Well, my writers group and I finally got the finishing touches on our anthology and settled on a launch date. Here is the official announcement, for those who reside in and around Winnipeg:
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Tag Archives: writers group
Writing Process Blog Hop
When local teen fiction author, Margaret Buffie, tagged me to participate in this writer-oriented blog hop, I wholeheartedly accepted the challenge. When I first decided to turn Withershins into a novel for a teen/young adult audience, I was unfamiliar with the genre. It had been decades since I was a teen, reading the limited selection of fiction out there at the time, so I went on the hunt for current teen fiction to make sure I was on the right track. I picked up Margaret’s novels, The Dark Garden and My Mother’s Ghost – and I’ve been a fan ever since. She has an impressive list of titles and has been nominated – and won – many awards for her writing. In addition to being a writer, she also has a Fine Arts degree and has created some breathtaking paintings, which she sometimes shares on her blog. I love that she lives in my hometown and I feel honoured that she thought of asking me to participate in this blog hop. To learn more about this extraordinary writer, please check out her blog at http://www.margaretbuffie.com
In order to take my place in the hop, I also have to tag three other writers, who will post their thoughts on the writing process later in the month. I was hoping to feature writers from the huge literary base here in Winnipeg, but most are so busy or too ill to participate, so I turned to my on-line writer friends. You can read their bios at the end of this post.
Okay, on with the show! 🙂
I was asked four questions, which I will attempt to answer as concisely as I can.
1. What am I working on?
My son designed the cover. Cool, isn’t it?
Currently, I am in the process of getting a chapbook produced with my writers group. It is an anthology of short stories about the Sasquatch, interspersed with poems in Haiku style, as well as reports of Sasquatch sightings collected by our own paranormal investigator and group member, Chris Rutkowski. We’ve also included sketches and photos to round out the content. We should have it ready for sale by the end of June. We are self-publishing through the Expresso Machine at McNally Robinson Booksellers and it will also be available for e-readers. Details to follow in the coming weeks.
I have also been accumulating information on Louis Riel to work into a sort of sequel to my other two books, Withershins and Spirit Quest. Revolution (working title) will be set at the time in which Riel took over the provisional government here in Manitoba, 1869-1870. The daughter of the character in my first two books will be travelling back in time to meet him and learn more about how the Métis people fought for their rights within the French/English community known at the time as Red River.
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
My published novels are historically based time-travel novels set in Manitoba’s past. There haven’t been too many other teen novels that I’ve come across that have been set here with that time-travel theme worked in as well, so I think they are rather unique.
As for the chapbook, my writers group and I decided to write about Bigfoot and the Sasquatch because we thought to get a jump on ‘the next big thing’. Vampires, werewolves, and zombies have been done to death, so to speak, but not much fiction has been written about those huge hairy beasts that peek out at us from the forest. Ironically, there have been recent ‘sightings’ in BC and a local retailer (Two Rivers at The Forks Market) has brought in a truckload of stuffed Sasquatches to sell in his store. (Sassy came from there. She’s cute, isn’t she?) He’s even got a petition to ‘Save the Prairie Sasquatch’, which people can sign when they visit the shop. I think we’re just on the cusp of this wonderful new trend.
3. Why do I write what I do?
Sassy sporting my red hat.
Having an Education background, I want my books to teach kids in an entertaining way. Growing up, I always found history a chore. Trying to link dates with events and historic figures was so difficult for me because I tend to be Mathematically Challenged, a sort of Dyslexia but with numbers. I did like the stories, though. Learning about the people and why they did what they did is fascinating to me. That’s why, when I started writing the first two books in the series, I wanted the story to be historically correct, so readers would get a sense of the time and the attitudes prevalent in the 1800s. Quite often, those who have read Withershins and Spirit Quest comment to me that they didn’t know certain things in Manitoba’s history, so I think my work is done – until the next novel, of course!
I wrote the short stories for the group’s chapbook because I’ve got a soft spot for those big-footed mythical creatures. A few years back, I started writing a novel about them, creating a whole history of their existence and why colonies of them live underground, beneath the outskirts of North Vancouver. While the story has yet to find an ending, I still work on it, occasionally, when inspiration strikes.
That is not all I write, though. Dreams inspire other stories, (science fiction, fantasy, murder mysteries, etc, both for kids and adults) which I start to write, only because the words need to find paper before the memories melt away with the dawn. I have shelves full of novels and short stories that haven’t been published, yet, and just as many (if not more) that are unfinished, to date.
