Exciting & Writing

April is shaping up to be a full-fledged writer’s month for me. This weekend I'll be co-teaching an Improv for Writers workshop at a local conference. I love co-teaching with my friend, and I’m very excited about the curriculum we’ve developed.

Then, in the fourth weekend of April, I’ll be at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference in Colorado Springs. Where...(drum roll)...I'll be receiving an award for winning the Pikes Peak Writers Fiction Contest in the category of young adult! I’m thrilled!

And I bet, considering my blog, you'd never guess where I got the inspiration for the book...

It's a romantic story about a teenage comedienne who receives a heartbreaking diagnosis and how she grapples with the decision she has to make. (Surprised?)

I've been working on this book for a while and it's been such a different experience from improv. (Not necessarily the creating process, but as far as the reaction part.) With improv you know instantly if what you're doing is working...either the audience reacts or they don't. With this book it's been entirely for my own enjoyment, not really knowing if it would speak to someone else. Winning this contest is the first sign from the outside world that I'm at least headed in the right direction. Yay! (Must get to writing those thank you notes to the wonderful judges!)

And I’m hoping if I'm ever lucky enough for this story to be published that it would be one small way to bring greater awareness to sarcomas. Wouldn't that be cool?

That part of the dream is a ways off, though. This month, I get to celebrate having an actual writing win to my name, fun conferences to attend, and writerly-people to meet!