Friday's Focus: Rejection and Acceptance

Today is more of a thoughtful day than anything else. But it isn't necessarily all about writing, either.

I've been hearing and reading about a lot of writers, some I know personally, some only from the Internet, who are getting rejections on their short stories and novels, and their various reactions to them. Every writer knows that rejections are nothing more than a part of the writing journey, but for some, a rejection is a life-changing event. It can mean falling into the depths of depression, of beating one's self up about what a terrible writer they are, all the way to declaring an end to their journey and refusing to put pen to paper, or hands to computer keyboard, ever again. To me, there are only two reasons why a writer would do any of the above: either they have very low self-esteem and any kind of rejection from any person would have the same effect, or, they don't really want to be a writer in the first place. I'd put my money on the latter reason.

Alex Haley, author of the award-winning book Roots, which went on to become an award-winning TV show, went through 200 rejections before he sold this book Agatha Christie wrote and submitted for five years before she sold a single one of her mystery stories. The same kind of story exists for present day writers, like J.R. Rowlings, whose first book about Harry Potter received nothing but rejections until the 8 year-old daughter of an agent who had received the manuscript and couldn't sell it, demanded to read the whole story. That 8 year-old's reaction was the impetus that sold the first of the seven-book Harry Potter saga. These people, as well as thousands of other writers, want to write badly enough to keep on writing and submitting until finally, their work is accepted and they are rightly called authors.

You don't give up. That's the trick. A long and many times, lonely and frustrating journey, from writer to author, but you don't give up. You keep on keeping on. There's no other way. Rejections are a part of a writer's life. Keep them in a file, post them on a corkboard where you can see them every day, wallpaper your office with them, it doesn't matter what you DO with them, but they are there, they are a part of your life as a writer, and often, they are a valuable part of your writer's journey. Accept the rejection. Cry, swear, throw things, beat your desk with a wooden spoon ( just don't beat the dog who will bite the cat who will scratch your husband, and then you'll really be in deep do-do), and then...take a deep breath, do whatever you're going to do with that rejection, pour yourself a cup of coffee, take the bag of chocolate out of the fridge, and start writing again.
It's life. Live it.

Acceptance. I'm not talking about writing here. Today is September 13, but I'm talking about 9/11/2001. A day of despicable tragedy, a day which will, or should, live in infamy for eternity. Yet, I noticed something this year...very little was said about 9/11 this year. A few scattered memorials on TV, a few words from our President, and that's it. I saw nothing on FaceBook about it; nothing was said about it on the two writers' forums I'm on; no big write-up in the newspapers. Yes, it was twelve years ago. Yes, some people want to forget about it, and "get on" with their lives.

Does "getting on" with your life mean that as a nation, we have become so accepting of the violence throughout out planet, and this cowardly act upon our own people, that we don't need to remember? Does the "acceptance" of what happened, of the lives lost and the lives forever changed, mean that we no longer need or should have memorials to that day and to those people? Is "acceptance" now the equivalent of "forgetting?" I know school children who were not born yet or who were infants/toddlers twelve years ago, who know almost nothing about that day...the day of September 11th, 2001, which should have changed the entire nation, but apparently hasn't. Why aren't they being taught, in depth, about this day, and what it means...or should have meant...to not only the United States but to the entire world? I don't know, but it seems to me that the "acceptance" of that day means that over time, it has no longer become a day of much significance.

I don't understand.

Until next time,
That's a wrap.

Friday's Focus: Character interview from The Freedom Thief

Today I'm doing an interview with my main character, Ben McKenna, from The Freedom Thief, due out in November. Ben decided there were a few things he wanted to ask me about himself, why he did what he did, and how he came into being. So today, the interview is from his point of view.


BEN: Oh, hi, Missus Sadil. Come on in and set a spell.

MIKKI: Thanks, Ben, I’ll do just that. By the way, you can call me Mikki.

BEN:  Oh, uh, I don’t think I should. Ma says it’s not respectful to be familiar with people you don’t know very well.

MIKKI: Ben, I think we know each other very well, so I’m sure your ma wouldn’t mind. I understand you want to ask me some questions?

BEN:  Yeah, I do. But first, I reckon I’ve got some things to say about this story you threw me into. You sure did come up with some troublesome imaginaries for me, like that awful tunnel.