To get at the nitty gritty; why do I write? Teachers used to say I’d achieve better grades if I didn’t daydream so much, so I guess this is something I was destined to do. If the stories don’t get written down, my dreams become more and more bizarre and nightmarish. I write for my own peace of mind!
4. How does my writing process work?
A good night’s sleep is essential because, as I mentioned earlier, so many of my story ideas occur to me in those first few moments before I wake up. I have very vivid dreams and those that have a lasting image for me are often the dreams that I am compelled to write about and form the first few chapters of a novel or become a short story. One dream, in particular, was one I had when I was 16. It haunted me for decades until I finally wove it into a fantasy novel. Unfortunately, my first writers group wasn’t all that impressed, so it’s sitting on a shelf, awaiting revisions.
When I was creating Withershins, I wasn’t working. I just had to get the kids off to school and then I would sit down at the computer and write my little heart out! If I ran into a snag, I’d think about it as I fell asleep and by morning my brain had worked out enough details that I could write the next chapter before lunch. If there was something I needed to know for the next segment, I’d head off to the library or archives and research it, then weave that newfound knowledge into a scene with my character.
Once a story is finished, however, the work doesn’t stop. Any writer knows that! I must have reworked the beginning of Withershins a dozen times before coming up with the one the publisher liked. Originally, the book was aimed at an adult audience, but my first writers group suggested gearing it to a younger audience. That required some major work because, by then, it was too long for a publisher to consider, so I had to break the book into two novels. That required me to rework the beginning of Spirit Quest many more times until my editor was satisfied with the result. I also needed more research to flesh out the second half of the story. It was a long hard process getting it to the point of acceptance by my publisher.
Sassy going incognito.
For the chapbook, I thought about the Prairie Sasquatch for days without much inspiration. Then, I mentioned the project to a close friend and her friend at lunch one day. It was suggested I look at the subject from the point of view of the Sasquatch. Brilliant! So that’s how Gemma came into existence. She’s the character I created for the short stories and I have a few more stories I want to tell about her adventures ‘In The Woods’ that will probably meld into a novel for Middle Grade audiences.
Well, I hope that gives you some insight into my writing process. While I look for that elusive third writer who will agree to join this blog hop, please check out what these fellow writers & bloggers have to say. I will let you know when they have their posts ready for the blog hop. In the meantime, you can always pop over to their sites to learn more about them.
Jennifer M. Eaton has a lot to say about writing on her blog, which can be found at http://jennifermeaton.com. Her blog is amazing – colourful & always interesting. She calls the East Coast of the U.S. her home, where she raises 3 boys when she’s not writing or being a Corporate Team Leader. She has recently had many short stories published by J. Taylor Publishing.
Jennifer’s perfect day includes long hikes in the woods, bicycling, swimming, snorkeling, and snuggling up by the fire with a great book; but her greatest joy is using her over-active imagination constructively… creating new worlds for everyone to enjoy.
Like the Prairie Sasquatch, C.B. is a little camera shy! 🙂
C.B. Wentworth has a lovely blog that I’ve been following for about 2 1/2 years. She has traveled extensively and often posts gorgeous pictures of the places she’s visited and tells wonderful stories about her adventures.
She is a writer, blogger, and artist who thrives on following her muse. Aside from writing novels, she dabbles in poetry, short stories, and travel writing. Currently, she is working towards her “big break” into the publishing industry with her Young Adult fantasy novel, The Muse. You can visit her at http://cbwentworth.wordpress.com
Happy Reading and Writing, Everyone! 🙂
September in Review
Whew! It’s been quite a month, leaving me little time to pop around to people’s blogs, for which I apologize! As for my own blog, in case any of you were wondering where I’ve been or what I’ve been doing, lately, let me bring you up to date.
The first of the month, we attended the backyard wedding of our close friends’ son. During the week that followed, I met with a friend (Sept. 3rd) before she headed off to Europe for the next six months, did a little photo editing for a retiree’s album (Sept. 5th) and attended my writers group meeting(Sept. 7th). In between events that week, I was dropping by the Manitoba Writers’ Guild to sort out their neglected library.
