1 and 9

I'm in New Orleans right now for the American Library Association's annual convention. The convention hasn't started yet, but I'm already starstruck by all the amazing authors I've been running into. I'll post a summary of ALA (with pics) when I get back, but I can't wait to tell you about a couple of very cool things I learned right before I got here.

On Wednesday afternoon, I received an extremely exciting phone call from my publisher. As you may know, Thirteen Reasons Why finally came out in paperback last week. Apparently a whole bunch of you ran out and bought it (and told your friends to buy it), because it debuted on the New York Times bestsellers list at...

NUMBER ONE!!!

Thank you all so much for continuing to feel like this is a story you want other people to know about.

After I calmed down from that news (just kidding...I haven't calmed at all!), I heard from a 24-year-old reader in Pennsylvania, Kerianne, who had this tattooed above her ankle.


It's the Stop, Rewind, and Play icons, to remind her that you can't change the past, you can only press Play. And the blue number 9 is a reminder of reason number nine. It's a reminder to not believe rumors, to have empathy, and to care for others.

Those are definitely great ideas to remember forever, which is a great thing because...it's a tattoo.

I love my readers!

It Gets Better and ALA

Later this week, I'm heading to New Orleans for the American Library Association's huge annual conference. I'm a Cajun food nut, so I plan on spending a whole lot of my free time sampling fried green tomatoes, blackened chicken, cornbread, and beignets all over town.

Of course, I'm not going there just for the food (in case anyone associated with my publisher is reading). I'm also going on a ghost tour!

And I'm also going to meet a whole bunch of very cool librarians from around the country to talk about, and sign copies of, my books. In fact, that is what I'm most excited about. But before I list my signing schedule, I want to share a video with you.

A few weeks ago, Phil Bildner asked if I would contribute a short clip for a group author/illustrator video he was putting together. The It Gets Better Project is one of the most beautiful uses of the internet, providing desperately needed hope and understanding to so many teens and adults. I am honored to be included in this video.




If you're attending ALA, here are my two autographing times:

SATURDAY, JUNE 25
2:00-3:00pm
autographing Thirteen Reasons Why
booth #1150

SUNDAY, JUNE 26
10:00-11:00am
autographing The Future of Us with Carolyn Mackler
booth #1415/1416

If you're not a librarian, yet you happen to be in New Orleans, you can find me here:

SUNDAY, JUNE 26
3:00-3:30pm
autographing Thirteen Reasons Why
Octavia Books
with Ingrid Law & Maureen Johnson

Happy Half-Birthday

Last Saturday was Isaiah's 6-month birthday. We spent the day at the beach with family and friends, and are still scraping sand out of his cute-n-pudgy skinfolds.


The next day, JoanMarie and I took him on his first camping trip. Watching him contemplate his first campfire, sleep in a tent, and wake up to the sound of a nearby river made camping seem more magical than ever.



Then we took him to his first ghost town. Most ghost towns have a long and haunted history where the buildings are located. This ghost town is different. The old wooden buildings were brought in from all over in the middle of the last century, so any ghosts who came with them suddenly had new ghosty neighbors.


Our friends Mary and Peter Weber pulled some strings to get us into this private ghost town, and our families spent several hours playing Ghostbusters.


There were even haunted firetrucks.


Though it was Isaiah's half-birthday, JoanMarie and I were excited when a package was delivered for us. The diapers we ordered finally arrived!

Isaiah was just happy when we finally emptied the box.


But Isaiah's half-birthday is over now. It's time to make room for Father's Day!!!

EW!

I read a lot of magazines and have 2 or 3 subscriptions at a time, but the one I've subscribed to the longest is Entertainment Weekly. I love that magazine! In my recent post about my family's trip to New York City, I mentioned an interview and photoshoot that I couldn't tell you about at the time.

Well, go out and buy the latest issue of EW!


My favorite magazine includes a feature article on Thirteen Reasons Why and me!


I found out EW wanted to interview me shortly before we left for New York. But I didn't know I'd be doing a photoshoot until after we landed. In a way, that was probably good because I would've stressed too much about what clothes to bring. Instead, I showed up with what I had. The hair and make-up artist said my hair looked fine. When I told her that's because I go to Supercuts, she gave me a high-five. She also loved my shoes, which I told her I got at Ross (Dress for Less), which earned me another high-five!

