Archives - Weekly Update

I got back from my trip to Philadelphia on Monday afternoon. On the drive back, I spoke with my mother on the phone and she asked if I “wasn’t cutting it a bit close to Thanksgiving to be getting home.” My reply: “Wednesday would be cutting it close!” Thanksgiving dinner requires very little ingenuity. It stars the turkey, thus the main dish is all figured out. Yesterday morning I hunkered down with my notebook of “what I made last year” telling myself that tried and true will be just lovely. There is no need to get all creative here this year. I have the cookbooks all lined up; I am sure since I never have been wise enough to use one of those cookbook protectors (I own two), the stained and splattered pages of Thanksgivings past will flop right open as required.

This is the fourth Friday that I have been traveling. It’s been a different city every week, thus I have been writing you from various hotel rooms and airport lounges. Today I am tapping away as I sit on a chaise in my hotel that feels very swanky and chic, and reminds me somehow of film stars in the '50s. I have a wonderful view of Philadelphia out my window, and I am enjoying watching the city come alive as I type. This is a “repeat hotel,” meaning I have been here before. Traveling as much as I do, I love it when I repeat hotels that I like. It just makes it easier. I remember where the pool is and how to get to the convention center. It saves time. For amusement, yesterday when I plugged in my GPS to drive here, it first told me it would take 20 hours to arrive. I thought Philly had moved until I realized that “Fiona” (as I call the British chick who chirps my directions out) thought I still was in Miami! She needed a few moments to reorient.

I am in Miami for the Miami Book Fair, one of my favorite events of the year. This is my fifth year attending this wonderfully jam-packed weekend of author talks and book conversation. My schedule started with a dinner last night with panelists for the Day of Comics and Graphic Novels Education program, and I am jotting this note before I head over to that since I know this day will be hectic. I actually hopped into town on Wednesday to score some much-needed reading time by the pool yesterday. The way I see it, reading is wonderful, but reading by the pool is just over the top. And I had a HUGE stack of reading to do, thus I needed a big pool to sit by --- and my hotel has a 110’ one. And yes, this does make sense to a reader who is a swimmer.

As I am writing this newsletter, I am preparing for a quick trip down to Charlotte where GraphicNovelReporter.com is co-sponsoring an event at the American Association of School Libraries tonight. In what I see as a version of reverse Pictionary (which I am very bad at!), a group of graphic novel creators are going to be drawing on the spot based on scenarios that are given to them by the audience. It sounds like a lot of fun, especially to a girl who cannot draw a straight line with a ruler.