Whew, we're home!

It's been an amazing week! I have so many thoughts and photos to organize, but I wanted to jump in here and apologize for the absence (I've tweeted a little, but forgot to say to check the sidebar for updates) and to follow up on that last post, wherein I was pinching myself with amazement that Arthur Levine was coordinating his tie to my hair for the National Book Awards ceremony!!! I mean, in what dreamland does that happen?

Apparently, in the same one that this happens . . .

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OH MY GOD!!!!! ARTHUR LEVINE DYED HIS BEARD PINK!!!!!!

hahahahahaha! How awesome is that????

Everything everything everything was completely amazing, and I WILL be back with more photos! In the meantime, huge congratulations to Phillip Hoose for his win, and to Claudette Colvin, who must be very gratified to have her tremendous story recognized in this way. And to my fellow nominees: it was so great to meet you all! And to the judges who selected my book for this honor -- Nancy Werlin, Coe Booth, Gene Yang, Carolyn Coman, and Kathi Appelt -- thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And now . . . back to playing catch-up (and in a few hours, getting H1N1 vaccines. Phleh.). If you've emailed me, please be patient. Though I was on the road with a new i-phone, I'm too spastic a one-thumb typer to have kept up with correspondence. I will get through the 500+ emails over the next couple of days :-)

And thank you so much for all the happy wishes. This has been an experience of a lifetime, and I love all of you here who were supporters of Lips Touch even before it had a shiny silver sticker on the cover. Mwah!

Oh, wait. Some linkies.

Winter Blog Blast Tour at Shelf Elf; interview with moi. Thanks, Kerry! I love your intro :-)

And Winter Blog Blast Tour interview with Jim at Seven Impossible Things; thank you Jules!

The Oregonian story on us from last Sunday. Thank you, Jeff Baker!

And the wonderful review of Lips Touch in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Snazzy

If you had told me a few years ago that Jim and Arthur Levine -- Arthur Levine! -- would be picking out matching ties (to match my hair) for the National Book Award dinner, I would not have believed you.

*grins*

That is one photo I can't wait to snap!

Thank you

Thank you to everyone for your heartfelt condolences. I know this is something almost all of us share, the loss of a beloved pet. Reading all of your messages was really nice.

It's hard following up a serious and sad post like the last one -- it feels as though the follow-up ought to have some gravity too. I'd thought this would be a perfect time to attempt to put into words some of my thoughts and feelings on new parenthood. To follow a post about death with one about life. But I haven't had time to write that post. I will say this, though. A fun thing about having a baby that I'd never thought about is how it gives you an excuse to dance all the time. Wherever you are, if you're holding a baby, you're allowed to dance. To be honest, I never have the urge to randomly dance when I'm not holding Clementine, but with her in my arms: yeah. Who knew?

I've been busy trying to finish a new Laini's Ladies collection before going to New Yotk, and I'm almost there. Yesterday Jim had some kind of powerful urge to leave the house and started trying to lure me away from the computer to go shopping. (I have a husband who shops; I thank my mother-in-law for training him well!) Well, I held out. No, I said, I must finish my work. No no no. He tried every persuasive tactic; I held firm. He persisted.

Me (amused & a tiny bit annoyed): Stop it! Sheesh, you're acting like a kid.
Jim: No I'm not. . . . You are.

and

Me: Arg! Stop manipulating me.
Jim: I'm not. . . . But if you loved me you'd come.


:-)

A life of love

I'm so very sad to tell you that this week we lost our Leroy, our underfoot maniac, our grizzled old boy, our little love monster, at the age of 16.We are missing him terribly. Leroy had a way of making his presence felt like very few animals I've known.

He was a dog that wanted to have physical contact with his people at all times, if at all possible. That might mean putting his foot over your foot while standing beside you, or jutting his face into your lap while you're sitting on the sofa. It certainly meant trailing you from room to room, even curling up on the bath mat while you showered.

He was never quite so happy was when he was in the car with his people. He didn't care so much where he was going. He just liked for us all to be in close quarters, and if there were mysterious smells on the wind, so much the better.
This year he got a few good road trips in. You might remember Leroy's trip to California.


He also got a week at the Oregon coast, which included plenty of walks, and a commitment to never let a dead crab go unsniffed.

He was up for a walk in any weather.
And he was never ever off leash due to a perplexing dichotomy in his character. Though to people he was the sweetest dog in the world, other dogs -- as far as Leroy was concerned -- had no place on his Earth, let alone whatever street he happened to be walking on. Woe to any off-leash dog who ambled up to sniff hello to Leroy! Despite many reasoned arguments on our part that his life would be richer (he would get to go more places, sniff more things!), if he would just cease his efforts to destroy all canines, he never wavered. It was like a switch was flipped in his brain whenever he saw another dog: an ATTACK switch. Sigh. But with people? You never saw such a lover.

