Happy New Year!!!

Hello and happy new year, dear friends and readers!

Nothing earth-shattering to report-- just wanted to say hi and wish you all well (and show you a picture of my Christmas cactus blooming). I've had a nice few weeks-- it's been relaxing since I haven't had to teach night classes or answer too many emails. I managed to meet my revision deadline for Star in the Forest, which was a relief. Now I'm focusing on the second book of my notebook series (still at the day-dreamy first draft stage-- exploring the plots and relationships and characters and themes and all that). I've also been doing a lot of cozy reading in bed while sipping chamomile tea lately.

Some highlights of my reading are:

Peeps and Uglies by Scott Westerfield (I had to see what all the fuss was about. Indeed, they're good YA books. I liked Peeps best-- parasitical vampire speculative fiction stuff. The parasite-host relationship is truly fascinating (as you will see if you read the book, which is chock-full of true, gross tidbits). Both books make you reflect (squeamishly) on your society and assumptions, which is the sign of good speculative fiction.

Another smart book I read was E. Lockhart's YA book The Disreputable History of Frankie [somebody-- can't remember the last name]. She manages to throw Foucault's ideas in the book-- stuff I didn't even know about til grad school. Impressive. And a smart, reflective, burgeoning feminist-revolutionary narrator.

Lessee... what else? Oh! Books on tape (well, CD.) I'm in the middle of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Riveting, I must say. Spooky and gossipy-feeling at the same time. I definitely recommend listening to this one, since the whole premise is that a dead girl is talking to the narrator on cassette tapes, explaining why she killed herself. I think hearing it makes it extra-good.

For a younger crowd, Savvy by Ingrid Law was lots of fun, as was Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson. I kept wishing my son was about eight years older so we could read these aloud together-- they'd both be fantastic read-alouds, I think. Adventure, suspense, humor, touches of magic/fantastical elements.

{a fountain in Provence}

For the next book in my Notebooks series, I've been reading Contes de Provence (Tales from Provence) and Les Eaux de Provence (The Waters of Provence). Take note-- I just gave away where the second Notebook will be set! (in case you missed my blog entries from Provence over the summer.) I so much prefer listening to French (and Spanish) than reading it. It's laborious for me to read word by word. In English I'm so used to skimming and breezing through page after page. These French books are exhausting. Shoowee...

{Samenakoa-- troubadour-ish street performers I hung out with in Provence}

The content, though, is really fascinating and makes the agony of the reading process worthwhile. Lots of underground water-related mysteries are involved, is all I'll say. And the tales are fun-- amazingly, several tales involve troubadours, who vagabond around (that's a verb in French, I just discovered)-- as do certain characters in my book-in-progress!

My favorite phrase in the book so far is about this troubadour Pierre who wandered with his viola through the countryside, from chateau to chateau, making every day a poem.

So go! Make today a poem!

gros bisous (fat kisses),
Laura

TA-DAH!!!!! The Indigo Notebook Cover! (This one's really it!)

Hey everyone!

Well, my toes are finally starting to thaw out. We've had near-zero temps all week in Colorado, but today's a balmy 40 degrees. I was too wimpy to write in my trailer in the freezing cold, so I camped out at my favorite coffee shop downtown-- Cafe Ardour. It's cozy and sunny there, with plenty of Orchid Oolong tea to meet my tea-fiend needs.

So... here it is... the cover of THE INDIGO NOTEBOOK!!!


I think the designer, Marci Senders, did a really nice job with it. (She designed the infamous Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants covers). Inside the suitcase, she included a few things that I sent her-- the crystal and the photos), which is very cool. I love the indigo-colored background and how it contrasts with the red suitcase.

The Indigo Notebook is the first in a series of three books, each a different color notebook, each taking place in a different country. My editor also sent me the covers of the next two books in the series (but I'll save those so they'll be a surprise...)

A few random things I'll include in this post-- a link to an interview with my smart, lovely editor Stephanie Lane Elliot and another link to an interview with my smart, lovely agent, Erin Murphy. (I am very lucky to be surrounded by smart, lovely women. Actually, while I'm at it, here are links to the blogs of two smart, lovely members of my writing group-- Leslie Patterson (France, History, Art) and Carrie Visintainer (travel adventures).

I get lots of questions about my agent and editor-- what they do, how we work together, etc. So here it is, from their perspective. The SCBWI interview with Stephanie gives you a good idea of how an editor and author work together to revise a manuscript. The Cynsations interview with Erin gives you a sense of what she does as an agent, her relationship with authors, and the benefits of having an agent.

