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It's a wet autumn day in New York City. From the window beside my office desk in my 11th floor apartment I can hear the rain tap tap, tapping. I wish there were smells of hot bread, or tea, because my stomach is growling, but its noon and I've been too busy writing, to even eat or cook so my apartment smells like nothing. Empty nothing, unless computer keys smell. Sniff. No smell.

Okay that's a bit about setting. If you want to start a story its a good thing to let us see where the story is set.
Mine is set in my apartment. Give a few details. Desk, window, 11th floor.
And then give us some sensory detail.

Wet--touch
rain tapping--sound
smells (absence of in this case)

I heard an author I admire say he tries to use 3 out of five senses in each when setting up a scene.

This is a first draft, and I barely, sort of have three.

If I took time to make my blog writing look as pretty as my novel writing, well I'd never get to the novel. In novels I rewrite, and rewrite and rewrite. I did 8 complete drafts of Converting Kate.

But I have had so many teens writing wanting advice on writing, I've decided to start adding tips, even if they are just first draft tips.

If you have a question you'd like answered about writing (not that I'm any expert, but practice does make perfect and I do have a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and a published book, so through trial and error I have learned a few things) please email me at [email protected] and I'll feature your question on my blog. Or leave a question here on the comment option.

Notice the first sentence in the last paragraph above. That is a really long, bad sentence. You may also learn how NOT to write, by reading my tips!

:)

Happy Autumn!

From Beckie Weinheimer, who is going to stop writing and fix herself some earl grey cream tea and whole grain toast. And as she sips at her tea and nibbles at her toast, she will gaze out her window to the tall buildings, the rain and the autumn colors. The orange, yellow and red leaves will beckon her to desert her computer that does not smell, climb into her pink wellies, her pink raincoat, and take a splish splash walk in the six miles of woods across the street! Yes, Beckie can see tall buildings and woods out her window. She can see red oak, white oak and pine trees as well as the Empire State building from her bedroom window. Even when she is lying down in bed! Now that is something to get excited about!

*Photo taken by me with my iphone--Forest Park Across the street from where I live

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I am not one of those writers who can say, "I always wanted to be a writer. I wrote my first story when I was I was in six years old." You don't dream of being a writer when you're bad at spelling, horrid at grammar, and often use words in the wrong context. When I attended school my graded English compositions were always covered with red marks and B's instead of A's. I normally got comments from my teachers like "nice idea, but watch the grammar mistakes."

It wasn't until I was a junior in high school when I took a creative writing class (not because I wanted to become a great writer, but because I heard the teacher was "cool") that my life changed. For our first assignment we were instructed to go home, find a picture that evoked a lot of emotion and write a poem about it. I dug through an old shoebox of photos we had in a closet and found a picture of a good friend of mine who no longer lived near me. Her name was Barbara and she was a Navajo Indian. She went to school with me in Utah as a foster child, but her real family lived near Shiprock, New Mexico. One summer I got to visit her. When I found her picture in the box I had to fight back tears. We had moved away and I really missed her. Many images came to my mind, the red dirt of her homeland, the hogan her family lived in, the sheep they herded, her long silky black hair, her laugh, the way she could draw anything and the how she loved to listen to Paul Revere and the Raiders' Cherokee People on the radio. 

Instead of my usual B and redmarks, I found a A+ and a note from my teacher, "send to magazine" at the top of the poem I wrote about my friend. I skipped home from school that day. After that day I decided maybe I would become a writer. It took a lot of years, but now I am a writer. I still remember how my heart soared after writing that first poem. Now my heart leaps when I meet young people who are searching for their voice. Here are two young artists who said I could share their work.

I met Sierra last year when I was speaking at her school in Northeast Harbor Maine, the real town that inspired the fictional Puffin Cove in my book Converting Kate. She and her friend Tyler wrote a poem together to submit to my Teen Writer Page. I was intrigued by their poem and thought it would be fun to interview Tyler and Sierra about their collaborative creative process.

Tyler: I did this because Sierra's friend read a couple of my poems that I wrote while I was bored at home, and she already knew Sierra was a good writer so she asked us if we could write one together. Sierra sent the first four lines and asked if I could add on to that so I added another four, and it went on like this until we decided it was about done. We didn't plan what we were going to write, or at least I didn't and this whole work only took a total of five or so minutes, that's usually how writing works for me. I never really thought about writing with someone else, but we both had different inspirations along the same lines and it was pretty easy and I guess it just fit together. I never really thought of myself as a writer and very few even know I write, but those who do usually enjoy reading what I have made. Um I suppose that's it, I hope I answered everything you wanted to know.


Sierra :I guess when I really think about it I would have loved to write a poem with Tyler a while ago, but it just never occurred to me as something that would work. I mean, I love everything he writes, it makes me jealous. I never expected him to be able to write the way he does, and it was an awesome surprise when I found that he could. When he first sent me a poem of his it made me cry. I've enjoyed writing for a few years, since I was really bored one summer and decided to see what I could do. One of our friends asked us if we could write something together after she'd read some of each of our writing, but nothing really happened at first. Then I started a poem in class one time, and got stuck after the first verse. I remembered what we'd been asked to do, so I sent Tyler the first four lines hoping that he could help me finish it. When he sent the next verse I was actually really surprised, but I sent the next one and so on. I've never written with someone else, and hadn't actually thought about it. Apparently it worked pretty well though, or at least it seems like it did. The lines of the poem flow really well together,  and when people read it they can't usually tell that both of us wrote it. We both had similar inspirations that just fit. The whole thing happened at like, eight at night over a Facebook conversation. It took almost no time at all, it just kind of happened naturally. That's the way things work with us. I just hope everyone likes what we've done.

Thanks Sierra and Tyler for sharing with me and letting me post your poem. 

If you are a teen writer and would like to be interviewed by me and share a piece of you writing on my blog, just email me at [email protected]. 

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Yes, I am in the revision process. I’m trying to find the sculpture inside the slab of granite that is the novel! 


What do you struggle with in writing?



Have you lived on or visited the Island of Curaçao? And why did you want to set a novel here?





How much research did you have to do for this novel?

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Thanks to all of you for signing up. And a big shout out to Dori Hillestad Butler for giving away a copy of her book and for providing such an engaging interview! Thanks Dori!

For the month of October I will be featuring a new YA Author who's first book is coming out this month! The Other Side of Blue
Clarion Books (October 19, 2009)by Valerie O Patterson

Valerie O Patterson (known as Val to her friends)interview will be up in a few days.

