Goodbye, Dear Blog

Well, this is it.

This blog is closing down, and the new and improved blog begins now. For those of you who've stayed with me these years, I truly appreciate it.

To sign up for future blog posts, please subscribe here. Otherwise, this will be your last post.

Please visit my new blog, including archives since 2008, and also my new website.  

It's been great fun posting here these years, with my mewse, Sonny Hawks, curled up above my posts. A huge thank you goes out to my friend Teresa Smith Porter, a creative soul and amazing photographer, who designed this template for me way back when my writing was rough as can be. Though she's out of the website business, she's now responsible for my wonderful photographs that grace my new site and author Facebook page.

Shaila Abdullah of House of Design has created a wonderful website for me and transferred my blog there.

Hang with me at my new blog to learn about my latest work in progress or check out my latest releases: my debut short-story collection, The Flat and Weightless Tang-Filled Future, and my debut novel, How Wendy Redbird Dancing Survived the Dark Ages of Nought.

• Check out a sample of my novel at Amazon (Kindle or paperback); Barnes & Noble; Kobo; or Smashwords (including Apple iPad/iBooks).
• Check out a sample of my short stories at Amazon (Kindle or paperback). 

I hope you'll join me in my new space!

Kid in a Candy Store, or Careerist?

Last week, I was a guest speaker at my alma mater's Career Day. And as I suspected, I learned more from the kids at my former high school than I could ever teach.

I met with an eclectic group, including a screenwriter who also considers himself a novelist, a personal essayist, and a newspaper editor. Across from me was a published author of several fantasy novels. She shared how great it feels to hear from kids who read her books and parents excited to try her work because their children love it. One girl said she collects hardback editions and loves to see them lined up. None of them own e-readers.

One young man said he was curious but not "aspirational" when it came to writing. He asked some great questions and stayed engaged the whole time. The personal essayist said she didn't feel led to see her work published; she wrote for herself, for pleasure.


A listening audience of 16 and 17 year-olds will hold a mirror up, that's for sure. As they politely let me chat away at super speed, I could see a gal full of self-publishing tips: a woman eager to share what she's learned lately about royalties; someone fascinated by cover design, platforms, self-pub gurus, and launch planning. In other words, I was all business.

I can't get these kids out of my mind, because they represent to me something I lose every day when I'm too much business. Whatever I do in this writing career, I must never lose the joy of writing. That "kid in a candy store" feel I had at age nine, writing pages and pages, just because the spirit moved me--that little girl must stay strong inside.

Kids in a candy store have two missions: get massive quantities, and go for the sugar high. Writing has always been a delightful grab fest for me, gulping down great words, addictive, and energizing. A rollercoaster charging down the hill, guaranteed to get you happy. Pure fun. I met kids last week who write for fun.


When the young author shrugged that her books weren't vetted by "real people," I offered some thoughts about the demise of the Big Six (now the Big Four) and how these traditional publishers are getting replaced by The Crowd on the web, one that can tell you directly what The People want to read. I wish I'd asked her, "Why did you write these books? For the supposed editors, agents, and publishers--or for you and your dreams? Don't lose that muse and passion, that joy in crafting your stories. At the end of the day, that love is what we're guaranteed."

I took too literally my charge of being a Career Gal on Career Day. I wanted to be professional and glossy, sleek haired and elegant, admirable and driven. I do believe I appeared driven. But why so much sound and fury about this vaulting ambition? If I have no love, as the good St. Paul once said, I'm nothing but a banging gong, loud and brassy, full of sounds guaranteed to fade away.

As I travel this week, I'll have an old-school pen and an old-school pad of paper in hand. I'll get back to writing the way I did at an eager age nine. Maybe once again I'll sit outdoors on a porch, hearing sounds of nature and silence, the wonderful world of writing in the palm of my hand.

Finding My True North

It's hard to believe that a year ago, I was struggling to edit yet another draft of my novel and hoping it might be the version my agent would be willing to shop to publishers.

I would have never imagined a year later I'd have already published a collection of short stories and be on my way to  launching my debut novel. That after almost a decade of work on the former and three years on the latter, I'd be enjoying an adventurous, never-a-dull-day year of publishing on my own terms.

I might say I've found my true north.

The idiom captures the difficulty of knowing one's right direction in a world of magnetic forces that would have us wander this way or that. I spent two years of my life querying agents, working with one for over a year, and revising the manuscript constantly according to potential market specs. There were some dark moments of staring at a screen in a panic (my words have failed me!); arguing on a phone (you think the point of my novel is to get 16 year-old girls of bland suburban tastes to read it? Who ARE said girls--I don't know them!); or questioning my own instincts about Wendy's character (are you clinging unreasonably to her beliefs and obsessions?).  I wondered if I'd deluded myself that I ever had a chance in this business.

I had to regroup and let my faith rally, and I had to remind myself that I am a writer, first, last, always. Not a second of that wandering and wondering was a waste. Every moment taught me skills and strengthened muscle for the moments I live now, full of trust my words are beginning to have a reach I've dreamed about.

No, my numbers haven't knocked the Kindle best-sellers out of the park. But slowly, surely, great news trickles in daily, after two months of only a Kindle edition. A friend 3,000 miles away wants a signed copy of the collection, now that my paperback came out last week. A group of high school students will be discussing "Midrift." Eight wonderful reviews are up on Amazon. Kind, unsolicited emails arrive from readers. An interview will happen next week on a nationally-syndicated radio show.

I'm having a lot of fun, too. I'm sharing my cover design with friends, family, and a support team, seeking people's gut reactions and design eye. I'm talking sales and marketing with my dad, and getting requests for images and URLs from my web designer. I'm arranging head shots with a former student, Teresa Porter, who is pursuing her dream of photography--now a busy professional winning awards and penning a blog that's gone viral, because she's speaking her true north-truth.

"Can you believe we're here?" she said to me the other day. "You getting published, and me with a photography business?"

My first reaction was to laugh with delight. Those who know the intense type-A worrier that I am can attest this is not my typical first reaction to things. Which tells me I'm true-northing it right now, truly.

I am also very excited about a co-operative venture I and two other devoted students of Doris Betts have recently undertaken: True North Writers and Publishers. Bob Mustin and Dave Frauenfelder, my partners in this venture, are passionate, gifted writers with whom I'm honored to be associated. We encourage one another's work, promote it, and plan some exciting events for signing and sharing this summer.

Our first precept is Scribere quam videre scribere. To write rather than to seem to write. (If you know the North Carolina state motto--Esse quam videri, To be rather than to seem (to be)--and if you try to write regularly, you know what we mean!) We're NC writers sharing authentic writing for the New South, and we will keep each other honest in this endeavor.

