I’ve started my next writing project. Woo! My mom has been telling me about a book of essays she’s been reading and it got me thinking that it could be fun to write a series of essays based on my teaching experience–the good, the bad, the ugly and the hilarious. It’s a new type of writing style for me…I’ve never written a non academic essay, but I had fun creating the first draft. I’ve copied an excerpt from it below. That’s not quite the first half of it, and it’s still in need of some refinement, but it’s a start! An Essay in Education: The Genesis of Teaching My parents…

I haven’t written a villanelle in a very long time, but have had the very structured format on my mind lately. Villanelles repeat their first and third lines at specified parts. This poem is largely inspired by recent conversations with my dad. The fancy Instagram post version is here, but the uninterrupted 19 lines can be found in the right sidebar under “poetry.” 🙂

Thicket’s background tale is now the first short story on M.D. Saints Writes! I had a lot of fun writing Thicket’s quirky dialogue with his quirky syntax as he interacts with Harbin and Franklin. Though his background tale contains no dialog, it is written in the same style as the nine tales within Starbreather’s Realm. 🙂

Amazon did not take the 48-72 hours to review my files and the ebook and paperback are now live! It was a very exciting day. It was neat how many people reacted by saying they’ve always wanted to write a book, and I really hope my self-publishing adventure can be inspirational for friends and family to write out whatever story or history or poem they have that they want to share. It’s a lot of work and a lot of learning, but the satisfaction that comes from the work is absolutely priceless. You can check out the listing for both paperback and Kindle here: The Tale of the Starbreather’s Realm.

“You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So get on your way!” ~ Dr. Seuss. The Tale of the Starbreather’s Realm goes live this week! The novel mountain has been climbed! And what a mountain it was. Whew! I clicked publish on KDP this evening, so I’m hoping the paperback and Kindle ebook will be available this Friday, February 4, 2022. The review process is supposed to take anywhere between 48 and 72 hours. I am very excited. Thank you to all who have been on this adventure with me! I am grateful for all the support! 🙂