Wrote a new short story


Funny how that goes: I’d written a couple of scenes of a short story, and this week, I re-wrote the entire thing in one day–with different characters, plot and setting. Edited it yesterday. Now it needs to sit for a week or two, and have one more pass before submission.

Short story jumping hoops


Was so pleased today to get a notice from OnSPEC, saying a story of mine has cleared its first hurdle. Yay! But making the final cut is always tough: there are so many good stories in the slush pile, and sometimes a perfectly good one has to be cut because it is similar to something else, or just not quite right for the mix. Fingers crossed!

Exciting news: Alberta Foundation for the Arts Grant!


Here’s some great news! I got a grant from Alberta Foundation for the Arts to do the second revision of my novel, “Alexandre and the Pirates!” I have applied about 4-5 times for this grant and last fall I got one of those wonderful rejection letters: The project is approved, but it was below the cutoff for funding–but if there is funding left at the end of the year, it might still be funded. Of course, I couldn’t get my hopes up, but it was lovely to get the compliment.

Then about a month ago, I got a phone call asking: if I got the funding, is the project still viable? (It is: I took two months off to paint, then worked on another novel, so I haven’t come back to the second revision of Alexandre yet.) And, could I do the project for less funding than I requested? (Of course! I love that novel, and intend to pursue it in any case.)

So…this week, I got the final phone call. I got about half of the requested funding, but I’m still over the moon! So, I guess I know what I am working on, once the cheque arrives (they don’t like you to start the project before you get the funding–it’s a rule).

Teaching writing to young people


Had a great class Tuesday morning, teaching story structure to grade 7 gifted students. We came up with a story idea, outlined it in 5 scenes and students acted out the first 2 scenes–hopefully, they’ll get a chance with their regular teacher to do the last 3 scenes this week. Love working with kids!