I'm at "bonewarriors.blogspot" now! Click below!

Just click anywhere on this line to see what I've got to say at my new blogsite, bonewarriors.blogspot.com, (because it's easier to spell than "Bahlmann!")

First Autograph

I was so surprised when a student came up to me at school yesterday with a black and white copy of "Bone Warriors" and asked for my autograph that after I signed, I called my mom. "Hey, I just gave my first autograph." Mom was surprised, too, and had me ask the girl where she got the book. I found out her parents got an ARC (advanced reader copy) because they own a little store. Then Mom showed up at the end of school with a box delivered by UPS and I opened my ARC copies right there in Mr. Taylor's Earth Systems class. More than one person wanted to buy one, but they're for reviews and blogs and things, so they'll just have to wait.
I made some cool looking business cards, too. I'll give you one next time I see you.

Don't Spit Toothpast Bristles on a Sick Kid

I haven't been feeling well. It's like there's a bug in my head walking around with high heeled stilettos, and one in my stomach playing ping pong with flaming bowling balls, and one in my mind telling me to do things I just can't do. (Like homework, or riding bikes.)
In spite of that, my brother Zack pulled bristles out of his toothbrush with his teeth and spit them on me. Not a nice thing to do to a brother who can't fight back, at least until I get my toothbrush.
I got a blood test at the doctor to see what might me wrong with my innards, but none of the tests so far show anything. We'll see what the Monday results bring. Could be that I'm allergic to school.

Pig Brain Pomelo

Mom got some big yellow fruits called "pomelos." When my little brother, Monkey, asked what they were, I told him they were pig brains wrapped in melted wax. He called Mom to ask if that was true.
Maybe I'll use plastic covered pig brains in some future book.

Website woes

Still trying to get that website up. It's taken weeks to transfer from one provider to another. Now we have a couple of partially built sites to upload, but none that's completely done yet. We've used Dreamweaver and Front Page and one that Dad knows how to do. (Forgot the name.) So with all that technology swimming around, it may be a website like you've never seen before.

Proof Is In The Pudding

What in the world does "proof is in the pudding" mean? I'm not sure, but I do know that the corrected proof for "Bone Warriors" is in the hands of the publisher! We were sent the proof, which means the pages laid out like they'd be in a book, to read over and correct. Only small changes are allowed at this point. I'm not allowed to change my villain or add another plot thread.
So one of my characters is named "Tweaks." When he needs a possessive form, I wanted it to be "Tweaks'." But the publisher said the Chicago manual of style or something like that spells it "Tweaks's." That's a whole lot of hissing s's!
Anyway, it's good to be one step closer to a published book.

My brothers and me and Eagle's nest

Hey, my brother, Zack (the one on the far left) and I (the second one from the right) got our Eagle Scout awards on April 5th! The other guys in the pictures are my big brothers Andy (second from left) and Jeff (far right.) My older brother, Scott, is also an Eagle Scout, but he couldn't be there that day.
Now the only one left to become an Eagle is my little brother, Michael. I promised to help him. He can be annoying, but he's the best little brother I've got. (The only little brother, but still...)

Proposed cover for Bone Warriors

This is the cover they sent for "Bone Warriors." It may be eye-catching, but the characters look reversed. Dark-haired Derrik is supposed to be the leader, and reddish-haired Tweaks is the nerdy follower. That's not how it looks here, is it? The sword is supposed to be a snake man's sword, too, with a snake head on the handle and a wider blade. Maybe they'll fix it.
My original book cover idea was to have a pile of misshapen bones crawling out of a pit with colored smoke coming out of the eye sockets.
I like the back blurb, though.

Discussion Questions for Bone Warriors

Bron shot off 10 discussion questions to the publisher yesterday for "Bone Warriors." They want to include them in the book for groups to discuss. The book should go into production in a day or two, but that's just the ARC, or advanced reader copy. The real thing has been pushed back a couple of weeks, with a scheduled press date somewhere around the first of May.

A Book Contract at age 15!

I've got a contract to publish my first Fantasy book, titled, "Bone Warriors." Scheduled publication is June 2009. Sh. I'm working on re-writes.

Funny Legs

by Shirley Bahlmann
Brian and Michael did wave leg dances at Grandma's house!

Chasing Boredom

Well, it was a long trip. We'd been in the car for about four hours the day before, counting stops, and we were in the car for another two hours today. I wasn't tired enough to sleep, but Grandma's snacks helped me pass the time.
Yeah, that's Mom behind the camera.
She thinks I can do no wrong.

Creature of the Night

Mom got some Sky Runner jumping stilts. I took them to school to my Physics class, which made my teacher happy, and I wear them around town. They make me even taller than I already am. I've learned to jump and run; they make me go pretty fast. I put some glow-in-the-dark tape on them, so you should be able to see the glowing part in the center of the picture. They make me look like some kind of alien or something. I already have some pretty good Halloween costume ideas for these bad boys. I can try them out first on my little brother (sitting on his bicycle.)
This will be a Halloween to remember.

Didn't want to go

I (Bron's mom) had to make an emergency trip to Provo yesterday to get children's writing class book binding supplies. Bron didn't want to go until I told him we'd stop at a recumbent bike shop for some test rides. When we got to the shop... it was CLOSED. On a THURSDAY. The hours posted showed it was open every day of the week but Sunday and Thursday. WHY?
We discovered cheese in a breadstick at Arctic Circle... even I liked the warm, melty, calorie-laden goodness. We got an order to go and went home, recumbent bike-less.

A Fireworks Graveyard

by Shirley Bahlmann
When I was driving with Brian in the car, we drove through a patch of spent fireworks. Brian looked around, then in an indignant voice said, "Mother! You just drove through a fireworks graveyard!"
I wonder if I'll be haunted by sparklers from now on...

माय फर्स्ट बुक

My first book is coming along great. its been at the publishers for about 4 months now and its at 65,000 words.

Towns

Yesterday as my family and I drove home from a visit in Salt Lake, I noticed all the town names like, Pleasant City, Fountain Springs, and Mount Happy Town. This made me wonder why these towns were full of more gangs, graffiti and crimes than my own hometown of Tyre which has very little crime and graffiti. So I wondered what if someone named a town "Crappy Average Town?" would there be violence and fighting as much as in the towns with happy names?

Not that I'm obsessed with death...

by Bron Bahlmann
Hey, just because the first two books I wrote were about graves and bones does not mean I'm obsessed with death, Its just a coincidence. Some other book ideas I have sound much happier like, The Train of Thought, Elemental Glove, Unlikely Allies, The Bark is Worse than the Bite, and about five other books that I plan to write.