19 July 2010

Barleycorn the wonder dog has just qualified as a registered therapy dog. He'll take over from his co-dog, Siena, who—if there is such a place as dog heaven—has surely gone there. I’m glad my brother keeps me up to date on doings because all that is happening here is work, work, work—and an occasional episode of Inspector Morse or Foyle's War. The autumn will be easier. I am already looking forward to a fire, cups of hot milky tea, and lots of rain. Ahhh....

All of you out there, go and hug your favorite furry creature and say how much it means to you. Dog or cat, hamster or rat or wombat, throw your arms around it and say, "I love you and thank you for making my life so much richer." Do this right away, before you forget or are distracted. Do it in memory of Siena, the therapy dog, who just died at age ten.

I got an email today from the talented Rhonetta Robertson, a student at the Art Institute of Ohio in Cincinnati, who aspires to be a graphic novelist and enjoys drawing the characters from her favorite books. She's interested in doing a graphic novel version of The Midwife's Apprentice but I have way too much going on to take on another project. She kindly sent me her drawings anywayfor Alyce, Jane the midwife, and Will. Aren't they splendid? Don't you just love that snippy midwife with her sharp nose? Oh, how I wish I could draw!

	Riley and Leo, musical geniuses
	Eva and Camryn, singers

No, I wasn't captured by aliens and transported to a distant planet. I have been on book tour to ten cities, up and down the west coast, where I visited schools, bookstores, and libraries. I met hundreds of people and signed hundreds of books. Now I am home and can do my laundry, answer emails, and write thank you notes

The highlights of the tour were Riley and Leo, musical geniuses from TOPS school in Seattle, who played old Irish tunes to open the May webcast; Eva Cyra and Camryn Kim-Murphy of Vashon Island who sang harmonies so beautifully at the farmers' market and before my presentation at Books By the Way on the island; and the fabulous folks at Brook Haven Middle School in Sebastopol who were a great audience, asked interesting questions, and then fed Philip and me a pizza lunch. I'll go back there any time they ask me. But now I must try to remember how to be a writer and not a performer.

We arrived back home from my book tour (part one) and were greeted by the blooming rhododendrons and one of the apple trees in flower. Arizona is lovely in its rocky, desert sort of way but I missed all the green and the towering hemlocks, the budding fruit and even the weeds. Part one of the tour is over but there are a number of events yet to come. Next Tuesday is the webcast—be sure to sign up so you can participate. And Wednesday fifteen booksellers from Seattle and Vashon are coming to my house for tea and a tour. Then it's off to Portland, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. Stay tuned.

I have been in Texas on a book tour: Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. I learned a few things. Texas is very green (no tumbleweeds). No one in Texas wears ten-gallon hats. And everyone in Texas is incredibly nice. The folks at BookPeople took me to lunch. West Ridge Middle School in Austin presented me with a tote bag and and a tee-shirt (go Wildcats!) At Housman Elementary in Houston, Guusje Moore and her girls had a tea for us: tea and lemon tarts, fizzy punch and cucumber sandwiches. It was lovely and very generous. And in San Antonio it rained. Rained and rained. You should know by now I love the rain and was very grateful for it. Thank you, Texas, for everything. Now it's on to Arizona.

Thanks to those of you who tuned in for the webcast live from the TOPS K-8 school in Seattle, WA, about Alchemy and Meggy Swann. I truly enjoyed the questions and the time I spent with all of you.

Oh Pete the cat, you are my new hero. When things go wrong, do you cry? Goodness, no. You keep on walking along and singing your song. I need to think of you as I still struggle with revisions of Will Sparrow's Road. I am complaining and procrastinating and fighting myself instead of singing, “I love my new book.” And, Pete, I love your shoes!

Vicki Palmquist of Winding Oak asked me an intriguing question the other day: When you are writing historical fiction, do you worry about today’s child making a connection to earlier times? Do you make a particular effort to provide a connection?

I told her, no, I just write to tell a story, the best story I can. I think each reader will make connections in his or her (mostly her) own way. And sometimes they're surprising. I had a five-year old tell me The Midwife's Apprentice was a story about a cat. And a woman in Pennsylvania says she gave Catherine Called Birdy to a young girl who was hospitalized after a suicide attempt. After finishing the book, the girl called crying and said she felt exactly like Catherine, that she too had few options and opportunities but would figure out how she could survive and thrive, just like Catherine. Wow. That was a connection I could never have imagined. 

