1. Hot, hot, hot here in Southern Maryland.
2. So exciting to see small boy taking safe risks like jumping off the diving board and diving off the side of the pool into the deep end. There is something to be said for positive peer pressure. Let’s hope he knows the difference when the other kids start daring him to do un-safe stuff.
3. I want my computer!
4. Very fun to watch my kids make friends. There is a book in this for sure.
5. Must call secret agent man and get feed back on my recent submission. I’m getting antsy.
Tag: about me
All Stars
Number one son with mouth full of breakfast: “Jackson says that I’m going to be an all-star.”
“A what?” I ask. “Chew and swallow, please.”
“An all-star for the baseball team.”
Me: “And how does Jackson know this?”
“Well Jackson has proof because Carter’s father is an assistant coach and Carter saw the list and he told Jackson, and Jackson told me.”
“So what does it mean to be an all-star, more games?”
“You get to play in the all-star game against another town.”
Me: “Wow.” Trying to suppress huge grin of motherly pride. “Well sweetie, don’t get your hopes up. Just be the best you, you can be and have fun.”
Sweet smiling son: “Yeah.”
Me: “I’m really proud of you.”
Range Pond Paddle
Yes, the weekend was lovely because I got to see my friends but I also got some quality family time. We rented tandem kayaks and paddled Range Pond.
“Dip your paddles in quietly. Very stealthy so your father and brother don’t hear us. ‘With muffled oar…'”
“Like Paul Revere.”
“Yes, but he used lambs wool or a lady’s petticoat or something.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but we don’t have that, so be quiet.”
“We’re getting closer.”
“Wait till you hear my command… Ready? SPLASH!”
“Ack, they’re splashing back!”
“Forward paddle! Turn, turn, prepare to defend.”
Much laughter, and splashing, and general soakedness.
We were lucky to spot birds:
A bald eagle perched and watching the sparkling waters for fish. (Not this particular bald eagle this is from Google images, as are the rest.)
A flashy Oriole. 
And two lovely loons.
Places and People
This weekend I had places to go and people to see. On Saturday morning, I was to be in Holliston, Mass. as the NE-SCBWI conference co-director for a meeting to present all the exciting things we are planning for April 2009. At the same time, however, I wanted to be at Poland Spring Campground Schmoozing with my writing buddies. I ended up driving down Friday evening so that I wouldn’t have to drive six hours in one day. I stayed over-night, presented at the meeting and saw the wonderful folks who volunteer to make NE-SCBWI work. Then I hopped in the car and drove four hours to the campground. I missed the critique time but got to connect with
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,
,
,
, and Jeanne Bracken. They showed me online scrabble. They are so evil! (Check out their blogs for pictures.) The weekend was very full and the most amazing thing was that the timing all worked. I said I’d be at the campground at 4 pm and I was. Thankfully, I was safe and sound despite the rain, and traffic.
Hubby starts his job in Maryland this week and we will finish out the school year in Maine. Things to do this week.
1. Finish Roar send to agent. Check in on manuscript sales status. (ick)
2. Work on novel every day.
3. Sort through clothes toys and books. Weed out what you do not want to move.
Okay, that it way enough.
Festival of the Book and an update
Dear Friends, if you find yourself in Portland, Maine this weekend you will want to take a look at the Festival of the Book celebration. The schedule for kids includes programs by the amazing Lynne Plourde (who did a wonderful presentation at our NESCBWI conference), our own live journal friends Carrie Jones & Robin Merrow MacCready, Rochelle Draper, Phillip Hoose, and Maria Padian. Lisa Bossi, Scott Nash and many more will be signing in the signing tent.
On the moving front: my husband is working vigorously on completing unfinished home repair projects in order to have our home ready to rent. This is good. He built our home and when we decided we needed health care more than trim on the doors he started a regular job that took him away from completing the last bits. We’ve lived comfortably in this home for the last three years. However, it is frustrating that the new screen porch, the master bed/bath, the attic playroom, and linen closets (and the trim), will be completed and we will not get to enjoy them. (This is a vast understatement of my disappointment and his but will have to suffice for now.)
