...my train wreck of a body for producing something so amazingly beautiful
...all of your sweet congratulation messages
...modern medicine (specifically epidurals and breast pumps)
...my wonderful husband (who's been Mr. Mom to Super-E all week)
...Super E who is now Super Big Bro
...and our sweet girl whose bubbles-runneth-me-over with baby love

Happy Mother's Day, everyone. I'm happy to report a smooth delivery and beautiful, healthy baby girl...I'm exhausted and promised my hub I'd be on the computer for less than a minute and back to bed, but had to let you know. Thanks for all the sprinkles of pixie dust...it worked!

xo,
Heidi

We're checking in to the hospital early tomorrow a.m. and will hopefully have our sweet girl with us by the afternoon! Please bring on the good vibes, traveling magic pixie dust, and prayers for a safe and healthy delivery. By the way, how cool is this? May 9th is Buddha's birthday! Puts a whole new meaning to the term Buddha Baby, huh?

Creating a unique teen voice can be challenging and it's often a difficult balance to maintain a sensitive, unique character voice who also consistently sounds like a realistic teenager. This is something a lot of YA authors, me included, struggle with so I was so happy that my friend, author carriejones, posted this eye-opening quote:

Andrew Karre, the acquiring editor of the teen imprint, Flux, told me, “Good dialogue is unmistakable, but it’s hard to say why. I think it’s a combination of natural flow and true inventiveness. For instance, the dialogue in FEED (by M.T. Anderson) is a lot more interesting than the dialogue in a lot of books with contemporary, realistic teen settings—where the author was trying to “get it right” with reality. I think Anderson simply tried to make it beautiful. Bad dialogue puts too high a premium on being “how teens really talk.” I don’t think we read to hear how teens or anyone else really talks. We could simply go to the mall for that. I think we read to find a combination of inspiration and invention. When I read, I’m not asking myself, “does this sound like a teenager?” Rather, I ask, “Is the author making me believe this character talks like this?””



I haven't read this yet, but I'm adding it to the ever-growing list.

Shakespeare said that, right? Well, ours is over and I'm happy to report I made it all the way through three dress rehearsals and two performances. My young actors were so shocked each time I made it to the theatre and were more worried about me having the baby backstage than they were about the performance. I told them it didn't *quite* work that way.

The shows were very fun, the kids did a great job and I have dozens of lovely purple and pink tulips from the parents. A publishing opportunity may also come out of it. I wrote the original script based on five original songs we had permission to use. The songwriter was in the audience and loved my script, so we may try and publish the show as a package!

New original musicals written especially for the 6-12 crowd are rare, and it would be so nice to spread this one around and give other kids a chance to perform it. So, I'm adding *one more tiny thing* to my list before Miss Babycakes arrives: write wonderful agent about the play.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

1. Two dress rehearsals down. One to go.
2. The inflatable yellow school bus my partner bought at a pool store works just as well or better than the original hand-made wooden one that fell off the creator's car and landed in a splintered wreck all over the highway.
3. In-laws arrival!
4. My sweet little E-man, who kissed my belly last night and said, "I love you, sister."

So many people are counting on me this week. I feel like a zoo monkey cuz everyone's watching to see if I'll go into labor and leave things in Complete Chaos. (Not if I'll fling poo at them between iron bars. Well, I don't *think* I'll do that anyway.)

Here's the run-down of my Last Week Before Baby To-Do List:

*Monday-Wed-Thursday afternoons: Full dress-rehearsals for our spring musical play I wrote and co-directed. I'm the "main director" meaning the kids look to me for all things cue related. Plus, I yell the loudest.
*Saturday and Sunday: The performances where they are counting on me to provide comfort, cues and yelling.
*Wednesday morning: Hosting writers group at my house (why I offered? Um. Insanity?)
*Wednesday afternoon: In-laws arrive for pre-baby/during baby/post-baby help (hooray!)
*Tuesday/Thursday mornings: Keep revising SEA (nearly finished with the line-edits, due June 2, still have about 10 pages more to "trim." Feel good about the state of SEA. Have been working hard this whole time.
*Friday: E's buddy's family over for a pool/pizza party that I planned (see insanity note)
*Clean car/install car-seat/figure out if co-sleeper crib (like a one-sided pack-n-play) is set-up-able
**Stress over how I'm going to pick up E-man at soccer camp at noon on hot summer days with the baby in the car (honestly, this is what I think about more than anything! The camp is only 1 mile away AND I'm carpooling, I just can't seem to fathom the whole infant WITH a wild five-year old combo! Sends me into panic shivers!
a) what is she's sleeping? b) what if she needs to eat? c) what if she needs her diaper changed? d) should I install her carseat in the middle (recommended) or the other side so there's space between E's booster and her? What about E's carpool buddy? e) Must Buy a mini-van

