Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 76

Five Things on a Friday

© Derek Anderson. All rights reserved.

1.  One of the many fun parts of being an author is seeing that your books matter (even if only for a little while) in the families of complete strangers.  I loved this blog entry from a family in Canada over Happy Birthday, Hamster.

. . . the story culminates with all Hamster’s friends leaping out and yelling, “Surprise!” Benjamin was absolutely delighted. He insisted on reading the book over and over again over the next few weeks and there wasn’t a single family member that could resist him when he came toddling over carrying the book and yelling, “Pize! Pize!”

Just imagining that makes me so happy.

2.  I had a nice meeting with my critique partners last night.  I told them about my new novel, and their eyes widened, proving to me that I'm on a good path with it.  It's another thoughtful middle-grade that'll be a good discussion book. 

3.  It's 45 degrees here, so it's time to hunt under the bed for my LL Bean slippers. 

4.  I set up my projector and ran through my school visit presentations for Milo yesterday (who promptly fell asleep!).  It's been a couple months, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't too rusty next week when I'm visiting five Tennessee schools.

5.  And I'm visiting the Linebaugh Library in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  That event is open to the public. So if you're in that area, I'd love to meet you!  I'm not sure what book I'll do.  The book cover shown is Happy Birthday, Hamster, but at 7 at night, I don't know if I'll have the audience for that book.  So for events like this, I usually prepare a few different presentations.  Then when I see the audience, I pick the talk that seems the best fit. 

Book Talk and Signing

Tuesday, September 20, 7:00pm

featuring 2011 Pen Pal Author Cynthia Lord

Sponsored by the Friends of Linebaugh Library

Turning Orange

Through a combination of tricks: hiding two in the leaves and one in a hamster ball to ward off the squirrels, we've managed to keep our three pumpkins growing and ripening.  They aren't big, but they are beautiful. 

Wordless Wednesday

Pemaqud Point Lighthouse, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

Getting Out My Name Tag

Freeport, Maine. Photo by my husband, John


I leave for Tennessee on Sunday. That trip will begin three months of school visits for me. I'm at a good point to let my novel sit awhile and to do some reading and research.  And I will have a new editor for my Hamster books--but that will take some time to get settled. So I'm putting away my writing life now and thinking about projectors and flights and testing the batteries in my remote. 

Obiwan in High Def.

Okay, I finally managed to get this downloaded.  Forgive the shaky camera work. It was SO windy.  But if you want to see the seals head to sea in High Def. . . .

May The Force Be With You, Obiwan

I've tried and tried to upload my video of the seals' release. It came out beautifully, and though I can watch it on my computer, I can't get it to fully download--it gets to about 20% downloaded onto Youtube and then I get an error message. 


I'll keep trying, but if nothing else, I'll make Jo a CD of it and here are photos for everyone.  






The students from the Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center (MARC) at the University of New England brought the three seals in kennels and lined them up on the beach.  One of the students had a bullhorn and she said the seals were (left to right): Tito, Penny, and Obiwan. 




Here's Tito peeking out of his kennel.  He looks like he's smiling to see that big, blue ocean. 


We counted to three, and all the kennel doors were opened at once.  Tito hit the sand first, then Penny, and then Obiwan.  They flip-flopped their way down the beach, wasting no time.




Tito takes the lead!




First came Tito, second was Penny, and Obiwan was third.  We all cheered!


It was sweet to see how often they checked in with each other to be sure they were all coming.  Penny, in particular, seemed to want to make sure Obiwan was still behind her. One of the MARC students was standing near me, and she said these three had shared space together at the center. She told us they like to release young seals in familiar groups. When you need to be brave, it's so nice to have a friend beside you.


They stopped at the water's edge for a beat. I don't know if they were taking a quick rest before tackling the waves or if they were stunned by what they saw ahead!  The open ocean is a lot rougher and bigger than the pool at the center. 






But they went into the water together.






 


They fought hard to get out past those breaking waves.





 


Every time they were pushed back toward shore, they tried again. 


One seal made it past first, and the other two had to make a couple more attempts, but those two stayed together and the last I saw of them was a dive under the waves.






And they were free.

Godspeed, Obiwan

At the beginning of summer, my good friend, Jo Knowles, and her family were in Maine. One gray morning she came upon two baby seals on the beach and had to call Marine Resources to come help them.  My heart went out to her, because it's so hard to see animals in trouble and not ever find out what happened to them. 


A few weeks later, on impulse, I did a little sleuthing. After all, there are only a few places in New England that rehabilitate seals.  I never found out what happened to one baby, but the other went to the Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center at the University of New England in Biddeford.  The MARC students and volunteers give the seals names to tell them apart, and they named him "Obiwan" (though according to this blog entry, they think "Jabba" would've been a better fit for him). 


I told Jo, and I checked in a couple times over the summer to see how Obiwan was doing. Then on Saturday, I got a message that three seals at the center were now were big enough, strong enough, and skilled enough to be returned to their wild lives in the sea. Those seals are:



  Tito



  Penny


AND (you guessed it!)



  Obiwan.


Jo, I want you to see his big moment.  So Julia and I are driving to Biddeford today with our cameras so we can show it to you. 

Shhhhh

Tomorrow I'm planning to go here.


And take a little video of a special moment.



To make a dear friend smile. 

Five Things on a Friday

Look what I found on my lawn!



1.  My editor told me she's leaving. We've been together 10 years, and I love her. On the outside, I'm doing my best to be calm and professional and make good choices for the books I have already underway.  But on the inside, I want to throw my arms around her ankles and sob, "Nooooooo. Don't go!"



2.  My daughter is coming home for the weekend.  I'm driving up to get Julia this afternoon. I haven't seen her room yet, so it'll be fun to do that. 



3.  I bought apple cider. Fall can officially begin. 



4.  I have a lot of travel this fall. I've reorganized my school year to be Sept-Nov speaking, Dec-Feb writing, Mar-May speaking, June-Aug writing.  We'll see how that goes.  I think it will be a good schedule for me, though.



5. My thoughts are with all of you who are dealing with flooding and wildfires. What terrible losses I see whenever I look at the news.

Dear Bully

Many of my author friends have stories in the new anthology Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories.  Yesterday, Carrie Jones, Carolyn Mackler, and Eric Luper did a wonderful segment on NPR.