2013 had some big milestones, most notably our daughter’s high school graduation and subsequent entrance into the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon. I did so much anticipatory grieving that the actual transition was easier than I feared. Pictured here at the end of this first semester, it is evident that she is happy.

I hardly had a moment to feather my empty nest before I was off to Boston for school visits and to receive the Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Award for Dreaming Up.

I continued on to NYC to visit publishers and pitch some new projects. This was a fruitful time. I came home to work on sample art at an editor’s request, and am pleased to report that I have a new contract to illustrate a picture book biography of a notable photographer for Christy Ottaviano Books/Holt. 2014 will be a year of further development of writing/illustration projects potentially of interest to other publishers. Doors are open, but I have my work cut out for me to make things happen.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Day

Today is Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe. May all of you be showered with book miracles.DD

Three books in '13

 For me, 2013 will be the year of having three new picture books published, including

How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans...

 Arlo's ART-rageous Adventure!

(the first book I both wrote and illustrated)

and Moo!

My own writing and illustrating seemed to get pushed aside too often. If I want to celebrate future books, I need to take a lesson from Stephanine and ramp up my productivity in 2014!

A look back at 2013

For me, 2013 was a little crazy on the personal side, with a move from Oregon back to the Midwest. The relocation is still a bit of a nightmare, but it is fun to think about the highlights of the year where the writing is concerned. Here we go, a countdown:

5. My first-ever book tour for The Fallout. The Fierce Reads tour sent me to eight cities in nine days and I had such a great time getting to know the other Macmillan authors and meeting avid readers at every stop. Here I am at the Austin Teen Book Fest.

4. Receiving the ARCs of my middle grade novel Shipwreck Island, the first in my four book series.

3. I got to see some of the Spuds this year! John and Christy at ALA, and David at The Red Balloon. I am so excited for 2014, and the first ever All Spud Retreat.

2. I wanted to be more productive in 2013. I wrote five entire novels this year (2 MG, 3 YA). Not including all the revisions, I estimate that I wrote about 240,000 words. Three of those novels are under contract, two aren't yet. Fingers crossed.

1. Two days ago, I signed contracts for my ninth and tenth novels with Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan. The first is my YA novel The Detour. I drafted it last month, during National Novel Writing Month, and it will hit shelves Fall 2015. Which will be here before we know it... 

BOO!

I didn't celebrate Halloween when I was growing up in Puerto Rico. Instead I celebrated Día de los santos, Saints' Day (November 1st) and Día de los muertos, Day of the Dead (November 2nd). In Puerto Rico, those two days, we visited the cemetery. Here in Oregon, I love the altars, the yellow flowers, and the singing from other  Latin American cultures, especially from Mexico. Here is an altar in Coravllis, Oregon, reminding us of the struggle with breast cancer:

  

   

Halloween Eve...

...and that can mean only one thing: pumpkin carving!

Here's my first design of the evening: Scary Scrabble! It's your move...what word are you going to make?

Now it's back to the my carving knives; one down, three more to go!

From My Studio Window

Outside the leaves are changing color overnight and falling faster than I wish with the coming of winter. I would like to hold onto fall awhile longer, but just today a few scattered snowflakes floated across my window. I am spending a lot of time in my studio this time of year. Writing begins at 6AM for an hour before getting my son up and off to school, then back to writing some more, then drawing. It is a fertile time and as fleeting as the last leaves on the trees. I cherish it as much as I cherish those leaves.