The End Is Near, and I Am Grateful

As you can see, my blog is a couple of days early, but as you may have noticed, it hasn't appeared for awhile. Better early than never?

Its title reflects the end of my first quarter in the English Composition Master's program at Cal State San Bernardino. I picked Cal State because I thought it might be an easier program than a UC or a private college (where I got my undergrad degree many many moons ago), and certainly because it was a whole lot cheaper. What I found, to my delight and horror, is that not only are the professors brilliant and intersting and funny, but their classes are ten times harder. (No, make that twenty, or thirty.) I haven't seen my husband in a couple of months and my friends, well, they know that I'll call them in the summer to check in. And of course, the bag of potatoes has been one potato lighter lately.

So, what am I grateful for? 1. Not getting the swine flu this quarter. 2. Not losing any papers in cyberspace. 3. The diversity in age, race and gender of my wonderful classmates. 4. The fact that they're suffering too. 5. Jenny, who brought five pies to class the night before Thanksgiving when I had to leave a family dinner to attend class from 6 - 8 p.m. 6. My parents' health, cuz God knows I haven't seen them much either. 7. My husband's patience. 8. The final words typed on my last paper this afternoon at 4 p.m. 9. My final class on Monday. 10. The chance to write with some really hot potatoes who remind me that I have so much to be thankful for!

Some good news on a Friday...

I just got the news that The Compound is a finalist for the 2010-11 Missouri Truman Readers Award. Students in grades 6-8 across Missouri will read all twelve finalists during the 2010-11 school year, then vote for their favorite.
Wow, and I just had to edit to add The Compound is also a finalist for the Missouri Gateway Readers Award.
Fun fact: I lived in Missouri until I was three years old...

Unexpected Gifts

One of the things I'm thankful for is unexpected gifts. Three have come my way recently and I'm thankful for all of them. Last week I was notified that BOX OUT had been selected for the 2010 Tayshas High School Reading List for Texas students. I'm always pleased to have a book chosen for one of the Texas lists and am particularly pleased to have BOX OUT on the Tayshas list.

Today in the mail I received five letters from students at a charter school in Philadelphia who read Crackback and wanted to tell me what they thought, ask some questions, and offer suggestions for future books. The personalities of these students shine through in their letters.

And yesterday I received word that a picture book manuscript of mine has been acquired. This is a story I became interested in when my daughter started college in Massachusetts and I visited a nearby site of historical importance. That my daughter is long graduated and now married is beside the point. I'm thrilled to have a new picture book in the works. Each day we go to work without knowing where the stories or pictures will take us, and so often we receive unexpected gifts. Thank you.

Thankful...

The weekend before the weekend before Thanksgiving, I was giving great thanks to the universe for leading me to my path as a children's book-maker. The weekend began with a day celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, MN.

(http://www.redballoonbookshop.com/) I was honored to create a poster to commemorate this event and at 11 AM I was scheduled to sign said posters. Not content to just sign, I handed out sheets of paper with the banner already printed on them, poured crayons and markers on the floor of the store and let all of the young artists make their own anniversary posters for the Red Balloon. This bookstore has been unbelievably supportive of my books. From publication parties to book festivals to school visits, The Red Balloon Bookshop is at the top of my gratitude list.

The next day was the 60th anniversary of the Kerlan Collection, at the U of Minnesota. (http://special.lib.umn.edu/clrc/kerlan/index.php) A luncheon attended by lovers and creators of children's literature started the event followed by a lecture from one of their best known researchers, Leonard Marcus. There was a wonderful exhibit of some of their holdings, including pieces by Wanda Gag, Gustave Tenggren, Jeannette Winter, and many more. (They even had a few sketches of mine from Our Family Tree and Fold Me A Poem, which thrilled me to be in such company!) Many of Minnesota's great authors and illustrators were in attendance and I loved having the opportunity to converse, discuss and celebrate what we do. I am grateful to live in an area of the country where children's literature is so valued.

I woke up Monday morning, after this weekend of festivities feeling like the luckiest person in the world! I am so thankful to be able to write and paint what has meaning to me and then offer it to the world. What a gift.

In the world of children's literature, I am thankful for...

1. Creative minds.
2. Past and current authors who have set and raised the standards.
3. Editors and publishers who keep acquiring new books in an uncertain economy.
4. The inventor of the bookcase.
5. Independent bookstores whose inventories are not dictated by a central office.
6. Librarians who help to spread the love of the written word.
7. Teachers who instill the skill and love of reading in their students.
8. Story characters who make good friends you can count on.
9. My fellow spuds who come together from our far-flung homes to share thoughts on books and the writing process.
10. My five grandchildren who love books.

(and 11. A husband who cooks!)

Día de Acción de Gracias

What a wonderful day to be blogging!

My main thanks go to having a daughter alive. A few months ago Juliana phoned me to say that she thought she would be calling with good news but not anymore. She'd had a miscarriage. Sad, but not the end of the world, except that two weeks later she began having an awful pain. This is a lady who didn't say "Ay" when delivering Conor. It was worrisome to hear her complaining now. Her hormones indicated she was still pregnant, but the fetus wasn't in her uterus. One of thirty-three thousand ladies have a baby in a tube and another in a Fallopian tube. So, the doctors discarded that possibility. One day the pain stopped. Juliana was feeling fine, but the hormones didn't go down as much as expected. When her white blood cells went down, worried about an infection, the doctors decided to operate. They found a ruptured Fallopian tube. The fetus had made kind of a cork that saved my daughter from a hemorrhage. Today she's doing well. Her other tube is good. And I am super thankful for having this brave woman in my life.

My father's ninetieth birthday was on November 8. My sister took him to Connecticut and I flew from Oregon to meet him at the airport. When he saw me instead of seeing my sister, he thought that the pilots had made a mistake and had flown him to Portland. We had unforgettable days celebrating with him.

My writing thanks go to my papas calientes, writing group, editors, educators, students, colleagues, writers, READERS, and the inspiration that comes from above.

May you have a peaceful, healthy and loving day.

Thankful

As a writer, I have many reasons to give thanks this year: my past books, a current project which has caught the interest of an editor, new picture books on the horizon for 2010 and 2011.

But at the moment I am especially thankful for the work I get to do with elementary school children. I just finished a week of working with seven classes of fourth graders as a visiting author. I guided the students through the stages of creating a book, from writing a first draft to making revisions to drawing illustrations. I shared with them both past and current writing projects of mine. We talked about the joys, and frustrations, of writing.

Being able to visit each classroom multiple times allowed the students and me to make a strong connection. By the end of the week they were showing me books they had created at home and giving me illustrations they had sketched in their free time. What a delight it was for me to walk into a classroom and have the students cheer, or to receive a thank you letter saying "I never realized how much I liked writing until you came to our class."

As schools continue to tighten their financial belts even more and money for outside speakers becomes harder to find, I am thankful that I am still asked into the classroom. These experiences are rewarding to me on many levels, and for that I am extremely grateful.