Clearing the desk

I got sucked into critique land with twenty crits for a contest. Read them all twice, wrote up a full page of coments and suggestions for each one, filled out a talley sheet, picked winners, and mailed them off yesterday. OFF MY DESK! And floor. And nightstand. Yippee!

Now back to MY stuff. Feeling very selfish. And slow. Because I've barely plowed through half of the 200 pages I wrote last September and am rereading so I can get back to drafting the rest of this humongous, ancient Egypt historical. I've also been helping my son with some essays he's needed to write for a class and did some critiquing for a 15 year old girl I teach piano. She's actually a pretty good writer and I wouldn't be surprised if she's published some day. But it sometimes feels like my life is not my own . . .

Check out this interview with Andrew Karre at Flux. Good stuff.

Want to read some great hooks from WIP's by fledgling writers and feedback from a terrific agent? Go here. You'll come up gasping for air about three hours later.

Great news a few days ago: My story, "Rattlesnake Rain" will be published in Cricket Magazine this August! Finally.

SCBWI schmooze tonight and dinner with Nancy H. beforehand. Off to do a few pages of rewriting before I leave.

Before I forget, check out Bev Katz Rosenbaum's web site. Good stuff and she also critiques manuscripts at a very reasonable price.

Now go write.