Truth in blogging requires that I tell you I’m not on the mountain any more, but I spent a good part of the afternoon here…
I had a million things on my to-do list but decided that the weather was too perfect and loaded up the kids to go hiking on Poke-o-Moonshine instead. (When I mentioned this on Twitter, several helpful people suggested that I add "climb mountain" to said list and cross it off upon my return, which I thought was brilliant.) So we went. Kids hike fast, especially on the way down, and now my knees hurt. But it was a lovely, lovely day.
Oh…those five things?
1. I finished revisions on my dystopian storm novel this week and sent the manuscript to my editor, who immediately emailed back to tell me she’d been watching tornado documentaries in preparation for its arrival. This made me love her even more than I already did. Now that book-set-in-the-future is off to NY, my brain will be firmly rooted in the present again…until the revision letter comes.
2. That means I can turn my attention to REAL REVISION, the teacher resource book I’m writing for Stenhouse. I’ve collected some amazing middle grade author interviews already, and I’m hoping to have a draft done before I head back to school in the fall. This may be overly ambitious, especially since I keep leaving to climb mountains on writing days. But you know how mountains are…
3. I started reading an ARC of Jennifer Donnelly’s REVOLUTION last night. I’m only a few pages in, but already intrigued.
4. I stopped by my classroom this week to pick up a cd I needed at home and had a pang of missing book-talk with my students. I cherish every minute of summer, but when September comes, I’ll be ready to be reading and writing with my students again.
5. This weekend, my daughter and I are heading to Manchester, Vermont to visit Hildene, the Lincoln family home and (more importantly) the site of an awesome book event on Sunday. Loree Griffin Burns is doing a family workshop based on her new Scientists in the Field title, THE HIVE DETECTIVES: CHRONICLE OF A HONEY BEE CATASTROPHE. It runs from 1-2:30, starting in the Welcome Center and ending at Hildene’s observation hive.
Loree is an amazing scientist, a talented writer, and a fantastic presenter (plus there will be bees!!) so if you’re within striking distance of Manchester this weekend, I hope we’ll see you there, too!