Courtney

Two or three years ago, a couple days before my birthday, my friend Arielle called to tell me she had ordered me a cake.  “Yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting?” I asked.

“No,” she said.  “I got vanilla icing.  Isn’t that what you like?”

In a response completely proportionate to the action, my eyes started to well up.  “I can’t believe you didn’t remember that I like chocolate best,” I said.

I am usually a pretty nice person and a good friend, but I can be a baby about my birthday.  This year, since my birthday fell on Father’s Day and I have a book party planned in three short months, I decided not make a big deal out of it.  I had a bunch of plans earlier in the week that involved being in Pennsylvania, and I decided to stay a few extra days at Laura’s.  Her husband Rob didn’t seem to mind sharing his Father’s Day with my birthday, and that way I got to be with my niece and nephews.  The one thing I told Laura I really wanted was a supermarket cake – yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  I told her about the debacle with Arielle a couple years back.  I may have emailed her a reminder, just to make sure.

On Sunday morning we had chocolate chip waffles for breakfast, then Rob and I opened gifts.  Later in the day, we all went to a lake near the house.  We met up with a bunch of friends, the kids went canoeing, and I sat in the sun, working on my tan.  The weather report had predicted rain, but it was absolutely glorious and time went by quickly.  All of a sudden, Laura looked down at her watch, then back up at me.  I could tell something was wrong.  “What is it?”

“Nothing,” she said.  “Everything’s fine.  I just forgot to pick something up, that’s all.  And the store is closing soon.”

“Is it my cake?” I asked.  Laura didn’t answer.  “If it’s my cake, can you leave now and get it?”

She looked at her watch again.  “I’d have to leave right now,” she said.  “Maybe I should just get it tomorrow and we can have it for lunch.”

Incidentally, supermarkets in New York City are open way later than the ones in Lancaster; it's a safer bet for birthdays.  “I think we should leave right now,” I said.

Laura is truly amazing; if she was annoyed with me, she didn’t show it at all.  We got into the car with my niece Nicki and one of Nicki’s friends, and we made it to the supermarket in the nick of time.  Everyone who had been at the lake with us decided to come over for dinner, so it was good we ended up at the market anyway.  We got my cake – Laura and the girls blocked me from seeing what was written on the top – and picked up another cake because now we had so many other people to feed.  Back at the house it felt like a real party.  I love being with Laura and her family, and I adore their friends.

My cake was just as wonderful as I imagined it would be.  There is nothing like yellow supermarket cake with chocolate frosting.  The kids helped me blow out the candles.  One of Laura and Rob's friends took this picture, and Laura said, "There's the photo for the blog!"



By the way, the writing on the cake says:   “Have a POSSITIVELY Happy Birthday, Courtney”
(Yes, they spelled POSITIVELY wrong – with an extra “s” – but that just meant more icing so nobody minded.)

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated and I don’t know where to begin . . .

London was amazing. I didn’t do any of the things you’re supposed to do, like visit museums and the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace (though I did get a pretty sweater at Harrod’s). Mostly, I spent time with family, braided my “faux” nieces’ hair, and ate a lot of cupcakes. We went on a sort of tour of the best cupcake cafes in the Kensington/Notting Hill area. I thought the cupcakes at Hummingbird were the best – though, shockingly, my favorite treat was their spinach and leek muffin. 

The week after I got home, I had tickets to a few different Broadway shows. (Thank goodness for comp and discounted tickets, or I would never be able to afford one of my very favorite activities.) My friend Jennie and I went to see “Rock of Ages” the first night that Broadway was closed to traffic. We walked out of the theater, the weather was so beautiful, and the street was absolutely lit up by all the marquis lights, despite it being close to 11 p.m. We walked down the middle of Broadway. The show had been so much fun and we felt so high on life. We asked someone to take a picture of us, just to capture the moment.

