I'm headed out to the airport for ALA, but I couldn't pass this one up.

There is a Wall Street Journal article that talks about the high quality of literary YA fiction. (Thank you, Anne M. for the alert!)

Enjoy.

(I promise to post from ALA. And I'll be tweeting, too.)

I know I've been under a rock for the past six week, but I had no idea there were discussions about eliminating the Best Books For Young Adults List. Argh!

Liz B. explains what's going on and gives her excellent opinion.

A quick bit of noodling came up with the responses of Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan.

They said what I am thinking, only in a more articulate way. Plus, I'm an author with a vested interest in the process. They are Super Librarians and have both served on the committee.

What do you think?

Today is June 38th. Time is still not moving as slow as I'd like!

Yes, somehow it is time for ALA again. My speeches are almost done, but I haven't started thinking about what I'm going to wear. This might be the year I show up in my pajamas. You have been warned.

If you are headed to Chicago for ALA this weekend, and you are curious about my attire, or have a bet with a friend about my shoes, here is where and when you can find me.


Saturday, July 11th (aka June 41st)

10:30 am AASL President’s Program: Literacy Leadership and Librarian  (McCormick Place West, W-184)


Noon - 2pm - Margaret A Edwards Award Luncheon (Hyatt Regency – Ballroom)


2:30pm – 3:30pm Penguin Autographing  (Booth #2120)


3:30pm – 4:30pm   Simon & Schuster Reception and Scott O’Dell Award Presentation (Booth #3326)


7pm       Anderson’s Bookstore Author Appearance w/ Sarah Dessen (yep - BOTH of us!)

                        123 West Jefferson  Naperville IL 60540  Phone: 630-355-2665


Sunday, July 12th (aka June 42nd)

8:00am – 10:00am        Amelia Bloomer Breakfast (Chicago Hilton Hotel - Boulevard C Room 720 South Michigan Avenue)

11:00am – noon  Simon & Schuster Autographing – booth #3326

Noon – 1pm        YALSA / BBYA Teen Pizza Party (McCormick Place West (convention center) – Room W 475)

evening - super-fancy dinner


Monday, July 13th (aka June 43rd)

10:00am – 10:30am       Interview with Roger Sutton - Junior Library Guild booth #2256

afternoon - meetings

evening - fancy dinner              


For those of you playing along with your scorecards at home, there are 3 official signing times, and I'll be giving three speeches. I'm not sure if the speeches will have audience overlap, but I am trying very hard to make sure they are distinct.

Will you be in Chicago this weekend??

Not-so-random link of the day: My daughter Stef (aka Bookavore) is interviewed at Wired.com about bookstores and e-books.

I was planning on repeating last July's Write 15 Minutes A Day Challenge (WFMAD), but between my mother's death and some other complicated family business that needs to remain in the family, it's not going to happen this month.

As a matter of fact, I am not ready for July at all.

Therefore, I declare today to be June 31st in the Forest. Tomorrow shall be June 32nd. Friday? Right, June 33rd. And there will be fireworks on June 34th.

If all goes, well, I'll be ready to hold the Write 15 Minutes A Day Challenge the day after June 61st, also known as August 1st. Want to join in? Check out last year's details and tell me what you think.

In the meantime, get yourself over the Penguin Books new video site, loaded with oodles of authors videos, including moi.

I am happy to announce the debut of my newest book, The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes To School, a very silly picture book with astounding illustrations by Ard Hoyt:



This is how my publisher describes it: "Mom and Dad Fleefenbacher think their daughter Zoe's hair is wild and beautiful. And for her kindergarten teacher, Zoe's vivacious tresses were a comfort. But Zoe's about to start first grade, and her new teacher doesn't fool around....
"School has rules," she says. "No wild hair in my class!"
So what are Zoe and her free-spirited hair going to do now?
With exuberance and humor to spare, Laurie Halse Anderson and Ard Hoyt, the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, tease up a terrific tale of hairy hijinks, classroom chaos, and the importance of teachers and students learning to work together."

Kirkus calls it "a well-coiffed winner"!

And here's a quick review from Market Block Books in my Dad's old stomping ground, Troy, NY.

I have been rather absent from the blogosphere of late. Has anyone else seen blog reviews for Zoe?

I'll give you the background about the writing of the book next week. The publication process of this one is itself worthy of a book.

(Yes, it is something of a relief to be able to talk about a silly picture book.)

