Wow, I’m already back in school this year. It’s a new year for me in many ways. I’m teaching language arts for the first time this year. It’s been a very strange thing to share my process of writing and reading with the class. For the most part, they are excited to have a teacher who reads and writes (though they tend to make fun of my book jacket photo, sigh)

I think it’s fun though to talk about my writing with the kids. I’m sharing bits and pieces of what I know about other authors and their processes as well. I haven’t mentioned how some drink and then write. They can learn about those writers when they grow up. My room is full up with quotes from a variety of writers on their process and the thrill (and difficulty) of writing. So we’ll see how this goes. We started with fiction and will be moving to memoir and life writing next. I think I can cover that one.

And speaking of which, I’m still hard at work on the biography of Erle Stanley Gardner. It’s been fun this summer to read and write as much as I did. I’m still reading 3-4 books a week and doing all the research necessary to complete the book. I found a link between Craig Rice and Gardner. She edited an anthology that he was in. They are such different people as individuals and writers that it’s hard to think of them in the same universe sometimes.

I’m entering the 1950s this week, and beginning to write about the TV series. It’s been fun to do interviews with a number of people associated with the show, both on-air and behind-the-scenes folks. I am feeling confident about the book now, and I can see a little glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.