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Good news: The writing is flowing well. So well that I don’t want to talk about it for fear I’ll jinx the story.

Bad news: That stupid bird squawked outside my window again last night, from 1am-4am. It has to be a mockingbird – it had an incredible range of songs and didn’t ever appear to repeat itself. But why the hell is a mockingbird awake at 1am? Do I live next to the only hard-partying mockingbird in North America? Doesn’t it have a job or school to go to during the day?

I used to love birds.

Two days is definitely not long enough to qualify as a pattern, but if this almost-pattern continues, not only will I have a new book, but I’ll be back in shape.

I wound up walking again yesterday, walking to think through the plot of my new book. I walked 5 miles. Yes, that’s a lot of thinking. After I came home I wrote like a madwoman, then fell into bed at 8:30 pm. (If I find the bird that woke me up at 1 am, I will acquire the necessary plumage for a new hat.) Except for the rude wake-up call, I was very happy with the way the day went.

In other news, the stage play version (put on by the Gifford Family Theater) of FEVER 1793 won the Best New Original Play Award from SALT, the Syracuse Area Live Theater group. Congrats to script writer and director Steve Braddock and all the fine actors who worked on the production.

Patricia Newman posted an article about me on her website. I especially love the last paragraph.

Max writes: I was recently searching Lois Lowry’s website and decided to read the FAQ section. In it, somebody had asked her if they would get rich being a writer. She responded no. I was wondering if you felt the same way. I plan on becoming a writer when I grow up, and though I already knew I wouldn’t make a tremendous amount of money like J.K. Rowling, I am still hoping to live off the money I make.

*pauses for hysterical laughter*

No, most authors are not rich. J.K. Rowling is the exception. Authors earn a percentage of every book sold. For a hardcover book, it’s usually 10% of the cover price. For a paperback, it’s about 6%. I signed up SPEAK before I had an agent and made a very bad deal. I earn about 9 cents on most of the SPEAK paperbacks. Now I have an agent, so that won’t happen again. But agents take 15% of your gross income (20% for foreign deals).

If you go into writing to get rich, you will be disappointed. But if you are looking for rewarding, inspiring work, and you are a frugal person who is willing to work hard, you’ll be fine. Good luck!

More fan mail in the next few days. I need to do a PROM post, too. I have some good news about the book and a really funny article that Julia sent me to share.

Off to walk and write.

I don’t know why, but when I woke up this morning, I was pondering this question:

If you could break one rule (once or on a regular basis) and suffer no consequences from it, what rule would you break?

I wish I could break the rules of logic whenever necessary.

This was the day I’ve been waiting for since November – the day when I could get serious about the new book. I’ve been kicking around ideas for the characters and plot all these months, but I needed to a) get some distance from the writing of PROM, b) finish my non-fiction picture book, and c) get through all the travel and school visits scheduled for the spring.

So… Mer left for school, I got out all my notes, sat down, opened the word processing file and..

nothing.

Squat. Diddly. No inspiration. No voices. No ideas. All my notes? Worthless.

Writing can be a scary beast to slay.

But I’ve done this a couple times before and I’ve learned a few tricks. After two hours staring at the blank screen (my eyes felt like they were bleeding), I turned off the computer, put on my sneakers and iPod, grabbed a notebook and headed out the door.

It took about a quarter-mile, but then the voices kicked in. I could hear him, my Main Character. I saw the bits of the original opening scene I wanted to use, and what bits were misleading and useless. I walked for a couple hours, stopping whenever necessary to take notes. I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon turning the rough notes into rough chapters and now I feel like I found the door into the story. I surpassed the day’s writing goal and I have plenty of hours left for the other work stuff that piled up.

When writing doesn’t make you feel like screaming, it can be fun.

Mother’s Day + blueberry pancakes + people I love = bliss.