My Friendship Doll Friends

Yesterday, I shared the amazing contents of the treasure chest sent me by my friends Brooklyn, Kiley and Emma. Now you can get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into all the work that went into that package!

Kiley, Emma and Brooklyn excited to get a new book

The Three Musketeers reading

Selecting favorite quotes

Treasures from Mrs. V's button jar

When DON'T you use geometry?

One blue and one green -- just like in the book

The finished product

Time to mail it off to one very lucky author

Kiley, Emma and Brooklyn: 

thank you from the bottom of my heart!

The Friendship Doll Brings New Friends

I get mail from readers and occasionally packages. But, I have never, ever received a package like the one that came from three girls in Mrs. Van Aken's class. The girls -- Brooklyn, Kiley and now Emma-- have been friends since they discovered The Fences Between Us. But The Friendship Doll really spoke to them. Can you understand why my heart nearly burst with joy when I opened the box (with help from Winston) to discover wonderful little vignettes from the book?

Winston checks things out

What could this be?

Treasures belonging to Bunny, Lois, Willie Mae and Lucy

Bunny's special Gold Medal Crayons

Lois' Amelia Earhart hanky--knotted to hold her quarter

A state quarter, thoughtful messages and the star Lois wished on!

Willie Mae's poems

Brooklyn, Kiley and Emma's wish to see the Space Needle

Lucy's treasures

Pennies earned for writing letters; one blue ribbon and one green ribbon

A treat for the author. . .who's not sure she'll share

Where's my treat? wonders Winston

I believe this too!

Thursday's Thought for the Day

“I write for children because I love their innocence, their wonder at the world, their strong emotions 

and the way they smile.”  

~Ann Whitford Paul~

Way Down Deep

Need a read to lift your spirits? Pick up Ruth White's Way Down Deep.

A Very Peachy Few Days

I'm home from Georgia and already want to go back.

How could I not have a good time, being chauffeured by the lovely and talented, Elizabeth Dulemba? e is an illustrator AND young adult novelist and bombs around Atlanta in Otis. 

We went from the airport to the hotel where I freshened up and then straight to Fox Brother's Barbecue where mac-and-cheese counts as a vegetable. Who knew?

the veggie plate

Thursday morning, the sun was shining when e and Otis came to pick me up. After a bit of poking around in Five Points, complete with photo op at the Vortex, 

I got the driving tour of Atlanta, including Martin Luther King's birthplace, 

and Centennial Park (the site of the 1996 Olympics). We were famished after all that so HAD to stop for Chicken and Waffles at Gladys Knight's restaurant (I skipped the waffles, but enjoyed some yummy collard greens). 

The afternoon was spent in the charming town of Decatur. I absolutely fell in love and am scheming to get back. Can we say Georgia Bookfest, 2013?!!! We stopped in to meet the folks at Little Shop of Stories, where Marcy was THRILLED that I was able to scribble my John Hancock on her copy of Hattie Big Sky, adding yet another title to her collection of signed Newberys; she has 300 of the nearly 400 books, since the award began. Isn't that something? The store is light and cheerful and I bought a copy of Ruth White's Way Down Deep

  (which I read on the plane on the way home and it is an absolute dee-light!)

We got a cool drink at the Square Bar's Magic Table (at least, I think that's where we were); so called because, if you are lucky enough to snag it during the Georgia Bookfest, you will see all of the famous authors pass by.

Dinner was tapas at the Iberian Pig, where Vicky Alvear Shecter, author of Cleopatra's Moon, joined us.

Then it was off to bed to be ready for my pre-conference intensive. Forty hearty souls stuck with me all day Friday as we looked at different ways to revise and finish their novels. My Saturday morning keynote was well-received, and I had a great time at lunch, helping to celebrate all the new books by Southern Breeze members in the past year. 

That evening, at the book signing, I signed my first ereader -- and then someone in line said there is actually an app for signing them. I'll have to look into that, I guess.

Sunday went much too quickly and before I knew it, I was on a plane heading home. I may have missed the Oscars but I was inspired by the conference to spend part of the plane ride writing ten pages of something completely new. 

What a weekend!

Georgia is Peachy!

Yesterday, about 40 writers joined me at a pre-conference intensive for the Georgia Spring Mingle. Aside from the fact that I over-slept, waking up 45 minutes before the workshop, we had a great day. People said they got good stuff to use when they went back home and every single one of the attendees came up with a plan to keep up the momentum from the day. Woo-hoo!

This morning, the conference itself kicked off with me giving the keynote. I was a little stressed over some techno-glitches but thanks to the calm presence of assistant RA Heather Montgomery and the help of my angel Elizabeth Dulemba, all was well. I think I may have to move to Atlanta as everyone takes such good care of me here!

RA Claudia Pearson asked if I would post the titles I referenced in my talk and I am more than happy to do that here:

Books about writing:

Art and Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland

Mystery and Manners, by Flannery O'Connor

Making the Literary Life, by Carolyn See

Gates of Excellence, by Katherine Paterson

Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott

Books to stimulate your thinking:

Principles of Uncertainty, by Maira Kalman

The Lost Art of Walking, by Geoff Nicholson

Fiction:

A Mouse and His Child, by Russell Hoban

Boxes for Katje, Candace Fleming

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda AND Horton Halfpott, by Tom Angleberger

Sold, by Patricia McCormick

Feed, by M.T. Anderson

Unwind, by Neal Schusterman

How to Steal a Dog, by Barbara O'Connor

anything by my hero Karen Cushman

Hound Dog True, by Linda Urban

The Trouble with May Amelia, Jennifer Holm

Now, you Georgia peaches have to do me a favor in return: keep me posted on your progress!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Thursday's Thought for the Day

“Literature for children means only that the main characters are children, 

not that the book is intended to be only for that audience.”  

~Mary Nethery~