Two men moved around lights and all sorts of other fancy equipment, the photographer snapped hundreds of photos, and Radiohead blasted through the loft. Here are a few shots taken by my Penguin publicist, Elyse, on her phone:

The session started by taking some photos with a window-view of NYC over my shoulder.


Then they took some shots of me sitting on a desk in front of a chalkboard. At one point, I wrote "Everything affects everything" on the board.


Then I noticed a swing attached to the ceiling that had been pulled out of view. That seemed like an obvious prop, so they took a few photos of me sitting, standing, and swinging on that.


When I left the photoshoot and headed back to meet JoanMarie and Isaiah, only one thought played over and over in my mind. "Dude, I'm going to be in Entertainment Weekly!"

Thank you, Rob Brunner. You somehow boiled down two hours of my rambling into a great article, getting me to talk about aspects of writing I've never opened up about before. Thank you, John Huba. You and your crew were so much fun to talk to and laugh with, keeping me from feeling too nervous about...y'know...having my picture taken for my favorite magazine! And thank you, Elyse Marshall. You always handle everything related to Thirteen Reasons Why with so much care.

(If you've already read the magazine article, you know that Thirteen Reasons Why finally comes out in paperback this Tuesday - June 14. And if you didn't know, now you know! Along with a slightly altered and very cool cover, it includes an excerpt from this November's The Future of Us.)

An Evening With...

Librarians allow authors to feel like rock stars. And since I used to want to be a rock star, Thursday let me live that dream a bit.


But I almost didn't make it to my own show!

Back in California, I was supposed to wake up at 5:45am to catch the first of three flights to get into Laredo, Texas the day before my event. My phone rang at 5:15am and I was told that one of my flights was cancelled. So the airline took the liberty of rebooking me to arrive the next day...90 minutes after the event started (and since I'm not an actual rock star, that just wasn't okay). I stayed on the phone until we figured out a plan to get me there on time. I arrived much later the night before my event than I planned, especially since I had a TV interview scheduled for 6:30am (or 4:30am California time).


(My voice isn't usually that deep, but that's what I sound like with three hours of sleep. And boy, I look so energetic!)

Few things make me happier than when communities use my book to start discussions on issues that are otherwise difficult to bring up. In preparation for my visit, not only did Laredo have a discussion about Thirteen Reasons Why, they also held an anti-bully & suicide awareness rally. Students who attended both events got that ticket above for a meet-n-greet right before my public presentation.


Then the chairs started filling and it was on with the show!



This was my last school or library visit for a few months, and things definitely ended on a high note. Thank you, Laredo. You rock!



Coming up next:
Behind-the-scenes photos from my Entertainment Weekly photoshoot. On stands now! (I've always wanted to say that.)

I've Got Mail

I love going to my mailbox! Once a day, I get to slowly open the metal door and peek inside, filled with the hope that the Mail Carrier brought me something good. Unlike Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, the Mail Carrier visits me six days every week. On days that I've been bad, she stuffs my box with bills. But every Friday, whether I deserve it or not, she brings me Entertainment Weekly. And on days when I've been really good, she brings me something extra special.

Recently, the Mail Carrier delivered a shiny gold medallion because Thirteen Reasons Why won the Young Adult Book Award given by the South Carolina Association of School Librarians. I wasn't able to accept the award in person, but the librarians knew the Mail Carrier would deliver this beautiful award safely and soundly.


Also in the mail recently, SLO Life Magazine, which had interviewed me for their cover story (which you can read here). I'll admit, it's been fun to walk around town and have people recognize me and come up to chat. Because of one answer I gave in the interview, a guy at the gym admitted that he has Vanilla Ice on his iPod. Very few people will admit that!

Doesn't Isaiah look proud of his daddy?


Finally, last month I did a blog interview with Naomi Canale. In that interview, I use the first line from the first Peanuts comic strip as an answer. Later, on Facebook or Twitter or somewhere, I mentioned that I would love to have that strip on a t-shirt. Well, Ms. Canale remembered a photo I shared of Isaiah in a Charlie Brown onesie, and made me a shirt that included more than just that comic strip.


Don't I look like a very proud daddy?


(Just to let you know, yesterday and today, all I got were bills.)

You Didn't Forget!

In my Don't Forget This Contest post, celebrating the release of Cat Patrick's Forgotten (which I blurbed!), I asked you to tell me two things you're always forgetting.

