Graphic designer Cindy Murphy is responsible for the new banner at the top of this webpage. D'you like it? With two new books coming out this month (The Middle of Everywhere and JunkyardDog), I wanted to update the banner -- Cindy came up with the idea of rotating the book covers. Otherwise, the banner was looking too crowded. Kind of a nice problem for a writer to have, though, too many books for one banner!!
On another note, I finally DID IT. I came up with an outline for the rest of the manuscript I have been working on since May. Though it felt like a chore and it was hard to do, I have to say I'm glad it's done. Today, when I got back to work on the manuscript, I started by taking a peek at my outline ... it's like checking a roadmap to see where you are headed!!
One more thing before I get back to work on the ms (short for manuscript): Tidying up my desk this morning, I found a quote I thought you might like. Unfortunately, try as I did, I can't find who said it. I got the quote from Penny Fransblow, my friend and children's librarian at the Jewish Public Library here in Montreal. (She'snot sure who said it either.) Penny uses the quote to help teen readers realize that everyone responds in his or her own way to a book. Here comes the quote:
"I look at reading a book as a blind date, and you know after, say, 20 minutes if this blind date is good for you or bad for you. So it's possible to leave a book after 40 pages. You simply say, 'You are very good, I am very good, but we are not a good couple together, and I will find myself another book to read."
Fun quote, no? Anyway, I hope that wherever you are, you are hitting it off with the book you are dating!!