A few days later, Laura, my “faux” stepsister and one of my very favorite people in the world, came into the city for the day. We went to the matinee of “West Side Story,” walked around and had dinner with our parents and IanMichael, and then went to see “Hair.” I happened to know that at the end of “Hair,” the audience would be invited on stage to dance with the cast. During the last song, when others were wiping away tears, I turned to Laura and said, “Put on your jacket and pick up your purse.” As soon as the ramps were in place, we ran up on stage. It was one of the coolest experiences ever. I wanted to dance on stage for longer, but eventually the music stopped and we had to go home.

Laura left the next morning, which made me sad, but then BEA began. I hung out with author friends, like Michael Northrop and Wendy Mass. Ann M. Martin, one of my favorite childhood authors, was signing ARCs of her new book. She wrote a blurb for POSITIVELY – we met once before, a long time ago, but I don’t know her at all, so it was really exciting to have the opportunity to thank her in person. I also met Sara Zarr and got a book signed by Sarah Dessen! You should have seen Sarah Dessen’s shoes – they were pink and very high. I was walking around in my worn-in Minnetonka moccasins and I felt quite plain in comparison.  I didn't take nearly enough pictures, which is so unlike me.  Here is my one and only photo from the BEA weekend.  From the left:  Barry Lyga, Coe Booth, Michael Northrop, me, Sarah Beth Durst, and Wendy Mass.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, but sometime, in the middle of everything, I managed to finish the draft of YOU CAN’T EVEN MEASURE IT – my 2011 book. My plan for this week is to read through it, edit it a bit, and pack for California. Arielle and I head out on Friday for the 20^th annual “A Time for Heroes” to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. 

P.S. In case you’re reading this, Hi Jelena!!!

And here is another link to the Bridget Zinn auction, which ends on May 30th.  For those of you who don't know, Bridget is a YA author who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  A signed copy of MY SO-CALLED FAMILY is up for grabs, along with many other books, critique sessions, drawings . . . it's for a really good cause, so I hope you'll check it out.

And now I'm off to bed -- if I were still in London, I would already be sleeping.

My website has been updated! The wonderful Lisa Firke figured out a way to include the Positively cover as well as the My So-Called Family paperback cover on the homepage, without changing the design of the website too much. I’m quite attached to the website design because it’s based on my grandmother’s china pattern. When Lisa was originally designing my website, she asked me for colors or motifs that interested me, and I sent her a picture of a teacup.  

Positively comes out in four months and four days. Four is my favorite number; it always has been, even though it has nothing to do with my birthday, so maybe today will be a lucky day. Over the weekend, I got a couple of Google alerts for my name (yes: I have a Google alert set up for myself) and I saw that Positively had been mentioned on a couple blogs – which makes the publication date seem that much sooner. Reviewer X included it on a Books of 2009 list, and Little Willow included it on her best books list. 

Reviewer X noted that she wanted to see more of a synopsis for Positively (the book is available for pre-order on Amazon, but the full synopsis isn’t up yet). You can see this on my new and improved website, but I figured I would post the flap copy here as well:

“When my mother died, I imagined God was thinking, ‘One down, and one to go.’”

Emerson Price cannot remember a time when life was ordinary. She was four-years-old when she and her mom were diagnosed as HIV-positive – infected with the virus that causes AIDS, and eight when her parents divorced. Now she is thirteen and her mother is dead. Emmy moves in with her father and stepmother, but she feels completely alone. Even though everyone has always accepted her, no one – not her father, or stepmother, or even her best friend – understands what it’s like to have to take medicine every single day, to be so afraid of getting sick, and to miss her mom more than she ever thought she would.

When Emmy’s dad and stepmother send her to Camp Positive, a camp for HIV-positive girls, Emmy is certain she is going to hate it. But soon she realizes that she is not so alone after all – and that sometimes letting other people in can make all the difference in the world.

A portion of the proceeds from Positively will be going to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, an organization I’ve been involved with since I was thirteen years old.

