Valentine’s Day was just one disaster after another. The first disaster was the day before when Mrs. Martin asked me to bring cookies to class. My big sister, Megan, was baking cookies to take her school and wouldn’t let me bake my cookies. Then, on Valentine’s Day morning, my luck had changed. On the kitchen counter next to the frosted cookies Megan was taking to her school, there was a plastic container of unfrosted cookies.
“Megan, are you going to take these to school?” I asked.
She crinkled her nose and shook her head. “No way!”
A smile spread across my face. “Can I have them?”
Megan shrugged. “I guess.”
Yes! This was going to be the most perfect Valentine’s Day, ever! I thought as I frosted the cookies.
I got to the corner just in time to catch the bus. I always miss the bus and have to walk to school. Then I get hamster duty. I won’t be cleaning hamster cages this Valentine’s Day! I thought. That’s when it hit me, I had forgotten my valentines. My extra-special, handmade valentines! I wasn’t about to show up to school without them. I went back home so I missed the bus. I was fifteen minutes late for class–Mrs. Martin pointed me toward the hamster cages.
We skipped our math lesson so we could have a Valentine’s Day party.
“You may take two cookies each,” said Mrs. Martin.
I was taking my two cookies when somebody asked, “Is this cookie burned?”
I took a bite of my cookie. Yuck! No wonder Megan didn’t take them to her school. They belonged in the garbage.
“This one sure is burned!” Davey hooted with laughter. “I guess Amy doesn’t know how to make good cookies.”
I frowned. How could my good luck turn so bad? At that moment I actually wished we were studying math.
“David, that’s enough,” Mrs. Martin told him, then she looked at me. “Amy, did you bake these?”
“No, Ma’am. My sister did. She had to take cookies to her school. I thought she made too many and these were extras.”
“Did you know they were burned?”
“No, Ma’am.” I shook my head and looked at the floor. “I thought they were chocolate.”
“All right.” Mrs. Martin smiled at me, then looked at the rest of the class. “You may all collect your valentines from your cubbyholes.
That perked my spirits up. It was time for my extra-special valentines. I knew everybody would love them. They would all forget about the burned cookies, I was sure of it! After I collected my valentines, I heard Mike say, “Danielle, this was in my cubbyhole, but it’s for you.”
I watched as Mike handed Danielle the butterfly card I made for her. This wasn’t happening. I didn’t deliver the cards to the wrong cubbyholes, did I?
“Mike, I have a valentine with your name on it. It’s from Amy, the cookie burner!” Davey laughed loudly. He sounded like a dog howling at the moon. “She can’t deliver her valentines right either!”
“David, that’s enough. One more outburst and you can read your cards in the principal’s office,” Mrs. Martin told him.
“Yes, Mrs. Martin,” Davey answered quietly.
I sank lower in my chair, it wasn’t the most perfect Valentine’s Day after all. Then things got worse. Much worse. Worse than hamster cages, burnt cookies, or forgotten valentines.
My absolute best friend in the whole world, Caroline, tapped me on the shoulder.
“Amy,” she whispered. “Can I have my Valentine back?”
My mouth fell open. I couldn’t believe it. Why would my best friend take her card back? Then Mike took his card back. I wanted to cry when Danielle took her card back, too. If everybody took their valentine back, I wouldn’t have any. But maybe I didn’t deserve any.
I guess it didn’t matter that I noticed Danielle always wore a butterfly clip in her hair. She didn’t like my butterfly card. I guess my cards weren’t extra-special after all.
Finally, the bell rang. I went to my cubbyhole to collect my stuff and there were three valentines inside. I smiled as I read each one.
P.S. Thanks for the daisy shaped Valentine. I love it! Your best friend, Caroline.
P.S. I had no idea my name rhymed with so many other words. Thanks for writing such a cool poem. From a kid, who likes to bike, your friend, Mike.
P.S. I love the Valentine. Thanks for making it so special. How did you know I liked butterflies? Your friend, Danielle.
When I got outside, Caroline, Mike, and Danielle were waiting for me. We decided not to take the bus, but to walk home together. It was the perfect ending to a not-so-perfect Valentine’s Day!

