The day we returned from our cruise I met up with my friend Karen. We've been friends for twenty years now, which seems really wierd to write, and she knows and understands me well. We spent the night at her place in Ballard, where we drank coffee, watched movies, and got our toenails done. (We like to think we're tough, but these girly things appeal to our sensibilities.) The next day, she made Aubrey's hair and fingernails pretty (see happy little miss above) and played Pirates with Dane.

Lately, Karen has been my reader, providing feedback and encouragement for works in progress. She also reminded me I have nothing to lose by writing S.E. Hinton an email requesting an interview to do a write-up for my writer's group at Book Passage. It's a long shot, since S.E. Hinton doesn't do interviews or readings any more, but I'm hoping to ask some questions about her perspective on what it took her to write as a mother, versus what it took her to write as a teenager. *(I mean, she's extraordinary: she wrote The Outsiders at sixteen when she was fed up with the quality of young adult (YA) literature. And the quality of her literature was so high and so fresh that it changed the face of YA literature for good.)

*Will make a note in the blog if anything comes of my request.