6th Grade Writing Time

Today I had a blast volunteering in my 11 year old's sixth grade class during their literacy and writing time. I helped them with the final proofread and edit of their Halloween stories. Oh, my. It was so much fun! The stories were so cute, funny, scary, creative, imaginative... They must have had a great time writing them. I certainly enjoyed reading them and marveling at their unfettered creativity. I wish I could just let my imagination go like that. I am getting better at it, actually. I was impressed with the kids' vivid descriptions and clever dialogue.

Those who were ready came back to the table where I was sitting and I read their stories aloud with them, circling any errors and making sure they understood what was wrong. Most of the problems I saw had to do with proper punctuation in dialogue. There sure is a lot to remember when punctuating dialogue. New paragraph for new speaker, punctuation inside the quotation marks, how to properly handle dialogue tags. No wonder they have a hard time with it. Overall, though, I thought they had done a great job. I can't wait to go back next time. I go the first Friday of every month. I almost hate to admit it, but this is so much more fun than reviewing alphabet sounds with the kindergartners. Not that I don't love teaching kids to read, too. Seeing them blossom into little writers is just so cool! One girl who wasn't quite finished bemoaned the fact that she didn't know where to go with the story. Oh, I hear you on that one! I won't say whose story was the best, but let's just say that I may have been more partial to one of them over the others. You'll never guess whose.

November Story Feature: Fidelity

"Fidelity" was a top ten finisher in the Science Fiction Writers of Earth short story contest in 2000, and first appeared in the anthology Unparalleled Journeys, from the writers of Amazing Journeys magazine, in 2005. Readers had this to say:

A truly enjoyable story mixing the feel of a fairy tale with a futuristic world, rolled up in a serious drama. I'm not sure how to get into any of the details without giving anything away! The story opens with a bang and Angie's handling of action is excellent. No sooner has the action subsided than the real problem begins to rear its ugly head. The main character struggled valiantly with feelings of duty and honor against feelings of friendship. All of this happens with some great scientific twists going on that help build a rich, believable world.

The theme of "Fidelity" is, "to thine own self be true." Do our genes control our fates? It started with a particularly vivid dream about a body guard and a prince, and took off from there. I hope you enjoy "Fidelity." Stop by and leave a comment here to let me know what you think.

Nothing to Sneeze At

That's an odd phrase, isn't it? Am I the only one who uses it? Anyway, I did not make it to page 300 by the end of last week. I came close, though. I got to 297, and that's nothing to sneeze at. I wanted to blame my lack on dentist appointments, band concerts, and family parties, but the real reason I didn't quite make it was that I came to a scene that kicked my butt for 2 days. I always thought I was more of a seat of the pants writer, but here I learned for certain that I cannot write a scene that has not been adequately planned. Most of the planning takes place in my head, but still, I have to plan it before I can write it. I finally made it through the scene, though I still think it needs some work. All together, I wrote fifteen pages, and decided instead of feeling depressed by the lack of three pages, I will be happy that I wrote that many. That's 50% more than usual! And I intend to make 15 my new weekly goal. I should be to page 300 by tonight (or whenever I get to sit down and write), so that's not bad at all.

Other things not to sneeze at: My dear friend Suzette has an agent! Read all about it on her blog, Shooting Stars. I am so happy for her. She is a fantastic writer. I can't wait until her book is a huge bestseller! Go, Suzy!

My cousin-in-law, Derek Westra, published a childrens story in Knowonder! magazine. His story, "Trains" is on page 12. Go grab your little ones and read it to them. It's darling. Way to go, Derek!

Heartfelt

Thank you! Diana over at Writing Roller Coasters has given me the Heartfelt Award. I really appreciate that. Her blog is great if you haven't checked it out yet.

Here are some blogs that I think deserve a Heartfelt Award:

Nisa for both Wordplay, Swordplay and Daily Journeys of an American Gypsy
Michelle H. The Surly Writer
Rosslyn Elliot's Inkhorn Blue
L.T. Elliot's Dreams of Quill and Ink 

Thanks again, Diana!

Writing update: I have written nine pages. That leaves only two days to write nine more. I didn't write anything yesterday. Oh, dear. Can I do it? Crazily enough, I still think I can, even though my parents are coming into town and we have a big family Halloween party on Saturday. I'd better get off the computer and into the notebook.

One of Those Rare WIP Updates

First off, I'm awesome! Elana said so. Go check out her awesomeness post. She's awesome in my book! Anyway, it's been a while since I updated you on my writing projects. Or at least it feels like it has been. I've been working on The Ransomed Returning for seven months. As of last night, I have written 18 chapters and 285 pages or approximately 60,500 words.

Combine that with "Consecrated," my novella, and I've written 84,000 words over the past year.

That's a record for me, at least in the past decade or so. Last year at this time, I increased my weekly writing goal from 5 pages per week to 10 pages per week. Now, I'm going to increase it to 15 pages per week. That didn't work out so well last week, but at least I got 10. My official goal for this week is 13 pages, but secretly I'd like to write 18 pages, and reach page 300 by the end of the week. Go me. I am awesome, after all.

First Paragraph Contest

You've probably heard about Nathan Bransford's First Paragraph Contest going on this week. I decided, what the heck? Might as well enter. Here's my paragraph:

No tree grew in the Black City; no bushes, no flowers, no blade of grass. Not even a single scraggly weed penetrated the endless stretch of bevakm. Ripping the bevakm out was back-breaking work, especially without an overskin, but Peter didn't mind. He would have torn it out with his bare hands if he had to.

That's from the novel I'm working on now, called The Ransomed Returning. Any good? I guess time will tell...

MindflightsRe-opens to Subs Today!

I am so excited that Mindflights is at last open to submissions again. I have really missed reading them! Really. Okay, it was nice to have the summer off, but I do love reading the subs. I love giving out acceptances almost as much as receiving them. I have to say that reading the slush pile has done my own writing and self-editing skills a world of good. At Mindflights, we always give feedback to all of the submissions.

If you're interested in submitting to Mindflights, we are looking for short fiction and poetry that is speculative (sci-fi, fantasy,etc) and also family-friendly/Christian-friendly. We like works that entertain, enlighten, and uplift us. Have a look at our guidelines, then send us your best! I can't wait to read it.