***In the meantime I borrowed a bit from her website--

Biography
Valerie O. Patterson was raised in the Florida panhandle where the Gulf of Mexico inspired a love of blue and a fascination with the horizon and what lies beyond. Valerie graduated in May 2008 with an MFA in Children’s Literature from Hollins University, where she twice received the Shirley Henn Award for Creative Scholarship. She has also received a Work-in-Progress grant from the Society of Children’s Bookwriters and Illustrators (SCBWI). In addition to SCBWI, she is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, the Women’s National Book Association, and the Authors Guild. She lives in the Washington, DC area with her husband.


The Other Side of Blue
Fifteen-year-old Cyan, named after the color blue by her artist mother, feels blue in all its shades, when she returns to the Caribbean one year after the loss of her father, drowned in an inexplicable boating accident. Expected to play host to a potential stepsister, Cyan’s past and future seem colored by mystery. Did her mother drive her father away? If he killed himself, why didn’t he leave her a note to help her understand? And what is she to make of the ice bucket and shattered champagne glasses found on board, or the promises of information from the local rich-boy? As the gulf between her mother and herself grows, Cyan must explore the depths of the color blue—the blue of sadness, the ocean, the horizon, and herself—in this story of love, betrayal, and, ultimately, hope.

The Other Side of Blue
“A story tender and true...each word seems to shimmer.”
–Han Nolan, National Book Awardee

And just to let you know a bit about perseverance, here's the title of her talk she will give in Leesburg, VA, her hometown and my old hometown! Yes I know Val! And I am so so excited about her book!

October 2: An Overnight Success (after fifteen years of blood, sweat, tears, and workshops). Northern Virginia Writers, 2009 First Friday Events, Leesburg Town Hall, 25 Market Street, Leesburg, VA 20176. 7:30 p.m

So the message is writers--do not give up. One of the great pieces of wisdom I obtained during my MFA education at Vermont College was this:

The only difference between a published writer and an unpublished writer once they obtain a certain level of writing skill, is perseverance. That is not word for word, but Phyllis Root, picture book author extraordinaire and my mentor is the woman who told me basically this. I hold on to her words some days like one would grip the side of a cliff they were dangling from!

So leave a comment here or email me at [email protected] if you'd like to be in the contest to win a signed copy of The Other Side of Blue and check back here in a couple of days for the interview. Or sign up to receive blog posts!

Happy Reading and Happy Writing.

Beckie

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To enter the contest just email me at [email protected] between now and the end of September.

I met Dori Butler when I traveled to Iowa City last fall. She found out I was coming and got together the local SCBWI members and took me out to dinner. What a treat. I also got to meet her son a student at West High, a great writer himself. I fell in love with Dori's The Truth About Truman School which I read as I flew out to meet her. The last two days I have been glued to her books Do You Know the Monkey Man? and the sequel Yes, i know the Monkey Man. If you want suspense, mystery, and teenage angst all in a twin package and also want to see what life in a little town in Iowa is like, I'd highly recommend these books. Dori has written picture books, novels, and non-fiction. She's a wonderful human being, and very talented. Enjoy reading her interview below!

Also check out her website at http://www.kidswriter.com/books.htm

Q:Yes, I Know the Monkey Man is a sequel to Do You Know the Monkey Man, correct?
A: Yes.

Q: Did you always plan on writing a sequel to that book?
A: Well, I always HOPED I’d be able to write a sequel…the final decision on that rests with the publisher, not the writer. They needed to see how well the first book sold before they could commit to doing a sequel. I actually started thinking about a sequel to Do You Know the Monkey Man when I was about halfway through writing that first book. I knew there was a whole other side to the story and I would need a brand new book to tell it. So I was happy when I got the go-ahead to do the sequel.

Q: Do you think it’s easier to write a sequel than it is to write a new stand-alone book?
A: I thought so before I actually did it. (And this was the second time I’ve written a sequel…Tank Talbott’s Guide to Girls is the sequel to Trading Places with Tank Talbott.) It seems like it should be easier. You already have the characters and the setting. But what’s challenging about sequels is 1) you have to remember everything that happened in book one. Every single detail. If you’ve established that your main character’s birthday is in July in book one and suddenly it’s in April in book two, someone will notice! Kids remember details. And 2) you’re limited by what you wrote in book one. With both sequels there were things I wish I’d done differently in book one because it would’ve set things up much better for book two. But it was too late to go back and make changes to book one.

Q: What was the most challenging part of writing this book?
A: Believe it or not, getting started! I’d received a lot of mail from readers who wanted to know if there was a sequel. This was great, of course…I love getting mail from readers. But at the same time, it made me nervous. I started to worry that these kids wouldn’t like the second book as much as they liked the first. It sort of paralyzed me for a while. I couldn’t write.

Q: How did you break out of that? How did you start writing again?
A: Well, the fact there was a deadline looming helped.  So I sat down and took a good hard look at my outline and decided to change the story.

Q: You changed the story? AFTER you already had a contract for the outline?
A: Yes.

Q: Was your editor okay with that?
A: Uh…not really. I actually tried to change the story twice. First I wanted to go back and begin the story at about the halfway point of book one. I thought this was a good idea because we would be seeing the events from a different character’s point of view. But my editor said no, we don’t want to cover the same ground we already covered in book one. She said readers wanted to know what happened NEXT, after book one ended. They don’t want to see the same events from someone else’s point of view. So then I proposed another new story idea…one that involved old letters. But again, my editor wanted me to go back to my original outline.

Q: Why didn’t she like your second idea?
A: She didn’t think the letters would make a good vehicle for telling the story. And when she heard where I was going with this new idea, she was also afraid I was going to write myself into a corner.

Q: So did you eventually go back to your original outline?
A: Yes.

Q: And now that the book is done, are you glad you did or do you wish you could have written one of those other stories?
A: No, I’m glad I went back to the original outline. I think my editor saved me from myself.

Q: Will there be a third Monkey Man book?
A: Funny you should ask…I’m thinking about a possible third book. I think there’s still more story to tell. (And if my editor happens to be reading this: if you take a third book in this series, I PROMISE I WILL STICK TO THE OUTLINE THIS TIME!!!)

Q: Do you have any other new books coming out in the near future?
A: I have a picture book called P is for Police coming out this fall. As you can probably guess, it’s an ABC book on police work. And then I’m finishing up three chapter books for a new mystery series I have coming out this spring. It’s called the Buddy Files and it’s about school therapy dog that solves mysteries. The books are told from the dog’s point of view.

