Monique Polak

So today, my friend and super-talented photographer Monique Dykstra came over to shoot some pictures for the cover of my fall book, What World Is Left. Many of you who've met me know I often wear a very special necklace -- a simple leather cord with a pendant attached. The pendant is a scene my grandfather painted and gave to my mother for her 15th birthday. It's no bigger than a postagestamp and framed under glass. At the time my mother received this gift, she and her family were living in Theresienstadt, a Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.

I describe a similar scene in the book -- and when I told my editor that the necklace really does exist, she was eager to have it photographed for use as the possible cover of the book. 

My niece Julia, who's 15, agreed to let Monique photograph her hands holding the pendant. Monique also shot some images of the necklace alone. THEY'RE GORGEOUS!!

Something I learned today about the connection between photography and writing: things take the time they need to take. Monique arrived at 12. At about 2:30, after snapping loads and loads of pictures, trying different backgrounds and lighting, and two phone meetings with the art editor at Orca, Monique said, "This is the first one I really like!" So you see, there's no rushing the creative process. Also, Monique never gave up. She never shrugged and said, "This is way too much work! The pendant is too little. We'll never get a good picture!!"

So in today's blog, I want to say a special thanks to Monique Dykstra for taking the gorgeous pics (if I could post pics, I'd let you see them -- but alas, I still haven't figured that out) and for reminding me that creative work takes lots of patience.