My ship sees its way clear right now, the waters glassy with calm, the lighthouse straight ahead. My compass doesn't waver. I know that when the clouds gather, the sky roars, and the swells rise, I'll have to grab a little bit tighter to that instrument and trust, trust, trust. But for now, I'm loving the peace and the joy of following my true path. So grateful I'm able to be here!



Check out the Kindle edition of The Flat and Weightless Tang-Filled Future or the paperback edition.

Take a Chance on Some Writing

Today is a free download day for my collection of short stories, The Flat and Weightless Tang-Filled Future.

This collection offers tales of obsessive teachers and distraught parents, technology run amok and technology to the rescue, and clashes between conservatives and liberals. Race, sex, religion are also fair game. My stories have received recognition in Relief Journal, from the AROHO Foundation, and from contests such as NCSU, Glimmer Train, and the Writers’ Group of the Triad. 

It is viewable on Kindle and with a free Kindle app on iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, Blackberry, and Android phones.

Perhaps someone you know, a person not so sure who this Fairchild Hawks character is, will take a chance on my writing.

Perhaps you will.

Check out the reviews and sample here.

I hope art spreads and people keep reading, reading, reading as much as they can.

Kill That Back Story...Says The Village

My writers' group has told me in no uncertain terms to kill that back story that currently serves as the opening to my new novel.

Image found here

But the other night, I couldn't quite believe my trusted critique partners. No, the voice of habit and comfort, never mind a fond memory of How the Muse Struck Me, was wa-a-a-a-a-y louder than they.

As I've been prepping my manuscript for their critique this week, I've stared lovingly at my opening chapter, a back story tale of the protagonist in fifth grade. The history of how the poor thing was bullied--how in the world can I leave that out?

The main action of the novel will take place in ninth grade, when the protagonist vows to seek revenge--but no matter, no matter, the back story tale is just so clever, so well-written, so full of protagonist voice, how could I ever move it from first place?

You see, the Muse brought me the first lines of the character's voice, they came like a revelation, so OF COURSE they should be the first words of the novel, right?

And don't readers need to know about the long-standing enmity before we see the ninth grade scenes? Won't the reader feel the pathos of the poor little 10 year-old character and the story will be the better for it?

My head was so full of these rhetorical questions--in other words, the vote to keep the back story had already won the argument--that I couldn't move forward. Then it hit me: Post the question on Facebook and see what the people say.

At first I wondered if it was just another one of my procrastination tactics, me refusing to face the hard work of drafting. But I headed into the virtual village anyway.

I wrote, Begin with back story, or jump right into the action? That is the question.

Bob: Only if it's a prologue, and I've been shooed off of those.

Lauren: So many of my favorites start with action in the first chapter, that I lean towards that side. But that's not to say that there can't be backstory as well. Find a situation to put your character in that allows them to tell a part of their story as the action develops. Just a bookworm's two cents.

Karen: Action...plenty of time for backstory later.

Jamey: I do love me some backstory, but I think that might work (at least for me) if it's doled out bit by bit in the story...This makes me think of when we watch older movies. The credits came before any action at all. And now it has to start with a bang.

Tara: "I will destroy this mean girl." That's a pretty darn great first line to a book if you ask me. Flashbacks to the history as she goes would prob work.

The people spoke, and finally, I was ready to listen.

It's not about my not trusting fabulous critique partners, Stephanie and Jen. They steer my prose well so often. It's not about my not knowing modern storytelling strategies that work well--because I do. I think one of my issues is that I can't always define my genre and in this limbo land, I try to be both old school and new school. I write commercial fiction, with a literary twist--but not full-on literary and not straight genre. Since I straddle the lines, those fast-dissolving lines that perhaps never were to begin with, I confuse myself sometimes wanting to be all things to all people, which is a way of giving myself a pass Don't box me in because there are no rules. In other words, an easy way out.

Not so with writing. What does the audience want? is a question you can never ignore. You can answer it myriad, creative ways, and the voice of the people can set much-needed strictures. Nuns fret not, remember, in their narrow convent rooms; Wordsworth tells me so. Limits are a good thing.

So I got back to work on Chapter 1. And suddenly, I started asking more questions of plot events I'd taken for granted. Why didn't Mean Girl Carli's secret get more play? Why didn't Carli ever directly threaten Minerva, the protagonist? What if they had a scene together? Does the pain of fifth grade seem like centuries ago to a ninth grader, and why should the reader care anymore than Minerva about that fated day, circa age 10? Suddenly my sacred manuscript suddenly looked moth eaten, a Swiss cheese of plot holes.

The new chapter might fix this. I don't know; it's only draft one. But if we are going to write novels in this revolutionary time of self-publishing, we must take heed of what the people say, else become part of the supposed "tsunami of crap" that would-be authors unleash on the web, or, lost in the hubbub, the roaring noise of too many voices.

Last thought: if Salinger, Lee, O'Connor, or Munro (four of my favorite authors) had used Facebook, would their writing be better? I'm not saying it would. All I know is, I needed it yesterday for my creative process, and it kickstarted me out of an idling path and revved my engine for better plotting going forward.

Now I have a new chapter called Cornered by Carli's Cartel. Clearly I'm having too much fun with alliteration. The inspiration came from the crowd, and I'm thankful for it.

Where do you get your inspiration when you're trying to break through a writing block? 

So I'd Rather Be Writing...

With my nose running down my face, I gathered kindling today for our wood stove. It was a bitter cold for this California girl, twenty-something degrees, so I snapped sticks with a vengeance and got my freezing self back indoors as soon as possible.

Photo by Steve Ohlsen

Don't feel sorry for me--it wasn't a Little House on the Prairie moment, as in the endless blizzards of The Long Winter. But I did tell myself I felt virtuous and outdoorsy, meditating on why I needed to be doing this very thing rather than writing.

Most days, I'd rather be writing or doing something related to it, as the self-publishing world now demands. When you choose to go indie, you learn quickly that you must not only keep to a writing schedule for your big projects but also craft

• promotional emails
• social networking status updates and profiles
• articulate specs to the designers for covers and formatting 
• accurate profiles on retail platforms
• succinct, clear emails to contract workers
• effective press releases
• and much more writing I haven't yet discovered.

But the fact is, if I'm not actually creating new pages for a novel or short story, I feel like a fraud. So I had to tell myself as I snapped sticks and swiped at my nose that every little thing counts--like warming the house so I can sleep well tonight--or editing a profile on Amazon. 

There's a time to write, and there's a time to publish. And if you choose to become part of that 287% rise in self-publishing since 2006, or that 1.5 million books published per year (and rising), you've got to take that time. As Dan Blank says so eloquently in his post, "Should Writers 'JUST' Write," connect with your readers if you want to get read, using all your writing talent. And that's not just through your books. 