The offer is signed, sealed and delivered. We will move to the PAX river area sometime this summer. I’ve told our current school that they do not have to place my kiddos in new classes. This makes me so sad. We have enjoyed a wonderful elementary experience. The school is truly a learning community based on respect, and cooperation between all stake holders. I am open to whatever the future holds but I realize that we have it really good here. My kiddos have revealed more emotion about the move in the last week. I’ve held them as they cried but I also know that kids are resilient and imagine that a few weeks at the local pool will bring new friendships before school starts.
Writing is going along. I feel a little like the “Little engine that could…” chug-chugging up the mountain looking forward to the zoom toward the end of draft one. (did the engine know that he’d have to circle around and do the whole route again?) Draft 2 is on the horizon. The dummy of Roar is in its millionth draft. (I exagerate.) I’d like to get it secret agent man by the end of May.
Almost two weeks?!
I’m shocked that it has been almost two weeks since my last posting. Shocked, but not surprised. My fingers have been tingling like crazy. Do you get that? That, oh-my-gosh-I-haven’t-been-writing feeling. So there it is. The admission. I haven’t been writing, when I was most charged up to do so. We have been on a long coastal journey which I will tell you more about in paragraph three, but it includes 1400 miles, a job interview, and matzah.
I have been drawing and revisioning my Roar, dummy…AGAIN. Actually I got a great brainstorm while on my recent journey. Another secondary character, a mouse, who watches the action unfolding. I’m excited to finish this up and get it to my agent. Secret agent man has given me permission to put aside the Ballet project for a while. He says that it is best not to put too much work into a non-fiction work lest it be changed by the publisher who is interested in the proposal and first chapter. Instead, Secret agent man has advised me to get to work on the novel that the editor at the conference wants to see. That is all good with me. The characters have been calling to me as I re-read Bird by Bird this week and I am eager to see what they have to say.
The journey started on Friday 18th when we drove from Maine to Pennsylvania to visit with my parents. We admired their forsythia bushes and awoke to lovely birdsong. On Saturday we had Passover Seder #1. It was very casual as we really made it our own, inviting comments and linking the traditional with current events and issues of the day. I love including everyone in the Seder, especially kids. I & E were great and had a lot of wise things to say. Passover Seder #2 was at my cousins’ home. Thanks Robin and Bob! A much bigger and more traditional event, it was great to see the whole fam damily.
Monday we drove to St. Mary’s county where Chris had an interview. Things went well and we are awaiting an offer from the company. Assuming this all goes well we will move from our wonderful home in Maine to a new adventure south of D.C. (Anne Marie are you out there?) I grew up in Northwest DC and I’m looking forward to being closer to my parents, cousins, sister and one of my brothers. It will be tough to leave our home that Chris built for us and our community of 14 years. However, we are planning on renting out our current home for a couple of years until things are clearer. The best thing about blogging is that I know that I will still be connected with all of my writer friends when and if we move. LiveJournal and writing are portable.
A Poetry Class Plug, The Conference, and Friends
A Plug:
On May 3rd I will be teaching an all day workshop on Writing Poetry for Children through the University of Southern Maine’s Continuing education program. Check out more information about the class here. If you have any questions for me about the class I’m happy to answer them through comments. I hope to see some of you Mainers who I met at the conference!
The Conference:
Conferences are a celebration of the essence that community. This weekend, our New England SCBWI community celebrated in a big way. Five hundred fifty people on Saturday and almost 300 on Sunday, came together to learn and “Stretch their wings.” As a conference coordinator I am flying high.
When Saturday came I was braced to put out fires all day long. What would go wrong and would I be able to handle it? I worried. It turns out that I shouldn’t have worried. As Sally Reilly reminded me, all the work that you did in the 10 months leading up to the conference pays off. She was right. So many wonderful attendees stopped to tell me how much they enjoyed the conference. From workshops, to friendships, to speakers people have been so positive. It is great to read everyone’s blog this morning and hear how much fun and learning went on.
The conference is a group effort and I give huge kudos to Francine Puckly, and Janet Arden, my co-directors. The speakers, Kevin Hawkes and Laurie Halse Anderson were lovely. Down to earth and well prepared. The workshop presenters gave it their all and the volunteers kept the whole thing running behind the scene. The staff at the hotel, were fabulous as always.
