Home again!

Happy Easter, everyone!

I know there’s a cold system moving across the States (my parents in Arkansas are complaining about SNOW, after a week of 86 degrees), but in Germany the trees are blooming, yellow and purple flowers are springing from the ground, birds are singing, and people are sneezing. SO beautiful. (Well, not the allergies, but you get what I mean.)

I am also feeling happy and peaceful because the youth trip I’ve been a leader for (and therefore been planning) was this week, and I’ve survived! (For those LDS readers, it was a combination of stake youth conference and temple trip, four days in a youth hostel in the Frankfurt area with about 40 kids, mixed German and American.) Can I just say how cool it is to write for teens? One of the girls there (American) was happily surprised to find out I not only knew the titles of her favorite books, but could discuss the finer points of plot and characterization with her. I really saw myself in her as we talked about the stories we’re each working on, and joys and frustrations of being a writer. I’m twice her age, but in some things I felt like we were peers. And it was cool. 

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