Q: What age group is that aimed at?
A: Probably 1st-3rd grade.

Q: You write in a lot of different genres for a lot of different age groups. Do you have a favorite genre or favorite age group to write for?
A: Well, I always used to think my favorite age group to write for was upper elementary school/middle school…but I’m really enjoying these chapter books, too. I like to write mystery/humor/family stories…for all age groups. The only audience I haven’t published for is upper YA. And I’ve tried writing for that audience, but every time I start something with upper YA in mind, it turns into a middle grade project.

Q: Why do you suppose that is? Any idea?
A: Well, it might be because I like to think there’s a 16-year-old trapped inside me, but maybe it’s really a 12-year-old disguised as a 16-year-old?

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Congrats to Carla!

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"For now we see through a glass, darkly." I Corinthians 13:12

I love this imagine and verse from Corinthians in the Bible. And to me it is so true. If we could see through a glass in good light, we'd have an almost perfect picture, but to see through a glass in dark light, or with limited light, well it’s a lot of guess work. This week I've been reminded of how true that is, with my writing, through hearing other writer's stories, and with my own life.

I pride myself on having intuition. Last week my nephew was here visiting me. We were on the subway heading from Queens to Manhattan on one of our crazy adventures. He's twenty, I'm fifty-one, but to hear us talking you'd think we were two teenage boys, maybe 14. We have fun together. For example on one long subway ride when we could not sit next to each other but had to sit across from each other, we talked in sign language. At the beginning of our subway ride, we both knew the signed alphabet. I knew a few more signs from a course I took long ago. But by the end of our hour plus subway ride, I had not only taught my nephew almost every sign I knew but we had made up several of our own, finger spelling them, then showing the sign, then laughing at our brilliance and were actually communicating silently, with a bit of skill and having a lot of fun. So we are silly and creative.

But the next day on our planned trip to Manhattan, we were sitting next to each other and out of the blue I started talking about my nephew's sister, my niece and I began crying. I could not stop crying. I really didn't know why. I said "I just miss her," because it was getting uncomfortable, and I didn't know what else to do to explain my tears. But I knew in my heart it was more. I just didn't know what it was. Later I talked to her on the phone and discovered that she was very sad. Ironically we had both been crying at the same exact time. So my intuition told me something was wrong, but did it tell me what was the matter? No clue at all---hence the "through a glass darkly."

Now this morning I was on the dread-mill as I like to call that machine in our gym that lets you pretend to walk or jog and burn of calories indoors because it's 90 and 90% humidity outside and sane people do not exercise outside in that weather. Okay I'm a wimp. I admit it. Welcome to the East coast summers!

But any-who, I was listening to a wonderful pod-series I subscribe to (free) by Barnes and Noble where they interview authors. Today I listened to Meg Cabot and Greg Mortenson. Not only did both authors have different goals than they eventually accomplished (seeing through a glass darkly) when they first started out in pursuit of their dreams, but they had to keep on despite road blocks at every turn. And it was the combination of these two things--the unclear vision and the roadblocks in their way--that gave me hope this morning and made me determined to hold tight to my dreams, even if they aren't that very well defined and the glimmer is dim.

Meg Cabot wanted to write. She wanted to write a story about a 30 year old girl whose mom started dating one of her (the daughter's) old school teacher's. Meg Cabot wrote the story and let her friends read the book.

Feedback?

It's good but who cares about a 30 year old woman being upset at her mom for who she's dating? Change the age.

So Meg Cabot, whose dream had been to write about a 30 year old character, changed the character in her story from age 30 to age 14. And even then the Princess Diaries, according to Ms. Cabot was seen by every editor in NYC before it was finally sold=perseverance and seeing through a glass darkly.

The second interview I listened to was with Greg Mortenson. He was a climber, and was hiking to the top of K2 in tribute to his sister who had recently died. He wanted to place her ring on top of the mountain. That never happened. Instead he ended up turning around before he reached the summit, ill and half dead, and was cared for in a remote village by the local people. While recuperating he observed that the only teaching going on in this village was outside with sand and sticks. He changed his goal from climbing K2 in tribute to his sister to building a school in this remote village in her memory. Several years later, tons of fund raising, and many difficult hurdles and he had not only built a bridge for the small town but the first of many schools he has built in this remote area of the world. So his tribute to his sister was never completed as he first envisioned it, but instead became a much grander tribute in the end, because of the detours and trials he suffered along the way to his first goal--in other words his vision for his sister was seen through a glass darkly.

I feel like that is so much of life. I went to Vermont College and earned an MFA so I could learn how to write a specific novel, a novel that I am still working on. In the meantime, while I was trying to figure out this novel (which is making progress and gaining hope every day) I wrote another novel--Converting Kate, which wasn't in the plan at all.

I am coming to believe that diversions, unforeseen bends in the roads, detours, or seeing through a glass darkly may be the best things about life. Instead of a ring on top of K2 thousands of remote villages now have schools. Instead of another book about a 30something female, millions of teenage girls including my own daughter have enjoyed the Princess Diaries. And I have a book published, by accident, while I was on the road to trying to figure out book one, I wrote book two.

Isn't life strange?

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Penny and The Punctuation Bee and Alfie and The Apostrophe are my very favorite grammar books and I hate grammar. Even though these books are written for early readers I find them very helpful for myself, a grammar challenged author!

Not only will you learn about grammar but because Ms. Donohue is a dazzling, sparkling and dramatic author the reader will have fun as they learn. Moira's books have sold over 70,000 copies. She is a favorite for elementary schools where she puts on puppet and magic shows that go along with the themes of her books. Read her interview below and find out how this top performing lawyer went from writing legislation to writing books for children!

And email me at [email protected] by August 31st to enter the contest for a chance to win a signed copy of Penny and the Punctuation Bee.





Why do you write?

I write to stop the stories in my head. I live in my imagination a great deal of the time. If I write, then at least I can mold my fantasy life into something useful. I would like to write for adults, but I don't think I have the stamina to write anything of that length, so I write for children instead. Besides, it lets me use even more of my imagination. And I totally love children's literature.
Books that I read as a child that I just loved, books like MIKE MULLIGAN AND HIS STEAM SHOVEL, ANGELINA BALLERINA, and THE STORY OF PING, still make me feel warm and loved, no matter how often I re-read them. Not too long ago, I found one of my very favorites, MISS FLORA MCFLIMSEY'S CHRISTMAS EVE among my niece's books. I tried to reclaim it, because I had always loved it, but my sister said it was hers. I knew better because my great aunt, a librarian had given it to me and sure enough, I had, in shaky writing, put my name in it all those years ago.
There's another reason: the pay-off is great! When a child tells me that he loves one of my books and sleeps with it under his pillow, I know that in some way, I have reached his heart.


