tweeted being on the Amazon charts yesterday. But I have no idea what that really means for my sales. It's good - don't get me wrong. But I can't quantify "good" for you. I wish I could.
Eventually I will get royalty statements. I'm looking forward to those.
Sort of.
I think some part of me is glad not to know, not to quantify my writing too much. It's a creative process. Getting numbery about it isn't conducive to my creativity.
Meanwhile, a three day weekend is coming up, which means ... more writing away at book 3. Wish me luck. Wishing you a happy:
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
A Very Private OTHERKIN Love Letter
I don't normally share love letters. They're the most personal thing there is. But...
Over at Vampire Book Club, for their Character Love Letters event this February (hello, Valentines' Day!) you can read a very private email Caleb sent to Dez between the events of OTHERKIN and OTHERMOON.
The books are from Dez's point of view, so here's a rare chance to get a glimpse inside Caleb's (rather racy and intimate!) thoughts.
Aren't boys fun?
They also have a giveaway, so if you didn't win OTHERMOON in my giveaway, here's another chance!
Over at Vampire Book Club, for their Character Love Letters event this February (hello, Valentines' Day!) you can read a very private email Caleb sent to Dez between the events of OTHERKIN and OTHERMOON.
The books are from Dez's point of view, so here's a rare chance to get a glimpse inside Caleb's (rather racy and intimate!) thoughts.
Aren't boys fun?
They also have a giveaway, so if you didn't win OTHERMOON in my giveaway, here's another chance!
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
Congratulations to the Giveaway Winners!
And thanks to all of you for entering my launch giveaway. Wish I could send books to all of you!
(Wish my handwriting was actually this legible! :)
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
OTHERMOON Launch Giveaway!
It's OTHERMOON's Birthday!
Welcome to the world, little book!
To celebrate, I'm giving away three personally signed copies. This is an international giveaway, so if you live somewhere in the world that I can reach you via mail, you may enter!
Check out the nifty Rafflecopter widget below for the two ways you can enter - either by commenting on this post on my blog, and/or by tweeting.
You've got a week - from January 29 to February 5, to enter. Winners will be selected randomly, and all that kind of jazz.
Let the fanfare be played!
And let the giveaway begin...
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Welcome to the world, little book!
To celebrate, I'm giving away three personally signed copies. This is an international giveaway, so if you live somewhere in the world that I can reach you via mail, you may enter!
Check out the nifty Rafflecopter widget below for the two ways you can enter - either by commenting on this post on my blog, and/or by tweeting.
You've got a week - from January 29 to February 5, to enter. Winners will be selected randomly, and all that kind of jazz.
Let the fanfare be played!
And let the giveaway begin...
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Monday, January 28, 2013
OTHERMOON is Out Tomorrow!
Warning:
Because my second book, OTHERMOON will be out tomorrow. I think my head's going to explode - and emit a shower of champagne. Or gumballs. Or, ya know, brains and blood. Depending.
To celebrate, tomorrow I will be posting a giveaway of the book. Multiple copies will be launched into the readersphere to beguile or bewilder you.
Meanwhile, here's a very nice review of the first book, OTHERKIN, from City of Books. Huzzah!
And here's a poster for the Authors After Dark YA Day, which I'll be attending in Savannah, Georgia in August. Should be a blast! Fellow author and my critique partner Elisa Nader (her book will be out this summer and you must read it!) had kindly volunteered to be my date at this event. More huzzahs!
Okay, back to work. Currently researching tabloids for super secret project and found this juicy front page - most apropos. And I don't mean the fascinating sounding article about Howard Stern's face appearing with Satan in volcano smoke...
To celebrate, tomorrow I will be posting a giveaway of the book. Multiple copies will be launched into the readersphere to beguile or bewilder you.
Meanwhile, here's a very nice review of the first book, OTHERKIN, from City of Books. Huzzah!
And here's a poster for the Authors After Dark YA Day, which I'll be attending in Savannah, Georgia in August. Should be a blast! Fellow author and my critique partner Elisa Nader (her book will be out this summer and you must read it!) had kindly volunteered to be my date at this event. More huzzahs!
