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Our dog decided to celebrate Earth Day by getting skunked early this morning. He's been a real rascal. It's the second time in a month. Last week he jumped off a deck that was under construction to chase a deer. He's doing better now, a pulled muscle gave him a little bit of a limp that day though. He had to go on an anti-inflammatory and lay low all weekend, which worked out well because Joe was sick and laid low all weekend too. Oso is funny because he sniffs his treats like they are poison before he will eat them, but takes the medicine like they are treats.

BTW–Tomato juice doesn't get the skunk out but cider vinegar does! Skunk remedies being one of the things the girls and I chatted about around the pool in Vegas. We took Oso to Petco for the de-skunk treatment, but we plan on having cider vinegar, Dawn, baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide at the ready since he seems to enjoy playing with skunks and getting skunked.

Today is the beginning of another move for us. We are bugging out of the Cottage and headed for the Coast House. Moving the office stuff first.

In other news: COACHELLA here we come! Prince was added as the headliner on Saturday so I'm psyched. I've always wanted to see him in concert. Looks like it will be a hot one in the desert.

Candice takes off for Hong Kong late tomorrow night. Mx is feeling better every week, mono is loosening it's grip a little. Only three weeks left until her first year of college is over. Around four weeks until Candy graduates from college and we head up for a little celebration in Napa.

Maggie, Patty and Me at SCBWI LA Writer's Day

Friends

This weekend I had a great opportunity to reconnect with friends. We are all super busy with our own very different lives and it is SO precious to spend time with each other. My friend Anna and I got a chance to sneak in a lunch on Friday. I drove topless in the warm SoCal sun. I love driving Mx’s car because, well, I miss her and feel closer to her when I drive it. I love the car. It’s a little yellow ’91 Convertible Capri with so much family history. While I drove it, I thought that maybe all kids should drive cars close to their age. I don’t know why. It’s just kinda cool that she drives a car a few years younger than she is.

LA Writer's Day Surprises

Saturday was the best. It started out a little strange though. I arrived at LA Writer’s Day a little late [no, THAT’s not strange]. Checked around the room looking for friends and found…nobody that I really knew. EGADS! Now, anyone who knows me knows I’m not shy, but all of a sudden I felt kinda lonely. I took my seat anyway and knew the day would be a good but sorta lonely one. I was half right.

My favorite presentation was “Let Me Hear Your Heart: Figuring Out Narrative Power” by Patricia Lee Gauch. Amazing. She encouraged us all to hear our own hearts in a story, every part of it. She also made an amazing comment about “show don’t tell.” She said that you can’t always “show don’t tell” because an author also needs to "interpret life with zest." She quoted T.S. Elliot’s work Tradition and the Individual Talent where the poet mentions the process of writing as taking everything in during your life then everything comes together as numberless images and tells a story. She also mentioned that most mms. that come across her desk are “just fine, thank you” but wanted us to go far enough, DON’T FLINCH, she said when putting your heart into a story. Let our passions drive our ideas. She talked about Scott O’Dell, one of my favorite writers–Island of the Blue Dolphins is one of the books I donated to the high school I visited in Romania, and that he said the thing we all share is a heart beat and it’s what we need as writers. She encouraged us to speak in an authorial voice as if we want everyone to listen. Yeah, it was pretty much one of those WOW! speeches.

I could go on, and on…so many great speakers. Very inspirational. The “Random Routes: Three Authors’ Journeys to Publication” was excellent because it showed how fortuitous publishing is–just meeting people and the random ways those meetings bring authors one step closer to publishing. Check out castellucci, Caroline Hatton, Sally Jones Rogan.

First surprise? When I turned to look across the room during one of the speeches and my friend Maggie tapped me on the shoulder. She sat right in back of me. And in back of Maggie, my friend Patty waved. I was so happy they were there. We had an awesome time talking about our kids and catching up with each other’s lives in the shade of a beautiful tree on the school campus. Even made a new friend at lunch.

When the day was done, my novel Transfer Student won the SCBWI LA Honorable Mention for Young Adult Fiction. I am so excited. And, the best part? Maggi and Patty cheered for me when they announced my book had won. I listened to the judge’s comments and felt honored that the judge found my novel poignant and humorous. Patty won Honorable Mention last year for her book Greenwood Girls. We joked that she passed the tiara to me this year. And, even though they had a very long drive home afterwards, they took me out for a Corona and some tasty tacos to celebrate. When I got home Joe had the champagne chilled, congratulated me and we talked and talked about the day and all that I learned.

But what did I learn from writer’s day this year that I hadn’t learned before? I learned that nothing about writing is what I like to call in my writing-cave-induced stupors a waste of time. That writing is solitary but also very social. If it wasn’t for all the crazy and not-so-crazy things that I have done all these years—the nameless images—I wouldn’t have anything to write about, nothing to feel passionately for. And it underscores what I’ve known for a long time, there’s no way I can write alone. My writer friends know me in a way that is different than everyone else, as do my critique group partners. No, not as a crying slobbering mess of raw feelings, but as someone trying to find my voice, make my stories better. We know how dedicated we have to be to make the smallest of strides in our work. And, I think when I win an award, it needs to be shared with each and every person who believes in me. Who says keep it up when I want to put it all away. Who posts encouraging thoughts when I have my writing-cave moments where I think everything I’m doing–and I mean everything from the research to posting on this blog–is a waste of time. So, I want to share this with you, because without you I wouldn’t be writing right now. *Mwah*

The Mono Diaries:

Well, if you have daughter with mono and if she lives 3000 miles away and if she’s feeling overwhelmed and upset that she might not be able to finish the semester. What do you do? SIMPLIFY & DELEGATE. Srsly. Here’s what we’ve done for this week. Dropped a class, one that was droppable because it was extra—Converstional French. So she’ll have five classes instead of six. Her work has kept her off the schedule until Mx feels better, and with mono who knows when that will be. Mx signed up for grocery delivery at Fresh Direct and is going to start sending her laundry out this week.

So far what’s been the biggest challenge of mono for her? The unpredictability of the fatigue. She will have a good day and then two bad days where she can’t get out of bed. Going to the store to buy water tires her out so much she has to take a five-hour nap afterwards. So, trying to map out a successful way to finish her classes is requiring all of us to take it all day-by-day, week-by-week. Had a video call today and Mx looks great. Sasha, her kitty, really cheered her up! Oh, and Ears is a girl.