What are some of your interests and do you use them in your writing?

Despite the fact that a wonderful play, The History Boys, has trivialized the following phrase, I grew up with a “love of the language” because of my father, who read the dictionary every night. Grammar and punctuation came easily to me and I never lost interest in them, which is perhaps why I was drawn to legislative drafting when I was a practicing attorney, and why I ended up writing about the secret personalities various punctuation marks.
But I also have a great interest in the performing arts – classic movies, musical theater, opera, and especially dancing. I appreciate the importance of "the theatrical" and try to use it in my own writing. And I have published two plays for children. I expect that most of what I write in the future will incorporate the performing arts in some fashion.


Punctuation and grammar – why write about them?

I'm a bit of a grammar geek—I was the only non-English major in my college who took advanced grammar (it was an elective for me; they HAD to take it!). I really hope that young readers and teachers come away from reading ALFIE THE APOSTROPHE and PENNY AND THE PUNCTUATION BEE thinking that punctuation and grammar don’t have to be boring. I have a lot of fun ways to teach punctuation that are a little different, including punctuation magic tricks, a punctuation bee, a quiz to find out which punctuation mark you are and a read-aloud "sounds" of punctuation story.
In this current environment of abbreviated communication (email, text, IM) punctuation has become even more important. And there's room for new forms of punctuation, like emoticons . So, in other words, I think punctuation doesn't have to be a boring, "stickler" type subject. Check out my blog for more information and teaching hints at http://punctuationplayground.blogspot.com.


Do you write every day?

No. I need to be alone to do my best writing and some days there is no alone time! But I try to write often, because even if what you write on a particular day isn't good, it helps to keep your writing facile if you exercise it often.
I've always been a morning person, so I usually write in the morning. If my morning is tied up, I use that as an excuse not to write that day. Lately, however, I have been trying to train myself to work in the middle of the day as well. But after 10 PM, I turn back into a pumpkin, so I can't imagine that anything I write in my grumpy bear mode would be worth reading!


How do your ideas come to you?

I often wake up with ideas. But as the murky fog between sleep and being awake fades, sometimes, so do the ideas. I finally learned to keep a pad by my bedside to make notes. But I think my best time for inspiration is the shower. I don't know if it's the steam, the patter of the water or the aroma of the soap, but somehow my imagination just starts working. It can be tough, since there's not pad of paper nearby, but thankfully a dear friend gave me crayons that write on bathroom tile, so I can at least jot a reminder!


What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Persevere. Getting published is tough. I wrote my first book, a story about a ballet dancer, when I was in sixth or seventh grade and sent it to Scholastic. Of course it was rejected, but the editor sent me a very nice, personal letter—I wish now that I had kept it!
I didn’t try again until around ten years ago. I put in a lot of work because writing is hard for me. I am not someone whose first, second or even third draft is good (even writing these interview responses took several drafts). But I persevered, even though I racked up a lot rejection letters (over one hundred!), many not nearly as nice as my first one. Then I got lucky when an editor at Albert Whitman took a chance on my quirky tale of personified punctuation marks. I think that perseverance is really key; after all, you need to have a manuscript ready when good luck comes your way!


What do you think of critique groups?

I am not a group/organization person, as a general rule, which is why I like the solitariness of writing. But we all have our strengths and weaknesses, and I have found people and groups over the years who have been incredibly helpful to me: they put heart in my writing or add sensory detail or strengthen my characters. I like to think that I help them with keeping a plot moving or writing mechanics or a sense of the dramatic. But I know that I would not have been published if these writer friends hadn't helped me.
The support you can find in critique groups is also invaluable. And if you cheer for them when they get published, you're spreading good writing karma that will come back to you eventually!


Are your books in any way autobiographical?

Penny, the main character of PENNY AND THE PUNCTUATION BEE, is a lot like me – spunky, competitive, persevering – qualities that have both good and bad aspects to them! But if I were a punctuation mark, I don't think I would be a period like Penny. I envision myself as twinkly, sparkly asterisk.*
I think there's a piece of me in most of my main characters; it's just not always the same piece.


What are you working on now?

I am currently revising a middle grade novel about girls in a theater program, a picture book biography, and a couple of silly picture books. And when I’m not writing, I try to visit elementary schools.
I hope you'll check out my website at www.moirarosedonohue.net.
And don't forget – September 24 is National Punctuation Day!!!

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Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all who joined in the contest, you can try again for this month's book. Penny and The Punctuation Bee by Moira Donohue!

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I'm home in NYC. I'm sad. I miss Maine. I miss the people, my new and old Maine friends, the libraries, the librarians, the patrons, the ocean, the pines, the frog that made music each night outside my cabin, and the freezing cold oceans and ponds and lakes to swim in!

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Congratulations to Patty Peters! Thanks to all of you who participated and for all the nice emails about Wilmoth's Interview! She's a wonderful writer even in an interview isn't she?

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To join July's contest, email me at [email protected].
The Winner will be announced on August 1st!


Greetings! July's featured book is Lizard Love by Wendy Townsend, Front Street Books 2008.

To me, Lizard Love is a love story about Grace and her lizard, Spot. I love this book so much because I feel adolescence is such a hard time, and a time where it is so important to feel heard, understood and loved. In this book Grace realizes that although she may not be able to fully connect in the deepest way to her mom, her grandparents, nor her friends she can feel that special attachment to Spot. I think this is a story of hope, of love and of finding a way to connect with another soul in the deepest way, no matter what. I love, love, love this book and knowing Wendy personally I can tell you, this woman adores reptiles! Beckie Weinheimer

*Bank St. College List of Best Books of 2009

*"In her debut novel, Townsend displays a remarkable narrative gift. ...[H]er language really comes alive when talking about the natural world; her sensuous herpetological descriptions are unflinching, evocative, and positively elegant. Even the minor characterizations are full and complex, and the relationships drawn among them resonate with the honesty of adolescence. Though Grace’s naïveté seems surprising at first, this story will still find an enthusiastic audience among young people walking the daily tightrope between fitting in and growing up."
Starred review** —Booklist

And Now an interview with Wendy Townsend, Lizard Lover, Author and Very Cool Person!