In other news, tomorrow I leave for London – my first trip to somewhere other than California in a very, very long time. My faux pa’s (for those of you new to the blog – that’s my fake stepfather) older son lives there, and I’m excited to see him, his wife, and their daughters. And now I have to wrap this up so I can go to FAO Schwartz and get presents for the girls.

I am nearly done with the first draft of my 2011 book, YOU CAN’T EVEN MEASURE IT. A few days ago, I was in the car with Laura, telling her a little bit about the part where the mother of the narrator, Carly, is sentenced to time in prison. Zach, my seven-year-old nephew, was in the backseat, and he piped up to ask what prison was. I gave him a quick overview – prison is for people who do things that are against the law, like being grounded, except you’re punished by the government and not your parents. You can’t hang out with your family or friends, can’t use a cell phone or play video games. “And there are bars, right?” Zach asked. “Yes,” I said. “That’s what it means to be behind bars.” Laura told me it was a very good explanation. 

The next morning, Zach was drawing something, his Cheerios growing soggy in the bowl next to him. We were running late and I tried to prod him along. “I just have to finish this,” he said. “What is it?” I asked. “It’s a picture of a baby in prison,” Zach said. “He’s crying. And his butt is on fire.”

I looked down at the page. There was a baby – you could tell it was a baby because it was little and bald. It was in some sort of cage. There were tears on its face, and a curly cue of smoke coming from its butt.

“Zach, that’s amazing,” I told him. “I absolutely love it.”
 

I just read this very sad story on April Henry’s blog, about a woman named Bridget who got an agent, got married, and got a cancer diagnosis all in one month.  

I know this is what everyone thinks when they hear a story like this, but I just keep thinking about how fragile it all is, how quickly things can change. I am the kind of person who can be unraveled by the littlest of things – finding out the DVR didn’t record something I really wanted to watch, burning my finger on the toaster oven, an offhanded comment by a friend. I feel shamed when I hear about things like this because I know I’m really lucky. I try hard to focus on that everyday, but I often fail.

According to April’s blog, there will be an auction to raise money to help pay for Bridget’s healthcare. If you want to donate anything – signed books, artwork – you can email:  Jone MacCulloch macrush53@yahoo.com. 

I went to a very cool event last night – Marlee Matlin has a new book out, a memoir called I’ll Scream Later (don’t you just love that title?), and she was reading and signing books at the Borders in Columbus Circle. I have been a fan of hers for years. I don’t know her at all, but she did recently read the manuscript for my book, Positively, and her blurb will be on the book jacket. I really wanted to thank her (and also get a signed copy of her book) so I decided to go to Borders.

My friend Denise came with me. By the time we arrived, there weren’t any seats left so we stood in the back. Marlee came in and a cheer went through the crowd. Some people raised their hands and shook them, which I think must be sign language for clapping. I’ve always wanted to learn sign language – I know the alphabet, and a handful of other signs. It’s on my list of classes I one day want to take. 

The reading was remarkable – Marlee’s interpreter read aloud as she signed. She is so expressive, and I had flashbacks to watching her in Children of a Lesser God, when you just knew what she was saying because her signing was so wrought with emotion. Afterwards, there was a question and answer period. Denise raised her hand and Marlee called on her: “Who do you credit with giving you the will to succeed, to go so far, despite all the obstacles?” Marlee Matlin said, “my mother.” Denise pumped her fist in the air – as the mother of a deaf son, she was THRILLED with the answer.

We got on the line to have our books signed. I felt like a major dork because I had brought the Positively book jacket. I told Denise I had changed my mind about showing it to Marlee. “Then I’ll show her,” Denise said. “No, no,” I said. Denise proceeded to pull it out of my bag (I’d wrapped the jacket around a copy of My So-Called Family so it didn’t get crushed and ruined) and show it to the girls in line behind us. They smiled and said that it was nice. Denise laughed because my face had turned scarlet. She had her camera and threatened to use it.

We walked up to the table and I handed over my book. I told Marlee my name and she said it was nice to meet me. Denise poked me in the side. “I’m the author of Positively,” I said. 

