Last night I had the opportunity to see Maya Angelou speak. And wow, is she one impressive lady. As the president of the University of Maine at Augusta (who sponsored the visit) said, when you hear the litany of her accomplishments you can”t help but think how most of us would be proud just to have done ONE of those things.

Anyways, it was a wonderful talk that I can’t hope to reproduce here. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t read Dr Angelou’s writings to check them out — they range from the heart-breaking to raucously funny, just like her talk last night. Listening to her read them aloud was particularly mesmerizing. Sidenote: the sign-language interpreters were also mesmerizing. I had never seen poetry conveyed in sign-language and it was fascinating to see how graceful and poetic the motions seemed, and how I could catch glimpses of the meaning in the motion.

The one bit I got out my notebook to record was when Dr Angelou spoke about courage, and said (paraphrasing, because I was taking notes in the dark) that it was the most important virtue, because without it, you could not practice the other virtues consistently. That really resonates with me, in terms of writing and so many other things in life. As another friend was saying to me just recently: fear is the enemy of creativity. You have to be courageous to dare to create something better, something that not everyone will like, something that might fail.

Writing, and life, aren’t about playing it safe and just getting by.

So, all-in-all it was an excellent evening, made even better because I got to have dinner with Cindy Lord (and my husband) beforehand and had their company afterward to talk about the event (as we waited to get out of the parking lot with the huge crowd — for Augusta Maine– that had come to hear Dr Angelou speak. Supposedly the biggest crowd since Elvis came here!).

One day I will learn that when the story turns to cold molasses and I have to spend hours juggling my outline and turning the plot over and over in my head to try to make it click, the problem always ends up being this: the protag is not protagging and/or is not staying true to character and goals.

One day (I hope) the world will recognize the great gift of service dedicated librarians and teachers give us all. It was great fun to hang out with a bunch of them last week at the Maine Library Association Reading Round-up!

One day I will look back and remember how my dog can lie utterly motionless except for his thumping tail, and the sound of Bob’s voice when he’s trying to sound serious but is actually about to make some outrageous statement, and I will be glad that those are the things I paid attention to, not my Amazon ranking.

One day I will learn that making chocolate chip cookie dough and sticking it in the back of the freezer doesn’t actually stop me from eating it. It just means I eat it raw and partly unfrozen (even better than hot from the oven!)

Actually, I think that last one might be a lost cause…

If you had asked my twelve-year-old self what sort of books she was going to write when she grew up and sold her first novel, she probably would have said “epic high fantasy with drama and complex worldbuilding and tough girl warriors.” Because that’s the kind of book I was busily scribbling into spiral-bound notebooks, huddled in bed, early in the morning before school.

If you had told tween Deva she was going to write books that made people laugh, she would have said “Who, me? I’m not funny.” And she wouldn’t have minded, because she didn’t really understand the value of humor.

And I still don’t think of myself as someone who is particularly good at writing humor. Humor is hard, especially striking that balance between slapstick caricature and honest emotion.

But I’ve definitely developed an appreciation for it. My absolute favorite books and television shows are a mix of the light and the dark, laughter and tears. Doctor Who makes me giggle as much as it makes my heart ache. I love Roo (from E. Lockhart’s The Boyfriend List) because her adventures are hilarious and heartbreaking. And it’s what I aim for now, in my own stories. To make readers feel joy, and hilarity, and pain, and love. Because that’s what life is.

So when I do hear that my books made someone laugh or cry, or think, it’s some of the best praise I could hope for. Which is why the first official “industry” review of THE MAGICAL MISADVENTURES OF PRUNELLA BOGTHISTLE, from Kirkus, makes me especially happy. Here’s the non-plot-synopsisy portion:

Spunky characters and surprising plot twists will keep readers laughing and turning pages. Fagan also sneaks in a powerful you-can’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover lesson, as nothing here is what it seems. But even more important than that is the lesson she offers in finding and valuing one’s own identity, even when it confounds the expectations of well-meaning family and friends.

Thank you, Kirkus!