Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 29

A new day

I'm drinking my morning coffee, getting ready to go do my volunteer shift at the animal shelter, and staring into this photo.  Breathe in, breathe out this new day.

Five Things on a Friday

Errol, New Hampshire

1.  I'm off to see my parents today. Hi Mom and Dad!

2. Next week, I am flying to New York and then on to North Carolina. It'll be a busy week, but full of good things. One thing I'm really excited about is the Lenoir-Rhyne University theater dept. is putting on a play for Rules, and they are going to perform it for me! A few weeks ago, the actors took a sample of the show to local schools. You can see photos here.

3.  Having grown up on a lake in New Hampshire, it was always exciting to see the ice go out. I have a webcam of Ossipee Lake in New Hampshire bookmarked on my computer.  I've been watching the ice go out this week.

4.  I saw a preliminary cover for my next novel.  The cover is always a big surprise to me, so it's a cool and strange experience to come face-to-face with it for the first time.  And we finally have a title. It's called Half A Chance.

5. My talk for the University of Maine went well yesterday. I had a good group of teachers, parents, and college officials in my audience. I was just getting started when in walked a police officer in uniform. I thought he needed to speak to the head of the college, who had come to my talk. But the officer walked right past him and sat in an empty chair and pulled out his notebook to take notes.

It was a great group and I loved everyone who came, but that police officer who came because he wanted to do the right things when interacting with someone with autism really touched my heart.

Tomorrow I'm speaking about autism to prospective tea...

Tomorrow I'm speaking about autism to prospective teachers and the general public through the University of Maine system. I'll be at the Bath/Brunswick Center in person, and through the magic of satellite, at UMaine locations across the state. Rules is a required book for at least one education course. As I'm putting together my slides this morning, I'm thiinking about an email that a child with autism sent me this week. He's very articulate and something he said is going into my program, because he says such truth in so few words.

“Autism means you have fragile feelings and understand things different.” --Tyler

Perfectly said, Tyler.

World Autism Awareness Day

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April Events

Photo by my husband, John

Thursday, April 4, University of Maine Bath/Brunswick Center, Brunswick, Maine

Tuesday, April 9, Sales Luncheon, Scholastic Offices, New York City

Wednesday, April 10--Saturday, April 13, The Little Read Program, Hickory, North Carolina

Friday, April 19--Saturday, April 20, Harding University, Searcy, Arkansas

Friday, April 26, School visit, Williams Elementary School, Oakland, Maine

Tuesday, April 30, School visit, Peninsula School, Prospect Harbor, Maine

Happy Easter!

From my house to yours

Spring's Here

It's a beautiful spring day in Maine. In the past couple days, I've seen several long ribbons of Canada Geese following the coastline north.

Cookie says. . . .

It's starting to feel more and more like spring.  Cindy is excited for tulips and daffodils, but I'm excited for the LAWN!



Clover, dandelions, and grass!  YUM!

Thank you, Nevins Library!

I had a wonderful time last night at Nevins Library in Methuen, Massachusetts. We had a full room, and what a room it was! Isn't this beautiful?



I talked about Hot Rod Hamster and Rules, and after there was this beautiful, delicious cake!



Thank you to everyone who came! In the audience were teachers, kids, families with children with autism, librarians, and some writer friends. It was a great night!

As I was leaving I looked and just marveled at how beautiful those stained-glass windows are.

Nevins Memorial Library, Methuen, MA

Today, I'm off to visit my parents and then I'm speaking at the Nevins Library in Methuen, Massachusetts tonight at 6:30. I'm reading Hot Rod Hamster and then talking about Rules. This is the inside of the library.

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From the Library's Facebook Page

Wow! How beautiful. I'm so tempted to climb those spiral stairs in the background!</p>