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Saturday, April 30, 2016

Shakespeare, Hawthorne, Poe and I Haven't Written Much Lately, and at Least I'm Not Dead

Was my last blog post really in January? Seems impossible.

But then, consider that I moved in February (and got sick), created a new FB page (Life in Georgia, you should go check it out), and have been doing a lot of things so that I have things to write about. Sometimes I even write about the things. Sometimes I share when I write about the things.



April was Camp NaNo, but the first week, my son and I drove back to AR for Spring Break, a birthday party, several friend visits, and a speaking engagement. We drove and only lost an hour, but I felt like I had jet lag that cost me another week. I made it to PTA events -- which is probably why I'm chairing a committee -- too tired to act like I didn't want it. And I do want to do well. I want my kid to be proud that I'm around before those teenage hormones fully come into play. But I only showed up to make adult friends that might have kids my son is friends with. Obviously I have learned nothing about the typical PTA... (I have met a few people that now know me by name. So far they seem really nice. I'm sure they are also not typical PTA of the type terrible tales are written!)

 (Harper Valley PTA clip that I don't own -- all rights to their rightful owners, etc, etc.)



I BETA-read a friend's book in late March and handed it off in April. I can't reveal anything yet, but people are going to love it. Here's one hint (see image):


That's it -- that's all you get! And it isn't enough -- I promise!!

Anyway...











I met with many of the young authors during my Spring Break visit.
Aren't they a wonderful looking group? And don't get me started on the talent!  Ian's working on book #3, Cadence a new series, Bella book #3 and Ari book #2. #proudteacher
I collected the BETA readings of A Muse Meant over Spring Break. I edited for the last time (cross fingers) and handed it off to one last BETA reader. I'm excited about that.

My son and I started a story about the explanation and evolution of mermaids, and I'm working on that -- a very little. IDK if this cover works, but I kinda liked it:


I'm worried about all the tales I feel like I'm abandoning, and think I may have found a loophole to do a short story collection for a bunch of random fantasies I've half-baked. I wrote an intro and shared it with one of my young authors -- she took it and ran with a new dragon story that has not one thing to do with my introduction (as I had intended it). But she's got a new wonderful story in the works and her giddiness was catching. So I told her if all the young authors wanted to add shorts or if we wanted to write a story together -- whatever works and sounds like fun for as long as it IS fun!

And I have a Scavenger Hunt to arrange. "It'll be easy!" I said. "There will be zombies!" I said.

I say a lot of stupid things.

I did not create this Zombie Bingo Card. I was thinking that something LIKE this would make finding items out of order easy. We shall see.


I have been and done more things. I have loads of half-written blog posts that I need to finish, type, and post.

One thing at a time, right? Sure... Let me know how that works out for you...