above all else, these things I seek

I went away to celebrate my birthday—up the Delaware River, on the New Jersey side, in the town made famous by Elizabeth Gilbert. I wore funky boots and worried about nothing and bought the coolest felt coat for close to nothing, gifts for a friend, a brass feather for my hair. Walking and walking beside my husband, who had surprised me with Frenchtown, who understood my deep need to be elsewhere.

These few things, while I was gone:

One Thing Stolen was named an April Editor's Pick by Amazon and a Top 14 YA April book by Bustle. I am grateful and humbled.

Galleys for Love: A Philadelphia Affair arrived. This book becoming a real thing, then. More gratitude.

The German edition of You Are My Only showed up in a white box. It is always deeply interesting to see a story remade in another language, announced to the world with a new image. I'm grateful for Hanser's faith in the novel.

I had many thoughts while I was away about what really matters, what makes me happiest. Family. Friendship. Time. Peace. These things I seek, above all else. You can make something special without spending lots of money. You can say love without wrapping it in a bow. You can look ahead and worry less. I keep getting better at that. Family. Friendship. Time. Peace.

Familyfriendshiptime.

Peace.

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THE HEART IS NOT A SIZE is headed to Germany

I made oblique reference the other day to an unexpected gift from the land of publishing.  My agent now says that I can now specifically share the news:  THE HEART IS NOT A SIZE has been sold to Hanser, the German publishing house that also kindly acquired NOTHING BUT GHOSTS (due out this summer) and YOU ARE MY ONLY.

To say that I'm thrilled would be a giant understatement.  HEART was, for me, a very special book, given that it was based on experiences I actually had in a squatter's village in Juarez (the little girl above, for example, is a character in the book) and that it explores as well both anorexia and panic disorder, conditions with which I have had more than a passing acquaintance.

Many thanks to the Harper Collins team, to Jill Santopolo who edited the book, and to Amy Rennert.  And many, many thanks to Hanser for having such faith in my work.  I spend many hours of my days researching Germany as I write my Berlin novel for Philomel.  Hanser's kindness makes Germany feel even more like home.

Nothing substitutes for faith in the life of a writer.

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