IN THIS MONTH'S ISSUE: Green with Envy National Reading Month Editing ... again Zahra's Earth-Friendly Tip My Personal Gossip My Books |
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GREEN WITH ENVY Green is one of my favorite colors. Staring out my office window—even in the last days of winter—there is green everywhere. We have several evergreen trees, vines, and shrubs. Green grass is poking through the bricks on our patio, and there's a green tinge to the siding. We'll be on the power washer's schedule by the end of the month. Every year at this time, I become envious of the organized people who already have seeds sprouting indoors for their spring and summer gardens. My intentions have always been to nurture seedlings in preparation for planting herbs and vegetables as soon as the last frost is behind us. My reality has always been a spending spree at the farmer's market, after which I plant herbs and vegetables about the time others are posting pictures of tomatoes ripening on their lush vines. This year, I'm one of the organized people. There are healthy sprouts of cucumber, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, dill, chive, and basil sitting beside a south-facing window in my house. Peppers and plum tomatoes are reaching out of their peat pots, as well. As soon as my weather app declares us frost-free, I'll be ready to head out to the garden! |
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March is National Reading Month, which brings back memories of one of my favorite childhood books—William Steig's Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. I'm sure I read it hundreds of times. I also spent many hours in the dirt in search of my own magic pebble. What was your favorite? |
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Since 2018, I've been working on my first middle grade novel. The main character is Zahra, hence her Earth-friendly tips featured in my newsletters. I wrote the draft and then edited and updated it at least five times before I began the query process in late 2019. |
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Then I attended a virtual writer's conference and realized I needed to edit the manuscript again. I did. The query process began again in late 2020. Also in late 2020, I began the draft of the second book in what I now envision as a five book series. I finished the draft last month. I attended another virtual writer's conference in February, as well. Meanwhile, an agent from the 2020 conference reviewed my query and responded. It was a rejection, but one that included feedback with concrete examples of what needed work. She made excellent points aligned with all that I'd learned at both conferences. So once again, I've hit the pause button on the query process. And once again, I'm editing the first book. Through this exasperating roller-coaster ride, I also learned I still absolutely adore the story and its characters. The work is well worth it. The manuscript is only getting better! |
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ZAHRA'S EARTH-FRIENDLY TIP |
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Zahra, the main character of my middle grade novels who is no bigger than a loblolly pine cone, is worried about your spring gardens. It's March, and she fears you will want to rush out on the first pretty day and rake up all the debris in preparation for the 2021 growing season. |
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Butterflies and other pollinators are overwintering in all that clutter. She reminds us that we should never clear out flower beds in the fall. When spring arrives, we need to wait until temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. This will give all the creatures your garden depends on to grow healthy and robust time to wake up and relocate for for spring. |
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My homemade biscuits have always been good. I use a simple recipe and then bake them on the top rack to ensure mouthwatering fluffy goodness. But they never baked up high with layers of pull-apart deliciousness like you see in commercials for canned biscuits. |
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Until now. The only things I did differently were to chill the dough for a bit, and then roll it out, fold it in half, roll it out, fold it half, and roll it out again before cutting. It's the same process one would use for puff pastry applied to biscuit dough. It made all the difference. This is what comes of vegging out on the recliner playing games on your smartphone and paying attention to the annoying commercials that allow you to play the games for free. The commercial was for a brand-name flour. It demonstrated homemade biscuit-making with its product. Despite sticking to he store brand flour, replicating their process improved my biscuits exponentially. |
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