I swear I thought we’d never get out of that place alive. And that swamp? When you made me dive down into all that dirty water? What in tarnation were you thinking on?

MIKKI: (laughs). Oh, sorry. I’m not laughing at you, but the look on your face right now is priceless! Ben, you should know I would never have let the storyline get out of hand. You were always safe.

BEN: (frowns). Maybe you’re right. But I didn’t know that at the time, and neither did Josiah, or Bess and Jesse. Say, what made you make a kid like me take such a risk, any how? You didn’t even give me a plan for helping Josiah and his parents escape, you just let me do it on my own. Seems like that weren’t too smart, Missus Mikki.

MIKKI: Whoa, wait just a minute, young man. I DID intend for you to make a plan for that escape, but you got on your high horse and said you had to leave that very night. There wasn’t a thing I could do to change your mind. So, you’re right, you left without a plan. You even almost forgot to take that old compass. Then you would have been in big trouble, Mister McKenna!

BEN: (crossly) Well, I don’t see as how you had to make that Mister Pembrook come so early. Couldn’t you’ve kept him away on one of them business trips he was so fond of telling about?

MIKKI: Oh, I suppose I could have. But then the tension wouldn’t have been so high, now would it? And conflict is the name of the game, right? Besides, I had to test you, to see if you really were the kid I thought you were.

BEN: (sighing) That’s just what I mean. I’m a kid. So what’s a kid like me doing something like that…getting three slaves to escape? How come I couldn’a had some help?

MIKKI: A kid like you? Ben, you’re just the kind of kid I could do something like this with. You’re smart, you’re resilient, but most of all, you have the strength of your convictions concerning slavery. I knew you could manage that escape all by yourself. You didn’t need anyone to help you.

BEN: That’s something else I reckon I don’t understand much. How come I don’t believe in slavery when my pa and ma do, and the boys, too? I mean, Pa is downright strict in trying to make me into another slave owner when I get older, and Ma keeps saying as how we’d never be able to run the plantation without slaves. Even Andrew and James believe slavery is right.

MIKKI:  You grew up in the schools in New York, where you were taught that slavery is wrong, that humans should never be allowed to own other humans. So when your family moved back to Kentucky to your grandmother’s slave-run plantation, you took the ideas and ideals you had been taught about slavery with you. Those never changed, no matter what your family said. Of course, having such a close relationship with Grammy, the secret Abolitionist of the family, certainly helped to solidify those beliefs.

BEN: (looking thoughtful) Yeah, I reckon you’re right. You know, I’ve been pondering on something else for some time. How did I come about? Am I just something you imagined up out of nowhere?

MIKKI: (smiles) Well, no, not exactly. I kind of “borrowed” you from…well, from someone who was in my life a long time ago. He was my older brother, and he had very strong opinions of his own. I remember him being in trouble with our parents a lot because his convictions didn’t often agree with theirs. He was a remarkable young man, and you resemble him in many ways.

BEN: Huh. Do you think he would of done what I did?

MIKKI: (laughing) Oh, yes, Ben, he would have done exactly what you did. And with just as much a lack of planning as you had, too.

BEN: (scowls a bit) Yeah, well, you know, I must have hurt Ma and Pa some bad, going around all their teachings and just taking off with Josiah and his parents like that. And Grammy! I might not ever get to see Grammy again, and I reckon I love her somewhat fierce.

MIKKI: (with a sigh) Yes, I know, Ben. I’m sorry about that. But someone had to get Josiah and his parents away from the plantation, and who else was going to do it but you?

BEN: It was an awful long journey, and lots of scary places we got to. Riding in the bottom of that farm wagon, hiding in the woods, and then all that time you made us spend in the Andrews farm! And escaping in the daylight, when all those people saw us! I just knew we weren’t going to make it.

MIKKI: But you did, didn’t you? You never let up, Ben, you never gave up or let Josiah or Bess or Jesse give up. That’s the important part of the story. You started out as a thirteen year-old boy, and you ended up a fourteen year-old young man. The qualities that made you come through that long journey from boy to manhood will be with you forever.

BEN: (nodding slowly) I guess so. I’ve changed a lot, I know that now. The people along the way, like Charity and the Jeffersons, even the Andrews…I reckon they all helped to get me growed up, a little bit here and a little bit there. But every time I thought we were getting ahead, we got thrown back. That weren’t too nice, Missus Mikki.

