Leaky Con is Coming!!!!

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It's almost July, folks. I have been so busy with the end-of-school and with starting Writopia workshops at The Voracious Reader in Larchmont that I have lost track of time . . . but holy Smokes, Batman! Leaky Con is coming in less than two weeks! My sister Charlotte and I are leaving for Orlando  the evening of Tuesday July 12th and returning late on Friday, July 15th. Squee! Charlotte managed to track down the schedule tonight:

Proud Harry Potter geek, Léna Roy, will be participating in Lit Day on July 13th, pinching herself to be on a panel at 9AM called How Books Saved My Sanity, with superstars Cheryl Klein, Libba Bray, John Green, and Stephanie Perkins, moderated by the fabulous Maureen Johnson.


Yes, these arms are black and blue!

Then at 11AM I'll be doing a mini version of my writing workshop called Mining Your Life for Your Fiction, and finally, at 12:30, my sister Charlotte and I will be talking about our grandmother, Madeleine L'Engle, and her life, work, and legacy. (This presentation is the main reason Leaky Con is flying us into Orlando!)

This long weekend will be spent in Madeleine L'Engle land. Teaser: What didn't make it into the final copy of Wrinkle?

And the Winners Are . . .

Image by susie.c via Flickr

Yes, I'm going to announce the WINNERS of my little "contest". But first: I've taken a few minutes to meditate of the concept of "winning" and all I can come up with is an image of  Charlie Sheen spouting his hard-earned philosophy: "I'm bi-winning. I win here, I win there."


And the whole question of "winning" sounds ludicrous to me. If you win, do I lose? If I'm a winner, are you a loser?  It's ridonkulous.

"Art is art, and everything else is everything else." (Ad Reinhardt)

But thank you all for playing: "you gotta be in it, to win it." (Vince Lombardi?)

(And I'm just happy to be in the game at all.)



Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. You didn't win this time. Of course, you never entered the contest, but that's beside the point.


I'm a bit loopy after a busy (but good!) day, weekend, month (life?) of constant movement and I need to pick the winners for my little "contest".


Audio Books go to: WC Cannon and Ash.

Hard signed copy goes to: Cheryl Dale

Now I must hunt y'all down!

Night, night. Sweet dreams

Moving on and Up: Fifth Grade & Beyond

There are lots of reasons to celebrate today, despite the rain and pervasive mugginess.

We moved to Katonah from NYC exactly one year ago today, and I finally feel like we are really HERE. Transitions are always awkward and growing pains are par for the course, but we all are very happy that we took the plunge, took the risk to try something new, to change. Writopia in Westchester is finally taking off with a robust summer program that starts next week, the rollercoaster expectations of myself as a debut author have diminished, and the kids are looking back on their first school year in the 'burbs with happiness and gratitude.

We celebrate the beginning of summer and the end of school, the end of elementary school for fifth graders.

My own fifth grader, Cooper, had his MOVING UP ceremony from Bedford Hills Elementary School this morning. I was surprised by how verklimpt I got: eyes stinging, nose burning, thinking about him and all of the transitions and strides he's made throughout the years. The kids marched into the auditorium to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance, sang songs, won awards, got diplomas: and what killed the parents was the slide show of the kids throughout the years that some folks put together, along with a soundtrack that had even the most stoic of us blinking rapidly. Even though this had been Cooper's first and only year at the school, it was amazing to see pictures of his friends as they had grown up through kindergarten: in my mind's eye I also saw Cooper in his various stages in NYC. These wonderful young men and women will all go on to Middle School next year at Fox Lane, and I am amazed by how well their teachers and the school have prepared them for this transition.

Afterward, Cooper wanted to hang out with the husband and me instead of staying at school, so we let him sit in the front seat (I sat in the back!) and drove to our local coffee shop for his favorite treat, a blueberry scone, and his very first decaf mocha. (He is always stealing sips from mine!)

Tonight his grandmother is coming to take us all out for a graduation dinner at Café of Love, where he wants to celebrate not only his moving on and up from elementary school, but our year of moving on and up from the city to Westchester.

At the end of the day, moving on is less of an awkward transition and more of a celebration - appreciating the past and embracing the future.

Speaking of future . . . have you entered my contest yet? Chance to win one of two audio books of Edges and a signed hard copy! Check it out!

(How was that for an awkward transition to try and wrap this post up!)

Peace out, folks.

The Flying Squirrel, and Other Birthday Lessons

I'm not going to do it. I am on a field trip with the fifth grade, and the experience is for them after all. Oh look, there's my son, Cooper, (pictured here) bravely being the first kid to try his hand at the Flying Squirrel. He is in a tight harness, attached to a rope, while his entire fifth grade class holds onto the other end of the rope. The instructions? He runs forward, while his class runs backward.

He is up in the air, flying whooping.

"You should try it mom," he says under his breath once he's regained his cool.

I don't know, I think to myself. I weigh twice as much as these kids.

I cheer on the kids who are scared, and watch their faces flush with triumph when they're on land. Obviously, there is some trust involved, and some willingness to relinquish control. Need that, much?

I had done the trapeze "experience" before, and I felt like I didn't need to do it again. It had been scratched off my bucket list.

But it is my birthday, and I am a writer after all - every experience has it's usefulness in the creative process. I'll regret not doing it. Even if I throw up.

And then the elementary school's principal, Mr. Gold, is flying through the air like Peter Pan and I finally get the gumption to shimmy myself into a harness and put my money where my freakin' mouth is: to be honest, open and willing.