Okay, back to work. Currently researching tabloids for super secret project and found this juicy front page - most apropos. And I don't mean the fascinating sounding article about Howard Stern's face appearing with Satan in volcano smoke...
Sunday, January 27, 2013
One Day Till Othermoon is released!
My shameless countdown to the launch of OTHERMOON continues! As I type this, the counter says one day, eight hours and *mumblety mumblety* minutes till it's out! That's midnight Pacific time, of course.
On the day the book comes out, I will post about a fabulous giveaway! So stay tuned.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking about the number one. Roar it out loud - ONE!
Is it indeed the loneliest number?
As Three Dog Night says, two can also be pretty damned lonely, depending on how the two of you are getting along at the moment.
(Also - how awesome is Three Dog Night? My favorite song when I was a kid was their "Joy to the World," which continues to be amazing:
I thought of it as the bullfrog song, naturally.)
One is the last whole number before you get to zero, after all. It's sort of standing out there by itself, a bullwark against nothingness.
But in a countdown, it can be a pretty aweseome number, because next comes the thing you're anticipating. Here's Apollo 11's countdown and take off, which lead to men landing on the moon, which is about as cool a thing as has ever happened EVER:
The rocket itself is like a big number one. Or a finger pointing at the sky, as if to say "That's where I'm headed, guys. Stand back!"
It's also a very simple number, mathmatically, which makes me happy as a non-mathy sort of person. Anything you multiply it by stays the same, and it's super easy to add and subtract, thank you very much. It's evolution as a numeral isn't particularly complex:
For fans of a certain boy band, one is something they think of as primarily part of that band's name.
(For those of you over the age of 17 or without kids, that's One Direction.)
One indicates a certain wholeness, a lack of division, a unity. Are we one?
On a good day, I think we are.
On the day the book comes out, I will post about a fabulous giveaway! So stay tuned.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking about the number one. Roar it out loud - ONE!
Is it indeed the loneliest number?
As Three Dog Night says, two can also be pretty damned lonely, depending on how the two of you are getting along at the moment.
(Also - how awesome is Three Dog Night? My favorite song when I was a kid was their "Joy to the World," which continues to be amazing:
I thought of it as the bullfrog song, naturally.)
One is the last whole number before you get to zero, after all. It's sort of standing out there by itself, a bullwark against nothingness.
But in a countdown, it can be a pretty aweseome number, because next comes the thing you're anticipating. Here's Apollo 11's countdown and take off, which lead to men landing on the moon, which is about as cool a thing as has ever happened EVER:
The rocket itself is like a big number one. Or a finger pointing at the sky, as if to say "That's where I'm headed, guys. Stand back!"
It's also a very simple number, mathmatically, which makes me happy as a non-mathy sort of person. Anything you multiply it by stays the same, and it's super easy to add and subtract, thank you very much. It's evolution as a numeral isn't particularly complex:
(For those of you over the age of 17 or without kids, that's One Direction.)
One indicates a certain wholeness, a lack of division, a unity. Are we one?
On a good day, I think we are.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Two Days Till Othermoon!
As I write, it's two days, eleven hours and *mumble mumble* minutes and seconds till OTHERMOON's launch date!
Winston Churchill knows what I'm talking about.
Oh yes, I'm shameless, using historical figures to countdown the days till my book is out. Check it out.
Okay, so that's a peace sign. And Churchill is flashing the V for Victory sign. But you need two fingers to make those signs, right?
On a serious note - I love and admire John Lennon. (Churchill's cool and all, but does not inspire the same feeling of lurve, luff, love. you get the idea.)
Because all you need is love.
But I digress. Here's how the number 2 came to look the way it does:
It's an important number for many reasons - not just because it's two days till OTHERMOON. Sometimes it's really better to have two of something.
When you find just one of these, it's really annoying.
You need two people to make more people. Heck, you need two of any kind of mammal to make more. Without two you don't get the concept of dualism (good vs. evil), or the Hegelian dialectic (you can't have any kind of dialogue at all without at least two!) It's the atomic number of helium, the first even number, and DNA is made from a double helix.
