Second Grade is Ending, but I'm in Denial

Why do I say, "We have a lot of homework" or "We still have to do read & respond" when it's not my homework or my reading? Because I'm absolutely not separated from my kid in the healthy, you-are-you-and-I-am-me way. But we have homework, we have reading and we are about to say goodbye to second grade.

I don't want to say good-bye. It's so hard, so painfully difficult to find teachers as good as my daughter's second grade teacher. And I'll freely admit that the third and fourth grade parents have me highly nervous about the teachers that await us in these next couple of years. My daughter is so little and young, so vulnerable to the world of mean teachers and bully students.

What can I do about that?

Should I have held my daughter back and "red shirted" her so that she might be a bit older, bigger, more mature? Does anyone have a time travel machine to help me make that happen?

Does worrying help?

A Chinese Bat Mitzvah

Check out today's NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/nyregion/08batmitzvah.html

The "first wave" of Chinese girls adopted to the U.S. are reaching age 13, and lots of them are having bat mitzvahs. The article is a lot of fun, especially the shot of the yin-and-yang yarmulkes.

I don't really see anything like that for Annie when she turns 13, but one never knows, do one.

Anyway, it's a relief to read something celebratory about China adoption, after all of the sad news about the new regulations in China that restrict international adoptions.

As for me, I swear I'm still working on the new book. I'm in Chapter 12, and today, my friend Elizabeth gave me a great little scene to add to that chapter. Thanks, Liz!

Greetings from Snowy Michigan

Michigan arranged to have a nice coat of snow just in time for my arrival here. So far my daughter has been skating, skiing and tubing. Me? I've been writing. That sounds terrible, doesn't it? I promise that I haven't been ignoring her. It's just that I'm so much better off at room temperature.

We're here on mid-winter break, but I'm ready for winter to end. No more mid, thank you very much. Did I mention that I don't love being cold? I don't. I like being temperate.

But I've gotten some real writing done this winter. In fact, I finished Chapter 10 of the new book, and completely rewrote the outline for the remaining chapters. And we're not done yet.

More when we're back in (chilly but not so snowy) Manhattan!

Lafayette, we are here!

This is now, well and truly, a live blog connected to a live site. Why? What changed? What makes this day different from all others?

Today, AND BABY MAKES TWO is in your local bookstores once again, now in trade paperback. Today is the day that you can overwhelm your local Target with your (many) purchases of my book. And, since the www.judysheehan.com website is mentioned on the back of the book, today seems like the right day to make this website official and real.

What does this mean?

It means I have to post a lot more often, more creatively and YOU have to offer your (friendly) comments.

See you at Target!

Writing Blog v. Writing Book

Writing here is so much more fun than writing in my book. What I write in this little paragraph or two or twelve doesn't have to connect to the earlier or later stuff, doesn't have to build the character or progress the plot. I don't have to worry about re-using a reference to Buffy or about pumping new blood into a tired metaphor.

I say that because right now, I'm in the midst of a new book. I'm sitting in one of my favorite local wi-fi cafes, sipping tea and writing. I've just finished Chapter Eight for the second time.

Two chapter eights? What kind of new construction is that? What I mean is this: I wrote the first three chapters, sent them to my agent, and got encouragement to continue. As I plodded into the next five chapters, I knew I was in the weeds. I sent him those first eight chapters and he (patient soul) read through all that nonsense, gave me direct, concise, constructive notes and sent me back to my keyboard.

So. I re-wrote as far as Chapter Seven and sent it to him -- partly so that I could have an excuse to stop writing and just take care of holiday stuff. See what a patient soul he is? Got the greenlight to continue have completed one more chapter. So, here I am with all of the NYU students, buying over-priced caffeine while I plug into my iPod and laptop.

Opportunities to write are tough to come by in my universe, so I make the most of them.

On to Chapter Nine.

Happy News

...And Baby Makes Two will come out in trade paperback in February of this year. Turns out that Target has picked up the book and has labeled it as "Breakout fiction" for February.

So, run don't walk to your local Target and buy a few (dozen) copies of my book!

See you there!