Writing Happy Dances

My favorite things in life involve high-pitched squeals. Having two girls, aged 8 and 11, help with that a lot.

Writing a good sentence will get the happy squeak from me. For young Elizabeth, it’s anything pink. For Emily, it’s achieving a high score on her favorite games.

But there’s been a whole lot of guinea pig impressions at the Roy house lately. First, Jinnie Wishmaker, my book for 9-12 year olds, was named a finalist in the Writers League of Texas Manuscript Contest. That’s top five. Whoop! The winner will be announced June 26.

I’ve also been working with a team to produce an iPhone application with an original story and some killer technology. They needed a writer, and I pitched a story that would work well not only for the current app, but also for sequels and product tie ins. That project is hurtling through production, and all three of us girls get a good squeal in every time the illustrator forwards a new set of images from the story.

There’s nothing better than seeing your characters become real! I’ve already pitched story number two with an open door for number three, and that one may go international, with the setting in Japan.

So many exciting things! Wish me luck!