What I’m Writing…
I still can’t share the projects I’m working on but hopefully next time!
Meanwhile, this box arrived:
I knew what was in there and so my excitement level was high! Here’s what happened when I opened it:
I say it in the video but it’s worth sharing again. Holding your new book for the first time is one of the most wonderful feelings there is. This one took 5 years from idea to actual book!
The Stolen Child comes out May 7, but it’s available for preorder now.
What I’m Knitting…
A month or so ago, a pattern for a sweater caught my eye. It looked complicated, yet I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I emailed my friend Kay at MDK and asked her how hard it was. She said, “We’ve gotten rave reviews from early knitters about how easy it was and how well the pattern is written.” I took a deep breath, chose a color bundle, and hit Buy.
There’s no denying that the Crowberry sweater in the Moss Field Guide is gorgeous. But it’s cropped, and I’m not a wearer of cropped tops. And it’s got a longer hem in the back than the front. I like a regular hem. So I texted my friend Trudy and asked her how I could change the pattern. She said: “Just do a regular rib hem and then just knit in the round until you get to under arms split. Which is the next section after the part I circled on the pattern.”
Whoa! Not only was I knitting a complicated sweater, I was going to alter the pattern? Had I lost my mind? But then I realized why I was embarking on a project that would take so much concentration and focus. My heart knew before my brain that the anniversary of Gracie’s death is approaching. And hard knitting will keep me centered. I’ve cast on, and I’m grateful for the journey.
What I’m Thinking About…
On Friday’s I teach a Fiction Writing class at NYU in the Bobst Library. Every time I walk in, I pause and think of my twenty-something-year-old-self spending hours in there. I’d go to the shelves with all the Best American Short Stories and read my way through them, starting with the first edition in 1915.
Last week, I was meeting people at Emmett’s on Macdougal Street after class and I decided to walk by my first NYC apartment at 224 Sullivan Street.
Wow! When I lived here the building was painted pink. A former convent, it contained tiny studio apartments made from the nuns’ rooms. I looked through the gate into the courtyard and was flooded with memories of my young self, wildly in love, giddy with NYC, and writing my first novel, Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine. It came out in 1987, and has been in print ever since.
And also…
I’m writing this on the first day of spring. When I was little, my mom always had me welcome spring by stepping outside and saying: “Spring has sprung, the grass has riz, I wonder where the flowers is?” Give it a try?
My father would say "Spring has sprung, the grass has riz, I wonder where them birdies is". Who knows where he got it!
Congratulations on your new book. That must be an incredible feeling to see it.
I'm not a knitter, but I'm so glad it brings you comfort and happiness.
I just finished my first baby hat for a friend and daughter of a college friend. It goes with a baby blanket I finished a few weeks ago. I love to knit while binging on Netflix, etc and stick to simple patterns. Keeping the cats away from the yarn is a constant struggle.