Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 42

Hello!

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When I change the shavings in our guinea pig's cage, I put Cookie in a plastic bin. Milo is still very curious about him.

What Stays

Yesterday, I went to a lake in New Hampshire to collect sensory details for the last chapter in the novel I'm working on. That last scene is set in late October, and I thought I had next week to make that trip. But with rain and wind coming, it will change how everything looks.



So I took my walk yesterday, noticing little things, most of which probably won't find a place in the book, but they'll find a place in the writer. The way people store their boats. How the summer cottages have their shades pulled, making them look like they've gone to sleep. The way the sun shines but doesn't warm the sand anymore, and the lake is let way down to allow for all the winter melting, exposing rocks and weeds that are underwater in the summer.



As I walked, I thought about how I was surrounded by the things that stay. The summer people were gone. The summer birds had left. The pretty leaves were on the ground.

But there were some lights on in a few scattered windows.  And the quiet sounds of people and birds and animals settling in for the quieter, darker months ahead. There's a spare beauty and strength in those things that stay. They feed me in a way that the flashier things of summer can't. They remind me what lasts.

One of the strange and moving moments I've had with this book happened at this lake when I first started writing the book two summers ago. I went kayaking with a dear friend who has a summer place here, and I took down lots of sensory and kayaking details.



She and I both love history and she showed me an old and important cemetery in town. The cemetery was rural and simple and over a hundred years old. I love names and I was casually reading them and wondering at the people they might have been. But in the back, I was brought up short, because right in front of me were two graves, a husband and wife, who had the names I had chosen for the boy and girl in my story. And their last name had significance to the story, too. It was the name of the island where I started writing the book. So I gave that last name to one of those characters.

Yesterday, I brought Nate and Lucy some flowers that had survived the frost at our house. This book is so much about going and staying and what's left behind to endure. This is the quote on Lucy's grave.

Five Things on a Friday

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Milo, my writing assistant

1. I had an editorial meeting in my little writing shed yesterday with my novel editor and my assistant. I'm excited get back to work on my novel. Our meeting was delightful, though my assistant did lick my editor's ankle. He's a good assistant, but his social skills need improvement. :-) 

2. The last chapter in my next novel is set on a New Hampshire lake in late October. I wrote the chapter this past summer, but today, I'm going to a lake to collect some sensory details for that scene. I thought I had plenty of time to do that, but we have rain and wind coming early next week with Hurricane Sandy, and that will change how it all looks. So I've got to grab my opportunity today.



3.  At low tide, flocks of birds heading south stop and rest on the clam flats near where I live. Yesterday, I took a few minutes to watch a fisherman pulling his dingy to the open water, a Great Blue Heron fishing



and listen to a big group of Canada Geese chatting with each other.



4.  I bought Halloween candy yesterday. But since I bought candy that my family likes, I've left the bags in the trunk of my car, so no one will eat it before Halloween!

5.  My friend, Carol Peacock, has a new novel out, and she sent me her book trailer. I remember when Carol was working on this book!  Carol and her husband's two beautiful daughters were adopted from China, and I'm excited to read her novel because I know it will show those truths that only people who live a story would know.

Back to Writing

Yesterday, I drove to New Hampshire to visit a friend and her new grandson.  It was lovely to hold a baby and rest my cheek against the top of his small, warm head.

When I was ready to come home, I just couldn't drive the Maine Turnpike yet again this week, so I turned the car north and crossed over into Maine at the mountains. 

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My editor told me my novel is coming home to me today, and that this time, she didn't need to write me a letter. The comments are all on the manuscript itself. So that is a step up and forward. 

It was nice to reconnect with the setting of this book yesterday. I have two weeks off before my next speaking event. So that will be full of writing work. It'll be nice to pause and be quiet for these days between, to be a writer again. :-) 

Mohawk Trail

For my drive home to Maine yesterday, I drove Route 2 in Massachusetts. The western part of the drive is called "The Mohawk Trail."  It's a beautiful drive, but with all the sharp turns and even a "Bear Crossing" sign, it made me really glad I had spent an extra day in Williamstown and didn't try to drive that route in the dark!

Plus, if I had driven it at night, I would have missed all this.

Thank you WES!

Williamstown Elementary School, Williamstown, MA

I had a lovely day yesterday at Williamstown Elementary School in Williamstown, Massachusetts.  I spoke to the Pre-K through third graders about Hot Rod Hamster and Happy Birthday, Hamster.  Then I spoke to the fourth through sixth graders on Rules and Touch Blue.  And I did a writing workshop with the fourth graders. 

It was a busy, fun day! 

After school, my friend, Laura Hamor, drove over from her home in New York to have supper with me in downtown Williamstown.  What a treat! Laura is one of those great people where it doesn't matter how long ago we saw each other, we just pick up where we left off.  :-) 


The Milne Library, Williamstown, Massachusetts

This morning I'm off to preschool storytime at the public library.  When the school sent me a link to their website for the "Words are Wonderful" program that my visit included, I saw that the library in town was reading my hamster books at storytime on the day after my school visit.  So I called the library and offered to come and do that storytime for them. They said yes!  So I'm off the library this morning before heading home. 

I don't often get the opportunity to explore very much when I do a school visit, so it's always extra special when I do have that chance.  And what a pretty place to explore!  Even the view out behind my hotel was gorgeous.

Williamstown, MA

I drove to Williamstown, MA today for a school visit tomorrow.  It's so pretty here!










I took a walk downtown and enjoyed the fall air. 

Winding Down October

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Our foliage is going by, but it's still really pretty in Maine right now.  Tomorrow I'm off to Williamstown, Massachusetts, which is a 5+ hour drive south and west for me.  I think I might drive through New Hampshire and Vermont to get there, which will be a lovely drive.  A long time ago, I taught sixth grade in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and I haven't seen that area in many years. 

So it'll be a fun road trip through lots of beautiful places. 

Thank you, Mason Intermediate School!

I had such a lovely time with everyone at Mason Intermediate School in Mason, Ohio!  All 800 fifth graders had read Rules, and they had such thoughtful questions and comments about the book.  It was a real joy to be there!



I felt welcomed immediately by the teachers and by all these word cards and fishtanks!  I loved all of them, but here are a few:

  

  

  

  

Each day, I had lunch with a group of students. Here is my Wednesday group:



And here I am with the 5th grade language arts team!



The school surprised me with some adorable new rubber duckies for my collection, and a few of the children brought them for me, too!  Gibson gave me two, Analese gave me one that lights up, and Libby brought me a very special one that she had made for me.

  

Thank you Mason Intermediate School for a wonderful visit!  :-) 

Hello From Ohio!

I'm having a lovely time in Mason, Ohio. The foliage is gorgeous here right now, and my hotel overlooks a cultivated field. Last night, I took a walk and a whole flock of blackbirds rose up from between the rows. And this morning as I drank my morning coffee, I saw a fox walk across the field.


Me with my lunch group!

My school visit is at Mason Intermediate School where all the fifth graders have read Rules. What a nice bunch of kids! I loved all the artwork, rules, word cards and other things they've created.

Here are some rules for ME! 



I especially like "Late doesn't mean not writing."  :-)