If you’re not in the part of the world facing sub-zero temperatures this week, here’s a Lake Champlain sunrise to get you into the spirit.
The thermometer reads -12 this morning, and the snow is squeaky. It’s…well…a bit painful to be outside, but there is something about the extreme cold that produces extreme beauty, too. For that, for hot chocolate, and for thick socks, I’m thankful.
This is what Lake Champlain looked like this afternoon…
Okay, in truth, I’m cheating a tiny bit because this photo wasn’t taken at my house; I snapped it on a cross-country ski trip to Point au Roche State Park, where the bays freeze a bit more quickly than the broad lake. E and I had a deal…we’d go out as soon as it warmed up to 15 degrees. Once that happened and the sun came out, it was gorgeous.
The ultra-cold temperatures combined with afternoon sunlight made the new snow absolutely sparkle. I’m pretty sure this photo doesn’t do it justice, but it truly looked like someone had sprinkled glitter all over the fields.
This is also perfect weather for my current revision project. I just got the editorial letter for my picture book, OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW (Chronicle Books), about a child who goes on a cross-country ski trip and discovers the secret world of animals living under the snow. I asked my editor if she did that on purpose…sent the letter at the height of the outdoor winter sports season. She says it was just a happy coincidence, but either way, I couldn’t ask for better inspiration.
That, my friends, is a full moon reflecting on clear, cold Lake Champlain ice. It’s frozen from my house all the way to the island, frozen in that perfectly clear, smooth, ice-skating sort of way.
We haven’t been able to skate on the lake for at least three winters because the ice has to be thick enough to be safe and free of big bumps and chunks. But temperatures tonight are expected to drop near zero again. Think cold thoughts with me, okay? If we have a few more frigid nights without wind, there just might be some skating soon.
I haven’t officially switched over my .com domain name yet, but the amazing Theo Black and team have designed a new author website for me. It’ll be officially launched some time in the coming weeks, but you can get a sneak preview here.
The snow is falling outside my office window, my HOME office window, since there’s no school today because of the storm. That means a day of reading and soup and a fire in the fireplace…and time to share some links that I’ve been meaning to share.
First of all, if you’re an author or illustrator, there’s still time to sign up for KidsHeartAuthors Day, the brainchild of author Mitali Perkins, who decided that Valentine’s Day 2009 would be a great opportunity for us all to show our love for independent booksellers. Click here to sign up if you’re an author/illustrator type…or here to sign up as a bookseller. If you’re a teacher or librarian or parent or kid or other fabulous reader, I hope you’ll join us at a signing at your local indie on February 14th!
Now that 2009 is here, those of us with debut books coming out are turning cartwheels. My editor for THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z (Walker, September 2009) emailed last night with a list of queries from the production editor that made my heart flutter — not because they were difficult to address but because the book is so far along in the whole process. 2009 is actually HERE!
There are some great places online where you can learn about all the amazing titles that are on the way. Check out AuthorsNow for a huge listing of 2009 debuts. And have you met the 2009 Debutantes yet? Become a watcher of the LJ community debut2009 for terrific book talk with 2009 debut authors and great giveaways, too! Wouldn’t you like to win one of these nifty goody bags, for example?
Here’s another great opportunity for teachers & school librarians. Author Fran Cannon Slayton is giving away a set of 30 Advance Reader Copies of her book WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS, which is historical and funny and full-of-heart and wonderful. Just sign up for her email list to be entered in the drawing.
One last link…kellyrfineman is hosting a great conversation about happy endings on her blog today. It resonated with me because I was thinking about this recently, when I was in the middle of a book and SO hoping it would end well without being too sappy. I’m also revising a novel that has a mixed-emotions sort of ending right now. Endings have been on my mind, and Kelly, as usual, has pulled together some thought-provoking ideas from the great authors who joined her in the conversation.
I’m off to make a cup of green tea and then get back to reading with E by the fireplace…one of lurban ‘s recommendations…
We’re thankful to Linda – and to Emily Jenkins for writing such a perfect snow-day read-aloud. What are you reading today?
On Sunday, the last day of a delightfully quiet winter break, I desperately wanted to go cross-country skiing. Thanks to some December rain, my yard is more grass than snow now, but an hour’s drive into the mountains solved that problem.
I kept an eye out for wildlife, but the best I could do were a few sets of snowshoe hare tracks leading into the trees.
