Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 99

Five Things on a Friday

Rockland, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

1.  The State of Maine Dept. of Tourism wants to use this photograph on their website.  So cool! :-)  

2.  Jan Coates of Island Readers and Writers posted some great photos of my Maine island tour  on their website.

3 .  My daughter came home last night and left this morning to visit her friends in Massachusetts for a few days.  Milo doesn't know she's gone yet.  There's going to be one sad puppy here when he figures that out.  

4.  I said yes to my first school visit for the 2011-2012 year. It's in October in a suburb of Los Angeles.  I've never been to California before, but in 2011, I'll go twice!

5.  Today I have my last meeting with my critique partners. Toni is leaving for the winter and Terry has an exciting new project in a different writerly direction and is ready to move on from our group. I'm happy for them both. Toni and I will see each other in February at the Colorado Reading Association conference, and she and I will resume meeting when she comes back in the Spring.  I'm sure I'll see Terry at author functions and conferences.

And yet,

I can't help feeling I'll be lost without them. 

Touch Blue and Your Wish Will Come True

My quiet little second novel has had some nice things happen lately. 


It was one of Book Page's Top Children's Books for 2010

It has also made some Mock Newbery lists:

Connecticut Library Consortium
State of Rhode Island Library Services
Eva Perry Book Club (voted on by kids)
and several more.

It received a mention in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Books Share True Holiday Spirit.

But my favorite nice thing was in this newspaper column "You Have to Read This!"  in the Barrington (RI) Times. Touch Blue was the winner! 

Amanda Vesey a 5th Grader said, “‘Touch Blue’ is funny at some points and even interesting."

:-) 

Just 'Cause It's Cute!

Wordless Wednesday

Harpswell, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

Taking a Deep Breath

Swift River, New Hampshire. Photo by my husband, John I've done my last school visit of 2010!  It was at Rye Middle School in Rye, New York. 

Getting there proved harder than I expected, because my flight got canceled. So I drove 6 hours from Maine to New York!  It was a lovely visit and a great end to this year's events for me.  I spoke to all the sixth graders and had a delightful lunch with a few kids from each class.  In that lunch group were two girls who have brothers with autism--and we found we had a lot in common!

Jo Alyce, the librarian, wondered if those two girls might become friends.  "Even if that doesn't happen," I said, "every time they see each other in the hallway, they'll know they aren't alone."  There is great power in that simple understanding of "You, too."

But even with all those good things, I don't feel very celebratory today.

RULES is going through a book challenge.  A mother of a child with autism wants it removed from the Battle of the Books program at her child's school. As a mom myself, I have a lot of compassion for every family who has been through the challenges that I have.  And I feel sorry that a wonderful school librarian has been placed in this position of having to defend my book. 

But knowing the heartfelt mail I receive every month about RULES, I don't feel badly about the book at all.

Finishing and Starting

 
Bailey Island, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

This is a week of finishing and starting.

I'm off to the airport in a few hours for my last school visit for 2010.  It's in Rye, New York. The whole sixth grade read Rules over the summer, so it will be a lovely ending to a busy year of events.  

I've read so many great Easy Readers and Early Chapter Books as a judge in the Cybil Awards.  Our committee is getting close to making our final selections.  I've always had great respect for people who serve on award committees, but going through the process myself gives me an understanding of how truly challenging it is. There are many different ways to look at a book, so many elements to consider, and most books I love come down to brilliance and imperfections. . .and that's what makes it all interesting and lively.  

And I've been clearing off my desk of all things having to do with Rules and Touch Blue and Hot Rod Hamster.  Answering mail, finding places for the things I want to keep and letting go of the rest. 

Making room for new things, new thoughts, and new books. :-)

Sea Smoke

I had a busy and lovely trip to Boothbay Harbor today. I talked about Touch Blue to the fifth graders at the elementary school, did a toddler/preschool storytime for Hot Rod Hamster at the library, and spoke at a literary luncheon for adults.

The sun was just coming up on my early morning drive to the school, and I loved the sea smoke.

North Carolina!

A big thank you to the students and staff at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, North Carolina for a great day yesterday.  I so enjoyed meeting you all and spending the day with you!   



Lots of kids talked to me about Touch Blue and Rules. Caitlin even made this fabulous "no toys in the fishtank" project!


I heard amazing stories and received fun notes from the kids, including this one from Grayson:

Dear Mrs. Lord, First grade liked your book.  You are a great author. I have a hamster. It is sick. I can't wait to hear your new book. We liked your writing. We liked your illustrator.

I'm honored to be called "a grate afr". . .but illustrator Derek Anderson also got lots of love in my thank you notes! 

Gavin even wants me to pass on a message. 

Can you mail Happy Birthday Hamster?  Tell your illustrator I like his pictures.  

And oh my goodness!  Look at the Holiday projects in the hallways!


The fourth grade made these beautiful gingerbread houses.


Each primary student makes a train car, and they put them all together to make a train.

It was a busy, fun day!  What a nice first-ever trip to North Carolina for me! 

It's a Book Baby!

 Congratulations! It's a bouncing book-baby!

Name: Sugar and Ice

Date of Birth: December 7, 2010

Weight: 288 pages

Proud Parent: Kate Messner ( kmessner )

Godparents: Walker & Company



And here's Kate signing ARCS at last summer's ALA!

Toni's Cottage

My critique partner, Toni Buzzeo, has a beautiful new writing cottage. It's been fun to hear about its construction and evolution at our meetings, but this is the first time I've seen it. How pretty!  It's like a fairy-tale room. :-) 

When she was still thinking about it, I remember telling Toni that it was important to me that my shed wasn't too big. "If it were bigger, I would have filled it with distractions," I said. 

Here's a photo of my shed last winter. 

  

I do have a few things from my books out there, like my duckie collection. 

 

But when I sit down at my desk, all those things are behind me, out of sight.  The point wasn't to move everything out there. The point was to have a space dedicated to writing--and for me, keeping it small keeps that focus.

Yesterday, Milo and I went to work out in my shed. I opened the file for my next novel again and reintroduced myself to those characters. I have three more school visits in the next week, but I'm getting ready to dive back in to writing, and that feels right and wonderful.