In China, they say "good things come in twos." Plus, there's this:
So happy Two Days Before Othermoon Day! Think I can get it made into an official holiday?
Oh wait, it's Saturday.
Nevermind.
Winston Churchill knows what I'm talking about.
Oh yes, I'm shameless, using historical figures to countdown the days till my book is out. Check it out.
Okay, so that's a peace sign. And Churchill is flashing the V for Victory sign. But you need two fingers to make those signs, right?
On a serious note - I love and admire John Lennon. (Churchill's cool and all, but does not inspire the same feeling of lurve, luff, love. you get the idea.)
Because all you need is love.
But I digress. Here's how the number 2 came to look the way it does:
It's an important number for many reasons - not just because it's two days till OTHERMOON. Sometimes it's really better to have two of something.
When you find just one of these, it's really annoying.
You need two people to make more people. Heck, you need two of any kind of mammal to make more. Without two you don't get the concept of dualism (good vs. evil), or the Hegelian dialectic (you can't have any kind of dialogue at all without at least two!) It's the atomic number of helium, the first even number, and DNA is made from a double helix.
In China, they say "good things come in twos." Plus, there's this:
So happy Two Days Before Othermoon Day! Think I can get it made into an official holiday?
Oh wait, it's Saturday.
Nevermind.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Three Days Till Othermoon!
That's right! My second book will be out Tuesday, January 29, and I'm counting down the days, pointlessly but in a fun way, here.
And yes, three is a magic number:
Another way it's magic? If you type a "greater than" sign - < - then the digit 3, it means love because it makes a sideways heart.
THREE, baby! It rules!
According to Wikipedia, this is how 3 evolved to look how it does today:
Just a few examples of how three shows up in major religions:
And although "the third time's the charm," the "third man" to do something bad, is the one who'll get caught.
And, of course, bad luck comes in threes.
Maybe I'm glad tomorrow we'll be down to two days?
And yes, three is a magic number:
Another way it's magic? If you type a "greater than" sign - < - then the digit 3, it means love because it makes a sideways heart.
According to Wikipedia, this is how 3 evolved to look how it does today:
- the Christian Holy Trinity
- the Hindu Trimurti
- the Hindu Tridevi
- the Three Jewels of Buddhism
- the Three Pure Ones of Taoism
- the Triple Goddess of Wicca
And although "the third time's the charm," the "third man" to do something bad, is the one who'll get caught.
And, of course, bad luck comes in threes.
Maybe I'm glad tomorrow we'll be down to two days?
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Let the OTHERMOON Countdown Begin!
Holy moly, the second book in the OTHERKIN series - OTHERMOON - will be out next fricking Tuesday! That's four days and mumble mumble minutes!
To keep me from going insane until then, here are some of the reviews it's been getting. And hell yes I put it large font! Wouldn't you?
To keep me from going insane until then, here are some of the reviews it's been getting. And hell yes I put it large font! Wouldn't you?
“Plenty to enjoy in the action-packed sequel… Fans of the series and new readers alike will find themselves anxiously turning pages… On the surface, this appears to be a novel meant to satisfy ravenous paranormal-fantasy fans looking for an exciting read with a hearty order of romance on the side. While it certainly fills the bill, there’s depth here that shouldn’t be overlooked. Dez wrestles with real-life issues about identity and belonging, about trust and loyalty, and about friendship and love that will resonate with teen readers across genres.” – Kirkus Reviews
The full Kirkus review is great and you can see it here.
School Library Journal got around to reviewing OTHERKIN, and I'm so glad they did! Their full review will be out in their 2/2013 issue.
“Readers will be swept away by the romance and paranormal elements of this debut tale..” – School Library Journal
Thanks for putting up with me blabbing about my good reviews. I'm girding my loins, battening down the hatches, and peeling eggs (don't ask) in preparation!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
In Which January 10th is Declared Paul "Doc" Berry Day in Honor of My Father
My father's friends are pretty amazing. He has chosen them wisely over the years. In July of last year, one of them, Josh Reppun, asked me to help him and a few others nominate my father to be a Living Treasure by the Hongwanji Buddhist Mission, which designates certain denizens of Hawaii to be thus every year.
