Just for today, imagine I am a food blogger

I never used to be into cooking. I considered it the greatest tyranny of raising children -- they needed to be fed, multiple times per day. Three square meals and a couple of snacks. One of our sons was especially tough to feed -- we called him the Hydroponic Kid, because he preferred drinking to eating. His favorite vegetable? Celery.

But when my boys were teenagers, I wanted them around. I discovered if I filled the kitchen with foods they and their friends liked, and hid my chocolate, there were teenagers everywhere, clomping around on big feet, yelling, playing music and eating everything, like a swarm of locusts.

I made huge vats of beans and rice on the weekends so the meal could expand. Our other son became the identified Feeding Problem. Vegetarian. I adjusted. He went vegan. He had to help with dinner three nights a week. Only so much chopping of vegetables I was willing to do.

And now? Without any kids to feed constantly, I'm into cooking. It's become a pleasure. Tonight for dinner I made Parchment Paper Chicken, following my friend Karen Kashkin's relaxed recipe. It's basic: boneless skinless chicken breast, some vegetables (I used potatoes I dug up in the garden planting new vegetables over the weekend, fava beans wintered over, onions and carrots). Chopped up some oregano and sliced some Meyer's lemons on top, and rolled the whole thing into parchment paper. I'd never done this before and wasn't sure the paper would stay rolled up, but it did. 20 min at 425, and the moistest, most delicious meal emerged from the paper. Easy.

Besides, the little packets are gorgeous, and kind of like getting a present, right there on your plate. You get to open it up and see what's inside.

Writers: want to laugh-till-you-cry?

Zip over to Elizabeth Bird's wonderful blog on School Library Journal. She's posted a Mitchell and Webb YouTube routine of a writer going over his novel with the editor. Who's making suggestions. Lots of them.

Lest my editor friends feel disparaged, I have to say I found this scene hysterical in a squirmy way because it is like being inside my mind right now, both editor and writer.

Check it out. See what I mean? Ring any bells, writer pals?

Quiet week

Mid-week. I'm down to very basic author-self-coaching. Get butt in chair. Fingers on keyboard. Let the world fall away. Slip into novel-land.

Come out once in awhile to feed husband, recovering from hernia surgery, being attended by faithful dog Penny. See that slightly crazed look in his eyes? He wants to be out working. He's not the kind of guy who likes to lay around and eat in bed and watch TV. Penny is happy. Very, very happy.

Illustrator Lauren Castillo interview

Over at Seven Impossible Things there's a fantastic interview with Lauren Castillo, who's illustrating my manuscript, Big Cat Pepper, (Bloomsbury, summer 2009) right now. Jules Danielson came up with terrific questions and posted lots of images. I especially loved seeing the thumbnails, and Lauren's studio where she's working on Pepper. What is it about seeing people's work spaces? I'm always curious where people work. And artists always have really cool stuff up on their walls. Writers tend to just get buried in paper. (Okay, I should just speak for myself here. Totally. Buried. In. Paper.)

And Lauren's got her first contract as author-illustrator! Congratulations, Lauren!

St. Francis de Sales school visit

I just had the most awesome school visit at St. Francis de Sales in Sherman Oakes (part of metropolitan Los Angeles). Everyone was terrific. Kind, helpful staff, lots of volunteer parents, and the greatest kids. They were spunky and full of energy -- clearly they've been given lots of support in creative writing, thinking, and speaking up. And my new projector worked just fine -- thanks to all the Gods of Tech for this miracle!

The only group I was a little bit nervous about was my first presentation: 100K-1-2 kids in the auditorium. those auditoriums can be really tough -- they're big, can be noisy, and sometimes it's hard to keep the little wigglers paying attention. But I read one of my books, Pig's Eggs, and we talked about the story, and then using a white board, we brainstormed a story about a dog who felt unloved. We came up with a repetitive phrase "No, no, no!" as he tried to get attention, then became, "Oh, no!" and at the happy ending, "Yes, yes, yes!" 100 enthusiastic kids yelling out "Yes, yes, yes," in the auditorium. Delightful.

To mellow everyone back out, I read my short goodnight book, Moon Glowing, and sent them off.

With the older kids I showed slides of photos from my biographies and talked about my writing process, and the people I did the biographies on, and used a couple of really cool photos as prompts to get them to do a quick write. Just to get the idea that nothing is perfect when you start. In the immortal words of Bruce Coville (who had just been here two years earlier), "Barf on the page." Always good advice, no matter where you are in the writing process.

Speaking at SCBWI and CLC

Yesterday I had the amazing experience of speaking at two different conferences, both on biography, both in LA, not far from one another.

First up was Children's Literature Council of Southern California, to a group of mostly-librarians. Diane Stanley, who both illustrates and writes her books, was the first speaker. She was incredible. The details she puts in her work are amazing. Susan Goldman Rubin followed Diane. As she explained, her biographies stem from her two interests, Judaism, and creative, artistic people. Both incredible women, wonderful speakers. I went third, and somehow our total was more than the sum of our parts.

I was camera-less, but Lisa Yee, who is always a blast to be around, took great photos, and had her famous little yellow bunny, Peepy, enjoying the conference and making mischief. You can even catch a picture of Peepy peeking out from behind my head on Lisa's funny and touching blog.

A big shout-out to all the organizers of the conference, especially Pamela Greene, Helen Boomer, and Laurie Reese, who moderated.

Then I drove over to SBWI Southern California's conference (miraculously not getting lost) and did a presentation on biography for writers. More focus on how-tos, and who-does-what and what-I-learned-the-hard-way. Another terrific audience, despite the wilting heat. Stupendous organizing, especially by Claudia Harrington (so mellow and grounded) and Edie Pagliasotti (enough love and hugs to make the world go round.)

Writer's retreat, another illustrator at work

I'm just back from a week away at a writer's retreat. We're a small group -- this time there were six of us. Anna Grossnickle Hines, Gary Hines, Patricia Wittman, Tom Birdseye, Suzanne Johnson, and me. We write in the mornings, write again after lunch, take a long walk, then dinner and critiquing or a movie. Lots of laughing and chocolate eating are an important part of the week, of course! We keep the costs down by meeting at Anna and Gary's house in the Mendocino woods. We take turns cooking, then Patty (dubbed Dr. Stretchology for her incredible way with leftovers), orchestrates whatever remains in the fridge into a gourmet feast.

Anna Grossnickle Hines was finishing up some art work, caught on camera by her husband Gary. We had a extra raucously celebratory night when the first review of her new book came in. Starred review for 1,2, buckle My Shoe! Time for more chocolate for everyone! Here's Anna's story of how she put together her book. (Note especially the adorable Violet!)

And a terrific shout-out for Buckle My Shoe (with great images of the interior) on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. And to read how Jules and Eisha came up with their great blog name, check them out right here. Yes, related to the clever White Queen.

I laid out my roughy-toughy pre-first draft on my clean desk and tried to make sense of what I am doing. Standing back to look at the big picture is always really hard for me. It looks so neat and organized all laid out like this, doesn't it? I brought to the group after dinner one night, laid it on on the dining room table and told them the whole story. They listened, questioned, made lots of positive noises, then put the blender on frappe and came up with suggestions -- lots of them -- about how to make it better.

No picture of me sitting in bed the next morning, tea mug in hand, dazed look, mind buzzing with ideas. I'd written myself into some kind of corner, attached to everything I'd already done (if it worked or not!) and now my imagination has been set free to roam in new ways through the manuscript.

Thanks to all for a lovely week, and the thoughtful suggestions.