Youth Writing Workshop. Yesterday I did a summer writing workshop for young students on the south side of my city. It was sponsored by the University of Texas, San Antonio. It was held on the grounds of the historic San Juan Capistrano Mission, which was built over 200 years ago by Spanish missionaries. It still stands and is today an active parish.  I have visited all five of our awesome Spanish missions in San Antonio. So much history unveils before your eyes when you tour these missions. The students in the workshop also learned the history behind San Juan.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

Check out this outstanding guest post on the Cynsations blog. Author Lori Mortensen writes on the topic “Hooking Readers.” She writes, “The truth is, authors have mere seconds to capture an editor’s heart.” True, so true. Read the entire post to find out “what makes an effective opening hook.”

Here’s a short deadline if you have something ready and would like to submit a manuscript to POCKETS. The deadline is August 15, 2016 for their contest. Hurry and best of luck!

“Children need to feel they have a place, that they’re not some object, and that they have a designated and honorable role in a family where everybody contributes.” – Scott O’Dell

Book beginnings. Here’s a great post on the Mentorless blog titled, “Michael Arndt About The 5 Steps He Learned at Pixar to Write a Good Beginning.”

I’ve been busy doing research for a picture book about a circus and was delighted that a real one was in town. What luck!  I enjoyed watching the jugglers, clowns, trapeze artists, singers, and all the trappings that come with a circus. It had been years since I had attended one. Super exciting.

CIRCUS!

I also attended the Texas Library Association assembly meeting in Austin on July 9, 2016. See picture. Got to see fellow writers and illustrators. Always a fun time.

TLA ASSEMBLY MTG

I will be doing a young writers’ workshop in August. It will be at the historic San Juan Capistrano, one of the five Spanish missions in San Antonio. I’ve visited all five over the years and am always intrigued by the history behind these fabulous, historic missions.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou

Agent Search.  If you are looking for an agent, which I am, here’s Sarah Laurence’s blog post, “Introducing My New Agent, Sara Crowe, and How to Find a Literary Agent.” In her post, she offers great advice on how to go about it. She notes: “If you’re looking for a literary agent, take heart from my story. Miracles can happen in the slush pile. This is such a subjective business. Finding an agent takes persistence as much as talent.”

As I write this, I have already sent out submissions to some agents. I am pitching a historical fiction YA with a Latina protagonist. Hopefully, I will get some responses soon although these things take time – quite a bit of time. Patience…patience…patience.

Chautauqua

A nonfiction story that was rejected years ago by a national magazine is being published this fall. I was genuinely surprised when I received an email from the same magazine that they wished to publish my article in their upcoming Fall issue. I had to dig through my files to find it again. Yes, it had been that long. Word of advice: do not ever throw any of your stories away. Even if rejected, they might just be rediscovered and published.

The most difficult task facing a writer is to find a voice in which to tell the story. -–John Grisham