Okay, I'm off to the library to check out a book of ancient Nahuatl poetry. Nahuatl was the language of the Aztecs-- they created beautiful, resonant poetry-- and the language is also spoken today in parts of Mexico. My book Star in the Forest (Spring 2010) has a little Nahuatl in it, inspired by a good friend of mine from Puebla who speaks it.

Thanks for reading!

abrazos,
Laura

Carbondale's One Book One Middle School !

Hey everyone!

It's a winter wonderland outside my house right now-- snow a foot deep, and the temperature a grand total of one degree. For the tough folks in the mountains of Carbondale, that's nothing, I'm sure! I had a fantastic visit there two weeks ago for their One Book One Middle School event. (What the Moon Saw was the One Book!) The brilliant librarian Nicole put this together,


with the help of energetic teacher/librarian June and other hard-working, creative people.

As I mentioned in the last post, I love Carbondale-- a small, friendly town with a stunning setting-- snow-topped mountains galore. Best of all, everyone in town was super-enthusiastic about my visit-- it made me happy! The four-hour drive was definitely worth it.


On Thursday and Friday mornings, the middle school students in the Carbondale area gathered in the auditorium of Carbondale Middle School for presentations on What the Moon Saw. (The schools were: Carbondale Middle, Community School, Ross Montessori, Waldorf, and Marble Charter).


I absolutely loved this gathering because most of the students had either read the book or were in the process of reading it. They had fabulous questions-- including some new ones that really made me think. (Like, why didn't Aunt Teresa just leave Uncle Jose, since he was such a jerk?) I felt honored that the students read the book so closely, and I was thrilled about their great response. (Big thanks to the teacher Michael who held the fickle microphone plug in the socket during my whole presentation!!)


In the afternoons, I led writing workshops in small groups, in English and Spanish. I discovered that many students are talented writers and storytellers with wonderful imaginations-- budding romance novelists, fantasy authors, comedians, actors, you name it.

I had fun talking with the teachers, too, and hearing about ways they've used the book in class and the kinds of discussion it generated. One teacher incorporated art into writing activities with What the Moon Saw. She did examples herself to share with her students, which I think is great.


Also in the afternoons, I signed books (and notebooks and shoes and jeans and T-shirts and foreheads and arms...) and chatted with the students.


Muchisimas gracias to all the kids and teachers and librarians and parents in the Carbondale area who made my visit so special!!! And huge thanks to Colorado Humanities and the Center for the Book, who paid for most of my visit-- what a great organization! If you'd like, scroll down to the next blog post to read about my elementary school visit in Carbondale on Wednesday.

A little sidenote: As you know, if you were at my visit, I was impatiently waiting for the cover art for my next book The Indigo Notebook... and I'm still waiting! Arghhh! I'll post it as soon as I get it. Some good news about The Indigo Notebook is this: they're making an audiobook for it, which will come out in Fall 2009, at the same time as the book. The audiobook of Red Glass will come out in this spring, around the same time as the Red Glass paperback.

Okay, thanks for reading and checking out the pics! (You can click on them to make them bigger).

Abrazos to all,
Laura

Crystal River Elementary in Carbondale!

Hey everyone!

I had a blast in Carbondale last week! I have lots of pics from my trip, so I"ll divide this into two entries-- this one will focus on the Crystal River visit, and then, in a few days, I'll post the middle schools visit pics.


So, I have to admit that when we scheduled the visit for the third week in November, I was pretty nervous I'd have a long, terrible drive in a blizzard, since that's not uncommon in the mountains of Colorado this time of year.


But it was a perfect and breath-takingly beautiful four-hour drive there. Sunny and so warm I was wearing jeans and a tank top and even turned on the AC for parts! I listened to a Lila Downs CD over and over and relished the time to just sit and let my mind wander wherever it wanted to go. I felt grateful to be living in this gorgeous state.


I stayed at a very cool strawbale house in downtown Carbondale with a very cool family.


It made me want to live in a strawbale house. There are real bundles of straw in the walls-- well insulating and energy efficient and green-- and it just gave me a good feeling.


I spent Wednesday at Crystal River Elementary, where we focused on a story I had published in Cricket Mag a few years ago called Drops of Wax. It takes place about 70 years ago and it's about a friendship between a Gypsy girl and a Mixtec girl, with fortune-telling and waking from the dead and magical healing powers. It was inspired by some real-life tales told to me by my Mixtec curandera friend Maria Chiquita.


Two groups of fourth grade girls did fabulous performances of the story for each of the grades.


