I love kids

From a fan:

I think you've noticed that I like stories with stolen items or pets in it.

The Author/Editor Partnership

My FSG editor, Frances Foster, and I discuss our working relationship during the creation of The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester -

over on the Macmillan MacKids Blog.

Another cool doggie blog post

....from Jama Rattigan.

My indoor office

The rain is keeping me in indoors.

(Yes, Ruby has her nose in my slipper. Peeyew...)

Just testing

Just testing something here. Ignore.

Why it's so hard...

....to work on a rainy day with a bored dog in the house.

Jama's cool doggie post

Check out some authors/illustrators and their dogs.

If you love Scrivener

(and who doesn't), here's a nice little tip from author Scott Westerfeld.

Work in Progress Check-In

Slow and steady wins the race.

Right?

Another reason...

...to know your characters well:

Your dialogue will be better.

I just wrote:

"I bet Levi and them were lying," Stella said.

And when I was typing that into the computer, it hit me right away that it was wrong.

What Stella would say is:

"I bet Levi and them were fibbing."

[and that's such a good word "fibbing", isn't it?]

Why I love the UPS guy even more than before

Tooley Graham came to live with me!

The frog in my new novel, The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester, is named Tooley Graham.

He arrived at my house!

(Yes, that is iTunes on my computer. But I really was working. I swear. Just took a little iPod break.)



He's a puppet!!

Many, many, many thanks to my jewel of a friend, Grier Jewell. It's no secret: she's fantastic.

My office assistant

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I love kids

From a reader:

You have been my favorite author from the second I saw you.


I love kids.

It's not summer without...

....beer in the rear chicken!

Another dress dilemma

It's official! How to Steal a Dog is going to be made into a movie in Korea!

So, now, which dress should I wear to the premiere?

(You might have noticed that I always use the same photo. That's because it's too dang much trouble to use Photoshop and make a new one.)


Here's the official announcement:

Asian territory film rights to Barbara O'Connor's HOW TO STEAL A DOG, about a recently homeless young girl who plots to help her family move out of their car by collecting on a "Lost Dog" reward poster for a dog she will steal herself, to Hak Jun Kim (200 POUNDS BEAUTY, TAKE OFF) and Samgeori Pictures by Sean Daily at Hotchkiss and Associates on behalf of Barbara Markowitz at the Barbara Markowitz Literary Agency.

Uh oh

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Making progress?

I have moved on to my second notebook for my work in progress.


Ordinarily, this would be a good thing.

But this time, um, not so much.

Because I have a lot more writing in the notebook than I do actual manuscript pages that I'm using.

Which translates to a lot of writing not used.

A shower curtain for book lovers

This is kinda cool!

Why I love the UPS guy

Work in Progress Check-In

Oh, no....

She did it again!

I finally gave up and hung it on the fence. Hahaha!

Ruby Ruby Ruby

My husband is a Lawn Guy.

He recently had some sod put down in various parts of the yard that were not Lawn-Guy-Worthy.

There's this one spot by the grill that he likes a lot.

He waters it every night.

Today we were in the kitchen and I noticed Ruby running wildly around the yard.

I commented, "Ruby is running wildly around the yard." Chuckle chuckle

Then I thought, "Hmmm, I wonder why Ruby is running wildly around the yard."

Uh oh

Don't worry, honey, I'll put it back.

Oh, dear, it goes in that spot by the grill.
I'll fix it.

There! Good as new! (Sort of)

OH NO!!

You know my outdoor office that I love so much?


The wind blew the patio umbrella over and it yanked the glass right out of the patio table.

My "desk" became a gazillion pieces of glass beside the pool.

I am bummed.

Macmillan Kids

Macmillan Children's Books News

Work in Progress Check-In

On the Road to Mr. Mineo's has turned into a multi-viewed point, multi-layered beast that I'm trying to wrestle into submission. It's been a weird and fun process that's taken on a life of it's own.

My problem is that it has pieces that need to fit together with a very smooth seam.

Can I do it?

See that red index card? That one showed up out of the cosmos while I was having a memory of my grandfather, whom my grandmother called Mutt.

That orangish card is called Little Brown Dog. I love it. But can I get it to fit into the story? I must. I will.

Dog days of summer

Queen Ann's Lace

This is one of my favorite flowers ever. So many childhood memories. Now I have one teeny weeny one in my yard. My husband will probably poison it tomorrow.


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A terrific new web site

ReaderKidZ is a great new web site for teachers, librarians, and parents, focused on middle grade books.

From the site:

Who are we? Some of us are teachers. All of us are parents and children’s book writers. All of us understand two basic truths about children and reading: Lifelong reading habits are established in early childhood, and children need what books have to offer. We’ve come together to establish a resource for teachers, parents and librarians who work with readers in grades K-5. On a regularly-updated basis, ReaderkidZ will provide new and exciting downloadable tools we hope you’ll use in promoting books to these up-and-coming readers.

Work in Progress Check-In

The view on my walk

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My office assistant

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