TRAVEL, TRAVEL, TRAVEL

It's been a busy fall.  I've stored up lots of great memories --

   In September there was the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.  where 200,000 people gathered to celebrate books and reading.  Aside from a lunchtime stroll through Julia Child's kitchen in the National Museum of American History, I spent the day at the West Virginia Table in the Pavilion of States where people thronged all day long.  Can I tell you how it warmed my heart to see that many people excited about books?  It was glorious!   

    A few weeks later, I drove to Nashville for the Southern Festival of Books.  Thank you, Helen and Neil Hemphill for taking such good care of me and providing a place to stay, even on their anniversary! 

Again, there were crowds of people excited about books.  Laura Murray and I presented a panel on Lyric and Rhyme in Picture Books in the same room where


Helen Hemphill



Helen and I had heard Michael Sims talk about his book The Story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic the day before.  Many thanks to Lacey Cook and Serenity Gerbman and the people at Tennessee Humanities who put on this amazing Festival.  A special thank-you also to Victoria Ross for moderating our panel.  You kept us going Tori.  Thank you!  Thank you also to Lea Bartch at the McFadden School of Excellence in Murfreesboro, TN for planning such an excellent school visit and writing workshop.  Lea, your students are so lucky!  Do they have any idea what a wonderful teacher you are?

Home on Sunday night and off Monday morning for a week as a writer-in-residence at Daniels Elementary along with Anna Smucker and Cheryl Ware. Love these classroom doors.

photo by Cindy Martin



photo by Cindy Martin




Photo by Cindy Martin



Thank you, Mr. James and Ruth Baker and the Raleigh County School Board and all the faculty, staff, students, parents, volunteers and community and state organizations who made Author Week possible.  And a special thank you goes to Melanie Hicks at Coffee Beans & Books for making us feel so welcome in your lovely shop.  And, by the way, the homemade vegetable soup and cornbread were delicious! 

Up at 4 AM on Saturday morning for a flight to Philadelphia to attend a high school reunion -- my first one ever. It's impossible to say how wonderful it was to see old friends for the first time in umpty-ump years.

    Stayed over Sunday night to visit my alma mater on Monday morning.  I had a wonderful time sharing Passing The Music Down with students in the Lower School,

but the best part, honestly, was hearing Strings teacher Christina von Duyke play traditional fiddle tunes she had located for the occasion and then hearing a very young violinist named Grace play "Liza Jane," demonstrating that, in fact, music IS being passed down.  Thank you, Grace and Christina!  And special thanks to Anita Marcial and Heather Brooks for planning my visit!

Then on to the Kentucky Reading Association Conference in Lexington last weekend.  Thank you, Laura Crafton for the invitation!  And finally, this upcoming weekend, a one-day workshop on "Writing for Younger Readers: Finding Your Voice" at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD.
   Starting next week, I will be home for the winter to write.  Aside from a trip to Morgantown for a very special book signing with a guest appearance by West Virginia fiddle maestro Jake Krack on December 10th and a school visit to a local school later this month, I'll be finishing a revision of my novel.  It IS time!