LHA – Page 138 – Laurie Halse Anderson

April 23, 2008

Country Girl In Big Apple

So after dwelling in the Cave of Revision (long hours, but a lot of fun, I must admit) I got up early on Monday morning and headed for the train station. Time to head to the Big City to meet with various editorial types.

Monday was a Simon and Schuster Day. (They publish my historical books.) Yesterday was a Viking Day, ending with a crowded and lively party to celebrate Viking’s 75th anniversary. It was one of those parties where you want to stop the clock because there are so many people to talk to and just not enough time.

Here is a small sampling. From the left, author Lizabeth Zindel, moi, Doug Whiteman, president of Penguin Books for Young Readers, Sarah Dessen aka writergrl whose new book Lock and Key hit stores yesterday, and author Susane Colisanto aka windowlight.

I also got a chance to meet the new author Madeline George, say hello to my agent, Amy, and bask in the glow cast by your ambassador and mine, Jon Scieszka.

I’m off to more S&S meetings right now, then I will attempt the ever-popular dash down the island of Manhattan to catch the late train out of Penn Station.

It’s better than taking a plane these days.

April 18, 2008

It’s Almost Spring

I dashed outside the Cave of Revision this morning and it’s true: it is almost Spring up here on the tundra. In fact, I think it will happen today, while I am deeply buried in my story.

I won’t be able to haunt the Forest with my camera to pounce on the Absolute Moment, so here is the closest I can come to proving this to you.

Here the Creature With Fangs poses next to one of the last piles of snow we have.

Next: daffodils on the brink of blooming. (Yes, those daffodils, mentioned in ’06!) I tried to get the CWF to pose here, too, but she was more interested in crushing the plants with her paws. I threw a stick in the other direction and snapped this shot.

Thank you to everyone who donated to my husband’s Race for Cancer. There is still time to help our cause and get some of the free LHA goodies mentioned earlier this week (scroll to bottom of post).

Attention New England SCBWI Conference attenders! Today is Day 5 of my 21-Day Writing Challenge. How’s it going for you? I’d love to hear what you’re doing – leave a note in the Comments section and pass the word along to the other folks who were there.

OK, back into the Cave I go.

April 15, 2008

Give & Receive Goodies!!!

I’m emerging briefly from the Cave of Revision (where I had a very nice epiphany yesterday, thank you, and now I’m pretty sure I know how to fix the part that wasn’t working in this story) to check the calendar.

Note: there is a chance to win free books ahead, including a collectible first edition. Keep reading!

Gasp. We only have 61 days until the half-marathon in Lake Placid.

::reaches for running shoes::
::slaps self and points to massive manuscript and mountain of notes::

Truth be told I ran yesterday, so today is a cross-training day (w00t). So far this year, I’ve done pretty good sticking to my goal of running 20 miles a week. As of yesterday, when I staggered up the driveway, I have run 303 miles since January 1st. The snow is finally gone up here on the tundra, so I’ve abandoned the treadmill in favor of hilly country roads well-stocked with rotting roadkill.

New readers of the blog might be wondering why on earth I’m doing all this running. My husband and I have vowed to raise $5,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training fund. The money goes for research into the causes of and treatments for blood cancers, which kills an American every ten minutes. My cousin is fighting this disease right now so it is a cause that means a great deal to our family.

Note: You’re almost to the part where you get to win the free stuff! Keep reading!

Because I know a million, bazillion people, I was able to meet my fundraising goal last month. My studly, adorable, patient, quick-witted husband (yeah, that’s him in the photo) is not far behind, but he could use a little help. He is 60% of the way to his goal. All he needs is another $1,000. But he needs it soon. (Photo by Sonya Sones, BTW.)

Here’s where the bribery begins… I mean, here’s the free stuff!!!!

If you donate $50 toward Scot’s goal, I will send you a free audiobook of TWISTED (seen here hanging out with the revisions of my WIP).

If you donate $100, I’ll send the audiobook and a special surprise.

If you donate $500, I will send you a very rare, first edition, first printing copy of SPEAK. No one had high hopes for the book when it was published, so the first print run was limited. Here is your chance to snag a collectible.

Or you can donate what you can afford and receive our everlasting gratitude and a really good feeling in your heart. Come on. You’re about to get a check from the government. Here’s a way to put it to good use.

Please help us. It’s for a good cause.

April 14, 2008

NESCBWI Recap and Wings

Wow! Those New Englanders know how to do it!

BH and I spent a high-energy weekend at the New England chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrator’s” conference. It was HUUUUUUUGGGGGEE!. I think someone said there were 550 people there. Amazing. And incredibly well-organized. They even had vegan lunches for people who didn’t want beef or turkey or tuna. I was impressed.

I gave the keynote Saturday morning. It was a poignant moment for me. When I started writing for kids, all I had was a handful of dreams and a lot of ambition. Along the way I made every mistake possible, and a few that no one had heard of before. And somehow, I’ve moved from the newly-hatched dreamer in the audience to the person standing (well, pacing) behind the podium. Very, very strange and wonderful.

During the speech, I held up my rejection file, and read a few of those dastardly polite letters that hurt so much. I will never forget what it feels like to get those in the mail. I remember the tears and doubts and the fears. What am I talking about – I still have them!

That is the cool thing about writers’ conferences. It doesn’t matter where you are on your creative journey – published or pre-published – we all sit on the same raft in an ocean of doubt. Thank you to everyone for such a warm welcome and much-needed boost of camaraderie.

Mitali gave a wonderful workshop about using the Internet to promote books. She should know: she has a wonderful site and a delightful blog. I took many, many notes! She is one of the forces behind Readergirlz which is featuring my book PROM in June. You’ll be hearing more about that later.

Enjoyed dinner with Sarah Aronson (left) and Tanya Lee Stone (right), who has a great picture book biography about Elizabeth Cady Stanton out soon. Also saw Kate Messner there, and Kelly Fineman, and Harold Underdown (I’ll be talking about his new book in a couple of weeks), and Debra Garfinckle, who graciously signed one of her books for me.

Jo Knowles – were you there? Did we talk? I could be blanking here (I’m still pretty tired). Help me out. What did you think of the conference?

I also hung out with my buddies Nancy Werlin and Toni Buzzeo, but my camera messed up their photos. Go to their websites to see their shining faces.

Like I said, the conference was packed!

They had to turn away people at the door to keep the fire marshals happy.

Here are a couple of the hard working souls who put the conference together: Jan Kozlowski, Sally Riley, Janet Arden, and J.L. Bell, who writes one of my favorite blogs: Boston 1775. The other organizers kept moving so fast, they appear in photographs as a blur. BH and I thank you all for a wonderful weekend!

The theme of the conference was “Stretch Your Wings”. I am flapping mine with great vigor as I head back to the Cave of Revision.

How was your weekend?

April 10, 2008

Brand New Writerlady Dot Com

:: trumpet fanfare plays and cymbals crash::

Web God Theo Black has finished the major website overhaul at my website, Writerlady.com!

All Hail The Theo!
All Hail The Theo!
All Hail The Theo!

Yes, there are nit-picky things to clean up, and yes, there are still a few things to be added, including a page to tell you how to get signed copies of my books, but we’re getting there. If you get stuck in the branches of the tree (still a glitch there) use the words at the bottom of the page to navigate.

Be sure to check out the shiny new, veeeeeeeeeery long Frequently Asked Questions section, which is found in the Junk Drawer. (Many of the questions were posed by people on my blog: thanks for the help.)

What do you think of this new version of the site?
What do you like?
Anything not working for you?
What’s missing?