Mountains

Hello everyone,

I want to post something to say hi and let you know what I've been up to.  Usually I post things when I'm in high spirits, but I'm feeling sad at the moment.  A friend and her family are going through a heart-breaking time right now, and I'm in a state of shock and sorrow over it.  Tragedy reminds me how important it is to tell people you love that you love them, and why, and how special they are, while they're still with you.

I've been spending time on the road in the mountains quite a bit this summer... to Aspen for the Colorado Book Awards, then Grand Junction for author visits, then in Steamboat Springs with Lil Dude and Ian this past weekend.

Being in the mountains makes me feel grateful to live in Colorado-- so much hugeness and expansiveness helps put life in perspective.  The sea and the mountains remind me of how tiny and giant our lives are, that we need to love in the moment, that every moment matters, that what we have is here and now.


Grand Junction, I discovered, is a beautiful town with lots of fountains and sculptures and really wonderful librarians, writers, and readers of all ages, who I was happy to spend time with (doing writing workshops and presentations at libraries).  One of these amazing librarians was Diana Tixier Herald, who runs the Genrefluent blog and is the author of many books about young adult literature. I spent an afternoon at her earthship outside of Grand Junction...  as Lil Dude would say, "Wowsers!"  So cool to get a tour of the house.


 And the view out her front window is stunning...

 

 The canyon is dizzyingly deep-- talk about putting life into perspective!  Having this view, I imagine, would help keep your mind expansive and uncluttered...

Here we are, in her yard... can you imagine walking outside to this every morning!?

Here are some pics from Aspen about a month ago... I love aspen trees, how they quiver and dance with light.  Aspen groves are my favorite places to camp...

 Sage is another thing I love about Colorado mountains... the smell of it always pierces me right to the core (in a good, waking-up way).

Lil Dude, who is now four, has discovered the thrill of photography... he took this pic of me and Ian after the Colorado Book Awards...

Here's Checkers, the balloon man who we encountered last summer in Aspen and were very excited to see again.  (Last year Lil Dude requested the Little Mermaid.  This year it was Spiderman.)

Some highlights of Aspen through the lens of Lil Dude... he was curious about why the fire hydrants here were black instead of yellow...

The hotel pool was a hit... he can swim now-- so cute.

Thanks for reading... I'll post some of our Steamboat pics soon... we stayed in a caboose in Strawberry Park-- it was a GIANT hit with Lil Dude (and me and Ian, too-- you know how I love little abodes-- trailers, caravans, and the like...)


And to those of you who were affected by the tragedy I mentioned, I wish you moments of light and lightness luminous memories... 

Love,
Laura

Story in Cricket Mag!

Hey everyone!

I've been eagerly waiting for July 2011 for a while (years actually!) because... drumroll... my story "San Martin in the Mist" will be appearing in Cricket Magazine this month! It was accepted years ago-- I think in 2006, just after What the Moon Saw was published.  And now, *tah dah*-- five years later, here it is in its illustrated glory. 

 art by Heidi Younger

So, so fun to see artists' interpretations of my stories. This one is beautifully illustrated by Heidi Younger...  I love how she represents the swirling mist... I'm sure that was a challenging element of the story-- the mist that wraps around everything in the village.

art by Heidi Younger

The story was inspired by a true story recounted by my friend Epifania Garcia Diaz, a friend of mine from Oaxaca, Mexico, who is a Mazatec Wise One-- a healer or shaman.

 art by Heidi Younger

Dona Epifania told me that a dam was planned to be build decades ago in her mountain village-- a dam that would've flooded the entire valley, forcing many villages to relocate.  But at the beginning of the construction, the dam materials began to go missing.  This happened night after night, and held up construction.  Locals said that it was a local spirit/deity, San Martin, who was stealing and hiding the materials in his underground palace-cave.  They said he was offended that people dared to disrespect his land by damming the river and flooding his valley. Eventually, the construction workers gave up, and the dam was not built!  Victory! 

Me and Dona Epifania in her village

I remember Cricket Magazine from when I was a kid-- it's been around for a while.  There's something so satisfying about seeing one of my stories in this element from my childhood.  Look, here's the little signature cricket giving his (her?) definition:

 (er, turn your head to the right... camera/photo/computer glitch)

I also have a fondness for Cricket because they were the first mag with a big distribution to publish my work... and actually pay me for it! It gave me a huge boost of confidence when I was still struggling with revising and submitting What the Moon Saw (and getting rejections.)

                                art by Emma Shaw Smith

  My first Cricket story, "Drops of Wax," was published in the August 2004 issue.  Here are pics of that one-- the artwork by Emma Shaw Smith is so lush and detailed-- I especially love the textures and colors of the clothing.

art by Emma Shaw Smith

I really love this illustration-- it's based on a southern Mexican folklore/mythology.  If you've read What the Moon Saw, you'll see a reference to it-- the cave of candles and the woman who is in charge of life and death.  I also wove this folklore into this short story.

art by Emma Shaw Smith

This story was actually inspired by a true story told to me by another curandera-- healer, named Dona Maria Chiquita (she's the one on my right.)  It involves a friendship with gitanas (gypsies/roma) and resurrection and fortune-telling...

Thank you, wise story-telling women in my life (with whom I split my payment), wonderful illustrators, and Cricket and their devoted fans, old and young!!

xo,

Laura

Green Goo Supervillain!

Hi wonderful readers,

Since I usually focus on good stuff in this blog, you may not know that I was plagued by terrible headaches this winter.  Here is what I looked like much of the time (um, around my house and trailer, that is...):


I'm wearing my cold headache pack full of delightfully fluorescent green goo (which makes Lil Dude compare me to his favorite supervillain from a Backyardigans episode.)  And, paired with my green goo mask are my grubby hot rice pack booties:

They also function as mops, collecting dust and dirt as I shuffle around the house. 

I read that heat on the feet and cold on the head is good treatment for migraines and headaches, and it actually is (for me, at least)! (And believe-you-me, I've tried nearly everything.)

Another thing that worked well was reducing my stress, which had sky-rocketed.  Here's one thing that brought my stress level down to a non-headache-inducing level:  the completed manuscript of THE JADE NOTEBOOK!  I finished it in January, got it in to my editor, she liked it, sent it back with revision comments.... and now here it is, all ready for me to dive back into. 

I'm actually really excited (and *not* stressed) about revising it! I don't even need my booties and goo mask to tackle it!

In all fairness, I should mention the other things that helped my headaches go away: this brand-spankin new ergonomic monitor that helps my neck stay stretched out;  the *necksercise* my massage therapist friend Paul showed me how to do to prevent migraines; massages; biofeedback (this really works!); awareness of breathing, visualizations... Whew!  That sounds like a lot of stuff, but actually, it's all pretty peacefully manageable.

I guess I'm telling you this to balance out all the good news about THE QUEEN OF WATER that I've been posting lately... so you know that despite a lot of extreme happiness, I still have struggles to deal with...

(but that you shouldn't worry about me, since it's nothing Green Goo Supervillain can't handle!) 

xo,
Laura

My Omi's review of THE RUBY NOTEBOOK

Speaking of gratitude (which I did in my last post) I want to tell you about Omi, my German grandmother-in-law, who I actually started to adore long before I was married to her grandson. 

When I was twenty years old and traveling around Europe, I took a train to her little town of Langenselbold (Ian was supposed to be there, too, but he wasn't— *ahem*-- that's another story). Anyway, I visited her once in winter, and once in summer.  Both times were magical--- I stayed in her hundred-year-old stone house, sipped coffee in her gorgeous old rose garden, visited castles and ruins with her...  Omi was such a beautiful,  poetic, artistic creative soul then (17 years ago) and she still is now, well into her nineties! She's so open-hearted and delightful--  the kind of person who slips pressed flowers and other little treasures into her letters.

She's read all my books, and I LOVE reading her reviews of them… here's her latest one, tucked into our Frohe Weihnacht und ein Guten Neues Jahr card.  (She writes beautifully in English—it's her second language—I think the little idiosyncrisies that come with writing in a different language make her letter extra charming and poetic).:

Hello Laura,

It's been quite some time now that I forgot the world around me and was transformed into the mysterious person of Z vacationing in the lovely city of Aix-en-Provence, waiting for Wendell to arrive. 

In the meantime strange things happened to me.  I was partly living with and in a group of French young people, a band, people that became my friends and were in some mysterious way attached to me- and-maybe- could become the solution of my search for father unknown.

And there is the charming Madame Chevalier and Vincent the shy lover of days gone by but never forgotten.  I love to be with them from time to time—enjoying a pot of of tea, listening to stories of my story. 
  
I indulge into their atmosphere of shadows, of shadows which make light appear.

And then- the feared end- fin- and closing of the book!

The dream remains and haunts me for days.

Thank you for a wonderful gift for hours outside of reality.

Omi

If you've read my books, you know that there's almost always a wise, kind, creative older lady that the narrator bonds with.  These characters are combinations of real-life kind, wise, creative older ladies who've been essential in my life, embracing me as a granddaughter.  Omi is one of these inspirational ladies.  Danke shoen, Omi! Frohe Weihnacht und ein guten neues Jahr!

Love and Liebe to Omi, my family, friends, and readers!
Laura

PS  I just got back from *Mexico* yesterday! More about that soon...

PPS  I'm pretty much finished with THE JADE NOTEBOOK manuscript, at least this draft, which I'll soon send to my editor.  Whew!  Sorry if you were one of the people I neglected during this final push to the finish line... thanks for your patience!

Happy New Year, from my trailer to yours...

 photo from stolkholms stadsmission

Or, at least, to your metaphorical trailer... whatever your creative space happens to be!

Speaking of creativity,  look what my writer friend Laura Pritchett gave me (and our other writing group members) for Christmas...

It's a writer's snow globe! I LOVE snowglobes... and this is the first homemade one I've gotten.  Laura's the author of some wonderful fiction (Hell's Bottom, Colorado and Sky Bridge) and she's edited a bunch of great environmentally-themed anthologies, one of which is Going Green-- it's all about cool ways of gleaning new uses for junk.

Her card was made by a friend of ours, Libby, who makes art from old teabags!  You can read an excerpt from her essay about her teabag art in Going Green here.  As a tea fiend, I really appreciate her work.... so pretty!  I love the color of tea.

And here's Laura's sweet message inside... a sentiment I wish for you who are writers, too.

I'm so grateful for Laura and the other amazing writers (and readers!) in my life.  Around this time of year, I feel overwhelmed with gratitude.  This month marks the *three year anniversary* of my Lil Dude's arrival from Guatemala. He was eight months old when he came, just scooting around and belting out "Da!" and clapping, his mouth wide open in delight.  Now that he's here, I love how our home feels so full, spilling over with his exuberant energy (not to mention, lots of toy firetrucks, trains, stuffed animals...) 

And I'm grateful for my mom who has, once again, dropped everything to help me finish the next of the Notebooks series-- in this case, THE JADE NOTEBOOK-- so I can meet my January deadline to hand the manuscript in to my editor. Thank you, Mom!

 

And I'm grateful for the little everyday joys that come with living where I do, at the foot of the Rockies... There are rainbows galore here.  We saw this full rainbow arc at the end of our street one morning last week.  It took our breath away.  Lil Dude and I stood in the middle of our street for a while, in a state of wonder.  "That's so cool, Mommy!" he kept saying.  Of course, he wanted to follow the rainbow, find where it touched down... 

Much love and many happy winter wishes to you and yours!

xoxo,

Laura

Fort Collins Author Friends!

Hello dear readers!

Books make such fantastic presents.  Some of my all-time favorite presents during my childhood and teen years were books. The love I developed for these books (The Secret Garden, The Little Princess, books by Mary Stewart, Roald Dahl, Scott O'Dell, and many, many more...) was an essential part of my journey as a writer. Thank you to all my wonderful relatives who supported me early on in my writing journey by giving me books!

I'm lucky enough to live in a community with loads of talented (not to mention extremely *nice*) authors who write for young people.  We decided to support each other this holiday season by encouraging people to buy each other's books as gifts. So.... I encourage you to shop local authors if you're in Fort Collins, and if you're somewhere else, shop local authors in your community!  (Remember that you can always buy books to donate to your local school library or a Toys for Tots drive.)

Okay, here goes:

By acclaimed novelist, Todd Mitchell

A teenage boy takes advantage of being the new student at school and reinvents himself.  Things get out of control in a sharp, funny, poignant, and compulsively readable novel that gives a coming-of-age theme a surprising twist. Selected by the Texas Library Association for the 2011 Teen Reading List.

You've heard me rave about this book before on my blog!  I LOVE it! One of my all-time favorite teen books.

By WWII author, Teresa Funke

The Home-Front Heroes Series are books inspired by the stories of real people during WWII. Ideal for history buffs and teachers, too!

My favorite way of learning about history is through stories... and Teresa does a fantastic job of this with her novels!

By praised teen author, Amy Kathleen Ryan

Zen is the "good" sister with a black belt in karate and a newfound penchant for kicking heads. Xander is a wild scientific genius with a self-destructive streak. They have three things in common: they're brown-eyed blondes, they've noticed the boy next door has turned into a hottie, and they miss their deceased mom. Xander spirals into a vortex of late-night parties, scary men, and drugs. She's about to ruin her chance at college. Should Zen keep trying to protect Xander, or finally let her go? 

