Category: Kids

Weekly writing check-in: the one with the selfie from the end of the world

So we recovered from camping in enough time to attend the Starpower dance competition. One of these days, I’ll have a weekend with nothing scheduled. I’m looking forward to that.

I have managed to keep up in my classes (more or less). Even better, I have something in each category below this week. I’m so excited about the anthology. I had so much fun with that story (although I’m fairly certain you can’t call it a happy story–it is the end of the world after all). I’m also excited to have another vignette in Vine Leaves Literary Journal.

Writing Work:

  • Description class
  • Narrative Design class

Submissions:

  • A Measure of Sorrow (reprint market)

Rejections:

  • A Measure of Sorrow

Acceptances:

Publications:

Weekly writing check-in: the one with the camping trip

Very, very, very short post this week. I just returned from camping with my daughter’s Girl Scout troop, and I’m not sure I remember what happened last week. I did keep up in class (well, I still need to post some homework and feedback, but it’s done). We prepped for camping, then we went camping. It rained and even snowed during the week, but Saturday? Ah, Saturday was a perfect day, not a single cloud in the sky.

I am now going to go do something that requires very little thought and minimal movement.

Writing Work:

  • Description class
  • Narrative Design class

Submissions:

  • None

Rejections:

  • None

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with spring break

fortSpring break this week, so there were trips to the mall and the bookstore and a sleepover.

It looked a lot like the photo to the left there. Because if you can’t go to the beach, you should build yourself a fort in the living room and employ giant, stuffed hippos to guard it.

And hey, if you’re in your fort, you’re certainly not going to get sunburned.

This week, I did classwork, some more ghost research, and a fair amount of reading (I even stayed up way past my bedtime to finish a book–hey, it must really be spring break). I also sent out another brand new submission.

Writing Work:

  • Description class
  • Narrative Design class

Submissions:

  • Gretel and Hansel

Rejections:

  • None

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with a shopping trip

A short check-in this week. In a bit, my daughter and I are off for a “back-to-school” shopping trip. What? School started two months ago? Well, better late than never. This way, we’re hoping all the nice sweaters and jeans will be on sale.

One submission this week, one rejection, and more than 6,000 words. And that’s about it. Good luck to all my writing friends who are doing National Novel Writing Month. I’ll be writing as well, but they don’t have National Serial Writing  Month. So I guess I’ll just tackle that one on my own.

Writing Work:

  • Writing ~ 6,600 words

Submissions:

  • Like Bread Loves Salt

Rejections:

  • March Madness

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with an Eagle Scout

EagleWell, it’s official, hardware and all. My son is now an Eagle Scout. He worked so hard for this, and the process had its ups and downs, to be sure. We’ll probably have a court of honor in a few months or so. But for now, we simply gaze upon the medal and pins–and that’s enough.

In other news, I managed about 3,000 words on the coffee ghost story. I worked through all the audio files for The Fine Art of Keeping Quiet. The Maze is done, and according to my dashboard, headed for retail (!).

Also, I wrote up a book review this week (see link below). And I may do another post in a bit to recap all the WWI books I’ve read in the past few years.

Writing Work:

Submissions:

  • Like Bread Loves Salt

Rejections:

  • Like Bread Loves Salt

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with a finished novel

dorm5So apparently you can send your son off to college and finish a novel all in the same week. Because that’s what I did this week. Those 11,000 words? Yeah, I have no idea when I wrote them. I just grabbed pockets of time here and there, and the next thing I knew, I was closing in on the last few scenes.

Once you get there, it’s hard to stop writing. So while that looks like a lot of words, it didn’t feel that way. As far as the total goes, the novel came in at ~ 80,000 words, which is a nice size for a novel.

And also, in other big news, my son went off to college this week! It’s not every day these two things happen, right? As you can see, he’s busy doing schoolwork already. Actually, he’s filling out the check-in form so he isn’t charged for damage to his dorm room later on.

So … that was my week. How was yours?

Writing Work:

  • Pansy 2.0 ~ 11,650 words

Submissions:

  • March Madness

Rejections:

  • Five to Freedom

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with not much to say

goldySo, our new pup, Mattie, is adjusting well. The cat is getting sneaky and finding ways to be in the same room as said pup without Mattie noticing. Of course, when she does, the cat zips back downstairs.

Summer is ending, we’re getting my son ready to head off to college (the image is your clue as to where he’s going) and my daughter to Jr. High (milestones, we have them). Not quite as much writing this week as last, but I’m heading into the home stretch of Pansy 2.0 and can see the whole way in front of me. While it’s a re-draft, many pieces are significantly different: new scenes, new characters, new twists. It’s been a lot of fun to write.

Nice rejection this week for a story that’s long enough that I might put it in Kindle Unlimited and call it done. But I still have a few more I can submit when I hit a little downtime.

Writing Work:

  • Pansy 2.0 ~ 6,011 words
  • World Building class

Submissions:

  • The Life Expectancy of Fireflies

Rejections:

  • A Knight in the Royal Arms

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

My ten-year-old’s bucket list

So in the class I’m taking over at The Loft Literary Center, Breaking the Unwritten Rules in Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, we’ve been talking about clichés and tropes, and about all those unwritten rules we might not even realize are holding us back from something original and startling.

We’ve discussed narration and how to balance entertainment with authenticity when writing a middle grade or young adult character. It reminded me of something Kyra said a while back.

One day after school, she mentioned she had something on her “bucket list.” After I got over my internal freak out about my ten-year-old having a bucket list, I asked her what she meant.

Here’s the thing: she’d never heard the phrase “kicking the bucket.” If she saw it in a story (or heard it in a movie) she would probably ask me what it meant if it wasn’t clear from context.

To her (and her friends), a bucket list represented a figurative bucket where they placed all the things that they’d like to do someday.

In Kyra’s case, this list includes:

  • being a scientist
  • traveling the world
  • painting all her pets’ portraits.

So, as writers, we’re told to avoid clichés because they’ve lost their freshness and meaning. But in some cases, all it takes is the next generation to give the old something new.

Is there a doctor in the house?

Conversation overheard on a Sunday evening:

Me: Kyra can watch her show and I’ll stream an episode of Doctor Who. Then, we can read.

Andrew: No, no, no! Mom, don’t become one of those people!

Me: You mean a Doctor Who fan?

Andrew: Yes!

Me: Are some of your friends fans?

Andrew: Kind of.

Me: Little obsessed, are they?

Andrew (eye roll): …

Me: Well, I just started watching it. I like it.*

Andrew (head in hands, muttering into the pages of his AP World History book): No, no, no, no, no.

Kyra: Dr. Seuss? Can I watch?

* Yes, I know. As of last night, I’ve only watched two episodes of Doctor Who. I have now given up any pretense of nerd/geek cred.

Brother turning 16 prompts (minor) existential crisis

So, yesterday was Andrew’s sixteenth birthday. As we were driving to dinner, I overhear this conversation between him and his sister.

Kyra: Andrew! Promise me you’ll get married someday!

Andrew: ?????? Why?

Kyra: I don’t want you to die alone!

Andrew: ????? Uh, okay.

Kyra: And I’ll make sure you’re buried next to your wife! And I’ll visit your grave every week!

Andrew: ?????????

Kyra: And be sure to have kids!

Andrew: Mom …

Yeah. Not really sure what that was all about. Of course, it’s not every day your brother turns sixteen. But then we arrived at the pizza place and that seemed to make everything all right.