Sarah Dessen's Blog, page 12

1. I’m writing this from the fellowship hall of my daughter’s preschool, which is big and quiet and has super fast internet, so it’s quickly become one of my favorite satellite offices. Downstairs, her class is having their annual Hibernation Day, and I’m pretty much in sugar shock from the cuteness. It’s the best tradition: every year at this time, there’s one day where everyone wears their pajamas to school, they put out big tents everywhere, and the preschool director makes pancakes for sn...

1. Another week, another “wintry event” here in NC. Last week I was in Pittsburgh when it snowed (and by snow, I mean a dusting, which is basically blizzard in these parts) but this time I get to be here for all the craziness. It’s supposed to start doing something (ice? snow? sleet?) around noon, and already the local schools have set for early release. My babysitter is worried about coming. My husband is convinced we’re going to lose power. (This last one is not so hysterical, actually, as...

1. Greetings from lovely Pittsburgh, PA!

This the view from my hotel room window. Gorgeous, yes? There’s a football stadium right there! (I don’t know what it’s called. Sorry.) What you CAN’T tell from this picture is how FREAKING COLD IT IS HERE. For a Southern girl like myself, it’s a BIT of a shock, even though it was not warm in NC when I left. How cold does it get here? I was watching the news this morning and they put up the extended forecast. One day next week, the high is going to be 2...

1. I’m starting this Five before sunrise, at 6:41am. Why am I up so early? Well, my kid will only stay in bed until 6. Which I’d sort of gotten used to, as much as a person can get used to being up that early EVERY SINGLE DAY. But now my dogs have decided to get in on the action and start getting restless around, oh, 5:30 or so. I ignore them for as long as I can but eventually the whining and tag jingling and banging of noses against crate doors can’t be ignored. I’ve taken to going to bed e...

1. Okay, so it’s a new year, which means it’s my annual opportunity to do the whole clean-slate, start-over, brand-new-me thing. Which will last…oh, a couple of weeks. So far I’ve given up my morning magic bar habit (one day and counting!) hit the gym (did squats and lunges!) and attempted to the get the rusty, creaky gears of my brain involved with writing moving again. All this industriousness will, if tradition holds, last for a few weeks before I kind of slide back into my regular ways. H...

I know, it’s been FOREVER since I’ve done any real appearances. What can I say, I was writing a book. And raising a kid. And watching Bravo. But now it is 2013 and I will be once again Getting Back Out there. First up: an event at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, PA. It’s Friday, January 18th at 7pm and you can get tickets and info here. Hope to see you!

1. Truth: in the title for this entry, I initially wrote “last of 2013!” This is the second time in as many days that I have jumped ahead, skipping the coming year pretty much altogether. Yesterday, organizing our holiday pictures on iPhoto, I called the album I made Christmas 2013. I’m a superstitious, naturally jumpy person, and I read too much into EVERYTHING, so of course I am now convinced that for some reason this year is going to be bad or something. Honestly. You would think I’d be to...

1. I wrote some of this Five last week, and was about to post it when I saw the news about the school shooting Connecticut. Suddenly, of course, all my holiday stress and silliness was totally inappropriate, and it may still be now. I have family that has lived in Newtown for almost twenty years: my cousin has raised her three awesome kids there, and they all went to that school. It’s totally heartbreaking and surreal to see a place you associate with family suddenly thrust into the internati...

This is one of my favorite poems. It’s given me comfort many times, and especially in the last couple of days. Be well, everyone.

The Goodnight

by Louis Simpson

He stood still by her bed

Watching his daughter breathe,

The dark and silver head,

The fingers curled beneath

And thought:Though she may have

Intelligence and charm

And luck, they will not save

Her life from every harm.

The lives of children are

Dangerous to their parents

With fire, water, air

And other accidents;

And some, for a child’s sake,

Antici...

I had one written, but I just can’t post it. My heart is broken for the families in Newtown, CT who lost their children today in a senseless act of violence. Unfathomable. I can’t even imagine. Thinking all the good thoughts and saying all the prayers I can, and hoping for change, somehow…