Now the wood stove roars with its fat chunks of wood and hot-orange coals, sprung to life through all those dry sticks I found. The little bits start something big. It's only me that can start this fire.

My collection of short stories, The Flat and Weightless Tang-Filled Future, is available on Amazon. It's viewable on Kindle, and with the free Kindle app on iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, Blackberry, and Android.  

My Grandma is a Racist?

I've just released a book of short stories, and "My Grandma is a Racist" is one that means a lot to me.

It's not personal in the sense of family history--though I did have a grandmother who didn't like blacks, Jews, or Catholics--and another who didn't like hippies. These very complex, loving, interesting women harbored many prejudices as many of us do today. But this is not their story.

The setting is the Bush/Kerry election of 2004, when America was taking sides on the Iraq War and Swift Boat Veterans. It's the story of a little girl, Wendy Redbird Dancing, trying to make sense of her mother and grandmother's daily battle over politics. And it's also the story of what happens when no one is looking after this particular child.

Racism in the story is overt in some moments and covert in others. It's conscious and subconscious, as much as every moment in American history is laced with hyper-awareness of whether you are black, white, brown, yellow, or some mix thereof.

Don't think it's so? Please do a family history and place it against a timeline of civil rights landmarks for the last 150 years. You'll see members of your family living through some strange and terrible times, whether it touched your family directly in traumatic ways or not. Someone may have an opinion, if not fought, like my ancestor, on one side of the Civil War. If you don't wake up aware of your particular skin tone, chances are you walk the world with some amount of racial privilege. Even in this post-racial society, we can't deny that walking into some places as the only white, black, or minority of the particular context, that there are different permissions given. Just the other day I was told that I as a tall white woman will be treated differently in India when I travel there this February. In other words, my risk of assault is lowered for a number of reasons. One of them is the colonial history of British oppression, white on brown.

Today, as President Barack Hussein Obama is inaugurated into his second Presidency, we know that America has done something historic in voting him in once and then again. We know it is a particularly special day that his inauguration occurs on the Dr. King holiday, because no matter what your politics, Obama has that content of character that gets certain things done. There will be historic legislation and events for historians to evaluate; it's not a do-nothing presidency. We can judge him for those actions and not for his blackness. Dr. King may not applaud today's gun violence nor the recent wars or massive uptick in poverty, but I do believe he would applaud the fact we can judge Barack the man with a different bar than many would have back in 1968.

And back to timelines--'68, the year King was shot, was the year I was born.

"Midrift" is another story in the collection, written from the perspective of a black woman, by yours truly, a white woman. I was told back in 2004 while workshopping this story that "You can't write this." I did anyway, and no doubt I will offend both white and black and perhaps others, too, in taking this risk.

Good writing starts a conversation. I hope I've done this. And I invite you to take a chance on my characters who like to stir things up and out of the complacent daily grind. Art for life's sake.

Today, this holiday, I will take inventory of my service to others, as King would have us do. I'll take inventory of my prejudices and the breadth of my mind, treating this as a New Year's Day to be a better person this 2013. I have a hand in this historical timeline, and I hope to leave a mark that helps our progress as a human race--one people, under God, and indivisible, no matter how hard we try to tear ourselves apart.

What is your mark, and what do you want it to be?

The Flat and Weightless Tang-Filled Future is available through the Kindle select program, viewable on Kindle and with the Kindle app on iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, Blackberry, and Android phones.

And the Winner Is...

I'm excited to announce my series title!

The Girls Outside series. Gifted. Weird. Wise.

Image found here

In December, people voted here at the blog, or wrote me messages on Facebook, or commented on my status updates. After gathering all the feedback and mulling for a few weeks, I feel great about this choice that has both a title and a tagline.

A special thanks goes out to Madeline, Jen, and Nancy whose ideas inspired me this direction. Madeline gets credit for thinking up "Girls Outside" and Jen and Nancy encouraged me to think about keeping individual titles for each book, and to perhaps have the titles themselves follow a pattern. Nancy challenged me to think about why I need a brand at all, and that thought helps me to keep everything in perspective. The brand is not all. The work is.

And we discussed that while that is true, this age requires artists to market their works themselves, no matter whether traditional or self-publishing is the mode of release. Understanding your target audience and who will be most drawn to your book is the first order of business for a writer who wishes to tell the world, "Hey, my baby's here!" You want what's called "word-of-mouth on steroids." The UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School shares an interesting post on the fast pace of today's marketing and how branding evolves from audience. One of the subheadings, "Learning to Listen," is exactly what happened here--I asked The People Who Might Like My Book what they thought of my ways to describe my characters. I'm not just invoking cliche when I say I couldn't have come up with a name without you, Dear Readers!

I also appreciated the meditative posts and comments from Maureen that explored connotations of all the words on the table (nerd, geek, etc.). It's just that kind of analytical thinking that helps me weigh the resonance of terms and what will last with certain groups. I should do that with every word of every story I publish. When I draft well and meticulously, that's actually the writing process I can follow.

There are too many others to thank, so instead of listing all your names here, please know I am grateful for the time you took to think on behalf of my creative work and help me with your opinions.

When I publish HOW WENDY REDBIRD DANCING SURVIVED THE DARK AGES OF NOUGHT this spring, Wendy's story will be the first of three books where teen protagonists overcome strange, crazy, and sometimes traumatic situations. They're survivors, all of them, so the next book could likely have "SURVIVED" in its title, as would the next. Or not. What's important here is that Wendy, Minerva, and Alastrine are all girls on the fringe, trying to find their voices, and they are definitely gifted, weird, and wise.

So what's on deck now? Wendy's story is in final developmental edits, and my first publication, a short-story collection, will release very soon. THE FLAT AND WEIGHTLESS TANG-FILLED FUTURE is uploading to Kindle in a matter of days. The product of eight years of toil, and happy toil, for sure, will be hitting the electronic shelves, and I couldn't be more pleased. Stay tuned!

Help Me Build My Brand

The people have spoken! I offer you a poll to help me choose my brand name. 

What made the list are ideas from girls and women ages 15 through 50. Two boys also contributed, ages 11 and 15. Thanks to everyone for great submissions. 

Image found here

If you’re going to self-publish, it helps to have a brand. Genre authors (mystery, romance, sci fi, etc.) have the luxury of a recognizable type--a guarantee regarding content and style--but as an author of hybrid works (literary and commercial), I’ve got to find ways to communicate the personality, essence, and passion behind my books.

