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Fall 2008
It’s officially fall, but I am not ready for cold weather and
dreary winter days and snow and ice and chapped lips and pasty skin.
I don’t want to winter-ize the sailboat and plug that strange
electric blanket thing up to our outdoor spigot to prevent the pipes
from freezing. I don’t want to sit in front of the television
and feel the cold air biting my neck and think about how we really should’ve
replaced the windows. I don’t want to have my writing time disrupted
by snow days. NO! I want the beach and the sun and those warm summer
nights with croaking frogs and lightning bugs. I want tan skin. I want
toenail polish. I want flip-flops. I want those afternoons at the pool
and a reasonable excuse for not bathing my children—chlorine kills
the germs.
It’s true, though. Summer ’08 is officially over.
There are some good things about summer being over. Actually, I can
think of two things: new episodes of The Office and the sound of the
school bus lumbering up my street each morning. I love that sound, even
though I’m glad I no longer ride the Stupid Smelly Bus, as Junie
B. Jones calls it. The bus is so much more appealing in my memory (all
sunny and yellow) than it was in real life—stale air, cracked
vinyl seats, gum stuck everywhere, and smudged windows that never opened
properly, which explains the stale air. I digress…
So why am I so reluctant to let summer go? I can sum it up in two words—Artichoke’s
Heart. This was the summer I’d been waiting for most of my adult
life, the summer of publication. This was the summer when I became an
official author, and you know, I have to stop blogging about this and
get over the whole I’m-now-a-published-author thing, but a first
book is like a first child. It may seem like just another book/child
to everyone else, but to you it feels like a miracle.
So, what’s next? Well, the new book, Somebody Everybody Listens
To, is in my expert editor’s hands for now, and since I’m
not big on days off, I’ve started yet another book. Down time
for me is just down time, if you know what I mean. In other news, I’ve
been getting emails from WONDERFUL readers, which is always nice, so
thank you if you’ve written to me, and I recently attended the
Baltimore Book Festival. I’m also going to Nashville for the Southern
Festival of Books, and I’ll be doing a live chat with librarian
Sarah Bean and her teen readers out in Springfield, Missouri. In November,
I’ll be signing books at St. John’s Church in Glyndon, Maryland,
and there are a few school visits in the works, so keep checking the
website for details.
Even if summer ’08 is a thing of the past, life is good and busy.
It’s also pretty exciting to think that the next time I blog (unless
I get better about blogging) our nation will have a new president! No
matter what your political views are, please go out and VOTE! And, if
you’re not old enough to vote, nag your parents and grandparents
and teachers to vote!
Happy fall to all!
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| The very, very, very rainy Baltimore
Book Festival! Thank you to the Book Divas for making this such
a great event in spite of the lousy weather. www.bookdivas.com |
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L to R: YA authors Brad Barkley (Jars
of Glass), Robin Wasserman (Skinned), Diana Rodriguez Wallach (Amor
and Summer Secrets) and me (having a very bad hair day). Our lovely
moderator is Book Diva diva, Leah Messina. BBF photos are courtesy
of Diana Rodriguez Wallach. You can check out Diana and her books
at www.dianarodriguezwallach.com/blog/blog.html |
Summer 2008
Well, Artichoke’s Heart is OUT! What an incredible
yet terrifying and crazy experience! Seriously, you dream about something
your whole adult life, and then it happens. Wow!
On publication day I went to lunch with several of my fiction students
and my two youngest daughters (my oldest daughter was taking a writing
class that day). It was the perfect way to celebrate. First of all,
my fiction students are THE BEST. They are talented writers who truly
respect and understand the creative process. Even better, they are funny
and don’t mind sharing their lives with me. Even better than that,
they are extremely thoughtful. So thoughtful, in fact, that when they
learned I planned to spend publication day taking my kids to the dentist
for check-ups, they insisted I go with them to lunch first. Letting
go of that perfect class at the end of the semester was really difficult
for me, a little like putting a beloved protagonist out into the world.
A couple of weeks after the release date, my husband and I threw a big
party to celebrate. We had such a great time, and three of my very best
girlfriends flew in for the occasion (in addition to all our local friends),
so I felt sufficiently celebrated. It was a grown-up party, too, with
a tent and a caterer and real invitations, etc. We haven’t had
a party of this nature since our wedding nearly ten years ago. Truthfully,
it will probably be another ten years before we do it again, but it
was a night to remember!