Using random.org to select a winner, a whole pack of goodies is going to someone who always forgets to knock on the door before she walks in, and forgets to take off her slippers when she goes to the car before school.

Congratulations
Jessica JM Richards!!!

To claim your prize, send your mailing address to EmmaNelson4Ever[at]aol.com (but use @ insteadl of [at]). In case you're wondering, that's not my email address, but the email address for one of the main characters in The Future of Us.

And Jessica, here are a couple of suggestions to help you with the things you keep forgetting:

• you won't need to remember to knock as long as the people in the room hear you approaching, so wear these slippers around the house
• if you wear those slippers, I'm fairly sure you'll remember to take them off before ou get to school

Coming up soon...more contests!!!

Don't Forget This Contest

The official release date of Forgotten by Cat Patrick is June 7th, but it's already popping up around the country. I guess booksellers can't wait for you to read this story! A quote on the back cover says "Forgotten is a mind-bending experience that I devoured in one sitting. Cat Patrick's exciting and impressive debut still haunts me." Even though whoever said that (okay, it was me) probably wrote those words months ago, I bet the book still haunts him (it does).


Here's the premise of the book:

Every night, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come.

When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting—before it destroys her future.

To celebrate the release of Forgotten, I'm giving away a copy of Cat's book, along with:

• an autographed paperback edition of Thirteen Reasons Why (which comes out June 20th, and includes an excerpt from The Future of Us)
• a Ramona and Beezus display autographed by Selena Gomez (connections, baby!)
• a c.d. of Crash by Dave Matthews Band (which is mentioned in The Future of Us)
• an autographed c.d. of JoanMarie's In This World (JoanMarie is my wife and I play guitar on most of the songs...so again, connections!)
• a Butterfinger bar and Mild Duds (because no movie is complete without Milk Duds...and the film rights to Forgotten have already sold to Paramount, with True Grit star Hailee Steinfeld set to play London!)

To enter, all you need to do is leave some info in the comments section of this post by midnight (PST) on Monday, June 6. Simply tell me your name and two things you always seem to forget. For example:

JAY ASHER
to check the oil level in my car
to take out the trash before I get into bed

After entering, check back on Tuesday to see if you've won. There's no need to leave your email because I'll tell you how to send me your mailing address when I announce the winner.

Good luck...and don't forget to check back!

(THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED)

Somewhat Cheesy

Before The Future of Us is released, Carolyn Mackler and I plan to tell you a bit about how we wrote the book. It was definitely a fun and interesting experience! But in this post, I want to show you how we edited it.

One goal of editing is to make the story smoother and smoother. Of course, focusing so intensely on anything for so long will make you a little loopy!


(That's me on the right. Carolyn doesn't have facial hair.)

The Opposite of Sienna

In my The Tension of Contests post, celebrating the paperback release of Kristina McBride's The Tension of Opposites (which I blurbed!), I asked you to tell me three things that desribed the opposite of who you are.

Using random.org to select a winner, a whole pack of goodies is going to someone who is not athletic, not a brilliant cook, and not male.

Congratulations Sienna!!!

To get your prize, send your mailing address to EmmaNelson4Ever[at]aol.com (but use @ insteadl of [at]). In case you're wondering, that's the email address for one of the main characters in The Future of Us.

And Sienna, here are a few links to get your started if you ever decide to take baby steps toward becoming your opposite:

• athletic
• brilliant cook
• male

Next week...another contest for another book I blurbed!

The Tension of Contests

This week, the paperback edition of The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride was released. The quote on the cover calls it "Tense! The constant push and pull of friendship, pain, love, and jealousy is beautifully drawn. A definite must read." If I were you, I'd listen to the guy who said that (okay, it was me) because he only has your best interest in mind.


Here's the premise of the book:

It's been two years since Noelle disappeared. Two years since her bike was discovered, sprawled on a sidewalk. Two years of silence, of worry, of fear.

For those two long years, her best friend Tessa has waited, living her own life in a state of suspended animation. Because how can she allow herself to enjoy a normal high school life if Noelle can't? How dare she have other friends, go to dances, date boys, without knowing what happened to the girl she thought she would share everything with?

And then one day, someone calls Noelle's house. She's alive.

A haunting psychological thriller taken straight from the headlines, The Tension of Opposites is a striking debut that explores the emotional aftermath of a kidnapping on the victim, and on the people she left behind.

