mary e. pearson

The squee factor is alive and well. The UPS man brought me a gift today. I wonder if he knows all the squee he brings? Afterall, he doesn't deliver bills or anything like that--just stuff people want. And this was stuff I definitely wanted. My books! The bonafide real thing. This is my fourth novel and I still get very excited. I hope I never become so jaded that it all becomes blase. The day I stop squeeing and ripping open the package is the day I get out of the writing business.

Here they are! More are on their way, but my editor's assistant sent these four so I wouldn't have to wait.


And then more coolness! Beneath the jacket on the cover is an embossed silver butterfly!


And then another cool surprise. I opened it up and on the cover page is this very neat graphic. When we were tossing around cover ideas the handprint idea came up, but I think it is perfect on the inside here. I love this touch.


And last but not least, it took several tries to get this last bit of coolness with the camera because my flash kept washing it out, but the butterfly part of the cover is glossy--the perfect last touch.


And now you can see it is barefoot season too. Yay!
Except for Saturday night where I will dress up for a change. I am going to the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association (SCIBA) banquet in Pasadena where I will sign my first JENNA books. I was a little worried that the books might not be done in time, in which case I would have been signing navels I guess. But they're here! Whew! Navels can be tricky.

I will be posting more of my tour schedule soon, but if any of you will be at the SCIBA banquet, I can't wait to see you!

for The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a mighty fine lucky charm for the day!

"Outstanding examination of identity, science and ethics . . .
Pearson reveals the truth layer by layer, maintaining taut suspense and psychological realism" --Kirkus Reviews

I'm doing my leprechaun happy dance!

done

done

done

GREATBIGHUGESIGHOFRELIEFFINISHED!

At least until tomorrow when I start in on revising. But for now the rough draft is complete. Hallelujah.

Several years ago I spoke at the California School Library Association's annual conference, and I received one of those cool bags they give attendees and it included something unusual: Seeds. California poppy seeds to be exact. It seems that the flowers that had been abundant and wild were waning due to development and this was a way to keep this natural California flower flourishing. I planted them in my garden, not really expecting them to bloom--but they did! I have had them every year since then, since they reseed on their own. But early last spring, a well meaning gardener I had hired to help me get rid of the also flourishing oxalis, mistook the poppy seedlings for weeds and pulled every last one. No poppies for me! Which also meant no natural reseeding. So this year I threw out seeds by handfuls, and the first poppies are back. It made me smile and I dragged my husband out to see the first blooms. Small victory, lots of joy.



Another victory was the jasmine vine that hangs over our front door. We had to have our house tented for termites two years ago, and we didn't think the vine would make it--but it did. Last year it came back, quite skimpy and no flowers. But this year it is making up for lost time!



And oh my god, the smell! Going in and out my front door is intoxicating ; ) Sometimes it is the small joys . . .

What are your recent "victories"? (Whether large or small!)

. . . music to revise by.



sigh. I love spring.

Happy Friday, all.

I cut a sprig of my Lily of the Valleys this morning and they now sit in a tiny vase on my desk. What a surprise to see that the little bells had burst forth in my garden when I wasn’t looking.

I love these little flowers. I’ve only had them in my garden for two years now. I didn’t know you could grow them in California and one day I was wandering through the nursery, and there they were! I thought I had won the lottery when I lifted them into my basket.

One of the reasons these flowers are so special to me has to do with the first time I remember seeing them. In my mother and father’s bedroom, beneath a paint-by–numbers portrait of the Virgin Mary was a vase sitting on a little bookcase. Stuffed in the vase were plastic flowers: Lily of the Valley.

Every time I went through my parent’s bedroom to get a book from the bookcase, I would pause and run my fingers along these little plastic bells. I think because the Paint by Number Virgin Mary was looking down on them, I somehow thought they were pure and holy.

Funny though, I didn’t think there were really any flowers like that. I thought that just like my mother’s painting hanging on the wall, they were the creation of an artist somewhere. I mean, c’mon, a neat little row of bells? I don’t think so. They didn’t look anything like the shaggy dandelions of my seven year-old world.

Later, when my mother told me that yes, indeed there were such flowers, and that she saw the real thing where she grew up, my wonder grew.

Now when I look at these flowers sitting on my desk–the real thing–I get some of that childhood wonder back.

I love spring. Is there some flower–not necessarily your favorite–that pricks a childhood memory for you?