I want the audience to know what it might get from my next book. I want my work to stand out from the crowd and be discoverable. I want to have a say over the perceptions of my work. Most importantly, I want readers to feel my words connect with their life experiences, concerns, and joys—that through my writing, I know them, and they know me. I want girls and women ages 15 and up to feel their voices heard when they read my books. Empowered, positive, inspired: a brand they can trust. I want the brand name to communicate strength, positivity, and intelligence. I don’t want to deter or alienate boys and men; that said, when I look at my books, I realize I have a niche and it will help readers to know what it is.

Before you vote, here are some points to consider:

I like to write about teen girls who are scary smart and pretty weird. I like to tell tales of their social misadventures with popular beauty queens who don’t take kindly to quirky, nerdy, and wise. I like to break all these stereotypes in the course of the story and leave the audience believing that each character is very, very human. I have one book finished about wise Wendy and two in the hopper about MENSA Minerva and academic Alastrine. Look below to learn about each of them.

Below the synopses, you will find comments from various respondents who contributed to the poll names. They might sway your final vote.

Wendy in HOW WENDY REDBIRD DANCING SURVIVED THE DARK AGES OF NOUGHT

At 16, Wendy Redbird Dancing flies her freak flag high; she’s a precociously smart white girl with a hippie mom, a missing father, and a rabid Michael Jackson obsession. And it doesn’t help that Sunny, her mother, just uprooted them yet again, this time from California to North Carolina. It’s May 2009, and now Wendy has to survive a new school’s exams, track Sunny as she hunts men, and fight off bullies like Deanna Faire, a mean Taylor Swift who rules this Southern roost. But one girl reaches out—Tanay, the only black girl in AP class—and she and Wendy forge a friendship to help Wendy defy Deanna. And Sunny’s new boyfriend turns out not to be the usual sleaze but instead, a charming and attractive guy. Shaye Tann brings peace to the household by taking Wendy under his wing. As he gains her trust, a crush ignites, and her confidence soars. When Shaye makes sexual advances, Wendy is flattered and confused. When Shaye rapes her, Wendy goes underground. Michael Jackson—St. Michael when he dies on June 25, 2009—is now the only one she can trust.

Minerva:

Minerva, a nerd girl ready to become an ace investigative reporter, uses the power of her pen and its propaganda to get ninth grade girls thinking boys want chaste girls. Girls start choosing celibacy as a way of life when they realize they are happier, healthier, and safer without the threat of sex too early. In the process of manipulating others, Minerva discovers her own sexuality and how much she has tricked herself.

Alastrine: (note, this is a genre novel with dystopian themes)

It’s 2077 and America has loosened up. Sex is fine, whether you’re a teen or an adult, as long as you don’t get pregnant; do it with whomever, whenever, and however many times. Just make sure you have the Freedom Ring implanted, girls. The seven dirty words are allowed on every TV station, all hours, and everyone can drink anytime when alcoholism can be deterred by a pill. In other words, the Kardashians have won. As wildly free as it sounds, life is managed by high-security cameras, body scans, and government intervention—led by a fascist Founder Party that keeps citizens well fed and compliant. Girls with naturally good genes, no assembly required—the Naturals—are fodder for this dominant political party that keeps the trains running, the rich richer, and teenage girls groomed to become First Ladies, part of a Presidential harem. 16 year-old Alastrine Bantam may be a leggy blonde Natural who doesn’t need modifications like almost every girl she knows, but she hates her celebrity status. She prefers staying home studying history to standing dumbly on a pedestal of beauty. She has not had sex like most girls, and it’s a terrible, embarrassing secret she hides quite well. She still harbors a hope she can somehow hide and avoid the inevitable future of political stardom due a Natural. But that pipe dream is exposed the day she learns a terrible secret from her best friend, Seagramme…

Knowing what you know about my stories, what should the name of the series be?

Other Ideas:

A writing colleague suggested that the titles be specific to the storyline: that each begin with a HOW (insert character title) DID SOMETHING... A series that has a formula for its titles might aid in the recognition and discoverability factor. She said, "focus less on the series and more on the book at hand. You could have a title that could be used for later books with a subtitle then.  I was thinking of 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid,' which was the first book in the series. The rest of the books have that title along with another title."

Former students suggested the following: "Since your target audience is probably pretty intelligent, I don't think they'll be drawn in by creative spellings of 'girls.' 'Nerd'...might be past its prime, or it never really got there. 'Geek' is the cool thing to be now.  On the other hand, 'nerd' is broader in its connotations than 'geek.' Geeks, I think, tend to be more game/fantasy/electronics focused. Nerds just have a thing they really, really like. Just a thought.  I'd also try and avoid anything that sounds like it was written by a well-intended adult; loving your inner nerd sounds kind of preachy.  Could you focus more on a specific character trait of these girls?  When I think of Wendy, I think of resilience."

A friend and fellow writer wrote, "Grrlz is cool. Feminist connotations. Gorilla Grrlz."

Other ideas that didn’t make it into the poll:

• The Girls Outside
• Precocious and Proud
• Smarty Skirts
• Overachievers

If you don’t like any of the poll choices, please do leave a comment. Bring on the ideas!

Thank you for your time. Crowd sourcing makes me a wiser woman!

Say My Name

In the last season of "Breaking Bad," the character of Walter White, a genius chemist gone rogue to the meth business, tells a fellow dealer, "You know who I am. Say my name."

"Say my name," represents the ultimate victory of Walter's runaway ego. It represents his id gone wild, where Walter's demons have fully conquered his love of family and any prior moral compass. He wants to rule the world as "Heisenberg," the man who cooks the purest meth on the planet. Demanding his name be said celebrates the evil he has fully embraced.

The Iagos, the Hitlers, and the shooters get a lot of press. Anderson Cooper tells us so from his outpost in Connecticut right now. He explained why CNN would not give the shooter's name tonight.

I read the names of the children and adult victims of this most recent mass murder and I want us to say their names with reverence, with silence on either side, with prayer. I want to take these names in and not forget them.

I see many classic names on this list, names that have crossed centuries. I see a name I've never seen before. I see names from many cultures. I see names from the Bible.

I sought comfort and looked for quotations by Dr. King. In my search I found a blog by California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who remembered Dr. King less than a year ago in the wake of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her constituents being shot. Ms. Waters also held up the names of those in her community who had recently suffered another outbreak of gang violence.

Aaron Shannon Jr., 5
Kashmier James
Taburi Watson, 14
Lewis Smith

When there are no words, only silent prayer where the soul cracks open, speaking a name can be something sacred and selfless, not at all about ego. There must be something higher, the Soul says, when tragedy tries to turn us hopeless or believe the world is only full of demons. We return to the departed and their names and say, We won't go there. 