Marlee was absolutely gracious and lovely. I wish I could remember our conversation better, but my heart was racing and it is mostly a blur. I know she said she found the book “beautiful and heartfelt,” and I thanked her for the blurb. I asked if I could have a picture with her – everyone else had been taking pictures, so I didn’t feel that weird about it. “Hold up your book,” Denise said. I reached for my book, but Marlee took it out of my hands. She held it up and I held her book, and Denise took a picture that I love and I’m now so happy to have.

This is what Marlee Matlin had to say about Positively: “Courtney Sheinmel’s powerful tale of teenager Emerson Price’s journey growing up with AIDS sends a torpedo right to the heart. I loved it. Never preachy, Emmy’s story feels as if you’ve delved into her personal diary. I cried and smiled and eventually felt a sisterhood with Emmy whose message ‘anything is possible’ made me cheer.”

My sister just forwarded me this blurb from Publishers Lunch:

Author of the upcoming POSITIVELY Courtney Sheinmel's YOU CAN'T EVEN MEASURE IT, about a seventh-grade girl whose perfect home life evaporates when her mother is convicted of white collar crime and sent to prison, to David Gale at Simon & Schuster Children's, by Alex Glass at Trident Media Group (world English).

I didn’t want to post about this book until it was official . . . I guess because I’m always afraid something terrible will happen to make it untrue . . . but now it’s official! The main character is named Carly (after Carly Simon), and her mother gets into a heap of trouble when it's discovered that she’s been stealing from her job. I’m almost to the end of the first draft now. This is the first time I’ve put anything I learned as a lawyer into a book. I feel like I’m justifying the whole law school, law firm thing.

I’m just thrilled beyond words that Simon & Schuster picked it up! I know how incredibly lucky I am – this will be my fourth book with them. It’s slated for publication in 2011. I still can’t quite believe that this is my life: I get to be a writer in my real life. 
 

1. I was in Lancaster last weekend. I cannot explain how much I enjoy visiting Laura and her family, except to say this: I love it so much that I cooked. I baked brownie pie and I grilled cheeseburgers. The burgers were made according to my friend Eric’s recipe – the cheese mixed in with the meat. After his second burger, my seven-year-old nephew Zach told me I was the best chef ever. No one has ever said that to me before (and I suspect no one will ever say so again).
    
2. My niece Nicki was reading one of my all-time favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird. We watched the movie together on Sunday – I’ve read the book a couple times in the last few years, but I hadn’t seen the movie since I was in seventh grade and my father rented it for me. Nicki loved it. She clutched my hand for the last 20 minutes, literally on the edge of her seat. It was a really great day.
    
3. Speaking of my favorite books, I have had a reading streak of amazing books: Those Who Save Us, by Jenna Blum; American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfeld; Jeremy Fink & the Meaning of Life, by Wendy Mass; and If I Stay, by Gayle Forman. I have mixed feelings about reading great books – I love the actual reading part, but then I feel completely inadequate as a writer.
    
4. Recently I have been bothered by the fact that I don’t have a favorite color.  It seems like everyone else has one. What’s wrong with me?
    
5. Last night I met my friend Maria for an early dinner at Sofia, a new restaurant and wine bar in midtown Manhattan. The menu has all of my favorite things: spinach dip, macaroni and cheese, and molten chocolate cake. It is so amazing there. Seriously. If you live in New York City, you should go there immediately: 242 East 50^th Street.
    

Also, there's an interview of me up at the Number One Novels blog -- right here. 

Happy Passover, everyone. 

It is just as sweet the second time around.

The galleys for my second book, POSITIVELY, just arrived at my apartment building. I knew Simon & Schuster had shipped them out last Thursday, and I’ve been waiting on the edge of my seat ever since. Yesterday was such a long, torturous day, because there are no deliveries on Sunday. It seemed like extra hours were added before it got to be Monday.

