The Armchair Activist
By DeeAnn Veeder

When I was a kid, I had a dream of having a child of every race, a noble dream for a young blonde child; I thought if families were made up of every race, there wouldn’t be hatred or prejudice, and I would start with my own. Realistically, though, how many children would that be? And, well, so many men, so little time. I only made it as far afield as Italians, then I married a Jew and had two white children. Fifteen years later, I notice I’m living in a predominantly white small …

The great thing about being a micro publisher is the joy of finding a piece of writing that stimulates your imagination, startles visions in your mind and stuns your heart with sparks of simple wonder. And then, you get to publish it!

The first I knew of J.M. Kay’s science fiction novel, Under the Shadow: Children of the First Star, Volume 1 was listening to Mr. Kay read aloud during an evening writer’s group. The language captured me with the delight of hearing an entirely new perspective on being lost in space. The protagonists, 13-year-olds, Jason and Daniel, have been …

November 1st kicks of the month-long novel writing experience known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) – what the official website calls “a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing.” http://nanowrimo.org/about

This event has always intrigued me, and I’ve considered participating. But November often found me working on a writing project that had a looming deadline. Also, I’m a solitary writer who doesn’t share much while writing, but this seemed like such a fun challenge.

This year, I’m in the happy position of having a television script due, before Thanksgiving, for a miniseries. So, no NaNoWriMo 2014 for me. And I …