I picked up a cold in Minnesota, but given how sick I was the beginning of March, this little cold is NOTHING! I almost welcome a plain old ordinary cold (note that I said ALMOST). It hasn’t really kept me down. In fact, I’m almost over it already.
We decided to go back to Alaska this summer, only this time we’re going to take the kids! I’m so excited! Aside from the fact I’m kind of a baby about driving in snow, and they sort of get a lot of snow up there, I could see living up there. Really! I’d just have to live on the west coast where it rains more than it snows. But I could do that. I really don’t mind long strings of rainy days. In fact, I like rainy days (I know…I’m weird). So, I’ve been planning our trip! I wish there were school visit opportunities up there! Well, I’m sure there are, but it’s got to be really expensive for schools in Alaska to bring in authors from the lower 48, and why would a school choose ME over anyone else? But if one ever wanted to choose me, I’d gladly go! I could even be talked down on my fee just for the opportunity to see more of the REAL Alaska.
I’ll be speaking in Lawrence, Kansas in a couple of weeks. I’m visiting a high school during the day, then speaking at a conference in the evening. I don’t get many invitations to speak to high school students (my books aren’t really aimed at high school students), so I’m really excited. I’ve been revamping my school visit presentation to include much more of my process as a writer (since I’m speaking to English classes).
And that YA keeps nagging at me, so I think that’s probably going to be my next project. The project that nags at me the most is always the one that gets written next (though I’m talking to my agent about Anna tomorrow, so I’ll probably do another draft of that one first…). Hey, if I ever do get around to doing this YA (and it gets published), THEN I’ll have a book that’s aimed at high school students! (Though it’s not the kind of book that’s likely to get me invited to a lot of schools…)