As Fred Rogers told us, Look for the helpers. Here are more words to help us talk to our children right now.

I will look, and I will listen. There are so many beautiful names to say. Let them ring. 

Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel Davino, 29
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana M Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hocksprung, 47
Madeline F. Hsu, 6
Catherine V. Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Russeau, 30*
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto, 27
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison N Wyatt, 6
*Some news organizations are spelling the victim's last name differently.

Handling the Fear Factor

To self-publish or not to self-publish: that is a question that haunts many nervous authors nowadays who are steeped in queries with no response. While we wonder if agents have read our sincere and severely-crafted missives, we also wonder whether we should persist in writing more of them or hunker down with a plan to go it alone.

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A funny thing happened on my way to self-publishing: just as I began to refine a serious plan, I get a request for my full manuscript from an agent. I want to get excited, I do, but then the fears come creeping in.

It's easy to let them rule you. You've been around this block. Why try again? Are your instincts worth anything?

Questions about my self-publishing ideas pound me, too: will readers think self-pub is for hacks--and all my friends who've been following my journey think I've given up? Can I learn to market my wares? When will I find the time? 

But you do try--both the queries and the self-pub plan--because that's what real writers do; they don't stop. They also get information. Like Hope Clark's primer of wisdom about the facts, just the facts, ma'am, on self-publishing versus traditional. The self-pub plan I'm building is full of strategies to tackle the fearful unknown. These strategies are gleaned from a wealth of great information on the Internet. We live in a world-wide library, folks--there ain't nothing we can't learn! Check out this helpful list of tips from Meghan Ward, too. I'll elaborate on this plan in another post.

Expect that as you conduct your research, the fearful questions will pile up, and that's a natural part of the process of change. Write the questions down, and approach each like a research paper in high school. Make notes. If you go the agent querying route again, as I am, you'll start thinking:

How many is too many simultaneous queries? How much research should I do on each agent--should I put ten hours into an agent search, write a query, only to never hear? (And not write in the meantime--there's the rub!) Did the fact I started with a synopsis of the novel instead of "why I want you as an agent" deter the agent reading this--is that why I never heard? Should I have gone into more detail about why I want this agent or does it sound like flattery? Do I sound too formal, stilted, not at all like my novel's voice--when many model queries out there are playful and "cool"? 

When you've written as many queries as I have, these questions have the whiff of the rhetorical, unanswerable. From what I've researched, there are different opinions about how many queries to put out simultaneously; some say five to ten, then hunker down and wait. But if only 10% respond to you, why not double or triple that amount?

Research can tell you some things but talking to a person tells you much more; so I choose to limit my research per agent to an hour. I have a personal rubric that vets an agent based on preferred genres, client list, and statements made in interviews. An agent who has a web presence whether interviews or a personal or agency blog is someone I can get to know fairly quickly. The last criterion is that the agent accepts e-queries. It's also a psychological strategy to limit my research: why get too invested? If the agent meets my criteria, then it's worth sending out an email. He or she doesn't have to be my perfect match on paper, whatever that is, and again, I can't tell that from online research. I will be able to tell from a phone call where I ask good questions (see below).

Then there is the fact that agents who receive 50+ queries a day have an inbox beyond full, and that may be the one good reason no one cares if your synopsis comes first or last in your query; the point is, the agent may just not have time to read yours. And if you've done your research well, the agent will tell you exactly how he or she wants the query on the agency page.

In other words, there aren't great answers; what you have above are "Lyn's Answers." There isn't a sure path or an Obi Wan to mentor us through this. You have to pose the questions--to query or not to query, to self-publish or not to self-publish--to the universe and then let the answers rise as they simmer in your brain. When you know, you know, as a friend used to say.

I know that I would love to hear from a particular agent, but that's not in my hands. What is in my hands is the best query I can write, the best research I can do in the short time I have, and the best self-pub launch plan I can craft. And this time, I'm really not scared.

If you pay attention to the blogosphere, it appears many other writers are feeling what I'm feeling, and even agents: go forth, bold writer, and try thy way in the wilderness. Agent Jenny Bent has an interesting perspective regarding books that fall between genres (Wendy Redbird Dancing, anyone?). Ones like mine, that are YA + women's fiction, are often ones publishers don't understand because they aren't sure how to market them. So if you are an intrepid soul with energy to get your work out to the masses, have at it: you might find the market is there for you.

I also have a great list of questions should an agent call. Based on my last experience, I will now tackle fears head on by asking the questions below.

When in doubt, and when fears rise like fog around me, I start to write. Write down potential ideas, write down potential plans. I may discard 99% of them or never get the opportunity to make them happen, but at least I've talked myself off the ledge.

• What do you like about my manuscript? What would you change?
• Does it have potential as a hybrid work--women's and YA? Is this more women's fiction or YA?
• How close is the manuscript to submission? What revisions would you suggest?
• Do you see film potential?
• Do you see foreign rights potential?
• How many publishers would you submit to, and which ones?
• Will you share the submission list and responses from editors?
• What YA or women's fiction have you represented that you are particularly fond of, and what do you think is the secret to their success?
• Who would the primary contact be--you or your assistant?
• What is your response time to emails and phone calls?
• How often would we be in touch?
• What's your expectation for a next book?
• What advice do you typically give authors as they build their careers?

The possibility of talking with a successful agent once again is a nerve-wracking premise. But armed with some questions, I know I'll be okay.

In the meantime, the self-pub ideas simmer, and I'll be sharing those soon. Vote at the next post on my brand ideas; I'll need this whether I self or traditionally publish.

Will you self-publish? Have you already? Or are you waiting to hear from an agent? How do you handle your fears in the process?

That's a First-World Problem for Ya

"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

-- Matthew 20:16

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Tonight I couldn't get more than $40 cash back from the super-healthy organic co-op store. Then I went to an ATM and my card wouldn't read. As I exited the building where the ATM was, several children rushed through the door and the parents behind them let it happen. After everyone charged through, adults included, I stepped forward, thinking the guy in front of me who'd held the door would keep doing so. No. He let it shut just as I walked through with both hands carrying groceries, and so it slammed on me.

Then I sat in my car to await the end of a teen-ager's piano lesson--the reason I needed the $60 in cash, because the teacher won't take checks. I'm hacking and snorting the whole time because the older I get, the more gluten and lactose intolerant I get. Every meal presents a question mark of how my body might not like this or that for dinner. And like I have the time to craft a healthy, organic diet that ferrets out all the mystery allergens or keeps every meal pure.

I won't even explore the fact that lately, I no longer have time to write.