•What is your novel about?
I think it has to do with how adolescence can be a seriously uncomfortable time. Grace (my character) can’t stand it that she is becoming a young woman –she wants to stay that cute little girl in the white dress who ran around barefoot on her grandparents’ farm, playing with frogs and turtles and baby birds.

•Is LIZARD LOVE based on your life?
Yes, though only the grandparents are real; the mother is based on my mother, but everyone else is made up. Most of the animal characters are real.

•Are there parts that really happened—are the truth?
Let’s see… Most of the Prologue is pretty real. I did walk out of a pet shop with a baby reticulated python who had lost most of his skin. I got a tour behind the scenes at the Bronx Zoo. My iguana friend at Grace’s age was a female; Spot came later in my life and he never did bite me. (Though it is true that lone male iguanas will sometimes bite female keepers at that time of the month.) Oh –and I did ride the subway to go to a Friends’ school.

•What books influenced your work on LIZARD LOVE?
THE LANGUAGE OF GOLDFISH and RASCAL. In the first story, the girl is struggling so hard with becoming a young woman she has to go into therapy. What’s funny is that I read this book again and again, feeling there was something very important in it that would inform my story, yet I didn’t figure out what it was until much later. RASCAL is about an extraordinary friendship between a boy and a raccoon –it is totally autobiographical, the author even uses his own name for the boy character. As with Grace and Spot, the boy, Sterling, eats, sleeps and plays with Rascal.

•Are you Grace?
No and yes. It’s true that first books are particularly autobiographical. LIZARD LOVE started out as a memoir and I wrote the Prologue while I was in the Vermont College MFA Program. Making the leap into fiction was very difficult for me. Grace finally took on a life of her own, but it was a struggle and I’m not so sure I really succeeded.

•What was the hardest part of writing the book?
The fact that I didn’t know what it was about while I was writing it. I wrote the Prologue and then didn’t know what to do.

•The easiest?
Nothing about this book was easy. But if I had to pick something, it would be working with an editor. I was just so thrilled to get any kind of guidance –anything to go on.

•Technically, what was the most difficult part of the writing?
Getting bogged down in fixing sentences, instead of trusting the images in my head. I had to write the whole novel to learn that that’s not the best way to write fiction!

•When did you decide to write for children?
I didn’t decide; it turned out that what I was trying to say had to do with issues around that time in a person’s life. When you’re a child you see things for the first time and that is charged for me and more interesting to write about than the trials and dramas of adult life.

•Does your story have relevance for today’s young readers?
I don’t know. I wanted to show readers that animals –even the scaly ones— offer a unique companionship. I was trying to tell about how a lizard bailed me out –totally comforted me through my awful adolescence. We must care for animals –all animals-- and for the planet.

•What is your next book about?
It’s called THE SUNDOWN RULE and my editor has the complete draft. It is not a coming-of-age story and there are no lizards in it, but there are lots of animals! And I’m working on a third novel, definitely YA, about the Blue Iguana murders that took place in May of ’08 on Grand Cayman Island. That one’s about coming to terms with cruelty to animals.

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* a package of Kate's favorite candy
* ten pages of winner's writing edited

And the winner is....

A'me Saverino

Congratulations!

And thanks to all the entries! It was fun to get your emails.

All best,

Beckie Weinheimer

And remember if you didn't win, you can sign up for this month's free signed book,
SUMMER OF THE SKUNKS by Wilmoth Foreman!

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Author of the Month--Wilmoth Foreman
Win a Signed Copy of Her Book!
Just email me at [email protected] to be considered any time before July 1st.

Have you ever seen a book dedicated to a piece of land? Wilmoth Foreman did.

"It is to that place--five acres with garden, orchard, pasture, animals, and us--and to the setting's moment in time--a good era to grow in--that I dedicate this book."

I loved Summer of the Skunks. I'm sure you will too. It's s story set in a gentle place and time (with lots of twists and turns and smelly skunks) that will make you just want to a cozy up in a sunny window seat with a good crisp apple and read, read, read!

Wilmoth is from Tennessee and her lilting voice is as lyrical as her book. I wish you could hear her talk. Sometimes I make up questions on the spot when we are together just so I can hear her voice. Its like velvet and music and warm apple pie.

Read my interview with her below, and email me at [email protected] to win a signed copy of Wilmoth's book on July 1st.

Next Month I will be featuring Wendy Townsend, and Lizard Love which is an ALA Best Book of 2009!


What is your novel about?
When ten-year-old Jill and her siblings try to get rid of skunks that have moved in under their house, befriend a hopeless alcoholic, and gang up on a freeloading relative who came for a visit and forgot to leave, their summer is filled with hilarious misadventures.

Is Summer of the Skunks based on your life?
The Clark family is loosely based on my own, although the siblings’ ages are somewhat rearranged. Specifically, in the story Calvin and Jill are three years closer age-wise than my siblings in real life, and Josh is two years younger.
Setting-wise, I tried to authentically recapture the aura of a small southern family farm in the mid-20th century.
As to the events themselves? Most are made up, but somewhat triggered by real life.

Could you give some examples?
Once, we really did have skunks under the house. So the part in the story where the family has to tiptoe and talk in whispers to keep from scaring the skunks is a very real memory. But how the Clark kids deal with those skunks is 100% fiction.
We had a brown cow named Blackie that Josie is patterned after.
Then, there’s good old Cousin Hershel, the lazy relative the Clark family tolerates because he is “delicate.” One summer, such a relative did visit us. Despite our mother cautioning us to behave and be quiet so as not to offend his sensibilities, he didn’t last long in our rowdy household. The idea of Hershel comes from that memory.

Are there other parts that really happened—are the truth?
The day at the creek, complete with the lost-and-found keys and all those frogs jumping about, is probably as close to a real life memory as anything in the book. One incidental scene from that segment was hard to write because it’s intensely personal—the part where Jill lies still in the creek.
As to what is the truth? At first, my attempts at writing fiction were complicated by my journalism background; I felt honor-bound to stick to “the facts.” Norma Fox Mazer, one of my advisors in the Vermont College MFA in Writing program, freed me by saying: “When writing fiction, sometimes one must go beyond the facts to get at the truth.”

Who is your favorite character in Summer of the Skunks?
That would be the mother. To the best of my ability, she is like her real-life counterpart, my mother.

