Friday Four!

1. What am I reading? These days I'm actually enjoying reading non-fiction a little more than fiction. (I know, crazy-talk, right?) I've had several books and audiobooks on the go for quite a while, between edits and beta reading, I haven't had a chance to finish any of them, but the one I've been drawn most to lately is a book called TEACH LIKE YOUR HAIR'S ON FIRE by Rafe Esquith. The author is a teacher in the L.A. school system, and the title comes from a science experiment gone wrong. Fun and entertaining and inspiring, especially at this time of year when I'm trying to kick into gear with homeschooling my son.


2. What am I writing? Still have my head down in my edits of FAST FICTION. I know all this work is making it a better book, so it's all worth it, and dare I say I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel? Due date is September 23rd, and at least I'm no longer doubting my ability to meet that.

3. Lest you think I'm all work and no play...yesterday I actually kind of played hooky. My homeschool support teacher invited me and some other homeschool families to hang out at the beach, since we're having such lovely weather these days. At the last minute I decided to go, and I think the break did me wonders of good as far as restoring my creative juices. I'm feeling raring to get back to work today, which, let's just say is a change.

4. Last week I started teaching a class for ten-year-old NaNoWriMo enthusiasts! Okay, maybe they're not quite enthusiasts...yet. But I'll be spending the next seven weeks trying to change that, before we all launch into writing a new book in November. If only I had time to outline and plan for one...

Hope you all have a great weekend! I'm trying not to pay too much attention to the weather report, as I plan to be at my desk getting through the last part of these edits...

Eek! Is it Friday, Already?

I cannot believe how fast this week has gone! I wouldn't have bothered doing a Friday Four this week, but I have one thing in particular I'm excited to show you. But first, here's what else I've been up to...

1. I got copyedits for FAST FICTION this week. Feeling a little overwhelmed, because at the copyedit stage, in the past, I've only had to focus on small things like typos and sentence structure. I wasn't expecting the huge shifts of chapters and rewriting entire sections and answering question after question for clarity. That said, I'm extremely thankful for this copyeditor I'm working with. He's talented and insightful and there's no doubt in my mind that FAST FICTION will be a much better book for all his help.

2. My mom's having a big birthday on Monday (no, I won't tell you how old!), so my sister-in-law and I put together a little surprise party for her. It went off without a hitch and we had a lot of fun celebrating with many of her friends.

3. Today I started a NaNoWriMo class for a group of homeschool kids including my son. It was a lot of fun! We're working through a workbook from the nanowrimo.org website, and today we all had fun drawing pictures of our inner editors and then stuffing them away where they can't bother us for a few months.

4. And finally...the part I'm most excited about. I have a new cover for WRITING WITH A HEAVY HEART! I wanted something a bit more similar to FAST FICTION, so they would look nice shelved together. Here's the new cover, designed by Steven Novak from Novak Illustration. Let me know what you think!

Happy weekend, everyone! I'll be working on edits this weekend. What are you up to?