Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 96

Hot Rod Hamster Coming Through!

Hot Rod Hamster is in the Spring Scholastic Book Fairs, and here's Derek on the video! He did a great job! And how fun to see a spread from our next book, Happy Birthday, Hamster (August) on the wall behind him.

One Day, One Chapter

White Mountains of New Hampshire


10 / 26 (38.46%)
My first drafts are usually about 26 Chapters, so I've set that as my goal for this first draft.  

My Co-Workers

I'm plodding along with my new book.  As I'm working, visitors peek in the window, hoping I'll take a break and scatter some seeds.


I seeeee yooooooou!

And my little assistant always starts our writing time so excited to help. 


"Lets go! What are we doing? I'm ready!"

But within a few minutes. . .



"Milo has been napping on the job," I told my daughter last night.

She smiled. "For Milo, napping IS the job."  

Five Things on a Friday

   1.  Since this is on Scholastic Canada's website now, I'm sure it's fine for me to show it, too. Happy Birthday, Hamster is on the cover of the catalogue !  And according to the book's listing, they're making Hamster wrapping paper. Cool!  I hadn't heard that, so I hope it's right. :-)


2.  Along with working on a new novel, I'm creating my workshop for the Colorado Reading Association conference the first week of February.  I'm doing a session on my own, but also speaking on a panel with Wendy Mass and Jordan Sonnenblick.  I've never met either Wendy or Jordan, so that's a big treat! 



from the OPL website

3.  Thank you to the wonderful kids at the Ossining Public Library in New York for giving Touch Blue an OPLberry Honor!  I am delighted! Thank you!  It's the ultimate honor for me when a book is chosen by kids.  
 

4. My daughter heads back to college on Sunday. It's been so nice to have her home. She has a lot to look forward to this semester. . .including a science class in the Virgin Islands in May where she will be collecting data on sealife.  Amazing, huh?! 


5.  And in the wake of some hard news this week, both nationally and for friends, I'm simply going to be thankful this morning for friends and family and for a new day.  Sometimes I take those things for granted, but the truth is. . . 

They are everything.   

18 Inches of Snow

and 12 inches of dog.


What?!

From my Mail

From a student on Nantucket

Your biography on your website was interesting. I like your song "Ding Dong the Cherries Sing." --Maggie
My opinion on this book is that it is a great book with a lot of bravery in it.  --Macy

It makes me sad that Jason can't get up and run away from someone if he wanted to. --Tori
This is a project for school, so don't show up at my house. --Sergio
Ryan is rude, disrespectful, mean, annoying. Oh! Sometimes I just want to jump into the book and smack him! --Shaunie
I stayed strong for as long as I could until I just exploded like a giant whale blowing water out of the hole on the top of their head, much like Catherine did.  Things became better for me as they did for Catherine after I spoke my mind. --Chelsea
I'm worried because I'm afraid my cousin might get picked on, like David. Like you said, "Sometimes people laugh when they like you. But sometimes they laugh to hurt you."  No one deserves to be picked on.  --Sydney
Was it fun typing all those words? --John
I heard you like ducks. --Michael
On a scale of 1 to 100, 1 being worst and 100 being AMAZING! how much did you enjoy writing RULES? --Devon

Could you please make another RULES or even just write a little paragraph so I know what happened next. You're a great author. I know you could probably do it. --Andrew 

Home Again

I had a great trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was rejuvenating to be there and concentrate on something new. 

I spent my time writing and doing research, and I made some nice breakthroughs in this new book.  I know I'm probably taking on too much in this first draft, but that's why there's a second draft!  And a third, and a fourth. . . . right now, too much is fine.  Sometimes I need to get to the end of a book to know what I actually needed to get there. 

I had a beautiful room in an old inn.  I drove the local roads and took lots of photos. I even took photos of odd things that may or may not end up in the descriptions in the book:  a fancy doorknob, a driveway, a split staircase, and a weathervane.  I read about the history of the area:  the scoundrels and daredevils, the hotel kings and families--the tragedies and accomplishments of people who left their names and stories here.

How fast the weather changes.  Twice, I left Bartlett in blue-sky sunshine only to find myself in a swirling, fierce snow squall a handful of miles later in Crawford Notch.  Nature turns on you there.  Having experienced that awful wondering whether it was more dangerous to push on or more dangerous to go back, I think some of those first homesteaders must've been part-time crazy. 

And that's exactly what interests me. :-)

Ahhh.

I'm spending the next few days at an inn in the mountains of New Hampshire working on my next book.  See you all Tuesday!

2011 Books

Congratulations! Here comes a whole new year of bouncing book-babies! 

If you are one of my LJ Friends or regular blog readers and you have a book with a publishing date in 2011, please comment and tell me the title and release date (or month/season if the precise date isn't set yet). 

Don't be shy. You worked hard for that book. Let us celebrate it with you.  :-)
 

January

25.  Mr. Duck Means Business, by Tammi Sauer,  illustrated by Jeff Mack

February

22. Exposed, by Kimberley Marcus

March

April

14. Scritch-Scratch, A Perfect Match, by Kimberley Marcus, illustrated by Mike Lester

May

June

28. The Day Before, by Lisa Schroeder

July

19. Pearl, by Jo Knowles

August

1.  Happy Birthday Hamster, by Cynthia Lord, illustrated by Derek Anderson

September

20. Sprinkles and Secrets, by Lisa Schroeder

October

November

Tom's Tweet, by Jill Esbaum, illustrated by Dan Santat

December
 

Wordless Wednesday

East Boothbay, Maine. Photo by my husband, John