Journal

Last month I visited 12 schools in St. George, Utah, and Las Vegas over a two-week period. Early spring is a perfect time to escape the “tundra” country up here near the Canadian border. It’s a shock to leave home with Lake Vermilion frozen and snow on the ground, and step off a plane in eighty degree weather and sunshine. But it’s a good shock.

Las Vegas is a bit too neon and artificial for me, though the teachers were welcoming and kids were enthusiastic and attentive during my assembly presentations. But the high desert country around St. George, Utah, had a spiritual strength to it that left me admiring the open sky and the red rock mountains. I hiked in Zion National Park–a place I’d never been before–and found myself thinking a lot about the smallness of man in this great wide universe. But feeling small in a good way.

St. George lies in the valley. Zion is in the distance to the north and east.

When I visit schools, I often receive coffee mugs and tee shirts as thank you gifts. And it’s a great way for me to remember past events. On a cold winter morning in Minnesota I enjoy sipping tea from my Assumption Orthodox School mug and recall the week that I spent working with students in Houston, Texas. And it’s fun to wear my bright orange HMS Spuds tee shirt in the summer and watch people’s faces as they try to figure out what the HMS stands for. “Her Majesty’s something,” folks guess, and I shake my head, knowing the odds aren’t great that they’ll identify Horizon Middle School in Moorhead, Minnesota. But of all the mugs, posters, and shirts that I’ve received, a piece of artwork from last February’s trip to Otte Blair Middle School in Blair, Nebraska, clearly stands out. This giant cover of my novel, The Winter War, was hand-painted by a retired industrial arts teacher, and it provided a impressive backdrop during my assembly presentation.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a writer is getting fan mail. I should probably say fan e-mail, as that’s the main form correspondence takes these days. Though I do get some conventional letters forwarded from Scholastic and Random House, they are the exception rather than the rule.

After all the hard work of researching, writing, and re-writing multiple drafts of a novel, a fan letter is a nice pat on the back that validates the investment of time and energy. The letters that I enjoy most are those that come from young readers who say that they never cared much for books but one of my novels–THE BROKEN BLADE is the title most commonly cited–inspired them to become an active reader.  As a former English teacher this is especially gratifying to me, because I spent 28 years of my life trying to inspire kids to read.

But of all the letters I’ve received, the one that made the biggest impression of all, didn’t come from a student. It was sent a retired man in Fort Meyers, Florida, named David Crook. Mr. Crook was so taken with a phrase in THE BROKEN BLADE that he had it copied on a vinyl sign which he put in the rear window of his RV.  In his words:

“The Broken blade is one of the most incredible stories I have ever read. I love the quote; ‘While most men worry away their lives counting coins, we voyageurs live with the magic of the open water. We travel as the sun and wind allow. All places we’ve been are with us every moment of our lives.’ I had a vinyl sticker made by a sign shop, that covers the entire rear window of my Roadtrek RV. I can’t tell you how many people have read that saying and stopped to talk about it. If I am driving down the road, people slow down long enough to read it and then give me the ‘Thumbs up’ as they pass us. Many, many times people have waited for me in a parking lot just to talk about the quote. Just wanted you to know. I always encourage them to buy the book.”

Here’s the neat photo Mr. Crook sent me via e-mail, of course:

From August, 1999 through May, 2002, Boy’s Life magazine published a 27-episode illustrated version of my novel The Broken Blade. All the past episodes are now available online courtesy of Boy’s Life. The first episode can be accessed here: August, 1999. Once you get to the issue, select The Broken Blade in the table of contents under the comics section or scroll down to page 56. Additional back issues can be found at Boy’s Life.

I’ve been swimming every evening since a heat wave hit the northwoods. After a cold blustery June, it seemed like summer was never going to come. Then hot and humid weather arrived at the beginning of July—it was 80-90 for a week straight (the 4^th of July parade in Tower was stifling)—and the water in the lake warmed up fast.

But no matter how warm the weather gets, it’s still a shock to dive into Lake Vermilion. And by shock I mean a good, wake-up-the-soul, shake-off-the-cobwebs kind of shock. It’s so enlivening to leap off the dock into that cold glacial lake and have the oppressive heat instantly washed away. For a moment I feel like the kid I was back in the 1960’s leaping off Grandpa Wilson’s dock on Lower Hay Lake.

I like to swim just before sunset.  I took this photo last night from our dock, facing west toward Daisy Island.  I was about to dive in…

Hello,

Welcome to my new website. Thanks to my son Reid’s redesign, my site has a new look along with a journal/blog, which he claims is a necessity for a writer in the current e-world. So here goes…