I've been trying to figure out how to start this post all day. And I couldn't come up with a good idea, so bear with me.

Many thanks for the countless emails, comments, and cards you've sent in the last couple of weeks. The love and support are very much appreciated. 

I'm not ready to write very much about the last week of my mother's life. I don't know if I will ever be. But I am comfortable saying this; being able to care for her as she died, being a part of the gathering of our family, and honoring her wishes to die in dignity and at home was one of the most profound experiences of my life. 

Hospice does not sweep in and take care of everything. Hospice provides medical oversight and guidance, and an hour or so of care a day. But because of the Oswego County Hospice program, my mother got to die on her own terms. Her last week was filled with flowers, grandchildren, friends, the music of Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, and Henry Mancini, and wet kisses from our dog, the Creature With Fangs. And ice cream. Lots of teeny-tiny tastes of ice cream.

There was one moment I'd like to share with you. After my mother died, I removed the oxygen tube that she had worn for the past six years and turned off the machine that provided her oxygen. My mother suffered for decades and died much earlier than she should have because she smoked cigarettes for nearly her entire adult life. (She quit the day the doctors put her on oxygen 24/7.)

When I was a kid I was angry at her for smoking. Watching her struggle to breathe as she got older, the anger melted into compassion. My heart goes out to anyone fighting their addiction to cigarettes.

If you are thinking of quitting, please do it today. If you fail, try again tomorrow. And the day after that and the day after that - as many times as it takes. You deserve the ability to breathe deep, to walk with your children and grandchildren, to take ten steps without stopping three times.

If you don't smoke, for the love of all that is holy, do NOT start. Cigarettes are not cool or hip or remotely wonderful. They are a tool designed to steal money from your wallet and kill you.... but kill you slowly, breath by breath, so the cigarette industry can extract as much profit as possible from you.

.........

OK, I wrote more than I had planned on. Thanks for listening.

This is Queen Louise calling all teachers and librarians..... do any of you know of schools using Laurie's book SPEAK in their curriculum? If so, would you share the names of the school districts. If you are one of those teachers, please email me at queenlouise@writerlady.com. We are interested to know if they are Middle Schools or High Schools.

On behalf of Laurie and her family, THANK YOU so very much for all of the heartfelt thoughts and comments that have been sent. I have printed out the comments for Laurie's father to read; he will be touched as well. Everyone is doing well; many stories have been shared with lots of laughs and a few tears (okay, buckets of tears), much food has been eaten, and the clouds are lifting. You are all deeply appreciated.

This has been two weeks filled with emotion, gratefulness, pride, compassion, and comfort for Laurie and her family. Joyce completed her journey on June 14, 2009.



Joyce spreading joy during a family holiday celebration.



Joyce, with her furry grandchild, The Creature with Fangs, the only person that Joyce requested in her final days.





After a lengthy illness, Joyce Holcomb Halse passed away peacefully in the company of her family on June 14, 2009. She was 78. Joyce was born January 8, 1931, in Plattsburgh, NY, to Harry Walton Holcomb and Peg Mason Holcomb. She was named Plattsburgh's most beautiful baby in a contest in 1932. She graduated from Franklin Academy High School in Malone, NY, in 1948.

She married Rev. Frank Adams Halse on June 7, 1952. They lived in Boston for a few years, in addition to numerous places in Central and Northern New York. They celebrated their 57th anniversary last week. In an article written about their 50th anniversary in 2002, they both noted that though Frank's ministry required them to move frequently, their lives were "never boring" and neither would have changed a thing.

In 2005, they moved to Mexico, NY, to be closer to their daughters and grandchildren. Joyce worked as an executive secretary, personnel manager and store manager for Wells & Coverly from 1968 to 1982. When her husband retired from the ministry, they moved to Brandon, FL, and Joyce took a job working for the Hillsborough County School System. In the years before her retirement, she worked for the school district's Tech Prep Consortium and their Kids & Canines program, in which at-risk students worked to train service dogs.

A descendent of Mayflower passengers, Joyce embodied those Yankee virtues of integrity and unflagging strength in the face of adversity until the last day of her life. She is remembered by many friends and former students from Syracuse University, where Frank was the Methodist chaplain, as a loving and hospitable second mom. Joyce and Frank stayed in close contact with many friends and family from their years together and, until her illness prevented it, made annual trips up and down the East Coast to visit with them. Joyce was especially fond of Maine, due to her love of lighthouses and fondness for loons.

