The End of Summer always produces a brief fit of nostalgia in me. For most of the school year, my family is looking forward to warm-weather adventures and the pendulum swing of our schedule: some weeks chaotic and others lazy. Then I blink and the children are off to school and the dog is a dramatic mess on the couch and I find myself returning to T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets for some reflections on the transience of time.

(I came across a series of letters Eliot wrote while composing Four Quartets, and this quote in particular will resonate with writers everywhere:

“I have put Part II of Little Gidding into the melting pot, but nothing has solidified yet.”)

What I’m Working On:

A few days ago I typed The End on the first draft of a middle grade manuscript. It clocked in at 59K words, which is a little longer than I’d like (I was aiming for 55K), but I have a good idea where it needs trimming. I’ll talk more about that in the Writing Tip section below. It’s very satisfying to have shoveled the whole shabby first draft out of my brain and onto the floor. Now I know what I have to work with!

I am still rolling around sequel ideas in my brain and figuring out what will stick. Once I’ve done some edits on the middle grade story and sent it off to my agent, my plan is to turn my full attention that way. However, I’m also prepping for the October residency and about to receive a few final novel projects in my inbox from students, so it won’t be as quick of a turnaround as I’d like. The double-edged sword of day jobs, etc.

What I’m Reading:

I had more success with novels in August thanks to a few long camping trips. In Glacier, I read Trust by Hernan Diaz, a Pulitzer-Prize winning, extremely satisfying literary puzzle. Many thanks to Heather O for recommending it on one of my posts.

After finishing Trust I moved on to Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. I slept poorly in Glacier, particularly on the nights when rained pounded staccato fingers on the roof of the trailer, so it was nice to have a twisty murder mystery to keep me company. I enjoyed the metanarrative in this one, even if I was lost on some of the final reveal details.

I then revisited Pratchett, an old friend. I read his Tiffany Aching series as a teen and decided I, too, wanted to write spunky and resourceful main characters. I found Wyrd Sisters on my shelf and thoroughly enjoyed its tongue-in-cheek treatment of many tropes.

I sped through What Lives in the Woods as a recent comp for my middle grade spooky story, and on audiobook I was riveted by The Boys From Brazil.

A Writing Tip:

I talked in a previous post about some of my big picture revision tips, but I wanted to tackle this from a slightly different angle, because there is something else I do once I’ve finished a first draft, and that is: figure out what my story’s really about.

If you’ve taken a writing class from me, you’ll know that I’m not a fan of writing a story based off a theme. If I ask a student what their novel is about and they tell me, “it’s an exploration of family trauma and the lasting effects it has on future generations,” then I will give them my best Chihiro face:

This isn’t because I don’t think stories should have themes. It’s because when I (or really anyone) ask what a story is about, we’re looking for plot! Who’s the main character? What adventure are they about to embark on? What’s at stake if they fail?

Stories fail or succeed based on the strength of their characters, and if an author has sacrificed writing a true, believable character in favor of making a point, their story will inevitably be pedantic.

So, what I recommend is having a loose idea of the themes you want to explore when you start, but then devoting your energy to writing a good story that tells the truth about the world. And once you’ve finished that first draft, you can step back and say, “what is this story really about” (i.e. what’s the theme).

That’s where I’m at right now. I wrote a first draft that needs revising on multiple levels, and one of those is teasing out the theme. What am I really trying to say about families, the supernatural, the nature of storytelling and myth? And how do I accomplish that more effectively in this next draft?

One Final Plug:

The incoming class is full for the Camperdown MFA program, but we’re already accepting applications for the 2025/26 year. In fact, we’ll do an early review in December, so if you are considering the program, now is the time to start filling out that application.

And can I ask a favor? Maybe you’re not a writer but you know someone who is. Perhaps your best friend has finished a novel or two and they don’t know how to take their writing to the next level. One of my goals for this upcoming year is to spread awareness of the program, so if you shared the link above with that writer friend in your life, it would not only help me, but could also save your friend from further literary existential crises.

You could also give our instagram page a follow.

That’s all for now, see you in September!