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Preteen just informed me that tomorrow in personal development he’s going to see a movie about “physical and social changes that occur in adolescence,” (that’s all he knows about it) but I’m supposed to write his teacher a note saying

Several people have posted something about libraries today…which got me thinking back to my first job. The only “real job” I’ve ever held (I’m not counting temporary essay reading jobs or seasonal jobs working in book stores and music stores…none

I keep remembering this SCBWI event I was at a couple summers ago where J. got a phone call during the event. Her father had just had a heart attack and died. It was completely out of the blue. Though

Since I did not make my writing goals over the weekend, I used this opportunity to take a good look at what I’d already done on Truth About T.M.S. and make sure everything’s still working. I normally rewrite nonstop as

It’s a good thing I didn’t want to attend some Renaissance weekend in Quebec or Utah…they’re over! One of my publishers just forwarded mail to me and this piece of mail was postmarked June 17. (I’ve had mail older than

Remember when I said the writing doesn’t stop for the in-laws or the play? Uh, well…I guess I was wrong about that. I’ve only written one out of the ten pages I’d hoped to write between Friday and today. I’m

I got an e-mail from the Iowa City Public Library on the over-sized chess (and checkers) pieces. They’ve changed their policy! As of this week, the chess pieces circulate to ANYONE (even people who live in Coralville!) on a first-come,

That’s the sound of SOMEONE OTHER THAN ME cleaning this house!!! Isn’t that a beautiful sound? It sure is an INSPIRING sound…as in I’m getting all kinds of work done. I’ve actually written three pages (and they’re GOOD pages, too)

Made my goal yesterday! I got my five pages done. I’d only gotten three done when it was time to take Preteen to play practice. Give me a break…my in-laws are coming today, and so is my cleaning service (fortunately,

I was all set to join the one Toastmasters group I’d been attending…I even filled out the paperwork. But before turning it in, I decided to try and find the Coralville group one more time. Since I hadn’t had any

So, I was hoping to write ten pages yesterday; I wrote seven. I ended up with a little less writing time than I expected because my book group met last night. (Though in all honesty, I don’t know that I

Well, I only wrote two of the six pages I’d hoped to write yesterday. Even though my husband said I didn’t have to help him and Preteen paint, every time I went upstairs (and therein lies my mistake!) I’d see

I decided I needed to get out of the house yesterday. I needed to make progress on the Truth About T.M.S., and I felt like I needed to get out of the house in order to do that. There are

I love Christmas music. Not so much that I want to go into a store and hear it playing before Thanksgiving, but I will listen to it in private before Thanksgiving (kind of like sneaking chocolate…I sneak Christmas music before

One of the many advantages to living in Iowa City is having Prairie Lights (arguably one of the best independent bookstores in the country) right here. Prairie Lights brings in a lot of authors, and the University radio and TV

So that was fun (speaking at FAME, I mean). It was the first time I’d spoken at a big conference for media specialists. I’m very comfortable going into schools to speak, but talking to media specialists just seemed scarier somehow.

That’s what the Florida Media Specialists call their organization (Florida Association for Media in Education)…and I’m off to their annual conference this morning. Which is held at a Disney resort. What would be the Iowa equivalent of a Disney resort?

Wow! I LOVE having an agent. I spent a lot of years wondering, do I really need an agent? Kind of along the same lines of, do I really need that piece of chocolate? Probably not, but it sure would

What a way to end the conference…with a closing keynote by Lisa Yee. She had everyone rolling on the floor when she asked Paul Rodeen to come up on the stage and read a scene from Millicent Min, Girl Genius

Bruce Coville’s talk on school visits was probably the most useful hour of the conference for me. He talks fast…and I could hardly keep up with my note taking. But I did manage to get 3 pages of notes down.

There were two panels on Sunday…one on picture books and one on novels. These are just some random things I wrote down: 1) Paul Rodeen has never sold a serious picture book. 2) Paul judges a picture book similarly to

I didn’t take a lot of notes during the presentations Lisa Yee, Bruce Coville or D. Anne Love (who filled in for Candace Fleming at the last minute because Candace was ill) gave, either. Again, all were wonderful speakers (each

It’s HARD to choose a birthday gift for my husband. For one thing, we’ve known each other more than 24 years now, so all the good gifts have already been given. Plus he’s just one of those people who doesn’t

If you ever get a chance to hear Sid Fleischman speak, grab it! He’s a joy to listen to. I heard him speak in Los Angeles a few years ago and I was thrilled that Connie brought him to Iowa

I attended my first Toastmasters meeting about 14 years ago. In fact, I attended three of them…with my good friend, Laurie, in Rochester, MN. She told me I should join Toastmaster’s. She told me it would be good for me.

