on traveling west toward librarians, friends, and the Carolyn W. Field Honor Award

Only a week ago, my husband and I made the long drive out to Bradford, PA, on behalf of book we are creating for a client. I walked an oil refinery. I walked a town. I talked to a college president, a hospital leader, a man who stands at the heart of that community's cultural landscape. I saw things. I was reminded of the power of traveling far beyond myself.

In an hour, in this dark morning, I'll get into my car again, drive west again, stop an hour from here, and wait for a rented gray Impala. Behind the wheel will be my friend, A.S. King, who has been on the front end of a whirlwind tour for her new much-heralded book, Reality Boy. She'll drive the rest of the way, out west again, this time to Seven Springs Mountain Resort, where the librarians of Pennsylvania and other writers—K.M. Walton, Eugene Myers, Kit Hain Grindstaff, Philip Beard, and Kathleen George—have gathered.

Amy has a talk to give, for she is to receive the Carolyn W. Field Award in honor of the best children's book by a Pennsylvania author (for Ask the Passengers). I am blessed to be a Carolyn W. Field Honor winner (for Small Damages). We are mostly blessed, we Pennsylvania writers, that librarians are choosing to share this day with us.

Into the dark, then, I go. Grateful for friends, grateful for people who believe in books, and grateful for the chance, again, to travel far beyond myself.

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Small Damages Paperback: the gorgeous stepback

Sometimes you write books and love those books and they disappear. Sometimes they're never published. Sometimes the person who doesn't love your book is precisely who you thought you were writing your book for.

And sometimes you get so hugely lucky. You find an editor (and friend) like Tamra Tuller and a house like Philomel, a publicist like Jessica Shoffel and a friend like Michael Green. And then (you can't believe your continuing luck) you get a paperback team like Eileen Kreit and Krista Asadorian, who package the book with great grace.

Small Damages will be released by Penguin as a paperback on July 11th, and include this gorgeous stepback page. I am so grateful. I'll be launching the paperback in Old Town Alexandria, VA, and would love to see you there.

New News: Small Damages has been named a 2013 Carolyn W. Field Honor Book by the Pennsylvania Library Association.

July 27, 2013, 3:30 - 5:00 PM
Launching Small Damages paperback/Memoir Workshop
with Debbie Levy
Hooray for Books
Old Town Alexandria, VA 

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