Working and playing in New York City, all in fast-forward

I'm back in the land of beautiful sunsets, hiking in the hills every evening with Tom and our dog Penny, the bay at our feet, turning shades of turquoise and aquamarine as the sun sets and the lights of the city sparkle in the darkness, laying out grids and curves.

NYC was a blast. I had five incredibly busy days as I met with my agent and several of my editors. Highlights were: working on layout for my upcoming book, Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Get Weary with designer Jim Hoover and editor Catherine Frank, a party for Deborah Heiligman, celebrating her new book, Charles and Emma, which is truly spectacular (five stars, all well deserved), a wonderful visit with editor Jill Davis as she stretches in new ways, (interview with Jill on I.N.K. here) a visit to the New York Tenement Museum with my friend Allyson Feeney, and a brainstorming session with one of my beloved posse, Judy Blundell, (interviewed by Daniel Handler here) over breakfast at Balthazar.

I took my camera and shot lots of photos. Imagine my surprise when I arrived home and no. camera. in. my. bag. Somehow I lost it. The very last day. I keep looking in all the usual places -- did I take it out of my bag when I got home and lay it down somewhere? (It was 3 am, after all.) I called the airline and I called the hotel and I looked all over again at home. No camera. So I lost my great photo shoot. I wonder: is this like the fish that got away? But I know I had a great shot of fashion on the streets: a woman walking in high, high heels, with canary yellow soles. Photos of this wonderful store full of ribbons in satin and gross grain and velvet, and buttons! buttons! buttons! All in floor to ceiling displays. (I just found it on Google -- it's M and J Trimmings) and Anna, next time we go to NYC I'm taking you there.

Enough wallowing about my lost camera. Time to get to work. Heading to the library to rough out an upcoming article for Smithsonian Magazine.

Awesome Martha Weston Grant applicants, PEN article with Susan Bartletti and Markus Zusak

I've got a wonderful stack of letters from people applying for the Martha Weston Grant through SCBWI. I'll wait a couple more days for the last few to wend their way through the mail, and then send them all off to the two other people on the award committee, Anna Grossnickle Hines and Susan Bartoletti. This is very exciting -- I can see we have a really strong applicant pool this year. Thank you to everyone who applied.

A special shout-out to Laurie Halse Anderson for spreading the word via her blog post. She rounded up a bunch of cool applicants who might never have even heard of the award! Thank you!! And a special, excited congratulations to Laurie who was JUST honored with the 2008 ALAN Award. Read about it here.

And there's a fantastic article up on PEN's site with Markus Zusak and Susan Campbell Bartoletti. They are the first-ever authors featured in PenPals, an e-mail conversation between writers and illustrators of Children’s and Young Adult books. Writing on different continents, they both covered Nazi Germany in their books: The Book Thief (Zusak), and Hitler Youth and The Boy Who Dared (Bartoletti).

Here's how Bob Lipsyte describe their conversation: "Read Markus on “the magic act” of creating fiction that you come to believe is true and Susan on the writer’s job of finding and describing that place where “darkness and light…smack up against each other.” I found the amazing document that follows funny, wrenching and ultimately comforting and inspiring."

One more story: Markus Zusak and I both honored at first YA Author Breakfast at ALA Annual last year. We went from table to table with an incredible group of YA authors in a wonderfully crazy author speed-dating. I followed Markus, and have to admit, I was as star struck as anyone, and had a tendency to want to stop and listen to him rather than talk about my books! I just found a lovely cache of photos of the breakfast right here.

Here we all are, and here's what we saw: Fun morning!

SCBWI Martha Weston Grant deadline approaching!

Nearly five years ago our wonderful friend Martha Weston died unexpectedly in her sleep. She was an illustrator with more than 60 books to her name. Shortly before her death, she'd written her first novel, Act I, Act II, Act Normal. To honor her memory, her family set up an annual grant of $1,500 to attend the national SCBWI conference.

Because Martha was really excited about her new writing career, the grant is awarded each year to a published author or illustrator in SCBWI who'd like to try a new genre within children/young adult publishing.

Applications must be postmarked by June 10th. Too good to be missed! Full details on the grant are available on the SCBWI website.

Above, Gary Hines, Martha and me looking very Three Musketeer-ish. Thanks to Anna Grossnickle Hines website where I swiped this photo!

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.