Finally found my way back to this blog to toss a few things out at you…

The next book in the Dragon Codices line is out.  It’s the Silver installment, so if you’ve liked the others in the series, go pick it up.  (If not, just buy Green.  I didn’t say you had to like it, just buy it.) 

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A bit more information on my Idaho conference.  It’s called “A Change of Season: The Art of Literacy” and is being held in Meridian, Idaho, on October 1-2.  It’s an educator’s conference sponsored by both The Idaho Council of Teachers of English (ICTE) and The Idaho Council of the International Reading Association (ICIRA).  I won’t be attending the conference, just presenting my two programs.  I’m not sure when that will be, the 1st or the 2nd.  Oh, and there’s been some interest in my visiting schools in the area while I’m in Idaho, so I’ll post more information about that here when I have it.

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I just finished the rough draft of sample chapters for a new book.  For those who don’t know, I’m trying to stay productive over the nine months and counting a publisher has been considering a manuscript of mine they requested.  So I first developed a concept for an adult novel and got that package all ready to go; now I’m doing the same for a new children’s series.  Can’t tell too much about it, but here’s a little flavor: it addresses the themes of public education, espionage, and peer influence, and uses lots of funny names, many of which start with P.  If you want more than that, you’ll just have to wait until it gets published. 

Anyway, I finished the first go at chapter 3 yesterday, so starting next week I’ll begin to revise.  Once I’ve gotten the sample chapters as fit as I can, then I’ll write the synopsis and find out what actually happens over the course of the entire book.  After that comes the cover letter and, viola, another proposal ready to go.  With this new package and my adult idea, plus about three finished projects I think are profitably publishable, I’d call the pipeline a bit full. 

Next step?  Hopefully, hear back from this publisher about my book.  If the news is good and they offer me a contract, I’ll be on the phone to agents.  If I don’t get word about that contract soon, or they don’t offer one, getting an agent is still the next step, but I won’t have the convenience of using the phone. 

More letters and months of waiting.  Yeah.

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Finally, tonight, I refuse to be productive.  Absolutely refuse.  I am going to go over to a friend’s place to see how she’s doing, and I think I will bring Chinese (and a good Korean dish if I can find one, as she’s Korean).  Then I’ll run over to Chuck E Cheese to watch my nephew dart about like a hyperactive hummingbird on caffeine.  It makes one tired but it’s fun.    

What?  Am I leaving work undone to engage in this evening of frivolity?

Shut up.