When I was pregnant with E-man, I wouldn't have even considered packing my pre-birth week like this. I was more like a Scarlet O'Hara impersonation—me lounging on the couch, reading baby-care books, sweet spouse bringing me drinks—now I'm running around like a loon. I know it's the second baby thing and a Nice Try Now You Have a Huge Actual Life Thing, but still.


Oh, Rhett...please let me go into early labor so I don't have to do any of the above...

BTW, just so this post makes sense, Miss Babycakes is due next Tuesday, which my fellow debut2009 Ninja Thug Sarah aka: mistful says is a Magic Day! Fingers crossed. =D

1. Healthy karate-chopping baby is still hanging out where she's supposed to be. Less than two weeks to go now!
2. Tonight. GREYS and LOST BRAND-NEW! 'Nuff said.
3. Super E's old Superfriend is in town and we're meeting them at the park this morning. Yay old superfriends!
4. My agent *loved* the first few chapters of my WIP, Headgear Girl! She says it's good to go and didn't even give fix-it-up suggestions! We'll submit to editor after my revisions are complete for Sea! Fingers crossed, toes crossed, eyes crossed. Well, maybe not the eyes.
5. Revisions are going v. well. I'm getting v. used to deleting large passages of my blood/sweat/tears. If I ever do a panel talk, that's what I'm going to discuss: The Art of the Chainsaw and How It May Improve Thy Novel
6. The kids room is finished!!! Butterflies, fairies, pirates, and yellowy goodness. Extra props to Super E for digging the fairies and going with the flow. If he was a year older, I'm sure we couldn't have pulled it off. =)
7. Did I mention brand new GREYS AND LOST???

Have a great day, everybody!

Parenting Rule #1,564: NEVER give your 5-year-old-whose-on-spring-break the "NO TV" consequence for doing a very-naughty-thing when you are nine and a half months pregnant. The only person you'll be punishing is yourself. Because instead of snuggling up and watching The Water Horse as planned, you'll be doing this:



Basically, he'll be throwing balloons and you'll BECOME The Water Horse.

Today's my turn over at my beloved debut2009 to post a public discussion topic. I picked a lively (and IMHO) a very important one...sex in YA. How much is too much? How much is too little? Is it okay to leave things vague and up to the reader's imagination? Okay, no more spoilers...you'll just have to check it out for yourselves! The Debs came up with great answers, which of course invited more discussion...


http://community.livejournal.com/debut2009/63967.html
=D

1. Just in from a great Cassandra Clare notyourmothers event at Books Inc. She read from her third book, CITY OF GLASS, and unintentionally gave away some spoilers from the first two books (I haven't even finished book one)
BUT...one of her pieces of advice was to "read outside your genre," which I thought was quite cool because that's what I'm doing with her book! She suggested cross-pollination--mix it up a bit--and I agree. I didn't stay for a book signing cuz the big wee one was there showing off his cartwheels and somersaults to literaticat and besides, I thought it would freak them all out if I went into labor. Speaking of...

2. ...OB said today that baby is measuring a centimeter ahead of her due date...which means three more weeks instead of four...which means I'm more like 37 weeks than 36...

3. ...which means I'm SOOO very glad I spent the weekend and most of the morning revising SEA and that the room is painted and that I have NB baby clothes ready to go.

Inspired by sarah_prineas and melissa_writing I'm doing the "Books-I've-Sort of-or-Have-All-the-Way-Written meme.

1989-1990: Junior/Senior year of high school--melodramatic action adventure romance novel about a group of teens escaping WWIII by hiding out on a desert island. DO NOT STEAL THIS PLOT. =D I actually still love this novel and concept, and the hormone-raging writing--there's nothing like an actual teenager writing a book. It's raw and a mess, unfinished and a total grammatical disaster. Anyone want to publish it?

1990-1994: College: Short-story and screenplay stage. Short-story published, no novels attempted.

1994-1998: Play writing phase. Produced/directed a bunch of plays--some original, most adaptations. All fun.