I did lift out of my irritable fog to delight in this--community wireless. Thanks, Town of Carrboro. Without it and my laptop, I would have a way to tap these rants to life.

And I am not stuck in a hospital bed right now. A forced sitting in a carseat isn't that terrible. In fact, a blog emerges from it.

And most importantly: everyone I know and love is safe at home, none of us facing chemical weapons, rocket launchers, or genocide in our neighborhoods.

As Friar Laurence once told Romeo: "There art thou happy." That was in a scene where Romeo was whining, big time.

First-world Folks, take a note: just because we've chosen to lead lives that are jam-packed and so technologically rife with instant gratification doesn't mean we have it bad. And writers who have the most time to write and reflect are probably in one of two situations--a sane location with enough food and safety--or prison.

Tonight I'm going to take this moment to stop whining and remember what matters most: I've got a lot of reasons to be thankful, and if my first-world life has become too much for me, I most likely have means to change it. Starting with my attitude.

Shakespeare's words that thrilled my soul at 14 remind me that there are words to be written in every spare moment and only one crack at this life. If I also take a moment to remember who's last in this life's race, am I really going to moan about faulty machines and going second or third through a door?

As a Holocaust survivor told my stepson recently while interning on a documentary shoot: You make a decision to choose life everyday. You've got this chance; stay positive; make the most of it.

What pack of blessings lights upon my back? The first thing this first-world gal must do is ask that. The last thing she should do is live an entitled life of demands on the world around her where she wonders why she isn't first in everydamnthing.

I'm going to mull on that and read the good Friar's words to the self-pitying Romeo just one more time.

What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive,
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew'st Tybalt; there are thou happy too:
The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend
And turns it to exile; there art thou happy:
A pack of blessings lights up upon thy back;
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love...

Act III, scene iii

Might You Know a Sunny Revere? The Art of Writing for Revenge.

Ever met a parent who thinks he or she is one but misses the boat by a fathom, and then some? Have you, by chance, ever met a Sunny Revere?

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• She's a woman who rescues cats but can't seem to see that her daughter needs rescue.
• She's a grass-roots organizer who can't get organized enough to keep the cupboards full.
• She calls her daughter drama queen while throwing tantrums herself--because she, Sunny, is "exhausted" and "overwhelmed."
• She puts the new boyfriend first, because after, she deserves love and has hunted all her life for it.

And in this home that Sunny has created, Wendy is vulnerable to abuse by the latest boyfriend. And he is not the first to try.

I wish I could tell you that Sunny is all in my head. But she is modeled after a particular profile of parent that regrettably, inflicts a lot of damage on children.

In my years of teaching, I would bid certain students goodbye each day as they returned to their multimillion-dollar homes, tenements, or trailers, and wondering if they would be okay. It wasn't because there was a police report or a restraining order; it wasn't because I had any concrete evidence of abuse. It would be the little things the kid would say to you in class or after school that tipped you to the neglect or the harm, things you would run to the counselor or social worker with, but not know if the school had any recourse.

• My parents are gone for three weeks in Europe. Yeah, it's fine; I can look after myself. Though this one time, I burned myself cooking dinner, when I was seven...
• My dad's on disability and he doesn't ever leave the house...I don't feel so good myself today...Yeah, I know I'm sick a lot. Sorry I missed that test. Yeah, I know my grade's a D...
• My mom can't come to my awards ceremony. She's got a date with her boyfriend...
• My mom makes me do daily weigh-ins. But I understand; yeah, I know I'm not "fat," but she's really trying to help me...
• The Domino's guy don't come to our house. Why? Oh, because he's too afraid. Our neighborhood's crazy...(with a shrug).

Sometimes we write from frustration, anger, and even revenge. We write from the frustration that our hands are tied, the anger at the sins of the world, and revenge upon those who would neglect or harm children.

My novel began as an act of revenge against neglectful parents and predators who easily cross the porous borders of certain homes. I began ST. MICHAEL, PRAY FOR US in 2009 as a story dedicated to youth who seek a trustworthy adult and find that trust abused and to youth who can't speak for all the fears that choke them silent. Sunny Revere is the mother who lets her daughter alone, who is too busy seeking a better life for Sunny, to notice that Wendy has been robbed of her innocence. 

Revenge is a dish best served cold. I think this applies to the writing process. My first draft was a rant, admittedly, where Wendy as a 16 year-old survivor grapples with sexual abuse that happened when she was 10. Now in 2012, after years of feedback from beta readers and professionals and multiple revision, HOW WENDY REDBIRD DANCING SURVIVED THE DARK AGES OF NOUGHT is a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end and characters who live the trauma in real time. The story is hot, but the process to get it there was frigid. I had to clinically carve it up, with a steely surgeon's eye, the room set to freezing as I sliced, diced, and sewed things back up. 

The only thing that stays the same is the flatness of Sunny Revere. A narcissist is a narcissist is a narcissist--at least in my book she is. No matter how many times life has prompted her to peer at her daughter's pain, and closely, Sunny keeps turning away. No matter how many times Sunny has been called to account or action, she has made her excuses. By the close of the book, when Sunny finally accepts the revelation, it is too late. 

Writing about Sunny Revere is my challenge, one to concretize emotion such that readers care and are even perhaps spurred to action. My call is to create people, places, and choices that move beyond manifesto into relationship: readers relating to, hating on, cheering on my characters. We can't be talked at--we must be invited into someone's world. If writing is an ugly spew of hate, I'll get nothing back but echo.

In this draft, my screams fade and Wendy's life shouts, a revenge all its own. This hard-won story carries you to the last page where hotlines can take a silenced survivor to the next step if she is ready.

Now, let's see if I can get this message heard. 

Writing Prompts:

• Do you know a Sunny Revere? 
• Respond to Cynthia Ozick's quotation: "Life hurts; certain ideas and experiences hurt; one wants to clarify, to set out illuminations, to replay the old bad scenes and get the Treppenworte said--the words one didn't have the strength of ripeness to say when those words were necessary for one's dignity or survival."
• Sometimes, as Hannah Arendt once wrote, good people do nothing. Sometimes when I write, I am trying to be a good person who may have witnessed a wrong and did not act--or was not sure what to do. I can write from righteous indignation because I am too flummoxed or too much coward in the moment--or perhaps because I am too removed and powerless in the face of certain wrongs. Do you ever write from such feelings?

NaNoWriMo: Stands For...?

