Journal Report #7

This week was the week of nonfiction books that made me mad. One was Hitler's Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti and the other was Getting Away With Murder by Chris Crowe. They are both expertly written and made me feel personally connected with real, historical people. Therefore, I got mad. I am sick of discrimination and I hope if I were faced with similar circumstances I would be strong enough to stand up against a society that encourages discrimination and do what is right. I am sick of discrimination against anyone based on gender, race, or religion.

So, in happier news, I finished my first revision of my novel! I'm giving it a week before I reread it and start a new revision. I need to get those characters out of my head and forget that I wrote it. The evil editor needs to have full reign here. It's been interesting, fixing the beginning and watching the changes affect the rest of the story. By the end I was very happy with who my characters became and how they got there. So, I'm high on accomplishment. Need to calm down and check it again when I have a cool head.

In even better news, my roommate read my short story "The Master Key" (remember that one? Featuring Jeremy Wilderson the 12-year-old retrieval specialist?) and liked it! She was laughing out loud as she read my story! She also found some typos, so her reading helped me polish my story a little more. Speaking of Jeremy, I got on a roll this week and drew up a bunch of "case files" as if I were Becca, my detective. These files describe future cases where Jeremy and Becca come into contact (and sometimes conflict) with each other. Here's a sample:

"A series of local robberies seems linked to the activities of a out-of-school middle school boy's football league. One of the teams in particular is made entirely of known spitballers, bullies, and other past offenders. This team is looking for a second-string running back.

I need an inside man to go to tryouts and make the team. It's likely the team will only accept another criminal. Like Jeremy (dang it!)."

I keep coming up with ideas. They're not too great right now, but I see possibilities. Such as Jeremy and Becca being hired for the same job. That could be interesting....