Archives - Weekly Update

When I left you, I was in the clouds heading to L.A. Once I hit the ground, it was one whirlwind of a trip. Friday I had a lovely lunch with Lisa See; we were thrilled to find fish tacos on the menu as we had dined on those in the Caymans a few years ago. Lisa shared stories from her months of traveling and meeting readers for her tour for the paperback release of SHANGHAI GIRLS, which took her across the country. We had great fun comparing the stores that we both have visited and talking about how interesting it is to meet readers as we travel. She’s working on the follow-up to SHANGHAI GIRLS and is so excited about it. I never quiz authors on what they are writing since I know ideas germinate before they can be shared, but she clearly is loving writing it, which means we should be in for a treat.

As I bang out this note, I am flying to L.A. I love long flights as they give me time to write, read and think. On the ground I always have something to do and some place to be, whereas up in the air I can stay in the moment. I am one of those folks not really jazzed about the thought of WiFi in the air. I need a few hours once in a while to pretend I am catching up; of course, when I land, I am even further behind. We flew above the clouds for a while there, which always is such an unreal experience. I think I see the snow-covered Rockies out my window right now. I am glad not to be dealing with snow!

I have long thought that Mother’s Day should be celebrated for more than a day. I think something like a month is in order. When you own a website, you can make that happen, even if your name is not Hallmark. Thus today we start our celebration of moms that will run through the week after Mother’s Day. Since the moms who are here are readers --- and those of you who celebrate them are readers as well --- we have a bookish celebration planned. We kick off with our Mother’s Day Basket of Books Contest. We will be giving away 15 baskets (up from our usual five), each filled with mom-pampering goodies and 12 books culled from the 36 featured mom-perfect titles. The way I see it, that is a book a month for mom! Read on for details, or click here. Check back Monday for a printable list of all our featured titles, which you can find on the contest pages.

I got back from the beach late Sunday night, spent Monday unpacking and sorting out paperwork I had shipped back from Seattle and Portland (and okay, lots of skeins of yarn, most of it shades of, you guessed it, turquoise). I walked back into the office Tuesday, and three weeks away evaporated pretty quickly. Every once in a while I look in a mirror and see I am tan and remember that I was away; I also have some really funky lines on my neck as I was looking down to read a lot when I was in the sun. It’s been that kind of a week.

Proving that I can write anywhere with my laptop, I am seated at the tiki bar behind the house we are renting on the Outer Banks tapping out this note on Thursday afternoon. As we rent this house in December and March or April, we never put the tiki bar to use, but in my determination to be outside as much as possible, this works as a spot to write because there is no sun glare. It's been a fun week here so far. My younger son brought one of his friends, Josh --- the one we call Son 2A --- and they have been having a blast playing golf with my husband and hanging out. Basically they move between the game room and their bedroom and emerge for meals. They are both big readers, and thus there is a fair stash of books between them, and Josh has been reading a manga series online. I took them to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid the other day, which I loved. They enjoyed it, but prefer the books. Loved hearing that!