1998: Middle-grade novel attempt. Novels are different than short-stories one realizes. Told from 3pov's, 1st person. Scholastic or Harper (can't remember) asked for a rewrite, then another...then I gave up. One big house (also can't remember) said they loved the voice and offered me a chance to ghost write a horse series...but I didn't...(me=lame) fast forward to...

1999-2001: My MFA in Writing for Children. I still had a bunch to learn and figured if we were getting all in debt from D's med school I should add to the educational debt-ness pot. I wrote an upper-grade novel ORANGE POPSICLE DAZE (still love that title--use reference in SEA), which I submitted (drum-role) ONCE and never submitted again...(me=lame) fast forward to...

2003: MY GRAY STORY--love this creepy book about emotional abuse. Wasn't finished but almost landed me an agent. This was when I thought it was okay to submit books that weren't finished or revised. (me=lame)

2005-2007: Wrote SEA. Finally figuring out the whole writing-as-a-career-thing. Totally focused. Wrote SEA to sell. Done with practice novels. Committed to not starting a new project until this sold. Commitment worked.

2007: Agent in June (July? Can't remember) Sold to Putnam in August.

2007-now: Revising

2007-Started WIP HEADGEAR GIRL. Will finish it. And it will not be too long and I will not overwrite. (Promise? Uh. I'll try).

Like everyone I'm learning as I go...

(me+learning from bumps and bruises along the way=not as lame as i once was).

The kids' room (I love saying that!) is being painted right now! I researched non-toxic environmentally okay paint for kids room. The goal is to look for Zero VOC's (whatever that means). I guess high VOC's are bad. Anyway, I found this brand and sweet hubby picked it up after work yesterday.

http://www.thefreshairechoicepaint.com

They sell it at Home Depot.

I'm so excited to decorate! =D

BTW, Delightful Daffodil is pale yellow...and for anyone whose seen JUNO will remember Jason Bateman's comment about painting the nursery yellow, "Why does anyone think yellow is gender neutral? Have you ever seen a man with a yellow bedroom?"

BUT...yellow is Super E's favorite color and when two kids have to share the same 11 by 11 foot space...you gotta go for it.

...and read the "How she is feeling now" section of my OB's prepare for baby booklet (meant to give husbands the freak-out heads up). It says something like, "In the last 4-5 weeks she will be anxious, paranoid, worried about getting everything ready in time, hypochondriachal and swelled up like a water balloon (okay, it doesn't list the last two things)--anyway, I was fine before I read it and now that I have I have ALL THE WARNING SIGNS!!!

Too bad I'm the only one who read it.

I woke up grumpy today after staying up way to late enjoying the NEW SHOWS (hoorah!) THE OFFICE was hysterical--did anybody see it? Jan is such a piece of work. Loved the scented candle therapy.


Watched E.R. too which I haven't done in three seasons...funny, Abby is still having drinking/recovery/relationship issues (which I thought was dull before and why i stopped watching),

is it normal for someone to pucker their lips that much while they are talking?

I have a pile of revisions to work on this weekend and Super-E is starting to hear the tick-tock of the "Soon my mommy won't be all mine" clock. Yesterday, he actually removed the hand of a little boy who was holding on to me and said, "My mommy!" Uh-oh.

Seriously? I look around and think, "How in the world am I going to add a newborn baby to my already maxed out life?"

I never should have read the Preparing for Baby booklet!

Have a great weekend, all! I know I'll cheer up soon and you guys are so nice to vent too. =D
We're going on a picnic after school w/ E's Supergirlfriend and it's supposed to be 80 degrees (here that inflating sound? That's my skin blowing up...and sadly, there are no ghostbusters to be found).

I'm thankful for my family (of course, always must be #1)
I'm thankful for my healthy pregnancy
I'm thankful for my awesome editor who just sent me the next big chunk of line-edits and is working so hard with me to make SEA the best book it can be. (No small task!)
I'm thankful that I can lay down when I'm tired
I'm thankful that for most of my life I'm "not" pregnant
I'm thankful that the super summer sports camp Super-E wanted had openings and that he's so excited to go.
I'm thankful that my hands aren't going to be swollen forever
' ' feet ' '
' ' legs ' '
' ' you get the idea
I'm thankful babe's room is being painted this weeked (non-toxic, natural, no worries)
I'm thankful someone-who-isn't-me is cleaning my house this afternoon)
I'm thankful for my awesome "support" groups: 2009debut and 2k9
I'm thankful my friend is loaning me her co-sleeper crib...speaking of which, I need to go meet her at school and pick it up.

