GOLD MEDALS, TOP SECRET PROJECTS, AND DETECTIVE FICTION

(I'm not really here anymore. Most of the time I'm here. But I figured I'd check back in case anyone missed the memo.)

This September, Viking Children's Books will be publishing an adapted version of The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown's adult nonfiction bestseller. The adult book is fantastic. Really. Read it. But I'm especially excited about this new one because I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Brown, adapting and editing the text for young readers. It's the true story of an underdog crew from the University of Washington, a group of boys who rowed their way to the gold medal at the 1936 Olympics. The characters are unforgettable, and kids are going to absolutely love the story.

I'm also working on a double top secret project with another writer. He's a celebrity, too. The good kind, though. He's smart and funny and passionate about science.

Now, as for detective fiction...here are a few lines I read recently in a Ross MacDonald book, The Ivory Grin.

"Bent over a bin of oranges with my back to the street, I heard her heels on the pavement and felt her shadow brush me, like a cold feather.”

“Large-eared and almost hairless, his head seemed naked, as if it had been plucked. His long face was dimly lit by pale worried eyes. Deep lines of sorrow dragged down from the wings of his large vulnerable nose."

Sure, I could do without the "worried" eyes, the "lines of sorrow" and the "vulnerable" nose. That's kind of cheating, in my mind, when you feed the feeling to the reader. Bellow does this all the time, too, though, so I guess it's allowed. But what if those lines aren't sorrowful? What if this guy is wrinkled because he surfs all the time and gets too much sun? Then they'd be lines of peace and harmony. Criticism aside, I love the shadow as a cold feather above, and the idea that the guy's head looks like it had been plucked is just wonderful. I laughed out loud.

This last one is just plain weird, in a good way:

“His words were soft and insinuating, breaking gently like bubbles between his pink lips. His breath was strong enough to lean on.”

That's all for now.