In July I sent out 5 manuscripts. 3 picture books, a short story, and after much searching found a publisher I felt my middle grade novel was suited for. I also wrote my first “Status Inquiry.” Normally writing and asking about the status of a manuscript is frowned upon by publishers, however, according to the Editorial Guidelines for Writers page on the Albert Whitman website, after a certain amount of time has passed status inquiries are allowed, and are responded to immediately. The letter was simple, after noting the title of manuscript, the month and the year in which it had been submitted, I requested the status of the manuscript, thanked them for their time and enclosed a SASE for their response.

I’m focusing on the last draft of my picture book(I’ve writing the last draft for months now.) It’s one of those stories that just isn’t ready to send out in the world yet. I know at some point I’m going to have do that last edit, close my eyes, hold my nose and get the manuscript in the mail. I just read a really great book, D Is for Dahl: A gloriumptious A-Z guide to the world of Roald Dahl. Dahl wrote one of my favorite books Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryand he wrote the screenplay based on it Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory(one of my favorite movies), and according to the book, he wasn’t satisfied with either of them. Maybe one day somebody might my best work is a story I’m not satisfied with. That means I’m going to have to let it go…but not until it’s perfect :=)

On April 20th it snowed in the Northwoods, by the night, most of the snow had melted off the ground and the trees. This morning I woke up to a beautiful and inspiring snowy wonderland scene outside my bedroom. Fresh powder replacing yesterday’s melted snow. Right now, there’s a blanket of white that covers the grass, and lays on the branches of the evergreen pines and the branches of the trees that lost their leaves last fall.

April is national poetry month. So I’m posting a poem I wrote called, The Kitten, I hope you’ll enjoy it.

I’ve been working on my Pockets entry, but I found out a couple days ago that the Pockets Fiction Contest is canceled for this year. I’ll continue to work on my story and hope they’ll bring the contest back next year.

I didn’t get any submissions out in March and I didn’t get my picture book finished. Thankfully, it doesn’t need a major rewrite, but a little tweaking here and there. Sometimes I’m not sure which is harder, a major rewrite, or fixing small things in a pretty much completed manuscript. Both can be easy sometimes and difficult at other times. I’m also working on my middle grade novel, trying to find a way to connect the beginning with the end.

Also, I have a finished middle grade novel that I’m trying to find a publisher for. I’ve spent several days researching publishers, but I can’t find one that’s a match for my book. So, I’m going to put the manuscript on the shelf for right now. As I focus on other writing activities, I’ll continue to keep an eye out for a publisher that would be a good match for manuscript.

Right now, I’m going to look out my window and see what the falling snowflakes will inspire.

I was out walking when I heard a sound,
I followed it and you’ll never guess what I found,
A gray and white kitty,
With soft blue eyes looking up at me,
I reached out to pet it’s fluffy coat,
When a male voice from behind me spoke,
“She’s a stray!”
I couldn’t imagine her living that way!
“Take her, she’s free,
A good home she will need.”

I mentioned in my last post that I was doing a major rewrite on a manuscript. I said I was going to expound on one area of the story and take out other parts that weren’t significant the story. Well, the rewrite was successful but after I finished the rewrite something still felt wrong. I knew the story wasn’t ready for submission…yet. I didn’t know exactly what I needed to do but as I read the story I thought maybe it should be told from the point of view of another character. The plot, the theme, and the final scene remained the same. The only thing I changed was the character that was telling the story and that’s when everything clicked. The story was ready for submission and is now in the mail to Pockets.

I also mentioned in February that I wrote a picture book in January that is currently being revised as well as a picture book I wrote in February that I am revising; hopefully both of those will be March submissions. I’m also revising a short story for Highlights that still isn’t ready for submission yet, but I’m hoping after a couple more revisions it will click just like my other story did and be off in the mail soon.