Are you Jill?
For a long time, I was in denial when asked that question. But, yes, to some extent I confess to being Jill. In the story, however, she is much more resourceful and much more of a go-getter — heck, just much more interesting — than I ever was.

What was the hardest part of writing the book?
Figuring out what happened next. Then, once episodes were created and somewhat polished, putting them all together.
This book originated as a short story about the skunks. MFA advisor Carolyn Coman urged me to put some of my memory-based writings together in novel form. I already had the beginning and end in the short story. The middle was the time-consuming part.

The easiest?
Writing single episodes. I can really get going on those. It’s when they need to fit into a cohesive whole that I’d rather clean out the refrigerator than stay with the crafting of the thing.

The most satisfying?
When the last revision was made and the book was ready to go out into the world.

Were you ever surprised while writing?
That’s the fun part. For example, I was plodding along in the early part of the section about J.B. when, out of the blue, Jill had a brainstorm about a place J.B. could live for a while. When that idea plopped into “Jill’s” mind, I was more excited than she was!

Technically, what was the most difficult part of the writing?
Not filtering. I had to let Jill be herself and fib her way out of tight spots instead of taking her aside and saying, “Is that really a nice thing for a little girl to do?”

When did you decide to write for children?
I didn’t. When I was working on the book, people kept asking me what age I was writing it for. I told my editor I didn’t know how to answer that question. He said, “You’re writing it for readers.”
And he was right. Though the publisher has promoted Summer of the Skunks as appropriate for upper elementary and teens, it is, as one adult reader said, an anybody book.

Does your story have relevance for today’s young readers?
For today’s young readers, Summer of the Skunks is comparable to reading fantasy, science fiction, and other genres about places they haven’t been and will probably never go. I consider it to be a fun read, so its most apparent relevance may be entertainment value.
If there’s something in there about relationships, that’s okay, too.

Do you plan to write a sequel to …Skunks?
Actually, I already have. Its working title is Parkie, and it’s, I hope, ready for final revisions.

****I've read Parkie and fell in love with it and Jill's plight as she tries to befriend Parkie, who smells from not bathing, tells lies, steals, and really on first acquaintance is not a very likable young man.

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Maine news, events, photos, videos, and blogs - Bangor Daily News - Maineville

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Yes, those words were said to me today, by a man I don't know, standing beside me at a stop light, resting against his bike, wearing biker shorts, a helmet and biker gloves. We were stopped at the same stop light waiting to cross the street. Just the two of us--how cozy.

And I've been trained how to answer, or instructed what to do when I get hit on or harassed on the street. My daughter is one of the leading advocates in this country to stop street harassment. http://www.stopstreetharassment.com/index.htm

And I promise if it had been a dark night and this man had approached me on a deserted street I would have panicked. But it happened with two police cars, sirens, jammed and honking traffic, all surrounding a very smashed up car, all within twenty feet of where we stood.

I had just finished the running part of my daily run/walk I take through our local woods. Yes, I live in Queens NY, and yes I live a half hour subway ride from Time Square, and before I moved here I thought Queens was miles and miles of beat up old row houses, but I was wrong. We live by a six mile wooded park. I exercise there most days. Half way through the park you come to a busy road--Woodhaven Boulevard--the scene of today's horrible crash.

Let me backtrack. I am having computer troubles. I had to delete my old blog today and create a new one and I didn't really know how. It took me forever and I was ready to throw my laptop across the room and revel in seeing it smash into tiny pieces. Yesterday my computer froze repeatedly, as I tried for hours to burn CD's. I finally gave up. I think I need a new laptop. I hope the gods of laptops will help me find one that doesn't drive me CRAZY!

I got up early this morning and worked on the "damn computer." I was listening to the news. It is going to get hot today. It's probably reached the 85 degrees it was supposed to hit by now. But this morning the radio told me it was 67 out and that meant I better get my butt in gear and go run/walk in the woods before it became too hot. Poor Beckie. Besides all her tragic computer problems she gets sick in the heat and sun. She gets nauseated and headaches and feels faint. Poor Beckie.

So I went into the bathroom to comb my hair. I've been trimming it every morning for the past week, too cheap and not trusting enough to go let a professional do it. Every day I think, I can make it look good this time. By next week if things don't improve I'm going to be bald. I'm going to have to wear a wig like so many of my seriously religious Jewish neighbors who are not allowed to show their hair in public. I look horrible. I was so mad at my hair and my computer and was really feeling in a poor Beckie mood.

But the sun was getting warmer as I stewed over my hair, so I put on a hat and sunglasses to hide the no make-up, blood-shot, blurry eyes and headed out.

I ran into the woods, listening to my ipod music and trying to ignore the pain in my shins, the burning inside of my lungs, and made my mind focus on just getting to that stoplight a mile and a half ahead. Then in my rules after that it's okay to walk the rest of my work out.

And that's when I saw it, waiting for the light to turn green at Woodhaven, sweaty and tired and out of breath. It was a little convertible so smashed up I knew the person or people in it did not walk away. The passengers were already gone. A wrecker was backing up to the mess to load what was left of, an hour ago, stunning little convertible onto his flat bed. Hospitals, ICU's and funeral homes filled my mind. Tears filled my eyes. And as I stood at the cross walk, trying to take this fresh tragedy in, an unknown biker approached me and said, "You look fantastic. Are you married?"

I felt so many things at once. Did he really say I looked fantastic? Must remember to always wear a hat and sunglasses because I really looked like shit! But I couldn't look at him or really concentrate, because all I could see was that smashed up tiny car. Instead of saying all things I've been trained to say, or walk away, I just asked him, "Do you know what happened?" And instead of continuing to hit on me, he told me it was the driver of the other car, he pointed to a second car pulled aside, barely damaged, that had been at fault.

"It's so sad," I said back to him. I don't know why, but I just wanted to sit down and cry. I mean I see sad things all the time. But this was so close. Maybe if I hadn't taken time to trim some more of my ever shrinking hair this morning, or if I hadn't struggled so long with the damn computer, maybe I would have seen it, maybe I would have been hit, maybe I would be dead. I looked past him to the tiny car. It's all I could see.

His voice brought me back, "Are you married?" he asked again. I finally looked at him. He was a normal enough looking guy, a biker, about my age, nice gear, a decent vocabulary.

"Yes." I said, and then my eyes went back past him to the crushed metal object that had not so long ago, even minutes earlier been a car.