The following week, Hubby decided to replace the Master Cylinder in my car after I told him my brakes seemed to be getting a little mushy. I didn’t expect him to pull it out the day after I mentioned it (Sept. 9th), but he did. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance to actually replace it. His ankle (that he sprained a couple of weeks previously during the barn raising) was causing him pain and he decided to wait until it felt better to finish the job. While I waited for my car to be operational, I read The Fault In Our Stars and started writing my review of it, which I will post soon. It brought up a lot of memories, as I knew it would.
My niece set her wedding date for 2 p.m. Friday the 13th. As luck would have it, that was the exact time Hubby, The Estimator, needed to submit a tender for work and couldn’t drive me to the ceremony. I was frustrated because I had hoped to get my hair cut and nails done but, with no vehicle, I could not get where I needed to go without a long bus ride with several transfers. I attempted to do my own nails, trying to be patient between coats of polish so they’d dry properly. They turned out okay, but definitely not as good as a professional would have done. My daughter offered to pick me up and take me to the wedding, but that would have entailed her heading across town, in the opposite direction, to pick me up, then back across town to the wedding. Since I’d also wanted to get a dress for the reception, I decided to take the bus to the mall to find something suitable. Hopping on another bus and, after transferring downtown, I got to the right stop and walked the couple of blocks to Fort Gibralter, a re-creation of an historic site, set during the time of the fur trade in the early 1800s. In hind sight, I should have let Daughter bring me to the ceremony. They went to the wrong place and missed the ceremony completely! Good thing I’d brought the video camera and shot the entire thing for her and her dad to watch later.
The reception was in ‘the haunted hotel’, what my niece calls the historic Fort Garry Hotel. It resembles a small castle and is over 100 years old. There is reported to be spirits roaming its halls and sharing rooms with guests. Niece was hoping to see one on their wedding night, but I believe she was disappointed!
This picture of the Fort Garry Hotel is from the Wikimedia archive and linked to the hotel’s website, in case any of you thought it might be a good place to stay, if you ever visit Winnipeg.
Okay, on with the month. The day following the wedding (Sept. 14th), Hubby decided to put in the newly purchased, refurbished Master Cylinder in my car. He called me out to the garage to help because the location of the MC was tight and my hands are half the size of his. We struggled for about an hour to get the nuts over the bolts that hold it in place and another half hour to tighten everything. Then we bled the brakes. During the whole process, I realized to my dismay, that brake fluid would make great nail polish remover! 😦
Everything seemed fine – until I went to drive it on Monday (Sept. 16th)! The brake pedal only went halfway to the floor and it took all the pressure I could muster to get the darn car to stop! Something was obviously still wrong with the brakes. Hubby thought it was just a matter of having the MC bled better as well as the brakes on each wheel, a job that required a lift and a more able-bodied person to do it. He said I should take it to the local auto-body shop where our friend’s son worked, so on the Wednesday (Sept. 18th), I did. Wednesday evening, Hubby had to drive me to a meeting of the Resource and Development committee for the Manitoba Writers’ Guild and pick me up after the meeting ended because it’s a little scary downtown at night and I didn’t want to stand at a bus stop.
Thursday, Sept. 19th, the shop bled each wheel’s brakes but, in the process, noticed that the hoses to the two rear brakes were crimped. They felt they should be replaced as that might have been the reason the brakes were locking up. When that didn’t solve the problem, they informed me that it might be the Booster behind the MC. I authorized them to take it apart to see if there was something wrong with it. They found a crack and said they would order me a new one, which should be available Friday (Sept. 20th) in the morning. By mid-afternoon, I was getting impatient because my Creative Gathering was about to start and I still had no car to get me out of town to the place where it was to be held. At 3:30 they finally called and said the place that had promised to send them a new Booster did not actually have one in stock and would have to have one shipped in for an additional cost of at least $100 – and no other parts store in the city had one for my old clunker! They suggested they could send it out to be refurbished but it wouldn’t be ready for the weekend.
In utter despair, I posted my car troubles on Facebook. Almost immediately, the step-mom of the mechanic messaged me that she wouldn’t need her car for the weekend so I could borrow it. What a lifesaver! I thanked her profusely and, as soon as Hubby got home from work, which is usually an hour earlier on Fridays than any other day of the week, I started loading up the truck with all my crafting supplies. We arrived on her doorstep, expecting to see her, but her hubby opened the door with a confused look on his face. She apparently had not told him about the situation and there we were, expecting a vehicle. Since she was still at work and would not be home for at least another hour, he kindly offered me his beautiful new Camry Hybrid. What a lovely car to drive! Hubby told me not to get too comfortable with it, though. We cannot afford a brand new car like that!
