June 1, 2010

Welcome to my blog. I never thought I would write a blog. I never thought I would own a cell phone or run triathlons either. Life is full of surprises. Bring it on!

I started writing poetry sometime around third grade. Actually, I wasn’t writing. I was printing, and I became an adept and swift printer. I shunned cursive writing in fourth grade because my teacher kept returning my papers back to me to re-write. So I printed until I got a new teacher who was less exacting about penmanship.

This teacher was more interested in the art of writing. So, I wrote about my dead pets. I wrote about my three younger brothers. I wrote a very long story in fifth grade about talking dogs. I went to college and took a lot of Journalism courses and ended up majoring in the teaching of English. I became a teacher, raised two daughters, wrote grants, poetry, one published magazine article and finally a 220 page manuscript I titled Broccoli for Breakfast.

This will be a blog about how the manuscript gets published, because it will get published--if I live long enough. Actually, my goal is to have it accepted for publication by the end of 2011. Goals are good. They help make that lovely connection between the chair and the derriere---and help me get to work.

I began writing Broccoli ten years ago. I have revised it numerous times (I think I lost count). So far, one professional writer, one middle school reading specialist, and one middle school honor student have read it in its entirety. Lots of other people who are still my friends have read parts of it. I brought the first few pages to the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) 2010 New York conference and also to my writers’ group, and received treasured feedback from both.

So I will sit down and write something for you once a week—maybe more if I get rolling. Your feedback is always welcome. Wish me Luck…!