Fall already slipping away...

It seems only days ago that fall was just on the horizon, and now suddenly we're into October!

In early September, I made a weeklong trip to North Carolina for three school visits and a talk in an Appalachian State University children's lit class. Last Monday night, I participated in a panel discussion on The Art of Children's Literature following the screening of the award-winning documentary film, "Library of the Early Mind" as part of Hood College's annual Colloquium. And what an amazing film it was! This past week I've also been a "visiting" author for an online ALSC course entitled "Connecting With Tween Readers." The students are twenty-one librarians from across the country.

Unfortunately two school visits have been cancelled, due to lack of funding--a sad result of today's economy. I have another coming up in a few weeks and am keeping my fingers crossed it isn't cancelled.

In my other life as a regional advisor for the MD/DE/WV region of SCBWI, I've been busy planning a tri-regional conference to be held in Gettysburg, along with the two Pennsylvania regions over the weekend of Nov. 11-13. We have an amazing line-up of speakers, including Patricia MacLachlan, Jim Murphy, and E.B. Lewis, as well as a number of editors, agents, and an art director. If you're interested in details, here's a link to the conference.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention our family celebration of my father's 90th birthday on September 24th. Seventeen of us gathered at a large house on the salt marshes of Chincoteague Island, Virginia.

I do try to squeeze in writing time around my busy schedule, as well as some relaxing evenings around the campfire.

Pumpkins and Tigers and Ghosts, Oh My!

Like the other Potatoes, I am having a busy fall.

The visiting author season has started and I've already been to several schools, with plenty more scheduled throughout month.

This past week I've been working on some final tweaks to a new picture book that is scheduled to come out in the fall of 2012 from Chronicle, IT'S A TIGER! Jeremy Tankard who creates wonderful images with the computer will be the illustrator.

I've got several more book signings this month to celebrate my latest picture book, THE HAUNTED HAMBURGER AND OTHER GHOSTLY STORIES.

The Children's Theatre in Minneapolis will be presenting The Wizard of Oz and I'll be leading a book discussion after one of the performances.

Of course October means pumpkin carving. I carved my first pumpkin of the year last month at the Northwoods Children's Book Conference in Hayward, WI. More pumpkin carving events are slated for the end of the month.

And I am frustrated that I can't find the time to work on a new picture book that I am both writing and illustrating, ART ATTACK. Deadlines are approaching and I'm starting to panic. I haven't scheduled any school visits for November or December, and having some long stretches of time to work on this book sounds very welcome.

And though I feel overwhelmed, I am also grateful to have so many interesting projects to keep me busy. But the beautiful autumn weather we've been having makes it difficult to stay inside and work on them!

I'm just an URL who can't say no . . .

This fall I'm finishing up illustrations and design for two books soon to be published: Our School Garden! (Readers to Eaters, spring 2012); and The Forgiveness Garden (Fiewel & Friends, fall 2012). I've been in wait-wait mode for almost a year to get going on my next author/illustrator project with Lee & Low, Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building. I'm eager to have this book published, so I hope to hear from my editor soon. I have a few design and art direction projects and a few upcoming author visits, but I need to drum up lots more of everything.

I have no shortage of ideas for stories, illustrations, craft books, classes, presentations, consulting, commissions, curriculum development, and more. However, when I go to pitch my ideas I need a stronger web presence to back me up and showcase my work. Life=URL.

I designed my site years ago, so it is outdated and due for an overhaul. The last couple of weeks I've been refreshing my knowledge of Adobe Dreamweaver, preparing photos and content, creating new template designs, reading forums on specific html coding, and obsessing for way too long about Spry collapsible menus (comparative samples of collapsed and expanded menus shown below). I live in the heart of Silicon Valley where designers must be able to tackle more than print design. I will not be put out to pasture quite yet. I hope to share my revamped site in the next month or so. It's turning out to be an enormous amount of work.

Meanwhile I'm reading about flash fiction, creative non-fiction, short stories, and poetry, while simultaneously trying to write something longer. Go figure.

A Full Fall

I was hoping that once school started for my college sophomore and high school senior things would quiet down for me. Alas, a peaceful autumn was not to be. The past few weeks have been a scramble as:

1. My new novel The Raft went to copy edits, so I had to review those quickly and make any last changes I wanted before the ARC's went to print. I'm so excited that it is just about "done", always a moment to celebrate. The book is due in June, and I got a peek at the cover. I'll show as soon as I'm allowed, and it is FABULOUS.

2. I'm finishing up the draft of what will be my fourth novel with Feiwel and Friends. My working title is The Margin, but that will change. I am hoping to hammer out the end in the next week or so, get it off to my trusty reader, and then get it to my editor before fall is over.

