Okay, you tell me when you open for business. Capice?

So there I was being all proper on my main blog, The Year of Writing Dangerously, when I got wind of a firestorm, a brouhaha, an imbroglio even, going on in the blogosphere about something called the YA Mafia. You can get a good history lesson about the fracas here.

Seems as if there's the suspected "in-crowd" who eat virtual sushi and quaff virtual mimosas together--and then there's everyone else.

Well, hey. Just because middle grade's seen as the younger (less desirable?) sister of YA, doesn't mean we can't have a mafia too. Or so it went, through my brain. Which doesn't always deign to show up, I can tell you.

So I called dibs on the blog name. And whadda ya know, it popped up in my profile. And now I even have a follower.

Time to get serious, folks.

I spoke to old Don Vito Corleone @ mafia central. He said it would be a good idea for me to come up with some ideas about what to do with this blog. These were his exact words:

The Don, during our interview

"You know, Michael. Good name, by the way. One of my sons is Michael. You come over here so I can pinch your cheek. What, ya didn't shave? A man's always gotta shave. Look good. Dress nice. I don't care if those blog-types can't see you. You wanna tomato from my garden?"

You don't give the old man any lip. I told him that this blog would be open to all middle grade writers, unpublished or published, didn't matter. I'd kinda like to have the sort of organization they have on The Kill Zone (Corleone loved that name!), where each member of the team blogs on a specific day. Share the middle grade love, so to speak.

"Okay, Michael," he said. "You get down to business. Just make sure these are people you can trust. You know, once you open things up outside the famiglia..."

He bit into his tomato.

I told him I hoped to be up and running by May.

"Good month," he said.

So, if you're a middle grade writer in any shape or form, and would like to hang out, shoot me a line. Let's see if we can't start a firestorm of our own. Spread the word!