Recap of March, Preview of April

It’s been about a month since my last entry. Big things on the horizon then. Big things on my horizon now. We’ll go through both. First, the recap of events since last time.

The literature festival I was stoked about was awesome. I attended talks with bestselling novelists Peter James, Kate Mosse, Frank McCourt, Wilbur Smith, Giles Foden, Philippa Gregory, and Julia Glass, and I personally met all of those but Giles Foden. I attended a writing workshop with Kate Mosse’s husband: writer, editor and creative writing instructor Greg Mosse. I learned a lot about writing and publishing. I networked. I rubbed elbows and gleaned wisdom and insight. A few of the things I learned:

Writers are people too. I knew this, obviously, but actually meeting them in the flesh was a rather neat experience. When I read the dedication page or acknowledgments page or even a bit of trivia that the author mentioned in their talk that a character from their book also mentions, a human aspect of the whole writing thing comes in to it. I’ve met these people. I know them (superficially, of course, but it’s something). Why is that important to me? Because I’m a person, and seeing these personal things in their writing, published writing, bestselling writing, is somewhat refreshing and encouraging. My personal, human elements that make it into my story are natural and indeed integral to all good writing. These bestseller novelists are just normal people who write— like me. Kind of encouraging in a roundabout sort of way.

There isn’t one right way to write, research, or edit. There are several, and it depends on the author (not even, apparently, on the genre) as to which works best for them. It was rather interesting seeing different authors giving completely opposite answers to the same question about the researching, writing, or editing process. Which is good and bad. Bad in that there isn’t one ‘right’ way to do these things. Good in that there isn’t one ‘right’ way to do these things. It’s not formulaic, but then, it’s also a better fit for the individual author (i.e. me) and their style when you find what works.

I also learned some pieces about writing, researching, editing, and the quest for a publisher from the various authors as well: different ideas to try and see which works best for me.

In addition, both Greg Mosse and Julia Glass left the festival with a copy of the first two chapters of my novel, promising to read it and get back to me. Ms. Glass hasn’t yet responded, but she said it might take a while as she had a full novel-length draft from a personal friend of hers to go through first. Mr. Mosse responded in about a week’s time, and was not only impressed with the excerpt but felt that it would find a receptive audience in the thriller market. Huzzah!

And on the writing front (but separate from the festival), I’ve sent those first two chapters, a brief synopsis, and a letter of introduction to a friend of mine who is well-connected to a lot of people in the publishing industry. He’s volunteered to use his connections to get my novel in the hands of the right people. I’m also networking as much as I can, hoping that, with enough hands working on this, magic will happen. My goal is to already be in dialogue with a publisher/editor/agent by the time I arrive back in the States in three months, and have signed a publishing deal by the time I leave again for Dubai two months thereafter. Keep that in your thoughts and prayers if you would. I’ve been praying like Jabez for this, my biggest goal and dream, to come to fruition in spectacular fashion. Here’s hoping!

On the teaching front. Ups and downs, as can be expected with any teaching year, much less a first year teacher living a world away from everything and everyone I’ve ever known in a paradox-riddled city at a school where the curriculum is being written as it’s being taught. With four preps. If you’ve ever been a teacher, you know how incredibly most of those elements can be; all combined at once, it can be nightmarish sometime. But I’m making it. Getting all sorts of material for Dancing with Chimeras when I finally sit down to pen it in a year or so.

And on the life front, I got suckered into chaperoning the high school Spring Formal dance. In true Dubai style, it was held in a posh hotel ballroom, the tickets costing the kids the equivalent of $61 a pop. Appetizers outside in the lobby, a fancy buffet dinner, and a hopping dance party. And I, along with my fellow colleague-chaperones, felt like an old fogey. Now, I’m a cool old fogey, according to my students (well, they don’t call me old or fogey, but whatever), but it was still kinda weird. Most of my students were trying to get me to dance, and some of them actually managed to quite literally drag me to the dance floor – not once, but twice – before I beat my hasty retreat. But I made up for it the following night, when I went with five of my female colleagues (I know, it’s a hard life, eh?) to a very nice, dress-to-impress nightclub by the Dubai Marina. The place is called Boudoir, and if Disney’s Haunted Mansion had an adjacent nightclub/bar, this is what it would look like. The décor, the walls, the shape of the room itself were very gothic-looking, especially the centerpiece of the establishment: a giant onyx chandelier hanging over the dance floor, its lights dimmed to a spectral glow in true haunted house fashion. Great place, great night, and… and less students to make me feel old.

Which pretty much takes me to April… and the future. This Wednesday (April 1st), I’m going to Cairo, Egypt for another MUN conference with my two chaperones-in-crime, Martine and Sunali, and fourteen Grade 10 and 11 students. Yes, I’m boarding a plane, checking into a hotel, and traveling to another country with fourteen children – at least two of whom are full-fledged chuckleheads – on April Fool’s Day. I don’t know what we were thinking… Regardless, I’m quite excited about the chance to travel to Egypt and visit the pyramids for free (being a chaperone is such a great little gig). Of course, a lovely little travel journal will follow my journey, but perhaps not immediately afterwards. I’ll be getting back the wee hours of the morning on April 7th. Our Spring Break begins April 10th. I’ll hopefully be going to Iran with my friend-colleague Nathan for six days over the break (provided one of our many Iranian students’ parents will sponsor us Americans), so that’ll be another fun travel journal (and probably my last one before I come back to the States).

As for the more distant future, I’ll be coming back to the States around June 18, catching a few hours’ sleep at home before boarding another plane for the wedding of a friend of mine in Texas. I’ll probably spend a few days taking in the sights of Dallas before heading back to Tallahassee to see all of my friends and family who will have been waiting a year to see me. Goal number one for the summer is to get published, but in addition to that, I’ll be travelling a lot: to Texas for the aforementioned wedding, to Michigan and Canada for another wedding in August, to Jacksonville and St. Augustine with my friend Travis, to Disney World with my family, to New York to sign a book deal (IhopeIhopeIhope), and possibly to California to visit a friend of mine from over here who’s going home after this year. Of course, I’m also very much looking forward to catching up with my friends and family, exploring Tallahassee and eating lots of Chick-fil-a, Cracker Barrel, and Los Compadres. Good times.

Well, that’s all for this edition. Please keep the novel publishing situation in your thoughts and prayers, and as always, thanks for keeping up with my adventures over here.