Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 58

Where I'm heading next. . .

Today, I'm getting ready for a school visit on Wednesday at Washburn Elementary School, a small PK-8 school up in Aroostook County.  It's about 5 hours north of me, and I'm grateful that I'm heading up tomorrow and not today.  It's pouring a cold rain here at home, but when I checked the weather in Washburn, it's freezing rain up there. 

I hope tomorrow is a clear day. The last time I went up to "The County," I shot this photo of Mt. Katahdin on the drive.


Mount Katahdin, Maine

NESCBWI

I had a fun time at the New England Society of Children's Book Authors and Illustrators conference in Springfield, Massachusetts this weekend.  It was great to see so many friends and meet new people.

On my drive there, when I got off the Mass Pike in Chicopee, I was greeted by this big statue. At first, I thought it was Abraham Lincoln, but apparently this is "Muffler Man" or otherwise known as "Big White Guy."  While I was waiting for the light to change, I snapped this photo of him through my car windshield. 

As this conference has grown, it has needed bigger and bigger venues.  One of the organizers told me there were 868 people at the conference this year.  Not many venues can accomodate a conference of that size, and this year it was in Springfield, Massachusetts. I'm not much of a city driver, and Springfield was a challenge for me. But I made it!  And here was the beautiful view from my hotel room.



NESCBWI was the first writing conference I ever attended.  That year, it was in Sturbridge, Massachusetts and I drove down with Mona Pease, a writer who has become one of my dearest friends. I brought 10 pages of a manuscript for critique, and that manuscript was Rules.  I've met so many of my author friends through that conference.  So it's a special place for me, no matter where it's held. 

Five Things on a Friday

South Berwick, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

1.  I had such a nice library visit in Wells, Maine yesterday. I did a story time for my Hamster books, and right before I left home, I noticed the stack of sparkly mardi gras beads I had left over from my bookstore parties for Happy Birthday, Hamster last year. I tossed them into my bag.

When I got to the part in that book where it says, "It's Hamster's birthday and you are invited," I said, "Well, if we're invited to a PARTY, we should look fancy, right?"

You should have heard the gasp from the preschoolers at all those shiny beads! I passed them to Devin, the children's librarian, and said, "I have enough for everyone to choose two colors."

2.  When I was choosing what to wear yesterday, I put on a dark pink blazer and asked John, "Do you think this is too pink?"  He said, "For the preschool crowd, I don't think you could ever pick something too pink." 

I smiled looking out over my preschool audience at all the hot pink clothes the girls were wearing.  John was totally right. :-)

3.  Today, I'm off to the New England SCBWI conference.  I'm excited to see so many friends and to participate on a panel with author Linda Urban and her editor, Jeannette Larson. Linda is a good friend, but I've only ever emailed with Jeannette. It will be great to meet her in person finally. 

4.  The forsythias are gorgeous here now.  While I was in North Carolina, lots of flowering bushes and trees popped into bloom in Maine. It was great to come to home to them.

5.  Derek Anderson has a wonderful new blog on his website where he talks about his creative process, including showing some of the evolution of Hamster and his friends! 

Home from North Carolina

  I had a delightful trip to Rocky Mount, North Carolina this week.  I love visiting North Carolina, because everyone is so friendly.  Even the waitress at the restaurant where I had breakfast went out of her way to be kind.  She asked me where I was from, and when I told her I was speaking at the local elementary school, she said, "Bless your heart!"

She wrote something lovely on my receipt. . .and I smiled to see that it frames how it's never too late for dessert. :-)



Englewood Elementary School is a 3-5 school, and the entire school had read Rules. I did two sessions with the students, a lunch with members of the PTA and other district Battle of Books leaders, and then my last session was with the Battle of the Books teams and book clubs from Englewood. Mrs. Quigley, the leader, suggested I might quiz the kids on Rules, but I explained to the kids that I don't read my novels after they're published.

"So I haven't read Rules all the way through since 2005," I said. "But I have an idea. Why don't you quiz ME on the book?"

 
The Fifth Grade Battle of the Books Teams


The fourth grade book clubs

The kids didn't stump me, but I really had to think hard a few times!

What guinea pig does Catherine bring to OT?
Which guinea pig calls the other "fatso?"
Why does Catherine choose Nutmeg and not Cinnamon to take to OT?
What's the first toy David drops in the fishtank?
What color is David's special umbrella?
What does Kristi do that makes Catherine mad?
What is Kristi afraid of at the pond?

They were TOUGH!  But it was so much fun! 

Thank you to the staff and student and PTA of Englewood Elementary School for a wonderful day!

Done!

From the top of Mt. Washington, New Hampshire

I sent my next novel off to my editor yesterday. :-)  We have lots of work ahead, but I'm ready for it.  

Five Things on a Friday

1.  I worked so hard on my new book yesterday that my brain felt tired when I was done.  

2.  This week has been a challenge. My laptop started acting funny on Tuesday, so I had to take it into the shop. But my book deadline is Sunday, so I worked on my book using my old laptop that has a cracked screen.

Because only the screen is broken, any image still looks perfect when sent through my projector.  So this week, I worked on my book by projecting the pages onto the wall of my writing shed.  As Tim Gunn says in Project Runway, "It's a 'Make-It-Work Moment!'"  I'll be really glad when my laptop comes back!

But, since I had my projector all set up, while I worked on a hard copy of the manuscript, I set my laptop up to do a slide show of photos from a climb Julia and I did last year in the mountain setting for this book.  I put in a CD of some music from the book, had the slide show playing, and worked on the pages.  It was a multi-media editing experience!

3.  Last night Milo was barking at a black cat in my neighbor's yard. After I called Milo in, I thought, "But they don't have a black cat." I think it was THE SKUNK. We have a fenced-in yard, and it appears that we've discouraged him from coming into our yard . . . but I don't know for sure.

4.  Happy Birthday Hamster made The Bank Street College's Best Books List!  I'm thrilled by that honor!
 
5.  My heart is broken for the people of New Hampshire this morning. Police officers risk their lives for us all every day. I have great respect for what they do and how much their families also must give for our safety.

Home from Mexico (Maine!)

    I had a lovely day with the kids of Mountain Valley Middle School in Mexico, Maine yesterday. The school did an all-school read of Rules, and they had invited their local organizations that work with people with disabilities to participate. The kids cycled through the programs all day long.



All the programs were wonderful, but I only managed to get some photos of the therapy dogs!



Each group talked about what they did and then there were hands-on activities to try. Or new friends to meet. :-) 



 It was a great day!  Thank you to everyone at Mountain Valley Middle School for making me feel so welcomed!

)

It's A Book Baby!

 Congratulations! It's a bouncing book-baby!

Name: The Night She Disappeared
Date: April 10, 2012
Weight: 240 pages
Proud Parent: April Henry  ( aprilhenry )
Godparents: Henry Holt & Company

Deadline's A'Coming

Milo and I are sewing up some last loose ends in my new book.



Millo, there really is such a thing as being TOO helpful! 

Happy Easter!

Have a wonderful day!