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Dark Times and Deep Discusions

Here I am again… Queen Louise, that is. A while back, Laurie posted a picture of her mom, sitting quietly on a porch, reading a book. I am holding this peaceful picture in my thoughts, because Laurie and Hospice are helping Joyce through the final days of a wonderful life. Even though this is a dark time for Laurie, she is thankful and feels blessed.

Now for the Deep Discussions… Wall Street Journal has an article in which Wintergirls is mentioned . What do you think? The website Jezabel has an interesting take on the article here . Talk it up!

The Power company is here to turn off the power (yes, Laurie paid the bill), they are working on the poles outside. But that shortens my time with you. Post a comment and let Laurie know what you think of the articles and website blog. And good thoughts for her mom!

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Cover Girl

File this one under “Things Laurie Never Dreamed Would Happen, Even When She Was Dreaming Absurdly Big.”

I am the June cover girl for School Library Journal.

If you have to be plastered on a magazine cover, this is definitely the classiest and coolest. Thankfully, the only cover image you can find online is sort of small.

The article, however, is huge.

I was interviewed by the all-knowing and insightful K.T. Horning, director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, AND the 2010 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecturer. She asked extremely good questions and was very patient with my rambling, long-winded answers. Have a peek and tell me what you think.

And those orange sneakers? Stay tuned…. they have Deep Significant Meaning.

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Writing Advice from La Wharton

I finally finished Hermione Lee’s biography of Edith Wharton. I probably won’t reread it, but it was interesting enough to slog through all 800-plus pages.

I copied out two quotes for you.

The first one has to do with the books in Edith’s library. She frequently wrote in the books she was reading and had no time for people who believed that books should be treated like fragile objects. She was fond of this quote, from W. N. P. Barbellion’s Journal of a Disappointed Man, “A Book is a Person and not a Thing.”

The second quote is one of Wharton’s diary entries from 1934, when she was working on her novel The Buccaneers.

“What is writing a novel like?
1. The beginning: A ride through a spring wood.
2. The middle: The Gobi desert.
3. The end: A night with a lover.
I am now in the Gobi desert.”

When Edith Wharton wrote these words, she was 72 years old. She had published 20 novels, more than 85 short stories, and won a Pulitzer.

I think this gives all of us permission to grumble a bit when stuck in the Gobi desert, but then we have to go back to work.

Scribblescribblescribble…

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Time Travel

I am getting ready to beam back to the 1740s. Am bringing my own toilet paper.

I will answer the questions that came in over the weekend upon my return. While I’m gone, can you please post links to the best blogging done about BEA this year?

Also, if YOU were beaming back to the American colonies in the 1740s, what would you bring?

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Pout-a-Thon Day 3, with DONUTS

I forgot to pout this morning because I got so caught up in my research! ARGH! Bad self! Bad self!

But then I read a bunch of blogs where everyone wrote all glowy about BEA. Now my lower lip is jutting out again, creating, as my grandfather used to point out, the perfect perch for a bird to land on.

(This made me afraid of birds for a long time. It did not cure my pouting. Thanks, Grandpa.)

If you are in NYC, but are sick of BEA (right) or can’t get in (more likely), you should go to the best bookstore in New York City and ask questions of the smartest and best-read bookseller and maybe score a free donut.

Seriously. LEAVE RIGHT NOW.

I am headed out to my garden which needs weeding. I also need to sow more veggie seeds and start to cut away the wilderness that is growing up around the berry canes.

For today’s Pout-a-Thon activity, ask me a question in comments. I’ll answer, I promise, as soon as the gardening is done.

::poutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpout::