It’s an incredible sight, reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz, with orange colored fields stretching into the distance. But the stunning thing to me is that this is all happening in what is essentially a desert. Silvery green sagebrush breaks up the vivid flowers. Tumbleweeds come rolling at you up across the landscape. And rattlesnakes sun themselves on the sandy path.

It amazed me that, in what should be a sparse landscape, such beauty and vibrancy could be found. The plant that fascinated me the most was the false dandelion. It was instantly recognizable as similar to the puffballs we’re used to. But this ‘dandelion’ was shimmery and structured, almost looking like it was made out of glass or quartz crystals. I bent down to study it and hesitantly reached out to touch it, certain the flower would be barbed or sharp. But it was sleek and silky.

The wind was so fierce that it hurt my eardrums. You could lean into it and let it hold you up, imagining you were flying out over the orange hills. But even in that exhilarating, buffeting wind that swept across the landscape, this ‘dandelion’ remained intact. Waiting.

But what was it waiting for? Just the right current of air to blast a seed off of it? Was it waiting for rain? Or the right temperature? I guess in the desert, you have to be sure of your moment.

And I suppose the same is true for a story. The landscape around us is often a bit harsh. If we aren’t careful, we can be swept up in hurricanes of criticism and doubt and cautionary voices. And if we do, we run the risk of our story falling on gritty, dry land.

So while we are crafting each crystalline seedpod, we must shield our stories. We must hold them close and muffle the noise of the wind whipping past. We must build the story as strong as we can and hold tight. This is challenging enough as it is, but then there is a trickier bit.

We must wait.

How can we be sure when it’s the right time to share our stories with others? We can’t. Somewhere there is a balance between giving your story to trusted readers and patiently allowing the story to grow in the protected alcove of your imagination. By letting it go too early, you risk the wind smashing your dandelion apart. But if you never let the story go, it will never take root.

In this dance of risk and trust, each of us has to figure out the timing we feel comfortable with. When to take shelter and when to share. But the most important thing to remember is that even in the desert, lovely things grow.

During the question and answer segment, a boy got up and asked her, “Why do your books always have sad endings?” Then he listed off the melancholy endings of book after book.

“Well, when you put it like that…” Kate laughed with the audience, looking a little sheepish.  Then she took a minute to really think about the question. She went on to explain that she didn’t mean to write sad endings,  but that life is full of the sad as well as the beautiful, and she tries to write what is in life.

This was a big difference from Meg Cabot (The Princess Diaries) who also talked about the sadness of life in her dynamic speech. But Meg Cabot’s answer to this uncomfortable truth about life, and especially childhood, is to write ‘pretty things.’ She said she wants strong girls and glitter and prettiness as an escape from what might be the bleakness of real life.

I found these differing answers to the same truth fascinating. And cleary, judging by the popularity of both their books, both are needed in our world, often by the same readers. Sometimes I want to read a world that has beauty and sadness that reflects our own, but whose stories often make more sense than the seeming randomness of our own lives. But other times, I want to escape, with glitter or dirigibles or princesses, to a world totally unrecognizable from mine.

What struck me the most in these two talks was that both writers, so different in their styles, their presentations, their books, knew why they wrote what they wrote. They were compelled by their subjects and it was this compulsion that led to the confidence in their speaking and in their writing.

Perhaps that is something it takes years to develop. Not just the courage to get your words down on the page or to stand up in front of readers, but a certainty in what you choose to write. Perhaps it is this, more than tears or glitter, that invites us into these authors’ stories. That, word-by-word, builds their worlds around us. And it’s this confidence that makes us want to stay.

What?

Oh. What I meant was how dare William Steig portray the police as pigs! That is outrageous.

And this poem… it just really gets under my skin.

Clearly, it’s teaching materialism by advocating shopping as an exciting activity.

What?

Oh. I meant that Shel Silverstein is teaching our children to be disrespectful and downright malicious! This is terrible.

And how about these cute penguins?? They really make my blood boil! Cause they’re cute and they look like they’re smiling and we all know that penguins don’t smile.

And… um… tell me again what was wrong with the cute penguins?

Oh right. I hate it when books show happy families that love each other. Especially when they’re based on true stories. Those are the WORST.

Clearly picture books are tearing apart the fabric of America, one penguin at a time.

Happy Banned Books Week!

So when I visited a friend in Portland, I was wowed by the antique cabinet she’d just bought. I oohed and ahhed as she showed me the fold down writing desk with rows of little mail cubbies, each of which could hold its own tucked away secret.

Then she turned to me with a sparkle in her eyes and said, “I haven’t even shown you the best part.” She opened the bottom door on the cabinet and pulled out two shoe boxes full of letters.

They looked just like the old boxes in my closet. Like mine, these boxes were stuffed full of cards and notes from friends. And love letters.

My hands immediately reached for a rubber banded stack of envelopes. They were from 1957, a series of love letters from  George to Carmen. Holding my breath, I smoothed out the yellowed paper and began to read.

Evidently, George had taken Carmen to senior prom, but hadn’t gotten up the nerve to kiss her that night. Two years later, he was in the Air Force and posted to Morocco. It was only then, far from everyone and everything familiar, that he realized what she meant to him. He wrote her with the desperate hope that she might feel the same way. That he might be able to see her again when he was on leave. He sent her perfume and questions about her feelings for him.

My friend and I wanted them to get together. When one of George’s letters wrote of dangerous hush-hush things happening around the Air Force base, I wanted Carmen to drop everything and find a way to get to Morocco to be with him. I imagined a passionate scene in the desert, complete with elegant scarves and planes buzzing overhead.

But this was life, not a story. While the shoe boxes didn’t contain Carmen’s replies, there were also letters from George to Carmen’s mother. And my friend and I were able to get a sense of what was happening through them. Carmen was away at college and not very interested in George. While he was writing about his Air Force pay being able to support her and their potential kids, Carmen was busy studying to be a teacher, going skiing with her friends, and generally being a college student.

I don’t think she ended up with George, because though there was a copy of her graduation announcement in the shoebox, there was nothing about a wedding. Six years after George’s letters stop, Carmen was still writing notes home to her mother about her roommates, her job, her record-breaking bowling scores.And then I realized that the story I was reading was more extraordinary than the one I’d hoped for.

Carmen, a girl in the 1950’s, had chosen to go away to college. Had chosen a career over a husband she didn’t love. Had made a life for herself in a new town. At the end of this small, intimate snapshot of these people’s lives, George had my sympathy, but Carmen had my admiration. It turned out that this was her story, and she was going to write it the way she wanted to.

Laptop Noir: Part Deux 

Tools: Pliers, business card, hammer, screwdriver, drill.

Time: 2 Days, 2 fed-ex packages, and 1 trip to Home Depot.

Who: Previously mentioned Uber-Geek:Wizard of Ingenuity

*No dogs were harmed in the making of this film*

Instead, I’ll give an illustrated version of a few moments that really struck me.  I’ve stolen most of the beautiful pictures and illustrations from other talented people, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Karyn Raz, Edith Cohn, Marie Miranda Cruz, Lee Wind, and the SCBWI Live Blog, so click on the pictures to check out their own versions of the events!

Holly Black:  I pretty much wanted to copy down everything that came out of her mouth.  For example, “All writing is in conversation with what has come before it.”  She gave a talk about plot, citing her own struggles with it.  Evidently when she started writing she didn’t know how to move the plot forward, so she had “lots of scenes with elves sitting around drinking coffee, experiencing ennui.”

She also did a break-out session about career, talking about practical and terrifying things such as when to quit your job (the ’safe’ answer is once you can live off your royalties), taxes (about 33%), and choosing which author’s career you’d like to have (she wanted Neil Gaiman’s, which I think is a fantastic choice).  It was an incredibly concrete talk that made me really ponder career goals and attitudes.  And here’s the best line from it.

Audience Member (speaking about benefits): “It’s in our publisher’s best interest for us to be alive.”

Holly Black: “Actually that’s not true.”

So now we know why it’s so hard for writers to get health care!

Karen Cushman advised us all that when it comes to our inner voices, it’s important to “separate the writer from the editor, the editor from the critic, and dump the critic.”

David Wiesner showed us how the shape of UFO’s and the movie The Shining, both inspired the picture book Tuesday.  He also literally illustrated how ideas can try for years and years to express themselves through different projects, before they finally manifest.

Sherman Alexie inspired us all with his charismatic speech and eloquently reminded us about the nature of writing as well as its purpose.  “You’re alone.  You are doing this alone.  But remember someone else is out there alone.”

And then, after so many insightful and inspiring words, we got to what the conference is all about.  Boooogying at the Blue Moon Ball!

I also made new business cards.  And by ‘made,’ I mean my brilliant artist of a husband designed them but I’m gonna take all the credit. 

They’re inspired by my book, The Harbinger, and the classic Rider-Waite Tarot card art.  Warning: Colors may not be as bright as in real life.

For a week, I stalked our mail carrier, hoping they’d arrive.  When they finally did, I was blown away. I’m can’t wait to swap them around this weekend.  Hey kids, collect them all!

I can’t imagine any two events more saturated with great minds, creative talent, and genuine inspiration.  So it was with a huge grin on my face that I walked out onto the expo floor on Wednesday night.  And Comic-Con did not disappoint.

There’s an infinite number of ways to amuse yourself at Comic-Con, a point that my friend and fantastic artist Andy Mitchell literally illustrates here.

One of my favorite ‘distractions’ of the long weekend was Quick Draw!  It’s a battle of speed and humor pitting 3 artists against each other.  This year, it was Sergio Aragones from Mad Magazine, Scott Shaw from Hanna-Barbera, and Floyd Norman from Disney.

Displayed on giant projectors, their hands raced to draw a cross between a armadillo and a dung beetle, or to get a member of the audience to guess a secret word, or to illustrate scenarios.  Here’s Sergio Aragones’s answer to “Tragedy strikes Donald Duck.”

I also got a chance to hear Holly Black, author of Tithe and The Spiderwick Chronicles talk about outlining a novel and “the process of ingreatening it.”  She confessed that her original outlines often consist of “insert genius idea here” or “evil is defeated.”  It’s lovely to know that fascinating stories can still materialize out of humble beginnings.

She also spoke about how lazy her characters are.  Holly Black lamented that, while other writers talk about their characters dictating the story to them, her characters spend the whole book trying to get out of being the protagonist.   She quipped that they don’t want to go on a quest, they just wanna go home.  Again, I found these confessions from such a great writer very reassuring.

I had other shining moments this weekend.  Hearing Ray Bradbury talk about the moon landing, Eoin Colfer and Mary Pearson sharing their author experiences, and literally running into Seth Green.  But what struck me most is that Comic-Con is a giant party of people that all love the same things.  All kinds of artists gather together to show each other how they make their art and how much that art is appreciated. It’s a place where you can shake your hero’s hand and snap a picture.

Where you can meet the stars that make your favorite characters leap off the screen.  Or imagine what it would be like to be them.

Where the guy who made the homage t-shirt is thanked by the guy on the t-shirt.  Here it doesn’t matter if you’re an artist, a collector, a writer, a reader, an actor, or a fan. Because at Comic-Con, everyone is part of the same great story.

It was the highlight of my summer and I always read a ton of Newberys cause they were worth more points.  It’s also how I discovered one of my favorite all-time books, Journey Outside  by Mary Q. Steele, which, tragically, pretty much no one else has ever heard of.  Luckily, I read it enough times for all of you.

Sigh.  Those were the days.

Well, there’s no prizes for this list, but if you’re going to the SCBWI Summer Conference or you just want a good summer read, these books might come in handy.  These are some of my favorite books written by authors coming to this year’s conference.  It’s YA biased and I’m only including books I’ve read, so some great ones are probably left out.  I apologize in advance!

Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey -Awesomely dark fantasy, compellingly told in both first and third person.

King Dork by Frank Portman -Best made-up band names in the history of the world.

Catherine Called Birdy by  Karen Cushman -Cause medieval humor is the wackiest!

Tithe by Holly Black- Creepy fairies and teen angst…what better combination is there?

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – You will literally laugh and cry at the same time.

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park -Exquisitely written, need I say more?

Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee – It’s funny cause it’s true.  Millicent’s humor is totally authentic.

And lets not forget picture books!  A couple of my favorite illustrator/authors are going to be speaking at the conference this year.

Every Friday by Dan Yaccarino – I can’t say enough good things about this simple, perfect father/son story.

Tuesday by David Wiesner – Flying frogs.  Let me just be clear about this.  Flying. Frogs.

Whether you’re a writer or a reader, summer is a time for sitting on the porch, munching on an Otter Pop, and falling into a book.  And each one of these is a perfect place to spend your summer vacation.

Children’s Book World is a wonderful, well-stocked bookstore full of staff who love books and want to help you fall in love with them too.  They’ll work hard to find a perfect book-match for you.  Or if you want to have a good book debate, they’re the right people: smart, funny, and with definite opinions.  It’s a joy to go there and see what’s new, what the staff likes, and what people are reading.

Last year when I read 1000 picture books in 100 days, the folks at Children’s Book World were lifesavers, creating delicious piles of books for me to read while I sat on their comfy couch.  By the time I got halfway through the pile, they had already replenished it with a never ending stack of perfect books.  As you can see, the tradition has continued.

It was also wonderful to have illustrator friends Ken Min and Karyn Raz there to share their favorite artists and new picture books.  There is nothing like savoring picture books in the company of picture book creators.

And I had a kids book first.  With my friend, Wilson Swain, there in the bookstore, I bought The Castaway Pirates, a great pop-up picture book that he illustrated.  Then, there in the store, he autographed it for me.  Today was definitely a day for reveling in creative successes, wonderful stories, and talented friends.