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Dr. Freud need not apply

Yesterday was a perfect writing day.

I woke up at 4:45am, an hour before my alarm clock was scheduled to go off, thinking of my story. I ate my breakfast, wrote yesterday’s blog entry, spent 15 minutes reading and then I went to work.

5:45am – 11:30am – worked on the rough draft of my new YA novel. Took quick breaks for fresh cups of tea, and, of course, trips to the bathroom.

11:30am – noon – Lunch with my husband, discussed plans for the rest of the day.

noon – 4:45pm – worked on the revisions of my historical novel.

4:45pm – 6:30pm – worked out at gym; elliptical and weight lifting.

6:30 pm – dinner.

In the evening I talked to the birthday girl, read, knitted, watched the rest of a movie we had from Netflix, and finished signing several hundred bookplates for the Multnomah County Library system, which I will be visiting in a few weeks. (They go in the mail today, Sara.)

I did no “author work” at all, except for the bookplates. The Internet problems we’re having make dealing with email very time-consuming, so I am triaging all email that comes in. I did not deal with anything related to publicity. I just wrote. Got to bed at 10pm, which is a little late for me.

Last night I had one of my recurring baby dreams. In the old version of this dream, I am given an infant to take care of. I am so busy that I neglect the baby, and realize – with bonechilling horror – that I haven’t changed her diaper or fed her for days, and she is close to death. (I always wake up from this one in a cold sweat, heart racing.) I don’t need to pay a shrink to understand that the baby is my book, my writing, and I neglect it way too much.

Last night, the baby was in my dreams again, only this time, she was fat and healthy and happy and clean. Hmmmmm…….

Having duly noted that, I won’t be able to get in quite as many writing hours today because I have my annual skin cancer check-up and then I’m headed into the city because….

Chris Crutcher Alert Award-winning author, Chris Crutcher, will be the keynote speaker TODAY from 6:00-6:30 p.m. for the Banned Books Discussion in Curtin Auditorium at the Onondaga County Central Library located at The Galleries of Syracuse, NY. Many of Crutcher’s books have been banned. An author signing will follow the discussion. Call 315-435-1900 for more information.

Scribble, scribble, friends.

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“You can have my book when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers”

The subject line comes from an awesome PR campaign by the public libraries of Wyoming. It is the perfect kick-off for this week because……

HAPPY BANNED BOOKS WEEK!!! Celebrate that most treasured of our freedoms – the freedom to think and read what you want – by reading a banned book. Choose one of mine. Or one of Chris Crutcher’s or one that made the Top Ten List last year.

Do you think we have come so far in America we don’t have to worry about banned books? Then read this gay-bashing, librarian loathing, freedom crushing article.

Speaking of Crutcher….. we have an Amazing Author Alert: Chris Crutcher is coming to Syracuse. THIS WEEK! Come out on Wednesday night to hear Crutcher talk about “Turning Real Life into Fiction” at the Onondaga County Public Library. BH and I will be there. If you see us, please say hello. Chris is one of the most important YA writers of our generation and a great speaker – this is a terrific opportunity. He will also be signing books and reading from his newest book, Deadline, at the Dewitt Barnes & Noble on Tuesday night at 7:30pm (thanks for the heads-up, ShelfLife.)

Many thanks to all the conference-goers who came out to the SCBWI Fall Philly on Saturday. Special thanks to for driving me to and fro (w/ great tunes playing) and former regional RA Laurie Krause Kiernan for passing on five boxes of unloved canning jars that I will now attempt to fill with applesauce. I really appreciated all of the kind things and the stories that people told me over the course of the day. Allow me to reiterate what I said in my speech – turn off the Internet and go work on your book now. Then go for a walk or a run!

Had a great time with two of our daughters, their beloveds, and various friends at the PA Renaissance Festival on Sunday. We got to hear the Tartan Terrors again. I think I might have to become a groupie. Photos of all the festivities as soon as we get our Internet and server problems solved. At the rate it’s going, it may be a month or so.

I have SO MUCH WRITING to do it isn’t even funny, but it doesn’t matter because it is October and October is the best month.

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Um, attention, body clock?

I keep waking up really early. Part of it is the story in my head, my new WIP. I don’t know what else to blame it on. I have been a perky early riser for decades. My normal alarm was set for 6am and I could get up with no problems. But since I’ve been working on the new draft? I wake up several times in the night and then I get up for good way before the alarm. This morning, it was 4am. Go figure. Maybe I will wind up hibernating and sleeping through the winter. This puzzles me.

Spent the day running errands and putting the finishing touches on my keynote speech for the SCBWI Fall Philly conference this weekend. Must remember to adjust my fantasy football team before I leave.

There are still ghosts and gremlins in our Internet, but I hope the hotel I’m staying at this weekend has wifi. I have a bunch of stuff to send to Theo and it has been pretty much impossible with our cobbled system.

Are you brave enough to love your body? Let’s all get ready to celebrate on October 18th.

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Looking for answers

I want a magazine that refuses advertisements that use these deceptive dollbaby images.
I want models who don’t look like lollipops.
I want Hannah Montana to stop grinding her hips when she dances in front of an audience of 9-year-olds.

What do you want from the worlds of fashion and entertainment?

To balance out my anger, I went in search of goodness and found it: read about today’s hero, Karen Gaffney, who swam across Lake Tahoe yesterday. Read the article. I guarantee you’ll feel better. Then check out Karen’s website.

Our Internet has been taken over by poltergeists, so I have limited email and web time this week. I am deep, deep in my rough draft, walking around in a fog. It’s a good thing that BH is a patient man. Daughter Meredith sent me a giant vat of popcorn to feed the muse. If this keeps up, I might even meet my deadline!