Vermont College

My first few days home from Vermont were catch-up days. Lots of sleeping, letting things I learned percolate, walks in the hills with my beloved husband and dog, and long, leisurely meals with family and friends. Finally unpacked my suitcase, washed my clothes, and put everything away. Now I'm back to work on my own projects, feeling the press of deadlines, the excitement of using what I learned from other faculty.

We had a terrific ten days at Vermont College. Nonstop learning and laughing. Very little sleep. Somehow Coe Booth talked us into doing a flash mob rendition of Michael Jackson's thriller at the 80's party. I kept my sanity with walks every evening through the neighborhoods. Here's a photo of the old brick armory at dusk. I think someone lives there now.

And a few of my favorite remarks (somewhat paraphrased) from various speakers.

Walter Dean Myers: "We're building America, one child at a time."

Martine Leavitt: "I hope we'll be able to read in heaven, but just in case, make sure you read Cormac McCarthy's The Road before you die." And: "Take your main character's emotional desire and make it plotty."

Marc Aronson: "Illustration is its own story."

Franny Billingsley: "Abstract things are telling. Concrete things are showing."

Until next time, Montpelier, when the snow falls and the trudging outdoors is treacherous and beautiful.

Why people moved to the city

I'm a city dweller, with all the amenities of modern life. We also have a cabin deep in the California redwoods, a mile up a dirt road. Quiet. Peaceful. No city services. So on several of the hottest days of July, we were out gathering firewood for next winter, loading up for the wood burning stove. Even with Tom on a modern, gas powered splitter (and Felix with a sledgehammer and a maul), it took all three generations of us. Sasha and my 93 year old dad pitched wood from the loose pile to the stack, Felix and I made a tidy, geometric pile to over-winter. Penny supervised. Think that looks hard? Here's my father's father, 90 years old, on the woodpile he just split and stacked on his farm in Graton, about 50 miles from our cabin.

Summertime, interview with Author Turf

I am loving summer. In a week I take off for Vermont College where I'm teaching. It's incredibly fun. Challenging, exhausting, rewarding... all rolled up into ten days. Not only do I get to be with terrific students who are working their hearts out to get better at writing, but I also get to listen to inspiring lectures from the other faculty.

Before I leave I had to make it out to the Pacific Ocean with my friend Andrea to hold me through the Vermont heat.


Why does the ocean look like it should pour through the gap? I've never understood this optical illusion.

We watched a pre-teen girl and her dad play in the waves, and then brush off the sand and get their shoes and socks back on and head out with their backpacks. On the return walk we spotted them again....


See them? Curled up in the high grass, reading?

Summertime and the living is easy.

And here's an interview with me that Brittney Breakey posted on her fantastic blog, Author Turf.

Road Tripping with my dad: Santa Barbara or bust

It's always an adventure hitting the road with my dad.
There are coffee and tea stops. Old friends to visit. Interesting things to photograph. "You see all these plastic bags blowing around? It makes a statement. You gotta have two things to make a good photograph. A field, and garbage. That's it." My cousni, Reeve Woolpert (on left) and his photo opening. "Best show I've ever seen." Great Mexican food, a crappy hotel, and home at the end of two long, wonderful days.

IRA and Research Trip to the Big Kahuna

International Reading Assoc. meeting was wonderful, as always. Our panel was a great range -- from Loreen Leedy's process to the hilarity of Jon Scieszka, with his underlying serious message about reading and computer literacy.

The URL's I referred to in my talk are up on my Facebook page for anyone who wants to check them out. I couldn't get them to upload here.

Then I went on to Washington DC to do some research on the newest nonfiction book I have in the works.... You want to know how much of a nerd I am? Here's the bedroom where I slept. I was very, very happy.

I managed to make it to the National Archives I (records) and II (photos), the Archives of American Art, and the Library of Congress. Going to research in Washington DC is like going to Mecca. I did figure out, however, that I need to really buff up my research skills. These places have so much material it is amazing.


There are an incredible number of rules, as well. Once you jettison all your stuff except a few items (computer, camera) you sit at a table and can only write on your computer or on specially identified paper with a pencil. Makes for a clean desk!

IRA coming up, and Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day

March 30 has been designated Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day by the U.S. Senate. It's the 38th anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Vietnam. With my new book, Dogtag Summer, just out, I'm fascinated by the whole war -- why we got in, the conflict between what was happening with the military and protesters at home, our defeat by the Communists in 1975. How have the intervening years been for those directly impacted by the war -- the Americans who fought, the Vietnamese, the orphans adopted here?

Do you have friends or family caught up in the Vietnam war? How are they doing? Were you?

There has been a belated, growing attempt to honor the military who served, rather than trash them along with the war. One of the first public attempts was the controversial design and construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, better known as the Wall.

I'm busy getting ready for International Reading Association annual meeting in a couple weeks. I'll be on a panel with some great authors, talking about technology. I've been putting together a speech on how I research online, especially how I find and use photographs, as well as this very cool program I am setting up with Jerome Burg, a Google Lit Trip for Dogtag Summer.

Bookstore appearances with pals, and an awesome writing trick

I just did two really fun appearances with friends. On Sunday Marissa Moss and Thacher Hurd and I were at A Great Good Place for Books in Oakland. We had an age range from preschoolers to local librarians/educators. DId I remember to take pictures? No! Not during the event... but afterward I caught a couple nice shots. Above is Thacher talking with my husband Tom. And here's the owner, Kathleen Caldwell. You can see by the piles of books and cards around the cash register that this is a friendly, crammed, delicious bookstore. Right outside was the Farmer's Market, full of people enjoying the sun after three cold, rainy weeks.


The next night Marissa and I appeared at Book Passage and spoke to a group of writers and pre-published writers, all working hard on their writing and on understanding the confusing world of children's book publishing. Really thoughtful Q and A.

Before the event, I had dinner with two great friends, Barbara Young and Linda Allison. Allison has been doing nonfiction for kids for ages. She had a brainwave for getting the creative work done before the stuff of life that is a hassle but has to be done. She divides her To Do list into two columns: Creative and Maintenance. I just love the word Maintenance. It puts that stuff right in its place. Sure you have to do it, but that's what it is. Just plain Life Maintenance. She also says "Writing deserves the best of you. That's why you need to do it first." Not new advice, but well said.

This last photo is Lissa Rovetch, Marissa, and me.