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February 5, 2008
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Darleen and daughter Karalee.
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Hello my teacher friends and library media specialists! It's February and my daughter and I just rode in the Mardi Gras Parade. Oh what fun it was! Here is a photo of the two of us.
As you may have noticed, I have a newly revised web site per my wonderful web designer, Linda Bingham, aka macrogirl. She's worked tirelessly on my site to make it easier to navigate, to streamline it, and make it as visually pleasing as possible. I hope you like the revision. She's such a blessing to me because I sure couldn't do this without her help. Do you like the new clothesline theme? I happen to love clotheslines. Don't ask me why, but I do. Perhaps it's a connection to my growing up years in the 1960s when most of the moms in my neighborhood had clotheslines. Have any of you read the awesome picture book, Rosebud and Longjohn? Oh it's adorable. It's about a nightgown who falls in love with a pair of longjohns on a clothesline. It's an oldie but a goodie. Check it out if you're not familiar with it.
I have just finished the revision of my new chapter book, Annie Glover is NOT a Tree Lover, which will be out in fall of 2009 with Farrar Straus Giroux. This is a chapter book, based on a true story of a lady in Stillwater, OK, who chained herself to a tree to keep it from being bulldozed for a parking lot. This happened a few years ago and made the front page of the local newspaper.
I'm marketing some of my other previously written books ( my wonderful tale of Elmer McCurdy, the outlaw who was turned into a mummy and sold to the circus, a fun easy-to-read mystery written on a 2nd grade reading level; and a couple of picture books and a easy-reader written on a 1st grade reading level. I'm also trying to find an agent. Not much luck on either end, but hoping to soon find a new agent who will happily market my work to free me up for more writing. Marketing takes up so much of my time. Then again, so do author visits. But I so love my author visits. Meeting you and your students are a joy beyond words.
 That's the latest scoop-- I'm hoping to start a new book. Do any of you out there have any information about the 'traveling timber towns' that once thrived in SE Oklahoma between the 1920s and 1960s? If so, please drop me a line. I'm interested in that setting as I understand the entire town would relocate, including the doctor, the school teacher, and other important town members as the lumber men cleared the land for timber. I need to do more research on this subject.
Anyone out there have a great idea for a book? Send it to me. I'm always on the lookout for new book ideas. Right now I'm taking a break from writing to paint and redecorate my office and bathroom. When I write, especially under a deadline, it takes up sooo much time that I get behind in my other tasks. So this has been a much-needed effort and I'm enjoying the work. Of course, I'm thinking up stories in my head as I paint and visit Lowes and Home Depot.
Thanks for all you do for the students in your schools. I so appreciate you teaching other people's children--including mine! Thank you and happy spring!
Love to you all,
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