August highlights include:
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| Author Joan Young and I spent a long weekend in Michigan's Upper Peninsula at the Wild Blueberry Festival. |
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| Author Ingar Rudholm and I spent a weekend meeting readers at the South Haven Blueberry Festival.
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| It was a hot weekend at the Michiana Ren Fest, but I met lots of readers and managed not to poke any eyes out with my fairy wings. |
Now that I have Laya's Vacation out in the world, what am I working on next? Resting. Do I have projects lined up? Yes. I'll get back into them sometime between now November, when writing begins again in earnest for National Novel Writing Month. Until that urge returns: Naps and reading and one author event a month until the end of the year. A much more manageable pace.
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If you're not familiar with and find links to all the other participating writers. |
We're back to school and talking about English class and the one writing rule we learned that messed us up. But honestly, I can't think of any rules that I've had issues with or that my editors repeatedly have thrown back at me. There are things I've forgotten and had to look up because it's been... umm, 35 years. Other than that, I loved English classes. I took all of them, even the elective ones! It was one of the few subjects, other than art and the sewing portion of home economics, that I was really good at. Let's not talk about math or science, well, the math parts of science, anyway. Numbers bad. Letters, good!
To stay on topic(ish) though, I was recently talking with my father and he mentioned running into his English teacher, who asked if he was still writing. He had stopped before I was born and I've never read anything he'd written (in a creative writing sense), but he mentioned I was writing and published, which his teacher was excited about. This is so very weird to me because: Numbers. My English teachers and my art teacher have passed away - people I would very much have loved to share my accomplishments with - from only 35 years ago. Yet, his teacher is still out and about and remembered that he used to write. At least one English teacher, even if it wasn't mine, is excited for my accomplishments. I'll take it. :)
Love the pictures, and the Wild Blueberry Festival sounds like a dream!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely take it!
ReplyDeleteSome wild critters at the festival.
Thanks for co-hosting this month!
It looks lie you had fun at your six weeks of events. It sounds like a great idea to take a rest and only go to one event per month. Thanks for co-hosting.
ReplyDeleteWow. You have been busy. Thanks for taking the time to co-host this month. I once wrote an old teacher many years later updating him and thanking him for a recommendation that really made an impact on my life. He seemed thrilled to hear from me.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely looks like a busy few weeks for you. Thanks for finding time to cohost! I'm sad to hear your teachers are no longer around to see your accomplishments. I have to say that has been a surprisingly exciting thing that came from my publication journey. I've reunited through social media with a number of childhood teachers, elementary through college who were excited for me. That's so sweet that your dad's teacher was so excited for you though.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures! Looks like fun! It's nice that there's still English teachers out there who are excited for writers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for co-hosting!
Hi, at least one English teacher is proud of you, even though it's your father's teacher. Congrats! Your vacation pictures look good. Thanks for co-hosting. Shalom shalom
ReplyDeleteThanks for co-hosting, Jean. I don't remember any rules either, but I'm sure there were. Great pictures. Looks like you had a lovely day.
ReplyDeleteLove teacher stories. Mine isn't so fond as my favorite English teacher bumped into me at a craft fair where I was selling stuffed toys as a stay-at-home mom. She remembered me and gave me a stink-eyed "So this is what you're doing with your college education." Taken aback, I told her I was writing, too, to which she drawled, "That's nice." I was so angered by her tone that I went home, started a new novel, wrote it in three months and SOLD it as my first of 80 titles. Take that, Ms. Snotty Pants.
ReplyDeleteThis is wins as the best response. LOL
DeleteShe found a way to motivate you. Too bad it wasn't a positive way. Glad you showed her!
DeleteWow, what an experience! Glad you focused your energy into writing and felt the success from the sales. Ms Snotty Pants is a perfect nickname.
DeleteThank goodness for words. Those numbers never add up the same way twice for me. Glad we're in the same club. And glad you co-hosted today. Thanks. https://cleemckenziebooks.substack.com/p/the-first-wednesday-of-fall
ReplyDeleteThat blueberry festival looks like it was amazing. Thanks for those pictures -- and for co-hosting. Your comment that it was hard to remember exactly messed you up since it was 35 years ago made me smile. I had somewhat the same problem, though I graduated hs in 1961. My mother wanted me to take 'practical' classes like typing so I could find a job. I did, but I took all the college prep classes as electives and loved the English class (and the library). Little did she know that typing class would support my true love, writing. Hope you have the opportunity to read some of your father's writings. And . . . keep writing!
ReplyDeleteLove that story. Today on Facebook, I discovered my band teacher, Mr. Seymour, is celebrating his 70th wedding anniversary! Great photo of him and his wife. Thanks for co hosting. Janet Glaser writing as JQ Rose
ReplyDeleteLove the pics. Looks like fun! Thanks for co-hosting.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely story about your dad, his writing, and his English teacher. Teachers can have such a positive influence on their students. Thanks for co-hosting ISWG this month!
ReplyDeleteA beer and a book at a lake! What more can one ask for to relax? Thank you for co-hosting today, Jean. My high school Speech Class teacher gave me the confidence not only to speak in public (not my favorite activity) but also to enjoy writing (my favorite activity!)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful time you've been having! I love how you discovered your father was a writer too. I realized my grandma was a poet when she signed my 8th grade autograph book ;-) Thanks for sharing, and for co-hosting!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, Jean! Bravo on all your festivals and conferences. Way to go! Love the photos. You sure would need a rest after all that. Thanks for cohosting this month!
ReplyDeleteWhat a summer you've had. I'm sorry I couldn't go with you. You deserve naps and relaxation.
ReplyDeleteYour book festivals photos a great! Looks like a very busy summer.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story! Your dad is blessed! I think I messed up the co-hosts this month, but thanks for posting anyway!
ReplyDeleteBlueberry Festivals! How fun. That's an awesome story about your dad, his writing, your writing and his teacher (sad about your own teachers though).
ReplyDeleteLooks like you've had a great summer! And I loved the story about your dad. @samanthabwriter from
ReplyDeleteBalancing Act
It was my mother's written stories that has spurred me on to write - but much later in life. She was so gifted. In school, the focus was on writing non-fiction. I've read the other bloggers who wish that their school had a fiction writing course. My mother wasn't patient enough, nor had the time, to teach me how to write fiction. Sadly, the moon and stars of my future didn't align toward becoming an author until in my senior years. Better late than never. Even so, a month before my mother died, I showed her a draft of my writing. As she was reading it, the pages trembling in her hands, I was so grateful when she softly said, "You can write," sounding amazed with the discovery. Blessings
ReplyDeleteMy favorite high school English teacher cheered me on via Facebook for years. In fact, he commented on one of my posts before I started writing, suggesting I consider writing a memoir. That comment was one of the pieces that pushed me to start writing. Alas, he passed away a couple of years ago, but I'll carry his lessons with me till I, too, leave this earth.
ReplyDeleteThanks for co-hosting this month!
ReplyDeleteSix weeks of events? Wow! Hope you’re resting well after all your busyness and your book release.
Vacation, beer, book, is a much more manageable pace! Thanks for co-hosting this month.
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