Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 20

Five Things on a Friday

Toni Buzzeo and me at the New England Reading Association conference. Photo by Maria Padian.

1. I'm so glad it's Friday. It feels like this has been a long week.

2. I had a lovely time last night at the New England Reading Association conference. I saw friends and met lots of teachers--including ones I've done events with (or am scheduled to do an event with).

3.  Before the conference, I went out to supper with some of my Maine author and illustrator friends. We went Otto's Pizza. They're famous for unique pizzas, including their mashed potato, bacon, and scallion pizza.  It tasted much better than it sounds!

4.  My novel editor tells me they might have an illustrator for my Shelter Pet Squad series. They'll know for sure soon. It's hard to wait!

5. It's been getting down into the 30s at night a few times, so I've given Cookie back his warm acorn house. He loves it.


Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Tonight!

It'll be lovely to see so many of my author and teacher friends all in the same place.

Wordless Wednesday

Runaround Pond, Durham, Maine. Photo by my husband.

Welcome to Fall

My husband went apple picking this week and brought back apples and photos. The leaves are starting to turn, and when I woke up this morning, the temperature was in the 30s. It really does feel like fall now. 

Hoping So

I spent the weekend with a group of dear writer friends at Poland Spring Campground in Maine. My friend, Tamra Wight, owns the campground and she has a brand-new book out, Cooper and Packrat: Mystery at Pine Lake.


Tami in the campground office with her book. Photo by Mona Pease.

On Saturday we wrote or sketched, and then we met in the afternoon to share our writing/art with each other. I read the first chapter of the book I just submitted on proposal, and when I finished, there was a moment of silence and then one of my friends reached over and touched my arm.  "Does it rub off?" she asked.  So it went well. :-)

I also thought a lot about Half A Chance (my novel that comes out at the end of February), because I used three lakes/ponds for details in the book, and Tami's pond was one of them.

On Sunday morning, I woke up and checked the time for sunrise. It was only about 20 minutes away, so I got dressed quickly and asked my friend, Mona, if she wanted to jump in the kayaks and see the sun come up over the pond with me. One of many things I love about Mona is that she is an adventurer. "Let me get my camera," she said.



Out kayaking, I was thinking about how it might be my last chance to be on a lake until spring and wishing I could see a loon one more time.

And then, there they were.



The water was warmer than the air, so there was a beautiful mist everywhere.



There were bits of down and feathers all over the lake. The loon are changing from their summer black and white to winter gray. I'd never seen them molting, so it was interesting to see them "in process."



We just sat and watched them preening and plucking out bits of down.



Since I don't think I'll see them again until spring, I kept thinking of the scene in Half a Chance where the last loon leaves the lake in the fall.  Here's an excerpt:


This time, watching him through my camera, I knew something was different. He kept stretching his wings, over and over. Getting ready.
I could barely breathe as he started running on the water. Faster and faster his feet slapped the surface, his wings pumping.

I took one photo and then put my camera down, wanting to share our last seconds without anything between us. He took to the air, pumping his wings hard. Leaving the water behind him, he circled the lake to gain speed. “Safe journey!” I called to him. “From Grandma Lilah and me.”

And there was nothing but sky.

Tears slid down my face. Would he really know where to go? And even if he did, so many miles and dangers stood between him going to the sea and coming back to find his own territory one day. Would he make it?

Sometimes you don’t get an answer, though. Sometimes “I hope so” is the only answer you get.

. . .

I imagined him in the sky, seeing the world as I’d seen it from the top of Cherry Mountain. Blue upon blue mountains ahead, a carpet of trees below, the long curling rivers between the lakes, and somewhere far ahead, that huge ocean.

It must take some courage to fly, to trust the wind to hold you as it lifts you away from all you’ve ever known. To know inside that you’re heading where you’re meant to go — even if you’ve never been there before.

And that “I hope so” will be enough to get you there.

Off it goes!

My desk

When Rules won a Newbery Honor, I was given a contract at my publisher for three books (two novels and Hot Rod Hamster), and they held an option for my fourth middle-grade novel. An option means they get first refusal. Since I've written a first draft of a new novel for myself now, this week I worked on the first three chapters and a synopsis to meet that option. It went off this morning!

You'd think sending off a book proposal would be exciting, wouldn't you? But it's a bubbling brew of exciting, scary, sad, hopeful and lots of other things all mixed together. Waiting is one of the hardest parts of the whole process.

Good thing I have chocolate. :)

Writing and Researching

My writing shed

My event in Norway, Maine that was scheduled for this week was canceled due to a death in the family of one of the organizers. I'm still meeting up with my friend, Patience, who lives in that area, but I've also gone back to working on my novel-in-progress. A whole stack of research books arrived in the mail this week, and it feels good to be writing again.

My First School Visit of the Year

I had a fabulous day on my first school visit of 2013-14. It was fun and heartwarming to be surrounded by second-day-of-school excitement and great people doing such good work for kids. Here I am with Brianna Jack of Maine Books for Maine Kids and Dave Fain from Bess the Book Bus. I spoke to the whole school and every child got to choose a free book. Such sweet kids, and I was thrilled to meet Brianna. What a bright, shining spirit. :)



I stayed in Lubec, Maine for this visit and I stayed over an extra day to see the area and I even drove over to Campobello Island in Canada to see FDR's summer home and to see the island.  This is such a beautiful part of the world.

Back to School

Milo is always ready to go to work with me in my writing shed. Today, he'll be my audience of one as I run through my presentations for my school visit this week in Baileyville, Maine. It's amazing how rusty I can feel after a summer off, so I'm going to get that out of the way today and check my equipment, replace batteries, etc.

This is a part of Maine that I've never seen before, so I'm staying an extra night in the area and throwing my passport and my hiking boots in the car, too. I might want to visit Campobello, NB, and I definitely want to see these cliffs.

And yes, Mom, I'll be really careful and not get close to the edge.  :-)

September Events

Georgetown, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

Thursday, September 4, School visit, Baileyville Elementary School, Baileyville, Maine

Wednesday, September 11, Library visit, Norway Library, Norway, Maine, 10:30 am, open to the public

Thursday, September 19, "An Author and Illustrator Evening," New England Reading Association Conference, Portland, Maine

Tuesday, September 24, School visit, Atkinson Academy, Atkinson, New Hampshire