Well, that “week” went fast. I leave again in a couple hours for South Carolina.
Let’s hit the rewind button, shall we? Yesterday… yesterday was a bit of a fog. I planted my rear end in front of the computer from breakfast until 9:30pm. I ate in front of the computer. Drank coffee and tea there, too. Spend all that time doing one last pass through TWISTED, checking for loose ends, stray mistakes, creeping errors. Now it is DONE…. until I hear from the Editress who may want more revisions. Cross your fingers.
Tuesday was a school visit to the schools closest to my house, Mexico Academy Middle School and the High School, in snowy Mexico, NY.
Many thanks to middle school librarian Linda Rossiter, Kelly Freihofer, and all of the kids and teachers for making the day so wonderful. (This is such an awesome community.) I knew some of the kids and now I know a lot more. The public library provided a yummy lunch (with a fruit tart to die for – thanks, Dorothy!). If you are from Mexico, remember to enter the fiction writing contest that the library is sponsoring this month. (Sorry these photos are so big and scary.)
After the middle school, I ran down the road to the high school (gorgeous old building with a slate roof) and spoke after school to about 50 kids who wanted to hear me yack about the writing process. Many thanks to all the English teachers, especially Joe Shaw who arranged the visit, and handcrafted the lovely sign in the photo. That night, our girls basketball team came within a whisker of beating CBA for the Section III Class A-1 championship. Go Tigers!
Monday… what happened Monday? Lots more writing, I think, email, and the other stuff I hate.
The conference over the weekend, that was much more interesting than squinting at the monitor and obsessively muttering to myself. If you are a teacher or a librarian and you live in the Pacific Northwest, make your plans now to attend the Bond Children’s Literature Conference at Western Washington University next year. It is one of the best-run conferences I’ve ever attended, thanks to the woman in the picture, Nancy Johnson. She rocks. And it is set in a drop-dead gorgeous location, with views of snow-capped Canadian mountains in the distance, and the beauty of Bellingham at your feet. I wasn’t the only author there, thank goodness. Attenders also got to hear Deborah Wiles, Emily Arnold McCully, and illustrator Jon Agee.
Three hundred attenders, lots of love. Special thanks to Sara and Tess who were in charge of wrangling me. I hope I wasn’t too obnoxious.
The day before the conference it was my good fortune to speak at Mt. Baker JH/SH, thanks to the wonderful librarian Sher Ross. This school is quite close to the foot of Mt. Baker (hence the name), where, I was told, snowboarding was invented. Next time I go back, I’m going to take an extra day there and try to board.
Other impressions from the trip West:
I watched a ferry pull out of the bay headed for Alaska. I wanted to jump in the water and swim out to it.
BH needs to visit because there is a Larrabee State Park.
I love seeing the Japanese language in the Seattle airport.
People about to take long airplane trips, like the guy who sat next to me on the overnight flight home (you were in seat 13A, Stinky), really should bathe more than once a month. Ack, ack, ack.
There is no such thing as a bad cup of coffee in the state of Washington. I think it’s a law.
I will be speaking at Mabry Jr. High in Inman, SC tomorrow, and at the Spartanburg SC Jamboread on Saturday, along with many, many other fine authors. If you’re in the area, please drop by!
The coffee thing is true in Oregon as well.
No matter how long I live here, I’m still mystified that we have coffee spots/shops on every block … yet none of them go out of business.
We are truly madly deeply addicted …
The coffee thing is true in Oregon as well.
No matter how long I live here, I’m still mystified that we have coffee spots/shops on every block … yet none of them go out of business.
We are truly madly deeply addicted …
have a good trip:-)
i’m glad you had a good time:-)! i hope SC goes well:-)! i loved the pictures:-)! (BTW they weren’t that scary-i liked that they were big so i could see them better:-)!) -ash 🙂
have a good trip:-)
i’m glad you had a good time:-)! i hope SC goes well:-)! i loved the pictures:-)! (BTW they weren’t that scary-i liked that they were big so i could see them better:-)!) -ash 🙂
I love the pictures as well!! I wish I could go to see you speak :P!!! Just a quick question: in one of the pics I see there’s a stack of books on the table. Did you sign them for the students or for the library?
I love the pictures as well!! I wish I could go to see you speak :P!!! Just a quick question: in one of the pics I see there’s a stack of books on the table. Did you sign them for the students or for the library?
hey, it’s annie frisbie
I am not so adept at this whole live journal thing, which is why I’m anonymous. Anyway, I thought you’d appreciate hearing about an email I got from Amazon.com. I read about Inexcusable on your site, so I bought it from Amazon (it was great, by the way). I got any email from Amazon today saying if I liked Inexcusable, I might like Prom. Will have to go into my recommendations & let them know that I’m intimately acquainted with your work 🙂 Can’t wait to read the next one!
Re: hey, it’s annie frisbie
that is so cool!!! I’m glad you liked Inexcusable.
They were signed for the school – I can’t remember if they are classroom copies or library copies.
