So, the husband just returned from three weeks in Mongolia. Meanwhile the daughter

and parrot are settling into Columbia, MO and the son is in Israel, last known location the shore of Galilee.

I’m on the front porch writing.

It looks like my first round of edits will arrive just when I start to teach classes. Isn’t that the way things work? Nothing happening. Then everything all at once! In life we can’t control the pace at which the plot advances; in writing we can.

Pacing is how fast the story carries you along, and there is no one right pace for every story. Fast- paced stories are not always better. Different stories need different pacing. A slower pace can let the reader become immersed in another time, another place. Stephen King in his book On Writing says that he likes “a slower pace and a bigger, higher build.”

The trick is finding the pace that holds your reader captivated. It means combining action and dialogue with description and reflection, which tend to slow the narrative down. Readers need a balance in a story just as they do in their lives.

Different audiences need different rhythms too. In middle-grade and YA novels pacing and voice are two of the most important considerations. Books can be long, think H.P. and George RR Martin, but they have to be paced so that there is always something going on. Longer books just mean that we get to spend more time with the characters immersed in their worlds. Let’s see if I can pull it off when the Wolfproof Trilogy become two books rather than three.

As I walking along the Columbia River the other morning a large deer followed by six others sprang out of the bushes no more than three feet in front of me. They bounded across the path and into the river. It was an amazing sight.

Ok, so I’m a big believer in signs and portents. Maybe it comes from growing up in an Irish Catholic family who still believed in the little people or maybe I read too many of the wrong kind of books as a kid, but when a herd of deer appear out of no where to gamble right in front of me, or when a single pelican floats close to shore and fixes me with one jeweled eye, I think the world is up to something.

BTW, did you know that a group of apes is called a  shrewdness of apes? Of course you did, you’re remarkable. Have an auspicious Monday.

The deed is finally done. This week I signed a contract with Abrams/Amulet for a two book deal. And what are these books? They are the three books in the Wolfproof Trilogy combined into two. Yes, the third book is complete and does take place in Scotland. So, those of you who’ve read Wolfproof and Travelers’ Market will have to wait a bit for the new release.

Here’s what I know. The two new books will have different titles and covers than the previous books. Why? Because they are being released with a larger publisher, will be edited, and  reformatted.  You’ll want to read the new and improved versions!

What I don’t know. Lots of things, but specifically, how the three manuscripts will be divided to form two books, the exact release dates and/or titles.

I’m excited and ready to get to work! Several people have asked what’s next. I’m well into a new story–steampunk setting, and, of course, a little bit of myth and mystery.

What a  journey it’s been!

Follow the adventures as we move Claire and Coco the parrot  from Seattle, WA to Columbia, MO.  Check our posts for road food on I-80.

First night Richland, WA to Ogden, UT by way of a bakery in Baker City, Oregon and a Basque restaurant in Boise, ID.

Does Benadryl in birdseed work?

Glimpses:

KindlingsFest is a celebration of Art & Ideas where they intersect with the spiritual. The theme this year was C.S. Lewis and Broken Beauty.

“We brush up against understanding only as a moth brushs up against a lighted window.” Dr. Jerry Root

We spent five days on Orcas Island with a community of people related by their love for the arts and their belief that arts are transfomative. They came from near, Seattle, and far, Isle of Wight, and Iowa. And that’s always one of the best parts of being there, meeting like-minded people from  across the globe or at least the country–fimmakers, composers, writers, visuals artists and dramatists.

So what does Christian art look like? Well, first it should should or fail by the same standard as all art. Is it good art? Does it meet an aesthestic standard? Artists must be skillful in their discipline if they hope to have anything to say. And  of course, that’s the beauty of art, it can speak truth from a new direction. Tolkein says that humans are “sub-creators”. We are created to participate in creative ways in a broken universe.

So a few highlights—

Bruce Herman sharing his process as a visual artist, a process of excavation as he discovers his work.

Nigel Goodwin performing Dylan Thomas.

Michael Ward sahring news from Planet Narnia 

And a showing of Rick Stevenson’s Expiration Date.

For pictures of Orcas and some of these fine folks check out my facebook post.