Beech trees in winter always make me smile. They’re the last trees in the forest to give up their leaves, and to me, they always look like they forgot to change their clothes with the season.
Back at school today, I watched the clouds thicken outside the hallway windows. There’s a storm on the way, with another 6-12 inches of snow expected tomorrow. I know where I’ll be this weekend…
They say that whatever you do on the first day of the New Year tells how you’ll spend your time that year. I’m so hoping this is true for books, too, because the first book I read in 2009 was one of my favorites in a long, long time.
I’ll apologize in advance for teasing – it’s not out until late January – but I simply can’t wait that long to talk about HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET by Jamie Ford. I’d read a mention of it months ago on PubRants, the blog kept by Jamie’s agent Kristin Nelson. I was excited to read this one because I knew it was set in Seattle during the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and that’s a time period that has always interested me. I expected an interesting trip through history, but what I got was so, so much more than that.
Henry Lee is still mourning the death of his wife when he learns that the belongings of Japanese Americans hidden in the basement of Seattle’s Panama Hotel for decades have been discovered. Henry is drawn to the basement, and what he’s searching for there opens a door he thought he had closed forever. The story switches back and forth between 1986 and the 1940s, when a 12-year-old Henry attending an American school (he’s "scholarshipping" as his father likes to say) meets another international student working in the school kitchen. Keiko is Japanese American, the enemy according to Henry’s father, but the two become best friends before her family is imprisoned in one of the relocation camps.
This book does a phenomenal job exploring the history and attitudes of this time period, and Ford’s portrayal of Seattle’s ethnic neighborhoods is amazing. But really, the thing that pulled me into this novel the most was the richness of the relationships — Henry and Keiko, Henry and his father, Henry’s mother and his father, and Henry and his own son. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET looks at the best and worst of human relationships, the way we regard others, the way we find ourselves reenacting our relationships with our parents with our own children, the choices we make along the way. Mostly, though, this book reminds us that there is always room — and time — for forgiveness and redemption.
I finished this book in tears, moved by the people who came to life so vividly in the story and sad that it had to end at all. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET is a perfect, perfect choice for book clubs or for anyone craving a compelling story about human nature at its worst and at its best. An amazing, amazing book. It will be one of your favorites, too, I can almost promise.
I’ve spent the past week and a half:
I hope your holiday season has been wonderful and fun and restful. Happy New Year! And may 2009 be the year all of your wishes come true.
I didn’t plan on reading it this week. I bought it as a gift but set it aside while I was wrapping and found myself "pre-reading" it…you know…the way you taste the fudge to make sure it’s okay? Now I have to go out and buy a bunch more. It is the absolutely perfect gift for anyone who appreciates the power of the written word to bring people together. Read it!
I was just about to post a Thankful Thursday blog entry when my writer friend marivee tagged me for an LJ meme making the rounds this week, where you’re asked to post the last five things that made you smile. I’m also thankful for those things, as it turns out, so here are my smiley, thankful things.
1. My middle school ice skating club has ice after school at a local rink every day this week. Yesterday, we had a fantastic group that included two kids who had never skated before as well as a young man who came in 20th in the nation at last week’s Junior Nationals in Lake Placid. They were all so appreciative and supportive of one another that it made me smile lots. I am also thankful (if somewhat amazed) that they allow me to be the adviser for this group, even though I don’t skate particularly well. I guess enthusiasm makes up for a lot.
2. One of my students is a HUGE Nancy Werlin fan and has been waiting and waiting for me to finish IMPOSSIBLE so she can borrow it. Yesterday, I couldn’t find it, and she said, "I’m coming back every day and reminding you to keep looking. I have to have that book for vacation!" I’m smiling today because I found it and because I smile any time a kid is so excited about a book.
3. I’m making great strides on my middle grade novel-in-progress this week – currently titled SUGAR ON SNOW. It’s at 41,000 words and counting. I’m thinking that I’ll be done at 50K, and then I can revise! Yay!! (I am actually not being sarcastic there. Revising is my favorite part!)
4. I’ve been working on a crafty sort of holiday project that is turning out well. This is smiley and significant because I am not particularly crafty, and so often, my crafty endeavors end up looking like something the dog chewed up.
5. It’s been SNOWING here! Yay!!
What’s making you smiley and thankful today?