MIKKI: ( looking puzzled) Why, whatever do you mean, Benjamim? Now, surely you didn’t think everything was going to be smooth as molasses after you left the Jeffersons, did you?

BEN: I reckon not, but riding in that death coach and being found again by Phineas and his gang was scary, and then those soldiers at the Union Fort …when I thought they were gonna capture is, now that was downright worrisome.

 MIKKI: Hmm…’downright worrisome’ huh? The thing is, you worked your way out of both of those situations, just like all the others you and the slaves encounter on your journey. You didn’t need any help, you just did what you had to do.

BEN: ( is silent, looking thoughtful)

MIKKI: You see, I gave you certain qualities, Ben, but it was up to you to develop them in a way that would enable you to go from half-way scared little boy to responsible young man, and you did just that. I admire you, Ben, because no matter how scared you were, how much you missed your family, or even how frustrated you became as each situation seemed more and more overpowering, you never gave up. You never faltered in your belief that you could, and would, get your slave friends to freedom. That’s why you came alive in this story. It’s your story, Ben, I just happened to be the one to tell it.

BEN: Huh. Well, I thank you for that. (Smiles shyly) I, uh, I reckon I have one more question.

I would really like to see Charity again. Are you maybe thinking on that?

MIKKI: (smiles slyly) You know, that’s a pretty good idea. It’s just that, well, Charity is a long way from where you ended up. I would have to write a whole new story, now, wouldn’t I? And that takes a long time. Besides, how do I know what you are going to do between now and, uh, sometime in the future? On the other hand, I guess it’s possible your journey isn’t over yet. So, let’s just say…we’ll see, Ben, we’ll see.

BEN: (grins)  Yes, ma’am,  Missus Mikki, we’ll see. Thanks for stopping by. I reckon I’ll be seeing you again some time…like maybe next year?

MIKKI: (stops as she is walking out the door, turns around) Now, Ben…you do know about Gabriela, don’t you? The sixteen year-old girl who is hearing children’s voices telling to find their killer? You don’t really want me to leave her hanging out there at Dead Man’s Crossing all by herself, do you? Just so you can see Charity again?

BEN: ( looking chastised…but only for a moment) No, ma’am, I wouldn’t cotton to that. I know Gabriela will find the killer, all right. But see, I got some inside information, and I know you’ve been making some plans about the Civil War, and me, and Union spies, and Charity, all rolled up in one! I reckon we’ll be seeing each other again, like…maybe next year. You take care, now, Missus Mikki.

MIKKI: (shaking her head as she finally leaves) We’ll see, Ben, we’ll see.

Until next time,
That's a wrap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday's Focus: Why Can't I Just Be a Writer?

I'm really not whining, honest. Well, maybe just a little. But I can't help ask the question, why can't I just be a writer, and not have to worry about all these other things that come along with being a writer?

I have two books coming out within about 5 months of each other. Now, that's something to shout about, right? Only...it's just not that simple, I'm finding out. There's the promotion element that is the elephant in my office. Oh, I knew I would have to do some promotion for my book(s), I just didn't know how much.

First, I have to set up a website. I'm still fighting that war, and havent won a battle yet. Or even a skirmish. So that's hanging over my head like an evil little spider just spinning its web and happily wondering when she can drop down for a surprise visit.

Now that school is about to be in session, I have to start going to the middle schools to see if, and how, I can set up a school visit. Not too much of a problem if you have a print book to show and hand out, but how do you do this kind of thing when your book is an e-book? My advisors tell me I need to think about how much I will charge for school visits. Excuse me? Charge? I feel like this is a privilege for me to be allowed to come into a classroom and talk about my book. I'm not going to charge for this privilege.

Then there is the "launch party." Where to have it, when to have it, how long should it be, how long should I take to talk about the book, and should I have a question and answer period? Q and A period? But both my books are MG, so will there be middle grade children there? And would they ask questions, or simply want to move along to the cookies and punch "period?"

Oh yes. The "giveaways." Most important. Book marks, mugs, t-shirts ?( too expensive for my limited budget so scratch them), Sticky Notes imprinted with the book's name, my name, etc., and...what else? There are literally 1,000s of things that can be used as giveaways, but they all cost money. Which I am not made of. I can make the bookmarks...um, well, if I can find another 3 or 4 hours in the day to do so. Mugs, Sticky Notes, note pads...not too bad in the finance department, but still...

