A snippet of My work-in-progress (only a snippet!)

I hesitate to share much of anything with anyone. I'm downright selfish when it comes to sharing Matchbox cars, especially ones like this. Most days I'm sent to the corner and warned with a finger in my face. Wait, that's...nevermind.

The truth is, I'm making progress in my work-in-progress--though it could be classified as the slowest progress ever made in anything, including the 405 construction project that will only end with the arrival of aliens--and I suddenly feel the need to share a poem from my current manuscript. The poem could stand alone, I guess, but it would make a whole lot more sense in its proper context, which is IN the book. But I'm not sharing the details of the book with you and I'm definitely NOT sharing the book with you. Yet.

I'm writing 10 original poems for my current middle grade manuscript. Somewhere between 5-7 poems will make the cut for the final book. The poems will be revealed as the main character finds them *hint,hint* You can skim the poem, dissect it, laugh at it, throw Jolly Ranchers at it, or smile and mumble to yourself about not understanding poetry and how it's a waste of time. Sometimes I don't get poetry either. Whatever you do, do NOT kick your computer in the face. Then you'll have no screen and no internet and we'll have no means to communicate about poetry we don't understand.

Without further ramblings, the aforementioned poem:

the ashes of yesterday

it blows down the valley

through ribbons of smoke

past rivers of hope

to the reaches of where it

begins

there we are

standing above what could be

and what will become of us

no one knows what will cease

what will continue

what will commence

what lies beyond

that ribbon of smoke

that river of hope

no one knows

and it will make us live

and live again

and live until

there is nothing

left but the ashes

of yesterday

LET'S SHAKE!!!!

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day. This is my 12th year in the classroom: 7 years in fourth grade, 5 in sixth grade. I'm spending this day at home with sick Blondie, but we're going to celebrate Teacher Day anyway. Let's dance!!!!!

An Agent Offers

I sent my first query to a literary agent in 2008. I was an idiot. I had no idea what I was doing. The book (my book!) wasn't even finished. I hadn't revised it one bit. But I was going to land an agent and a book deal, I was sure of that.

When no agent or book deal came, I moped with disappointment. I was a teacher and a writer. I read and taught classics and Newbery winners. The best of the best. Well, as it turns out, teaching an award-winning book doesn't exactly give you the ability to write one. Not even close. 

Flash forward to today. Five years later. 2013.

I have always written, whether poems or short stories, ever since I can remember. It was the only thing in school I was decent at. (And yes, I will end a sentence with a preposition; rules are made to be broken!).  I've been writing middle grade novels for almost ten years now. In my best estimation, I've received over 300 rejection letters and emails, including No Responses. And if you're a writer and you send queries, you know about those No Responses. 

Over the last decade, while being rejected over and over again, I've done more than write. I've learned, listened, participated, read hundreds of books, and remained professional through the peaks and valleys of living as a writer. What I'm trying to say is, while I was rejected for years I grew as a writer and as a person. And this growth is now paying off.  

Today, I signed a contract to work with literary agent John Rudolph of Dystel & Goderich. This is only one accomplishment (albeit a great one!) in what I hope to be the longest race in history.

My marathon. As a writer.    

(I wrote this post before the tragedy today in Boston. Love and prayers to those families.)

  

Project Mayhem Guest Post - Voice: Defined

I'm honored to have a guest post over at Project Mayhem today. Here is the beginning of it.

I taught fourth grade for seven years before moving up to the emotional instabilities (and prepubescent smells) of middle schoolers. My first fourth grade class was dynamite. It was filled with smarty pants and brimming with intuitive readers. They challenged me daily. But hey, I was new to this thing called teaching, so what did I know?

You can read the rest of the post here.

My TEDx Talk on TEDx Youth Day

Here is my TEDx talk on TEDx Youth Day. This talk took place at Rancho Verde High School last November. The kids were awesome! Just awesome!!