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Where I’ve Been

13 Jun

I’m embarrassed how neglectful I’ve been to this blog, lately. But I have good excuses, I swear!

I was acquiring a new sister:

High-five for wedding success!

And then one of my best friends got married, too:

All the Dickinson alumni at Deb's wedding!

Other exciting things were happening, too, though. Like Leah Cypess’s debut novel, Mistwood, was published.

And so was Jody Feldman’s second novel, The Seventh Level.

And I was busy at work on some fantastic novels that you’ll be able to read in 2011. (Or maybe later this fall, if you’re lucky enough to get an ARC.) I’ll be telling you more about those at a later date.

Happy summer!

Oh, What a World

11 Jul

Ever since my morning in the Magic Kingdom last month, I’ve been thinking a lot about world-building. Walking around by myself made the experience very much one of observing, rather than goofing around, as I expect would have happened had I been with a group of friends.

Part of me–my inner child–was delighted by the whole place. The way every last detail has been planned out, that you never see a “mistake” or false move–it’s so complete. That’s so impressive, and it’s such a total experience.

And yet…

Maybe it’s because I’m a grown-up, maybe it’s because I’ve lived in NYC for nearly eight years now, but the other part of me was wondering things like, “But where’s all the trash?” “How do they stay so perky all the time?” “What happens behind the Cast Member Only doors?”

The last is the most intriguing. Because I bet that’s where the real story is. Where the “cast members” gripe and complain and trade funny stories and, well, live. Everything else is a facade. An expertly detailed one, but one that only stands because of all the inner workings, and what happens behind the closed doors.

Things I Learned in Hawaii

13 Mar

I’m still just a tad too jetlagged to write coherently about the two topics I’ve been mulling. So instead, here, in no particular order, are things I learned in Hawaii.

* Even overcast rainy-ness seems glorious at 70 degrees on a tropical island when you’ve left a foot of snow behind on a not-so-tropical island.

* Pineapples grow OUT OF THE GROUND. Out of the ground, I tell you! And here I was, thinking my whole life, that they grew from trees. They are bromeliads, which may be one of the coolest words, but strangest plants around.

* There is a delicacy called shaved ice. It is what I’d call a snow cone. Except way better. And you can get condensed milk drizzled on top, which at first sounds like it could be bad, but it is so, so good!

* It seems I’m on an unintentional SCBWI-Obama tour. The last one I did in ’08 was in Chicago, just weeks after the election. Now Honolulu, where I got to see the condo building where Obama’s grandma lived, the school he went to, and the Baskin Robbins where he worked. So I guess I need Boston and DC speaking engagements before I’ve collected all towns Obama has called home?

* I get lost in the middle of Hawaiian words. So getting around for five days sounded a little like this: “Oh, we need to go down Kala…mumblemumble to Lili’o… that L street….” Also, there are apparently no B’s in Hawaiian!

Where I’ve Been

12 Mar


Post have been scant because I was getting ready to go to SCBWI-Hawaii.


But now that I’ve returned, a few things have been brewing, so I’ll get back on track.

Creative Process

20 Jan

When I was in Chicago last fall, I visited the Art Institute, which is one of my absolute most favorite museums ever. They always have a wonderful children’s art exhibit, usually from picture books, a great photography exhibit, other fantastic special exhibits, and of course, their amazing permanent collection. (I always visit the Caillebotte painting Paris Street in Rainy Weather.)

During one of the most recent visits, one of the special exhibits was one of drawings from the Renaissance. I love exhibits of drawings. Love.

It feels like seeing behind the scenes of a painting. Drawings are often so fluid and of-the-moment; you see how the artist’s mind came up with the composition, the idea of the drawing. You see mistakes, or re-visionings. It’s as close as we can get, perhaps, to seeing the creative process as it proceeds.

I realized, too, that this chance to glimpse the process, the inner workings (as much as any person who’s not the artist can) is the same reason I always loved watching play rehearsals in college. And why I love editing and seeing drafts of manuscripts. Watching something beautiful come together is as compelling to me as the finished project. It’s mysterious and magical and inexplicable and completely fascinating.

Guilt Trips

3 Jul

When I was at the BYU Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conferences last week, there was a mixer one night with local authors. For whatever reason right now, the Provo area has an amazing amount of gifted writers who are also fantastically nice. Shannon Hale is one of them, but she couldn’t make it to the mixer, which made the other editor, Stacy Whitman of Mirrorstone, and me sad. So what did we do? We emailed her a picture of our sad faces. And it worked! She dropped by the next day!

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