catching my breath

I’m reading again! God Help the Child isn’t what I expected, and I’m glad my friend Rosa warned me that the book isn’t just about child abuse but molestation. I agree with her that it was irresponsible of the publisher (and various reviewers) not to mention this fact, but it’s still an interesting read—and I haven’t been able to say that about her last few novels. So I’m reading again and I’m hoping to start writing this weekend. Today I woke just after dawn and realized I had NOTHING scheduled for the entire day. And I still got up! It’s just past 8am and I figured I can blog for a minute, go for a run, and then switch over to the picture book story I’m writing about Weeksville. It’s a time-travel story, of course, but I like the idea of a ghost story, too. I have so many ideas for City Kids books—that’s my chapter book series that starts with The Phoenix on Barkley Street. I was thrilled when the Children’s Defense Fund adopted City Kids Book #1 for their summer literacy program; I taught my first history/creative writing class at a CDF Freedom School in Bed-Stuy back in 1998, so their selection of my book means a lot to me. I noticed on Create Space last night that someone else purchased almost 70 copies, which I assume is for a school. When I was in Berkeley last spring, some helpful librarians told me they’re reluctant to share a chapter book with kids unless it’s part of a series because the kids will invariably ask for more titles. So I started Book #2 last summer (The Gryphons at the Gate) and have two more storylines swimming in my head. All I have to do is sit down and write…

I wanted to share some other news. Last month I had the honor of sitting down with Renee Watson and Jennifer Baker to tape an episode of Minorities in Publishing. This fabulous podcast shines a light on publishing professionals and writers of color—if you haven’t been following Jenn, you definitely need to start now! This week I received my hard copies of the May issue of School Library Journal, which includes a shortened version of my web article on social justice and self-publishing. If you’d like a PDF of my article, let me know.

I’ve got two different covers for my middle graders’ anthology; we’ll meet one more time next week so they can vote and give me feedback on the interior design. Then we go to print! I’m slowing down but still moving forward…