3. I'm working on a synopsis. It is hard and I don't like it. Enough said.

4. I leave tomorrow for school visits in Connecticut, where my novel The Compound is on the 2011-12 Nutmeg Award List. I'll be in middle schools in Orange and Bloomfield. Two weeks after that I head to Colorado Springs to speak at a middle school where my novel The Gardener is up for Book of the Year at their school. I love that there are schools that have a competition for Book of the Year.

5. On a personal note, my college daughter will be meeting me in CO for her fall break. Her boyfriend is stationed in the Army there, and is being deployed to Afghanistan a couple days after we get there. This is not a political blog, but may I say, I wish we were not sending our young men to such a war.

6. The thing on my mind the most this fall? Volleyball! My high school senior is libero on the varsity and they are having an amazing season. This photo was from one of the three tournaments they've won. ( My kid is the white jersey) This weekend, I watched them come back from a 20-8 deficit and win. I had to watch through my hands as my kid started serving when the score was 24-20, which means every serve was game point. But she did it. ( She did not get her composure from me, that's for sure. There must have been ice in her veins.) They're ranked #3 in state, so I will have a full blown case of bleacher bottom by the time the season is over...

Here's to a productive fall for us all.

Four potatoes to go...

Look who came into my neighborhood this weekend, my favorite winter-time author, Lauren Stringer. She presented a wonderful show on how she works on books, circus's, etc., and had a line out the door waiting for her autograph. It was great to meet her, if only for a few minutes, and now I can check one more potato off my list. Just four to go! I have asked our children's literature festival coordinator to please hire the last four to come and speak at her yearly conference so that I may meet them. I am sending her your names in the hopes that you will come to me!!

It was a great event, Lauren. You project so much warmth and delight (and talent) through your presentation.

Summer with Persephone

This past summer of reading was more books than I could keep track of, but the ones that stand out are the Persephone books. Last January when I was visiting my editor in sunny California, I had brought a slow, dark, depressing book that I could barely open. On my editor's shelf was a beautiful book that caught my eye, The Making of a Marchioness, and it was by one of my favorite childhood author's, Frances Hodgeson Burnett ~ ("The Secret Garden").

If you loved "Pride and Prejudice", you will love this book- it sweeps you off your feet with quirky, romantic characters. Curious about the publisher, I visited their website and became obsessed with their mission, their culture, everything about them. I am now an avid collector and reader of Persephone books. Here are some of my favorites from this summer:

The Far Cry ~ A coming of age story with a fabulous passage to India with accurate descriptions of arrival by sea to Bombay, then a harrowing train ride to a tea plantation. I could sense everything about India with this story. The writing was exquisite! Persephone books are beautifully crafted- the size of the book, the endpapers, the quality of the paper- making the reading experience like a delicious feast followed with a rich dessert.

Another favorite was Saplings ~ a very complex story of a family of children who were ushered out of London before the bombs began to fall. It is a heartrending story of how war can nearly destroy a family, not to mention a country.

For laugh out loud, slap-stick reading, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is the perfect book. The Guardian refers to it as a "flight of humor" which describes it exactly- and I just recently finished Mariana, a book filled with the details of daily life in London~ following the growing up of a young girl, whom I did not particularly like, but found myself rooting for her by the end. Interesting to read a book about a character that is not a likable heroine.

I recommend signing up for Persephone's catalogue in the mail~ their newsletter is excellent reading about the joy of books and can be enjoyed over a hot cup of tea.

Old Books, New to Me

For whatever reason, this summer I read only a handful of “new” books. The rest of the time I spent rereading old favorites. There was a Freddy the Pig book or two in there, of course, along with The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear, Matilda, Fergus Crane, and The Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald. I picked up the last title at a used bookstore recently, not realizing it was an “old favorite” until I read a few pages and said to myself, “Hey, I read this book when I was a kid! I forgot all about it!” What a great feeling.

I also read half a dozen books in the Horrible History series, and I’m reminded why the series has sprouted a cottage industry: it’s a fun way to learn history, for kids or adults.

Of the new (for me) fiction titles I read this summer, two books stand out: Tucker’s Countryside and Harry Cat’s Pet Puppy—two titles in the series that began with A Cricket in Times Square, which I read years ago, then listened to again this spring on audiobook. Curious about the series, I finally decided to check them out. How did I miss such a fun set of books? Whether it’s Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat helping to save the Old Meadow, or tending an adopted puppy and finding it a good home, I found their adventures enthralling. Tucker Mouse! What a character! And the soothing theme of friendship permeating both books reminded me a lot of the Freddy books—another point in their favor.

I still have a few more titles in the series yet to read. I can’t wait!