I am the last but not least in the air after a running jump, and trusting these amazing almost-middle-schoolers with my life, and I feel like Spiderman, not at all embarrassed when I land on my tuchus and NOT on my feet like everybody else. (Well, maybe just a little!)

"You looked funny," a fifth grade girl says to me, engaging me with her smile. I have no doubt about that! AND Cooper wants me to sit with him on the log at lunchtime.

This is the BEST!

I am 43 years old today, and life is too serious to be taken seriously.

PS Don't forget to enter my contest to win one of two audio books of Edges or a signed hard copy by yours truly  - sign up by Monday, June 27th at 6PM!

Father's Day: What would The Doctor Say?

Happy Sunday and Father's Day everyone! I hope you all have glorious plans. The husband let me take a pic of him from his goatee down to show off his Father's Day present:

Yes, those of us in the older Roy clan, from age 9 and up, are die-hard Dr. Who fans.

Today promises to be lovely: outside time, yoga, the town pool, and celebrating the third birthday of a delightful little girl with close friends.

We are in summer mode, with only one week left of school.

There is always so much to write about! There is a tremendous opportunity here for someone to write a post about whether or not Dr. Who would make it as a dad - would somebody write that?


But I need family time today, so I will hark back to Friday, and post a couple of links.

I guest posted an audition story on A Year of Auditions, a  blog started by debut author Stasia Ward Kehoe in anticipation of her upcoming YA novel Audition, out in October. I was an intense thirteen year old, choosing Nina's final monologue from Anton Chekhov's The Seagull as my audition piece for The High School of Performing Arts. Here is a teaser of my post:

Why did you say you kissed the ground I walked on? You should have killed me instead. I’m so tired! I want to rest, I just want to rest. I’m the seagull … No, that’s not it. I’m an actress. That’s it.
 

This was the beginning of my monologue, the one I used for my auditions for acting camp and the High School of Performing Arts (now LaGuardia) back in 1981. I was thirteen.

What possessed me to pick one of the most challenging monologues, from The Seagull by Anton Chekhov to do over and over again? This epic romance of a tragedy appealed to me on so many levels: it is a play for actors and writers, and Chekhov shows us the different artistic archetypes through his characters without telling his audience what to think.

I blame my grandparents for my love of the classics and the theatre. They met in the early 1940’s during a Broadway production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard after all. My grandfather, Hugh Franklin, an actor from Oklahoma, was playing the role of Trofimov, and my grandmother, Madeleine L’Engle, was an understudy and Eva LeGallienne’s secretary.

And tomorrow is my birthday! So don't forget to enter the contest to win either one of two audio books or a signed hardback copy of Edges! Contest ends next Monday, June 27th at 6PM.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day! 

Contest: Two Audio Books and A Signed Hard Copy For Grabs

We hit the six month mark on Edges last week and I didn't even realize it. Something must have been niggling at my brain because in my blog yesterday I announced a contest to win one of two audio books or a signed hard copy to my loyal readers. I was also riddled with insecurity.

But dang. We need to celebrate and for that I need to expand the contest! Six months peeps. No longer am I a debut author. I am a little more seasoned and rough around the edges (ha)!

Sure that means some insecurity sometimes, but I promised you authenticity, didn't I?

So. Contest rules. There are no rules! If you follow my blog and my Facebook page, I will enter your name 3x.  If you don't, no worries, play anyway - your name will be entered! I've hosted contests before where I've asked people to tell me about themselves, or answer a prompt, but I won't do that this time. It will be EASY-PEASY.

Just tell me in the comments where you will be vacationing this summer. That's it!

(Me? It will be a STAY-Cation with my family, but I AM going to Orlando next month for Leaky Con 2011!)

The contest ends on the first day of summer vacation for us out in the Northeast and the first day of camp: Monday, June 27th at 6PM.

And to bloggers out there - if you want to host a give-away on your site, let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

Peace out!

Waiting, Clapping, and a Contest

Image by Kaptain Kobold via Flickr

I'm sitting at my desk, waiting for emails.

At least I'm not waiting for inspiration to strike. My new-ish WIP has been put aside for the past couple of weeks as I pull together a schedule for Writopia Lab's summer program in Westchester. I am very excited: there is some buzz, and I want to be able to keep up the momentum by emailing responses back right away, answering inquiries, walking parents' through the registration process.

I also might as well come out and admit it: I'm waiting for my agent and/or editor to get back to me about The Land of the Lost and Found, although that will likely be a phone call, and not an email.

It's been at least a month since my agent hit SEND on the document.

It will probably be another month or two, before I hear anything. I'm sure "they" (the publishers) want to see how Edges is doing. (Which is another thing I get asked all of the time.) And the answer is: I don't know. Well, to be honest, my fear and my suspicion is that it has DIED.

So peeps, if you haven't yet already, please become a fan on Facebook, and if you are able, pretty please give Edges a boost on Goodreads and Amazon with some good ole' stars. 

Clap if you believe. It worked for Tinkerbell, didn't it?

In fact, I'm going to have another contest. I have two audio-books to give away. Rate Edges on Goodreads and on Amazon. I will enter your name twice if you take the time to do both! (Let me know in the comments section by Friday, June 24th). I have also announced a contest for a signed book on the Edges' Facebook page as well.


And look, in the time it took to write this, I got another email from Vistaprint, asking if I need more business cards. (First 100 free!)

See y'all on the flip side.