To celebrate the paperback release, I'm giving away a copy of Kristina's book, along with:

• an autographed paperback edition of Thirteen Reasons Why (which doesn't come out until late June, and includes an excerpt from The Future of Us)
• a Beezus and Ramona display autographed by Selena Gomez (I've got connections!)
• a c.d. of Green Day's Dookie (which is mentioned in The Future of Us)
• an autographed c.d. of JoanMarie's In This World (JoanMarie is my wife and I play guitar on most of the songs...so again, I've got connections!)
• cherry Pop-Tarts and a Skor candy bar (cuz they're delicious)

To enter, all you need to do is leave a little info in the comments section of this post by midnight (PST) on Monday, May 30. Tell me your name and three things no one would say when describing you. In other words, because this is a thematic contest, how would someone describe the opposite of you. For example:

JAY ASHER
clean freak
mathematician
onion-lover

After entering, check back on Tuesday to see if you've won. There's no need to leave your email because I'll tell you how to send me your mailing address when I announce the winner.

Good luck!

(THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED)

I also love movies that begin with...

In my last post (which only went up a few hours ago), I mentioned a phone call I just had to answer. Even though I couldn't tell you what it was about, I couldn't wait to tell you.

Well, I didn't have to wait very long!

Click here for a bit more info on...

THE FUTURE OF US
movie!!!

Pluto Saves the Day

Have you ever had your carry-on luggage taken from the overhead bin? One that contained all of your clothes, other than what you were wearing, for a very important trip? Because, y'know, a purple suitcase looks just like a green suitcase!

Let me back up a bit...

Last week, my whole family spent several days in NYC. It was my fifth time visiting that quaint little town, JoanMarie's second, and Isaiah's first. It was also his first time on a plane, and I was hoping he would enjoy his first flying experience. Thankfully, he loves words. All we had to do was pull out a book, and he was fine. In fact, any words would do!


Our plane landed at 11:30pm, and I hoped to get straight to the hotel because I had a breakfast with some booksellers first thing in the morning. Then I noticed that a green (not purple!) suitcase was the only one left in the overhead bin. Even in NYC, the cab driver and hotel staff couldn't think of any clothing stores still open. And they wouldn't be open until after my 8am meeting. Thankfully, my breakfast-mates love a good "Guess what happened to my luggage" story. Immediately after the breakfast, with no time to shop, it was off to the Penguin offices.


The main reason we went to NYC was so Carolyn Mackler and I could film videos talking about our upcoming novel, The Future of Us. Thankfully, Carolyn's husband and I wear the same size shirts, and he loaned me a few. But the ladies at Penguin thought the t-shirt I'd been wearing since I left California the previous morning worked best. Plus, the design happened to include a little joke from our book. (You can get your own Pluto R.I.P. shirt by clicking here.)

After Carolyn and I laughed our way through the video shoot, we headed to lunch with some of the amazing Penguin peeps who've been working so hard on our book since we turned it in last December. And we're excited to work with them even more...in the future!

(Ahem.)

Me (in a t-shirt), Carolyn, Jen Loja, Jocelyn Davies, Elyse Marshall, Ben Schrank

The fun lunch conversation was interrupted by a phone call I had to answer. While I can't tell you what that phone call was about, I will tell you that I can't wait to tell you about it!

After lunch, JoanMarie and Isaiah met us back at the Penguin offices. Even though I write from home (or a coffee shop...or a donut shop), it felt like I was introducing them to my co-workers and friends. It was a wonderful meeting of my two worlds.

Then Isaiah experienced his first stroll through Times Square. And if you look over JoanMarie's hat, you'll see the white cowboy hat and tighty-whities of the Naked Cowboy.


Because my Pluto shirt was getting a little too "well-worn", I bought a NYC t-shirt from the hotel (still no luggage), then train-hopped my way to Brooklyn to attend a bookstore event with my friend, and world traveller extraordinaire, Jodi Kendall. It was only a week ago that I discovered The Wilder Life: My adventures in the lost world of Little House on the Prairie. While researching its author, Wendy McClure, I noticed she was doing a signing my first night in New York. I love non-fiction books by authors who explore one specific topic and write about their amusing/hilarious journeys/discoveries. So I had to go! Now I'm determined to read more than just the first book in the Little House series.


