Greatness in the Details

I'm doing something new tonight--I'm at a Student Council fundraiser for my son's school. To be specific, I'm sitting on a gym floor with a few hundred kids and parents watching a family- friendly movie. There's a 25 cent ice cream bar still taking customers halfway through the movie, which is okay because as far as I can tell, no one's actually watching the movie. You can't hear it above the constant roar of kids' voices...not to mention the fact that the sound usystem keeps cutting out.

Which brings me to Meg Cabot, one of the top YA authors of our time. Does she hang out at these events? Because her writing is filled with the sort of vibrant detail best collected in person.

It can be tricky to weave details of normal life--like the happy hubbub of a school movie night--into a bigger-picture story. Sometimes those details paint the scenery against which the story takes place. Sometimes those details ARE the story.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a movie to (try) to watch....

-- Cheryl :-)