Archive for March, 2010

Epilepsy…

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

I have epilepsy.

I have had seizures since  I was a tiny little thing.  The very first was the most horrible.  It was bad. Very bad.  I will spare you the details and just say that I am beyond lucky to be here, and able to type this for you.

I have been blessed to have wonderful doctors, and supportive friends and family.  As I’ve gotten older I’ve (blessedly) outgrown my seizures for the most part. But not entirely.  Regardless of this, epilepsy is/will always be a part of who I am, a formative piece of my identity as a person, mom, writer.  It has not gotten in my way, much, and it has informed my understanding of the world, greatly.

I think growing up with a condition like epilepsy makes you understand the limitations of the body. Makes you grateful for what the body *can* do.  But also for the fact that there are times you’re not in control.  Things you can’t do. And that’s okay.

We are all human.  Electric.  Some of us more electric than others…

March 26th is Epilepsy Awareness Day, and I wouldn’t have known that but for Bookscoops! Join the movement. Check out her blog!  Read a book!  Wear purple!

Dispatch…

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

… from the land of overthinking, that dark forest full o wraiths, also known as “Laurel’s brain”).  Brought to you by the Boston Globe!

I sat there in the basement for a bit, and thought about the strange journey fairy tales have taken, from the book I held in my hands to recent novelizations of fairy tales for increasingly sophisticated “young adult” readers. These new books are rooted in old stories and fables, but written for today’s teens. They’re not so much retellings as spinoffs.

On fairy tales, trends, and the disappearing middle grade…

Blogocide by Twitter…

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Happy Spring!

Unless you’re my blog. Because I think Twitter is killing this blog.  I spend all my”Hey, I was just thinking ’bout sumpin!”  energy over on Twitter. Then I pour my “serious sit down and write” energy into my WIP. Then I do some laundry and make dinner, and meanwhile, there are tumbleweeds over at this poor old blog…

But that makes me sad. I’ve been blogging forever. FOREVER! It feels that way, at any rate. I’ve been blogging ever since Sarah and I got home from SXSW in spring of 2001.  I’m sad to let go of it.

Blogging has been a huge part of my publishing life, and a huge part of my community life for the last decade.  It pulled me out of a pretty hard year, once upon a time… I can’t imagine NOT being a blogger…

But is there anyone who reads this blog who doesn’t follow me on Twitter or Facebok? Anyone who really checks in with me this way?  I wonder…

Still, while I’m here, I should catch you up a little! Life is busy, as usual.

I’ve been hard at work on BREADBOX (the magical middle grade novel about seagulls, divorce, Atlanta, Baltimore, and a red breadbox), and I think it’s going  well.  I’ve also been tweaking some Jewishy picture books, a few of them actually publishable (more on that later). I’ve also been writing a few OpEd type things for various places (check your Boston Globe this Sunday if you’d like a reason  to get mad at me).

In more personal news, we’re teetering on the edge of a big decision at our house.  For six years we’ve been in Atlanta, but for the most part we’ve been assuming we’d move home “soon”–either to Iowa or to Maryland, or at least closer to one of them.  This has kept us in a kind of stasis .  Not wanting to invest too much energy in the house, etc. We haven’t fully rooted ourselves.  Now we’re thinking about doing just that. Rooting. Blooming where we happen to have been planted.  More on that soon. If it all works out!

What else to say?  It’s spring in the south.  Things are beginning to pink and yellow and green up here in Georgia.  The kids are great.  Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, so we Jewishy-Irishy types went out for the best corned beef & cabbage I’ve ever eaten in ATL (thank you, Kirkwood Public House!)  Passover is coming, and I’ll be heading to Baltimore and New York after that, for BEA and a super important wedding.  Life is sweet.

How are you?