There are Blog Tours. Did you know that there are actually people who arrange for you to do blog tours, AND that you have to PAY them for that? Another expense I really can't afford. But as authors we are "expected" to do this. Do I have enough friends who will allow me to do a blog tour for free? And maybe do an interview with them, or perhaps guest post? I don't know.

Then there's the Media Kit. I'm supposed to go to the local radio and TV stations in my area ( I think there is one of each in this small county) and bring them all kinds of promos and information about me and my book, and make me "exciting" enough for them to want to do an in-person interview on both the radio and TV news shows. Oh, really?

The libraries. There are about 7 in this county. I have to go to all of them and talk about my book. But it's in e-book form. That limits the number of libraries who will be...possibly...carrying the book, because only a few have e-book capabilities. Also, I need to talk to the librarian in our town's library to see if I can have a launch party there. I was going to have it in our clubhouse. "Advisors" say no, try to set it up in your library. I told them it was going to be in the library of our clubhouse. They weren't impressed.

Advisors say, go to all the bookstores. That's a laugh. We have ONE bookstore in our town, owned by a friend of mine, and it's second-hand books only. But she is going to let me have a presentation there, but it's not exactly Barnes and Noble.

Facebook and Twitter. Hate them both. Advisors say, use them! Promote yourself and your book, that's what they are there for. Use social media to your advantage. I guess that's good advice if you're a social media person. I'm not. "Promoting" myself in that realm is just something I don't want to do. Sigh...don't think I have a choice.

Why can't I just be a writer?

Until next time,
That's a wrap.

Friday's Focus: The Secret Life of a Child Writer

Today I read an interesting post by a fellow writer about the imaginary friend she had as a child. It was great reading, as well as a terrific idea for a story. It brought back memories of my childhood.

I grew up on an isolated ranch, an extremely large ranch ( 300,000 acres) in Texas, until I was seven years old. For the next six years, I continued my journey from child to teen on military bases all over the US and in several foreign countries. It's very hard to make friends when there's either no other children around ( life on the ranch), or you are in a spot where you know you'll only be for a short time...plus the fact that military children are mandated to only associate with children of the same ranking parent. At least that's the way it was when I was growing up as a military brat.

I didn't have an imaginary friend. But I did have a secret life. I wrote stories and poems. All from the imagination of a child, it's true, but oh! the wonderous world I lived in through those stories! I was a princess, living high on a mountain where I could see the whole world below me. I had friends, boys and girls both, and we dressed in beautiful costumes and were driven in golden coaches with big, golden Palomino horses pulling the coaches. ( Oh yes, my ranch life intervened many times in my secret world.) Those coaches took us to the largest playgrounds in the world, all covered in brightly painted swings and slides, and to the fanciest toy stores where any and all toys were ours for the taking.

Other times, I was a spy, the World's Greatest Female Spy, wanted by every country on the planet to spy on all the other countries, and wrest from them the most highly valued secret technology.

Sometimes, I was a great artist, living in the 16th Century, and competing with the world's finest artists, such as Picasso and Rembrandt and others of superb renown. The fact that all of the artists I competed with didn't actually live in the 16th Century had little impact upon my storytelling! I think I must have chosen that century for the absurd "costumes" both males and females of that era wore, as I often wondered, first, what they really had on underneath, and second, how they could move around in the first place.

My parents didn't know I was writing all these little stories and bits and pieces of my imaginary life that came to roost on paper. My father was busy being a Major, and my mother was busy being a Major's wife. That left me with a nanny, usually an "underling" of some sort...read that as a private or corporal's wife who had no children of her own. The kind of nanny who doesn't really want children, including those of her husband's commanding officer. So I was pretty much on my own during those years.

However, one year...I was ten at the time...I sent a poem I had written about my three kittens to a Children's Digest that I had an old copy of. They published it. The poem was about my kittens, Trouble, Mischief, and Bubblegum. Trouble was orange and white, Mischief was black and white, and Bubblegum was a kind of nondescript pinkish/reddish orange. Two years later, I sent a story to the same magazine about the young mare I had trained on the last military base we were on. I trained her for showing, and just before my first show, she went blind. Because I had voice-trained her, as well as to cues, I still took her to the show, without telling anyone she was blind, and she won both of her classes. That story was also published. In those days, children who sent in stories or poetry to be published weren't paid...hmm, sounds kind of like today's markets in some cases, right?