So I edited a document lauding my amazing father's many wonderful qualities and achievements. He's an educator, a filmmaker, a writer, an advocate for sustainability, a deep thinker, a problem solver, a great friend, father, brother, uncle.... I could go on and on.
But the Hongwanji Buddhist Mission did not select Dad to be a Living Treasure, despite the fact that he is eminently qualified. (Not that I'm biased!)
A photo of Dad from awhile back:
Who cares? Everyone in Hawaii knows and loves Dad. During his years as a teacher at Punahou, at UH, as a board member of many charities, as an op-ed writer, as a legislative witness, as a pot-stirrer and trouble-maker for lazy thinkers, Dad has met and talked to just about everyone in the state. A bunch of his students from Punahou started a fellowship in his name to teach teachers about issues of sustainability. He's that kind of guy.
So Dad's friends made their testimonial about him into a book and threw him a surprise "Living Treasure" party. About 100 folks showed up. Including Neil Abercrombie, the governor of Hawaii, who declared January 10, 2013 to be Paul "Doc" Berry Day. Here's the proclamation:
And here's video of part of the governor's speech:
Dad was given many leis, as is the custom in Hawaii. Here he is with Liz Foster, who was my creative writing teacher in high school, and a good friend to us both.
And here he is in a moment of genuine laughter and delight.
Here's video of one of his friends listing his many roles in life:
And here is part of Dad's typically humble and funny speech.
I wish I could have been there. I was in spirit, of course. And I'll be back there soon to see him and my mother - who although she may not have as wide a circle, rivals my father in the depth of her integrity and her contributions to society.
I'm a lucky daughter.
So I edited a document lauding my amazing father's many wonderful qualities and achievements. He's an educator, a filmmaker, a writer, an advocate for sustainability, a deep thinker, a problem solver, a great friend, father, brother, uncle.... I could go on and on.
But the Hongwanji Buddhist Mission did not select Dad to be a Living Treasure, despite the fact that he is eminently qualified. (Not that I'm biased!)
A photo of Dad from awhile back:
Who cares? Everyone in Hawaii knows and loves Dad. During his years as a teacher at Punahou, at UH, as a board member of many charities, as an op-ed writer, as a legislative witness, as a pot-stirrer and trouble-maker for lazy thinkers, Dad has met and talked to just about everyone in the state. A bunch of his students from Punahou started a fellowship in his name to teach teachers about issues of sustainability. He's that kind of guy.
So Dad's friends made their testimonial about him into a book and threw him a surprise "Living Treasure" party. About 100 folks showed up. Including Neil Abercrombie, the governor of Hawaii, who declared January 10, 2013 to be Paul "Doc" Berry Day. Here's the proclamation:
And here's video of part of the governor's speech:
Dad was given many leis, as is the custom in Hawaii. Here he is with Liz Foster, who was my creative writing teacher in high school, and a good friend to us both.
And here he is in a moment of genuine laughter and delight.
Here's video of one of his friends listing his many roles in life:
And here is part of Dad's typically humble and funny speech.
I wish I could have been there. I was in spirit, of course. And I'll be back there soon to see him and my mother - who although she may not have as wide a circle, rivals my father in the depth of her integrity and her contributions to society.
I'm a lucky daughter.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Another Giveaway - Win a Signed Advance Copy of Othermoon
Hear ye, hear ye! I'm doing another giveaway on Goodreads, handing out two signed copies of OTHERMOON to readers in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia!
Click below to enter. It's open from now till January 17. And good luck!
Click below to enter. It's open from now till January 17. And good luck!
Friday, January 04, 2013
Otherkin Now Available as an Audiobook!
I'm so excited to share this news - my first novel, OTHERKIN, is now available on audio from Audible!
The crazy thing is, I haven't even had a chance to listen to it yet myself. But the sample from Kathleen McInearny sounds awesome, and as weirdly big-headed as it might sound, I can't wait to hear the whole thing. Something about listening to it makes me feel more like a "reader" than the writer, if that makes any sense.
Book 2, OTHERMOON, is also contracted to come out as an audiobook. I'll let you know when.
