PIZZA AND PROOFREADING

I finished! At least for this round. This is the second time my story will go to Christy.

I could not have done it without my proofreaders, Jerry and Shannon, and a sausage and pepperoni pizza. It was like dominoes. I proofed a few chapters, handed them to Jerry, and he passed them on to Shannon. Do other writers bribe their family members with pizza?

All summer I've relied on Shannon's advice. She's read a few chapters at a time and I've listen to her suggestions. Today she said she was glad to finally read from the first page to the last. It helped her see how all the threads came together and how the story unfolded.

There have been times this story has parallelled my life. It is a story of gifts and how we use them. This summer I started to doubt mine. I started to think I'd forgotten how to write a book. I'd lost my confidence. But just as my characters learned, I too learned, our gifts never leave us.