Amy Ryan creates such distinctive voices and characters and storylines-- she's a captivating storyteller!  (And I've had the privilege of reading a sneak preview of her speculative fiction series that will come out in a year or so-- spectacular!) 

By national best-selling author, Natasha Wing

For dinosaur lovers: a tongue-in-cheek guide to caring for a pet dinosaur with wild illustrations and fun lift-the-flaps. 

My three-year old loves this book! It's SO much fun to read together!

****

The above is just a sampling of the great books coming out of Fort Collins... Other fantastic local authors to check out include: 

• Victoria Hanley (Violet Wings-- wonderful middle grade fantasy), 
• Lauren Myracle (Violet in Bloom-- fabulous middle grade realistic fiction), 
• Karla Oceanak (Artsy-Fartsy books-- middle-grade graphic novel series along the lines of Diary of a Wimpy Kid (but better!), 
• Nathan Kumar Scott (multi-cultural picture books)

... I'm sure I'm missing some authors (sorry!), but I have to stop here so I can bring Lil Dude to preschool now... ;)

Happy Book-Giving!

xo,

Laura

* In Fort Collins,  you can find most of these books at: Old Firehouse Books, Bookends, Clothes Pony and Dandelion Toys, Reader's Cove, and Barnes & Noble on So. College. Nature's Own also carries How to Raise a Dinosaur.  Or, if you're not in the area, you can go to indiebound.org to order the books from an indie store near you.

My Horoscope...

Hello dearest readers!
 
I wanted to share with you my uncannily accurate horoscope from the Lincoln Journal Star that my parents picked up as they were driving here (Colorado) from Michigan last week:

Cancer (June 22-July 22)-- You almost see the finish line for a writing project.  The editing process presents difficulties.  Enlist the help of an older, more objective person.

Hehehe!  Needless to say, the writing project is THE JADE NOTEBOOK, which I must finish by Jan 1.  And um, yes... "presents difficulties" is a nice way of saying "is utterly grueling at the moment."  And the older person?  My mom, of course.  In my NaNoWriMo-esque plan, I'm trying to get this latest revision to her by the end of November.

Speaking of which, thanks to everyone who came to my novel-writing tips event at Barnes and Noble yesterday-- you guys were great!  I have to say, you probably inspired me more than I inspired you.  (And as you probably saw on the handout, I meant to hold a fun little contest to come up with a snazzier title for the workshop, but I got caught up in the excitement of talking to you all, and it completely slipped my mind... sorry!)

A nice bit o' news: THE RUBY NOTEBOOK just got a Flamingnet Top Choices Award!  This is a really cool teen blogger award... all the reviews are done by teens, who designate their favorites as Top Choices.

Here's a piece of the review:

"The Ruby Notebook is a lovely tale of a girl who is lost in her own world, as most of us are. The reader follows Zeeta on her path to finding herself, perhaps learning more about themselves as well. The concept of the book lies in the mysteries of the fountain of eternal youth, which I find interesting. It was very easy for me to get immersed in the book and not want to stop reading. There were many plots and subplots that were all very well tied up by the end of the novel, but they kept you guessing the entire way through. I would recommend it to anyone who loves both mystery and romance genres." -- a 17-year-old Flamingnet Reviewer

Thanks-- I'm honored-- it's always extra-meaningful to get a good review from a teen reviewer! 

Speaking of reviews, the Denver Post featured THE RUBY NOTEBOOK in the Sunday book section.  Here's a quote from reviewer Claire Martin: "As always, Resau's narrative is lush, evoking Provence with grace and precision."  (Merci,  Claire!)  She also reviewed my friend Lauren Myracle's latest book, Violet in Bloom.... it sounds really good-- I'm eager to read it. 

On a side note, Lauren and I will be at the NCTE conference (ALAN workshops) in *Orlando* next week, along with a bunch of breath-takingly amazing authors. So thrilling to be in their midst... Just before that conference, I'll be at the International Children's Literature Festival in Madison, also in the midst of fabulous authors. 

And now, if you'll excuse me, I must do some laundry so I have something to wear on these upcoming adventures.  (When I walked out the door with Lil Dude to go to preschool this morning, he said, "Mommy, you can't leave the house in your pajamas."  I ushered him out, assuring him that it's our secret... if I wear a big coat, no one has to know I slept in these clothes...)

