Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 92

Lobster Fishing in Michigan and South Carolina

 

Bailey Island, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

One of the things I wondered about when writing Touch Blue was if kids away from New England would be able to relate to Tess, given how firmly I set the book in Maine.

So it's a treat to find out that an elementary school in Belton, South Carolina has chosen Touch Blue for their "One Book/One School" read. This weekend, I recorded a short video for their kick-off event.

And I love these students from Michigan who acted out several scenes from Touch Blue, including the one where Tess hauls up the blue lobster.

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Please Melt.

 

Swift River, New Hampshire. Photo by my husband, John

Five Things on a Friday

 
1.  Most of my favorite American Idol contestants made it into the Top 13!  It's shaping up to be a good season.  I really like Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez, too. 

2.  A Jamie Wyeth painting just sold for over $200,000.  I was delighted--he's such a nice person.  

3.   Some of the snowbanks in my town are over my head.  And the snow in my backyard is to my knees.



4.  Thank you to Songo Lock School in Naples, Maine for a great school visit yesterday! 

I spoke to the third grade about Hot Rod Hamster and to the fourth and fifth grades about Rules.  And I met one beautiful girl who has a brother with autism and told me she's read Rules five times.  I signed her very well-read book. 

5.  On the way home, I stopped at Hannaford and saw this gumball machine that sells little rubber duckies. How perfect is that?! 



 I decided to buy one to remember my trip. 



It's a VAMPIRE duckie!  Yikes!     

March Events

 

Brunswick, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

Thursday, March 3, School visit. Songo Locks School, Naples, Maine. 

Wednesday, March 16, School visit. Oak Street School, Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

Thursday, March 17, School visit. Liberty Corner School, Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

Monday, March 21, School visit. Stevens Brook School, Bridgton, Maine.

Friday, March 26--Sunday, March 28, Whispering Pines Writing Conference, West Greenwich, Rhode Island.

Asilomar Conference

 


It was a lovely conference. The buildings at Asilomar were originally a summer camp for girls, and the smell of old wood beams and woodsmoke hit me as soon as I stepped into the social hall to check in.  It reminded me so much of being a child at summer camp myself.  It's a special place, and I meet such nice people.  I can see why many participants come every year.   



Everyone made me feel very welcome. I had great conversations with the participants and the four editors who came.  I had breakfast one morning with one of my agents, Josh Adams, and Rick Richter who introduced us all to the brave new world of apps.  I was picked up at the airport by Lea Lyon and Alexandria LaFaye and her beautiful toddler. 

Another morning, David Wiesner and I sat together. "Tell me about the books you loved as a child," I said.  It was a fun conversation about what led us both to the books we create. 

But it was especially great to spend time with online friends like Debbi Michiko Florence and Susan Taylor Brown.  Sometimes it feels a little awkward meeting people that you've known online--your in-person friendship has to catch up with your online friendship.  That totally wasn't the case here. It was immediate, not at all like it was the first time we'd met. 

I gave a talk that I had given a few years ago at the Maryland and New England SCBWIs called "The Plusses and Perils of Writing What You Know."  It's a personal talk for me about some of the things I wish I had known when Rules started out into the world. 

I have to admit that when I saw I was scheduled for 7:30 Saturday night at this conference, my heart sank a little.  I'm a morning person, so I have to pace myself to speak for an hour in the evening.  I went to all the talks on Friday and Sunday, but dipped in and out of the great programs on Saturday, so I could pace myself and run through my talk a few times in my room. 



I had a fireplace in my room, which was so cozy! 

My talk received a standing ovation. Many people came up to talk to me afterward.  As an author and a speaker, when people are moved to tell me their own stories, I know the book or the talk has been a success.  It's a gift when a reader or audience member completes that circle and gives me back something of their own. 

On the last day, Debbi took me home with her for supper.  We stopped in Mountain View (home of Google!) for lunch, and then she took me to her house and I got to meet her husband and Trixie, her adorable rat terrier. 

 

Trixie let me hold her on my lap, and she brought me her stuffed bat for a rousing game of fetch. 

 

What a cutie.  And Debbi's husband is a great cook!  It was a perfect ending to my trip.

I some "firsts" in California.  My first taste of duck and hummus. My first time touching the Pacific Ocean and a redwood tree.



My first time seeing fields of yellow mustard and artichoke farms. 

And these long whips of seaweed!



I blurted out something 100% heartfelt and mildly inappropriate on our drive when Debbi and I crested a hill and suddenly there was the ocean and the mountains gloriously ahead.  So dazzling. 

I came home to 10 more inches of snow, but I'm carrying inside me some California warmth, hospitality, sunshine, green grass, and springtime.

Monterey, California

 
It's nice to be home, but I had such a nice time in California!

 
On Friday morning, Debbi picked me up and we drove to Monterey.

  

We had a fun and delcious time with Susan Taylor Brown and her writer friends. They  meet up every year for lunch before the conference. This was the first time I'd met Susan and Debbi in person, and they are both as warm and funny and friendly as I had imagined them to be.  I really wished we lived closer!



We had lunch at Bubba Gumps!  It's full of fun things from the movie, Forrest Gump. 

 

Then Debbi and I walked around Cannery Row.






Debbi showed me all kinds of cool things, including this great store full of salt water taffy!  I bought a little bag full of my favorite flavors.



Then it was time for the conference!

Heading Home

 
I'm sitting on the floor in LaGuardia airport, waiting for the last leg of my flight home to Maine. Unfortunately, my flight been delayed to 11:30 pm--which means I'll get home at 2 am. *yawn*

So while I'm waiting here on the floor, here are a few photos from the first leg of my trip. Early this morning, I flew from San Jose to Minneapolis, and the weather was so crystal clear. I had a window seat, and here is what I saw.






The gentleman next to me on the plane was from Japan, and he spoke only a little English. He didn't need much, though!. We both just kept saying single words to each other.

"Oh!"
"Wow."
Beautiful."

Sunny California

The weather turned completely around.  I have a very spotty Internet connection, so here are just a few photos until I'm home Monday night.









Touching the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Grove, CA

 
It's fierce outside this morning with heavy rain and wind, but I didn't let that stop me. 

I'd never seen the Pacific Ocean before.  So after breakfast, I walked in the cold, sheeting rain down to meet it.


Wave your arms above your head and yell if you see a mountain lion.  

I had grand plans that I would touch the water, but the rain was turning to ice pellets the closer I got to the shore, and the wind was so strong it was turning my umbrella inside out. 

So for today, I just looked at it. 



I came back to my room soaking wet, with sand in my sneaker treads and salt in my hair. 

But it was worth it.

Do you know the way to San Jose. . . .?

 


Yes, the way to San Jose for me is from Portland, Maine to Washington DC to Denver to San Jose.

My first flight leaves Maine tomorrow morning at 5:30 am. Add in the time change, and I told my agent that if her husband sees me falling asleep at the conference dinner tomorrow night, he should give me a kick  under the table. :-)

I can't wait!