This was the first time I'd seen it acted out, and I loved it! I talked for a bit about my writing process and journey, and did a couple writing workshops.


There were lots of Spanish-speaking kids in the school, which always makes visits extra-exciting for me. They have all kinds of interesting personal connections with my stories. All the students came up with super-creative stories of their own during the workshops-- we did plenty of writing and laughing together.


Thanks, Carbondale, for a very warm welcome to your town! It seems like everyone knows everyone (and they all have good things to say about each other). Everything seems to be in walking distance-- the schools, library, restaurants, neighborhoods-- which I loved. I'll treasure the memory of this trip!

Be sure to check back next week to hear about the visits with Carbondale middle schools.

My Trailer, Harris Bilingual, OSHER... and OBAMANOS!

Hi everyone!

I've been pretty busy lately-- finishing up my comments on the copy-edited version of The Indigo Notebook, getting permission to use all the Rumi quotes in it, giving input about the cover art for the Notebooks series (which I'm happy Delacorte let me do-- it's uncommon.) The cover art that you see in the October 7 post has been changed-- they're in the midst of doing a photo shoot now for the new cover art, and I'll post it here as soon as I get it!

I have an essay on the Colorado Author's League Website this month-- it's about my writing trailer-- check it out!

I've been doing lots of events lately. Here's a photo taken yesterday at Barnes and Noble in Fort Collins at the Day of the Dead fundraising event for Harris Bilingual. Martha, in the orange, is a friend of mine and the librarian at the school (she also helped me with the latest revision of the collaborative memoir about my Ecuadorian friend Maria Virginia's girlhood!) I love Harris Bilingual-- it's a really special community of kids, parents, and staff.

Here's a photo of the OSHER class at CSU. Nancy Hansford (book review columnist in the Coloradoan) put this lecture series together-- four local authors who write about international topics-- Kari Grossman (Bones that Float), DJ Murphy (A Thousand Veils), Greg Campbell (Blood Diamonds). It was fun to be part of this-- the students were fabulous and enthusiastic.

On Tuesday I'm leaving for a teacher's conference in Pittsburgh (I'm proud I finally learned to spell that.) I'm hoping I'll find some kindred souls in the hotel cafe to celebrate the election results with. My teacher friend at the Barnes and Noble event told me the Spanish verb for Obama in the nosotros form-- !OBAMANOS!-- "Let's Obama!"

Thanks for reading-- enjoy fall!

Laura

Colorado Book Award and Americas Award!

Hello all!

Here I am in my trailer, coughing up a storm and blowing my nose like crazy, but happy nonetheless because... Red Glass won the Colorado Book Award in the young adult category last night! Of course, my husband and I forgot our camera, so after the awards we took this picture in our living room.

It was a fun night-- great company-- I saw writerly friends from Fort Collins and Denver and met some fascinating new people. The Colorado Humanities folks did a fabulous job organizing the event-- they had a slide show of six-word bios that the authors had written, and arranged a silent auction of author baskets. And yummy food-- dessert was an adorable columbine flower cupcake.

I hope you check out the wonderful books of the other finalists, who are both friends of mine (and Fort Collinites, too!) Teresa Funke's Doing My Part (historical fiction) and Todd Mitchell's The Traitor King (fantastical adventure). Here are Teresa and me.

So, here's a recap of the Americas Award ceremony in DC last week (Red Glass won!):

A whole bunch of my relatives came to cheer me on (and see Baby). Here are Grandmom and me at a Mexican restaurant afterward.


It was a cozy and heartfelt event-- really special.

The author Pat Mora's speech about her book Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico! (picture book winner) was fantastic, and she looked dazzling in red velvet and satin.



The illustrator of the book, Rafael Lopez was also a great speaker-- he said he thought of his mother's cooking, and going to the market with her in Mexico, as he painted these pictures... and then he read a haiku he wrote just for her (she was right there at the ceremony)-- it was very, very sweet. His artwork is stunning and vibrant and makes you want to dance and eat lots of chile (and chocolate and blueberries and peanut butter...)! He's the one holding the Guatemalan weaving in the pic (we each got these gorgeous hand-woven Mayan table runners as gifts!

And a pic of me and my sixth grade English teacher, Mrs. Witt (I still can't get used to calling her by her first name!) In February, I'll be doing a school visit at Dunloggin Middle School (where I used to go and where she still teaches!)

I did a fun school visit on Friday, but I'll write about that in a separate blog post since I need to get permission to use the photos.

Thanks for reading!

Abrazos,

Laura