For those who are interested, I promised to write a rather irreverent irregular newsletter which will talk about the creative process, publishing, books for kids and the sorry state of the world and any other topic that tickles my fancy, all in no particular order.

If you are receiving this newsletter, it means that you have already been to visit my website. This also means that you already know much about me -- how I came to be a writer, my family, what kind of writing I've done, where I get my ideas and so on. I'm glad. I love the way the new technology lets me communicate with so many of my enthusiastic readers and I love hearing back from you.

I intend for this newsletter to be a compendium of bits and pieces of my life and thoughts. A small window, if you will, into the cluttered attic of a writer's mind. In the old days, that attic might have been filled with books and bits of manuscripts and clunky Underwood typewriters because writers only needed to worry about writing. Now, it seems, the attic is filled with contracts and airplane tickets and makeup kits because now we have to be lawyers and businesswomen and publicists and tour operators as well as creative creatures. This makes me feel gloomy, I admit. I wish that the success of a book didn't depend so much on what TV shows an author has been on or how successful a writer is as a public speaker. I keep wondering how Dickens would have handled that task -- or Faulkner -- or Emily Dickinson -- or the painfully shy Carson McCullers.

I am particularly aware of this problem right now because I have just finished the book tour for ISLAND JUSTICE, my latest novel for adults and I am "going to ground." By this I mean, I am clearing out the last of the business work and preparing to research my next novel. Where do I do that research? Inside myself. I will go to my studio where there is no fax, phone or e-mail. I will read some poetry, stare out the window, take too many trips to the fridge, feel useless as the rest of the world bustles about, doodle on a pad, scribble some nonsense in my journal. And wait. As E. B. White wrote, "Be still, more will come." I will lie in wait, hoping that the more will come sooner rather than later.

So much for the current state of my creative life.

News from the publishing world continues to be about mergers. Soon there will be one publisher left to get out our books. It's discouraging. Too many talented editors have been driven out of the business by the bean counting, corporate driven, bottom line attitudes.

But there's good news too. I learned on my tour this summer that people still love to read books, that they still make time for reading despite their busy, overstimulated, stressed out lives. And that more than anything else, in fiction, they are listening for a clear strong storytelling voice.

Check out my News and Events page for details about my upcoming childrens books. If you are a teacher, drop into the In the Classroom page and tell us of your experiences teaching my CASTLE books in your classroom. Meet other teachers there and dialogue with each other about your common interests. Encourage your kids to visit the Castle Club on my website. I'd love to hear what they thought of my books and to see some of the art they might want to show me.

Or leave me a message on my message board 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.

Thanks for listening. I can't wait to hear from you.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"...young people are being offered a steadily dwindling vocabulary which limits their freedom to think conceptually. We think because we have words, not the other way around, and we owe children the very best language available."
-Madeleine L'Engle