The Adventure of Travel

Traveling is in my blood. My father's entire career was spent as a flight engineer with Pan American Airways. I began traveling as an infant, and throughout my childhood I had the good fortune to travel around the United States, to Europe, and to the Caribbean Islands, sometimes with my father as the crew member. I still have the journal I kept on a 6-week vacation through Europe when I was 14 years old. (See the photo above at Stonehenge, long before it was fenced off from tourists!) Since that time, I have made it a practice to keep a journal whenever I travel--jotting down detailed descriptions of the setting, including not only the scenery, but also the people, the food, the language, the way of life as I view it. I cannot imagine trying to write a story about a setting I have not actually visited.

In my career as an author, I have not made exotic trips to other countries, but I have made road trips to a handful of states: North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Rhode Island, Maine, and, of course, my home state of Maryland. I always view these trips as an exciting adventure and love to visit schools in these various places--to look for the similarities and the differences in rural, urban, and suburban students. As David mentioned in his post, it's a thrill to walk into a school and see a sign welcoming me and a student waiting to escort me to a class!


Happy Travels to all my fellow spuds!

Traveling to Research

THIS IS LA MALAGUETA IN MALAGA, SPAIN
WHERE YOUNG PABLO PICASSO WENT TO WATCH THE BULLFIGHTS


As you know, I research as much as I can from home. Then I write the first and second draft of my book. By now I know where I have gaps. After I make as many appointments as I can from home, I travel with my questions.

WHO and WHERE:

César:¡Sí, se puede! Yes, We Can
Fresno, California and Independence, Oregon
I met farm workers and Dolores Huerta

Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life
Mexico City, Mexico
*I took advantage and studied Diego Rivera during this trip

Diego: Bigger Than Life
Guanajuato, Mexico
I met his daughter Guadalupe Rivera

Sonia Sotomayor: Supreme Court Justice
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Bronx, New York, and Washington DC
I met her cousin, Tito Baéz

Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina
Havana, Cuba
I met Alicia Alonso, her first husband, Fernando Alonso, and her husband, Pedro Simón

Pablo Picasso:Yo, el rey I, The King
Southern and Central France, Málaga and Barcelona
I met his grandson, Bernard Picasso
*I took advantage and studied Salvador Dali during this trip

WHY:

To have the smells, the sounds, and the sights of the places, and eat the food so that I can write about them

To meet the experts in order to be able to contact them for questions and to check the manuscript.

To take photographs for possible illustrations and power-point presentations

To be able to speak about the places with some authority


HOW:

Saving money

Asking for bigger book advances

Writing grants: I've got a work-in-progress from the Society of Children's Book Writers and illustrators and a fellowship from Oregon Literary Arts

WHAT:

I keep every single receipt from the trip for tax purposes.


Good informational travels to you!

Hit the road, Jack

This autumn has seen me traveling to Hayward and Wausau, Wisconsin, as well as Royalton and Sebeka, Minnesota for speaking engagements. I don't do a lot of traveling for work, but just enough so that it still remains enjoyable.

I like getting away from home, even for a few days. It's a treat to stay at a hotel where someone else makes my bed and I don't have to worry about doing dishes, taking out the garbage, or other household chores. Some authors get a lot of writing done on the road, but I don't. Instead, staying at a hotel allows me the luxury of an hour or two of reading in the evening, which I don't often take at home. I'll sometimes even turn on the television to see what the rest of the world is talking about as I don't have a working television in my apartment (so that's what "Dancing with the Stars" is all about!).

Visiting rural schools is especially rewarding, as those students don't have the opportunities kids from larger cities have, and they - and their teachers - are usually very appreciative. When I visited the small town of Sebeka last week, there was a student waiting for me at the school door to escort me to the office, the hallways were lined with bulletin board displays of my books, and I was given the honor of being celebrity judge for the fifth graders' pumpkin decorating contest. In the mail yesterday I received a thick packet of letters from the Sebeka students thanking me for my visit. These sorts of things make the long hours of driving well worthwhile.

Other highlights for me about traveling: visiting the local diner AND the bakery (don't miss the Moon Pies in Little Falls), listening to books on CD (which makes driving time fly by), and being able to soak in a hotel's whirlpool at the end of the day. And one of the most important things to pack to ensure happy travels: earplugs, just in case the hotel's walls are thinner than you'd wish.

