This is my sweet little bike. I got it in college, from the local bike shop, where it was hidden in a corner behind a dozen bigger bikes. Getting a bike from Quad Bikes was a little like adopting a puppy, so when I said "Can I try that little grey one?" the girl's eyes lit up and as she dragged it out for me, she told me all about it, that it's a vintage Schwinn and they don't make them anymore, that the body had been reclaimed and meticulously rebuilt by one of their mechanics, that he'd special-ordered the tires because he thought this was such a nice little bike.
My bike even came with a sob story! It had sat in the shop for weeks because it was so tiny, most people couldn't ride it without their knees hitting the handlebars. But it was perfect for me. I swear, when I hopped on for a test ride around the quad, everyone got a little misty.
My bike has seen me through two big moves, several Cambridge winters, and some major tune ups (support your local bike repair shop!). I love it dearly, and I am so excited we're getting back into bike-riding weather.
Before you hop on your vintage Schwinn and ride away, here are this week's blog posts:
YA Highway did a special theme week of posts, focusing on the major writing/publishing conferences. All the posts were pretty great, but I found this breakdown of the major conferences and their "Day in the Life of an Author at BEA" especially interesting
Rachelle Gardner looked at the nitty gritty of publishing contracts and what they do and don't cover
At Publishing Crawl, agent/author Mandy Hubbard took a closer look at book packaging and the pros and cons of working with a packager. And book buyer Rachel Seigel discusses why some books have different covers for different markets
The Great Gatsby trailer came out this week and that got K.M. Weiland thinking about distant narrators and how they bring a unique point of view to stories
And finally, a really interesting essay from Emily Asher-Perrin at Tor about how she wishes the strong female hero could make the jump from YA to adult literature
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