Have a great day, all.


just wanted to gross you out. mine are no where near this bad!! (i hope, knock on wood)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080410/ap_on_re_us/polygamist_retreat

The whole story of very young teen girls being forced to marry and have children, often with abusive, much older husbands (who have multiple wives) is horrifying--but I thought these details truly captured how incredibly removed from society they really are:

Since being removed from the compound near Eldorado, the women and children had been sleeping in rooms crowded with cots in facilities in Eldorado, including the civic center and First Baptist Church fellowship hall.

"They huddled together. It was very obvious they were scared. They were non-responsive. They looked like deer caught in the headlights," said church leader Helen Pfluger, 59.

She estimates she spent at least 30 hours with the women and children over the weekend but said communications never rose above the most basic level.

"I felt like I was from Mars, that I was alien to them. There was not one thing we had alike, except that we were female and had children," she said.

Pfluger said the children dressed in 19th-century garb, did not know what crayons or breakfast cereal were, and that they were not accustomed to some of the food they were offered.

"Our food made some of the children sick. They are used to drinking raw milk and they asked for it," she said.

"When they had clothing needs, it was impossible to give them what they needed. Where are you going to find a long-sleeve, high-neck, loose-waist, long dress for a 3-year old girl?" she asked.

This entry will date me. =D
We were in college when Pearl Jam first came out and have been huge Eddie Vedder fans since. I mean, we luuuv him. Our friend's love him. And last night we got to see Eddie live and solo in Santa Cruz in a tiny venue and the whole night was completely filled with nostalgia from the second we drove into town.

We lived in Santa Cruz for years, went to college there, moved in together there, created our children's theatre there...the town itself has a huge place in our hearts, but every time we go we have Super E and it's not the same as us hanging out downtown, college style, you know?

So last night I was already so excited to be out with my honey. We met up with a group of our best friends, who've we've known since we were teenagers, and hung out for the afternoon just cracking up and talking about old times, and then went to the show where Eddie sings this song he JUST WROTE about Santa Cruz--about how going back makes his feet feel light and why don't I move to Santa Cruz? In the lyrics he also says, "Hooked up with friends I've known since we were seventeen--now we both have kids, but when we're together it's like we're seventeen again..." and that's how we'd been feeling the whole day! It was like he wrote it for us. He also sang Bob Dylan's version of "Forever Young," which made me cry. I'm going to write the lyrics in the baby's baby book because it's so perfect and she was kicking the whole concert! Eddie's grown up so much too, now instead of chugging something onstage, he's talking about being anti-war, pro-environment and passing out pamphlets about the surf-rider foundation. It's so cool the way his music has grown and changed and progressed, and how we've have grown and changed and progressed, but our hearts we are all exactly the same.

The thing that struck me the most was this crowd of our peers, now all grown-up with jobs and kids waiting back home, we all had the same look in our eyes...so happy with where we are, but also remembering how we felt when we were in our wandering-early twenties and traveling towards who we would become.

Thank you, Eddie. And please do move to Santa Cruz. =D



Look at Eddie and his baby girl!

My plan this morning was to buy all "essential" items that I did not get at my shower...you know, baby shampoo, diaper cream, NB (newborn) onesies etc. etc.

So I did.

But why oh why does the entire line of spring baby clothes (in two different brands) have to be pink with white and yellow flowers? You know I'm such a sucker for daisies...!

If "she" turns out to be a "he" I'm entirely hosed.

=D

My friend carrie_ryan another darling fellow debut2009 posted a link to this most chills-worthy post from her (obviously) amazing agent, jim.

he wrote this about searching through the slush for the perfect manuscript:

http://dglm.blogspot.com/2008/04/jim-mccarthys-reading-process.html

seriously, it is so awesome i almost cried.
and now i'm even more excited to read carrie's book!

My baby shower was last weekend. So much fun. So much ruffly pastel deliciousness, and just when I thought my rain of joy had ended THESE arrived on my doorstep!



So so so sweet. debut2009 fellow author and pal anywherebeyond was the dear sender. The bib is so rad. And the SEA hat? So awesome! What treasures!

Thanks, Miss Saundra--you're a doll.

=D