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The school(s) I visited last Friday did something really cool! They sent me a piece of paper a few months ago and told me they were going to make bookmarks for the kids so that everybody would have something with

I’m going to publicly admit just how stupid I am so that others may learn from my mistake: A few years ago, a neighbor and I took up “slogging.” Slogging = SLOW jogging…you could not, by any stretch of the

It about killed me, but I turned down an assignment this morning. And I didn’t turn it down because I have too many other things to be working on (though I am pretty busy with my new Boxcar book, my

Yay! Someone in Norway read my blog! I love Norway! (Love statcounter, too!) God dog! Snakker du norsk? Jeg kommer fra Amerika! Somer i Norge kan vaere stralende! Okay, I don’t know how to make the character that looks like

Is it easier to take feedback (i.e. criticism) on a work you’ve already got under contract than on one you’re doing on spec? I’ve been wondering about that… It was easy for me to ask for feedback from my writers

I took Preteen to see the Iowa City Community Theatre production of To Kill a Mockingbird on Saturday night. (Teen had a better offer…though I’m not sure how going to a LAN party and hooking a bunch of computers together

One of the local schools has a “mystery reader” come in to read to second graders every Friday. I was the mystery reader today. (A good friend of mine has a second grader at that school, so it’s no “mystery”

I’m speaking at a school in Cedar Rapids next week. Besides the general presentations, I’m also doing a workshop (I’m always really happy when a school asks me to do workshops as well as general presentations!), and the librarian had

I actually volunteered to respond to a table topics question at Toastmasters this week! In fact, the first thing I said when I got up there was, “I can’t believe I actually VOLUNTEERED for table topics!” And everyone clapped. (See?

I had my book reading/signing at Prairie Lights today. Seven people came. And they were all friends of mine. My good friend, K., said, “Hey, at least you have friends!” This is true. Still, it’s awfully depressing. I tried to

It’s over. The police found two guns, but no threats were ever made. No one got hurt. And supposedly everything is “back to normal” after a 90-minute lockdown. Though I don’t know how anyone can expect the rest of the

I just got an automated call from our school district (while I was finishing up a call on my cell phone with one of my publishers!)…Preteen’s junior high school is in lockdown! The automated caller said: somebody brought a pellet

Wow! This school district/writing conference sure put me up in a nice hotel! I love this place! I’ve got a whole suite to myself, complete with king-sized bed, sitting area, microwave, refrigerator — everything you could possibly think of. They’ve

Teen had a paper to write today, but it was a beautiful day (plus I needed to do some “research” for my Boxcar book), so the rest of us (including the dog) went geocaching! When we go geocaching, this is

When I was putting all those other books back on my shelf, I discovered a couple more that talk about endings/climax, but I haven’t reread those sections yet. Preteen and I have signed up to be “costumed history interpreters” at

Okay, there are A LOT of reasons why it’s nice to have an agent, but it’s especially nice to have one if you have “issues” with one of your publishers, and the publisher doesn’t respond to your issues. It’s even

I can’t skim through all my writing reference books in search of that one little nugget of wisdom that’s going to change my life and allow me to sit down and revise the end of Truth About Truman without searching

Did you ever notice how a lot of writing reference books talk about the END of a story, but they don’t always talk about the CLIMAX??? Why aren’t there any books just on climax??? The climax should absolutely occur very

So I’ve been reading all all about endings in my writing reference books (being a writing reference book junkie has it’s advantages!) and trying to figure out how what I’m reading applies to the ending I’m trying to write for

I continue to be amazed by the attention I seem to be receiving from this sales rep. at Pelican Press. While I’ve probably had some contact with sales reps from my other publishing companies, I don’t think I could tell

First the good news: jennifer_j_s e-mailed me to tell me we both have books on Maryland’s Black-eyed Susan award, just in different categories. I knew Trading Places with Tank Talbott was on that list, but it was still nice of

I knew I was going to be talking to my editor about The Truth About Truman yesterday, so I reread the manuscript straight through on Thursday night. It really does help to take a break from a mansucript (I find

I had a good talk with my agent about I am Anna Winkler yesterday. She started off by saying she doesn’t usually like this kind of book because it confuses her, but she liked this one because everyone in the

I submitted another picture book to an editor I’ve worked with before. She warned me up front that it didn’t sound like the kind of project they’d likely be interested in (which surprised me…it’s not all that different from the

I picked up a cold in Minnesota, but given how sick I was the beginning of March, this little cold is NOTHING! I almost welcome a plain old ordinary cold (note that I said ALMOST). It hasn’t really kept me