And now they’re here, and they are so pretty. I think maybe this is sort of what it is like to have a second child. You think it will be impossible to have a kid as wonderful and special as your first. You think you can’t possibly love anyone as much. And then, the second child arrives and she is just as fabulous as the first one. 

I love this book. I’m really proud of it. And now that I can hold the galley in my hands, I know it is really real. Like a proud parent, I am now going to post too many pictures of my new baby.

If you're in the Cheshire, CT area tomorrow (Thursday, March 26), please join N.A. Nelson and me for a book signing at The Alphabet Garden, 132 Elm Street, at 4 p.m.  Nina will be signing copies of her absolutely excellent book, BRINGING THE BOY HOME, and I will be signing copies of MY SO-CALLED FAMILY.

The ride to Cheshire involves a couple hours, several highways, a stop to pick Nina, and then more twists and turns.  I'm a bit worried given my navigational challenges, but I do have a portable GPS system (my security blanket) and it will be with me.  And then I have Nina, who has navigated me through multiple states in the past.  Overall, I think the chances are good that we will arrive in time for the event.
 

For the last few months, I’ve been really into the movie “Evening,” based on the book by Susan Minot – which is very different but just as wonderful as the film. I have it saved on my DVR, and if I’m feeling blocked, or if it’s late and I can’t sleep, I sometimes turn it on. I haven’t quite gotten to the point where I have the dialogue all memorized, but I am starting to feel like I know everyone really well; like, if they showed up at my next birthday party, it wouldn’t surprise me at all.

The cast is amazing; it includes Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, and my very favorite, Meryl Streep. Of course I’ve been thinking about it even more lately, because of Natasha Richardson’s death. There is a line her character, Constance, says to her mother’s character, Ann, as Ann lies on her deathbed. It is something like, “Do you think you could be your old self again? It would mean so much to me.” I’ve been thinking about that a lot.

One of the other lines in the movie that I really love is this: “Will you try not to be scared all the time, because there’s no such thing as a mistake.” Vanessa Redgrave’s character says it to her other on-screen daughter, played by Toni Collette. I’ve had a number of conversations with friends and family about this line, about whether we agree that there isn’t such thing as a mistake. There doesn’t seem to be a consensus. I maintain that I agree with Vanessa Redgrave’s character, though it may just be because I love the movie so much. 

This morning I was finishing up an amazing book, JEREMY FINK & THE MEANING OF LIFE, by my friend Wendy Mass. (I should have read this book sooner. I can’t believe it took me this long to read it!) It’s a middle grade book, and I didn’t expect it to bring me back to “Evening,” but it did. Towards the end, Jeremy Fink starts thinking about life, and choices, and being afraid to choose. I’m not going to say too much about it because I don’t want to give anything away, but I will say that you should just go read it as quickly as possible! 

When I finished the book, I updated my “favorites” list on Facebook to include EVENING (the book and movie) and JEREMY FINK.
 

Yesterday Laura called to tell me that the new Bloomingdale’s catalog has a picture inside that reminds her of the POSITIVELY cover. Apparently, the similarity is so distinct that my niece Nicki thought the same thing. I couldn’t find the picture on the Bloomie’s website, but Laura tells me there were balloons. The whole thing bodes very well if you ask me:  I am a great fan of Bloomingdale’s and I LOVE the POSITIVELY cover. It’s already up on Amazon – a discovery which somehow shocked me, even though I knew it was coming. It just made it so official. The book is coming out in six months! And it’s available for pre-order!

The jacket proof for POSITIVELY arrived a few days ago, and in person it is even more beautiful than I imagined it would be. The picture on the front cover is absolutely perfect – it fits the story so well. The back cover has a couple of really lovely quotes on it, which means that people other than my parents, my agent and my editor have actually read the book! I love the color of the spine, and the copy on the flaps. I love everything about it! I wrapped it around a copy of MY SO-CALLED FAMILY, just to see what it would look like as an actual book. Then I put it on the shelf next to another copy of MY SO-CALLED FAMILY, so now I have two books right there with my name on the spines. Every so often, I turn to the shelf and look at them.

