Check it out - as I've mentioned here before, my mom is a writer too, and the best writing teacher I've ever had. She was invited to write a post for the MamaWriters blog, and instead of writing about being a mom and a writer, she wrote about being the mom of a writer. It's really sweet, and you can read it here. Don't forget to visit her website too, www.libbysternberg.com. Love you, mom!

This week I received revisions for Queens of All the Earth from Harrison Demchick, my editor at Bancroft Press. Getting accepted is only half the battle - there's still a lot of work to do, but I'm hoping that with some focus I can get through the edits in a month and a half, working on evenings and weekends. Whew! Even with all this work ahead of me, it's still exciting to think that this will end up as a book on a shelf.

wants to be lawyer, filmmaker, novelist

It's done! The second major revision of my second novel, Bulfinch, is done, and I think this is its final state, barring minor adjustments. It was hard to put it down - after two years, the characters have begun to feel very real to me, and almost like a family, and it's a little strange and alienating to realize that from an outsider's perspective, it might seem sad to be so attached to creatures who only live in my imagination. I just hope that when other people read it, they can feel the same connection, and the magic of seeing these characters come alive. I don't look back at the two years I spent writing and revising Bulfinch as a process of creating something; by the end, it felt like a weird combination of playing God and experiencing something, as if I were there with my characters, just recording what they did and said, and though I dictated to them what would occur, they sometimes shot back with unexpected quirks. If it ever gets published, I'll have to return to it again to satisfy editors' suggestions, but I have a feeling that this is the end, for this project, of that supernaturally intense phase of absorption. I'll miss it.

But I already have plenty of other things to look forward to - such as the Washington, DC 48 Hour Film Project, in which I'll be joining a team to create a short film in 48 hours using a prompt that will only be revealed to us at the start of the contest. I'll be the primary writer and rough cut editor for my team, and I'm thrilled - it will be quite an adventure, creatively and logistically. Franny, my little DVX, will be sitting this one out, sadly - she's been one-upped by another team-member's P2 camera. Franny will come out soon, though, once I finally convince her that not all filmmakers are section men.

Chatterton Screening at JHU Film Fest

Hello hello! Sorry I've been neglecting the blog...when I only have time to do one thing, either write here or work on the projects I'd write about, I have to work on the projects! And the day job has been especially demanding.

But for everyone in the Baltimore/DC area, this weekend you should visit the JHU Film Fest! It's organized by a great bunch of undergrads and professors, featuring international submissions mixed in with local works and classic film. Tonight they're screening La Dolce Vita, and on Sunday they're hosting the festival premiere of Chatterton! Go to their website (link above) for more information, and if you're in the area, make sure to stop by. I've done it a couple of times and helped organize it last year, and it's a really fun event.

If you're not in the Baltimore/DC area, remember you can still watch Chatterton online!