Laurel Snyder

Hope, people.  And poetry, people. Poetry for the first 100 days.

Really GOOD poems for a really GOOD promise-of-a-new-age…

If you have hope, and poetry in your body or your soul…

You should visist this site!

Okay, so I am a TOTAL cuckoobird at present.  I don’t know what’s going on with me, but I have massive amounts of energy, and about eight trillion projects lined up.  Some of the projects are tiny and some are mammoth, but they all feel wildly important.  And most of them are at least a bit domestic.

Could it be that I am “nesting?”  Impossible!

Essentially, what has happened is that we have decided to put down roots in this area, at least for now. Finally!  And so I am funneling all of my realtor.com  energy (and if you know me, you know just how much of my time I spend on realtor.com)  into my little corner of the world.  It feels really wonderful to aply this energy more productively, to focus it on actual projects instead of hypotheticals.

Here are my projects, in order of hugeness (and not including a novel, a chapter book, and a poetry collection I need to write)

1. I want to put up a swing and set up a sandbox in the yard.

2. I want to get estimates for a nice patio of some kind.

3. I want to get involved with the new school around the corner. Volunteer, PTA, etc.

4. I want to create a playgroup in my n’hood with other parents.

5. I want a KABOOM PLAYGROUND in the little park down the street.

6.  I want to petition for speed bumps and sidewalk repairs on my street.

7.  I want to explore the International Charter School further.

8. I want to harass the cops daily until they do something about the sketchy (crack?) house on Cogar.

9. I want to invent my OWN school, a (Hebrew/Arabic language)middle school in Dekalb County, in time for my kids to go there.

10. I want to dream about larger house projects, things we can’t afford, but might do someday (garage, tile in kitchen, new floors upstairs, lots of closets)

It’s a funny feeling, this one. Suddenly I’m looking around at all the things that have driven me nuts for five years, and instead of seeing problems, I’m seeing solutions. WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON????

Anything you want, you got it!

I will see about getting you an “Any Which Wall” ARC pronto. Or an early copy, if the ARCs are all gone already.

You are a peach!

(Take note, everyone else. *This* is how you flatter an author into sending you free crap!)

I sold a new picture book.

Coming soon to a non-orthodox Jewish home near you…

“Baxter the Kosher Pig”

For real.  Honestly.  I’m *not* kidding.

Yip!

Sorry I’ve been away…

I am completely absorbed in thinking about my house, my neighborhood, and the fact that I need to find/create the right school for Mose and Lew asap.  So I am creating Facebook groups, joining online groups, trying to find likeminded neighbors, visiting local schools and PTA meetings, and generally being out in the world as much as possible.

I can’t wait for tides to turn.  I need change to come NOW.  In a big way.

Can we attend our local public school?

YES WE CAN!

Which is to say, DECATUR WRITES!!!

When, recently, we (meaning writers who happen to live in Atlanta) found out about the demolition of the staff at the Margaret Mitchell House, we were horrified.

Atlanta is not known for being the most supportive or well-networked city in the world, for writers. But at least we had that. The loss felt strangely enormous.   Community writing and children’s progamming are important, for literacy and culture, for community building…

And how could anyone expect, that in such dire economic times, anyone would be able to step in and fill those shoes?

Well, leave it to Tom and Daren!

Starting next month, Atlanta’s writers will be coming to Decatur.  For AGNES WRITES!  Check it out!

Which only makes sense… since while Atlanta could stand to improive its support for the literary arts, Decatur keeps showing itself to be a prime example of how a small city can do just that.  Little Shop of Stories is there, of course.  And Wordsmith‘s.  Not to mention the Festival.

THANKS, Decatur!

(Now, if I only I could afford to live in you)

Any Which Wall gets its very first review, from Reading Refuge, and it’s a good ‘un!!!

And then there’s Any Which Wall by Laurel Snyder coming out in May this year. It’s an homage to Eager in every possible way and made me eager (har) to do some re-reading. But Any Which Wall has plenty of charm of its own. Four kids–two from one family and two from another are on their own over the summer while parents are at work…

Tomorrow is my birthday.  I will be thirty-five, and so divisible by seven.  That doesn’t happen as often as you’d think.  I’m pretty thrilled about it.

I don’t have any issues with getting older.   I am where I’d want to be, and if I could pick any life, I’d choose this one (well, I wish I could be living *this* life in Chattanooga or Asheville, maybe, but that‘s small potatoes, really).  Of course, I worry about health and mortality, and all of that mess, like everyone. But as for wrinkles and grey hairs, bring em on!  I just figure that going grey is an excuse to dye my hair crazy colors as I get older.  Though it’d be nice to keep my teeth. I’m fond of them.

Tomorrow is also my fifth wedding anniversary, because I was silly enough to get hitched on my birthday.  At the time, running around Vegas in glittery shoes and sunglasses, it seemed like a good idea. Of course, now I have  to share “my day” my my husband, which means I never get to bowl on my birthday (he doesn’t appreciate bowling alleys, but that’s the only thing wrong with him. Swear!).

To celebrate, we’re going out to eat steak.  We share a passionate belief that if you are going to drop a packet on a meal, you’d better have the steak.  Otherwise, you’ll leave the restaurant saying, “That was pretty good, but I wish I’d had the steak.”  This belief is what cements our love).

And if that isn’t enough for you (it really should be) tomorrow is also Arbor Day in Jordan, Remembrance Day (of some battle I don’t know anything about) in Turkmenistan (which I also know nothing about), Youth Day in India, and Zanzibar Revolution Day in Tanzania.  Here in the US, anyone not observing my birthday is probably busy celebrating either National Pharmacist Day or Stephen Foster Memorial Day.

Happy Pharmacist Day, everyone!!! I suggest you observe the holiday with a steak (or bowling).

I don’t think I’m dreaming. The website is up so, I think I can reveal…

…that ANY WHICH WALL is a Junior Library Guild selection!

I’m kind of astounded by this. The book doesn’t come out until late May, and I wasn’t expecting any kind of “news” so early.  I wasn’t *really* expecting any kind of news at all, to be honest.

But! I’M A JLG SELECTION!  YAY!

For those of you who don’t know, JLG is a sort of book club for libraries. They’re an amazing organization, whose editors read copious numbers of books, and then select a lucky few to be included in their lists.  Libraries (and I think a lot of school libraries) can then order these titles, in sets, for a fee.  As I understand, it’s especially useful for smaller libraries, who don’t have the staff to read every ARC that comes down the pipe. So they order from JLG in areas where they have less expertise or focus.

Like, say I was a librarian in a small school, and the school had need for good books about cooking shellfish in zero gravity.  Now, I know NOTHING about cooking shellfish in zero gravity, and hence would not be able to identify the very BEST books about cooking shellfish in zero gravity. BUT  I’d be able to order the JLG set of books about shellfish in zero gravity, selected for me by someone who knows shellfish.

Okay, so that’s just silly. There isn’t a set of books about THAT.  But you get the idea…

I just read online that the lemon stick phenomenon is specific to Baltimore, where I’m from.

I always assumed that all kids who went to summer fairs and festivals enjoyed a good lemon stick. Is this untrue?

Where did you grow up? Do you know the lemon stick?