It's almost time for the Florida SCBWI Conference held in Miami. I wish I could say I was going this year, but I can't. I've been attending for at least seven years and it's always the best conference. This year I just can't make it. And of all years it stinks because, well...

What's so special about this year, is one of my critique group members, Augusta Scattergood is being presented with the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award.

YAY!

For anyone who isn't familiar with the award, the SCBWI website says,  "The annual Crystal Kite Award is a peer-given award to recognize great books from 15 SCBWI regional divisions around the world."

Augusta is receiving it for her book, Glory Be. She wins for the entire Southeast region and we members of the Skyway Writers and all of the Tampa Bay Children's Writers are so proud of her.

Here's to Augusta and to Glory Be.

Check it out!   http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/glory-be#cart/cleanup

WELCOME

This is the first post of my new site. Thanks to Augusta Scattergood for helping me to create it and to my husband, Butch, for his photograph of one of my favorite Florida places.

Facts, Fiction and Folk Tales will allow me to share all things writing and more. By that I mean the trials, tribulations, joys and successes that pop up in a writing life. Writing tips. Writing discoveries. Writing greats and writing everything.

My only promise is to write about whatever catches my attention, tugs at my heart or speaks to me. Mostly about the ups and down of having a computer as your only co-worker. Sometimes about Florida, since I'm a native.

I like an eclectic range of things and of people and I like to write about them all. Being a writer is a blessing and a curse. You writers out there struggling to write the first paragraph on a blank page get it. Those of you struggling to be published understand. Journalists who want to write fiction for a living and people who think they must leave their day jobs to become a real writer, you know what I mean.

Sometimes it's a hard-luck life, but mostly, it's a life filled with the love of words.

How cool is that?