Lately, I’ve been slaving over my new book and enjoying practically
every minute of it! I’m loving the main character and her journey,
and I can’t wait to get started on the editorial process again.
The next several months will likely bring a great deal of work, but
it’s work I love, so not a problem.
As for summer, we are spending most of our non-working time outdoors—swimming,
running, bouncing on the trampoline. We celebrated the Fourth of July
with a flag cake (my girls and I make it every year) and fireworks.
We are going to do some sailing on the Chesapeake Bay later this month,
and in August, there’s our family beach trip, of course. To me,
though, the best part of summer is the garden. My hydrangeas are prettier
than ever, as are my coneflowers. The Black-eyed Susans will be out
soon, too. My husband and middle daughter even planted an artichoke
in our vegetable garden!
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Happy summer and keep reading!
P.S. I’ve had great fun guest blogging and being interviewed and
reviewed by some of these wonderful book-loving Internet folks this
summer. Check out their hit sites!
www.yanewyork.com
www.teensreadtoo.com/ArtichokesHeart.html
slayground.livejournal.com
southernauthors.blogspot.com/2008/06/guest-blogger.html
enduringromance.blogspot.com/2008/05/artichokes-heart.html
May 8, 2008
Borders has selected Artichoke’s Heart as a June selection
of their Original Voices "Young Readers literature" promotion.
This program is designed to highlight "not only emerging voices
of today, but also those writers who have earned their place through
years of outstanding writing and continue to affect the literacy landscape
with their work." Titles selected as an OV receive front of store
placement and receive a 20% discount through the promotional period.
There are usually 12-15 titles selected each year.
Achtung Baby! The German translation rights for Artichoke’s Heart
were recently sold to Egmont Franz Schneider and Verlag Publishers.
April 1, 2008
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Recently, I had my very first book signing at Greetings and Readings in
Hunt Valley, Maryland. It was terrific—lots of friends came, and
my wonderful family, too, of course. It’s been quite a journey,
so having the people I love the most there to support me really made things
special. I must admit I’m not very coordinated, however. Chatting
and signing books is a little like patting your head and rubbing your
stomach. I misspelled at least one name!
I’ve also started teaching a course in fiction, and I absolutely
love it. My students are serious writers, very committed for the most
part, so the future of fiction looks bright if their talents are any indication!
I’ll be attending their book signings before long.
It seems like June 12th will never get here—a bit like that ninth
month of pregnancy when you decide your rotund state is permanent and
the baby will NEVER arrive. There are plenty of things to distract me
from the waiting, however, the next book for starters, my kids, husband,
job, spring, etc. Hopefully, my patience will hold out a while longer.
My heartfelt thanks again to all my friends who stopped by the author’s
table and to the wonderful Greetings and Readings staff!
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January 13, 2008
This past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting my editor, Julie Strauss-Gabel,
for the very first time. Keep in mind we've been working together
on Artichoke's Heart for nearly two years, yet we had never seen each
other! I drove up to Philadelphia for the ALA Mid-winter Conference,
and I was practically bursting with enthusiasm, not to mention curiosity,
by the time I got there. January 12th was my birthday, too, and
I couldn't think of a better way to spend it—in a convention center
with thousands of librarians and LOTS of editors. Okay, so we're
not talking a beach in the South Pacific, but, hey, I'm a writer, and
for those of us just starting to publish, a convention center with librarians
and editors is utopia.
Anyway, I did meet Julie—finally! For starters, she's smart
and friendly and down-to-earth, and she also has THE most gorgeous hair
I've ever laid eyes on (always a plus)—dark, rich curls tucked
back in a ponytail and still smelling of shampoo. Right away I liked
her. She showed me around the booths, introduced me to lots of
really nice Penguin folks, among others, then took me to lunch across
the street. We feasted on Diet Cokes and tuna Caesar salads, then
headed back to the convention center again. After Julie and I
said our goodbyes (she had meetings and a presentation and two conference
days still ahead), I got to chat with my "guardian agent"
for a while, yet another smart woman whom I respect and admire. All
in all, it was the perfect way for this writer to spend her birthday.
That evening I drove home thinking what a long journey it has been to
publication and how very, very, VERY glad I am that I never gave up
on my big dream of becoming a published author.
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