Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Two yeses from New Delhi, and one from New York

It's official and I can spill! I've signed with Joy Azmitia at Fineprint Literary. She's fabulous, and I'm thrilled! And also I've placed two books with publishers in India--Starcursed (YA Historical) with Rupa Publishing, and Red Turban White Horse (YA Contemporary) with Scholastic India. They should both be out next year--yippie!!!

 But before then I have this thing called a DEADLINE. So--just like this hard working kitty, it's back to work!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Pictures from the NESCBWI conference

I'll try and post a recap of the conference tomorrow--too tired to get to it today...














It was nice to get back home...

..and go out to dinner with Chandra & the kids. :)

Monday, April 9, 2012

First Draft in sixty days

I'm not going to panic---yet. We're leaving for Australia on June 8th, and I HAVE to finish my first draft by then. So, I'll be writing up a storm and reporting here on progress, or lack thereof. I'm determined to get this done (and done WELL) before we head off down under!!!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Kitty

Our foster kitty got adopted, and I miss him!

He danced on the banisters. He pounced on the old cat. He chased the dog around the coffee table. He jumped on the kitchen counter top and the dinner table. He galloped around the house at 2:00 AM. If I had a chandelier he'd be hanging from it.



But he was adorable!!

Only, the old cat started hiding, and losing weight , and having accidents because he was too afraid to get to the litter box. We took him to the vet and found he had lost 2 pounds in a month and half. All the tests turned up nothing. It was just stress. We had dibs on Kitty but we couldn't keep him after all.

On Saturday I played with him all morning before bringing him to the pet store for adoption day. He knew where he was--I could see it in his eyes. It was very hard to leave him there, but when I came to pick him up at 3:00 PM, there was a family ready to adopt him. We told them what he liked to eat, and how he liked to play, and what a great cat he was. We exchanged contact information and walked away.

There was peace and quiet in the house, but I couldn't sleep all night.
Rakhan and Yogi, enjoying a Kitty free afternoon.
The next day the new family called. Kitty had escaped as soon as they got home and lodged himself behind the boiler. They could see him with a flashlight initially, but not any more. What to do?

I offered to come talk him out, if he didn't come out by evening. He didn't. So I went over. The dad showed me to the basement where they'd set up his litter box, food, water, and blanket. I called Kitty just the way I did at home. After a while we heard a tiny meow. Kitty was out, just like that, purring like a motor boat. I grabbed him and the dad locked up all access to the boiler room and crawl space. Poor, poor, Kitty. He ate his food, he used his litter box, he walked round with his tail up exploring and playing. He met the two little kids and the sweet old dog in his new family. And then I had to leave him again.

His new family is so nice, I'm sure he'll be fine. We've promised to stay in touch. But as I sit here and type, it's a little too calm around here. Rakhan, our old cat, is out and about, taking his ponderous strolls from sunny spot to sunny spot, and finally eating his kibbles. But I miss Kitty dancing on the banisters.
Have a great life, little one...

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Ayesha


It's been a year, though it doesn't seen possible. Thinking of you today, Ayesha.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

First draft mode

I'm back to pushing the wordcount on my nanowrimo novel. Some good advice below. May have to neglect the blog again to avoid pitfall #4.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Revision done!

My revision is FINISHED, and my fulls are OUT with agents again! Cross some fingers for me!