I’m especially proud of the Illustrator Academy and the poster showcase. These events brought the talents and craft of illustrators, and the illustrators themselves, out of the studio and into the light.
Thanks goes to Dick Blick Art Supplies and Picture Book portfolio directory for the amazing prizes. Also, thank you to
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Laura Jacques for organizing the showcase. You will be seeing her art on the 2009 conference materials!
Brian Lies, Susan Sherman, Lita Judge and Victoria Jameison were the amazing faculty for the Illustrator Academy. I learned so much from their critiques and presentations. Mostly, I learned that as Edison said, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Drawing after drawing, after sketch, after color study, after research for reference all combine to make great illustration. Revision is not an option it is a necessity just as in writing. No one gets it right the first time. Those who I most admire, authors and illustrators, dig in deep and accept the challenge of hard work. Everyday.
In personal conference news. My critique editor requested the full manuscript of my novel. I feel that I should whisper that instead of shouting it from the cyber-rooftop. Do not mistake this announcement as a solicitation of congratulations. Instead it is the of the acknowledgment of the challenge ahead. A happy challenge and an important step on my journey but I’ll need your support. This is the novel I started during JoNoWriMo.
Thanks Jo!
Friends:
Speaking of support, thank you for your kind words on the passing of my dog Sam. I notice today the lack of noise in the house. No click, click of doggy nails on the wood floor, or jingling of collar as he scratches beneath his chin. I miss him and these flashes of memory will certainly stop me in my tracks from time to time. I gave myself permission not to write yesterday and to feel the grief fully. Don’t think me callus, but I’m also noticing the lack of black fur in my house and the extra time I have to enjoy the morning. Today, I am writing and working and moving forward.
Write On!
Sonnet Contest
Garrison Keillor is having a sonnet contest. The winner gets a sleep number bed and a dozen roses. “A bed of roses…” if you will. A sonnet is a 14 line poem where each line is in iambic pentameter and it often (not always) uses the rhyme scheme: a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. I’m not going to go much further on this for fear of stepping on the toes or our resident poetry form expert
I’m sure she has posts that you can find that give lovely examples of sonnets and the exceptions to the rule. In fact, if you are interested in the ways you can stretch your poetic wings, don’t miss her two part workshop on Saturday the 12th at the NESCBWI conference. Until then, try your hand at the sonnet and enter before you go to Nashua!
Speaking of Nashua. We are at seven days and a wake-up. Spring must be here.
Conference count down
Well, I’ve managed to miss a LJ birthday for
and a get out the vote celebration for
. I also missed the release celebration for Love and other Uses for Duct Tape by aforementioned
. Why? Because we are down to the Nitty Gritty. 
NO! Not the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
The little stuff that has to happen before the NESCBWI annual spring conference. The special meals, the registration confirmations, the closet for the doorprizes, the people who want refunds (they can’t come now because their husband’s cousin’s sister is having a baby that day), the number of screens, and whiteboards, and mics, and folders and… you get it. I think I have another 30 emails each time I turn away from my computer.
So Happy Birthday to Kelly. Carrie, my grover says “I heart Cawwie” too. (I’ll bring him to the conference so he can tell you himself.)
Luckily, the snow has stopped. (Shhh, don’t say it outloud, it’s bound to start again.) My husband is home. My dog, while not cured is at least not pooping on the floor. My sons are practicing for the May Day celebration at school. (Maypole anyone?) And baseball season has started. Must have, my son has started carrying around his baseball mit, and my husband tries to surf back and forth to baseball while I’m trying to get a good look at Jason Taylor on Dancing With the Stars. (The man is fine. Grover thinks so too.)
Nine more days and a wake up.
Sam update
Thank you all for your kind thoughts. I checked in with the doc today and Sam may be improving with the med cocktail they are giving him. We’ll know more tomorrow. Last night I got a full night’s sleep. The first one in a long time without cleaning up or taking Sam for many night walks. I imagine him at the vet talking to the other dogs:
“The house is crazy without the Alpha dog (my husband). The puppies are loud and rambunctious and the bitch keeps yelling at me and the pups. I’m just happy to get a break from the stress. It was giving me diarrea!”
Hope to get real hugs at the conference in two weeks. Who’s coming?
Creative Chaos 