It must be spring: the swallows have returned and the parking lot at QFC has drifts of fruit blossom petals, blowing across the pavement. I took this shot out at the Marymoor P-Patch garden.
But first I wanted to mention that this Sunday Louise Marley and I are doing our online First Pages workshop again. You give us the first 500 words of your novel and we will talk about what’s getting set up for the book, what you might want to watch for, what you’re promising (or not promising) your readers, world-building and how important it is in that first section, marketing, titling, advice on agents and sending the manuscript out, and a scad of other things. It’s a workshop that participants come away from feeling charged and ready and with pages of notes about things to do.
Here’s the description:
First Pages:
Co-taught with Louise Marley. Louise and I have done this workshop several times with great success – this is our online version. You give us the first page of your novel and we’ll critique and discuss it in a way that will be helpful with the overall work as well as talking about agents, and editors and how important the first page is when engaging them. More than one student has told me this was the single most useful workshop they’ve ever had. Single two-hour session.
Date: April 22, 9:30-11:30 AM PST
I’m willing to extend the $99 price up until Sunday morning 9 am PST (the class starts an hour later and all we need from you are those first 500 words.) (I will also discuss barter and sliding scale, because the more people in the class, the more successful it will be. 
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The class is conducted on Google Hangouts, and you can do it in your pajamas if you like, since we’re all in the safety of our own homes. People who’ve taken it online or in-person from me can attest that it’s a great way to get started on getting your manuscript ready to send out.
Shoot, I may need to do this later when my novel is, at last, edited and cobbled together. It has a not good opening- not bad, but not good either….