What I Did This Summer

Tomorrow I go back to the classroom. I can't believe summer is over but here in Alaska, August is generally when the clouds roll in and the temperature drops. We haven't had termination dust yet but it's only a matter of time.

My summer highlights:

Got a new wood floor in our house

Turned a nice shade of brown and peeled a few times

Grew a bodalicious garden that is keeping me hopping picking, preserving, weeding and freezing

Watched my youngest child grow two inches

Replaced our deck 

Visited several colleges with oldest child and began to feel panic over Last Year At Home

Found an agent for my YA mystery

Read this awesome ARC: Red Rising by Pierce Brown, which comes out in Feb. and is MIND BLOWINGLY AMAZING

Wrote a semester's worth of curriculum for this fall

Began a revision for my YA sports contemporary

Visited six states in the Lower 48, plus a Canadian province, and nearly melted in Washington DC

Lolled on the beach

Lolled on the couch reading everything I could get my hands on. (I won't reveal how many books I read...it is embarrassing.)

And now, it's back into the fray!! I can't wait to meet my students, to invest in their lives and watch them grow, and meet all the challenges this next school year holds.

What are your summer highlights? Have you read anything great lately? 

Summer update and the new non-schedule

We have returned! Sun-burned, slightly fatter and a bit morose at facing the last few weeks of summer. I'm back in the classroom on August 8 but planning for next year begins much earlier...in fact, I'm already obsessing about schedules, curriculum, field trips, etc.

But FIRST: an announcement. Last month I signed with agent Marcy Posner of FolioLiterary Management for my YA mystery set in Alaska. She's incredibly experienced and has a lot of enthusiasm for this story. I can't wait to benefit from her awesomeness.

You're probably thinking: wait. What? You have TWO agents? Si. Deux. One-two.

Well, how will this work? you may ask.  Who will get what?

To which I say: I have no idea. We'll take it one story at a time.

Speaking of the business-of-writing, signs point to next year being a particularly challenging one for me, both professionally and personally. Between work, family and my writing goals, it's clear I'm not going to have time to juggle this blog as well. I will attempt to keep up with Friday funnies but there will be weeks when I cannot. I LOVE visiting all your blogs and keeping up with everyone's news, but I'm resuming lurker mode...with TWO exceptions.

One: I will eventually need beta readers for my newest WIP, a YA sports contemp about an elite diver attempting to qualify for the Olympic trials. It's waiting on a revision but it'll be ready for eyes eventually. I'm happy to swap as long as you 1. have a thick skin because this isn't your first MS and 2. it isn't more than 90K and 3. you aren't in a big hurry. 4. it isn't paranormal. I especially love mysteries, thrillers, adventures and anything set in a foreign land so if that sounds like your MS, send me an email at rewrighter (at) gmail (dot) com.

Two: if your book birthday is nearing, drop me a line. I'm happy to promote as best I can! We need to stick together! I'll continue to promote books I love on GoodReads - if you use that site, be sure to friend me, okay?


Happy summer,

Fact or Fiction Bloghop coming up!

Can you tell a great story, one that's so good, it's hard to tell if it's fact or fiction?
Next month, Emily King and I are hosting a bloghop where you'll share your favorite summer memory - whether it be hilarious, a comedy of errors, sweet-as-pie, adventurous or the kind of story you're glad to have over - as well as one that's pure fiction. Everyone else's job? To spot the fact from fiction. The writer who fools the most commentors wins the prize.

Confused? Let me break it into bullet points. (I love me some bullet points.)

• Monday, Sept. 3: Post one summer story, true or false, it doesn't matter but it should be under 500 words.
• Tuesday: Sept. 4: Hop to other participating blogs to check out your competition.
• Wedesday, Sept. 5: Post your other summer story. If Monday's was your truth, have Wed. be your fiction story. Or vice versa. (Again, under 500 words.)
• Thursday, Sept. 6: Hop to other participating blogs. Decide which one is true and which is false and put your vote in the comments of each entry.
• Friday, Sept. 7: Your reveal. Tell us which story is true and which is false.
•  Late Friday or early Saturday, Sept. 8: PRIZES!!! Emily and I are giving away FOUR total - two grand prizes for the stories that fool the most commentors; and two critiques for the runners up in each category. The PRIZES will be a book of your choice from lists Emily and I have compiled. My list will be Best Fall Fiction Reads, which I've previewed via ARCs and that come out starting next week. Emily's got a list of nonfiction books she's putting together.
• In other words, I'll be awarding the writer who fools the most with his/her fiction - meaning most people thought it was true -  and Emily will be awarding the writer who fools the most with his/her nonfiction. The critiques will go to the runners up in each category.  Make sense?

No, the stories you share do not have to happen this summer. Reach back into your childhood for the best one as long as one of your stories is absolutely true. You're on the honor system here but we trust ya. ;)
Sound like fun? Sign up in the linky below. (It's working now! :) Then check back the third week of August. I'll be interviewing Sarah Rees Brennan, author of The Demon's Lexicon and Team Human, as well her newest release, UNSPOKEN, coming out next month (one of my faves). Then I'll post the list of hot fall fiction I recommend, which the fiction bloghop winner will choose from as his/her prize. Emily will post her nonfiction picks around the same time.

Questions? Post them in the comments. And we hope you'll join us next month!

Friday funnies - June 22

People, it is SUMMER in Alaska. I am actually sunburnt. And not coming inside ever. I'm thinking a blog hiatus is in order bc it is party time here (ie outdoors until midnight or so, sleep until 5ish bc it is so light outside, and outside again) and I have edits due on several projects. So if you don't see me Monday, I am elsewhere temporarily. :)

                                          I am on the last stage right now...sniff...

                                                           And the prize is a dictionary. Woo-hoo!

                                             I wonder how many followers God would get...?

 I totally forgot about Picard's magic computer thingie. This was mid-90s or so. He. So. Rocked.


Happy (belated) solstice everyone- spend it outside!!