The Past Four Months

Time continues on, as always.

Hopefully you’re making the most of it.

My writing stagnated for a couple months after a 22,000+ word month in August.

I feel like, overall, I haven’t been doing much to further any possibility of being published in children’s literature, poetry, or, really, anything.

But, then, I think about the past four months.

Joyce and I continue to host the Butt In Chair A Thons each month, plus I’ve been zooming with another writer a couple times a month to just chat a bit and then write.

I’m still participating in a critique group, though I haven’t been working on the picture book manuscripts I get back. I admitted this to my group, too, and that was the reason I only critiqued this month.

I joined a book club! We meet once a month, and we discuss the assigned pages for the novel A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders. The book is phenomenal, and the group is even better. They’re a joy to talk to, and share our thoughts about the book with each other, as well as ideas of how to apply what we’re learning to picture books as the book covers short stories from classic Russian authors.

I’ve written over 25,000 words of my fantasy novel, and have reached over 94,000 total. I should reach 100,000 in February!

We’ve moved our bedroom and desks to the basement as we’re getting our attic bedroom and office spaces redone. That, along with a getaway for my wife and I to Disney World (with our teens at home), and the strain of teaching littles in person during a pandemic, plus adding in taking on all the extra chores while my wife continued to work on, and is now finished, her Doctoral dissertation.

My heart still lies in children’s literature, and in poetry, and my focus on them will be renewed.

This summer I will be applying to an MFA program in creative writing with a focus on children’s literature. There’s really only one program I want to get in to. I know that makes it a make it or break it kind of feeling, but I feel positive about it.

That’s it for now. Hopefully I’ll add another post before another four months pass.

What have you been up to?

August is in the Rear View Mirror

Another month, another chunk of TSO written, and a much bigger chunk than I’d written in any other month.

This month I…

1. Wrote 22,340 words for TSO

2. Edited my critique partners stories

3. Finished Writing Toward Home by Georgia Heard, as well as responding to a few of the prompts

4. Journaled every single day

5. Edited two PB manuscripts

6. Started two books on crafts, both of which I’m in a reading group for: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders, and Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses.

I think that’s it :)

A Trip to Highlights Foundation

Oh, what a week- no, not even a week- at Highlights Foundation. I arrived on Tuesday evening, just before dinner, grabbed my bags, and headed to my cabin. Where I saw this…

I was going to be in the Jane Yolen Cabin! I’ve heard stories about this cabin, how big it is compared to the others, the feeling of solitude, and the view. Well, cabin 16 was all of that, and so much more!

After dropping my bags, and looking around the cabin, seeing the newer amenities in the bathroom, a bookshelf FILLED with books by Jane Yolen, her inspiring words and accomplishments everywhere.

And the view! It was so peaceful, so quiet. There is a cabin near it, but with all the forest around it, you really feel isolated from everyone else. I spent a lot of time out here, reading, writing, staring into the woods, and swatting the occasional mosquito. In the book, I’d read about visitors to the porch, and I did get to see a little ground hog scurry across one morning, watching it stop to eat some of the grass and flowers growing near. This was also the view from the desk, where I also spent quite a few hours writing away.

Inside, there was another favorite spot, cozy, and cool. I didn’t write as much here, outside of journaling, but I did read quite a bit in this chair.

Of course, no trip would be complete without writing in the word garden…

But, above all else, what really makes The Highlights Foundation magical, what makes it feel like a home away from home, are the people. George, Amanda, Alex, and so many more. They’re always kind, helpful, and checking in on you. Without them, and their tireless efforts to make Highlights better and better, there wouldn’t be so many writers and illustrators returning over and over again.

I hope, someday, one of these trips, I’ll come to Highlights Foundation as a published author. Until then, just keep on plugging away, doing the work.

July Was Productive

Yeah, I had a productive month. They don’t always happen, but sometimes they do.

I wrote:

Over 11,000 words for TSO (the dark adult fantasy)

A new PB manuscript

Critiqued my partners’ works (sorry they were late…)

Journaled 2-3 pages almost every morning

Read a lot of Writing Toward Home by Georgia Heard and responded to most of the prompts

That was a good month!

I’m hoping for a continuation into August.

How was your month?

D&D Playing Helping Fuel My Story

Since July 12th, since I decided to move on to the rest of the story, I’ve added over 5,800 words to my fantasy manuscript, with only missing two days of writing. That’s about a 580 word average per day I wrote.

The link leads to the official D&D site.

One thing that fuels my ideas, fuels my thoughts, is playing Dungeons and Dragons. I played for years from around 4th grade until a year or so after college. Then, I didn’t play from then until the Summer of 2020, realizing that I needed it for my mental health, and to help fulfill my love for fantasy that I’d been trying to fulfill by buying and playing so many different video games. There was probably a twenty five to twenty six year gap, but I feel like I really didn’t miss a beat.

I play every Wednesday night with a group on-line for about three and a half hours. It makes for a late night, but it helps me think about and plan my novel, helps improve my storytelling ability by the amount of role playing we do versus actual combat type situations. I’ve always loved writing combat. it’s the between scenes, and conversations that I’ve needed some help with.

On the picture book front, not much has been going on. I haven’t edited much this month, nor have I written a draft, yet. I need to take a hard look at my critique partners critiques, write them all out, and plan what steps I need to take next.

I’ve done no work on my chapter book in months.

But, I’ve been writing a lot, and I do love it. I’ve been getting the call from my PBs, and I need to honor that. And I will.