My imaginary world didn't end when my father finally took his last position in Los Angeles, CA, and we settled down. But it changed drastically. From imagination on paper, I went to imagination on stage, and sang in Musical Theatre for 7 years. After that, I married and began my family. But the imaginary world which had sustained me for so long, in so many lonesome and usually undesirable places when I was growing up, was passed along to both of my children, and even one grandchild. My son wrote scripts for movies, my daughter is now a writer of adult fantasy and mystery, and one granddaughter is a script writer for TV shows.

And then there's me. Yes, my imaginary world on paper made my life bearable for many years as a child, growing up in a changing world in sometimes very scary places. Even though I stopped writing for a time, my imagination never stopped soaring. Today, I am a published author of many short stories and non-fiction articles, and with a debut novel coming out in November. My 'secret life' is not much of a secret any more, and my imaginary world on paper, I hope, will never be contained.

Yet...I often wonder...how much did that secret life of a child writer influence who I am today? I imagined at one time that I was a great artist. I became a professional artist in later years. Do you ever wonder what your childhood had to do with who you have become as an adult?

Until next time,
That's a wrap.

Thursday's Thoughts: Antagonist and Villain: Are They The Same?

It's Thursday, and once again I've not posted on Friday. I've decided that with the life I have now, trying to set a blogging schedule is next to impossible, and only frustrates me more when I know I can't keep to it. So for now:

This blog will be updated once a week, but only on the day I have the time to do it. And sometimes, maybe even twice a week.

Hopefully, that won't scare my readers off.

Yesterday, I was waiting in line at Best Buy to set up an appointment to have one of the Geeks come out to my house. There was a man in front of me arguing with one of the service people, who was trying to explain why the number in his computer didn't match the number the man had given him. He was very polite but very firm. The man took that as being rude...he wasn't...and he became very antagonistic. After about 5 minutes, this man even became insulting to the service rep, and finally, the rep turned him over to someone else.

The point is...this man's antagonism made me start thinking about our Antagonists and Villains in our writing. Are they the same? If so, why and how? and if not, how and why are they different?

Let's talk about the Antagonist first. An antagonist can be a person, place, setting, or thing. The primary function of an Antagonist is to be an adversary, someone or something that is working against the Protagonist, and what he or she wants to do, have, or be. The weather can be the antagonist...think of the horrific storm in the movie The Perfect Storm. Surely an antagonist working against the interests of the people on board the ship, yet to those onshore, it was "just another storm."

The Antagonist can be a setting...think of a highly structured private school for girls, with the Protagonist being a bright, independent, highly vocal young lady of 13 or 14, who constantly rebels against the structure and gets nowhere. Definitely the school is working against the interests of the Protagonist!

The Antagonist can be a person who is trying to thwart the interests and forward movements of the Protagonist...because he and the Protagonist are in love with the same woman. The Antagonist is not "bad" or "evil," but he will do most anything to keep the Protagonist away and win the woman for himself.

If the Antagonist is a person, we authors almost always imbue him or her with some good qualities. He might be highly intelligent, funny, good-looking, even with some special ability such as being an artist, scientist, musician, etc. Basically, he is a 'good guy' who just happens to want something that interferes with the goals and desires of the Protagonist. And therein, conflict and tension are created.

Now let's go on to the Villain. The main difference between an Antagonist and a Villain is one of intent. The Antagonist doesn't necessarily mean to be "bad," because he believes he is doing the right things for the right reasons for the situation at hand. But the Villain doesn't care if he comes off as "bad" or "evil," because he simply wants what he wants when he wants it, and he'll do anything to get it, regardless of the outcome, and regardless of the pain, suffering, or even death of those who get in his way.

The Villain is different. I'm sure we've all read stories where the Villain is totally evil. After awhile, though, that becomes predictible and boring whenever we see him on a page. We already know ahead of time that something bad is going to happen. We don't want that kind of Villain in our stories. We want one that we can hate, but LOVE to hate!

The Villain needs to be a complex character. He has to be logical and credible. In order for him to be this way, to be believable, he has to have a depth of character. There has to be some motivation for all his evil deeds. He might not care what others think of him, he might even enjoy doing all those horrible evil deeds, but the reader has to have some insight into his behavior and how he came to be this way. After all, not even our worst villains are born this way. What is his background, did something horrific happen to him as he as growing up to change his path in life to one of deviousness and disaster? What caused him to become a Villain?