Autumn

I love autumn. I love the word autumn. It conjures a crispy excitement and colors I want to wrap myself up in as if I were jumping into a pile of leaves. This autumn has offered me an opportunity to teach creative writing at a New Orleans charter school. I am humbled by the trust and talent the young people have invested in our workshops and classes. This mix of trust and vulnerability, and deep creative work is a pure gift.

In that same spirit of trust, I’ve put some finishing touches on my own picture book and have fine-tuned a middle-grade novel, releasing both to the world. (Persistence beads on my forehead.)

I’ve also begun writing for The Times Picayune, the greater New Orleans newspaper. I write a column that runs each Sunday, and I write feature stories. Another delight that autumn has delivered is the premier publication of Citizen’s Together Magazine. I wrote the cover story, and was asked to speak at the launch celebration. It was held in an old neighborhood in New Orleans, at a corner church. The Zion Harmonizers, a well-known, gospel-singing group, sang and clapped and alleluiaed. My autumn has been rich.

Working

My work this fall is centered on the death of my mother at the end of August. In this picture of her from last year with my daughter Sophie, her oldest grandchild, you can see how full of life she was. She was the one who read poetry to me and taught me to love language. She was the one who was so proud to have an author in the family. She was the one who had been to the library the day she fell to check out books including How to be Good by Nick Hornby. So many people had kind words to say about her life and reach and all of them provided comfort. I'm sustained by her love and grace and reminded of the importance of living my own life fully.

Thank you to all my fellow spuds for your cards, your care, and your support during this challenging time.

Is It Fall Already?

The busy-ness of this past summer has blended right into Fall for me. The only break was seeing my daughter off to college again and waving good-bye to my son as he boarded the bus to his sophomore year in high school. It is all good busy and it will be helpful to make a list here on our Potato blog:
I am in the final stages of my next book, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DAY TODAY, written by the author, Mem Fox. Above is the first spread at the start of the story. It has been a very challenging book to illustrate, which is precisely why I said yes to the manuscript in the first place. Mem wrote a brilliant bedtime story that rings true about a child asking his stuffed animals about their day. It is challenging because it is left to the illustrator to tell the story of the day in pictures and somehow have them all relate. After many months of visual storytelling, I think I am finally there. Left to do are a few edits and the cover. What a journey it has been.
Good-bye Grimm, Hello Wild West! Every summer Circus Juventas presents its most advanced performers in a show with a different theme each year. Last summer's show was based on six fairytales by the Grimm Brothers. This year's theme is going to be the rompin' stompin', cowboy lassoin' Wild West. As the script writer for Circus Juventas's Summer show, I have already been in many meetings with the Artistic Director and her assistant, as well as the Director of next year's show and the clowning coach in order to create a coherent storyline that will run throughout the circus acts. The roles are cast, the outline is almost there, the plot thickens, and I was up at 3:30 AM last night rolling about while ideas for the perfect ending floated in the dark. I love writing the script for these talented young performers. Next, we will be meeting for the set design! I work with another designer to plan and create the set that will illustrate the story. Set design and scenic painting become book illustration larger than life for me!
I have just returned from a visit to Southern California where I was the featured Author at the A.K. Smiley Library in Redlands. The entire day was a celebration of reading! Activities inspired by my books were offered for all the families who attended and I spoke about my process, folded origami with everyone, and signed books! To read more about my experience of the Smiley Library go here. I have already presented quite a bit this fall and right now I am trying to take advantage of a few weeks of quiet for writing and beginning my next picture book: DEER DANCER, written by the author Mary Lyn Ray. I have illustrated two of her books before, MUD and RED RUBBER BOOT DAY. I am looking forward to beginning new sketches. I always love beginnings and endings~ it's the middle where things get sticky!

Potato Update

Hmmm. How do I follow all of Edie's activities? You sure are an active bunch of potatoes!!! I do have a visit to a one room school house in Forest Falls coming up, as well as a speaking engagement for a teaching club on the Cal State campus. While my life is pretty quiet, my books are having a busy life of their own - two are being illustrated presently, and two more are being shopped around to editors. I'm working on another one that seems to have some potential, so the quiet life has not been too bad for me - but, I am eager to get out there with people again. Oh, I'm attending the Southern CA Council of Children's Literature luncheon in November, and I'll be teaching writing classes at UC Riverside in January. So, there you have it.