Okay, thanks for reading! 

xo
Laura

Internet-less Interlude

Hello everyone!

Our DSL was down from Fri through this morning (Monday), which was interesting... on one hand, it was liberating, and made me really productive-- revising more of The Jade Notebook, playing more with Lil Dude, cleaning my fridge, scrubbing the floors, organizing our basement... Periodically, I thought, hmmm, if we had Internet access at the moment, I wouldn't be doing any of this stuff-- I'd be twiddling my time away online instead.  And mentally, I felt calmer, more focused-- just a relaxed state of mind.

On the other hand, our Internet-less state was pretty darn inconvenient-- I was clueless about event schedules, like the Day of the Dead festivities and movies and things like that.  But overall, it was a good thing. Ian and I decided to do more Internet fasts... maybe even every weekend (which is, I admit, a little scary to me!) 

On a different note, here's a pic of me and my welcoming crew for the Telluride visit I did a couple weeks ago.  These super-sweet girls made me feel very, very welcome!  Thank you!

I'm guessing some of you are doing NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month), which began today.  I'm doing my own version of it, as a matter of fact.  I'm on a strict schedule of revising The Jade Notebook-- a chapter a day-- so I can get it critiqued by my writers group and Mom in December, and have it in reasonably decent shape (*hope hope hope*) by early January, when it's due to my editor.  So far, so good-- got my chapter done! 

For you Fort Collinites, I'm doing a signing/workshop in celebration of NaNoWriMo -- Ten Novel-Writing Tips.  (I need to learn to come up with snazzier workshop titles, don't I?)  Anyway, it's Sunday, Nov 14 at 2 pm at the Barnes and Noble on College Ave.  It's the NaNoWriMo midway point, and hopefully it'll give you a nice little burst of energy to keep you going...

Hope your Halloween was spookily amusing.  Ours was... Lil Dude was a cuddly, fuzzy dragon and I was a dead Victorian lady (my old standby).  And today is Day of the Dead--  I didn't make an altar this year, but I saw some gorgeous ones at the library's Dia de los Muertos festivities.  Lil Dude and I stuffed ourselves with sugary pan de muertos and tamales, listened to calavera (skeleton) tales, heard our friend Gloria Garcia sing and read poetry, and walked in a fun parade, complete with a guitarist and giant puppets.... all in perfectly glorious sunny fall weather.

Have a happy week,
Laura

THE RUBY NOTEBOOK Party Recap!

Thanks so much to everyone who came to my release party on Saturday!  I had heaps of fun celebrating with you!  All your enthusiasm made me excited to finish writing The Jade Notebook so you can find out what happens next...

 Accordion music filled the room thanks to the incredible Thomas Chen...

Here's Jean-Claude, owner of La Creperie (my favorite local restaurant) who was responsible for making the divine pastries.  Next to him is Jean-Christophe, who helped me with French slang and expressions  in the book. (And coincidentally, Thomas, Jean-Claude, and Jean-Christophe are all names of characters in The Ruby Notebook! C'est bizarre, n'est-ce pas?)

I love that people of all ages came out to celebrate... the three-year-old crowd is endlessly entertaining... they really got into dancing.  Against Ian's (hubbie's) advice, I held an accordion dance contest, which turned out to be tres amusant (thanks for being good sports, everyone!)

I read a few little sections of the book, and everyone graciously laughed when they were supposed to (I learned from my Lil Dude that you can't go wrong with potty humor... in this case, pigeon potty humor).  The teens there seemed excited about sharing their new French vocab word (me*de or mer*e, hehehe) with their French teacher at school.  They promptly book-marked that page...

I was so happy to see so many teen girl fans of The Indigo Notebook, who were eager to read Ruby.... They all looked supercute-- some dressed in tres chic French outfits.

There was signing with a ruby red pen...

This lovely fan drove with her mom and sister all the way from south Denver for the party!  I was honored!

You'll notice from the empty doilies that nearly all the pastries were all eaten by the time I started signing... but miraculously there was one heavenly pastry left for me... (merci, merci)

It's funny, but before the party I'd been worried I ordered too many pastries, and wondering what I'd do with all the leftovers... another party maybe?  Ridiculous... (here's the line for pastries, out the door...)

Nothing cuter than little hands oh-so-carefully carrying a little masterpiece...

So many writer friends showed up to celebrate... here I'm talking with fabulous picture book author Natasha Wing (who has a reading at Old Firehouse Books on Oct 16). 

Thank you Old Firehouse Books and everyone else for making this such a special night for me!

xoxo,
Laura