Joyce is survived by her husband, Frank Halse; her daughters, Laurie (Scot) Larrabee and Lisa Halse Stevens; grandchildren, Ryan, April and Tiffany Stevens, Stephanie and Meredith Anderson, and Jessica and Christian Larrabee; and great-grandchild, Kegan Merkeley. She is also survived by Scot and Laurie's German shepherd, Kezzie, of whom she was especially fond and who gave her great comfort in her last days. She was predeceased by her sister, Joelle Holcomb Skinner, and son-in-law, Calvin Stevens II.

A private service will be held for immediate family, and at Joyce's request, her ashes will be spread on family property in the Adirondacks. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program, PO Box 195, Ray Brook, NY 12977. Condolences may be sent to PO Box 906, Mexico, NY 13114.






Daughter Number One (bookavore) has found a new calling in capturing the life of loved ones. Laurie will be retreating to her garden and her soul for a period of time. Your love and thoughts are all appreciated and graciously received.


Office Mouse and Queen Louise will be here to assist you in Laurie's absence.

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!

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.

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...

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?

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::

I picked the first crop of lettuce from my garden for today's salad. Threw in fresh chives, too.




What are you having for lunch?

This is fun! If you have a chance, scroll through yesterday's comments. Be sure to chime today, telling me how you are pouting because somehow your invitation and plane tickets to BEA got lost in the mail.

We'll have us a good old communal pout and then write another book.

Here is something to make the wretched, hungry hoards at the Javits Center envious:

Cup of coffee in my favorite mug and homemade blueberry muffin!!!

What are you NOT eating at the Javits Center or hotel for breakfast?

To help us all improve our writing (since we're stuck at home, we might as well use the time wisely) LJ-user mainecharacter passed along a great writing quiz.

What quiz questions about the life of a writer would you add?

This morning I shall both pout and research. This afternoon is filled with family responsibilities; good thing they are used to seeing me pout.

This weekend I am pretending to be at a Q & A panel at BEA. (Delusional? No. It's a gift for fiction.)

Pretend you are in the audience. What questions do you want to ask? I shall answer!!

::reaches for muffin and passes basket to you::

OK, these writing suggestions are a little basic, I know, but I would like to point out that most of us are stuck at home in our pjs, not living the high life at BEA. So maybe we need to learn a few new things.

::poutpoutpoutpoutpout::

::reaches for the caviar-stuffed potato skins::

What would you add to the list?

Who was going to make the seven-layer bean dip? I can't find it anywhere.

I have nothing to whine about. I know. I've been to BEA (The Mother of All Bookseller/Author Conferences) many times.

And I've had a blast.

But like I said, I am NOT whining. I've been all over the place the last six months, met awesome booksellers and readers, and it is only fair that my publishers send other authors to enjoy the festival/celebration/frat party/book extravaganza that is BEA.

I am not whining, I swear.

I am pouting.

I can't help it. There are SO MANY people I would love to hear again (looking at you, Sherman Alexie). I want to eat the frozen pastry at the Children's Booksellers Breakfast. I want to sprain my ankle on the convention floor. I want to stay up too late and get up to early.

:poutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpoutpout::

In the best tradition of middle school social dynamics, I have decided to host my OWN party. If you are going to BEA, you are SO not-invited.

The party starts now and goes through the weekend. I am calling it the BEA 09 Pout-a-Thon.

If you are stuck at home, turning that vivid shade of envy-green, consider yourself invited.

How do we make this happen? A couple of things. I think I'll be making LOTS of little blog posts through the weekend. Chime in the comments section. Pretend that you are having coffee or a glass of cheap wine with me at one of those parties. Ask the questions you've always wanted to ask. You might have to ASK LOUDLY, because the room is already filling up and it's hard to hear ANYTHING!

I'll also be chattering on my Twitter feed all weekend.

There is on ongoing conversation at Meebo (see below):



There is a BEA Twitty Party going on. Sign up and hit that one, too. Yes, it is much along the lines of my Pout-a-Thon, but trust me, there is more than one party going on BEA, so we need more than one party for us stuck-at-homes.

The dress code is casual, friends. I'll be wearing pajamas and a sweatshirt.

Will you join me? Tell all your friends, wake the neighbors, and be sure to bring your dogs and cats.

The party starts ............................ NOW!!!!

I haven't done one of these in a long time, but since I am diving back into being a writer (as opposed to being an author, which has consumed the last several months for me), I figured you should, too.

