Read and drive but not at the same time.

Every once in a while I feel as if I am not "doing" anything because I am not creating or revising a manuscript or I am not finishing a piece that will be "used" in my portfolio. Still, I am sketching, blogging, jotting down ideas for stories, and driving. Yes, driving. That wonderful motherly occupation that affords me time with my children (strapped into their seats with space between them. ) Driving, although my Mother will not want to read this, let's my mind open, not wander exactly, to new ideas. I talk to myself, try out dialogue, compose poetry. So I've got plenty of that kind of time as I prepare myself for a summer of swim lessons,field trips, dance classes, and day camps.

The other extremely important thing I do is read. I tend to read a lot of middle grades/YA books and tons of picture books. Whenever I take my kids to the library, I spend their computer time looking at picture books one after the other. I analyze pacing, how illustration and story complement each other (or not), story elements, etc. One really helpful thing to do with picture books is type out the text on one page, no line breaks. It is surprising to see how short they really are. So when someone in your critique group says "nice- but half as much" you'll see where they coming from. I read the following middle grade and YA books in the past month and they have quickly become favorites: Stained, Jennifer Jacobson; The Music of Dolphins, Karen Hesse; Heartbeat, Sharon Creech; A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray. Next on my list are Fever,Laurie Halse-Anderson; The Killer's Cousin, Nancy Werlin. I suppose that sometimes I hide from my own manuscripts when I get lost in these wonderful books. But I am learning too.

For all who might have been wondering... I did not win the Highlights Fiction contest along with 1,397 others. That's okay (she says remembering her father's words "Buck up old sport.) I will submit it as a picture book. I think it will do better that way than as a magazine story.

Anna's to do list:
submit to new publishers: Our Normal Bus, Preschool Jumble, DC for Me
dummy: Wanted, New Mommy and Our Normal Bus
revise: Family recipe
create new paintings that force me to practice people and watercolor technique
keep reading
keep driving