My annual ritual: vision boarding with my intention for the coming year. Typically with girlfriends, always with hope. Here it is, Vision Board 2011.
"Maybe that is the power of True Love: that in Love’s strong sweep, the shards of the broken past can be brushed aside to herald a new beginning called Now." --RETURN TO ME
Here’s what we'd love for you to do:
My research for RETURN TO ME took me to an herbalist where my daughter and I learned how to mix lotions and potions. Look at the five different kinds of mud we finger painted on ourselves to draw out toxins and brighten our skin. You know what? The green mud from France is fab.u.lous. Check out: Herban Wellness.
Look who we're celebrating on readergirlz this month: Laini Taylor, National Book Award finalist. So mark your calendar for 10/20!
With every new novel--and heck, to kick off every new phase in my life--I turn to my vision boards. These collages ground and guide me, reminding me of what's truly important. What I need to focus on. Here, my good friend Lorie Ann Grover created a collage for me on our new fave site, Polyvore! Can you decipher all the symbols? I can. And that's a sign of dear friend who knows my heart.
Loving this photo with my friend, Dawn Rutherford, teen librarian extraordinaire, at our friend's wedding.
A posse of friends at Jackie Parker's wedding. Here we are, readergirlz all.
Meet Teddy, my new hiking buddy. He's up for anything...even an early morning start time. No grumbling, just panting, as we ran through Cougar Mountain. (Okay, and Mindy is a pretty fabulous hiking buddy, too.)
Gorgeous day...so I ran up to Poo Poo Point (what's with the name?) on Tiger Mountain. There, the hanggliders were taking to the sky. I love the sound of air filling the parachutes--WHOOOOOOOOSH! If joy had a sound other than laughter, then this has to be it.
One of my favorite parts of writing has got to be primary source research: interview with cool people. Like Cindy Edens, one of the foremost female builders in the Northwest. Her corner office with a full-on view of Elliott Bay was to die for. But her story? My goodness, she is my hero.
People always ask where ideas for books come from. Some authors get annoyed with this question. I don't mind it at all. My ideas come from everywhere, everyday. Like this image of a red wagon set beneath the wild Taos sky. Tell me that you see the fantasy novel taking shape. I do.
Finally! I went white water rafting after years of wanting to try it but never finding (making) the time. This is SO going into my next novel, RETURN TO ME... Major shout out to my friend, Mark Kroese, for making my dream come truuuuue.
How could not write for hours with this as your palette? Thanks to my very dear friend, Dia Calhoun (readergirlz co-founder and brilliant fantasy novelist), I had my own personal SPOT in my beloved Methow Valley where I could create RETURN TO ME. Of course, let's not forget the inspiration that hearing a cougar growling can inspire...
I want this gate for my home. A heart to remind me of what's important in life. Hot chiles for living life passionately. This is a gateway to luuuurve.
Truly, I could almost care less about the car I drive. It's just a way to transport me around. But this... this...
The amazing Dia Calhoun--fantasy novelist extraordinaire and logo designer--created a new mark for the co-founders of readergirlz. Here's mine.
On the way back from Taos, I heard about Ojo Caliente, one of the oldest natural mineral springs around. Well, then. I had to check this out for my next novel. Really, it was all research. And...I unexpectedly fell in love. A couple of dipping pools--try arsenic, anyone? A mud bath. Gorgeous red rock cliffs. AND baby soft skin after marinating yourself. This almost beats out the Korean naked spa. Almost.
Anybody who comes to my house knows immediately that I love collage. Love it! So the other day, I interviewed Josh Brevoort and Lisa Chun of Zero Plus Architects and stopped midstream...because there by each of their workstations were trays laden with items. A visual collage, changed by whim and informing their work. And this is precisely the type of collage Twyla Tharp creates as she choreographs new dances. And what I do before I write a single word of my novels. Collage as a way of getting to know my characters. My story. My ideas. I love the creative process.
My trip to Taos may have been weeks ago, but I still long for the desert scenery. The wide open spaces. The sunlight. My gosh, the sunlight. 
I love waterfalls--natural or manmade. Here, I found one in Taos constructed out of an industrial-looking mechanism. Then the water ran under a footbridge and spilled into a zigzagging waterway that ended in a koi pond. I want this in my frontyard.
YAY! I am so humbled by this bit of recent news...and so thrilled that I have an excuse to shop for a new frock to wear to the awards ceremony in November!
NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL has been named one of the finalists for the 2010 Amelia Walden Award given by the Adolescent Literature Action Network (ALAN). ALAN's members are among the most influential librarians, reviewers, professors, and high school educators in the country. The Walden Award celebrates books that show a positive approach to life, teen appeal and literary merit.
This year’s winner was FIRE by Kristin Cashore and the other finalists were:
MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD by Franciso X. Stork
THE MONSTRUMOLOGIES by Rick Yancey
THE SWEETHEART OF PROSPER COUNTY by Jill S. Alexander
Now this is the picture of cuteness. I am tempted to pack home Jake who literally bounds with joy here at the B&B I'm staying at in Taos.
Here I am in Santa Fe and Taos for a few days, researching my next few novels. Every single moment seems to be inspiring me with unbelievable bouts of synchronicity. From the Southwest Weaving store with skeins after skeins of gorgeous hand-dyed yarn...to a dish so delish at The Compound that I'm tempted to learn how to cook beets for myself...to the cutest SmartCar on the planet. 
The premiere of Eclipse two weeks ago meant pulling out my Goth-ish get-up. Which is something one of my characters in my work-in-progress novel, RETURN TO ME, would do. Whatever it takes to get me to write these days, I'll take. Even if it means being the only person in the entire theater complex to dress up. Really.
