Disclaimer first

This post could sound garbled. About 30 minutes ago I took a bunch of Advil for my muy sore knees. Only it wasn't Advil, it was Tylenol P.M. WHY DO I NOT PAY CLOSER ATTENTION TO CONTAINERS? I once accidentally brushed my teeth with fast-actin' Tinactin because I do not pay close attention to containers.

Anyhoo! I just wanted to say that I read again to Randi's students and they seemed engaged with the story, so that's good. What I really want to say, though, is that even though I went over this manuscript with a fine-toothed comb (I thought), I found a few spelling errors and unnecessary word repetitions as I read. ALOUD.

You see where I'm going with this, don't you? You. Should. Always. Read. Your. Stuff. Aloud. Especially before sending it to your agent.

On the food front, I am having a root beer freeze from Hires AS WE SPEAK.

Reading out loud

So my adorable daughter-in-law Randi (who teaches fourth grade at Lincoln Elementary) is letting me read my latest manuscript to her kids. I read the first chapter today and it! was! so! much! fun!

I think I need to rework the first few pages, but once things got rolling the kids did seem pretty engaged. And after I finished, they wanted to know when I was going to turn it into a movie.

Here's what makes me happy about this experience--even if I never sell it, the book has a chance to be a book with these kids. What a joy!