I Flit, I Float, I Fleetly Flee, I Fly

This is my last post as an EMU.

I’ve spent two years in this group, and I’ve done some bizarre and wonderful things. I’ve sung opera in Viking garb for Adi Rule’s STRANGE SWEET SONG. I’ve made a Where Is Tommy Smythe? news video for Lindsey Lane’s EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. I’ve photographed Flat Gladys reviewing airplane food on a cross-country flight, as well as written an Amazeballs recipe for Tara Dairman’s ALL FOUR STARS. I’ve attended Laurie Thompson’s BE A CHANGEMAKER launch, and I’ve watched her words directly influence the actions of students in my classroom.

During my time here, so many incredible books have been launched into the world. I’ve collected stories for Luke Reynolds’s THE LOONEY EXPERIMENT, Maria Gianferrari’s PENNY & JELLY: THE SCHOOL SHOW, Laurie’s MY DOG IS THE BEST, Susan Vaught’s FOOTER DAVIS PROBABLY IS CRAZY, and Amy Finnegan’s NOT IN THE SCRIPT. I’ve cheered for Jennifer Bertman’s BOOK SCAVENGER, Christine Hayes’s MOTHMAN’S CURSE, Tamara Ellis Smith’s ANOTHER KIND OF HURRICANE, Kevan Atteberry’s BUNNIES!!!, Rebecca Van Slyke’s MOM SCHOOL, Joshua McCune’s TALKER 25, Laurie Thompson’s EMMANUEL’S DREAM, and Penny Parker Klostermann’s THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT.

It’s been an honor to participate in such important moments in my fellow authors’ lives. I’ve also had the very keen pleasure of being celebrated during my own launch week by this kind, generous, and intelligent group. I am grateful for their support and proud to call them my colleagues.

I’ll miss being part of this amazing mob of fledglings. I wish I had some wise parting words, but the truth is that life hasn’t changed since publishing my first book. I’m still teaching full time, still a mom, still a wife, still writing, still doubting what I write on some days and feeling great about it on others. GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL is out there in the world, and that’s nothing short of a dream come true. But I’m still just me, and GROUNDED is just one book in the Great Big Book Pile.

What has changed is the “I’m A Writer” conversation. You know the one I mean, because every struggling author has had it more times than they wish to count. It goes like this:

Other Person: So what do you do?

Not-Yet-Published Author: I’m a teacher. (Hesitates) And a writer.

Other Person: A writer. Really. What have you written?

Not-Yet-Published Author: (Awkwardly) Well, I’m working on a book, and I’m trying to get it published…

Other Person: (Barely resists rolling eyes)

It is the worst. People’s expressions change. They look at you like you’re worthy of pity. Like it’s kind of sad how you still have a dream. You immediately wish you hadn’t said anything about the writing, because you are a writer, damn it, and you have been one for years, but now you just feel bad about it. It’s hard to explain to a product-obsessed world that your work is legitimate, even without a finished product to show for it, and you just haven’t had your stroke of good luck yet.

I no longer have to dread that conversation. Now it goes like this:

Other Person: So what do you do?

Published Author: I’m a teacher and an author.

Other Person: An author. Really. What have you written?

Published Author: (Points to solid evidence) That book right there.

Other Person: (Clearly surprised) Oh! Wow. You know, I have an idea for a book…

So while nothing else may have changed, that has changed. I wish every hardworking writer might experience that change. It’s extremely satisfying and much easier on the old psyche.

And now, off I go into the future, whatever that may hold. Book two in the Tyme series will come out next fall, and I’m in the process of drafting book three. This year will be my seventh as a middle-school teacher. My husband and I are expecting our second child in December. Writing goes on. Life goes on.

Thank you for having me here, EMUs and friends. It has been a real privilege.

 

Megan Morrison is the author of GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL, published April 2015 by Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic. GROUNDED is the first book in the Tyme series, co-created with Ruth Virkus. It has garnered starred reviews from Kirkus and The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, as well as being named an Amazon Best Book of 2015 So Far and one of the Seattle Times’ summer reading picks. Book two in the Tyme series will be published in 2016. For more information, visit meganmorrison.net.