After the car, about his favorite place to be was crammed between the sofa and the coffee table.


He was keen on a good belly scratch.

In addition to several jumbo-size, mattress-thick dog beds around the house, any new thing to hit the floor became a potential dog bed.

Thanksgiving was a favorite day.
But Leroy did not have to wait for Thanksgiving for poultry treats. For the past several years, ever since his dog-sister Shiloh became ill, we have been in the habit of buying supermarket roast chickens for the dogs. We lost Shiloh a long time ago, but continued with the chickens. Leroy, spoiled boy, wouldn't eat a meal that wasn't fancied up with some meat.

I'm glad we got to spoil him as long as we did. It's just a sad fact that, no matter how much we love animals, their lives are short and we are doomed to loss. Many times in our lives, we will know this loss, but also this love. Not to diminish this love as an end unto itself, but I also think that loving and caring for animals helps to train us to love and care for people, and losing them is training too, for other losses that lie ahead. It's something I avoid thinking about as much as possible, loss. When my mind lands on it it instantly recoils, like a hand that has touched something hot. But loss and grief are a part of our lives, and just by loving someone or something you take a terrible risk that you might have to grieve them.

Of course, no matter what the risk, love is worth it. Life is about who and what you love, more than it is about anything else. And the purity of a dog's love is the finest example. Leroy's sweet face and his devotion were all about love. He might not have been a genius, but he was really really good at love. He had a long, full life -- lots of roast chickens and belly scratches and car rides and comfy dog beds and walks every single day and an owner -- Jim -- who was devoted to him right back, and who will miss him forever, as will I.

We love you, Leroy.

Alt Laini's Ladies

So, how I said there are a lot of great quotes that are unsuitable for Laini's Ladies? Here are a few. Enjoy!

"Is that a bullet-proof vest? See, now, that's so insulting. That's like saying I'm not smart enough to shoot you in the head."
- Janet Evanovich

"God created war so that Americans would learn geography."
- Mark Twain

"Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck."
- Joss Whedon

"Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese."
- G.K. Chesterton

"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring."
- Chuck Palahniuk

"Give a man fire, and he's warm for the day. Set a man on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life."
- Terry Pratchett

"Anyone who thinks sitting in church makes you a Christian must also think sitting in a garage can make you a car."
- either Garrison Keillor or G.K. Chesterton

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."
- Mark Twain

"Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon."
- Susan Ertz

"I do not want people to be agreeable. It saves me the trouble of liking them."
- Jane Austen

"You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when he hates all the same people you do."
- (I'm paraphrasing from an Anne Lamott book; was this from Bird by Bird? I just remember her priest said it :-)

"Cats aren't clean. They're just covered in cat spit."
- unknown

"Sometimes you kill just one person, and it takes care of everything."
- Joann Sfar (from The Rabbi's Cat)

"When we lose 20 pounds, we may be losing the best 20 pounds we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love, and honesty!"
- Woody Allen

"We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same."
- Carlos Castaneda

Okay, that's all for now. Some of these were gleaned from GoodReads -- thank you to Persnickety Jen for mentioning that. It hadn't occurred to me to look there! However, I have to say that in the GoodReads quote bank, Stephenie Meyer is way over-represented. And I mean nothing against Stephenie Meyer, it's just that it seems like every other quote is her, and some of them -- no doubt inserted by die-hard fans -- are not really the most breathtaking quotes ever. For example:

"You. Got. Food. In. My. Hair."

You're all scribbling that down in your favorite quotes journals, right? Maybe you aren't, but somewhere out there are 288 people who *liked* this quote enough to get it ranking in the top 20 pages of GoodReads quotes. So, okay.

And I'll leave you with one that I love but that is a little too long for a Laini's Lady:

"The very least you can do with your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance, but live right in it, under its roof."
- Barbara Kingsolver

Cheers!

Call for quotes. And stuff.

In searching for quotes for new Laini's Ladies, I tend to find lots of wonderful quotes that wouldn't make good Laini's Ladies, but are nevertheless inspiring or profound or witty. Here's a good one relevant to something we were talking about lately, which was: the challenge of keeping at a manuscript after the initial honeymoon stage has passed.

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing--that's why we recommend it daily."
- Zig Ziglar

Love it. I firmly believe that it is part of the daily work of writing to constantly re-inspire ourselves on the work at hand. It IS possible. Virtually any finished novel is a testament to that because you better believe that other writers struggle too. Just, some struggle and give up and watch TV instead, and others struggle and persevere.

