Today was more or less a perfect day. Worked on War in the Tarragon Woods (working title for the new book in the Tarragon Island series), built a section of fence, ate a lovely dinner I didn't have to cook (how wonderful is it to have a 16 year-old who loves to cook??), and then, this evening, went for a delightful trail ride along a quiet country road here in paradise (well, the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island, which, in the summer, is about as close to paradise as one can get...)

Alas, even as I continue to work on War, I'm also busy with several other projects. Finally, finally managed to write a reasonable version of the Tante Margarita story and have sent it off for consideration to Annick. Speaking of Annick, saw the rough sketches and mock-up of Grandparents Day - very cool! The illustrator is Benoit Laverdiere (with a couple of accents I'm not sure how to add in this text editor...) When I checked out his webiste my jaw dropped as I could not believe the editor would have chosen this illustration style to go with what I thought was a fairly realistic story. However, now that I've seen what Benoit has come up with, I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! The book's release has been pushed back to Fall, 2004, but the advance copies should be ready by next April... Cool!!

Will post more over the next couple of days about other projects in the works... Needless to say, keeping very busy!

p.s. The copies of Battle for Carnillo arrived the day before I left for Los Angeles!!! Whew! I can tell you, I was sweating bullets as one of the main reasons I was going to Book Expo America was to launch Carnillo - would have been a wee bit difficult without any books! The book looks terrific- I love the addition of the drawings. Now, all I have to do is figure out exactly what's going to happen in Book III!