Writing in 2013

I usually spend some time during the month of January thinking about what I want in my writing life in the coming year.  My sweet friend, Irene Latham, chooses "one little word" that she expects will embody her experience for the next year. She had hers all picked out by the first of January! I'm not so speedy and have given myself a few weeks to think, wonder, and pray. And I usually don't come up with one word, but more of a feeling, an image, or a phrase.

Last year, I experienced some very real frustration in my writing life. I keep a pretty busy schedule with a sales job (books into schools) and a magazine editing position. It's pretty important to me to do a good job of whatever I'm doing, so I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself. By summer of last year, I was feeling burned out and totally uncreative. I hadn't been unproductive. I wrote three low level biographies for Rourke in the spring. They will be out in a few weeks. And three books on Native Americans for State Standards. Just out and beautiful!

So yes, I'm proud of what I accomplished, but the busy schedule left me weary and worn. I posted in December some of my reflections on the last year and learning not to strive in my writing life (not the same as not working hard!).

This year I want to move forward and find joy in my writing life again.

I have more thoughts on this and will continue to post some specifics in the next few weeks. 

Low Level Biographies Correlated to Georgia Performance Standards

A new set of biographies for Georgia first grade teachers!

The set features the titles required by the Georgia Performance Standards for first grade. These folks are hard to find at a low reading level, so my fabulous editor at State Standards Publishing has just released this new set for all you first grade teachers out there looking for low-level readers.














I was thrilled to write six of them and fellow SCBWI Southern Breeze writer, Ashleigh Halley wrote the other two.



It was a good experience all around. Ashleigh and I look forward to knowing how these books fit your teaching needs, so let us know what you think.