I finally made it all the way out to Friedensfeld for the Creative Gathering. I was an hour and a half late arriving, but knew I had until midnight to get some crafting done, as well as the next day from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Shortly after I arrived, dinner was ready – a scrumptious lasagna with a Caesar salad and garlic bread. For these gatherings, the food is almost as important as the creative process! The photo below, taken by the owner of The Scrapbook Cottage and organizer of this twice-a-year event, features the venue after everyone left Friday night. Each table held 4 scrappers plus all their stuff. The tables were placed end-to-end with an aisle down the middle. I estimate there were about 130 crafters and eight or more helpers/cooks/servers – quite a big group! In the top right-hand corner is the stage and right in front of it is where my sisters-in-law and I sat.
During each Gathering, one can attend classes on card-making, scrapbook layouts and other crafty things. There are also many sketch challenges where we are given a basic layout and an example, then we run with it. I made 8 Christmas cards, a thank-you card for my car lender, and a birthday card for my brother using the challenge sketches as a guide. (Photos to be revealed on a Crafty Wednesday, coming soon. 🙂 ) All-in-all, it is a fun event and gives participants the opportunity to concentrate on their craft and get inspiration from their fellow crafters. I was so happy that I had the opportunity to go, thanks to my dear friends. 🙂
As much as I enjoyed my crafting event, it meant missing the opening ceremonies of Thin Air, Winnipeg’s International Writing Festival. I wasn’t too disappointed because I knew I had signed up to drive authors to and from the airport as well as to the various events around town and out-of-town. On Sunday afternoon (Sept. 22nd), Hubby drove me down to the Hospitality Suite at the Inn at the Forks, where the festival was being coordinated and I had to tell them I couldn’t accept my Monday driving assignment because my car was under repair. Fortunately, they were able to find a replacement. Late Monday afternoon (Sept. 23rd), I did get my car back and, in the evening, was able to drive myself downtown to ArtSpace so I could attend a board meeting of the Writer’s Guild.
On Tuesday morning (Sept. 24th), I picked up two authors from the airport and drove them to the hotel. I stayed around The Forks so I could help out with the School Stage performance at the MTYP (Manitoba Theatre for Young People).
After the School Stage performance, I went to the Millenium Library, the largest one in the city, to await the arrival of Jan Andrews, who wrote The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley. (You may remember my review and interview. If not, click on the links.) As a result of the car fiasco, I had been unable to see her other readings. It was lovely to meet with her in person.
Wednesday morning (Sept. 25th), as I was driving another author to The Forks from the airport, I stepped on the brake pedal . . . and it went straight to the floor! I was glad I had left plenty of room between me and the car in front of me, which allowed enough time for the car to actually stop. What a heart-pounding moment! I tried to keep calm and prayed that the car would stop each time I needed it to and that we would get to the hotel in one piece. I don’t think the author knew the danger he was in, as I tried to keep the conversation light and not focus on the not-stopping part of our drive. Once I was parked in the parkade, I called Hubby & told him what had just happened. He said I should call the shop that had ‘fixed’ my car. I called and we arranged for a towing company to bring the car back to them, at their expense, and they’d see what went wrong. I hung around The Forks, helped out with another School Stage performance and waited for the tow truck to arrive. It was kind of sad to see the old beater being hauled away like that.
I went up to the Hospitality Suite to wait for Hubby to pick me up after work. Shortly before he arrived, the shop called to inform me they’d found one of the gaskets, connecting the hose to one of the back brakes they had recently installed, was faulty and had cracked, leaking so much brake fluid that the pressure was reduced to almost zero. They replaced it and were about to take it for a test drive. Believing that the car would be ready by the time we got there, Hubby & I wove through rush-hour traffic and got to the shop in record time. The mechanic was still out testing the brakes when we got there. The guy at the front desk was surprised to see us, but he let us wait until the car came back to see what the verdict was. He also asked if I needed my car the next day. I informed him that I was scheduled to drive to two out-of-town locations and really needed the car to be ready. He was worried about sending me out on the highway in a car with brakes that had been acting up, so he got permission from the company’s owner to give me a rental car for the day. That would give them time to re-test the brakes and make sure everything was finally in working order. Hubby suggested, since they were keeping the car anyway, that they evaluate the condition of the emergency brake. That is something that will corrode if not used often, and since I have never needed to use it, they agreed to check it. The rental car was a lovely, fairly new, Volkswagon. Again, Hubby warned me not to get too attached to the vehicle!
