Please visit my blog at http://junesobel.blogspot.com/ for my latest observations, ideas and opinions. I welcome your comments.

Today I checked off a long desired accomplishment on my list of things to do…eventually. I STOOD ON MY HEAD! I can’t believe I finally did it. It has been one of my yoga goals. Pretty good for a “girl” on the sunny side of 60!

I am actually related to someone who said “What else is new with me?” during a pause in our conversation. Therefore I cringe at the prospect of talking about myself incessantly. However in the spirit of author information I am posting two links to recent interviews:
http://www.tinanicholscouryblog.com/2007/11/june-sobel.html#comments
http://www.californiareaders.org/interviews/sobel_june.php

Last Friday I was visiting a school in Simi Valley, CA presenting my program to a wonderful, eager group of students. Much to my surprise train tracks ran behind the playground. The title page of The Goodnight Train appeared on the screen and on cue a train passed by and whistled “Toot! Toot!”

I just finished Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret and I am awestruck! This book is stunning magic. It goes beyond picture book and graphic novel. I can’t even imagine how he formulated the whole thing. It is so exciting to enjoy such a luscious wonderful work of art! I am saddened that this book will possibly be made into a movie because the experience of reading it is silent film cinematic. Can’t it just be left at that?

I am in the midst of reading The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel. Her stories are guidebooks for picture book writers. Every word counts and enlightens. She shaves a story to it’s core, whittling words to the ones that matter. I loved her story of the Japanese housekeeper who cannot get a stain out of the floor where her employer’s wife died. How can cleaning be made so poignant? These stories are lessons in minlmal writing at it’s finest - poetry in prose.

Last night a wind whipped fire surrounded the hills around our house. When flames are in an ember’s breathe of your home you are forced to whittle down your important possessions to a car load. In case we had to evacuate we wanted to be prepared. We filled the car with every photo album and boxes of videos. Adam took his teddy bear, school yearbooks, the “furmobile,” an Egyptian sarcophagus he made for social studies among other oddities like Chlorox wipes! When I packed my clothes I grabbed running shoes, some jeans and black and white tops. I put all my favorite jewelry on - 2 watches, 2 necklaces, my good charma bracelets and my engagement ring. The computer is important to me because it contains all my people contacts and writing. The possibility of escape forced me to consider what is essential and meaningful to me. All long as I have my loved ones and my pictures of times past, I can go forward re-built and re-invent my life. In the cold sunshine of this morning, I unloaded the car, annoyed at the task but relieved to go back to the everyday life I know.

As I struggle through my next picture book, I feel I must go on a word diet. I need to cut down on adjectives, definitely no adverbs and add high quality verbs and nouns to create a fit, slimmed down story. Right now I am stuffing my pages with words to see which taste best.

Last Friday night I journeyed 53 miles (2 hours and 10 minutes in LA rush hour traffic)
to Santa Fe Springs - a town just east of downtown LA. I was the guest author for a program called First Fridays. Much to my surprise, not to mention delight(!), nearly 300 parents and children showed up for this event. I cannot forget the image of a sea of “R’s” being held up as I read the book. I signed 220 books before they ran out. Every child received a personally autographed hardcover copy of one of my books thanks to a generous grant from Target. As I was speedily signing away, a mother mentioned apologetically how nice I was to do this. I told her, “Don’t be sorry! This is my dream!” Just then I flashed back to sitting in my friend Pearl’s kitchen, showing her “B IS FOR BULLDOZER” and wondering how I could get it published. Dreams really do come true!

On another library related note, Adam found a great new Mac program called Delicious Library. It turns a web cam into a scanner and allows you to catalog your personal library on your computer. It works with DVDs, games as well as books. It’s so cool.
It can even hook up to your ipod. Go to www.delicious-monster.com for a demo!