Look at me add photos to my blog! (Let’s see whether they actually show up or whether I screw up the look of the blog in the process…) I’ve been meaning to try and figure this out for quite a

My visit is going well! The kids are great…really enthusiastic, not to mention well prepared for my visit! The teachers are great (well, except for the one teacher who slept through my presentation…the other teachers were listening and responding and

I’m leaving bright and early (like 7:30 a.m. bright and early) for two days of school visits in southwestern Minnesota tomorrow. It’s pretty much on my way (well, if I take the long way) to stop and see my dad,

21 years! (And yes, we were children when we got married…we’re really not old. Not yet.) When people ask how we met, I like to tell them we were computer dates back before there was computer dating. It’s true…sort of.

So I did my first speech at Toastmaster’s last night and it went well. I have such a nice group — I could’ve stared at my paper the whole time, mumbled and “um’ed” my way through the entire thing and

My book group met last night…we read Steven Johnson’s Everything Bad is Good for You, which was a short, but interesting read. I think we all saw Johnson’s point that TV and video games are growing more complex (life in

The kids and I were sick for a week…then there was spring break…and now today we’re finally back into our routine. Preteen says he sort of had two weeks of spring break. Yeah…sort of (though being that sick was hardly

Since we decided not to take a spring break trip this year and to do a nicer trip (probably back to Alaska!) this summer, I decided to take Preteen for a mini-trip to the Minnesota zoo and to visit my

Uh…probably because I did. Teen brought the uber virus (you’ll have to imagine the two dots above the u in uber because I don’t know how to put them there) home from the University…and then passed it on to Preteen

I just finished the most fabulous book: Caroline Burau’s Answering 911: Life in the Hot Seat. If I had read this seven years ago, I might not be a writer today; I might be a 911 dispatcher. I’m serious. And

I reread my full manuscript of I am Anna Winkler (all 205 pages) this week. I’ve never reread the whole thing from start to finish before. And I finished it way back last May! It’s pretty unusual for me to

My original plan was to take the kids to Washington, D.C. over spring break this year. My husband and I were there about a year before Teen was born, but we haven’t been back. We wanted to wait until the

I’m revising my general school visit presentation. Again. I think it will always be a work in progress. Which is probably good. That way it doesn’t get stale. Thanks to my good friend C., I started doing school visits probably

We did end up losing electricity yesterday. In fact, it was out for more than 16 hours. We lost branches from a lot of trees out back, too (though not as many as some of our neighbors). Technically the trees

Both the outer screens and the outside of all the windows on the front of our house are covered in a layer of ice, so you can’t see anything through them. My husband says it’s “frosted glass,” which I guess

Before I headed out to drive Preteen from one activity to the next yesterday afternoon, I e-mailed my editor at Peachtree to see if there was any news on the Monkey Man sequel yet. When I got home, there was

My writer’s group met last night. After a couple hours of intense conversation on all of our projects, my friend T. sat back and laughed, “Isn’t it funny how we talk about all these people [i.e. our characters] like they’re

It was another day of Free Money! Which means Highlights for Children sold rights to one of my stories (actually, this time they sold rights to TWO different stories) and sent me a check! I don’t submit to most magazines

If you love Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia as much as I do and you’re afraid to see the movie because you’re afraid it won’t live up to the book, GO!!!! Seriously!!!! The movie truly captured the spirit of the

I got my author copies of My Grandpa had a Stroke yesterday. Magination Press really DID do the book in about six months, just like they said they would. It’s hard to believe anyone can do a picture book that

Yeah, I love Valentine’s Day. I can’t help it. I want to celebrate. I think my husband and I have plenty TO celebrate…this is our 25th Valentine’s Day as a couple! That’s a lot of Valentine’s Days. A lot of

I LOVE snow days when everyone gets to stay home. Unfortunately, only three of the four of us are home today. The University almost never closes…and Teen had a presentation to give today, so he set out a couple hours

So, here I am at a hotel in Fairmont, Minnesota. I decided to come up and visit my dad yesterday as I originally planned. It was a good weekend to come — I’m between writing projects, the weather looks good

Much as I hate to generalize and/or categorize people, I’m going to do it. I believe there are three kinds of people in the world: those who go to the emergency room, those who drive other people to the emergency

I sent The Truth About Truman off to my editor! That was about five minutes ago and already I’m thinking of all the sections I maybe should’ve gone back and looked at “one more time.” No…like I said yesterday, I’ve

So I’ve exchanged a couple e-mails with a young girl who likes my Do You Know the Monkey Man. (Mail from kids is absolutely one of the best things about being a children’s book author!) I say basically the same

