I’m Here!

I have so much to tell you – can’t believe its been so long since I shared. I’m in America – so far I’ve trekked across from San Francisco to Orlando where I’m sitting at this moment in the warm sunshine. Highlights – wow, you should try and mule ride…in the snow!!! I never imagined that it would snow in the Grand Canyon but it did. We just thought Arizona was a desert and deserts equal hot, hot hot…but we were wrong.

I’ve been visiting schools here to share writing and the most amazing thing is how much we all share the same writing  problems. Kids in Columbus have trouble with the good ol’ ‘Can’t-Get-A-Story’ idea, and the ‘Im-stuck-in-the-middle’ and ‘now-I-don’t-know-how-to end-this’   but we solved it all and had some great fun. And the kids in San Jose…you got it…same thing…lots of ideas and loads and loads of story maps left behind me.

I went to Margaret Mitchell’s house in Atlanta. She wrote a very famous book called ‘Gone With The Wind’ – and, the most amazing thing….when I was walking around Atlanta I kept feeling that I knew bits of it…and it was all from that book. I read it when I was thirteen in high school (we had to read it behind the cover of “The Mayor of Castlebridge) and there I was in this same lovely, gentle county that Scarlett O’Hara had lived. The city is beautiful and the whole time I was there I kept remembering how it had been burnt down…all of it…such a lovely place.

And, other stuff….well..what can I tell you. I’ve met heaps and heaps of very interesting dogs. They live in the poshest hotels (I don’t but I see them go in) and, from the 18th floor of our last hotel we could see dog runs, and kennels and cat jungles all set up high, high above the city. Wow….who wouldn’t be a dog in the cities here?

I’m working on my new character, D’lila LaRue. She’s a neat little organiser and is happily having adventures along with  me – the mule ride in the snow, getting lost in San Francisco, solving the science experiements in San Fran, having adventures in the desert with a prairie dog…and in Georgia – well I think she might just be a little bit Scarlett…its going to be fun.

I’m hoping I can upload a photo for you to see. Please respond to me so I know somebody out there sometimes looks to see what I’m doing…even if it is just sitting in the sun, drinking water and listening to the rattle of loud machinery (boy,  I hope they stop when its bed time).

Till next time…keep safe and smiling.

Nette.