The next morning, my family went out to breakfast with my film agent, Sean Daily. I'd never met Sean before, though we've talked on the phone many times over the past couple years. Not only is he a great agent, but he's also a great guy.


He's also a very tall guy. And as you'll notice in the above photo, I'm wearing something other than a t-shirt! That's because my luggage was finally delivered the night before (to the wrong hotel, but I don't want to get into that). I'm also wearing a very dorky smile, and that's because Sean's holding the Thirteen Reasons Why film contract, which was finally ready to sign!

Breakfast was followed by an interview at the Museum of Modern Art, which I can't wait to tell you about later (maybe next month?). Then the three of us jumped on the subway for Isaiah's first subway ride.


We exited the subway station and walked to Carolyn's house for dinner. In my five visits to NYC, it was the first time I'd eaten a meal somewhere other than a restaurant or hotel room. It was nice! And it was weird to think that our families, after all the time Carolyn and I worked on our book, had never met. But finally, we were all together. As we sat our children on the couch to take a picture, Carolyn made a very touching comment as we looked at the three boys. "They're the future of us."


Yes, that comment sounds cheesy now, but it was very touching in the moment!

If you squint and tilt your head to the right, you can see the galley of our book in the lower-left corner. And if you happen to be attending BookExpo America this week, check your program to find out when Penguin will be giving copies away.

On Wednesday, I had a photoshoot for the interview I did the day before. And it was a full-on photoshoot with a make-up artist, lighting dudes, and everything! I brought my suitcase full of clothes with me so the photographer could choose whichever shirt he wanted me to wear. Mixed in with all my nice shirts was also my "well-worn" Pluto shirt.

Guess which one he chose. (Again, you can buy it for yourself by clicking here.)

Then we walked with one of JoanMarie's college friends, Tami Reichert, through Bryant Park. Even though NYC feels like it's all buildings, streets, and taxis, there are a lot of beautiful parks scattered throughout.


Yes, that's one of my favorite Isaiah "figuring out the world" expressions!

Tami helped us find Macaron Cafe, which is where we were meeting my friend (and editor of Thirteen Reasons Why) Kristen Pettit. The guy in this photo was making a really weird face, so I plopped a macaroon on his head.


Tami and Kristen are both beautifully pregnant, so I will never eat a macaroon again without thinking of third-trimesters.

Finally, the morning we were set to fly back to California, there was one more thing to take care of. I met Carolyn and her agent, Jodi Reamer, in my hotel lobby and we walked to a restaurant to have coffee. There, we signed Jodi's galley of The Future of Us.


And then, we signed the contract for our book. Yes, it sounds odd to finally sign a contract for a book we've already edited and is now in galley-form. But that's what I love about this business. It's so wonderfully odd!

April 5, 2010

(Before we get into this post, I invite you to check out the new 13RWproject website. Courtney Wood, the web designer, is a genius!)


Yes, I’m aware that today is not April 5, 2010. But I want to tell you about something exciting that happened on that date. I know you’re thinking, “Wasn’t April 5, 2010 when the White House Easter Egg Roll was attended by J.K. Rowling and Justin Bieber?” Yes. True. Good memory! But that’s also when I got an email from Carolyn Mackler saying she had a crazy idea to run by me.

She wanted to know if I’d be interested in writing a book with her!

Soon, Carolyn will tell you about what prompted that email (it’s a cool story!), but I thought you might be interested to know what my relationship with Carolyn looked like before I opened that email.

At the time, we’d only met once. It was at the 2005 Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators conference in Los Angeles. I was a huge fan of Carolyn’s, but she had no idea who I was, and I was still several months away from finishing a manuscript called Baker's Dozen (turns out, Thirteen Reasons Why was a much better title). After she concluded her conference speech, I waited impatiently at the side of the stage for the other unpublished writers to finish pestering her with questions and gushing over how much they loved her. Finally, they all moved away and it was my turn! I told her how much her books meant to me, that I was in the middle of writing my first teen novel, and that the honesty in her stories was something I strived for. We had a nice conversation about Vegan Virgin Valentine, which was my favorite Carolyn Mackler book, and then I asked her to sign my copy of her Printz Honor winning novel.

(In elementary school, I did a report on handwriting analysis. Notice the way her lowercase K and H look identical, and the way the second peak in her capital M is a loop? Carolyn is subconsciously wondering whether or not she should one day write a book with this nervous and awkward writer. Isn’t that weird?)