Michael Stearns is an Editorial Director at HarperCollins — he says there are seven Editorial Directors there. He tends to buy: 1) “genre novels with literary hooks” 2) books that are “smart funny” (not slapstick) He doesn’t like issue novels,

What’s really cool about recording my conference notes in an LJ entry is I’ll always be able to find them! On Friday night, Lin Oliver (Executive Director of SCBWI) talked about how SCBWI began (which was interesting to hear again…what

And I traveled REALLY far to get there, too…all the way to Iowa City (all of about 7 miles from my house to the hotel where the conference was held). I don’t go to a lot of SCBWI conferences anymore,

I think I have an agent! (And FWIW, she responded to my initial query in less than an hour…and to my work in TWO WEEKS…even though she said it would take her 3-4 weeks…I have NEVER received a response from

Conversation overheard between my kids: Preteen: What is 7 to the 2004th power? Does it start with 4? (Five second pause while Teen figures it out….) Teen: No, I think it starts with 3. (Disclaimer: Math is not my strong

I know of several authors who run contests on their websites. I’ve thought about doing this for quite some time, but haven’t been able to decide what kind of contest to have. I liked the idea of some sort of

I went to a fabulous conference a couple years ago and learned how to write teacher’s guides from the amazing traciezimmer. I knew that one of my publishers would print and distribute the guides if I wrote them, but they

Hooray! I got some free money yesterday…by “free money” I mean Highlights for Children sold reprint rights to one my stories and I got a check out of the blue again. I love when that happens! This was a big

My best friend wasn’t able to walk with me the last couple of days, and it was too cold and windy to bike, so I walked by myself and caught up on some of the podcasts I’d downloaded over the

It’s definitely cover art and page proof season for spring 2007 books. Today I received cover and page proofs for F is for Firefighting, the other picture book I have coming out next spring. So as long as I posted

I came back from my retreat this weekend to find the cover of My Grandpa had a Stroke (yes, they changed the title from When Grandpa had a Stroke to My Grandpa had a Stroke…but that’s okay. In fact, I

One of the highlights of my year is this annual retreat I have every fall with a group of children’s book author friends. It’s hard to believe, but this was our NINTH year! We always meet at a beautiful retreat

I should figure out how to set up one of those poll thingies on LJ…though I’m not sure this journal gets enough traffic to know whether the results are statistically significant or not. I got my final edits back on

So when the last agent said no, I pretty much gave up my agent search. One of the reasons I want an agent is I wonder if I should be trying to break into a larger house. I’ve talked about

There was a line in a novel I’m currently reading that really resonated with me. One of the characters told another character a story and the second character asked, “Is that true?” The first character responded, “Honey…all stories are true

So if I had a wadded up tissue for every time I’ve started over on my Monkey Man sequel, I wonder if the garbage can of THOSE tissues be a) not as full as b) about full as or c)

I really like my editor at M Press. She and I have gone back and forth on revisions for When Grandpa had a Stroke four times over the last ten days or so, and I can see the book getting

In honor of Banned Books Week, I am rereading Catcher in the Rye, which is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I LOVED that book when I was in high school…but I haven’t reread it in

I have continued to rewrite chapter one of my Monkey Man sequel over and over…I don’t even know how many times I’ve rewritten it, but I’ve saved seven different versions (and each of those seven versions was rewritten MANY times

I’m so excited! I have a date with my husband tonight! It’s on my calendar and it’s on his calendar, so that means it’ll happen (despite the fact our kids were hoping for take-out Panchero and TV). We’ve been so

The agent I queried last month said no. Actually, what she said was “any friend of LJS’s is a friend of mine” (yes, she seems very nice) and “I’m shying away from both middle grade and paranormal submissions. If you

Okay…it’s time to stop tweaking and time to start printing (The ten pages +synopsis for my critique next month). Even though I said I was satisfied with my synopsis yesterday, I kept tweaking. And I continued to tweak this morning.

was saying she’s been online in one form or another for 21 years, which prompted me to count back and figure out just how long I’ve been online. 24 years! (Janni wondered if her internet connection was now old enough

I joined JoNoWriMo today. My oldest son did NaNoWriMo last year (while taking 17-18 credits at the university and working a part-time job). He signed up with the local university group (though there were non-university people there, too!), and they

Here is what I’m working on right now: 1) The Truth About T.M.S. (middle grade novel…editor would like it by Halloween, but needs it by Thanksgiving) 2) Proposal for the sequel to Do You Know the Monkey Man (also a