Thursday morning (Sept. 26th), I was up bright and early, at The Forks just after 8 a.m. The author I was to drive was in terrible shape. He’d been up since 4 a.m. with a migraine and had been physically ill several times. He grabbed some oatmeal to go, hoping it would settle his stomach. I loaded his guitar into the trunk and off we went. We chatted a little at first, then he reclined his seat and I left him in silence to recover from his massive headache and nausea. It would normally have been only a 30 minute drive out to East Selkirk. I had printed out a Google map of the school’s location and had driven that particular bit of highway often, as it was the main route to our cottage. Once I turned off the highway, though, we ran into trouble. I didn’t realize there were two turn-offs to E. Selkirk and I had turned too soon. Using logic and a fairly good sense of direction, I’m proud to say, we finally arrived. It was a good thing we had allowed plenty of time to get there! By the time we arrived, the author had recovered enough to give an animated presentation of his poetry and got the young audience to participate by repeating parts of some poems and singing the chorus of one of his songs.
On the way back to town, my phone rang. The shop was calling to inform me they can no longer get a replacement for one of the three hoses to the emergency brake. I told them to just put everything back together. Since I never use it, anyway, there was no point to fixing it. We carried on in my wonderful rental car. The author asked me questions about the area’s history to which I happily answered to the best of my ability. I am always excited to present the town at its best. I dropped him off and grabbed some lunch before meeting my next ‘fare’.
I found Nathalie Ferraris to be a wonderful French children’s author from Montreal. Nathalie was delighted that the students had read one of her books, Où est Tat-Tsang, about a fish – a treasured family pet – that went missing. The students had written summaries in French and they were posted on bulletin boards, one in the hall outside the library, the other in the classroom. The students were ecstatic to have the author in their class. They asked a multitude of questions, received autographed bookmarks, and had their pictures taken with her. It was such an enjoyable afternoon! 🙂
I regretted having to take the rental car back at the end of the day, but my car was supposedly all put back together and in working condition. The drive home was uneventful. Early Friday morning (Sept. 27th), I prepared and placed a pork roast into the slow cooker, headed for The Forks and drove another author to the airport. Back at The Forks, I grabbed some lunch before driving Nathalie to another French Immersion school out-of-town. The car performed admirably.
After the session, I drove her back to The Forks where she was to await her ride to the airport. I rushed home to finish making a thank-you dinner for the car-lenders. We ate dinner and played some Canasta. We girls won by a small margin then they headed home. I collapsed in my chair, ignoring the stack of dirty dishes. Hubby & I watched a bit of TV, then I fell asleep. Hubby woke me on his way to bed, so I dragged my butt off the chair and went to bed, too.
Chez Sophie sur le pont is the structure sticking off to the right of the bridge in this photo (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Saturday morning (Sept. 28th) was a cool, wet autumn day. I hurried out to meet Hubby’s cousins for brunch at Chez Sophie sur le pont. You may recall my foodie post regarding this fine French bistro. I had been to the one on Avenue de la Cathedrale and had expressed my desire to try the one on the Provencher Bridge (sur le pont), so was very excited that it had been chosen as the location of our next Cousins Brunch. The food was just as delicious as the other restaurant and I was happy to recommend the sandwich I had previously tried. This time I tried the croque monsieur au saumon fumé, a sandwich with smoked salmon, swiss cheese, onions and béchamel (a creamy sauce) and then the whole sandwich is encased in cheese and broiled. YUM! The soup du Jour was cream of carrot. While my one sister-in-law was not impressed, I thought it was delicious, although I think I liked the cream of sweet potato soup better.
I stayed for about an hour and a half, enjoying the company, but I had somewhere else I needed to be. I expressed my regrets and ‘flew’ down to the Park Theatre on Osborne to catch the last portion of the Thin Air Volunteer Appreciation Lunch. While I didn’t eat – I was still stuffed from my other lunch – I was able to chat with the other volunteers I had seen while working the School Stage events and in the Hospitality Suite. When it was over, I whipped around to my friends’ house to drop off the ticket I had purchased for the Stroke Recovery Association’s fundraising dinner. Hubby wasn’t interested in attending and since I had neglected him so much during that whirlwind week of volunteering, I thought it best to just stay home, for a pleasant change of pace. We caught up on some of the TV series premiers that had occurred during the week and went to bed at a reasonable time.
