Karen Cushman

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.

On the radio the other day I heard Gary Snyder quoting poet Robert Duncan. “A poem” he said, “must have music and magic. Otherwise it’s just prose.” Just prose? Just prose? Prose is The Diary of Anne Frank and Goodnight Moon, Charlotte’s Web Jacob Have I Loved, The Runaway Bunny, and The Hunger Games. Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret, is prose, and Walk Two Moons, The Snowy Day, and The Graveyard Book. That’s prose—and there’s music and magic in there, too. In the prose. Just prose? Feh.

I’ve long been half in love with Sid Fleischman. That’s because I was half in love with my father-in-law, Alvin Cushman. Alvin and Sid went to high school together in San Diego. Sid used to get Alvin in trouble. Alvin and Sid were both slight, generous, gracious, kind, courteous, and honorable men. When Alvin died, I thought myself lucky still to have Sid. And now Sid is gone, too. If there is a heaven, Sid is there pulling quarters out of people’s ears and Alvin is sipping a Scotch and laughing. Good night, gentlemen.

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!

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.