So I got an e-mail from the Iowa City Library today (completely out of the blue)…the person I contacted a couple weeks ago wanted me to know that they haven’t forgotten me. She’s working with the circulation person to put

The other day I was checking out the list of new books the Coralville Public Library (my home away from home) had ordered. On the list was a book called Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying

Sounds like a Nancy Drew title, doesn’t it? Or amaybe a Peg Kehret title. But no, this is not fiction. This is a true life account of dangers I have faced on the bike trails near my house. And for

Since all I ever do when I sit down to work on my sequel to Do You Know the Monkey Man is rewrite chapter one, I decided I wasn’t going to work on chapter one over the weekend. Instead, I

I’m really struggling with this proposal for the sequel to Do You Know the Monkey Man. All I need to do is turn in three chapters and a synopsis and I will probably have a contract…the publisher is definitely interested

So I took my usual bike route this morning (one my usual routes, anyway) through campus and came upon this bleary-eyed (male) college student wearing a World’s Greatest Grandma shirt. Maybe I’m just easily amused, but that particular shirt on

So, last night I went to back to school night at the junior high. I had to go by myself because Preteen had a Tdap shot yesterday afternoon and it made him sick, so my husband stayed home with him.

It looks like things are going to work out with M. Press this time! Whew! What a relief! Thanks to MF, who not only reviewed the contract and answered questions, she also negotiated it for me. So I got to

I wrote a response to the lady at the Iowa City library last night, and cc:ed it to the library director. I found out this morning that they’re going to “discuss” loaning out the chess pieces during their weekly staff

Libraries GET PAID (through the Open Access program) for every item checked out by people from other libraries. So much for the Iowa City library’s it-costs-us-money argument. I would pay a reasonable rental fee if it was really about money.

So, I checked with Dee, who is the director of the North Liberty Public Library. To them, “a patron is a patron is a patron.” In other words, they check anything/everything out to anybody who walks through the door and

Here is the response I received from the Iowa City Public Library: “Circulation of materials to persons outside of our direct service area (Iowa City and contracting areas of rural Johnson County, University Heights and Hills) is provided through the

Today is the Iowa Hawkeyes’ first home game. It may even be their first game of the season. I wouldn’t know because I’m not really much of a Hawkeyes fan (hence the lower case subject header). I sometimes pretend to

The thing about blogging is what you post goes out there for anyone and everyone to see. Forever. So you have to be careful what you say…don’t say something you’re not willing to say to a roomful of strangers. On

So, my attorney finished going over the contract, we talked about what to change and what to leave alone, and I assume she has contacted M. Press. If “protracted contract negotiation” could delay the book a year, I would think

I talked to the friend who has published two books with M. Press. She didn’t know she could/should negotiate for copyright in her name with her first book, so she didn’t. She did negotiate with the second…and she got it!

I’ve been really careful about not saying too much about my children in my blog. I don’t even mention their names…even though anyone around here who knows me or them knows exactly who I’m talking about when I say Teen

I read a great book yesterday…All of the Above by Shelley Pearsall. It’s about a group of urban middle school students who set out to build the world’s largest tetrahedron. The book is fiction, but it’s based on a true

That’s actually not a question…it’s the title of a book by Carl Anderson. It’s a book on conferring with student writers. I found out about it in an e-mail from a teacher I’ve never met. She said she’d read about

As I mentioned in my comment to jennifer_j_s the other day, I’m a little nervous about this M. Press contract, and I’m starting to think I should’ve been more aggressive in my agent search these past few months. (But I

I have a good friend who’s really down today because her wonderful fantasy novel keeps getting rejected. It’s hard to feel TOO sorry for her when she’s getting such nice rejection letters…the editors all have a lot of positive things

Whenever I get one of those “Security Screen” calls, I quickly pull up Google and enter the phone number. I can usually do it fast enough that if it’s a legimitate call, I can get it before the person hangs

Somehow twenty years have passed since my husband and I got married…how is that possible??? Our anniversary was actually in March, but we decided to celebrate with an Alaskan cruise this summer. What a GREAT idea that was!!! I LOVE

I heard back from my editor at Albert Whitman today. They like my Truth About T.M.S. proposal…and the “trump card” is okay!!! Teen didn’t think I’d get away with it…to be honest, I wasn’t sure I would, either…but everyone at

I met Christie Vilsack, the First Lady of Iowa, today. Actually, I’d met her a few years ago when Teen’s National History Day project advanced to the state level…but I didn’t really talk to her then. And Teen met her

