Category Archives: 1

Shaking Loose the Sand in September

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ImageEven though it’s been forever a long time not so long ago, really, that I went to school in September, I still get totally excited after Labor Day. I just want to go out and buy a bunch of pencils and sharpen them into really, really sharp points.

That is to say, I’m ready to get down to business. Thank goodness, I have a wonderful conference to attend in October and the presenters are zipping around on a blog tour right now. So any sand left between my toes (or in my brain) shakes out along the way.

Maybe you have a few grains of sand you’d like to shake loose. Follow along with me and get your pencils ready to take notes. 

And oh, look! Agent Jennifer Rofe from Andrea Brown Literary is going to be HERE on Friday! So y’all come back now, you hear? (Uh-oh. It appears a little Southern has slipped into my writing. I’ll work on that, too.)

Blog Tour Schedule:

Aug. 28            Author Matt de la Peña at Stephanie Moody’s Moodyviews

                        Editor Lou Anders at F.T. Bradley’s YA Sleuth

Aug. 29            Author Doraine Bennett at Jodi Wheeler-Toppen’s Once Upon a Science Book

                        Author Robyn Hood Black at Donny Seagraves’ blog

Aug. 30            MFA program director Amanda Cockrell at Elizabeth Dulemba’s blog

                        Illustrator Prescott Hill at Gregory Christie’s G.A.S.

Aug. 31            Author Heather Montgomery at Claire Datnow’s Media Mint Publishing blog

                        Editor Michelle Poploff at Laura Golden’s Just Write

Sept. 3             Author Nancy Raines Day at Laurel Snyder’s blog

                        Author Jennifer Echols at Paula Puckett’s Random Thoughts from the Creative Path

Sept. 4             Editor Dianne Hamilton at Ramey Channell’s The Painted Possum

                        Author Janice Hardy at Tracey M. Cox’s A Writer’s Blog

Sept. 5             Author / illustrator Sarah Frances Hardy at Stephanie Moody’s Moodyviews

                        Agent Sally Apokedak at Cheryl Sloan Wray’s Writing with Cheryl

Sept. 6             Agent Jennifer Rofe at Cathy Hall’s blog

                        Author / illustrator Chris Rumble at Cyrus Webb Presents

 

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It’s Off To Write We Go (After We Visit the Cows)

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ImageA few posts ago, I mentioned that writing–and writing often–begets better writing. And that inspired me to pen “Becoming a Better Writer: Easier Than You Think” for my last Muffin musing. ICYMI, you can check it out here. (Public Service Announcement: ICYMI stands for In Case You Missed It. It’s embarrassing how long I stared at those letters till I figured it out.)

And for those of you struggling to become a better “tell-a-story-in-an-essay” writer, I’m passing along Linda O’Connell’s excellent tips, over at the Pen and Prosper blog. I read on her blog that she’s giving away a Chicken Soup book to one of the lucky commenters at her Pen and Prosper post. And in my experience, there is nothing like reading 100 Chicken Soup stories to get the feel for writing a Chicken Soup type story/essay.

I’m also including a heads up to the Green River Writers Contest. I like to support writers’ groups and Kentucky is a lovely state. Plus, whatever you’ve been working on to become a better writer is sure to find a category in this contest. (Check out the guidelines for fees and publishing rights.)

Lastly, because all (writing) work and no play makes Cathy a dull girl, I took Cathy-on-a-Stick out on a, uh…uh…whatchamacallit.

(Now see? Writing a sentence like that makes me realize I need to get back to work.)