I'm hopeful book 3 will also eventually be available in this format. My favorite way to listen to audiobooks is in the car during a long drive, or in little bits every morning on my way to and from work. I've been known to linger in my garage to get to the end of a chapter, although at least with my own books, I don't have to hang on to find out what happens!
The crazy thing is, I haven't even had a chance to listen to it yet myself. But the sample from Kathleen McInearny sounds awesome, and as weirdly big-headed as it might sound, I can't wait to hear the whole thing. Something about listening to it makes me feel more like a "reader" than the writer, if that makes any sense.
Book 2, OTHERMOON, is also contracted to come out as an audiobook. I'll let you know when.
I'm hopeful book 3 will also eventually be available in this format. My favorite way to listen to audiobooks is in the car during a long drive, or in little bits every morning on my way to and from work. I've been known to linger in my garage to get to the end of a chapter, although at least with my own books, I don't have to hang on to find out what happens!
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Kirkus Review of Othermoon is In!
...and it's awesome.
I can't reprint the whole thing for you (legal reasons), but I can give you the "pull quote" here. If you're a member of the Kirkus site, you can read the full review here.
I can't reprint the whole thing for you (legal reasons), but I can give you the "pull quote" here. If you're a member of the Kirkus site, you can read the full review here.
Woo hoo!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Writing - Even on Vacation
Wendy snapped this photo of me writing in our cabin at Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary in Thailand:
Boy, it was HOT that afternoon. Got my hair up. Surrounded by photos of elephants and lovely dark wood.
Boy, it was HOT that afternoon. Got my hair up. Surrounded by photos of elephants and lovely dark wood.
Friday, December 28, 2012
In Which I Travel to Thailand and Breakfast with Elephants
I'm typing this in Phuket, Thailand, from a ridiculously luxurious resort that makes me a little sad.
Allow me to explain.
I flew from Los Angeles to Bangkok a little over a week ago. The trip took nearly three days thanks to a delayed flight in LA. So my travel buddy Wendy and I had to spend the night at the Radisson in Tokyo. Could have been way worse, but it was extremely tiring. I did, however, get to try out an amazing Japanese toilet in my room which had a heated seat and various settings to rinse you in various places. The dang thing could probably make toast in the morning if you tried.
By the time we got to Bangkok it was late, and we had to fly out the next morning to Sukhothai, a town in the central plains area of Thailand, about 90 kilometers from the Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary, our ultimate destination. So we found a cheap airport hotel in some suburb near the airport called The Cottage which had a restaurant called Amigos that served delicious panang curry.
The air here is warm and damp. This is neither the hottest nor the coolest time of year - it's the dry season. Which means we've seen no rain, but the air is still pregnant with moisture. Growing up in Hawaii made me accustomed to humidity, but not like this. Hawaii enjoys trade winds thanks to its location in the middle of a vast ocean. Thailand enjoys no such relief. I have come to understand the atmosphere in The Bridge on the River Kwai all too well.
I find this sort of heat a bit paralyzing. Also I was very tired because I don't sleep well on planes or sleep well in general.
Then we got to Boon Lotts, or BLES. Oh my dear readers. It is a wonderful place, an elephant sanctuary that is truly all about the elephants (and the five dogs and 14 cats). As beautiful as Phuket is (and more on it in a bit), everything else pales in comparison to the wonder of BLES.
First, the advisory. BLES does not ask its elephants to perform, because that's not what elephants are made to do. You won't get to ride them or see them paint or even get too close to some of them because they're trying to release them back into the wild. There are three elephants, however, that you do get to touch and chat with and feed. They are Lotus, Pang Dow, and wonderful Wassana. The first two have foot issues they are slowly overcoming due to years of abuse before they got here, so they won't be able to go back to the wild, and they are very gentle and accustomed to people. Wassana is their joyous friend. Here I am giving her a banana bunch early one morning.
And here I am leaning against her. (Keep in mind it's early, I'm tired and wearing no make up. BLES is not a make-upy sort of place.) That's Lotus's butt on the right. Pang Dow is just off camera.
They're eating from the banana trough, and if you go there, you can hand them bananas and chat with them and just hang out like you're old friends. Here's our friend Dan sharing a secret with Lotus.