Last night was opening night for the Young Footliter’s production of Aladdin…and despite the oppressive heat, those kids were FABULOUS! Though he’s had larger parts, I think this is one of the best plays Preteen has ever been in. It’s

I don’t like diets. I don’t do well with diets. “Being on a diet” implies deprivation of some sort, and I don’t do well with deprivation, either. When we moved here six years ago, I was overweight and I figured

What IS normal, anyway? I’m not sure there is such a thing…especially during the summer. What I mean is, I’m done teaching…Preteen is done with classes…and my husband is starting to feel a little better and is back at work

That’s worth repeating…(and shouting) WEAR A BIKE HELMET!!!! Wear a bike helmet EVERY TIME you go out on your bike, no matter how experienced of a rider you are. If I didn’t already realize just how important that was a

What a crazy busy week! And next week will be exactly the same. I leave the house a little after eight, teach my class…then once all my kids are picked up at 12:10 or so, I hurry to the parking

So I’m only two days into this class, and I’m now officially a full day behind schedule. At this rate, I’m going to need a whole extra week! Did I ever really think I didn’t have enough material??? Some things

I’m glad I agreed to teach this class at the Belin-Blank Center. When Catherine first asked me, I kind of hemmed and hawed about it for a while. I’m a writer, not a teacher. What do I know about teaching?

…that if you weigh what I weigh (let’s not go there), and you ride 23 miles on your bike in an hour and a half, you’ll burn more than 1000 calories! How cool is that? So cool that because I

My husband is putting a lot of pressure on me to get the da*n biking shoes! Even though I’ve been out on my bike WAY more often than he’s been on his this year (like 250-300 miles more often)…in fact,

We’ve been gone for a while… First we visited my dad. And he was having a couple of really good days while we were there…in fact, we even sprang him from the nursing home and took him out to dinner

I’m having trouble with my sequel to Do You Know the Monkey Man. I’m just not sure what the story’s about. Well, I sort of know what it’s about…I’m just not sure that what I have in mind is deep

Preteen is doing College for Kids in Cedar Rapids this week. So rather than put him on a bus at 7:30 in the morning, I’ve decided to let him sleep in an extra half hour so I can drive him

Sometimes, when I’ve just finished a really good book, I get “reader’s block.” I’ll start another book, but I’ll put it down after about a chapter and try a different book. Then I’ll end up putting that one down, too.

I have a preliminary response from my editor on the Truth About T.M.S.! She says, “Awesome! I like what I see VERY much.” So now it’s on the Editor-in-Chief’s desk. My editor didn’t say a WORD about that potentially controversial

So I’ve been thinking about that issue in the Truth About T.M.S. I don’t know…it MIGHT fly… my editor at Albert Whitman makes me take out every single swear word (not that there are ever very many), but they published

I’ve heard back from two of the three people in my novel writing group on my Truth About T.M.S. proposal (I heard back from one of them within an hour after I e-mailed it!). Neither one had much of anything

My dad is in a nursing home (and will likely never live at home again). He’s a good 4 1/2 hours away, so we just couldn’t get there today. We were there two weeks ago, though. And we’ll go again

So, I’ve been rereading Do You Know the Monkey Man, trying to get back into that world, taking notes on little details I need to keep straight for consistency from one book to the other (like where in the house

I just found out Sliding Into Home is on the Massachusetts Children’s Book Award 2006-07 Master List (that’s six state lists for that one!) and Do You Know the Monkey Man is on the grades 2007 Kentucky Bluegrass Award List.

I think I’ve been abandoned by my walking partner (what is it about me that I can’t keep a walking partner???), so I’ve been biking more. I’ve even biked the hilly route. Twice! Though I haven’t attempted Karen’s hill yet.

So there were several new kids at my teen writer’s group today. (During the summer, the group meets every week for six weeks as part of the library’s summer reading program.) One of the new girls introduced herself, told what

E-mailing Caryn turned out to be a very good idea! She never received my last e-mail with the attachments. If it wasn’t for that Albert Whitman proposal (which, btw, she didn’t actually ask to see), I probably would’ve let at

Okay, I’m a long way from being truly finished with The Truth About T.M.S., but I am calling the proposal finished for now. I e-mailed it off to my novel writing group this morning, so we’ll see what they have

I had mostly positive comments from my critique group last week. One person even went so far as to say it was one of the best things she’d read of mine so far (clearly she hasn’t read all that much

I just read the BEST book today! It’s a middle grade novel called Rules by Cynthia Lord (I don’t know her…and no one’s paying me to say this, so you know I’m telling the truth!). It’s about a young girl’s