This is the surprise I found in my garden this morning.






Write for fifteen minutes about this. Don't analyze. Don't plot. Don't outline. Just write.

I am slowly transitioning from insane farmer woman back to being a writer who gardens a little. By the end of the weekend, the new vegetable plots should be finished, seedlings in, and seeds sown. And it's a good thing because I am itching to get back to writing. All the travel and work stress is almost gone, and being in balance again is now appearing possible.

The glass is now installed in the Magic Window, the walls and most of the ceiling are up, and the cool chimney pot we found at the salvage yard is in place on the roof.

Our friend Steve, a natural born Tinkerer, has been up here helping out. He's our lead elf for alternative energy issues. (The goal is to keep the cottage completely off the electrical grid.) The small wind turbine came last week. At first they mounted it on the garage roof, but that was a bad idea. Then they put it on a 10-foot pole in the back meadow. Better. Now it's on a 20-foot pole in the back meadow - MUCH better. They are still experimenting with the exact location to take the best advantage of the winds. The other piece of the electric system will be a solar panel that should arrive next week.

Just writing all of this down makes me tired.

Aside from gardening and hanging with friends this weekend, I am going to try and make yogurt in my crockpot, thanks to a tip from Bookavore.

Don't know what you're going to do this weekend? I have a few suggestions:

Change a life. Buy a book for a boy in prison (thanks to all at Guys Lit Wire!)

Read Jezebel's review of Wintergirls.

Read this jaw-dropping interview with A. S. Byatt in which she discusses her new book, The Children's Book, a novel set in Edwardian England that examines the destructive side of creativity. (For the record, I usually like her books a lot and am looking forward to this one.) In the interview she says some rather stunning things, such as, "Yes, because I noticed that there's a high rate of suicide among the children of children's book writers."

And "I think that most of the children's writers live in the world that they've created, and their children are kind of phantoms that wander around the edge of it in the world, but actually the children's writers are the children."

In the first comment, I believe she is speaking only within the context of children's writers from the Edwardian era, but the second comment seems more general. Any thoughts on this, gentle readers? (The book is available in the UK and Australia now, comes out in the States in October.) (And thanks to Judith in Australia for the info about this!)

That ought to hold you for a couple days.

ONE LAST THING!!! Do you have any secret ingredients you put in deviled eggs? If yes, please tell me what they are!

PS - GoogleLitTrips has a very nice feature on FEVER 1793. Check it out, teachers!

If you've been following me on Facebook or Twitter the past week, you've noticed I've spent a ridiculous amount of time in the garden. What's up with that?

It's my therapy.

After the insane amount of travel the past six months, my brain is fried and my soul is tattered. There was no earthly way I could dive back into writing. Many people take vacations when they get burnt out. Packing my suitcase to go away again was the LAST thing I wanted to do. So I pulled on my pink rubber boots, grabbed the shovel, and headed for the back yard.

The first order of business was the flower beds. Last year, they were home to both flowers and veggies, but this year all the beds we can see from the house are flower-based. (The beds we can't see from the house get a little more sun, that's why. And we have a short growing season, so we have to take advantage of whatever sun we get.)

It took about a week to get all the plants and seeds in. Our land is on top of a hill that is mostly glacial till. This means a large part of gardening means extracting large rocks and filling in the hole with imported dirt and/or homemade compost.

This is the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, of a boulder that was two feet tall and big enough around for me to just be able to get my arms around. Thankfully, it had the good grace to split into 5 manageable pieces when I finally removed all the surrounding dirt and smaller boulders. The extraction took two hours. My back is a little sore, but it was worth it!

This week I'll be catching up on more correspondence and beginning to shift my brain back into writing mode. And - most importantly - I'll be whipping the vegetable beds into shape. I am fretting because I am very late getting my peas in - that will be the first order of business.

A few book notes.

WINTERGIRLS made The New York Times Editor's Choice List. As did CHARLES AND EMMA, by my friend Deb Heiligman.

Last Friday, we enjoyed the very last event on the WINTERGIRLS tour, at River's End Bookshop in Oswego, NY. More than 100 people came out; one guy drove up from Philly, others came from Potsdam, Rochester, and Rome (NY, not Italy). It was a blast. Thankfully, the fire marshal did not stop in to count heads.

And finally, what do you think of The Happiness Project? Is it a load of manure or something worthwhile, useful, and life-altering?