The question is, what is a Mahna Mahna?*

I’m smack in the middle of a superbloom– It’s beautiful. It’s big. It’s rare. It’s a phenomenon (*mahna mahna). And it definitely won’t last forever, so here I am trying to savor every moment:

• JUST BECAUSE has been on the New York Times Bestseller List for 3 weeks now.

• Matthew McConaughey sent me flowers.

• I spent an entire week in residency at the gorgeous Milkwood Farm in New York.

• I met Matthew McConaughey in person and felt like a celebrity for one night as a VIP guest of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

• In a few days I get to celebrate the release of the 6th ADA LACE book, by the phenomenal Emily Calandrelli and I can’t wait for a certain science-y kiddo to see the dedication.

• I have a lot of fun book events coming up.

• We are getting ready for a cover reveal for a book that comes out next year and I think it may be the best art I ever made.

• It’s FALL! The season I love enough to have made a book about it.

Please forgive me, I know you didn’t sign up for this newsletter for this sort of thing (and I didn’t set out to write it for this sort of reason)… I’ve just been working toward these achievements for years and years. I’m overcome by how it is feeling like everything is happening all at once after illustrating almost 60 books! That’s so many books! It would be a missed opportunity to not reflect on how I’m feeling right now.

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Let’s talk about the flowers for a second…

It was the day after JUST BECAUSE debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. I was sitting at my kitchen table munching on a salad, surrounded by a mess of a house I have been doing my best to keep up with, when the doorbell rang. I was not dressed for answering the door, so I waited a minute before peeking out. When I cracked the door, a nice woman in a car was driving away, waving goodbye out her open window.

I looked down:

I thought, “These are the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen! They must be from my editor or agent?” A card stuck out the top of the arrangement. I opened the envelope and saw nothing at first, except Matthew McConaughey written down the bottom:

And, let me tell you, it seems that every September I hear his name and start screaming (because last September when I got pinged for the project, I also screamed). They were truly the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen, ordered from Luna’s Flower Shop in Medway, MA.

My husband immediately said to me - “You need to call them! Get the deets!” 🤣

So, I did! Sure enough, the florists at Luna’s were surprised to hear that the flowers were ACTUALLY from Matthew McConaughey, himself. (I worked as a florist for many years - people have inside jokes, you can write anything on a card that you want… and sometimes it’s weird.)

A few days later, I left home for a week to visit the enchanting Milkwood Farm in New York renovated by the incomparable Sophie Blackall and her husband, Ed Schmidt. I brought what was left of the flowers with me:

They first lived in my bedroom. Then, I brought them to our main dining table, where they became the “10th house guest” aptly named the ¹McConaflowers and joined us for workdays, dinners, and conversations until they started wilting and the bouquet shrank:

Here are all the fabulous female illustrators I was with at the Milkwood residency:

From left to right, top to bottom:

Lexi Vangsnes, Fran Wilde, Kelly Light, Amy Neilander, Marci Senders, Tara Anand, Serena Dominguez, Me, and Brook Gideon.

You never really know how these things will go, but I think it was pretty great. I worked on all sorts of projects like school visit presentations, holiday cards, and I even started a companion to The Flower Garden.

And over breakfast on the second to last day, we all got to talking about what we will do next when we get home. Reacting to Jimmy Fallon’s Instagram video about The Tonight Show being back post writer’s strike (1st guest being… Matthew McConaughey!), I said “I think I want to do something crazy like try to go to the live recording of Fallon.”

If it weren’t for those 8 fabulously encouraging ladies, I wouldn’t have emailed my publicist. I wouldn’t have gotten on a train first thing Monday morning. I wouldn’t have gotten a ticket to Fallon…

But I did.

And not only did I meet Matthew McConaughey, I hugged him, I high fived him, and I got the most special signed copy of JUST BECAUSE.

Now, I am back to reality, back to deadlines, back to making PTO flyers, and back to piles of dishes. It was fun to be a VIP for a night, but as I sit on the couch typing this and watching my daughter do Bear Hunt Yoga on YouTube…I’m happy to be cozy in my little home. And, thanks to a week at Milkwood, I have some brilliant memories, and I’ve got myself on a little schedule to have a new early reader graphic novel pitch by January.

(I say that here for accountability! If, come January, I have said nothing else about this…please feel free to ask questions.)

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On Tuesday, October 10th, the 6th Ada Lace book comes out! I’m borrowing Emily Calandrelli’s photo for sharing. ADA LACE GETS FAMOUS! It’s a good one. I’m planning an entirely Ada-inspired post for another time; there’s much to share about the 6 years I’ve been working on this series!

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I have a bunch of events coming up and I hope anyone who is local can make it!

• Sat., October 7 (10am-12pm): Bird and Bear Collective - Holliston, MA  *Print Sale + Storytime + Signing

• Sun., October 8 (12pm-2pm): Trident Booksellers - Newbury Street, Boston, MA *Storytime + Signing

• Mon.-Fri., October 9-13 (on Instagram): Awetober Art Auction

• Sat., October 21 (11am-12pm): The Silver Unicorn Bookstore - Acton, MA *Storytime + Signing

• Thurs., October 26 (2:30-4:30pm): Winchester Author Fest - Town Hall *Signing

• Sat., November 18 (time TBD): Montserrat College of Art / iCON- Beverly, MA *Panel discussion with Ellen T. Crenshaw

• Sat. & Sun., December 2+3 (10am-4pm): Holiday Market @ WaterFire Arts Center - Providence, MA *Print Sale +Signing

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Until next time, just keep livin.’ L- I-V-I-N.

1. Last Thanksgiving, MM sent me a pecan pie, which we named the McConapie.