Five for Friday

My friend Wendy Shang wrote once (in her blog? on Facebook?) about how psyched she was when she got her first ISBN number. I totally understood what she was saying this week when I got my own. It came with a note from the Library of Congress, asking whether I’d also written a book called The Shadow of Descent under the name of Maddy Rosenberg.

“Nope,” I said, wondering if Maddy had a grandmother like mine. “Not me.”

I thought Shadow of Descent sounded like it might be either a bodice ripper or a spy novel, neither of which is my thing, but I looked it up right away because I’ve been curious about other Madelyn Rosenbergs (although she could be a Madison) ever since I corresponded with an incredibly cool one from Seattle on myspace.

Anyway, it turned out that this Maddy Rosenberg’s work was not a bodice ripper, but this intricate art book. Her website contains more like it, along with some of her paintings. I especially liked her series on Brooklyn Brownstones.

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First week of school, I loathe thee.
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Wisdom of the ages: When you’re supposed to be working on a novel revision the best thing to do, clearly, is to become your daughter’s soccer coach.
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I had to change a line in a picture book this week to allow the artist to use a different color paint. The line had been one that I’ve always liked, but I think I like the new line I came up with even better. Still, tomatoes and floral chintz, I will miss you.
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Rain, rain, go AWAY.