Yes!

Look what's here!

From left to right: Beautiful, amazing, shiny, incredible, first-I've-ever-seen hardback copy of Operation Yes; back of promotional postcard with stellar flap copy on it; front of promotional postcard with same glorious cover on it; pinch-me-I'm-going-to-be-in-the-Scholastic-Book-Fair edition.

And if that's not enough, here are the two blurbs that appear on the back cover of the hardback edition:

"Transformative, inspirational, and just plain fun, Operation Yes is a book that not only nudges readers to look around and ask 'Where am I?' but may just give them the courage to create answers all their own." --- Linda Urban, author of A Crooked Kind of Perfect

"Operation Yes grabbed me on page one---how I would have loved to have been a student in Room 208! Sara Lewis Holmes provides a heartfelt and honest look inside the lives of military families with an unforgettable cast of characters. There's only one word for this book: Yes!" --- Barbara O'Connor, author of How to Steal a Dog

Would now be a good time to tell you that the blog and website for Operation Yes is up and running?

(www.operationyesbook.com)

Come see me!

I always looked for the little atomic symbol on the spine

As someone who ate up speculative fiction as a kid, I love this announcement from the newly designed SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) site:

AboutSF works to match donors with places that cater to young people, the future generation of science fiction readers. You can donate or receive books and magazine subscriptions. Suggest the following as a recipient if you would like to see them get books and magazines:

A school librarian.

A public librarian.

A youth center director or volunteer.

Your local school library or other youth organization.

An individual 17 or younger who would like a free SF novel or magazine subscription.

Is that not great? You can list your library or youth organization, and a SF writer or reader might send books to you, just because. And if you are such a writer or reader, DONATE to the list.

Hey, Guys Lit Wire Book Fair for Boys! Don't you want to be on this list? (And if you run a book fair for girls, them, too, of course!)

P.S. All four of us in my family finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? We can now use kipple correctly in a sentence.

Finding Adventure

I'm ruined. I spent too much time outside, hiking and biking and rope course teetering in the shadow of mountains like this:

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is one of my favorite places on earth. In the 2 1/2 years we were stationed in Germany, we went here at least five times. But we had to go back. For one thing, the Partnachklamm (Partnach Gorge) is there, and I'll never tire of walking beside its roar through the dim tunnels and ledges that make up the trail. Maybe it's the writer in me, but I always get the sensation that I'm IN a story---a very, very good one where there is danger and bold deeds and something to be won if you persevere.

Onward and inward!

Yes, you will get wet.

And then there was more hiking and biking and kayaking and swimming and chilling on a boat in a place I'd never been before: Croatia. Oh, my. Mountains AND water.

Can you make out the name of our boat? It's Bozidar, "Gift From God." And it was.

I was so glad not to be on a cruise ship like the one in the background, but instead on our 100 year old beauty, crewed by accomplished sailors, one of whom made the best cappuccino I've ever had. The kids leapt from the top of the deck,

while I discovered that that same deck was the perfect place to read.

And in both countries, we ate as if we'd never had food before, on patios, decks, and balconies. Food like this,

eaten high up on a mountain, after hiking for two hours, served on a civilized tablecloth-bedecked table with beer and massive cake for dessert. Then on to hike some more.

In Croatia, there were meals that lasted three hours---through the sunset and beyond---because there's always room for one more platter of giant prawns right? (Seriously, one night, after seemingly fifty courses, the whole group burst out laughing when the prawns arrived. REALLY? What were we, a NFL team in training?)

But really, the best part was that I just lived. No writing, no blogging, no mental blogging, no processing. Just absorbing, listening, smelling, tasting, feeling, walking, sleeping, climbing, laughing, talking. There were times on trains when people chatted away around me and I LOVED not knowing what they were saying. It's freeing, being a stranger and an outsider and an observer. Like that is your job.

Which, as a writer, it is.

Now it's time to engage again. I may be ruined forever, but I think I'm also ready. Adventure awaits!