The Story of the Penguin Hat

I am still revising the pirate book. I think it gets longer every day: No matter how much I write, I never seem to get much closer to the end. Leave it to me to have a magically expanding novel. That’s the sort of thing that’s lots of fun to read about, but less fun to deal with when it pops up in your actual life.

In case you’d like to read something new from me while I’m locked away in my office, though, my agency has just posted an interview with me on their website. You can read the whole thing here, but to thank you for being so patient while I utterly neglect my blog, here’s a small excerpt, along with an extremely embarrassing photo just for you:

When the most exciting moment of my writing career arrived, I was dressed as a penguin.

It was Halloween, and because I’m a fan of penguins, I’d decided to dress as one. I have a crocheted penguin hat, complete with eyes and a beak, and I was feeling very sophisticated and professional in my costume as I sat in my living room in front of a giant bowl of candy, waiting for trick-or-treaters to arrive.

Then the phone rang. It was Sarah, calling to tell me that HarperCollins wanted to buy my first book. At least, I think that’s what she said—it was a little hard to hear through the penguin hat’s earflaps. I clasped my hands to my beak, said a few incomprehensible things (like, ‘I’m dressed as a penguin!’), hung up, and danced around a little in the living room. Then I ate several fun-sized Butterfingers from the trick-or-treat bowl to celebrate.

Are you ready for the extremely embarrassing photo? Are you ready to see the first picture taken of me as a Serious, Professional Author? Here I am, moments after I sold my first book:

I have to say, this is not exactly how I imagined life as a Serious, Professional Author. It is, however, a fairly accurate representation of my life, so I have no one to blame but myself. (I also blame my lovely and talented agents, Sarah and Julia, for allegedly circulating this photo among the UK editors who read my manuscript. Now everyone in London thinks I am a penguin. Oh, misery.)

All right. Now that I’ve thoroughly embarrassed myself in front of the entire internet for no good reason, I will lock myself back in my office and return–hopefully in a couple of weeks–when I’ve wrangled this book into shape. Please don’t make too much fun of me while I’m away; I would hate to miss that.

4 Responses to “The Story of the Penguin Hat”

  1. Brandy

    Oh, please – you absolutely rock that penguin hat. Adorbs. Off to read your interview!

  2. Linda Camacho

    Feel free to ask, Caroline! Trust me, I have plenty of ’em (and I often have to throw many away, sadly) .

    lcamacho AT randomhouse DOT com