Kirby Larson's Blog, page 87

Wordy Wednesday

Here's the word: departure.

As in I have an 8:45 am departure from SeaTac tomorrow for the NCTE conference in Orlando where I will get to lunch with the charming Gennifer Choldenko and sip coffee with the talented Barbara O'Connor AND I will get to share the stage with Lois Lowry. Be still my heart!!!

If you happen to be in Orlando, Florida at Disneyworld, I mean the NCTE conference, please pop in and say hello! You'll find me signing books on Friday, November 19 at the Random House booth from 2-3  (booth 733); then at the Bloomsbury booth from 3-4 (booth 813); and then at the Scholastic booth from 4-5 (booth 315). The presentation with Lois Lowry will take place earlier that same day,  from 9:30-10:45. I hope I don't faint from nervousness.

On Saturday, I'm signing at Anderson's Bookshops (booth 235) from 10-11 and then I'll be reading at the Scholastic Literary Brunch on Sunday November 21 (I've got to trim the excerpt I'm reading to 4 minutes-- yikes!) along Lisa Yee, Derrick Barnes, Judy Blundell, Pam Munoz Ryan and, of course, the amazing Lois Lowry. After that, I will not need an airplane to get home.

I love my fans!

Here are Shelby and Jaedalin, students at Swayzee Elementary in Indiana, at their booth at Library Alive Day. How lucky am I to have fans like this???

Good News!

I took a few minutes to peek at the Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books of 2010. . .and found some of my dear friends on that very same list!

Hats off to:
Susan Campbell Bartoletti, They Called Themselves the K.K.K.
Marla Frazee, The Boss Baby
Barbara Kerley, The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy)
Deborah Wiles, Countdown

This calls for fireworks and champagne!

Tossed Salad

I am so behind and it looks as if I will get even behinder. I am overdue in posting pictures of two adorable fans of Piper's in Swayzee, Indiana (I promise to do this tomorrow!) and updating on recent school visits (if you get invited to Schmitz Park in Seattle say YES!!!!!).

Until I get my act together, here is a peace offering: a fabulous salad recipe, courtesy uber-librarian, Nancy, of Schmitz Park.

Yummy Salad

A generous (Paul Bunyan sized) handful of spring greens
A lovely ripe avocado, cut into chunks
One-half cup crumbled feta cheese (maybe one whole cup)
A perfectly ripe (not too ripe!) persimmon, chunked

Toss and serve with a Caesar dressing. Or a vinaigrette. Or no dressing at all. It's divine!

Ten in 2010

You can't see me but I'm doing a little happy dance that there are only two of these challenges left in 2010! Not that I didn't enjoy trying to write 10-word "stories," but it was a struggle coming up with a theme each month.

One of my dearest friends, Debbie Dustan, has a birthday today. And, in her honor, I'm choosing friendship/friends as today's theme.


For Debbie Your smile stretched around braces, across desks, and over years. 
Me holding Debbie's Matthew, Debbie holding my Tyler. . .a few years ago

Wordy Wednesday

I got a fan letter from two readers, Shelby and Jaedalin, who live in Indiana. They did a special project about The Fences Between Us and even sent photos (which I'll add as soon as I get permission). My favorite part, however, was their closing line because it was full of encouragement. . .and a great idea to overcome writer's block:

Good luck with your writing and remember sometimes it helps to use a glitter pen when you get stuck. Your friends Shelby and Jaedalin  

Ask Winston

Trust me -- I have all the answers
A question popped up in my inbox recently (well, in Two-Legged Writer's inbox -- she won't let me have my own email account) about how to handle professional jealousy. Since this particular emotion isn't something dogs are very familiar with, I didn't want to bark up the wrong tree in hunting down an answer for the inquiring writer.

I sniffed around on Two-Legged's bookshelves and found something interesting under the Ls: A book called Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. Despite the bad title -- why not call it something really fetching like Dog by Dog? -- there was some food for thought. In a chapter aptly titled "Jealousy," Ms. Lamott writes, "But if you continue to write, you are probably going to have to deal with [jealousy], because some wonderful, dazzling successes are going to happen for some of the most awful, angry, undeserving writers you know -- people who are, in other words, not you."

Novelist and memoirist, Joan Didion, has said, "To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self." I know I'm only a dog with limited experience with the green-eyed monster, but Ms. Didion's thoughts gave me something to chew on. It seems that if I am jealous of my neighbor dog, Myla, for her beautiful Beagle bay, that's my problem. Maybe I need to remind myself of all of my wonderful doggy-ness (the list is quite long!). And if Myla's jealous of my long silky fur or expressive eyebrows or ability to polish up my dinner in three minutes flat, well, I can't do much about that. As two-leggeds like to say, that's her problem. And I don't mean that in a flip way. I just mean that I can bring her a chewy toy or play chase or share my kibble but I can't help her untangle herself from being jealous of me. That's something she's got to work on.

Ms. Lamott tells of ending a friendship for her own mental health when jealousy issues got too potent. That's certainly one way to handle that kind of situation. But I know there are lots of smart two-leggeds out there who probably have ideas to share with the writer who contacted me this week. I won't be jealous if you come up with more ideas than I did! Dog's honor.

Read. This. Book.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier




Take one passionate writer of historical fiction and fan of strong female characters and pair her up with Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier and you will create pure bliss. I adored this book! The writing is strong and honest and suggestive of the time and I was fascinated to learn how two "spare parts" (spinster women) made such a huge difference in the late 1800s' studies of paleontology. As a passionate beach comber myself I completely understand Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot's compulsion to scour their beach every day for some crumb of ancient history. This book has me wanting to book a ticket to Lyme Regis, as well as to read more about these two incredible women.

My only gripe about this book is that I finished it before my long flight from North Carolina home was complete. But I re-read bits -- the opening line is one to study! -- and woolgathered about these women and their lives and next thing I knew, we were touching down in Seattle. Remarkable Creatures is a remarkable book!



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Why We Do It

I came home pretty pooped from my ten-day circuit of Montana and it was off again, with laundry barely dry, to North Carolina (photos/report to follow). But this letter, waiting for me when I arrived home, reminded me why I do school visits:

Cookies!

We haven't had a recipe in awhile. This one comes to you via Montana, courtesy of Wanda Lucas. This is her Grandma Hattie's recipe! I haven't made them yet but can't wait. They are the perfect fall cookie!

Cream:
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg

Mix in:
4 tablespoons molasses
2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp each cinnamon and ginger
2-1/4 cups flour

(I would probably whisk the dry ingredients together first before adding to the creamed mixture)

Bake for 12 minutes at 375. Yum!