The Dress Issue is SOLVED thanks to Lord & Taylor. Which is very, very punny if you think about it; given that I was invoking all of the gods in the hopes of finding a well-tailored gown.
It seems all I ever need to accomplish anything in life is a killer deadline.
More later.
THANK YOU!
Thank you!
Thankyouthankyouthankyou to everyone for the kind wishes and congratulations sent about yesterday’s big, honking, life-altering news. I am still breaking out in random giggles. I have also watched the video of the nomination announcements about a dozen times to make sure this is all real. Not only is it real, but he said my name right. How cool is that?
And congratulations to my fellow finalists: Kathi Appelt, Judy Blundell, E. Lockhart, and Tim Tharp!
Now I have four days to pack for the tour, make sure all my bills and stuff are taken care of, take Mom to the doctor’s, unpack the suitcase because I am sure I have not packed properly, repack the suitcase, order the books of my fellow nominees (such a luxury to HAVE to read books!), figure out how to tote my projector across the country, pause every now and then to breathe into a brown paper bag, and oh yes –
– the hardest thing –
I have to find a dress.
This does not sound like a big deal, right? People, well, mostly women, buy dresses all the time. Some women, like Sarah Dessen, actually enjoy shopping for dresses. The OfficeMouse views shopping as a relaxation technique.
You have no earthly idea. The mall gives me hives. I would rather have root canal than step foot in a dressing room.
It’s not that I am opposed to the theory of a dress, not at all. Back in 1999, I actually found a dress that I liked (and if worse comes to worse, I will be wearing it again!) albeit after many shopping trips and after being locked in the dressing room by a friend who refused to let me leave the mall until we found something.
The dress makers of the world don’t think of me when they design their offerings. I’m tall, for one thing. My shoulders are broad enough to make me a passable middle linebacker (most of my shirts are men’s mediums), I have ungodly long arms, and despite my mother’s best efforts, I am not ladylike.
I need a dress that won’t rip a seam if I hug someone, won’t malfunction if I jump up and down, (here’s the tricky part) actually fits me, and is comfortable.
And since I’m dreaming, I want it to have pockets, too. And if it could be made of sweatshirt material, that would be just peachy.
I have four days.
I’m having a hard time forming sentences here.
CHAINS has been graced with an incredible honor; a National Book Award nomination!!!
And now I have to buy a dress!
Thank you very much to all the teachers who turned out last night to my presentation in Dewitt! There were more than 80 people, including some old friends from schools like Fabius-Pompey, Chittenango, and J-D. It was a really fun night, and my projector/computer hook-up worked perfectly. Now I just need to figure out the best way to carry it all on the airplane.
I don’t have a link, but I was told yesterday that CHAINS earned a Starred review from Booklist, which brings the total to THREE. That is a very nice feeling. Extremely nice. Whipped cream and cherries on top, with nuts and sprinkles nice!
Do you know anyone that lives in the Minneapolis, MN area? If so, please, please let them know I am heading their way. Next Tuesday, I’ll be speaking at St. Bernard’s School and the Roseville Area Middle School during the day. My public appearance that night will be at the Barnes & Noble in Roseville.
A week from today I’ll be visiting Valley View Middle School and Southview Middle School. That night (am VERY excited about this!!!) I’ll be speaking at Wild Rumpus. I have been looking forward to visiting this store for years! Please notify all residents of Minneapolis to come and join us. And if you could, make the gentle suggestion that they car-pool to save gas and be kinder to the environment.
I got an email back from my county election board explaining the delay in producing absentee ballots. “The ballots are held up due to a court proceeding in Albany on the Independence Party line for Supreme Court Justice. The case is being heard today and hopefully the judge will render a decision today, although that may be wishful thinking. The ballots have not been printed because if we print and the judge rules differently than the way the ballot is printed, we have to reprint at considerable expense. With a ruling today, we will have ballots by the end of this week.”
Seems to me that there should be a deadline trigger for these kinds of rulings to ensure that ballots are sent out in a timely basis. We’ve decided that when my ballot arrives, BH will overnight it to me wherever I am on the tour. But I am still grumpy about it.
National Coming Out Day was last Saturday (yes, I am always late with these things) and in honor of that, and in honor of every American’s right to go about their lives without being the target of stupid hate-speech, I bring you the Think B4 You Speak campaign. My favorite video is the one in the middle with Wanda Sykes. I would love to sit down with her with some pie and pot of coffee. (Thanks, Bookavore, for the link.)
Which one of the three videos is your favorite?
HAPPY TEEN READ WEEK! Don’t forget to vote for your favorite books!
Wouldn’t it be cool if some truly rich person (I’m looking at you, Bill Gates) decided to provide a gift certificate to every teenager in America to buy a book this week through an independent bookseller? If any of you are having dinner with Bill this week, try to work this suggestion into the conversation.
Sorry for being a day late with this, but check out the nightly author interviews at Readergirlz this week, put together in honor of Teen Read Week!
Today is the last day to nominate a book for the Cybils Award. If you read a book this year that you loved, click your way over there and share the title.
Speaking of voting and nominating type things, I am having a problem. I mailed in my application for my absentee ballot weeks ago. (I’ll be on book tour on Election Day.) The ballot has not arrived. We just called the Oswego County Board of Elections and they said the ballots haven’t arrived in their offices yet! What? WHAT? The ballots haven’t been printed up yet? When were they planning on doing this? How are they going to get to soldiers serving overseas in time? Is this incompetence or political shenanigans? I just fired off a few emails – stay tuned.
::takes deep yoga breath to calm self::
More CHAINS love! Language Arts teacher Sarah gives her opinion about the use of CHAINS in the classroom on her Reading Zone blog.
Don’t forget – I’m giving a sneak preview of my CHAINS tour presentation tonight at 7pm at the Barnes & Noble in Dewitt, NY, where I’ll be speaking at their Educators’ Appreciation Night.
I’ll leave you with a little more autumnal fire from up here on the tundra.
