take one baby writing step

I’m beginning to feel like a writer again! I had a low point recently when I discovered a children’s biography had been published about my subject four years ago! Where had I been? I knew about the Jonah Winter PB on Hildegard, but mine is YA, so I could deal with that. Besides, I love the picture book. But I really felt like giving up when I read the preview pages of the biography. Then I researched the publisher and learned that the book was self-published. So the author may have had encountered the same sort of publishing difficulties I have met. I any case, my book has moved from non-fiction to a combo of fiction and non-fiction to fiction. So I will keep on trying to find a publisher. Anyone know of any Hildegard devotees who also happen to be agents?

Sometimes I feel like I'm in a writing game of Giant Steps. Someone doles out my writing progress: "You may take one baby step forward." Well,okay. It's those backwards steps we need to avoid! The Concord Monitor has published my review of Black Pearls by Louise Hawes, and a magazine editor has written a positive response to my query about a short story. Baby steps! Oh well, there’s nothing like reading to feed a writer’s soul, is there?

This summer I managed to read The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden, one of my favorite authors. I wondered how I had missed this great mystery and coming of age story. Now I’ve devoured City of Thieves and just finished Red Glass, a touching young adult novel. I’ve just bought Jeannine Atkins’ Borrowed Names. I can't wait to dive in! Next week I’ll review it here.