Wonderful beginnings today. Our first foreign rights sale, which is nice to see right before the Frankfurt Book Fair, where I’ll really be tackling this new aspect of publishing. A pleasant global exchange: a friend in China skyping for help with an English word–that actually happens to be French (exposé). Good news from our sales people, who are getting an enthusiastic reception for our forthcoming titles on China and Sustainability. (Global Perspectives on the United States is also doing well. I attribute this to the concern about international relations generated by the presidential campaign.)

And various exchanges with Berkshire authors. It’s beyond my powers to express just how wonderful these people are: knowledgable, of course, insightful, but also engaged with the world and deeply committed to sharing what they know in order to make the world a better place. I have known all this for a long time, but it’s reinforced every day. I’ve learned something new about them, too, after asking, with some trepidation, for help in finding a summer internship for my daughter.

I was corresponding with an Encyclopedia of China author yesterday and at the end of a message about Confucianism he asked if my daughter had found an internship and how had it gone. How thoughtful to enquire about Rachel. How amazing that he isn’t the only person who’s asked about her – and now I’m wondering if I, or she, should send a follow-up note to the environmental authors I wrote to in the spring, or, at least, to the dozens of people who responded with ideas and encouragement. Rachel is shy, and was rather appalled when I suggested asking our authors for advice. She was even more daunted by the positive response! What a summer she had, as a field technician with a team studying the effect of bears and wolves on forest ecosystems in the northern Rockies. This was a girl who’d spent her life reading or at the computer, and I was anxious those first couple of weeks, knowing that she’d never done an outdoor physical job before.I ‘m told that she worked hard, never complaining about the long days in the field, and that she amused everyone with her enormous appetite.

I’m putting together a long newsletter for authors and customers and our other contacts, using the WordPress blog system, and may be calling on Rachel (who is a senior at UVM this year) for technical assistance. I think she’d prefer it if I needed advice on trees or grizzly bears.