Ascension

"Ascension: passing beyond oneself, rocketing out into the blue, grasping at flying ladders, mounting, soaring, lifting the world up by the scalp, rousing the angels from their ethereal lairs, drowning in stellar depths, clinging to the tails of comets."

I copied that out of Alexandra's journal one day over veggie burgers and diet soda at the pub. She hadn't written the attribution so for a moment of jealousy and awe, I thought she had written it. But no, she said, it was by Henry Miller. I love this quote, and I'm kind of feeling this way today: my book deal is finalized at last! For a number of months I've been practicing the underwhelming art of NOT getting excited as negotiations dragged on, and I've been biting my tongue and not writing about it (biting my fingers' tongues?), but now all is well, and the contracts are signed, and I feel like I COULD pick the world up by the scalp!

So at last, in brief, my book is called Blackbringer, and is the first in my "Dreamdark" fantasy series for young readers. It's being published by GP Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Books, and will be out PROBABLY next spring. I'll know that for sure by and by. Yippee!

(and the photo above was taken at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens on Mother's Day, where we took my parents for a picnic. Here's one of us:)