I\u2019d started working on a new middle grade novel just before the trip, one that I was (and am) super excited about. It draws on a lot of things from my childhood, more so than other stories I\u2019ve written. I can\u2019t wait to go back to Valley View Drive in my mind. But while I was on the trip I started thinking about a novel I\u2019d started writing a few years ago and couldn\u2019t quite finish. I stopped somewhere just before the middle, when things were getting complicated. That novel happens to be set in Maine and there I was with the lupine growing by the roadways and people hawking mussels and blueberries and the lady at the post office counting the days until the tourists left. The water was clear and the message in my brain was clear, too: I have to finish that story. So I took copious notes. I looked and listened. I found some crab claws in a tide pool, which I tried to bring back with me because crab claws figure prominently in this story and I needed to know how long it took them to dry out and stiffen. Only they made the trunk smell horrible and my children couldn\u2019t go around in Crab Clothes all week. I abandoned them in Portland. (The crab claws, not the children.) Now I\u2019m home again and I\u2019m still not sure what to write next. <\/p>\n
Both stories, I know that. But which comes first? They both keep rolling in front of me, plots and characters, Virginia and Maine. Waves of mountains. Mountains of waves. You know you haven\u2019t blogged in awhile when you can\u2019t even remember how to log in. I\u2019m writing this in word, hoping to figure things out later when my eyes aren\u2019t bleary from the road. Just back from our summer … Continue reading ![\"IMG_2006\"](\"http:\/\/www.squealermusic.com\/madclips\/wordpress2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/IMG_20061-300x225.jpg\" "\\"IMG_2006\\"")
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