This is one of the students from Mexico Middle School. I would just like to thank you for coming in and speaking with us. Your presentation was a lot of fun (& I missed art!) I would just like to thank you again. I’m glad to came to our school and be sure to come again too.
This is one of the students from Mexico Middle School. I would just like to thank you for coming in and speaking with us. Your presentation was a lot of fun (& I missed art!) I would just like to thank you again. I’m glad to came to our school and be sure to come again too.
Mexico Middle School
Hey Laurie, I am one of the student’s from Mexico Middle school and I just wanted you to know that you made it fun instead of boring like the other Author that came to our school lol. And I was really close friend’s with Chris sence Kindergarden and I was also wondering if you can tell him Shelby Atkinson said “Hi” thanks. And I read a few of your book’s and thought they were great. Well hope you come visit MMS again. ~*Shelby*~
Mexico Middle School
Hey Laurie, I am one of the student’s from Mexico Middle school and I just wanted you to know that you made it fun instead of boring like the other Author that came to our school lol. And I was really close friend’s with Chris sence Kindergarden and I was also wondering if you can tell him Shelby Atkinson said “Hi” thanks. And I read a few of your book’s and thought they were great. Well hope you come visit MMS again. ~*Shelby*~
Hi Laurie!
My, you lead a busy life!
It’s Tierney, the former Crisis Center employee turned student teacher. I’m taking a brief hiatus from correcting “Antigone” essays to pop off a quick note to you. All is well here. How are you liking the (lack of) winter?
Judging from your schedule, you’re about to head out to lovely Spartanburg, SC. My husband (Andy) and I have some very good friends who live there. Both of them are teachers in the area, and they always have good things to say about the kids. I hope you have fun.
Speaking of fun, I was at the library the other day (where I haunt the local history section and frighten the aides). I picked up a brochure advertising the Teen Book Festival. I was so excited that this shindig was being planned in my hometown — and lo! whose name appeared as a guest author? Yours! I immediately wrote the info in my planner.
My second student teaching placement will be at Minerva Deland. I’m happy to see that you will be paying the school a visit soon. I just wanted to tell you that I’ll be there; I hope we’ll get the chance to say “hi” to each other. I still have a book of poetry that I bought as a thank-you gift to you. Now I’ll finally be able to present the present!
Looking forward to seeing you —
Tierney (www.trants.blogspot.com)
Hi Laurie!
My, you lead a busy life!
It’s Tierney, the former Crisis Center employee turned student teacher. I’m taking a brief hiatus from correcting “Antigone” essays to pop off a quick note to you. All is well here. How are you liking the (lack of) winter?
Judging from your schedule, you’re about to head out to lovely Spartanburg, SC. My husband (Andy) and I have some very good friends who live there. Both of them are teachers in the area, and they always have good things to say about the kids. I hope you have fun.
Speaking of fun, I was at the library the other day (where I haunt the local history section and frighten the aides). I picked up a brochure advertising the Teen Book Festival. I was so excited that this shindig was being planned in my hometown — and lo! whose name appeared as a guest author? Yours! I immediately wrote the info in my planner.
My second student teaching placement will be at Minerva Deland. I’m happy to see that you will be paying the school a visit soon. I just wanted to tell you that I’ll be there; I hope we’ll get the chance to say “hi” to each other. I still have a book of poetry that I bought as a thank-you gift to you. Now I’ll finally be able to present the present!
Looking forward to seeing you —
Tierney (www.trants.blogspot.com)
Re: Hi Laurie!
I’ll see you soon!
hey, it’s annie frisbie
I am not so adept at this whole live journal thing, which is why I’m anonymous. Anyway, I thought you’d appreciate hearing about an email I got from Amazon.com. I read about Inexcusable on your site, so I bought it from Amazon (it was great, by the way). I got any email from Amazon today saying if I liked Inexcusable, I might like Prom. Will have to go into my recommendations & let them know that I’m intimately acquainted with your work 🙂 Can’t wait to read the next one!
HeY!
Hey Laurie! My name is Lauren. I go to Mabry Junior High School in Spartanburg, SC and I loved your program today! It was great! You are sooooo funny! I can’t wait until you come out with your next book!!!
nice pics
Oh i so want to meet you in person sadly I don’t think that’s goimg to happen soon.
So you remember how, whilst you were in Washington, I told you about how fifteen-year-olds know coffeese lingo? Okay, so yesterday, while receiving FREE free-trade coffee from someone feeling generous, I watched a high schooler order a – wait for it – double tall extra frothy non-fat white chocolate mocha with whip. I thought of you ^_^ and thought that you’d get a big kick out of writing a coffee-culture novel. You’d have an excuse to hang out in sassy, sassy Bellingham doing extensive research by ordering all kinds of different coffee drinks. THINK of the possibilities.
Great to meet you! I’m still kind of in shock. I’m also kind of excited that my name is on your blog. Nancy told me and I was blissful.
Cheers ^_^
Tess
That is a great story. Now when I order my coffee “plain, in the biggest cup you have” I will feel crushingly inept. Must do this research!
No, no, not inept! Merely a brave explorer in a world larger and vaster than any you have seen before ^_~ Good luck on your tasty journey!