First day of school

I have never been a fan of New Year's Eve. Something about all that forced excitement and anticipation just never worked for me. But the first day of school? That still makes me tingle with hope. Here in Rhode Island, I've started to see yellow school buses again. Kids in new clothes. Even cooler temperatures. A new year. For me, I'm starting anew in many ways. After seventeen years, I've moved from lovely 1792 Colonial home into a loft in a renovated factory across town. On the snowy April day in 1993 that I moved from NYC to Providence, unfamiliar with its neighborhoods, I chose an apartment in Fox Point because I could walk everywhere and it looked slightly shabby. But it had loads of trees that blossomed that May in a burst of pink and white. And all those Colonial homes in between triple decker and small aluminum sided houses. I raised my kids there, and I often think I can still see Grace's footprints on the path to the playground. I walked that path every day, Sam and Grace running ahead of me, our puppy Zuzu tugging on her leash. Now Sam is out of college pursuing his acting dreams. Zuzu is a blind and deaf but still zippy fifteen year old dog now. And Grace, my funny smart little girl, is fourteen years gone from us. I walked that path with Annabelle too, Zuzu beside us. And now Annabelle is in middle school, my French speaking, book a day, traveling buddy. In so many ways it pains me to leave that house, that street, that neighborhood. But life keeps throwing challenges at us, no matter how hard that is, and we can choose to have them defeat us, define us, or help us grow. Once again I've chosen the latter. A marriage ending. A farewell to my home. A new start. At almost sixty not many people have the opportunity for that. Annabelle and I are unpacking boxes, choosing furniture, eating dinner on the coffee table, and looking forward to an exciting future. Our new neighborhood is more urban, more gritty, with new restaurants opening at a rapid rate and a new bookstore coming in November. Books are on shelves. Art is waiting to be hung. And school starts tomorrow. 

Heading West!

What an exciting August The Book That Matters Most and I are having! People Magazine, USA Today, The Library Association, and IndieBound have all selected The Book That Matters Most as their reading picks. I've already started my sixty book club visits (32 to go!) and have had wonderful events in Newport, Providence, and Westhampton. 

Tomorrow I'm heading to LA and San Francisco. If you're in or near Pasadena come see me tomorrow night at 7 at Vroman's; if you're in the Bay Area, come see me at Bookshop West Portal in San Francisco at 7!

Pub date nears!

I'm so excited for my new novel, The Book That Matters Most, to enter the world! 

August 9 is the official pub date, and today I start my book tour, which will take me from Cape Cod to Pasadena to San Francisco to Columbus, Ohio to New York City to Burlington VT to Boston to Miami and Sarasota FL...you get the idea. Check events on my website for all the details. 

What a lovely week Annabelle and I had in Paris:

And in Dingle, Ireland

And then I came home to celebrate Sam's play, SOURCES OF LIGHT OTHER THAN THE SUN, that he wrote and staged at The Hudson Theater in NYC this week!

His fabulous cast:

Proud mom here!

Pub Day!

The Book That Matters Most is officially out today! I'm teaching in Vermont, and my lovely workshop brought mimosas to celebrate. 

Paris!

Food Glorious Food!

Greetings from steamy Paris! It is very hard to complain when I'm in a lovely apartment in Montorgueil, eating great food, and seeing great friends. Still. It's hot. Hotter than hot. I'm sweaty and crabby and unable to run around as much as I'd like. Ok. Complaining done. And I just heard the rumble of thunder! Maybe relief is on its way. 

At the end of this post you will see pictures of the fabulous food I've been eating here. Onion soup. Escargots. Crepes flambé. Croque Monsieur. Cheese and bread and jambon. How I love Paris! 

I had the great good luck to give a lecture and reading at NYU here. And to meet for consultations with 14 wonderful MFA students. And the great good luck to be in Paris as the same time as Melissa Coleman  (she's in Knitting Pearls!) and Helen Schulman. To see my former RISD student who lives here and always helps me find groovy apartments in the best hippest neighborhoods. And to have Annabelle and our most wonderful babysitter here with me. (Those two went off to visit friends in Grenoble, the lucky pair). 

Alone this afternoon, I went to five cooking supply stores. I bought fun accessories and tools and managed to shop and browse for three happy hours. 

Still ahead: haircuts. Knitting stores. Steak frites. Musee d'Orsay. Fabric shops. Pompidou. Then: onward to Ireland!

Now for those promised photos!

 

Goodbye Chautauqua, Bonjour Paris

Annabelle and I continue our nomadic summer today by packing up our latest digs, driving 8 hours back to RI, waking to do laundry, take care of business, visit Gogo, repack, and go to Logan for our flight to Paris. 

We had a great week at Chautauqua. We got to visit old friends, make new ones, learn to make an omelet and ride a bike to and fro alone (well, one of us did that). My workshop was absolutely terrific. Such thoughtful, warm, talented people!

Here's one of those omelets:

And here's some good news for The Book That Matters Most! Library Reads chose it as an August read! As always, grateful that what I write is reaching so many people. 

Cape Cod, Chautauqua

After a lovely week teaching at Castle Hill in Truro, Annabelle and I landed home for just enough time to have dinner in the backyard, do laundry, and repack. This morning we are heading to Chautauqua where she will take classes in Robotics and Code Breaking while I teach. So different than her afternoons in Truro making objects with shells and driftwood! Our days have such a lovely pattern. We both have work to do in the morning, usually over pancakes or eggs. No tv, and early to bed with books. As we drive, we listen to Book Three of The Penderwick's. And we've seen so many friends, so many glorious sunsets, and one drive in viewing of Finding Dory.