I got my marked up manuscript back from “Toughest Critiquer” (and actually, it wasn’t anywhere near as marked up as I expected it to be!), so I’m making one more pass through. Actually, I started going through it yesterday. I

I just found out my Preteen reads the last page (sometimes even the last chapter) of a book first! I don’t know if he does this all the time, but he does it some of the time. Apparently, so does

I really ought to hire my good friend K. to be my publicist! We had lunch today and after lunch we went into Prairie Lights (Local Independent Bookstore). She couldn’t believe I hadn’t “made friends” with the children’s book person

My Editor Extraordinaire (and yes, she reads this, so yes, I’m totally sucking up!) said she thought T.M.S. sounded kind of like a disease (you know…it kind of does!) so she was going to make a case for changing the

It’s the start of a new month and I’m trying very hard not to forget about those resolutions I made at the start of the year. I’m doing okay on the “spend more time with family”…I’d still like to spend

Somebody in my Friday Ideas group posted this Ray Bradbury quote: “Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations. Plot is observed after the fact rather

[Note to D. DON’T read this post until you’ve read T.M.S. — I don’t want you to be swayed by anything you read here…] I’m feeling a little lost without T.M.S. to work on today…I don’t even have any other

I’ve finished my revision of Truth About T.M.S. I’ve cut entire scenes; I’ve added entire scenes; I’ve moved entire scenes around, and…(this must be a first!) this version of the story came out one page shorter than the original! (Though,

It looks like it’s shaping up to be a pretty good day. 1) My author copies of F is for Fire Fighting have arrived! I’m a real author…again. 2) Preteen is on a school ski trip (yeah, they work real

I think I’ve made a new friend thanks to blogging! It’s always nice to get a surprise e-mail from somebody who read something in my blog, but it was especially nice to hear from somebody who’s going through some of

I’ve never been tagged before. jennifer_j_s tagged me…I guess I’m supposed to list five things that most people probably don’t know about me. I had to think about it… Here is what I came up with: 1) I have been

I didn’t get a lot done today. I don’t know why. I just couldn’t seem to focus on my work. There wasn’t anything in particular that I WAS focusing on…it was just one of those days. Tomorrow will be better.

So much for all the rereading/revising I was going to do while I sat with my dad in the nursing home and then later sat in a hotel by myself. I did NO WORK the whole time I was gone.

I revised my “outline” (which is actually a 10-page list of whose POV each scene is told from and what the point of that scene is) so that it actually matches the manuscript. This will help me see the “shape”

So I got a phone call from the sales guy at Pelican Press today. He wanted to know if I’d “given any thought to the launch of F is for Fire Fighting?” My response was, “Uh…” To tell you the

Yes, I finally typed those beautiful words this morning…(and then promptly went out for Thai food for lunch to celebrate!)…which means I now have a complete draft of Truth About T.M.S. to work with. (I tried to take a picture

Somebody in my Friday Ideas group told us about Project 365, which is this thing where you take one picture every day for a year. What a great idea for those of us who seem to have too many staged

I can remember several Martin Luther King Day afternoons that I spent playing long games of one of the Risk variants with my kids. Alas, that’s not what we’re doing this Martin Luther King Day. This year, both kids asked

Why in the world did I ever think Truth About T.M.S. was going to be so much shorter than any other novel I’ve written??? I’m already at 33,000 words, which was about as long as Tank Talbott’s Guide to Girls

I found out Teen has 1) been nominated for a national scholarship by the classics department at the university and 2) won a monetary prize for his Latin translation. This all happened a while ago, and he didn’t tell anyone!

I know, I know…I’m not an illustrator. And it’s not even Friday. But a friend of mine started a really cool group that I’m having a lot of fun with. We’re not a critique group…we’re a group of eight children’s

I’m psyched! Do You Know the Monkey Man is on the 2007-2008 Mark Twain Award list and Trading Places with Tank Talbott is on the 2007-2008 IOWA Children’s Choice Award list!!!! That’s three lists for Do You Know the Monkey

My face-to-face critique group meets next week, so today was my deadline for getting pages (however many pages I had) of Truth About T.M.S. to everyone. In an ideal world, I would’ve had an entire draft, but I could tell

I’ve been struggling again with the question of what do I want this journal to be about. How much of my life do I want to put out there for anyone and everyone to read. I remember Jane Yolen writing

My friend finally came home from the hospital yesterday. Yes, yesterday…not Sunday. Not Monday. Yesterday! It’s been quite an ordeal for the woman who said to me at ten o’clock on Saturday night, “you can just drop me off at