Fast forward a few years. I’m published, and now Carolyn’s a huge fan of mine. She’s never said that in those specific words, but this is my blog, so I feel okay putting words into her mouth (which is something we both got used to doing over the past year). Her next book, Tangled, was coming out and she wanted to know if I would read it and maybe offer a quote for the cover.

Here are two of the biggest honors I’ve felt as a writer:

• Chris Crutcher, who wrote the first teen novel I ever read, gave me a quote for Thirteen Reasons Why
• I was asked to give a quote for a Carolyn Mackler book

A few months after Tangled came out (with my name in tiny letters on the cover), Carolyn asked if I wanted to write a book with her. In the time it took us to write and edit The Future of Us, which included hundreds of hours on the phone and thousands of emails exchanged, Carolyn and I became good friends.

This is such a cool business!

Port Townsend, WA

On the way to my latest speaking gig, I happened to be passing through the town of one of my favorite new authors. Her book doesn't come out until next month, and I'll tell you more about Forgotten then, but getting to sneak in some coffee time with Cat Patrick was a great way to begin my visit to Washington.


Port Townsend chose Thirteen Reasons Why as its first Teen Community Read novel, and I hope they continue this event for years into the future. This wasn't just about reading and discussing my book. They also created poetry, visual art, and performance pieces inspired by it. It'ill be fascinating to see what the students create for other books.

First, I gave two presentations at Port Townsend High School. Some authors don't like speaking in auditoriums full of teens, but I'd do it every day if I could! Not only do I have fun speaking, but the more quiet one-on-one conversations afterward are made up of so many special moments.


Then I went to Jefferson Community School, where I shared a nice lunch with the students. And the students made the lunch! This was an amazing school, and if you check out their website, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Lunch was followed by a radio interview. After that, my voice was beginning to fade, so I retreated back to my cottage...which included its own dry sauna! (Anyone want to volunteer to be next year's Teen Community Read author???)

Next came a pizza dinner with high school book club members, followed immediately by a poetry reading in the public library. It was a beautiful end to the day.

But there was still more to come!

I gave a community presentation at the library the next day, and I was so happy to see local illustrators Jesse Watson and Richard Jesse Watson in attendance. (Yes, they're related!) Jesse helped local students create visual artwork inspired by 13RW before I arrived. Here's a photo of me and Jesse on either side of Jody Glaubman, the librarian responsible for organizing this wonderful event.


And here are a couple of the art pieces the students created, which were hung in various galleries around town.



The next morning, I got in my rental car, drove it onto a ferry to carry us off the island...


...then drove to the airport, hopped on a plane, and made it home in time to spend a few quality Mother's Day hours with JoanMarie and Isaiah.

ANNOUNCING...BOOK TWO!!!

From the beginning, this book has been a crazy and wonderful experience. Stay tuned for more info!


(Once you're done watching the video, click here.)

The Taiwanese Edition!

Afterbirthers

Movie theatre marquee, or political commentary?

Movie Poster: Fan-Made

Arnie Gallo from the Philippines created this mock movie poster for Thirteen Reasons Why. I've been sitting here trying to find the words to describe what I love about the design, but it's kind of obvious, isn't it?

It's brilliant.

Happy Easter!!!

The following is my annual Easter post. Same words, but they'll always apply.

Every so often, a reader gives me their impression of my book in a way which deepens my own understanding of what I wrote. A reader in Florida once told me how a decision made by one of my characters helped her illustrate a sentiment she'd been trying to get across to her friends.

Here's what she told me:

In the past, I've had to help friends realize that life goes on even after you've made a poor decision. Not because you move on or get over it, but because you grow as a result of it. You build something new, something with a higher purpose, using what you've learned as one of your bricks.

When I read that, my heart leapt! I knew immediately that I would be using her words in future speeches.

So what does this have to do with having a happy Easter? One of the most beautiful ideas surrounding the holiday is that we're all given the opportunity to make corrections if we find ourselves traveling down a road we really don't want to be on. In fact, we have that opportunity to change every day. Every second! (But sometimes we need a calendar to remind us.) Refresh. Repair. Rebirth. Whatever you need to call it...

Renewal is a wonderful blessing!

Isaiah's first Easter egg hunt.