Figured Baby Out!

I know! I'll write a letter from Worth to me explaining everything, no holds barred.
His words will breathe air into the story and it will expand, rise, and soar. No stopping!

Back to the Future

Opening Grace's file and moving words on pages. Again. It wasn't finished, just resting. Used Goldilocks and the Three Bears again as a story example in two classes. Apply to revision? Grace as Goldilocks?

Keep It Going!

A fire of change is now lit under Grace. Good ideas for tightening the plot; it evolves. Teaching is a spur to good writing; students are so talented, eager, willing to share, and, word of the day, brave.

So I return to Grace pencil sharpened; no regrets.
Brave heart.

High Praise and More Work

This just in from a knowledgeable commentator:
".... I was impressed by the narrative tension you created over and over again. Grace is a beautiful, complex character, I think the reader ends up feeling very deeply for her by the end.

"That being said, I'm afraid I just wasn't won over by Worth's downward spiral into mental instability. It's not that you didn't manage to capture his thousand-mile stare and inability to come back from the jungle, because I think that was all handled quite masterfully. My concerns were in the plot surrounding his character transformation."

This touches on something I have thought about. I worked hard on these characters and it's always great to discover they spoke to someone else memorably. But the plot concern is definitely something to tackle.

Individual Artist Award in Fiction

Thanks, Grace! After submitting pages from Grace at War in July, I heard today that the Maryland State Arts Council has found my work to be of artistic excellence, and worthy of a cash award to be spent by June 30, 2010.

Grace has now won two contests (well, the second was a query contest) and now a grant. Time for an agent!

I am thrilled!

In Progress A Five-Year WritingPlan

By December 31, 2014 I plan

to be a writer-in-residence at a writing conference or college
to have sold 3 novels, the 2 I completed in 2009 and 2010 as well as the one completed in 2011
to have sold a how-to book based on my class assignments
to have attended the opening night of my first play
to be marketing novels written 2012 - 2014


and...?

Lost in a Book

In sixth grade my favorite book was Storm Canvas, a sea story set in the War of 1812. I wanted to run away to sea to be a cabin boy, but since thatwasn't in the cards, I jumped aboard the book and sailed away.