So we have to know why our Villain "wants what he wants when he wants it," and why he doesn't care what he has to do to get it. We need to be able to portray him as someone who is an intelligent, thinking individual who believes his reasons for the evil he does are completely logical to him, even if not to others.

Most of all, we need the Protagonist to understand the complexity of the Villain's nature. If he doesn't, will he be able to withstand the Villain's devious interference in the Protagonist's life, and will he be able to overcome the evil the Villain does?

What do you think?

Until next time,
That's a wrap.

Friday's Flash:A 30 Word Flash of Fiction or Truth

It's Friday again, and time for a 30 word flash of fiction or truth. Tell me something about your book, your WIP, or yourself. Or anything else you can think of, so long as it's 30 words or less. And you can have as many flashes as you wish. So here's mine for today:

1.  WIP: Gabriela found the dragon knife that killed the children. The dragon is the same as the one on Papa's ring. Is Papa the killer? ( 24 words)

2. The Freedom Thief: Teen Ben McKenna risks his life as he defies the conventions of slavery in pre-Civil War Kentucky and leads his enslaved friends on a danger-filled journey to find freedom. (30 words)

Why would you want to write about something concerning your novel or WIPs in just 30 words? Because there are times when you need to tell someone ( like an agent at a conference, or the editor you ran into in the elevator) something about your work, and it has to be short and sweet. Very short. And to the point. Here is a good way to look at a 30 word "pitch" or synopsis of your book:

Describe the following:

Protagonist: 2-3 words

Conflict:  3-8 words

Antagonist: 2-3 words

Setting: up to 10 words

With a twist: left over words to equal 30

Example:

When teen psychic Gabriela (protagonist) arrives in a small town with her traveling carnival (setting), she must fight gargoyles, witches, and dragons (conflict) to find a serial killer (antagonist), who just might be her own father. ( the twist)  (30 words.)

Try it, it's fun to do and not all that hard. And who knows? A 30-word pitch just might come in handy some day.

Until next time,
That's a wrap.

Photo Shoots and Other Stuff

Friday completely slipped by me. It was supposed to be my Friday's Flash day, where, hopefully, you all would post something about yourselves, WIP, or whatever in 30 words or less. Instead, Friday became THE DAY. What day was that, you ask? THE DAY OF THE PHOTO SHOOT. UGH! YUCK! I hate having my picture taken. And not just once, but 130 times. Yep, that's right, one hundred and thirty pictures taken. The worst part? Of those 130, I only liked ONE, and that one...naturally...had a background that couldn't be removed and it looked like I had horns growing out of my head. So forget it. Now that means I have another icky photo shoot scheduled for Wednesday. So Wednesday's photos are a "now or never" situation. Will pick one of those, or will never have a photo of me on display anywhere!

An author friend recently said to me, 'Mikki, we don't really know a lot about you. Why is that?'

Hmmm. Well, in light of that question, here are 7 things you might not know about me, and the first one should explain it all!

1.  I'm an introvert. I'm actually a very shy and quiet person, and have to force myself to be otherwise. My 'teacher' persona often takes over and can talk forever, if she thinks she is 'teaching' something of value. Otherwise, this is the main reason I HATE social networking...I'm just not that kind of person.

2.  I'm a military brat, and basically grew up all over the US and several foreign countries. At one time, I spoke 3 languages besides English fluently. Not any more, English is hard enough!

3.  I sang professionally in Musical Theatre for seven years, from the age of 13 to 19.

4.  When I entered the Ph.D program at UC Riverside, I had to take the MMPI (Minnesota Muliphasic Personality Inventory) TWICE: my inventory came out split 50% Logical and  50% Creative. My professors said that was impossible. Second testing was exactly the same. Professors shook their heads and walked away muttering to themselves. I often wondered what the MMPI would say about them...

5.  To emphasize this MMPI thingy, I taught Sociology, Statistics and Research Methodology at the University level, and became a professional artist at the same time.

6.   I rode my Appaloosa mare to both National and World championships the same year that I became a grandmother for the second time.

7.  I sold my first poetry at the age of 10, my first short story at 12, and a book of Haiku poetry while I was in college.

Well, there you go! Seven things you probably didn't know about me.

Until next time,
That's a wrap.