Summer is coming; It's time to let go.

For me, summer is such an incredible time of letting go, and of bliss.

It wasn't always that way for me. If you asked kid/teen me my least favorite season, it was probably summer, or at least summer played a close second to winter in that regard.

I'm not sure why, but the summer held angst for me, rather than allure.

It wasn't until I became a real swimmer in my early 40's -- and an open water swimmer -- that summer turned into something else entirely. A time of power, a time of regeneration and healing, a time of bravery, and, yes, a time of relaxation and bliss.

Now, each dark, weary winter, I remind myself I just need make it to summer and the restoration will begin.

Don't get me wrong. I love spring too, with its endless buds and promise. And for me, that is when the open water season now readily begins. I was out with my Pod this past weekend, and it was glorious -- cold (about 45- 48) but "doable" and therefore, EVERYTHING.

me, last weekend, with my Podmates, before. . .

and after our amazing 45-minute open water swim...

As a Podmate watched me stand at the water's edge and breathe deeply in, he said to me, you really need to write a book about the water.

Oh, Tony, I have! I said. I promise you I have.

And while it's surely a theme I return to again and again, my book about water is THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO -- a book about the fury and power of water to take away, as well as its power to heal and help us forgive.

One of my favorite early reader reviews contained this sentence, "It's as if the water itself is a character in the story." I wept when I read that review as it is exactly what I set out to do.

I know that the book has been characterized as "YA" and of that I am proud. But I also want my readers to know that I try to write books that will be loved by any age, 12 - 102. Yes, my published works are stories set at a particular time of youth, but, I hope, they are inhabited by characters and themes that will appeal to the most sophisticated and savvy reader among us. Think To Kill a Mockingbird or Huck Finn, or A Separate Peace or the many, many wonderful novels for all ages populated by teenaged kids.

The truth is, most YA writers today will tell you that. We write for everyone.

We write for you.

At any rate, as SUMMER turns 2 (!!) next month, and I hope you'll add it to your reading list if you haven't read it yet. If you've read and loved it, I hope you'll share your review on line, and word of mouth with a friend.

And, last but not least, for those who don't know, I wrote an essay HERE for my publisher about why I wrote THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO, and I hope it might move you, if you haven't read it yet.

Here's to spring, and the bliss soon to come.

xox gae

Fresh Start, Excitement and the Inevitable Melancholy

This morning, August 4, at West Neck Beach

I woke up this morning at 5:30 to swim, and was somewhat shocked to walk outside and feel the distinct chill of fall in the air. Aw, come on!!
>:( It feels like summer JUST started.

And, yes, it's only early August -- and yes, the last few weeks have been hotter than a witch's pitootie -- but still, there it was confirmed by my car's dashboard thermometer: a meager 64 degrees.

I'm not ready, I tell you. I AM NOT READY FOR SUMMER TO END.

Certainly, this one is flying too fast. Of course, lately, it all flies too fast (can you feel my melancholy as I type?). I mean, my older son, who is small for his age, now towers over me, and turns 16 this month! That's driving age, people!!! And my younger son, who is also small for his age, well, let's just say his feet suddenly look huge when I wake him up in the morning.

I AM NOT READY FOR THIS AT ALL. NOT READY FOR IT, I tell you!

Having said all that, I can tell you what I am ready for. The summer is a notoriously slow book business time, and in that regard only, I am ready for the fall. The good news is, I'm making a fresh new start: I have a new agent representing me, Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich, and he took me on just on the strength of my option manuscript, Frankie Sky (okay, and the existence of TPoG although he hasn't read it yet and didn't ask to see the other manuscripts he knows I have) and, better still, he didn't want huge revisions to Frankie Sky. Given that my old agent, and now this agent, both feel Frankie has huge promise, I'm feeling confident that, after this next revision, it will sell. Of course it's been vastly revised (VASTLY) since my editor orginally turned it down (mostly as too commercial compared to TPoG). And as much as I love her, I still don't get that one at all. My readers, prejudiced as some of them may be (and there have been a few non-prejudiced ones as well), have loved the manuscript a lot! So, yes, I am hopeful.

The best news is, the revisions Jim did ask for make total sense -- like hit-the-nail-on-the-head-so-I-now-love-you TOTAL sense! They will take some time, but I'm excited about them, and already in as much as a groove as I can get in with my son's heavy baseball schedule requiring me to run all over Long Island every day.  

My son, the centerfielder, who the team has nicknamed, "The Vacuum."

                                                 
The other totally EXCITING NEWS is that my first high school (in Michigan!) has picked up THE PULL OF GRAVITY into their curriculum along with Of Mice and Men! They didn't teach either, and now they will teach both. I will be taught alongside Steinbeck. Next time I'm whining about low sales, someone remind me of this and slap me. A second school has included it on their summer reading list and I'm sure it will be an unofficial part of their curriculm as the teacher LOVES, and has long taught, Of Mice and Men. And yet a third school in upstate NY had included it on the summer reading list, and one of the English teachers contacted me about learning more about it in the fall. Which leads me to this last bit of excitement: The fabulous Sarah Andersen of Y.A. Love Blog has finished my TPoG Student Study Guide and, if you ask my humble opinion, it is totally awesome. My younger son looked at it and said, "this looks just like the stuff we do in school!" I mean, you can't beat that as a compliment, can you? The guide is up on my website under Young Adult --->Teachers & Resources here: http://gaepolisner.com/html/teacherguides.html if you want to take a look! And I'd love you forever, if you'd pass the word on.

And that's it. I haven't swum my full 5K yet, let alone the 5 miler I'm itching to do, so I need summer to stick around a little longer. I mean that with all my heart. I need more summer. So, do a dance or say a summer prayer or something, would you?

Thanks.

xo - gae

After a 2+ mile swim at West Neck Beach, with the girls. :)