First Official Payment

This just came in the mail. It's my first official payment from a literary magazine, for the short story I had published on the Tin House Open Bar.

"Cola Man" on Tin House Open Bar

My newest story, "Cola Man," is now published on the Tin House Open Bar. Check it out:

      http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/23608/cola-man.html

Sea Turtle with Prosthetics

      Yu, a loggerhead sea turtle in Japan, was just fitted with her first-ever fully-functional set of prosthetic flippers!

A loggerhead sea turtle (not Yu) that we saw at a hospital
in North Carolina.

      Yu, just like Caretta, the loggerhead from my novel, lost both her front flippers in an accident. Scientists worked relentlessly to develop a prosthetic that would perform all the functions necessary of turtle flippers, including swimming and crawling on land. The community around where she was rescued rallied around to help support the research that made her recovery possible.

     To learn more, check out this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/turtle-prosthetic-flippers-yu-chan_n_2670244.html?ncid=webmail12#slide=more280372

Gold Key in Scholastic Writing Award

I just found out I recieved a regional gold key in the Scholastic Art & Writing Award. I'll now be entered in the national competition.

Some contests you enter without much trouble. Others you worry over, writing for days on end, over thinking every letter until you realize no two words you write sound good together. Then you settle, and send it in, and figure you might as well get on with something else. You forget about that contest you entered--no, really. You never think about it, getting your hopes up when you know it will probably come to nothing. Yeah.

Anyway. I'm really grateful for this opportunity, and for all the people who made it possible. Thank you, Scholastic! 

Release of "My One Square Inch of Alaska"

     Last year I went to the Antioch Writer's Workshop, a weeklong writing conference. They also host second Sunday free writing workshops throughout the year. Board member Sharon Short just released a new book, "My One Square Inch of Alaska."

     Here's the description from Amazon:  A pair of siblings escapes—along with a Siberian Husky—the strictures of their 1950s industrial Ohio town on the adventure of a lifetime.

Talented high-school senior Donna Lane yearns to leave her Midwestern home in pursuit of a career in design, but she feels obligated to stay and care for her helpless father and her younger brother, Will. In fragile health and obsessed with the television show Sergeant Striker and the Alaskan Wild, Will’s dearest companion is a mute Siberian Husky named Trusty. The arrival of two outsiders inspires Donna to consider her dreams anew. Then Will falls sick, and Donna packs up their yellow convertible—with Will, Trusty, and a road atlas—and sets off for the Alaskan Territory. A portrait of a singular American moment, My One Square Inch of Alaska is a moving tale of exploration and love—human and canine—that dares to believe the impossible.
      Check it out. It's great for book clubs, with discussion questions in the back. Happy reading!

Free contest

If you're a science fiction or YA writer (like me) check out this great contest:

http://tinyurl.com/a8msdw2

It's free, and it's judged by a professional literary agent. You never know what could happen!

YA Highway giveaway

Cool giveaway over at YA Highway. You could win books, knick knacks, or even a critique by published authors.

http://www.yahighway.com/2012/12/ya-highways-fourth-annual-winter.html