And the other elephants are ridiculously entertaining just wallowing in the lotus pond or scratching their sides against a river bank or ducking their head under the water. Here's flower girl Lom (she's been known to pick flowers and toss them on her head) playing with baby boy Mee Chok, who is nearly completely submerged.
And here is lovely little Mee Chok. He has the most amazing eyes.
When I say little, that means he's only three, at which time an elephant should still be with their mother. He's a rescue, so the lovely Lom and slightly older Pang Tong are his family now, with bull elephant Somai as a kind of father figure. They make a charming, devoted family.
Mee Chok weighs an estimated 2000 pounds, and is growing handsome tusks. Only male Asian elephants grow tusks you can see. The females have tusks in their cheeks that never grow out.
Sometimes the family of four would hang out together just below our cabin. Here's Wendy watching them.
If any of this interests you and you can afford it, I can't recommend visiting BLES enough. The water you bathe in is tepid at best, and the weather is hot. But the vegetarian food is delicious, the host and elephant/animal activist Katherine is inspiring and warm and welcoming, and you'll get to really know some amazing creatures. It also turns you into an elephant radical. Because seeing elephants get to be elephants made it tough when you later see them forced to perform (often drugged or coerced or abused to make them do these unnatural things) in other places
Which brings me to why the beautiful Phuket makes me sad. Thanks to Wendy's accumulation of award points, we're staying at a five-star resort for free. It's gorgeous - long white sand beaches, greenery everywhere, amazing service and delicious food.
But I've seen two baby elephants here, younger than Mee Chok, probably drugged to keep them from being too rambunctious, taken from their mothers far too soon, forced to pose for photos and entertain the guests here. The guests haven't been to BLES or haven't done research and so don't understand that these tiny babies need to be with their families for years after they are born. Seeing this adorable hairy baby elephant walking up and down the beach with its mahout makes me, and the others who went to BLES, very very sad and a bit angry. We've seen how the older Mee Chok still needs his doting adopted parents, how affectionately the elephants touch each other, how very social they are amongst themselves. To think of these babies here, and other elephants all over the world, ripped from their families or left alone in zoos or other attractions is truly tragic.
I can't even bear to post the photo I took of the baby elephant in Phuket. I don't want to encourage any kind of further exploitation of these amazing creatures by posting his cuteness.
I want to take the babies here and whisk them off to BLES to lead the life elephants should. But I can't. So I'm going to buy the BLES calendar and continue to contribute to Katherine's mission in whatever way I can. I'm also going to write a letter to the resort here, asking them to consider banning baby elephant performers.
We have to start somewhere. The city of Los Angeles just banned the use of performing elephants inside the city. It's just one small spot on the map, but maybe awareness will spread.
There's more to the Thailand trip - ancient temples, cool markets full of nifty things, biking down tree-lined boulevards, visiting monasteries, and so on. It's a land full of fascinating history and culture. Hopefully I'll post more on that soon.
Allow me to explain.
I flew from Los Angeles to Bangkok a little over a week ago. The trip took nearly three days thanks to a delayed flight in LA. So my travel buddy Wendy and I had to spend the night at the Radisson in Tokyo. Could have been way worse, but it was extremely tiring. I did, however, get to try out an amazing Japanese toilet in my room which had a heated seat and various settings to rinse you in various places. The dang thing could probably make toast in the morning if you tried.
By the time we got to Bangkok it was late, and we had to fly out the next morning to Sukhothai, a town in the central plains area of Thailand, about 90 kilometers from the Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary, our ultimate destination. So we found a cheap airport hotel in some suburb near the airport called The Cottage which had a restaurant called Amigos that served delicious panang curry.
The air here is warm and damp. This is neither the hottest nor the coolest time of year - it's the dry season. Which means we've seen no rain, but the air is still pregnant with moisture. Growing up in Hawaii made me accustomed to humidity, but not like this. Hawaii enjoys trade winds thanks to its location in the middle of a vast ocean. Thailand enjoys no such relief. I have come to understand the atmosphere in The Bridge on the River Kwai all too well.