On the subject of quotes, do you have any favorites you'd like to see on a Laini's Lady? I'm currently searching.

So. Cool news: Brilliance Audio has purchased audio rights to Lips Touch! YAYy!!!!!! I can't WAIT to hear it! They also did the Silksinger audio, which we just received in the mail. I've only listened to a little of it so far, but it sounds great. It's so exciting to hear one's own audiobook, to hear one's own words given new life by a super-talented actor. Hurray!

Yesterday Jim and Clementine and I went shopping, and I found a dress for the National Book Awards dinner. I wouldn't begin to know how to describe the style or fabric because I just don't speak that language, in spite of watching Project Runway lots of times! But I am capable of describing the color, which is gun-metal gray with a shimmer-sparkle of blue. I still need to get shoes (oh darn), and I wouldn't mind a big chunky necklace of some sort. I also found a knit dress for the night before, when all 20 finalists do a reading at the New School (this event is open to the public, by the way; tickets are $10, but I don't know if it's sold out yet). (And I think that there will also be an event at Books of Wonder on the 16th, for the 5 finalists in my category.)

There were a ton of kids dressed up and trick-or-treating at the stores. Speaking of trick-or-treating, check out this awesome Magpie:

She's totally got the attitude!

Have a great day!!

Ah, old pets . . .

I tweeted yesterday (yes, I tweet now. Occasionally.) that "Old pets are expensive." I don't think I need to have added that they are worth it, as they are family. But just in case that wasn't understood: they are totally, totally worth it.
This seemingly disembodied head is dear 16-year-old Leroy in his cone, to prevent him from chewing at the growth on his chest. You might not know this, but these cones are really noisy in the middle of the night when the dog starts bumbling around, bumping into the bassinet (eeeeek! He's going to wake the baby!!!!!!) God, not a restful night! Jim is off right now buying some soft neck-pillow-type collar that will be more comfortable for him and much less likely to wake up Clementine.
He is also wearing a T-shirt to keep the lump from oozing on stuff. Poor old boy. We've already had this growth removed twice, and you know what surgery costs. We don't really want to do that again, because Leroy is 16, but when we got home from my dad's birthday dinner last week it had burst and was bleeding everywhere and Jim had to take him to Dove Lewis, the emergency hospital, and pay $75 for it to stop bleeding on its own while he was waiting, and then be told there was nothing they could do anyway but remove it, for double the cost of going to our regular vet. Sigh. Still trying to avoid surgery.

The lump, however, is not the thing we worry about. Leroy's having trouble with his hind legs. He's had arthritis for years. Check out this dog's pharmacy:
Crazy! He's been on regular Adequan Canine injections, which have worked wonders (if you have an arthritic dog, seriously: look into it), but now it seems like he might have a herniated disc in his back and he's just really losing strength, and kind of walking hunched up like a raccoon. There have been some bad days. He was actually scheduled for acupuncture this morning, but he's doing better so we canceled it. Jim and I have not even ever had acupuncture! Of course, nor have we had radiation (thank god), but Leroy has, a couple of years ago when he had melanoma on the roof of his mouth that -- by sheer luck -- the vet caught early while removing an abscessed tooth! (Usually that is not caught early enough to treat.)

All this stuff really adds up. Special food, multiple medications, vet visits. And looming over all of it is the terrible knowledge that one of these days . . . the time will come where we have a decision to make. It's not now, and maybe it won't be very soon. It's been three years since we lost our Shiloh, my beautiful Siberian husky. In her final weeks (when she deteriorated fast after initially responding well to radiation for nasal cancer), I remember that everyone would say, "You'll know when it's time," and I wasn't sure if that was true. How would we know? But you know what? We really really did know.

Leroy is a very tough old boy. He's still eating happily and can walk well enough (with the exception of a scary day or two last week) for two short daily walks. He's still happy, and hopefully will stay so for a while yet :-)


An another, totally unrelated, topic: Patrick Rothfuss has a great post up today on how even writers hate their job sometimes. Check out that unbelievable email from a reader . . . (thanks, Stephanie, for the link!) Oh, and while you're over at Pat's blog, scroll down a few posts. He's got an awesome fundraiser going right now: it's like a raffle; you purchase chances to win your name (or name of your choice) going into his next book! The proceeds go to Heifer International, who he raised over $100,000 for last year! This fundraiser is somewhat scaled back from last year's, which practically got to being a full-time job for him and his girlfriend. Since they have a brand-new baby, I'm glad they didn't attempt such a massive undertaking this year. It's pretty awesome they're doing it at all.

Cheers!