Win a Copy of Bull Rider

So - has it really been five months since I posted here? It's five months that I've been in Lake Dallas, Texas, Oklahoma City, Elko and Battle Mountain, Nevada, Charlottesville, Virginia, Eugene, Oregon, San Diego, California. I've been neglecting the blog.

So today you can win a copy of Bull Rider by visiting the TeensReadToo blog and making a comment. Be sure to leave your e-mail address. http://trtbookclub.blogspot.com/2010/05/visit-with-suzanne-morgan-williams.html I wrote this for Memorial Day and it is featured along with an essay by Rosanne Parry and one by Sara Lewis Holmes. Together, I think they are powerful. I'll post the text of all three on this blog on June 1. Good luck!

Snow

I didn't know what to call this because I am just thinking about snow. We had fourteen inches of it followed by two below zero nights and frigid days. The streets are a mess and we've been hibernating as much as possible. I was terrified my goats would freeze - but extra grain, buckets of warm water, and thick fuzzy coats have saved the day.

Snow seems to be a marker in my life. The snow in the Arctic when I first visited, challenging myself to do something so far out of my comfort zone. I went, and loved it, so many surprises. One of them? I learned to listen. Carefully. To appreciate silence and big jackets and wind pants. So I have the gear for this weather - I've not even dressed up to full capacity. Minus seven is not minus forty, or minus fifty-five. But it's plenty cold.

It was cold enough I didn't want to mess with going out and shoveling a path to the goat pen (but I did - don't shovel you get ice.) I hoped our elusive neighbor who sometimes plows our driveway with his heavy equipment would show up. I wondered how long we should mess with snow and an acre and large animals. After all, it was ice two years ago that caused Fred to pull me over and tear my bicep (I don't recommend it.)

And then I bundled up in heavy socks, hiking boots, wind pants, Bolivian knitted hat (great look that), down coat and mitts and out I went. There were bunny tracks everywhere, and bird prints too. Our lab had dragged his tummy through the snow in long arching leaps. Yellow warblers bounced in and out of trees and the geothermal well across the valley spewed a tower of steam hundreds of feet into the air. So, good goats. You make me go outside every day, even when it's hard. Good winter, to remind me how easy summer can be. And thanks to elusive neighbor, Bob, who came by while we were out and cleared out the driveway.

Holiday Cards for our Veterans

It's late and I'll make a better post tomorrow but I wanted to share this link for sending Holiday Cards to our veterans, wounded soldiers, deployed military and their families. It's one thing to remember them and it's quite another to let them know you do. Please take a minute and send a card, or a big manilla envelope full of cards to the Red Cross's Holiday Mail for Heroes. The link with instructions is on my website (button at top of this page) or go to http://redcross.org/holidaymail This is the best way I can think of to kick off the holidays. Merry, Merry .

OK, I've Been Gone and Now I'm Going to Brag a Little

So much for blogging two or three times a week. I've been on the road instead. Gone to Oklahoma (wonderful Encyclomedia Conference), Texas twice, and all over the Puget Sound area. Oh, and there was the quick trip to Oregon too. All since the last blog. So, although I could have figured out how to blog on the road, I left that for next time.

Some nice things have happened for Bull Rider since my last blog. It was selected for the 2010 Texas Lone Star and Tayshas reading lists. Yep, they picked it for both the middle school and high school reading lists. It's nominated for the ALA's Best Books for Young Adults, 2010 and also for a Cybil Award (see their cool widget on this page) in the Middle Grade Category - thanks to Greg Leitich Smith. The book's been getting some buzz from the rodeo community too. Cross your fingers for my next project . . .

Turning Red and Blue

No not as in commie-socialist - we can talk about that later, but as in, Where in the world did August go? I got a laptop, my first, as I was dragged kicking and screaming (ok, I was so jazzed to decide to finally spend the money for my very own machine - no more borrowing my husband's, sometimes)into the 21st century. But no blogs - even from my August travels to Los Angeles and Whidbey Island.

So why? I joined Twitter. It seems I have so much social networking time and Tweeting is vast and fascinating - although without a smart phone (sound familiar?) it's a little wierd to sit down at midnight and sort through instant messages that were sent out hours ago. It's kind of like eating cold stew. But I love my Twitter page. That counts for something. And nothing hooks me on browsing random web-articles like tweeted links. Tweet Twit. And there's Facebook. And my own book, and the new project, and gosh, real life in there somewhere.

Which brings me to the BLUE part. As in a brand new jeans jacket. My old one disentigrated after about five years of continual wear and one round of patches. I left it in the waste basket on Whidbey Island. Ignoble end, that. And yesterday I bought a new one at a Labor Day sale. It's so cute. You'll have to see it. Soon.

Ode to Backyard Bunny

This comes under the random thoughts heading. Nothing to learn or ponder here. I wanted to get a picture of my summer friend. Here it is. Notice, he is nibbling weeds. Good bunny.



Backyard Bunny
You're too cute for your fur.
Thanks for eating grass and weeds - no flowers.
If you show up on the patio at dawn,
I'll keep the dog from chasing you.

I love your skinny legs
soft little paws and your perky bunny ears.
But mostly I love your cottontail
and that you visit every day.

Skeleton Horses and Rushmore Kid

Oh, don't you love titles that don't make any sense? It's been a cool week - but HOT. I have some random things to share. First, I went to the Battle of the Barns in Martinez, CA to meet the riders and sell copies of Bull Rider. I expected a horse show and got more of a performance.


The riders were divided into teams by their riding clubs or barns. They all dressed up - pirates, midieval peasants, Indians. They decorated the horses too and then, let the games begin. It's been so hot here, Terri Farley (my partner in signing) and I prepared with umbrellas and sunscreen. Turns out the Bay breeze was going and we longed for sweatshirts. I'm posting my favorite picture - Skeleton Horse. Thanks, Barb, for the invite.

OK, and here are a couple of links for you - Tina Nichols Coury posted an interview with me today on her blog, Tales from the Rushmore Kid www.tinanicholscoureyblog.com and the Sacramento Book Review also posted a review and podcast (30 minutes but come on, I'm kind of entertaining...) at http://www.sacramentobookreview.com/suzanne_morgan_williams.php. This one is also linked on my webiste.

On the home front, my husband and I had contacted a well service to check out our well pump that was cycling on for no apparent reason. We had a series of tests to perform to isolate the leak and decide - plumber, irrigation guy, well eeeek. Then yesterday I went to the goat pen and the darn goats had turned the spigot on. I turned if off. That ten seconds was worth at least two hundred dollars. Moral of the story - always suspect the goats.