October 20, 1998

It's fall and the light is disappearing. Pretty soon it will be dark in the New York streets by four-thirty in the afternoon. Even though I haven't gone to school in years, I still feel as if I'm on a school schedule. (I always felt my birthday on September 14th was ignored because everybody was rushing around getting ready for school.) I used to like school in the very beginning. I liked examining my desk and locker and seeing which friends were in my class. I liked going to the drugstore and picking out my empty pads and new pencils and erasers. All of these untouched supplies held such promise. But by the end of October, I was back in the groove and school had lost that early tinge of excitement, that pledge of the new and unexpected. I wonder how all of you are feeling. Still excited or itchy at the sameness of the darkening days?

I'm writing to you from a little house right on the beach where I have come with a friend to talk about writing and to think about my next book. One of the things I like best about being a writer is that I am my own boss. I can go where I want and when I want. I don't have any boss telling me to be at the office at 9 o'clock. But there's a price to be paid too. I don't have a regular paycheck. Book writers are paid twice a year, on the first of October and the first of April. I never know what's going to be in that envelope when I go down to the mailbox. It could make me feel as happy as Christmas or as lousy as a toothache. Sometimes I worry that I'm going to run out of ideas completely. But most of the time, I like what I do. E.B. White who wrote CHARLOTTE'S WEB gave this advice to writers once: "Be still, more will come." I just have to keep reminding myself to be still. Anyone who wants to write for a living better learn to be alone and to be still.

By the way, we've made friends with a seagull. She waits on the railing every morning for her breakfast and at lunch time and at dinner and sometimes she waits on the peak of the roof all night for us to get up in the morning. We have named her Henrietta. She has two white spots on her black tail feathers. That's how we know it's her and that we aren't feeding a stranger. One day, she could star in a story.

I have started taking an art course on Friday mornings called PAINTING FOR THE ABSOLUTE BEGINNER. I think it's a good idea to try new things even though I feel like a total klutz at it. Today I drew a picture of a bottle and it looked almost round. That made me happy. I have been learning about the quality of the paints you can buy in the store. If you buy student quality blue and red and mix them together, you don't get purple, the color you are supposed to get. You get a muddy looking brown. This is because the cheaper paints don't include the metals that good paints do; the cadmium in the red and the cobalt in the blue. But I am definitely still a beginner so I will just have to live without purple for a while.

So now you've heard what I'm thinking about, let me know your thoughts and feelings and ideas. I'd love to hear what stories you are working on, how you feel about school or books or movies or your life or whatever else you feel like telling me. Be sure to visit the Castle Club on my web site. You can leave me a review of my CASTLE books there or post your own artwork on-line.

Or leave a message on my message board at the web site and tell me what topics you'd like to hear more about in this newsletter. Or what other information you would like to see on my web site. I think of a web site as an exciting way of reaching out and communicating with readers all over the world. Communication is a two way process. I hope to hear from you.