I returned to the long-delayed novel today and was happy to discover that it had not evaporated from my brain. (7,000 words to date) Continuity with a project is a problem when one is flitting off to a conference or workshop or school. I recall asking my friend James Giblin how he managed to be so many places at once and also produce such well-researched and written nonfiction. "Blocking," Jim said. "I block out time on my calendar to research and write, and nothing interferes with it." There's a lesson there.

It's the monsoon here in Tucson. I trust Colorado--where I will go next week to write--is getting a bit of the moisture.

To quote Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home." Indeed. The week at Chautauqua was magical, even if the trip home tested one's patience. (American Airlines no more!) Kathi Appelt, Candace Fleming, Kelly Milner Halls--stellar writers all--kept their audiences spellbound. Bruce Coville--what can one say about Bruce, except that he's a writer's writer, a speaker's speaker, and a genuinely warm, caring (and funny) gentleman to boot. He was the heavenly cream cheese frosting (My favorite!) on the cake called Chautauqua.

This Chautauqua was bittersweet for me. Long ago, Kent Brown and I came to an agreement that I'd serve on faculty every other year, and it has been an honor, privilege, and education doing so. But 2007 also marked my last Chautauqua--at least for a time. As I told Kent, it's time to share the Chautauqua faculty experience with younger blood. It is also time for me to refocus. So for all the wonder and magic that Chautauqua is, I am looking forward to diving into new projects that I hope will be as spiritually and emotionally rewarding. I will continue to support the Highlights Foundation--which funds scholarships for deserving beginning authors who otherwise could not afford the opportunity to participate in the conference--by auctioning off an "expenses paid" elementary school visit at the foundation's annual auction. (So educators who are interested in a dynamic school visit and who plan to participate in a future Highlights Writers' Conference at Chautauqua should check with their administrators to clear a bid. The foundation is a public, not-for-profit 501.c3 corporation. This year's winning bid--$1,300, if I recall correctly--went to a librarian at a school in southern California.)

Now it's time to do laundry, clean house, play with Kubric, pack for Colorado, and--perhaps most important of all--WRITE.

Atlanta...Buffalo...Chautauqua.

FINALLY, I think the monsoon (our primary rainy season) may have arrived. This morning at around 4:00 I heard the distinct crack of thunder and saw a bright flash of lightning. This was followed by more thunder. More lightning. (Actually thunder and lightning happen the other way around, but I heard before I saw and it's my story anyway.) Then twenty-eight drops of rain fell--a prelude, hopefully, to more and heavier and abundant rain to come. The wonder of the monsoon is that the temperature can drop ten to twenty degrees in an instant and Tucson's many "rivers," that are dry most of the year, will swell from bank to bank in seconds. Kubric (the schnauzer) and I had a wonderfully cool walk along the Santa Cruz River (still dry) which cuts through our barrio.

The novel is stalled while I put finishing touches on my Chautauqua talks. I'll return to it when I get back from New York and with a little luck, it won't have evaporated from my Pooh-like brain. What I wouldn't give for three months of uninterrupted writing time!

I picked up a rejection yesterday--Grrrr! At least it was a "positive" rejection: "It is a sweet, funny story. It made me laugh. I did pass it along to the other editors here to get their thoughts and they liked it too." I'm forced to ask, "So?" But I also understand that the picture book market is incredibly weird right now. It will find a home--eventually. (But I also will admit to hating two words in the English language: eventually and temporary.) At least I could decipher this rejection, unlike one I received in the spring on a different project that said, "This story made the entire office break out in laughter. It's guffaw funny, but too sophisticated to blend with the other titles on our list." Did this mean that their list is unsophisticated? Unfunny? Did it mean that the titles on their list are all essentially the same story? Rejections! You could make a book out of them and what they might mean. Hmmmmmm.

Well, I need to figure out how to pack a pair of jogging shoes and a sport coat into a suitcase that is already over-packed. Salud!

People have asked if the title of my blog page is correct, suggesting it might be more proper to call it "Write Wrote Written." Technically, they're right, but I view writing as an active process. It's a process that should be on-going. My view of book publishing is that you WRITE and WRITE and WRITE . . . and if you write long enough, you will have WRITTEN a book. Hence, "Write Write Written."

I'm readying for the Highlights for Children Writers' Conference at Chautauqua (New York)--My workshop sessions, one on Ideas and the other on Point of View, are ready. My Wednesday morning general session keynote is prepared. Manuscript critiques are set to go. Now all I have to do is get psyched up for the journey there and the week that will follow. This will mark my fourth or fifth season on faculty, having agreed some time ago that I'd be willing to do it every other year. Chautauqua is a magical place--for conferees as well as faculty--but I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to meet the demands of preparation. The ideal would be to go there and spend a month without any obligations, other than writing. Funny thing about ideals: they seldom match reality.

Two copies of my latest book arrived the other day. It's everything I'd hoped for, and more. Colorful. Over-sized. The problem with books, though, is if they'll get noticed. I'm hopeful, as it's about the architect of the civil rights movement, Bayard Rustin. When I first saw Rustin's name in a footnote, I had no idea who he was. But the footnote indicated that he'd fought Jim Crow by refusing to surrender his bus seat a full ten years before Rosa Parks. That sparked my interest. Why was one acclaimed and the other forgotten? Further research led me to fact that Rustin was largely a behind-the-scenes worker--training a gun-toting MLK, Jr., in the finer points of nonviolence and organizing the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Although its catalog listing suggests it is for grades 3 and up, I think it's more appropriate to grades 5/6 and up.

It's 8 July. I survived another July 4th, this one beneath the fireworks display on A-Mountain during what must surely have been the hottest week in Tucson's history. About that pyrotechnic display, I can say it was a little disconcerting to look out from my balcony to see the hillside in flames. Fortunately, Tucson staffed the area with fire fighters so that the entire slope sprang to life like a larger-than-life ant hill and the flames were doused.

This blog isn't intended to be a serious discussion of world affairs or even a serious look at the world of letters and/or children's books. Instead, it is a now-and-again blog about my writing, thoughts, travels, works-in-progress, and other this-and-thats as a way to keep in touch with teachers, readers (not that the two are mutually exclusive of each other), and friends.