One of my former professors...

is Jennie Jarvis!  She continues to inspire me both as a writer and as an instructor of writing. I love how active, how passionate, and how very involved in the writing world she is. She lives it.

I do, too.

She is part of a group that writes a blog, and each member has a different genre strength. It's really a very interesting blog to keep up with.  Her last post touched me because it asked that I take a challenge to celebrate what I have accomplished.

How often do we celebrate - probably not often enough. We seem to compare our lives to others (the topic of a future book) and to chastise ourselves for what we don't accomplish.

Here's the link to her post - and to one of her fellow bloggers who took up the challenge.

http://5writers.com/2014/12/03/writing-your-accomplishments-jennies-challenge-to-help-you-be-a-better-writer-in-2015/

http://5writers.com/2014/12/08/challenge-accepted/


Will you accept the challenge?   In my next post, I will.

Let the passionate children speak

They will change our world, so long as we do not hush their voices.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/01/madison-reid-speech-books-little-free-library_n_6248724.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000054&ir=Impact

Can you believe it? Baxter's Second Adventure..

Baxter's second adventure, Rainbow Tracks, is rolling out to my writing group!  I'll send it to my editor this week.  

Writing is a funny thing.  Sometimes all of the words spew out faster than you can get them onto the page. Sometimes, the basics are there, but they need polishing.  Sometimes, you have to mine, dig, pick, and scrape for every single word.  Every time, I'm surprised how all the words settle into place and form a pleasant little story.

Book number 3 is rough, but well-formed and on its way. I know where this book is going already; all of the ingredients are there. I just need to put them together.

Merry Christmouse!

Here is the link to my first book of Baxter's Adventures.

http://www.amazon.com/Merry-Christmouse-Baxters-Adventures-1/dp/1505216303/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417202848&sr=8-1&keywords=merry+Christmouse

Also available for Kindle.
http://www.amazon.com/Merry-Christmouse-Baxters-Adventures-Book-ebook/dp/B00QELKLA8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417447290&sr=8-2&keywords=Merry+christmouse

Vicki, my illustrator, did such a great job capturing Baxter's personality. She and I are already talking about the second book!

It's finally here - PUBLICATION!!!!!

My children's book about Baxter and the chaos one winter evening in Merry Christmouse will finally be published by Linkville Press. I am very thankful to my publisher, Amanda Marie; my editor, Kathy; and my illustrator, Vicki.

It's so exciting to see your book visibly come into it's own as a product rather than only a concept. I can't wait to see more - and that means I need to write more!

Publication will be this week. Stay tuned for more details!

So many articles and websites....so little time.

Is it terrible that I sometimes want to use my blog posts just to curate great links?   I've gone far beyond using any browsers ability to organize all of the pages I must revisit.   I think I've even worn out poor Diigo, an app that allows you to organize links an bookmarks.

http://thewritersarchive.tumblr.com/post/51965789306

This blogger actually put up a page of resources.  I'm just linking over to that site.... lazy. Or desperate?


ENJOY

The whirlwind of school

School has started again, and again I revamp my ideas about writing time and getting stuff done. I often plan to do extraordinary things during summer, but then life gets in the way. I didn't get the writing done that I hoped for, despite my Sunday mornings with my writing buddy.

So now, we start the school year and renew and revamp goals!

Merry Christmouse is with the illustrator, and she's doing an amazing job. It's so very cute!!!

Rainbow Tracks (working title) needs to be finished and sent to my writing group, and then my editor.

One of my dear friends from grad school and writing group members is a finalist in a screenplay competition. Another writer has done just as well with two of his scripts, and the third writer actually WORKS in Los Angeles.

So, I have my articles in The Belly Dance Chronicles and my up-coming children's books,  but I feel the need to get my screenplay out there into competitions now.

I'm going to work about one Saturday a month at our school for Saturday school, and maybe that should be a time I could work in weekly.

That's the plan....maybe you should check in with me and keep me accountable on my Saturday mornings.