So, I’m wearing the shirt my husband gave me for Christmas. It says “Careful, or you’ll end up in my novel.” I had forgotten I was wearing it…until just now when I answered the door to this clean-cut young man

My best friend is pregnant with her fourth child. Last night she called me at 10:00 and asked me if I’d take her to the hospital…she had tripped over a baby gate in her house and had been having contractions

We’ve found a new hobby the whole family can enjoy — geocaching! I get to hike, my husband gets some much needed exercise and he gets to play with gadgets, and my kids get to play with gadgets and go

It’s been a nice holiday season…we went to see my dad in the nursing home and he was actually having a pretty good day! I wished that we lived closer so we could’ve stayed longer (it’s a 4 1/2 hour

Over the last two days I’ve made: 40 lefse (yes, from scratch), 7 dozen frosted cut-out cookies (also from scratch…though they were ALMOST from a box this year…Teen saw me take the box of sugar cookie mix I bought at

I admit it…sometimes I have a little too much fun with Christmas. I’ve been “coding” the presents under the tree every year since my kids were little. It started because I didn’t want them snooping…it continued because everyone has come

I’ve decided that the first 67 pages of Truth About T.M.S. aren’t TOO bad. There’s still much tweaking to be done…a little rearranging, a little adding to and subtracting from different sections. I’ve got one segment that’s just one line

So once again, I’ve made a lot of BACKWARDS progress on Truth About T.M.S.…I’ve cut I don’t know how much, and added a good 15 brand new pages to earlier sections of the book over the last two days (and

I’ve never been pulled over by a cop before. Honest! I am (cough, cough) years old and I’d never been pulled over. I’ve never worn lipstick, I’ve never worn high heels, I’ve never had a manicure, and I’d never been

The Iowa City Public Library does not open until 1:00 on Sundays! Who knew??? Obviously not I… They don’t open until 1:00, but then they stay open until 6:00 (I thought it was 12:00 to 5:00.) Oh, well. I will

I really did have a good work day yesterday next to the mummy woman (even though I could see people walking around outside in short sleeves). I’m not sure you could say I made FORWARD progress, but I made a

I’m pretty serious about getting some work done on Truth About T.M.S. today…I have left the house! I’m working at my favorite table at the Iowa City Public Library — 2nd floor, next to the mummy woman…and the windows. I

I was just saying how excited I was about the British edition of My Mum’s Having a Baby…I just found out that there’s going to be a Korean edition of My Mom’s Having a Baby!. I won’t have a clue

I haven’t done as much writing today as I should have…but I did have lunch with a writer friend of mine, so I TALKED a lot about writing. The thing is, it’s 60 degrees here today! 60 degrees in the

I got a letter in an U.S. post office envelope that said “WE CARE” in big block letters…the “plant manager” wanted to extend his apology for “the enclosed document that was inadvertently damaged in handling by your post office.” The

I got my copies of the British version of My Mom’s Having a Baby (i.e. My MUM’S Having a Baby) yesterday. It was fun to page through and see the differences: 1) They chose a different font (I like the

Actually, Teen reads my blog, but I don’t think Preteen does. That’s okay. He’ll find out about this when he reads Truth About T.M.S.. It might be more fun for him to find out then than to find out here

What do you know? I can still run a mile! Well, jog is probably a better word…I don’t know that you could call what I do “running.” (I’ve always thought of it more as “slogging” — i.e. SLOW jogging) But

I just finished another Reader’s Theatre script. Well, maybe “finished” isn’t quite the right word…I turned in the first draft. I know I still have to do another classroom component, and once everything’s done I’ll have to “gang” (which means

Okay, I admit it…I sometimes google myself when I should be working. When I googled myself yesterday I came across this sixth grade classroom blog. It looks like the teacher had divided the class into reading groups and each group

Time to cut off a chunk of hair for Locks of Love. Actually, I already did it…about eight hours ago (and boy does my head feel lighter!!!). I’ve got before and after pictures that I can post here eventually (once

I spent three hours yesterday with N. and her family discussing Islam and life as a Muslim American teen in our community. Fascinating! While I was hoping to get a chance to speak briefly with N.’s kids (like Amr in

So, The Truth About T.M.S. isn’t COMPLETELY on hold while I finish up this work-for-hire project…as I’ve mentioned before, The Truth About T.M.S. is told from multiple points of view. One of those points of view is that of a

If I write it in my blog, I have to do it, right? Well, I also said a few months ago that I was going to bike up Karen’s hill sometime this year, and I don’t think that’s going to