ramping up...

Hi, and welcome to my blog. My hope is to carry on lively and informative discussions about writing and publishing for children. I particularly welcome participation from kids.
I've been writing all my life, and in the past 6 years have been writing for children. My first publications were in magazines (Spider, Highlights for Children), and last year my first book was published by Free Spirit, a wonderful small house that specializes in self-help for kids and the adults in their lives.
Last fall the first chapter of my historical young adult novel was critiqued by Alyssa Eisner Henkin, who was then an editor at Simon and Schuster. She liked what she saw, and when she became an agent at Trident Media Group in December, requested the rest of the manuscript. In January, she signed me as a client.
Needless to say, I feel the thrill of starting a new phase of my career as a writer. Alyssa and I are working on several projects now, and I'll talk about the ups and downs of the process in these pages.
For now, I'll just say that success in the writing business is a combination of luck, desire to learn, and persistence. And joy - writing is all about the joy of creating characters and stories that touch people.
See you soon!