Sorry, but I don’t know yet.  It doesn’t matter to anyone who didn’t enter the writing contest, but to Mrs. Beard’s 7th grade students, it could be the start of a writing career, or at least the start of an interest in writing to further another career. There’s no doubt writing skill betters a person’s chances of doing well in most jobs. In fact, many jobs require writing on a daily basis—some more than others. At a local middle school’s career day, an accountant said a large part of his income depends on his writing skills, not his math skills.

This year I’ve had great fun at middle school both reading seventh graders my book and teaching them writing in return. While my biggest concern was increasing their interest in reading my book, underlying that concern was increasing their interest in reading, period. Without developing an interest in reading, it’s a sure bet no one would develop an interest in writing. To me, the world always would have seemed a sad place without good books to read.

Now, I’ve added writing to my idea of a fulfilling day. I hope Mrs. Beard’s 7th graders make the same transition, but if not, I hope they’ve learned to stretch their imaginations enough to enjoy reading as recreation. What other hobby can be so educational and fun while taking you worlds away without leaving the planet? Don’t say movies without realizing that most of those originated as a book, and all as a written screenplay.  Anyway, wasn’t the book better?

Next week, I’ll announce the winners of the Emerald Coast Writers’ contest for students. As of now, I don’t know any student’s name. I avoided finding out who did or didn’t give each chapter of my book a positive review on purpose, so the students who didn’t like it wouldn’t be afraid to tell me the worst. With the end of school next week, I can find out who really won the chapter reviews and also announce the writing contest winners by name.

There’s no doubt I won too—a great opportunity to work with Mrs. Beard and her students. I will be forever grateful. Someday I hope to recognize the name of one of these current 7th graders as the author of a book I want to read. I expect it’ll be better than the movie.

Emerald Coast Writers put on their 2011 conference last weekend, a chance for writers to clean up our acts—and facts. Writing is all about cleaning. We clean up our mistakes, grammar and punctuation. We clean up our style to make it interesting and easy to understand. We clean up our schedules to make time to write. We clean up our facts so we won’t get sued. Vincent O’Neal even taught us to clean up our acting—using acting techniques to make our writing on the page reach out and grab the reader like actors do. There’s almost no end of cleaning before we can sell and publish our work. And then, of course, we hope to really clean up by publishing a best seller.

I loved conference, even if a few things didn’t go as planned—minor glitches due to unforeseen circumstances. For example, only one of the 7th graders I’m working with at a local middle school turned in an entry for the student writing contest. The students didn't have time to write in class because of FCAT studies. But no problem at conference got so messy as to make me regret paying to attend. Quite the opposite. The organizers responded with nimble reflexes and quick thinking to straighten things out. Lee Thomas and Joyce Holland put their hearts and souls into conference, along with many other volunteers. Kudos! As a result of their hard work, I am so excited I can hardly contain myself—even though I made a mess of my own plans.

I clean forgot to ask Betsy Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief of Del Rey, to read a page or two of my work to give her more incentive to refer me to the middle-grade editor in another department within Random House, a huge publishing house. I did remember to ask Michelle Richter of St. Martin’s Press, and she said, “This looks pretty good.” She asked me to email her, which I will in a few days. I want to give her time to breathe after she gets back to New York. I had given Dianne Hamilton of OnStage Publishing my first chapter before my appointment. But I was so engrossed in suggestions she made, I forgot to ask if she would be interested in seeing more. There’s another mess I have to clean up later.

The chance to have other writers—great writers—critique my work was the best thing about conference. I had just written a new opening for my book, one meant to hook reluctant readers better than the original, because one seventh grader, a female, mentioned my book’s opening didn’t hook her in as well as it could have. She suggested a back-flash. I didn’t do that before because of word count limitations, but after dividing my book last summer, I had room. So I wrote the new opening scene and brought it to conference for expert critiques. Am I glad I did? YES! Oops, we’re not supposed to yell.

Kathy Carmichael helped me get into a closer point of view and wanted the emotional hook right at the beginning. I knew from previous tries that most men prefer action over emotion, so I asked Vincent O’Neal and Victor DiGenti their opinions too. I got Vinnie’s that afternoon, went home Friday evening and rewrote my first section, marrying the male and female suggestions. A good marriage is all about compromise. The result was much more compelling than either male or female version alone.

Saturday morning, I got Victor’s, Dianne Hamilton’s, and Benjamin LeRoy’s critiques and blended those in. Benjamin seem surprised I actually liked getting criticism. But how else am I going to perfect my work?Dianne is such a great editor; she set my brain on fire. She caught inconsistencies with teenage behavior I had passed right over. I’ve only been working with seventh graders since January, not long enough to catch every nuance. I memorized a few of her suggestions so fast I included them in an afternoon reading of my first page in Joyce Holland’s workshop. The workshop attendees really liked that opening and Joyce said my writing has improved a lot in the three years since she last read it. Then I really messed up by failing to mention that although a seventh grader inspired me to write that new opening, it was Kathy, Dianne, Benjamin, Vincent and Victor who helped me clean it up. So I am now giving credit where credit is overdue.

Please forgive me for being so excited about the seventh grader who inspired that section that I forgot to mention the adults who did the final polishing. I hope I can return the favor someday. But if not, I will continue helping the students get story ideas, develop them, write them, and then clean up their own work. Emerald Coast Writers agreed to sponsor a student writing contest for these seventh grade students. Although it is delayed because of FCAT preparation, the wonderful reading teacher said she’ll give the students time to write during class afterward. I would mention her name if not for privacy concerns. Without written consent, the students have to remain anonymous, but the winning entries will be announced before school ends. I hope they clean up!

This entry disappeared off my website. I’m not sure how, but it did. And since I didn’t pre-write it elsewhere, I’m glad I can redo my blogging easier than some other areas of life.

I’ve been digging for gold this year. Not on the beach or in the water, but in a class of young teenagers, ages twelve through fourteen. I’ve met with them on an almost weekly basis since January as they reviewed my book, helping me eliminate any confusion, punch up the action, etc. I aim to tune to their middle-grade frequencies like my husband’s metal detector tunes in to the gold left on our beaches by vacationers. But I’m finding more gold.

I don’t have to dig as much as I have to aim for the sky and shoot the best words I can. If I hit the right target, the interest zone of these students’ hearts and minds, they smile big enough for me to see their gold fillings—and braces. Okay, so I don’t check my adorable (don’t tell the boys I said that) gift horses’ mouths for gold. Their opinions are the gold I seek.  

It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give something in return. I know life isn’t supposed to be fair, but I try to live by the golden rule. I didn’t walk into the class before Christmas vacation for the first time without an idea of giving them at least as much, preferably more than they gave me.

I wanted to instill in them the same love of reading I found at age nine when I discovered the Lord of the Rings. When the ring wraiths rode by, I hid under my bed while the hobbits hid under a ditch bank. Then at school I discovered I Robot. Tolkien and Asimov started me on a journey I’ve never regretted, except when I didn’t have time to read.

About five years ago, I made another golden discovery—I can read and walk at the same time! Better than walking and chewing gum any day. About the same time, I realized I wanted to write for young teenagers. Since then, I’ve read more middle-grade fiction than anything else.

For my golden boys and girls, I want to do more than help them love reading. I want them to learn to love writing. So we’ve discussed how to get and develop story ideas. I put in a request to Emerald Coast Writers for a student writing contest, and they agreed. Now I hope to turn this coast from emerald to gold. If a love of reading isn’t enough to enrich these young teenagers’ lives, there’s no limit to the treasure they can add with a love of writing.