Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 14

My husband I both love unique little libraries, and New England is full of them. John took this photo of the Hamlin Library in Paris Hill, Maine. The Hamlin Library began as a jail in 1822 and was later converted into a library.

http://www.hamlin.lib.me.us/index.html

Philadelphia was so beautiful! I was really grateful to have the chance to go and to take part in the American Library Association Midwinter conference and to see so many wonderful people. Thank you, Scholastic.

My daughter came with me.  We started by seeing a little of Philadelphia.



Me and Ben



The Liberty Bell with Independence Hall in the background.



Julia, and I had Philly Cheese Steaks at this fun little restaurant. We went out to supper later with the Scholastic team and the other authors. It was so lovely to spend time with my editors and the people who work on our books.


Authors:  Jon J. Muth, Julia Donaldson, Lucy Christopher, me, Natalie Lloyd, Deborah Wiles, Rodman Philbrick

At Scholastic's reception the next day, we did readers' theater in two groups. In my group were authors: Julia Donaldson, Jon J. Muth, Rodman Philbrick and me. Julia's book is "Superworm" and the worm saves the day in different ways. We all had parts to play (and costumes!). I was the bee. For the bee, Superworm becomes a jump rope.

Which was cute until I realized I had to actually skip rope with that huge puppet.



I'd worn boots and a skirt. We were on a small, portable stage. I haven't jumped rope in years. And that puppet is thick.

As a former preschool and first-grade teacher, I had no qualm about donning the bee costume, but I worried all morning that I was going to catch my boot on the puppet and fall off the side of the stage. It certainly would have made for a memorable moment for the audience, but not the memories I'd want them to have.



No Olympian will be more proud of their glory moments than I was to successfully skip that worm! After that, the rest of reading seemed so easy!



We spoke in a beautiful room. And right in front of my daughter and me were two members of my 2007 Newbery Committee. I love them both so much.



I'd never seen a book of mine at a conference with star bookmarks before. I'll admit I got choked up. :)

1. Today, I fly to Philadelphia for the American Library Association's Midwinter Conference. My daughter, Julia, is in library school and she's coming with me. My publisher has a brunch and they invited seven authors with books on their Spring 2014 list to do readers' theater for the librarians in attendance. In my reading group is Jon Muth, Rodman Philbrick, and Julia Donaldson.

2. I was reading through the scripts yesterday and I saw that Julia Donaldson "will supply antennae or hats to the cast." Photos to come!

3. One my daughter's coworkers suggested we visit the Reading Terminal Market in Philly. It's quite close to the convention center. So I think we probably will go there.  http://www.readingterminalmarket.org/


Cookie says, "I LOVE Farmer's Markets!"

4. I've never seen a book of mine at a convention with star bookmarks. Half a Chance has three stars: School Library Journal, Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books, and Kirkus. I may be teary when I see it.

5.  When the flight attendant is giving the safety instructions, I'm going to imagine this.

I spent the weekend at a writing retreat with friends in Cape Neddick, Maine. I had a great time and got good work done.



The bridge at Perkins Cove. Most of the shops are closed, but we found a lovely little coffee shop to warm us up.



A lobsterman shoveling the snow off his boat.



I was so happy to see some loons. In the winter they fly from the lakes to the ocean and change their dramatic black-and-white coloring for grays.



In Half a Chance, my main character says goodbye to a loon that is flying away from her lake for the winter. As I watched them fishing in Perkins Cove, I imagined one of these loons was hers from the story. In my head I told her, "He made it."

I had a great time at the author signing kickoff for the Nerdcamp conference for teachers! I sold out of books, saw many good friends and met new ones, and was interviewed by the Digital Media Club from Oxford Hills (who had press passes! How clever is that?!).

Fryeburg, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

1. It's been a whole week since I posted, mostly because I had a novel deadline on Wednesday, and then an early reader manuscript immediately came back  to  me. Usually January is a quieter month for me, but this year it has been very full. It's a good busy, though.

2.  I sent my novel to my editor! So good on that!  It's called Bee-Dazzled and if it stays on schedule, it will be a May 2015 book.

3.  Next week, I fly to Philadelphia for ALA (the American Library Association) Midwinter conference. My daughter is coming with me, so that will make it all extra fun!

4. This weekend, I have a board meeting for Island Readers and Writers, a Maine literacy organization that I love. I'll be doing two school visits this year in March with IRW to very small rural Maine schools. One to Beal's Island (55 kids K-8) and Whiting (35 kids K-8). The older kids will be reading Touch Blue and I'll present Hot Rod Hamster to the younger students.

5.  But tonight, I'm part of a group signing from 6:00 to 7:30 at the McArthur Library in Biddeford, Maine. If you're local to that area, you could come meet me, Ed Briant, Megan Frazer Blakemore, Gail Donovan , Kate Egan, Cathryn Falwell, Kevin Hanks, Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Sashi Kaufman, Lynn Plourde, J.E Thompson, and Lisa Jahn-Clough. http://nerdcampnorthernnewengland.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-nerdy-evening-with-authors.html

Cookie at the Vets' Office

1.  My husband and I revamped my website! Whew! You don't realize how much work that is until you're into it. I love it, though. It's clean and simple and a good refection of me and my books. www.cynthialord.com

2. My guinea pig, Cookie, had to go to the vet yesterday. He had a lump on his back that I was concerned about. The vet said it wasn't serious, but she took care of it. He looks like funny with a shaved spot on his back, but he's doing well.

3.  I've been working really hard on Bee Dazzled, my 2015 novel. It's due to my editor next week, so it's crunch time!  I sold this book on proposal and three chapters, so it's the first time she'll have seen the whole book.

4. It's been really cold in Maine, but this weekend it's supposed to be near 50 degrees. Crazy!

5. Half a Chance is a Junior Library Guild selection!  Yay! It's the first book of mine that's been a JLG book. :)

If you are approved to read on NetGalley, Half a Chance and other Scholastic February-release books are now available there. *gulp*

It is also in the January Arrow Scholastic Book Club flyer, and available everywhere else at the end of February. It's been a hard winter already, so by the end of February, it may be nice to have a little summer!



Here's a little behind-the-scenes secret from that book: the New Hampshire lake and town in the story are made up, but for those of you familiar with NH, I set it near Jefferson. I mention some real places, including the movie theater in Conway, the shops of North Conway, and two of my characters climb Cherry Mountain. I climbed that one day with my daughter and brought my notebook, and this is the view from the top. In this photo, Mt. Washington is the second peak from the left. That day was so clear that we could see the weather towers spiking up from the summit. And about 3/4 of the way across those far-off, blue mountains is the sharp dip of Crawford Notch.



You can see Crawford Notch more easily in this photo. It's the blue "V" in the middle.



The mountains reminded me of ocean waves, and here's a line I wrote in my notebook that day that made it into the book: "From the top of Cherry Mountain, there are mountains in all directions, rippling like a rolling sea, wave upon wave."

On the hike, we saw lots of footprints of animals, but the only actual animals we saw were birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and this little guy that we almost missed. He made it into the book, too.

Love is when you're working hard and mention that you need some books out in your backyard shed, and later find that your husband has shoveled you a path.

And when you go out in that mind-numbing cold, another little friend doesn't even hesitate to go, too.

Bailey Island, Maine. Photo by my husband, John