THE final day of a short stay on the California coast I was taking my last beach walk. Just off shore came leaping dolphins, diving pelicans and birds by the hundreds, their long lines wavering like blue velvet ribbons out to sea. Still, the waves had yet to give up a single, unblemished shell. So I made a wish.
Just let me find one whole and perfect sand dollar!
And there it was. As the water pulled back. One delicate, white, whole and perfect sand dollar. Excited by the gift, I lifted it gingerly, took a few steps and, incredible luck, found another one. I carried my little cache down the beach and stopped. Here were three more sand dollars. And here three more. And three more!
On it went until my hands were full of delicate shells. Then my pockets. Perhaps on this beach such finds are as common as sand. But it was a thrilling few minutes for me. A gluttonous adventure. More sand dollars than I could carry!
Back at my cabin I lined them up outside the door along a weathered redwood rail. I admired their beautiful feathered designs. Each with a sea flower delicately etched. As if some artisan lived beneath the Pacific, working shells with her tiny chisel.
BOOKS are not unlike sand dollars. At least to those of us who cherish them, books are like treasure from the sea. We collect them. Study their beautiful designs. Admire their craftsmanship and hope, if we are writers, to carve out something just as fine. Our own whole and perfect sea flower design tossed into the sea to later be drawn in, a gift for someone else’s pocket.
About a week ago I flew to the Midwest to speak at Oklahoma’s EncycloMedia conference with a group of fabulous authors (Suzanne Morgan Williams, Stacy Nyikos, Barrie Summy, Jenny Meyerhoff, P.J. Hoover, Jessica Anderson, Donna St. Cyr, Cynthea Liu and Eileen Cook). We were met with an equally fabulous audience of educators and librarians. Copies of our novels sold out at our signings and we were filmed for a reader’s broadcast. I went on to a packed and appreciative school visit.
As a writer you couldn’t ask for more. It was a wonderful affirmation of the world of books, and what an honor it is to be included in this circle of writers, readers, librarians and educators who are looking for the next good read.
Which got me thinking. This week I want to celebrate (to paraphrase YALSA’s press on the upcoming Teen Read Week) “the possibilities that exist within a library’s doors, and within the covers of books.”
I’m excited to have a thoughtful interview with author Laura Resau. Her newest novel Indigo Notebook is launching this October and it’s an amazing read. Resau’s writing is both beautiful and honest, and she brings that same integrity to her thoughts on the writing life, the meaning of story, and how she’s found her niche by moving between cultures.
Then expert librarian Cathy Ensley from Idaho talks about her years in the stacks and her brand new blog. She has some surprising insights into teen readers and shares her latest venture to foster the love of books—helping rural libraries hook up with authors via SKYPE.
And just an END NOTE to my sand dollar days.
Isn’t it gratifying to know it’s not so out of reach—that whole and perfect shell? Something to remember if, like me, you carve your designs as you go.
And to those of us who walk the beach waiting for what the artisan might reveal, may we find what we’ve been looking for in the sand.
--z.v.
The ivory tower is granting me a one day pass to go out and see the real world. The things good behavior will get you!
GLEE!
I'm being let out to speak at Oklahoma's school librarian conference, EncycloMedia. I'm excited. Thrilled. And a little nervous. Okay... a lot nervous. I'll be out with real people. I have to talk. I have to talk intelligently, in complete senten
ces, with no editing, about my middle grade novel, Dragon Wishes. I have to sound like I do this regularly. But all I've done for weeks now is sit in the ivory tower with my imaginary friends - and a few dead writers - and write. My social skills have sort of fallen by the wayside. Ask my kids. My husband. My dog, even.
Fortunately, should my skills waver, I'll be in amazing company and so hopefully no one will notice. I'm speaking with Eileen Cook, What Would Emma Do, Cynthea Liu, Paris Pan Takes the Dare, Jenny Meyerhoff, Third Grade Baby, and Suzanne Morgan Williams, Bull Rider.
We're followed the next day by P.J. Hoover, The Navel of the World, Jessica Anderson, Border Crossing, Barrie Summy, I So Don't Do Spooky, Donna St. Cyr, The Cheese Syndicate, and Zu Vincent, The Lucky Place.
Beforehand, we're being interviewed for a televised program that the Metropolitan Library of Oklahoma broadcasts throughout the state. Please, please, please let my hair cooperate so that I look like someone who actually styles her hair every once in a while, rather than pulling it back in a haphazard ponytail because dead writers and fictitious characters don't care what your hair looks like. And after that, there is a luncheon with librarians. Gulp. Can I carry on a coherent conversation for a whole hour? Or will I get that far off, I-have-an-idea look and start scribbling on my napkin? Librarians will understand if I do, right?
Maybe after all of that real world experience, I'll be ready to lock myself away in the ivory tower again, but I have a feeling, it'll be the other way around. I used to be a pretty social person, some time in the distant past...I think. Either way, I think that seeing, talking and interacting in a spontaneous way with real live people who don't need me to edit their dialogue could be, what's the word?
Oh wait, I know...FUN!