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N is for Not Doing the Laundry and Writing Instead
A is for All the Decaying Food in the Fridge Looks More Tempting Than Writing
N is for Never-ending Licks from a Grooming Cat Who Insists on Shoving Your Laptop Off Your Lap
O is for Obnoxious Cat Who Scratches Your Chair While You Write
W is for Why Am I Doing This to Myself?
R is for Resentment of All Those Who Are Making the 2500-Words-a-Day Goal
I is for I'm Not Up for This
M is for Mentioning Your Pitiful Word Count Too Many Times on Facebook
O is for Opportunities, Dreams, and Hopes That This Month Fosters

If you're a writer, what's the best part of NaNoWriMo? The worst? If you're a teacher of writing, what can a day of NaNoWriMo teach you--and remind you of what we ask our students to do weekly?

I've begun a new novel, THE CHASTITY CLUB, part of a NERD GIRLS series of books with Wendy's story as the inaugural tale. I'm 6,500-some words in, with a good 3,000 written prior to NaNoWriMo, but who's counting?

Meanwhile, I'm still querying agents for HOW WENDY REDBIRD DANCING SURVIVED THE DARK AGES OF NOUGHT and weighing my self-publishing options.

If NaNoWriMo stands for anything, it's the belief that fuel my writing mission: Fall 8 times, stand up 9. Just keep writing, seeking, trying.

For more prompts on NaNoWriMo, visit my 2011 post.

Makers and Takers

Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

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And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.

But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

-- Luke 10: 38 - 42, King James version

Martha was a maker. She was preparing the evening meal when her sister Mary disappeared to go hang with Jesus.

And Martha got mad. The fish needed broiling; the fire sent sweat pouring down her face. Thank goodness she'd made fig cakes this morning, but would he mind bread a few days old? Well, it would have to do--but Jesus was no ordinary guest. While she slaved, Mary kept glancing over her shoulder, but no Martha, no Martha, no Martha. Finally she stormed into the room where Mary sat at Jesus' feet, listening avidly.

"Make her help me!" Martha snapped, sure Jesus would see what was the Christian thing to do.

Jesus told Martha she only needed one thing--spiritual time, AKA reflective and quiet time--which is exactly what Mary had already figured out. Jesus told Martha that what Mary had would never disappear.

In other words, the "slacker" had it all figured out.

This parable always irks me because I'm a doer. In this story the doers lose. 100% Virgo, I waste no time getting about my business. Down time seems gratuitous; let's just say I don't give myself much time for daydreaming unless it's permitted by schedule--a mind wandering during the commute, though I'd do better to listen to NPR; waiting in a doctor's office, but I could be working on a short story. Every hour could be better used to get something done. Obsessed, workaholic, intense, I expect a lot out of me, every day.

I have spent many moons making this novel, and today, I have nought but another draft to show for it. (Nought is my character Wendy's favorite word, so that's a nod to her.) Do I have inner peace, though? That's the real question. Do I have Mary energy or Martha energy as I move to the next phase of relationship with this work? The Martha energy--"careful and troubled about many things"--and in some translations "upset," "fussing," and "anxious." The Mary energy? All we know is she's chosen "the good part."

At ease. At peace. Thoughtful. Dreaming.

I recently parted ways with my agent, amicably, because despite all my best efforts at doing, I could not create a novel that met the market's formula. A certain profile of 16 year-old girl was my agent's aim, and understandably so: many publishers need a story that sells easily, the "easy on the eyes" formula. And ironically, to get to that easy sale some of us must slave.

More irony: I actually think this draft is the best yet, but I haven't taken time away to make a better judgment.

So, despite all my hard work, I can't yet tell you what I have to show today. I wonder if the people I know who have less of an agenda and more of a dream are truly the winners in this life. I mean those who laugh and love and don't stress about whether the goals are checked off on the checklist. If they show up fully present to each moment, they may gain more wisdom in an hour than I might get in a lifetime.

But the nagging Martha voice does whisper in my ear: what would Jesus eat if it weren't for her? Who keeps those trains running.

I love this blog because it forces me, Martha, to sit still and reflect.

Questions for the Makers in This World: 

• How can you get the job done without work dominating your days? 
• How do you find joy in the moment and put your list aside for enough seconds so you can experience what's dancing right in front of your nose? 
• How do you not care so much about things that could be easily taken from you?

And for all the Marys out there, Takers taking in the best of the Jesus moments:

• How do you live in the present without forgetting your obligations to others? 
• How do you give in to the energy of now without becoming the kind of person who lives off others' hard work? 
• How do you know what is "the good part" to invest your time in rather than something that is illusory?

Right now I hear a lot of political rhetoric about the "doers" and the Makers--the "job creators"--pitted against the victims, the lazy, AKA the Takers, which is a false dichotomy last time I checked in with humanity. What strikes me most in this debate is that the sound and fury of busy-ness is a particularly American obsession and that some of the busiest people on the planet can be the ones doing the least important things. (Take a look at the shouting folks on the NY Stock Exchange floor and realize that they are moving intangible financial stuff at great risk to their heart health, and you have to wonder who's really making or taking in that scenario.)

And beyond any assessments of American character and way of life, the fact is we can judge till the cows come home, whether we're the cow chaperones or not, but you can't live your life in harsh judgment of others. You can't stay angry and bitter over who's doing or not doing their fair share or whether you just did yourself wrong with all this flurry of activity for nought.

All I know right now is this: there can be no bitterness as I walk away from a long period of making art--perhaps unsuccessfully by market standards. Today there should only be sitting at the feet of Wisdom to figure out what the heck just happened.

What about you: are you consumed with Making something or Taking it all in today?

The Perils of Revision: Telling a Tale of Abuse

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I believe there is truth, black-and-white, good vs. evil truth. There's wrong and there's right. But the telling of it is often gray. That telling and its perilous navigation would be the purview of us writers.

Once upon a time, my YA novel, HOW WENDY REDBIRD DANCING SURVIVED THE DARK AGES OF NOUGHT, dealt with sexual abuse in the protagonist's past. A 16 year-old girl, Wendy, is a survivor fighting to make sense of this horrible wrong, four years later.

In this current draft, the abuse happens in real time. My agent and I have discussed reasons for this rewrite--that YA readers if not many adult ones need current, suspenseful events to care about a character. Watching a character fighting to survive now is more compelling than hearing about the aftermath. The Hunger Games wouldn't pack the same punch if Katniss told us how it all went down there in the woods when she's sitting here in the present quite safe. A narrative frame such as that can lift you out of the action and remind you too much that you're reading a story.

Author C. Hope Clark explores the plusses of making your reader uncomfortable--leaving your reader with a feeling of exhaustion. Conventional wisdom says in crafting your character's plot, make something bad happen to your character, and just when you think, It can't get worse--make it worse.

I'm following this advice. But these scenes of abuse, as you can imagine, are not easy to write. "Don't go there" comes to mind. There is no joy writing scenes of murder, torture, or rape. And in this political climate where politicians use phrases like "legitimate rape," it feels especially dangerous to turn the camera on a young girl being abused, a girl who is not sure she can call it that.

