Karen Cushman

Wordstock in Portland was a hoot. Lots of great speakers and exhibits and panels, like ours. Here we are, talking about differences and similarities between writing historical fiction and fantasy: Ellen Howard has a new historical novel, The Crimson Cap, out next year; Susan Fletcher is the author of Shadow Spinner and the amazing Alphabet of Dreams; me, you know about; Joni Sensel is the author of The Humming of Numbers and The Farwalker’s Quest (see my post for 16 April 2009) and Mary Jane Beaufrand took us to Renaissance Florence for Primavera. All are pretty good talkers and even better writers, I recommend you check out their books. And if you are anywhere near Oregon, you might visit next year’s Wordstock. Lots of fun and lots of books.

Today is my birthday. After I get over the shock of being a year older, I will have a lovely time. My husband will bring me tea in bed and build a fire. I will stay in my pajamas all day and do whatever I want. That will probably include writing—we authors are a funny bunch. Happy birthday to you, whenever your birthday is.

Many years ago I used to make carrot juice for my two adorable blond nephews and as a result was christened Aunt Carrot. Now they are all grown up, still adorable although no longer blond. 

We all—my brother Art, sister-in-law CJ, nephews Christian and Kevin, their lovely wives Deborah and Becca, and my beloved husband—gathered together on San Juan Island to eat popcorn, see killer whales, and sing.

To celebrate the occasion, CJ made me an Aunt Carrot T-shirt.

I love my family but would prefer to watch whales when they are not snacking on seals.

Rosanne Parry and I are going to share the stage at the Wordstock Book and Literary Festival in Portland in October so I wanted to read her novel before I met her. Heart of a Shepherd is a lovely book about soldiers and ranchers in Eastern Oregon, people and place that couldn’t be more different from me and mine. And she scooped me right up and made me care about these kind, honorable characters—not wizards or vampires, ghosts or mutants—but ordinary folks, good folks, who love each other and their homes and their country. I cared so deeply about them that I cried as I finished the book. If you live in or near Portland, come and see us on Sunday, October 11. And on Saturday the 10th, I’ll be on a panel with Susan Fletcher, Joni Sensel, Ellen Howard, and Mary Jane Beaufrand. Come and ask questions. I’ll let Susan answer the tough ones.

On this day in 1969 Philip and I were married in the backyard of my parents’ home in Orange, California. A rabbi in an African dashiki recited the words to the Beatles’ “In My Life.” Philip wore a brightly colored velvet vest that I made him. I carried the dog, Dog, who wanted to be part of the celebration and wore daisies in my hair.  

There have been joys and struggles, the usual ups and downs, but forty years later he is still the love of my life. I am a lucky woman

I felt like a rock star this weekend! I was at the society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference (SCBWI) in Los Angeles with 1,100 other writers. And I got to hang out with other rock stars, like Richard Peck, Linda Sue Park, Sherman Alexie, Eve Bunting, Holly Black, Ellen Harper, David Wiesner!!! We ate rubber chicken and talked about writing and books for days—I can’t think of much I’d rather do. Sherman made us cry, Richard made us think, David made us wish we could draw, and Lin Oliver and Steve Mooser made us all feel so welcome we wanted to move in! My editor, Dinah, fed me shrimp and enchiladas, and Linda Sue took us to a Korean restaurant where I learned I like kim chi but jellyfish—not so much. I recommend you find people who love to do what you love and go do it with them. And rock on!

I have been reading the galleys for Alchemy and Meggy Swann. Galleys are manuscript pages printed just as they will be in the book but not cut and bound. This is the last chance to find missing words, misspellings, words divided inappropriately, and other such mistakes. It’s too late to do editing although I always find sentences I wish I’d written differently or totally the wrong words! It’s frustrating, but it’s an exciting time. The pages look almost like a book. I start to believe it’s real—there really will be a book. And reading the manuscript over reminds me of what I loved about Meggy and how annoying she can be, what a terrific guy Roger Oldham is, and why Master Peevish needs a good shaking sometimes!

Not only does Meggy have a cover now, she has her first review—from the wonderful Richie Partington of richiespicks.com. He says, among other things, “The first thing that you’ve got to know about Cushman’s latest piece of historical fiction—this one set in London at the dawn of the Elizabethan era—is that there are wonderful waves of high-spirited discourse providing balance to the dire predicaments in which feisty, differently-abled heroine Margret “Meggy” Swann finds herself…Page after page, the pre-Shakespearian London in which the tale is set is delightfully colorful—at least if you are having the thrill of reading Meggy’s descriptions of it and not actually having to live and breathe and smell and taste and step in it every day. Eww! …Ye toads and vipers! Meggy Swann’s coming of age story is way-fun and, thus, my trip through Elizabethan London was come and gone way, way too soon.”

I was delighted to read such a positive response. After all these years, sometimes I still fear that someone will shout, “The author has no clothes!” and I will be found out—a poor writer or worse, no writer at all. Funny how that still happens. I hope you agree with Richie and find that Meggy is lots of fun.

There is a rumor around that Johnny Depp was interested in buying the big cattle ranch in the middle of our little island, but the deal has fallen through. Too bad. I had fantasies of running into him at the grocery store when we were buying zucchini squash and socks, and I would convince him to make a movie of Alchemy and Meggy Swann. He would make a great dark-haired, dark-eyed, obsessed alchemist. I didn”t picture Master Peevish as a sympathetic or romantic figure, but Johnny Depp would have made him so. Farewell, Johnny. I hardly knew you.

This is Strawberry Festival weekend here on Vashon Island, sometimes called Mayberry on the Water. We have art and game booths, animal rescue displays, carnival rides, beer gardens, and lots and lots of food that is really bad for you. This morning was the parade led by Vashon Island Veterans, followed by the fire truck, antique tractors, politicians waving and cheerleaders cheering, tap dancers and samba dancers, the library cart drill team and—my favorite—the Thriftway shopping cart drill team. Every kid and dog on the island is welcome to join the parade and most of them do. The softball championship is happening at the park down the road, and around the corner are free puppetry workshops. We don’t grow strawberries anymore on the island but we do a great Strawberry Festival.