As life takes twists and turns, things change. Last time I posted here, I was a recent empty nester. Now I'm fully fledged! My kids are all building their own roots in California, Michigan, Utah, and Arizona. 

I couldn't say no to a request to jump back into public school teaching - this time in a tiny, two room schoolhouse where I taught all grades K-8 in a multi-grade classroom. I did this for two years, and absolutely loved this form of teaching. 

We finished building our house. We got another puppy. 

And the biggest news of all - I'm working on a dream I've had for many, many years. I've started my own children's book publishing company. It's called Chicken Scratch Books, and we specialize in new traditional middle grade novels. Good literature is our only agenda. 

With Chicken Scratch Books, I'm sending out weekly writing instruction emails, weekly gatekeeper training emails, twice monthly blog posts, a steadily growing collection of free and paid online writing and reading courses, and any other outreach I can do to spread the word about what we are doing. 

This may be the last time I post here. This blog has become - even before today - somewhat obsolete. My writing has taken a different shift. My teaching has taken a new direction. And can I tell you - I'm loving every minute of it! This is a dream I've had for decades, and the realization of it is very exciting! 

Please come to Chicken Scratch Books. It's my new world! 

It's interesting how life shifts and changes, and how those moves ripple out to each aspect of living. As we look ahead to those changes, we envision them based on where we are at the moment. It's not until you're actually there that the reality is clear. 

I'm now an empty nester. I always pictured this as a time for lots of reading and writing and creating. The reality is that I'm still working, and that uses lots of time. I'm also still building a house, which uses lots of time. This past year has seen my husband and I on the road a lot with his new job, and visiting family. Up until the first of this month, I also have been the Regional Advisor for the state of Montana for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). That was a three year stint that I thoroughly enjoyed, but now it's come to a close. Each of these roles in my life have eaten away at the time I'd hoped to use for creativity. 

But. Life continues to shift. There is more change coming, and maybe even more time to write. Ultimately, my image of empty nesterhood may become more and more in line with the reality. We'll see. I hope so. I miss the regular opportunities to put words onto pages, and feelings into sentences. I miss the organizing my ideas, and the excitement when it all clicks together. 
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I've always been a believer in change. Change brings growth, and new opportunities. Here's hoping that the changes on my horizon will include a more steady stream of soul freeing creativity. 

Every writer I know also has other creative outlets they enjoy. I'm never surprised to learn of knitting prowess, or metalworking skill. Many writers also draw, or paint, or are talented musicians. What is it about creative minds that require multiple outlets for their creativity? I'm sure there's been some scientific or behavioral studies about this phenomenon, but I've  not seen them. All I know is what I've learned in my own small sample size analysis of writers in my circle. 
Here's a brief list:

• Sandy is a master flower gardener
• Maurene knits beautiful pieces
• Janet also knits, and loves to garden
• Kent is an improv actor and game designer
• Linda paints in watercolors and oils
• Joann is a silversmith
• Erica is in a band
• Bailey does stained glass
• Sarin makes intricate cloth-bound books
• I'm a quilter, and I love to photograph snowflakes.

I believe that if you ask any writer of their 'other' creative outlets, you would find an immense variety. I also believe that this is very healthy. I use my quilting to satisfy my love of geometry and tactile sensory input. I also love history, and have spent most of my quilting hours creating quilts from traditional patterns that I've researched. Photographing snowflakes arose from my fascination with the intricacies of nature, and a strong sense of order and pattern. These skills of research and patterns, and parts to wholes, and wonder around me have added immensely to my abilities as a writer. So far, I've incorporated quilts into every book I've written, in one form or another, and I even have a manuscript out on submission that features my main character as a snowflake photographer. 

Giving ourselves permission to explore our creative passions beyond writing fills a very important need. I believe it ultimately makes us much better writers. So get off the computer for a bit sometime today, and go do some coloring. Or dancing. Or make some chocolate mousse. Your writer-self will thank you later.

My house is filled with the smell of garlic. I have a cookie sheet covered in minced garlic drying in the oven. I'm not sure my husband will be happy about the smell when he gets home, but he'll love the tasty pieces in the meals I prepare for him over the next while. I love to cook. I also love to can foods, and dehydrate foods, and preserve fresh things for future eating. One of my goals this year is to experiment with a few types of food preservation that I haven't done before. One is to dehydrate some fresh garlic. So here I am, the pungent aroma soaking into me. 

I'm a goal setter. Over the years I've gotten better at being specific, but broad at the same time. I distinguish between goals and dreams, and keep my lists realistic. Acknowledging that, I also push myself to do new things, learn and grow. Another goal is to write another book. I've decided to pull out an older manuscript that I love and retell the story completely from scratch. With this plan, I've been plotting and scheming and planning and recreating. I'll let you know how it all goes.

I'll let you know how the garlic turns out too.

     I have some exciting news this week.  After years of running the writing race, I was offered representation from literary agent Stephen Fraser with the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency!  I couldn't be more thrilled, and more shocked, and more scared, and more happy.  I've been working for so long to get an agent, and now I've leaped over that hurdle, my eyes firmly set on the finish line ahead.  Hopefully not too far ahead.  
     I met Stephen Fraser for the second time this August in Los Angeles at the SCBWI Summer Conference.  He was selected as the agent to give a critique of my writing.  After an extremely positive discussion, in which I explained that I was in the middle of revisions on this particular piece, he told me to send the full manuscript to him as soon as I was ready to have another set of eyes on it.  He said it didn't have to be perfect.  Now, the rest is history.    
     I've been around long enough to know that getting an agent is not the same as selling a book.  It's just one important step along the way.  But because of this step, this hurdle, I can really focus on my writing, and let Mr. Fraser do the rest.  

     I've always been a plotter.  I spend weeks or months planning and plotting and outlining and sketching and bullet point listing before I ever even start writing the story.  Then, when I'm 'ready' I start to write.  I've always felt like this worked for me.  I like to have things lined up before I dive in. I'm a toe dipper in the cold lake too.  So when I started plotting out my most recent novel, I got sort of stuck.  
     I'd been thinking about my main character for a long time.  I'd written a few sketches of her.  I knew where her strengths were, and her faults and weaknesses.  I had a fairly clear picture of what her arc of change would be.  The problem was, I didn't know the events of a 'story' to get her there.  But this character just kept pulling on me, wanting me to write about her.  So I did.  
     I started writing.  Without a plot.  Without an outline.  Well, I sort of had one, but I knew going in that is was weak.  I knew that there wasn't enough happening.  I knew the story would never work unless I came up with more action and excitement and adventure.  And I knew I didn't have that yet.  But I started writing anyway.
     An amazing thing happened.  As I wrote about Sal, the story plot revealed itself.  I knew exactly what was going to happen in the story to bring her traveling along her arc.  I'd actually written four chapters before I realized what the external plot would be.  I had to go back and insert it into those early chapters of course, but it worked.  A plotter like me actually did a little bit of pantsing.
     Here's what else is amazing.  I love this book.  I love this character.  I feel like as the writer, I understand her at a level I never have.  I feel like I let her tell her story, instead of me forcing a story onto her.  Maybe it's all part of my progression as a writer, but I feel like I've turned a corner in how I craft a book, and in how I understand a character.  
     These baby steps of progress for me create leaps of progress for my work.