In other news, David Levithan’s famed Teen Author Festival is right around the corner. I will be reading at the 67^th Street Branch of the New York Public Library next Thursday, March 19^th, at 4 p.m. – along with Lisa Sandall, Rachel Vail, Cecily Von Ziegesar and Martin Wilson. (I’ve met Martin before – though he probably doesn’t remember me; it was at a cocktail party in December, there were a lot of people, and we had a very brief conversation. But I loved his book, so I remember him. I’ve never met Lisa or Rachel or Cecily, so I’m looking forward to that.) If you’re in the neighborhood, please join us! And you can check out the full Teen Author Festival schedule here. 

Also, Happy Birthday to my friend, Eric!  I don't know if he reads this, but just in case. . .

(I think that this entry has more exclamation points in it than any other LJ entry I've ever posted.)

I haven’t written lately. I feel bad about that because right around New Year’s, I resolved to update my LiveJournal more. Most days I think about writing something here, but then I don’t get around to it. I’ve been working on a new book, and I’ve been reading a lot. Generally, I think I read more books than the average person, but lately I’ve been reading more than I usually read. It’s taking up a lot of time. The woman who remains my favorite teacher I’ve ever had once told me, “When you’re reading, you’re writing.” I don’t know if that counts as writing for my blog. I’ll have to ask her.

The reason I am writing now is that today I began and finished a book I’ve wanted to read for a long time. I almost bought it when it first came out – in 2006 – but I thought maybe I was too young for it. It was a collection of funny and bittersweet essays about aging – things about Botox, and hair dye, and the empty nest – which so far don’t apply to me. Then I thought about buying it for my mother, but I worried she would be offended. My mom is in the right demographic, but she is uncommonly beautiful, and I didn’t want her to think that I was giving her the book because I thought she looked old. 

           
This morning I was in Barnes & Noble and there in the front, just steps inside the entrance, was this book I’ve wanted to read for three years: I FEEL BAD ABOUT MY NECK, by Nora Ephron. And I decided to just buy it, because I knew it would be a quick read, and even if I wasn’t exactly the audience the author had in mind, I figured I would enjoy it. After all, I always like her essays on the Huffington Post.

           
And I loved it. It was entirely relatable. I laughed out loud. I don’t often laugh out loud while I’m reading, and when I do it just makes me so happy. I underlined things that made me think of myself, like this part: “[T]he state of rapture I experience when I read a wonderful book is one of the main reasons I read, but it doesn’t happen every time or even every other time, and when it does happen, I am truly beside myself.” The last essay, in which Nora Ephron wrote about the death of her best friend, made me cry. 

I sort of wish I had bought this book when it first came out, so I had it in hardcover. I wish I’d gone to an author signing (I think I remember seeing an ad for one at the 92^nd Street Y) so I could have an autographed copy and put it on my special shelf reserved for autographed books. I’ve never not bought a kids’ book because I was too old, and I realized I shouldn’t have discriminated against this book because I was too young. Tomorrow I will pick up another copy for my mother. 
 

Last week I stopped by one of my all-time favorite bookstores, Kepler’s, in Menlo Park, California. I met Angela from Kepler’s at BEA in June, and we’ve kept in touch ever since. Angela asked if I would let her interview me for the Kepler’s blog. She said it would be really short and simple, and she directed me to the bathroom so I could brush my hair first. I was awfully nervous for something that was going to last less than a minute, but there’s something so intimidating about being on camera, and I didn’t even like what I was wearing.

Angela was waiting for me in the children’s section, her flip video in hand. We pulled a couple of chairs over to the corner. Right before she hit record, I asked her if I could borrow her green scarf, just to look a little more festive. You can see the scarf (and me) here.  I think it really makes the outfit, and Angela has promised to knit me one of my own for when I’m on Oprah.