"Oh, too bad," he said and then jumped on his bike and headed down the street.

The light had changed and I walked across the busy street leaving behind the wreck, police cars,jammed up traffic, and one overly friendly biker. I headed into the woods again.

I hate it when it takes a flirting biker and a serious car accident for me to wake up from my "poor Beckie" mode. But it worked. I walked through the rest of the woods, admiring each tree, enjoying every stroke of the cool breeze as it floated across my sweaty body. I called out tree and plant names in my head. My heart rate slowed, my anxiety about life and hair and computers, and smashed up cars lifted.

My niece has been living with us since January, and she's a forestry major. She knows her plants and soil! When we take walks together its a wonderful learning experience for me. She has patiently been pointing out plants and trees and with her enthusiasm for our plant brothers and sister, I'm discovering the many wonderful stories that live right in my woods.

And after only a few walks with her, I can now tell the difference between red and white oak trees. I can point out a tulip poplar, a wine berry bush and garlic mustard. I also know that the smaller newer leaves on the garlic mustard are more tender and have a stronger less bitter flavor. We gathered some last week and had it in our green salad. I'm gathering garlic mustard for my salad like I live in a cabin in the back woods instead of in the middle of New York City.

Mostly, though, today as I walked, I was searching for honeysuckle. I spotted a bunch yesterday--the first of the season. Honeysuckle is very special to me, and it's my youngest daughter's favorite flower. I wondered today as I searched if she loves it for the same reason I do. I've never asked.

I have (or had) three daughters. My oldest daughter died at age 12. It was this time of the year, when everything is just out, green, alive and blooming. Today as I spotted the first of this season's honeysuckle blooms and breathed in their fragrance, I remembered the day after her death. I gathered my my two living daughters, and their best friends and we went exploring in the woods behind our house, like we had so often done with Heidi. We gathered wild flowers and lots of honeysuckle and took it back to the house and put it in a vase for Heidi's funeral.

Every year when I first smell honeysuckle, I remember. I say to myself--this is when she died--when the honeysuckle was in bloom. This is when we went into the woods to make sure she had wildflowers at her funeral. She loved wildflowers. We all did. She and her sisters and their friends half lived in our tree house set in the Kentucky woods behind our home. Every day the kids would collect wildflowers for Heidi and she would play with them on her wheelchair tray while they scampered about her side.

Honeysuckle is sacred to me. Life is sacred. I have to write about it. If I don't, on days like today I think I'll explode with sadness, or sweetness, or so many other feelings I can't even name them all.

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http://teenauthorcarnival.blogspot.com/

NYC Teen Author Carnival
Monday, May 11, 2009
May 28th, 2009
4:00 - 6:00 PM

Location:
Jefferson Market Branch Library
425 Avenue of the Americas [at 10th St.],
New York, NY 10011-8454.

Join teen bloggers Devyn Burton, Mitali Dave & Korianne Wey for a night of fun with your favorite authors!

Join us in a night of:

Q & A SESSIONS
AUTHOR READINGS
GROUP ACTIVITY
&GIVEAWAYS!

R.S.V.P. Requested Send an e-mail to us at:
[email protected]

Space is limited for this once in a lifetime opportunity to meet your favorite and upcoming authors, be sure to RSVP so you can take part in the event!

Attending Authors:

Melissa Anelli - Author of Harry, A History

Lauren Barnholdt - Author of Two-way Street

Coe Booth

Libba Bray - Author of Going Bovine

Jessica Burkhart - Author of Canterwood Crest Series

Susane Colasanti - Author of Waiting For You

Sarah Cross - Author of Dull Boy

Claudia Gray - Author of Hourglass

Jenny Han - Author of The Summer I Turned Pretty

Sarah MacLean - Author of The Season

Taylor Morris - Author of Total Knockout: Tale of an Ex-Class President

Greg Neri - Author of Surf Mules

Michael Northrop - Author of Gentlemen

Robyn Schneider - Author of Better Than Yesterday

Beckie Weinheimer - Author of Converting Kate

Melissa Walker - Author of Lovestruck Summer

Sasha Watson - Author of Vidalia in Paris

Michelle Zink - Author of Prophecy of the Sisters

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To enter contest, email me at [email protected] any time in May. Winner will be announced here on June 1st.

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1) I have a computer to write my stories with. I've heard (maybe myth) that Tolstoy wrote 17 rewrites of Anna Karina. By hand of course. I would have never become a writer without my computer. I took creative writing classes in college and my professor encouraged me to do a rewrite of a short story I wrote and submit it to a magazine. I never did. I would have had to retype ten single spaced pages. It was too much for this lazy writer! But with a computer I can cut and paste to my heart's content.


2) I have spell check Imagine this post without it! I cannot spell! I'm horrible at spelling!

3) I have a husband and critique friends and daughters who are great at spelling and grammar. Sadly they do not edit my posts so you are seeing the real me, minus spelling errors. I'm not only bad at spelling but worse at grammar. If I took the time to have them review my posts I would never post so I hope you will think of my posts as "first drafts.".

4) I have an iphone.
With my iphone I can record ideas either in a note pad or on a recording program as I'm walking or cleaning or doing something where I am not near a computer, and thus have the idea for good before it floats as quickly as it came out of my mind.

I can listen to books in an audible format. Which is great because when I like a book I tend to skim so I can get to what happens next and often miss some of the best lines. But the audible format forces me to hear every single word.

I can take pictures when I am out researching, or see something that I just might want to remember for something I am working on.

I can look at my own book, or others in e-format if I'm stuck in the subway or in a doctor's office. I actually started reading my book a few weeks ago when I was waiting for my doctor appointment far longer than I anticipated. I have never read CONVERTING KATE, edited it yes, but never read it from cover to cover. I was surprised at what had made the final cut (I'd forgotten). I was amused by my own writing. I found myself thinking, well this isn't all bad. Fortunately I only had to read about 30 pages and haven't had the desire since. But I can if I want to. And for books I am researching from for other writing, it is a wonderful way to easily reference. Thank you E Book Reader!

5) I have free time when my house is empty and quiet. Not always as much as I would like, but I find I can't write with anyone in the house, so as much as I love the people I live with I'm glad they occasionally leave!

6) I have the gift of persistence and hope. Besides just loving to write, and wanting to tell your story, it seems that having the fortitude to never give up on a project you are passionate about is important. I know this because I have received tons of rejections letters but I just keep plugging away! I was told by a dear friend, and quite famous author, who was a mentor of mine at Vermont College that books with a religious theme were very hard to sell to a publisher. But I wrote my book anyway, because I just had to. And CONVERTING KATE sold very quickly.