I find this sort of heat a bit paralyzing. Also I was very tired because I don't sleep well on planes or sleep well in general.
Then we got to Boon Lotts, or BLES. Oh my dear readers. It is a wonderful place, an elephant sanctuary that is truly all about the elephants (and the five dogs and 14 cats). As beautiful as Phuket is (and more on it in a bit), everything else pales in comparison to the wonder of BLES.
First, the advisory. BLES does not ask its elephants to perform, because that's not what elephants are made to do. You won't get to ride them or see them paint or even get too close to some of them because they're trying to release them back into the wild. There are three elephants, however, that you do get to touch and chat with and feed. They are Lotus, Pang Dow, and wonderful Wassana. The first two have foot issues they are slowly overcoming due to years of abuse before they got here, so they won't be able to go back to the wild, and they are very gentle and accustomed to people. Wassana is their joyous friend. Here I am giving her a banana bunch early one morning.
And here I am leaning against her. (Keep in mind it's early, I'm tired and wearing no make up. BLES is not a make-upy sort of place.) That's Lotus's butt on the right. Pang Dow is just off camera.
They're eating from the banana trough, and if you go there, you can hand them bananas and chat with them and just hang out like you're old friends. Here's our friend Dan sharing a secret with Lotus.
And the other elephants are ridiculously entertaining just wallowing in the lotus pond or scratching their sides against a river bank or ducking their head under the water. Here's flower girl Lom (she's been known to pick flowers and toss them on her head) playing with baby boy Mee Chok, who is nearly completely submerged.
And here is lovely little Mee Chok. He has the most amazing eyes.
When I say little, that means he's only three, at which time an elephant should still be with their mother. He's a rescue, so the lovely Lom and slightly older Pang Tong are his family now, with bull elephant Somai as a kind of father figure. They make a charming, devoted family.
Mee Chok weighs an estimated 2000 pounds, and is growing handsome tusks. Only male Asian elephants grow tusks you can see. The females have tusks in their cheeks that never grow out.
Sometimes the family of four would hang out together just below our cabin. Here's Wendy watching them.
If any of this interests you and you can afford it, I can't recommend visiting BLES enough. The water you bathe in is tepid at best, and the weather is hot. But the vegetarian food is delicious, the host and elephant/animal activist Katherine is inspiring and warm and welcoming, and you'll get to really know some amazing creatures. It also turns you into an elephant radical. Because seeing elephants get to be elephants made it tough when you later see them forced to perform (often drugged or coerced or abused to make them do these unnatural things) in other places
Which brings me to why the beautiful Phuket makes me sad. Thanks to Wendy's accumulation of award points, we're staying at a five-star resort for free. It's gorgeous - long white sand beaches, greenery everywhere, amazing service and delicious food.
But I've seen two baby elephants here, younger than Mee Chok, probably drugged to keep them from being too rambunctious, taken from their mothers far too soon, forced to pose for photos and entertain the guests here. The guests haven't been to BLES or haven't done research and so don't understand that these tiny babies need to be with their families for years after they are born. Seeing this adorable hairy baby elephant walking up and down the beach with its mahout makes me, and the others who went to BLES, very very sad and a bit angry. We've seen how the older Mee Chok still needs his doting adopted parents, how affectionately the elephants touch each other, how very social they are amongst themselves. To think of these babies here, and other elephants all over the world, ripped from their families or left alone in zoos or other attractions is truly tragic.
I can't even bear to post the photo I took of the baby elephant in Phuket. I don't want to encourage any kind of further exploitation of these amazing creatures by posting his cuteness.
I want to take the babies here and whisk them off to BLES to lead the life elephants should. But I can't. So I'm going to buy the BLES calendar and continue to contribute to Katherine's mission in whatever way I can. I'm also going to write a letter to the resort here, asking them to consider banning baby elephant performers.
We have to start somewhere. The city of Los Angeles just banned the use of performing elephants inside the city. It's just one small spot on the map, but maybe awareness will spread.
There's more to the Thailand trip - ancient temples, cool markets full of nifty things, biking down tree-lined boulevards, visiting monasteries, and so on. It's a land full of fascinating history and culture. Hopefully I'll post more on that soon.
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