Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 60

Wordless Wednesday

photo by my husband, John

Description

It's been lovely to have a week of writing. My deadline to give my new editor a first look at my next novel is April 15th. I know we'll have a lot of work to do together on it, and I'm excited to get that process started.

As I tell kids in my school visits, I like to set my books in real places. I change them a lot after I choose them, but I do always have real places underneath it all. In my new novel, three chapters take place in a funky little mountain gift shop that includes a local museum in the back.  My main character currently describes it as: 

Halfway between a real museum and someone's grandmother’s attic, this museum felt as homemade as the jams and soap that Mrs. Stackpole sold. It was really just a big extra space at the back of the gift shop, cut into aisles by long partitions and huge glassy display cases crammed with plates and teacups, old, lacy dresses and scuff-worn boots. On the partitions were framed photos, old newspaper clippings, documents, and small laminated cards telling the story for those visitors who didn’t pay for the full tour.



Today, I'm remembering the day my daughter and I drove to the real gift shop underneath that little bit of description. I'm looking at the photos and reading the notes I took that day.  Sometimes it's the little things, the things you couldn't have simply imagined that make it real. 

In looking at the photos this morning, I'm noticing the fans--the white box fan in the gift shop in the top photo and this old, black metal one in the museum--and remembering the breeze on my bare legs and on my face and the sound of whirring, stirring up the smells of balsam pillows, old wood and paper, and a hundred candles. 

My Writing Assistant

 
"Put more of the main character's DOG in the story!" Milo suggests

Ready to Leap

I have a week off from speaking now, so it's back to writing!  I'm excited and dreading opening the file today, because I'm working on the end. The end of a book always has conflict and high emotion in it, and I don't like conflict in real life.  So it's the hardest part for me.
 

The Mt. Washington Auto Road, New Hampshire

As a writer, though, sometimes you just have to leap.   

Five Things On A Friday

1.  I was touched by this classroom in Cold Spring, Kentucky that read Rules and then organized a team to participate for the annual "Walk Now For Autism Speaks."  They were hoping to raise $400 and have already raised $450!  You go, Cougars!

2.  I had a lovely school visit yesterday with the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders at Glenburn Elementary School in Glenburn, Maine.  Thank you for a great day!  Half of the students had read Touch Blue and half had read Rules. 

3.  On my drive home from Glenburn yesterday, my car thermometer said it was 86 degrees outside.  In Maine in March?!! 

4.  My daughter's 22nd birthday was yesterday (Happy Birthday, Julia!), and she comes home today for a week!  There will be cake!

5.  We've had a skunk living under our garage since February, and we've tried various things to convince him/her to move.  Finally I tried what a couple of people had recommended:  moth balls!  You sprinkle them around and in the hole.  Then I filled the hole with leaves, so if the leaves were moved, I'd know if he were still using that den.  So far, so good.  Sorry Pepe Le Pew, but our dog Milo is not at all savvy to the ways of skunks and that's a disaster just waiting to happen!        

Home From Kentucky!

  I had a lovely visit to Kentucky!  Yesterday I spoke at Hebron Middle School in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, but since I flew in Monday afternoon, Stacy Ecton, the media specialist at school offered to take me to the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville. 

  I watch the Kentucky Derby on TV every year so it was thrilling to see Churchill Downs.

    In the museum there were fun exhibits about the Derby, including a big display of hats and some dresses.

   

Stacy and I went on the walking tour.  The Derby winners are listed along the building in order of their wins.  Every triple crown winner is listed in gold.

  

The track!  I slipped my foot under the fence to touch it.

   

Here's where we went to supper. 

   

I had a local dish called "Big Brown," which was heavenly!  I don't even know how to describe it, but it had bread, chicken, bacon and cheese all cooked in a sort of casserole. I loved, but I could only eat about half of it, because it was so big.

   Here's something I'd never seen before.  "What are the arrows and Xs for?" I asked, and Stacy told me that sometimes the lanes change.  Sometimes the middle lane is a right lane, and sometimes it's a left lane.  So you have to look and see if you can be in that lane.  That sounds terrifying to me.

  My school visit was great!  The kids were wonderful and the school mascot dressed up for my visit. :-)  Thank you so much to Stacy Ecton and all the staff and students at Hebron for a wonderful trip! 

Look Who Won The South Carolina Picture Book Award!

And you know how much Hamster likes prizes!!!  :-) 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

    Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all! 

Back in 2005, I asked author Jennifer Ward to tell a story on my blog that she had told me about one St. Patrick's Day at her house. 

http://cynthialord.livejournal.com/2005/03/17/

I reread it this morning and laughed all over again. It's sure to put a smile on your face.

Thank you, Phippsburg Elementary School

Yesterday, I had a lovely day with the students and staff of Phippsburg Elementary School in Phippsburg, Maine.  I felt very welcomed!

  My visit was the day before a Teacher Workshop Day, so we took the week out with a bang! 

  

I was greeted by this delcious-looking, sparkly display of birthday cupcakes for Happy Birthday, Hamster.  Which one would you choose?  In true Hot Rod Hamster fashion, I would choose them ALL! 

   

The hallway had a line-up of awesome hot rods, including this cool Spiderman car!

 

The kids were fantastic.  Here's a photo that Laura Phelps, the wonderful librarian at PES, took of me talking to the 4th and 5th graders. 

Phippsburg is on the ocean and has beautiful beaches, so after school, I put on my sneakers and had a walk on Popham Beach.

   

It was a perfect ending to a wonderful day! 

School Visits

Yesterday, I answered mail.  This drawing of me doing a school visit came in a packet of thank you notes from Crestline Elementary School in Alabama.  Poor Harper must've been sitting in the back!  I love that she drew me with such a big smile. :-) 

  And I got a whole envelope full of thank yous from my friends on Long Island, Maine.  These two say: Thank you, Cynthia Lord, I like the book Hot Rod Hamster's Birthday and Thank you, Cynthia Lord. I like the hamster. 

This morning, I'm drinking my coffee and then heading off to a school visit with the 120 or so PreK-5 students at Phippsburg Elementary School in Phippsburg, Maine.  We had a dusting of snow last night, and Phippsburg is right on the ocean with a gorgeous sandy beach (Popham Beach).  It'll be a pretty drive.