It’s been a busy last two years, but it all culminated last month in the presentation of my MFA in Writing for Children:

Sneaking back in to get a picture of my shiny, new MFA in front of the Simmons sign.

While you don’t need an MFA to get published or work in publishing, I entered the MFA program to get back into an academic setting, to push my craft, and to satisfy my own personal goals. I had actually filled out the MFA application several times while I was at Curtis Brown, but just hadn’t been ready to make the leap.

So…I came! I saw! I leapt! (And I still look awful in those caps!)

In celebration, I chopped off all my hair and got ready for our second annual Children’s Writers of the Hudson Valley conference. As per last year, I critiqued manuscripts and was available to talk about my editorial feedback between writing workshops.

Yes, this photo is staged. But right before the camera showed up, we’d just finished talking about the critique in real life!

During the day, I sat in Jill Davis’s picture book workshop, since I had just spent my two master’s mentorships working on novels. I left with some notes and ideas for how to take the pb I was working on to the next level.

Meanwhile, I’ve also been watching the Amazon-Hachette dispute, and it’s led me to make some decisions. Some of my friends in publishing have cancelled their Amazon accounts, but I don’t feel this is quite the right way for me to go. As an indie author who is also interested in traditional publication, there is a distinct advantage to being on Amazon that isn’t quite matched by other outlets. (Yet. I would LOVE to see Barnes and Noble and other sites become more search friendly, experiment with new author promotion tools, etc.) I am also an Amazon Affiliate, which doesn’t bring in much, but does help with the cost of server space, etc. for this blog.

So I asked myself – what is more important to me? That my books be read or that my books be sold? And if it’s more important for me to be read, then why accept that the only way to do this is through larger distributors? (Okay, partial-answer: because it works.)

But now that commencement has come and gone, I’ve decided that I’m going to take a page from Cory Doctorow’s book and offer my books here as free .pdfs, as well as at the regular price on various distribution sites (including Smashwords, Amazon and Barnes & Noble).

The short stories from the Now Hear This! series are already available for free download here. I hope you enjoy!

Finally, in a similar spirit of giving and creativity, I leave you with a picture of my made-the-day-before-the-race red tutu, and an image of the new dance craze that is sure to sweep the nation.

Behold! The Floppy Chicken:

The Floppy Chicken — the best dance move nobody’s ever heard of.

Happy Saturday, everyone!