Read Across America

Last week I visited a middle school classroom for "Read Across America" Day. I read Mumsi Meets a Lion to them. The class pictured here (an art elective class) was so attentive and asked a lot of good questions about the book and the writing/publishing process.

Here are some takeaways from the experience: 1) A good story transcends the recommended age levels on the back of the book. 2) The illustrator is the big draw. (Pun only partially intended.) The number 1 question I'm asked at readings of my book: Did I do the pictures? (Answer: No. I wish.) 3) I'm amazed at how much I enjoy my own story. 4) Teachers enjoy having their classes read to as much as the students enjoy being read to. 5) "Local Author" is a very rewarding title to put below your name.

Daily Lit

Have I talked about DailyLit.com yet? Love it. Love it. You log in (or not), sift through their massive library of books, and select something you've always wanted to read but just haven't gotten around to. (Many are free!) War and Peace, anyone? You select a few options such as preferred font, delivery time of day and times per week, as well as amount in each installment. Then you sit back and wait for your book to arrive. Next day, bing! It's there in your inbox--a lovely, palatable chunk of literature. I've chosen Adam Bede by George Eliot. (Yes, the Mary Ann Evans George Eliot, the Silas Marner George Eliot. That's her to our left.) I've been getting installments for about a week now and just this evening I switched the length of my installments. They were so brief--about two minutes of reading--that I was wanting more every day. Did I mention that I love it?

So Many Ideas, So Little Time . . .

Someone once said that trouble comes in threes. Or was it death that comes like that? Anyway, sometimes story ideas come in multiples, too. Right now in my brain there roil (great word, roil, huh?) three ideas. There's one about a girl detective, one about the antics of a rascally pre-teen, and one about an inventor. And one about soup. Okay, so that's four. The only one I've done any real work on is the girl detective one. I've scribbled the start of a story about the pre-teen on the back of a paycheck envelope but have yet to find the time to develop the story beyond a few scattered ideas. So here I am, blogging instead of writing. . . .

Despite my own creative struggles, real progress is being made on my website design. The banner is taking shape, and I love it! It's vibrant, it's fun, it's interesting--all of the things a writer hopes to be. Let's hope the website is up around the time of the new book's coming out! What a happy coincidence that would be!

CBA Release

A recent issue of the Christian Booksellers Guide mentions the Rodney story as being released in May. Yippee! That's welcome news to me. How strange it is to see one's name in print in a publication like that!

Plans continue for the Mumsi program in May. Today we nailed down the time for Sawaya and my visit to the elementary school where the program will take place. That is coming up April 20 2010.

Final Proofs

I'm checking final proofs for Rodney these days. One thing I learned from my Mumsi experience is that I need to read the story aloud and watch the page turns. That is where one may notice a number of problems that would not otherwise be evident.

Here's what else is going on--just for the record:
--I entered the SCBWI-C contest with Daniel's Day.
--I was invited to read at Read 2 Me Day and at Read Across America at a school in Dacusville.
--I continue to write for GWN--8 articles and counting for the April issue.
--I've begun a new story that may become a early chapter book. I'm only about one page in, so I shouldn't even put this in writing yet, but I need some accountability. . . .
--I find that I'm out of steam on resubmissions but will attempt to get back on that soon. (How's that for no accountability?)
--no further work on the novel . . . yikes!