Sunday afternoon (Sept. 29th), I aimed for McNally Robinson Booksellers to attend a meeting of TWUC (The Writers Union of Canada). The Chairperson, Dorris Heffron, was in town and wanted to meet the members of the Prairie chapter of the organization. She discussed the history of the Union and what benefits were available, in case we were unaware of them. We actually did get a few people out to the meeting who were thinking of joining, so I hope we encouraged them to become members. After the meeting, our Chair needed a ride to a restaurant that was sort of my way home, so I gave her a lift. After this past week, I think I should get my chauffeur’s license!
Finally, on Monday (Sept. 30th), the last day of this unbelievably busy month, I spent the morning writing out this update. In the afternoon, I sorted, folded, and put away the clean laundry I had been neglecting. That evening, I volunteered to sell tickets at the door to a Guild event called In Dialogue. Poets Sue Goyett and Sarah Klassen read from their repertoire of work. I’ll go into more detail at another time, as this post is already too long!
Now you know just how hectic the past month has been. So, what did YOU do in September?
Wanted: Scary Stories
Calling all writers who like to write scary stories, whether for the YA or Adult markets, whether self-published or published traditionally or even if you are still waiting for the right publishing opportunity. I have a new and exciting proposition for all of you. For the month of October I’d like to feature you on my blog. If you have a freaky story to tell, or a ghost-riddled poem or the excerpt of a horror novel that you would like to share with the world, you can send me a link to your blog, or if you don’t have a blog and still want to participate, I will post it on my blog for you.
If you’ve read a scary story and want to write a review about it, you can share it here, too, either by linking it or posting it here.
Oh, and if anyone has any scary artwork you’d like to put out into the world, I’d love to help you share that, too. 🙂
If you write about ghosts, zombies, vampires, werewolves, or anything else that will scare the pants off a reader and want to be interviewed, let me know in the Comments section. I will get in touch with you and send you some questions to answer.
In addition, I will also post some info about my writer’s group. We’ve all written scary stories at one time or another, some scarier than others, so it is with great pleasure that I introduce this fantastic bunch of authors to you.
I’ll start by saying that we are, literarily speaking, Off The Wall. We have self-published two chapbooks (anthologies) that were sold at our local McNally Robinson Booksellers under that label. One was called ‘Sex, Death and Grain Elevators‘ because we were told than any story told about the prairies had to have these three elements in it. The other was called ‘Where In The World Is Carman, Manitoba?‘ because it came out about the same time as the kid show, ‘Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiago?‘ There have also been UFO sightings near Carman, Manitoba, so we thought it appropriate, since my story was about UFOs and aliens that we used that title.
So, dig into your archives, put on your thinking caps, drop me a line or two and let’s make THIS October the scariest yet! 🙂
Busy Friday
Considering I have a writer’s meeting this weekend, I thought I’d better have something new to show the group. I haven’t done enough research to work on my next book and I do have a speech to write for our Writing Symposium that’s coming up, so I decided to concentrate on that, this morning. It is the Manitoba Writers’ Guild 30th anniversary, which means I am supposed to talk about YA fiction over the past 30 years. I’d already done some research on YA authors, old and new, but I still have a fair bit to do. It’s amazing how prolific some of those writers are and how many more have joined the ranks over the past decade. What is even more incredible is how many are from this province alone. We have also been fortunate to have two publishing companies in the capital city that are featuring a multitude of YA titles from local writers. It is wonderful to have so much support. On top of all that, the Manitoba and Canada Arts Councils help us by giving grants for authors to visit schools and libraries to introduce our work and talk about writing to a whole new generation of future writers.
Doing all the research and coming up with a flow to my speech, the time really got away from me. Before I knew it, it was afternoon and I had some errands to run. After a quick lunch, I headed out and didn’t get home until a little while ago. I haven’t had the chance to read the posts of the blogs I follow or log onto Facebook, yet. I’m just waiting for dinner to cook. It should be ready any minute, so I won’t be able to ramble on much longer. Once my speech has been written and presented, I will share with all of you.
Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!
mywithershins 