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• I'm also excited to say that I've been working on converting my Kindle Vella book ROSE MAIDELIADEN: THE UNOFFICIAL TALE OF HOW THE LILY GOT IT'S NAME into print on Amazon. I got the proof back just before we left on our summer trip, but it still needs a little tweaking. Here is a peek at it! 
• For the third year in a row my family decided to go road tripping this summer. The first year we went to Virginia, then Illinois, and this year Maine.  We have almost seen the entire United states. For fun I journaled the whole thing on my facebook account @carlene.fieldgriffith June 19th - July 8th. We travel through NV, AZ, UT, CO, NB, IA, WI, crossed the border up through CANADA. We drove through TORONTO, MONTREAL, and QUEBEC, across the border and then down to ME. We stayed in ME for a week. While we were there we did a day trip to NEW BRUNSWICK. On the trip home we went through MA, RI, CT, NJ, NY, PA, OH, IN and then back the way we came. Here are some photo hightlights.

The Barnes & Noble Meet & Greet was so much fun! I loved chatting with readers and signing autographs. I sold several books and made new friends. It was truly a success. I'm so thankful for SCBWI letting us put this event on. Barnes & Noble Victorville loved us so much they offered to have us come again. 

Here are some pictures from the event. 

This retreat was so worth it! I can't tell you enough how awesome this weekend was for me. I had so many opportunities to bond and learn from other writers. This picture is a group of fellow writers from in my cabin. We had such a great time hanging out and making connections.
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​This retreat is a yearly writing weekend that I only started going to last year. Not only did I get to hang out with some talented and amazing writers, published and unpublished, but I got to meet editors and agents from the publishing industry.  Normally, it would make me nervous to talk to agents and editors from the industry, but in the beautiful relaxed setting of the San Bernardino Mountains it was much easier. Everyone talked shop (You know the stuff that makes your friend's and family get all eye glazy) and everyone was so approachable. It truly was a great opportunity for someone like me who's still trying to find an agent. 

I finally had finished my Icarus story and had brought it to the retreat to get feedback. In my critique groups I got a lot of positive and constructive feedback. From the agents I learned that I still have some work to do if I want to get it published, but I'm almost there. Thank goodness. I had no idea when I started writing how long the process of creating a book would be. 

Thus far here has been my process. I originally wrote Icarus as a short story of 2,000 words. And that created the bones of my story.  After some encouragement from my husband and the short story submission feedback I decided to make it into a book. It's taken a year of flushing out the book. First with breaking it down into a constructive outline, making sure that I hit all the beats of my story. Then writing chapter by chapter, using my outline as a guide. I worked each chapter with my  critique partners until I finished the manuscript. It's now approximately 80,000 words. It's so different from my original story.  

Now I'm looking at the whole picture and find that though I think it's good, it can be even better with a few changes. The whole process is daunting, but I know it will be worth it when I see it on the shelf.