Highlights is Magical

 I recently spent four days at the Highlights Barn in the Pennsylvania woods, and it was heavenly. I hadn't been in years, and I treated myself since I've signed three picture book contracts. So many coincidences--On June 13 (my wedding day) I got a letter from agent Miranda Paul saying she was really intrigued by my non-fiction story Toys Ahoy, and that she would look at it again if I revised. Two days later, I got an email that there was an opening in the non-fiction workshop in August--with Miranda Paul!  So I signed up. Would Miranda like my revisions? 

  The first picture book, due out next summer, is Nighty Night, Dinos,. Guess what I saw at O'Hare?

And when I got to my room at the lodge, all the paintings were of dinosaurs!

Another faculty member was award-winning science writer Heather Montgomery.  She took a few of us outside one night to lay on blankets and watch for meteors while she pointed out the many constellations that were visible. And I saw an amazing Perseid meteor shoot across the sky! I had tried so many times to see meteors at home but our skies just aren't dark enough.

  The next day, while I was working outside, I got an e-mail from my son that the High Five magazine had arrived for 3 year-old Oliver, and that I had a poem in it!