Day 3 – Oakland/Northern CA

OK, I hate the Internet connection at this hotel. I’ve tried to post this entry three times and it keeps failing and I lost all the work. Lucky for the front desk I’m too tired to whine and stomp my feet.

Pics du jour:

I’m staying in Jack London Square, where author Jack London used to hang out. (Yes, an author appropriate hotel. Not seedy, but you double-check the locks.) Here are the pics from this morning’s walk.

Image hosted by TinyPic.com Cabin with a sod roof in the middle of a large city.

Image hosted by TinyPic.com This is a tree, a mulberry tree, I’m told. They get trimmed back like this every year. There is a whole block of them near my hotel. They look like a forest of dinosaur bones.

Image hosted by TinyPic.com First stop of the day was Rakestraw Books in Danville, where students from three different schools SQUEEZED into the store and we made much merriment. (Hi Wendy – of course I remember you!)

Image hosted by TinyPic.com Next was M is for Mystery/Third Avenue Bookshop for Children in San Mateo. These wonderful girls are from San Mateo High School. There are 90 kids missing from this photo (from a different school) because budget cuts last week forced the school district to eliminate all busing for field trips. *sad face* From there I signed stock at another store, and then went home to talk to kids and Beloved Husband on the phone.

Interesting things about Oakland, CA –
1. The newspaper has a daily map of regional earthquake activity. It’s on the weather page, just below the UV index.
2. When you order a bagel and lox, you get a raisin bagel.
3. I should move here because fog makes my hair look great.
4. Houses are expensive. If I moved here, I could only afford to rent a small cardboard box.
5. A really icky thing happened in front of my hotel today that I will probably put in my next book. Maybe if I lived here (in a cardboard box) I could write faster.

Tomorrow’s schedule:

Early morning flight to San Diego

1:00 – 3:00 PM Rancho Santa Fe middle school (not open to public)
Sponsoring Store: Yellow Book Road

4:00 – 4:30 PM Stock signing, Warwick’s, 7812 Girard Avenue, La Jolla CA

7:00 – 9:00 PM Barnes & Noble, 1040 N. El Camino Real Drive, Encinitas, CA

Friday I’ll be in Santa Monica & Pasadena.

See ‘ya, bye.

15 Replies to “Day 3 – Oakland/Northern CA”

  1. Hello Again!

    Yay! I am remembered! I know, the Bay Area is really really expensive to live in (luckily, my great-grandmother lived in Alamo before it was extremely expensive and got a place, where my dad and I live today, it’s a one bedroom house but it’s still very wicked) I’m thinking about making a LiveJournal but I am not very blog-orientated, xanga is much easier for me. *shruggs* maybe I’ll get the hang of it. Well, goodbye for now!

    ~!~Wendy Gates~!~

  2. Hello Again!

    Yay! I am remembered! I know, the Bay Area is really really expensive to live in (luckily, my great-grandmother lived in Alamo before it was extremely expensive and got a place, where my dad and I live today, it’s a one bedroom house but it’s still very wicked) I’m thinking about making a LiveJournal but I am not very blog-orientated, xanga is much easier for me. *shruggs* maybe I’ll get the hang of it. Well, goodbye for now!

    ~!~Wendy Gates~!~

  3. Hello Again!

    Yay! I am remembered! I know, the Bay Area is really really expensive to live in (luckily, my great-grandmother lived in Alamo before it was extremely expensive and got a place, where my dad and I live today, it’s a one bedroom house but it’s still very wicked) I’m thinking about making a LiveJournal but I am not very blog-orientated, xanga is much easier for me. *shruggs* maybe I’ll get the hang of it. Well, goodbye for now!

    ~!~Wendy Gates~!~

  4. Hi!

    Hi Ms. Anderson! It’s Caitlin! You know, from yesterday at Rakestraw. You signed my friend’s hand, haha! Anyway, sorry I didn’t get a chance to add you right away. We had all our carpet removed, and the internet was down! (sobs) Anyway, I had a blast hearing you speak yesterday, and was so glad to have met you. I’ve added you to my Friends page so I can read all about what you’re up to!
    Take care!
    Sincerely,
    Caitlin H.

  5. Hi!

    Hi Ms. Anderson! It’s Caitlin! You know, from yesterday at Rakestraw. You signed my friend’s hand, haha! Anyway, sorry I didn’t get a chance to add you right away. We had all our carpet removed, and the internet was down! (sobs) Anyway, I had a blast hearing you speak yesterday, and was so glad to have met you. I’ve added you to my Friends page so I can read all about what you’re up to!
    Take care!
    Sincerely,
    Caitlin H.

  6. Hi!

    Hi Ms. Anderson! It’s Caitlin! You know, from yesterday at Rakestraw. You signed my friend’s hand, haha! Anyway, sorry I didn’t get a chance to add you right away. We had all our carpet removed, and the internet was down! (sobs) Anyway, I had a blast hearing you speak yesterday, and was so glad to have met you. I’ve added you to my Friends page so I can read all about what you’re up to!
    Take care!
    Sincerely,
    Caitlin H.

  7. Hello from 2000!

    Dear Laurie,
    I’m so behind. I recently discovered the whole “live journal” thing and quickly found you. I’m loving reading yours! I’m sure you don’t remember, but I met you at the SCBWI national conference in 2000. Speak had won the Golden Kite and you were in a breakout session on first novels…how fun it’s been to keep up with your work! When I met you I was in my first year of self-employed freelancing, having just left The Des Moines Register after 14 years as a newspaper reporter. Loved talking to you about making the switch to novel-writing (and still think about how you said you once sold tires, too, to support your fiction habit.)

