It’s official. My children’s story, The Reluctant Angel, will be out in the December 2018 issue of POCKETS! Also, come September, my essay in Péinate: Hair Battles Between Latina Mothers and Their Daughters anthology comes out just in time for Hispanic Heritage Month. I’ve seen the lovely cover already. By the way, both stories above were entries to writing contests.

Recently, I attended a Gemini Ink Writers Conference here in San Antonio at the lovely El Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel. Writers and poets from all over the nation attended. One of the workshops I went to was very helpful. It focused on concrete details in one’s story. We did some writing exercises including one with conflict between two characters and then the same story adding a third character. Wow. Changed the entire dynamics. Then we changed the setting in the same story from indoors to outdoors. Big difference in the concrete details. That’s why I love to attend these conferences. I learn so much.

Gemini Ink Conference

Blydyn Square Books is open to submissions for their publishing contest. There is an entry fee of $25. Visit their website for details.

GEMS-Shine Brightly is looking for stories, articles, interviews, quizzes, games, puzzles, and crafts that are fresh, that present a realistic look at Christian life, and that cause young readers to see how their faith can play out in their daily lives.

Cameron Kids—the children’s book imprint of Cameron + Company, an independent publisher based in Petaluma, California—publishes children’s books for all ages

Ending a novel is almost like putting a child to sleep—it can’t be done abruptly. – Colm Toibin