7) I am grateful to be able to blog. Blogging clears the cobwebs out of my head and lets me express my two cents whenever the urge strikes! Thank you BLOGGER!

Okay now that I have counted my writer blessings I'm going to go work on that unfinished novel, on the computer, with spell check.

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Easter week has been great for me. I even went to church! Trinity Church on Wall Street had a Easter Spiritual/Musical TENEBRAE. The haunting unaccompanied choirs sang from different corners of the church and their music rose to the arched ceilings filling the church with Latin chants and harmony that gave me shivers up and down my spine.

Central Park in spring, is a big patch of wonder surrounded by honking taxis, endless traffic, skyscrapers, sirens and people, people, people. It was amazingly quiet and tranquil on Saturday morning in this lovely spring setting.

Montauk. Wild, Windy, Wet, the end of the world and so much fresh air you could bottle it and live on it for a week.

Easter Parade, with our daughters dogs was a huge hit we discovered. We were interviewed by New York 1, photographed over a 1,000 times, I'm sure, and got to meet this elderly couple ages 97 and 94 who used to come to the Easter Parade in a horse and buggy.

I often think about the mix between living and writing. Sometimes I am living life so fully I find no time to write, sometimes I am writing so much I find little time to live. But to write well with passion and depth I believe one must live life to the fullest. To write with feeling, one must feel life to the fullest. To write with color one must explore the world to the fullest. To write with love, one must embrace the world to the fullest.

I had a wonderful life of living this past week and now I'm going to write, write, write!

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I love this book. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society By Barrows Annie Fiery and Shaffer Mary Ann Fiery.

I feel like I took a trip back in time and visited the British Channel Islands during World War II and saw these Island people's lives under occupation. I could smell their roast pig. I could hear the fishing boats coming into the dock. I could see the waves lapping into the windy shore. I could hear the voices of all the Guernsey people who wrote letters(well that helps because I listened to Guernsey on Audible.) It's the best book I've read in a long time.

Will it be everyone's best book? I don't know. And that made me start thinking about why we connect to certain books we read, and why we choose against all odds to write about certain subjects, times, places and people.

I have been haunted by two wars.

The Civil War because my great grandmother Rebecca, for whom I was named, was born on a southern plantation, she and my great grandfather grew up in families who owned slaves. As a young couple they joined the Mormon Church, left the South and moved to Canada to a tiny Mormon community. I grew up in Utah, and always associated myself with the North. We weren't for slavery. But when I found this out about my past,about my great grand parents, it was probably the same year that I began reading Gone With the Wind. I read it every summer, starting at age 13, because I wanted to know why, how, what, when and where of the whole war.

I read Gone with the Wind every summer even when I came home from college. I stayed up all night to finish it. I cried and was depressed for two days and didn't want to talk to anyone. I was haunted by my heritage.

I am also haunted by World War II.

My father was born in Canada in a tiny Mormon community, ironically nearby where my mother's mother with Southern slave owning parents was born and raised. His people, his parents came from Poland, but were German speaking, German people. My German grandparents left all their siblings and parents behind in Poland. I was able to finally meet my father's people in East Germany the year before the wall came down.

One of my great uncles I met had been a prisoner of war in Scotland. Two of my other great uncles I met fought for Germany. My great aunt who I met was displaced, and homeless during and after the war, her four daughters and husband scattered. The four daughters and mother were finally reunited, but they never heard of or found their father, her husband my great uncle.

My father, back in Canada had an older brother who did not get along with their father, my grandfather. Uncle Eric left home when he was 13 and lived with a near by neighbor and worked on their farm. When World War II came along my uncle could have received permission not to enlist in the war because he was needed on the farm. All he had to do was ask his father to sign the papers. Instead of stooping to ask his father who he did not like, he joined up to fight with the Canadian military against his cousins in Germany.

Uncle Eric was killed in the invasion of Normandy. My father says although he's lived in the states since he was in his early twenties, he could still go back to their farm, in Welling, Alberta, Canada, and still find the very piece of ground in the middle of the fields where the Currier came to deliver the telegram about Uncle Eric's death. My father cannot talk about his brother all these years later without tearing up.

My Uncle Eric found happiness in England. He found a young woman who he was in love with, who he wanted to marry. But then he was shipped off to France, and then he was killed. I often think about that woman that brought my uncle happiness. I wonder what happened to her, if she knows someone in New York City at four a.m. on the morning of March 27th, 2009 is thinking about her? I am haunted by this story. I am haunted that my other relatives were part of the Nazi resume, that they were part of that horror.

So reading Guernsey somehow helped make sense of it all. I don't know why. But somehow for me, it brought England and the place my Uncle found joy, and my German relatives together on the Channel Islands and helped me imagine more fully what their lives had been like.

I know my writing comes from other stories that haunt me, my religious past, my heritage, my love of my daughter who died. Some things are so deep in us, that they need to find a way out, a safe, quiet way that won't tear the memories apart, but keep them precious. If that makes sense.

My niece is living with us for a few months between college semesters. She's reading Gone with the Wind for the first time. The same old copy I read every summer when I was growing up. After she finishes it, I'm going to tell her about her great great grandmother Rebecca, the slaves, the plantations and our heritage.

I love books. I love reading them. I love writing them. I love the places they take me.

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8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Reading and editing friend's 250 page novel manuscript
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. *Update Author Bio
*Update Promotional Converting Kate postcards
*Update Query Letter for Middle grade novel manuscript
*Check through publishers/agents for somewhere to send middle
grade manuscript
*print out query letter and sample chapters prepare mailing
packet
*autograph and pack copies of Converting Kate for upcoming
radio interviews
break for lunch

3:30 p.m. *walk to post office listening to English Victorian novel
(I'm listening to a lot of Austen, Dickens, Elliot,
and Gaskell in preparation for next novel set in
Victorian Britain)
4:00 p.m. *Mail off books and query packet
5:00 p.m. *Answer emails including author fan mail
8:00 p.m. *Phone interview with book club in Connecticut reading
Converting Kate

What a day and no writing on adult novel which has 200 pages completed and probably 200 more pages to go. I'm hoping Monday I can write on my novel. But some days are like this for writers. It isn't all sitting at the computer and making this wonderful dream world that's in our heads come to life! But those are the days I live for!

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