    After the conference I went home and made two signs of things you said and put them on my office wall for inspiration. Unfortunately, I’ve since moved my office and need to still move my signs. (One was: Never give up. Never, never, never, never. That’s how you get your first novel published.” The other was about valuing your time. How you’d seen so many talented people give up…)

    I finally have made a serious commitment to my YA writing. Last spring I applied to the Vermont College MFA program in writing for children and young adults, and I’m now in my second semester! I’m loving it. And realizing that the more I learn about fiction and the fledgling novel I’m writing, the more I realize how much I still have to learn and do. I’m still a freelance writer, but am trying to query less so I can spend more time with the fiction.

    One other recent development: I’ve started writing an every-other-month YA book review column in The Des Moines Register. I’m having a great time and hope to see if other newspapers are interested once I get it really established. Anyway, I have a copy of Prom but instead of reading it for my March column, I’m saving it for the May column to correspond with prom dates out here in Iowa. I’ll let you know when it runs. I haven’t read the book yet, but I have no doubt I’ll love it. I’ve loved Speak, Fever and Catalyst. Sorry for all this blabbling…I’ve been wanting to reach out and say hi. I lost your email address, so I decided to post here.

    You can respond to me at kelcrocker at mchsi dot com. I know you’re on the road and so swamped, so no biggie if you don’t have time to get back to me. Thanks for all that you do to encourage readers and other writers.

    Best wishes,
    Kellye Carter Crocker

  8. Hello from 2000!

    Dear Laurie,
    I’m so behind. I recently discovered the whole “live journal” thing and quickly found you. I’m loving reading yours! I’m sure you don’t remember, but I met you at the SCBWI national conference in 2000. Speak had won the Golden Kite and you were in a breakout session on first novels…how fun it’s been to keep up with your work! When I met you I was in my first year of self-employed freelancing, having just left The Des Moines Register after 14 years as a newspaper reporter. Loved talking to you about making the switch to novel-writing (and still think about how you said you once sold tires, too, to support your fiction habit.)

    After the conference I went home and made two signs of things you said and put them on my office wall for inspiration. Unfortunately, I’ve since moved my office and need to still move my signs. (One was: Never give up. Never, never, never, never. That’s how you get your first novel published.” The other was about valuing your time. How you’d seen so many talented people give up…)

    I finally have made a serious commitment to my YA writing. Last spring I applied to the Vermont College MFA program in writing for children and young adults, and I’m now in my second semester! I’m loving it. And realizing that the more I learn about fiction and the fledgling novel I’m writing, the more I realize how much I still have to learn and do. I’m still a freelance writer, but am trying to query less so I can spend more time with the fiction.

    One other recent development: I’ve started writing an every-other-month YA book review column in The Des Moines Register. I’m having a great time and hope to see if other newspapers are interested once I get it really established. Anyway, I have a copy of Prom but instead of reading it for my March column, I’m saving it for the May column to correspond with prom dates out here in Iowa. I’ll let you know when it runs. I haven’t read the book yet, but I have no doubt I’ll love it. I’ve loved Speak, Fever and Catalyst. Sorry for all this blabbling…I’ve been wanting to reach out and say hi. I lost your email address, so I decided to post here.

    You can respond to me at kelcrocker at mchsi dot com. I know you’re on the road and so swamped, so no biggie if you don’t have time to get back to me. Thanks for all that you do to encourage readers and other writers.

    Best wishes,
    Kellye Carter Crocker

  9. Hello from 2000!

    Dear Laurie,
    I’m so behind. I recently discovered the whole “live journal” thing and quickly found you. I’m loving reading yours! I’m sure you don’t remember, but I met you at the SCBWI national conference in 2000. Speak had won the Golden Kite and you were in a breakout session on first novels…how fun it’s been to keep up with your work! When I met you I was in my first year of self-employed freelancing, having just left The Des Moines Register after 14 years as a newspaper reporter. Loved talking to you about making the switch to novel-writing (and still think about how you said you once sold tires, too, to support your fiction habit.)

    After the conference I went home and made two signs of things you said and put them on my office wall for inspiration. Unfortunately, I’ve since moved my office and need to still move my signs. (One was: Never give up. Never, never, never, never. That’s how you get your first novel published.” The other was about valuing your time. How you’d seen so many talented people give up…)

    I finally have made a serious commitment to my YA writing. Last spring I applied to the Vermont College MFA program in writing for children and young adults, and I’m now in my second semester! I’m loving it. And realizing that the more I learn about fiction and the fledgling novel I’m writing, the more I realize how much I still have to learn and do. I’m still a freelance writer, but am trying to query less so I can spend more time with the fiction.

    One other recent development: I’ve started writing an every-other-month YA book review column in The Des Moines Register. I’m having a great time and hope to see if other newspapers are interested once I get it really established. Anyway, I have a copy of Prom but instead of reading it for my March column, I’m saving it for the May column to correspond with prom dates out here in Iowa. I’ll let you know when it runs. I haven’t read the book yet, but I have no doubt I’ll love it. I’ve loved Speak, Fever and Catalyst. Sorry for all this blabbling…I’ve been wanting to reach out and say hi. I lost your email address, so I decided to post here.

    You can respond to me at kelcrocker at mchsi dot com. I know you’re on the road and so swamped, so no biggie if you don’t have time to get back to me. Thanks for all that you do to encourage readers and other writers.

    Best wishes,
    Kellye Carter Crocker

  10. Wappes !!!!!!!!

    what icky thing ?? !! 😛

    oakland is preeetty … hope you’re having fun 🙂

  11. Wappes !!!!!!!!

    what icky thing ?? !! 😛

    oakland is preeetty … hope you’re having fun 🙂

  12. Wappes !!!!!!!!

    what icky thing ?? !! 😛

    oakland is preeetty … hope you’re having fun 🙂

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