Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 53

It's a Book Baby!

 Congratulations! It's a bouncing book-baby!

Name: The Violins of Autumn
Date: June 19, 2012
Weight: 336 pages
Proud Parent: Amy McAuley ( amymcauley )
Godparents: Walker Children's Books

Sequels

Kids ask me all the time about sequels. I always take it as a compliment that they didn't want the book to be over, and I love reading their ideas.  :-)

I could call this series: "The Color Collection."

Happy Father's Day

New Harbor, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

To my dad and all the dads! 

By the Sea

I'm spending my last morning on Bailey Island drinking my coffee to the sound of the lobster boats heading off to work.  

It's been a great writing week. In my editorial letter, my editor had suggested I might remove a whole thread of my new novel. I'm always willing to try something, so I thought I would give that a few chapters and see what I thought.  My plan was to reconnect with the novel and redraft the first five chapters.  But I've done eleven chapters this week, so I'm really pleased with that amount and how it's gone.

Between work, I've just enjoyed being here.  Bailey Island isn't more than half an hour from where I live, but it feels like a world away.











When I was arranging this week, I thought about renting a place in New Hampshire, since that's the setting for this book. But having a son with autism, a week is a long time and it's easier to have a place near home so I can go home a few times and keep life a little more normal for him and the rest of my family. 

You can see Mt. Washington in New Hampshire from the Coast of Maine on a clear day, but usually it's a ghostly outline. Friday night was crystal clear, though, and with the sun setting behind it, it was as sharp as could be.. 



It felt like New Hamphsire came to me.

:-)

  These were my kindergartners from Camden-Rockport Elementary School. 

After my Hot Rod Hamster program, one of the little ones asked me if I could come to their graduation program tonight.

"I'm sorry I can't do that, " I said. "But would you like to sing me one of your songs?" One little boy started and they all just launched into song! "My dory is so small and the sea is so big."

It was like an episode of Kindergarten Glee!

Wordless Wednesday

Whirlygig, Bailey Island, Maine

Rockport, Maine

Statue of Andre the Seal, Rockport, Maine.

I had a lovely day in Rockport, Maine.  I had a kindergarten visit and a book group visit at Camden-Rockport Elementary School, but my friend, Mona, lives in that area, so I drove up early to spend time with her. We went seaglass hunting and to lunch. 



Mona even found some blue seaglass for me!



Then it was off to school. The kids were wonderful and so enthusiastic.  The school has this beautiful mobile of fish when you step through the door.



From underneath, it looks like you're standing at the bottom of the sea.



So beautiful!



Each child had made one fish. 



It was a school in a school!  Thank you to Debbie Meservey and the kids of CRES and Mona for a perfect day!

I'm Here!

And the owner of the cottage added Internet over the winter, so I can share a few photos.  We're supposed to get rain at the end of my week, but it's a beautiful start.











Now, I've had my coffee and watched the boats and seagulls awhile.  Time to get to work. :-)

Five Things on a Friday

1.  Tomorrow, I'm heading to the town in this photo for a week of writing.  I'm really excited to try out some new ideas for my novel while I'm there. 

2.  I'll have no or very limited internet for next week, which is oddly exciting.  :-)  I'll catch up with everyone when I'm back a week from Sunday. 

3.  We have had so much rain here in Maine. Our rivers are overflowing. I'm hoping we'll have some sun now to dry us out!

4.  My agent said she mailed me my author copies of Rules in Turkish. I'm excited to see them!

5.  My daughter has a great place to live in the Boston area for next year while she's at grad school.  Whew!   

Thank you, Max and Charles!