Happy Valentine's Day, a day for love and for D. Anne Love, my dear friend from the Atlantic Center for the Arts days. Dorothy has written a number of wonderful books, my favorites of which are Semi-Precious and the fabulous The Puppeteer's Apprentice. You haven't read those? You must! And speaking of love, she emailed me that she loved Meggy. Dianah, a bookseller at Powell's in Portland, also said she loved the book, and nobody knows more about books than booksellers. And there is a rumor of a starred review in Booklist. Love is all around! Hope you get your share.

Oh rats and drat and woe is me! Dinah, my editor, responded to the first official draft of Will Sparrow's Road and, as usual, I'm left in the slough of despond (I stole that phrase but isn't it grand?). My first reaction to her critique is always I can't do it, won't do it, don't want to change it, I don't know what she means! That phase lasts a few days. I have in the past risen above it, determined what needs to be done, and then done it. But with each book I think Not this time. This time I won't or can't and I might as well get a job at Subway. That's where I am now. All of you reluctant and confused and overwhelmed writers, you have company. I'll let you know if I figure out what to do with my story or if I am slathering mayonnaise on ham sandwiches downtown.

Here is generous praise for Meggy from the marvelous Kirby Larson, good friend and good writer:

From the moment Meggy Swann wabbles on scene with a terse assessment of her new living situation with her long-absent father ("Ye toads and vipers!), I was swept up in this robustius book. Cushman transported me to smelly, raucous and mysterious London in Elizabethan times with a deft hand and a exuberant use of deliciously old-fashioned words (gallimaufry! belike! laboratorium!). And she piles trouble upon trouble on dear Meggy—" her legs did not sit right in her hips;" her alchemist father can neither remember her name nor remember to feed her; she's blamed for a neighbor's fire and her best friend, a goose named Louise, is banished from the house for getting her head stuck in a beaker. Meggy's struggle to transform from a country girl to a city girl, from loner to friend, parallels her father's struggle to complete the ultimate transformation: turning liquid into gold and gold into an elixir for eternal life. Meggy is none too fond of Master Peevish, as she calls her father, but she does not want to see his head among those impaled on London Bridge. So what is she to do when she learns he may be involved in a murder plot? She engages in a little alchemy of her own, using words rather than elements.

In addition to being one of the best books I've read in a good long while, it is also very educational and has provided me with ample ammunition the next time someone cuts in front of me in traffic—I might call out, "Begone, you carbuncled toad!" or "A pestilence take you, you rump-faced knave," or even perhaps my favorite, "Go then, you writhled, beetle-brained knave!

I have recently reread a few books about medieval England that I found when researching Catherine Called Birdy. They were written long before most of you—or even your parents—were born and are fairly short, simple, and, I think, best suited for younger readers or for those wanting just a taste of medieval England.

Adam of the Road, Elizabeth Janet Gray, 1942. Eleven-year-old Adam travels through thirteenth-century England with his father, a wandering minstrel, and his dog, Nick. But when Nick is stolen and his father disappears, Adam suddenly finds himself alone. A Newbery Medal winner.

The Innocent Wayfaring, Marchette Chute, 1943.  A young girl of noble family runs away from a convent where she is being prepared for marriage or the veil and shares her travels with a boy who rejects a trade for  the freedom of the highways.

The Door in the Wall,  Marguerite De Angeli, 1949. In the Middle Ages a young boy crippled by the plague has an adventurous journey from London to a castle where he becomes a page, proves his courage, and earns recognition from the King. A Newbery Medal winner.

The Maude Reed Tale, Norah Lofts, 1972. A girl living in England in the Middle Ages wants to become a wool merchant but is sent instead to a castle to learn to be a lady.

If you are ever passing through the Portland airport, PDX to those in the know, look for my daughter, Leah Cushman, at one of the airport Powell's bookstores. She is a librarian who decided she was at heart a bookseller. She quit her library job, took a big cut in pay and very early hours, and now is up to her eyeballs in books. She loves the work, loves to recommend books and talk books and buy books and read books. Wonder where she gets it? You can follow her on Goodreads and Library Thing to see what's she reading and what she thinks. Leah may know more about books than anyone else I know.

It's 2010, and Alchemy and Meggy Swann will finally be out. Book tour plans are afoot. In April, I go to San Antonio and Austin, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and various places in and around San Francisco. In May, there's a webcast from Seattle. June will see me in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, DC. August I'm in Victoria, BC, and November at Harding College in Arkansas. And before, after, and in-between are visits to local bookstores and schools in Oregon and Washington. 

I am of two minds about all this travel. I love to meet people and talk about my new book and hear what they have to say. On the other hand, I hate airplanes, security lines, and having to smile all the time. I hope that Meggy and I have a good year and that your 2010 is happy and peaceful and full of love.