We live in a world where people across cultures ask if she was asking for it. Where questions of power seem to place a hot lamp on women's unstoppable powers of seduction and apparently well-fortified reproductive organs. I don't want to write scenes where young girls wonder if I'm asking if she was asking for it. I also don't want to write scenes that predators would endorse.

But that's the challenge of my job. Writers have to stand in limbo of shadowy, questionable gray. This horror happens and many people survive it. It's an important story to tell and being afraid to tell it is part of the trauma people experience.

It's not just politicians that motivate me to write this tale. I also feel sure I must do it when I see women snapping up the wildly popular Fifty Shades of Grey. What a strange light that shadowy work shines on our gender roles, desires, and the rules of power as they still play out. This wonderful rant by Britt Hayes makes me sure I am writing something that will challenge the crazy that's made Grey's author a multimillionaire. But I can't say I'm enjoying the ride.

This revision is not fun, but it must be done. Now the veil is lifted on my worry that this writing is not going to do anyone any good, but yet something in me says, Go on, show how it goes, and maybe in the telling something pure and clear will emerge and maybe I and someone else could be able to see for miles.

As our students go back to school and search the hallways for friendly faces, and as they meet their teachers for the first time, there are some who will be hiding massive secrets. They will have horror to survive each week that no one knows. They could return home daily to Jerry Sanduskys and Mary Kay LeTourneaus and other tortured souls who call themselves parents, mentors, authorities in a child's life. I write this book for all the youth who seek a trustworthy adult and find that trust abused; who didn't know where the adult was headed with that first touch; who can't speak for all the fears that choke them silent. I hope my book tells some to find a trustworthy soul they can tell and others--unknowing spectators--that survivors walk among them.

Back to the page. The way is foggy and often the page looks dim. But the purpose is sure like an arrow and somehow, I'll emerge with something on the other side. Whether this is a YA novel remains to be seen, but I will file its genre under "GRAY" right now: adult themes, lived by youth. I'll let librarians and booksellers work that one out.

Writing Prompts

• Which books did you read in school or have you taught that deal with complex, traumatic events such as rape, incest, or abuse? How do you approach these works as a reader, a writer, or as a teacher? Do you call out these events as what they are, and speak of them? 
• What works do you think are wrong for a high school classroom? Why?
• What is gray about the telling of these things? How do authors make these issues gray, and in so doing, do both wrong and right to the subject and survivors?
• How do you use journals and storytelling to help people explore issues that are highly sensitive? (Consult The Why and How of Writing Prompts for some assistance.)

Yes, Virginia, It is Rocket Science

Doris makes teaching look so easy, doesn't she?

Those of you who follow my blog know I write YA fiction, but you may not also know that I'm a former high school and middle school teacher (15 years), an online instructor, and a teacher trainer. That my other consuming passion is writing lessons for teachers and talking shop with them. I've authored, co-authored, or contributed to four different works on the art of lesson design.

• Teaching Julius Caesar: A Differentiated Approach (NCTE) (30 free pages available to check out)
• Teaching Romeo and Juliet: A Differentiated Approach, with Delia DeCourcy and Robin Follet (NCTE) (more free pages!)
• Macbeth and AP History units in Differentiation in Practice: A Resource Guide for Differentiating Curriculum, Grades 9-12, edited by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Cindy Strickland (ASCD) 
• The Compassionate Classroom: Lessons That Nurture Wisdom and Empathy, with Jane Dalton (Zephyr Imprint, Chicago Review Press)

That's right, I said "art." And let me mix metaphors, in a major way, right now: The art of lesson design is rocket science. An excellent unit of instruction is hard to launch, you have a million variables to consider, and everyone is watching you fail.

Yet there are people who talk about teaching as if they could step in and take a teacher's job tomorrow. These are the same people who would never dare presume to talk about their lawyer, doctor, or plumber's skill with any type of knowledge or dare say, "Excuse me, I could do that!"

But let me reel myself in here: this post is not a rant against those who have done seat time in a classroom, apparently suffered, and then look down their noses the rest of their lives at the teaching profession.

Though I do believe it would be a lot of fun to see those folks take on a full day of teaching and see where they are by 3:00 PM. I'd like to be there to tell them to, "Peel yourself off the floor; keep going. Your day has just begun. You have parent phone calls to make; practice/club/rehearsal to run; papers to grade; meetings to attend. Nope, you're not going home yet, or if you are, please take this bag of stuff, or these gigs of digital work, and please get cracking. And just when you're most exhausted, you need to be designing cutting-edge, differentiated, 21st-century, Common Core State Standards-aligned, engaging, student-centered, blended, and flipped lessons."

If you are not a teacher, I imagine at least a few of the adjectives I used sailed over your head. Ed jargon, some call it. And that's how it should be. A profession worth respecting has a vocabulary--not unlike nanotechnology and neuroscience--cultivated from years of research, experience, and experimentation.

As I work with teachers headed into a new school year, I consider the vast array of knowledge, processes, and new mandates our educators have to juggle when designing lessons, and something in me craves a formula, a distillation of all the complexity in order for our teacher-soldiers to march onward.

So for those of you surrounded by notes, texts, computer, and other resources to plan those units of instruction, I've created a formula for lesson planning. It is not perfectly comprehensive or suited to every teacher's learning style. For example, some of the sequence may not follow the way your brain thinks, but try to take each step as a crucial task and determine how you can approach each one thoroughly.

1. Select a complex text with colleagues.
2. Identify concepts, or Big Ideas.
3. Create Essential Questions, global and local, to be used in every assignment.
4. Select 10 scenes or chapters of the complex text.
5. Identify CCSS goals and subskills, finding at least three readiness levels (ELL or novice, on-target/grade level, and advanced/gifted).
6. Identify "how to read" skills, strategies for independent reading.
7. Develop assessments, formative and summative, with rubrics. 
8. Develop lesson activities.

This may seem like a quick and simple formula to outsiders, but there's lots of knowledge and expectations and standards buried in these. I could do a full-day workshop on each step--and we could spend a whole year perfecting the art of each step in our classrooms.

For those of you who don't teach, please take a moment to take in these steps and appreciate the hard work teachers do to prep one three-week unit of study. For those of you who do teach, you do so much with so little time and resources, and I applaud you. Enjoy this adventure of launching great ideas, thinking, and explorations with our students this year. 

Stay tuned for future blogs with writing prompts for you and your students at the end of each post. And check out the last 4 years of posts; there's probably a concept, a whole set of journal prompts, that might suit a unit you're teaching now.