Thanks, Solution, and Answer

Thanks for responding, guys! Between FB, the comments here, and people talking to me in person, about 15 of you read fairly regularly. That's actually more than I thought! Yay! Okay, no more narcissism than necessary from now on. Haha!

Okay, here's what I'm thinking with the post about my students . . . I will ask their permission to put pictures on here of a performance we have coming up fairly soon, and I will blog about that. If they respond well, and don't seem too freaked out, I may request to do another post that talks about them more personally (with code names, of course) at a later date.

Finally, I talked to Brandon about posting my first chapter. Apparently, he thinks it's pretty good because he is concerned about it not being copyrighted. So, here is what I will do . . . if you don't think I have your email address, please send me something from your email address, and I will reply with the first chapter. My email is keastemom@live.com. (No "r" in "keaster.") Please allow me to trouble you with a couple of quick guidelines for the critiquing the chapter--

1) I need to know how quickly you become interested. Give me an estimation of how far in you are when that happens.

2) Do you like the main character? Try not to look at her as me. I'm not sure whether her name will stay "Melissa" or if I will change it. As this book is based largely on biographical events, the character is more easily accessible with my name for now. That may change later, and the character may take a new direction that is very NOT me.

3) Do you empathize at all with any of the characters? Which ones? How so?

4) Do you feel that clear themes are being established?

5) Is anything confusing? Does anything need further explanation?

6) When you are finished, do you care to read more?

7) Feel free to add any additional comments.

Here are some don'ts:

1) Don't spare my feelings. I really need to know the answers to the questions above.

2) Unless you see a blatant error, don't worry about correcting my grammar or spelling. This is a rough draft, and I know it. Now you know it. However, if something is completely off, feel free to tell me. I just don't need to know every single comma mistake.

3)Please don't feel like you have to keep reading if you hate it.

I'm glad that you are all so interested. I hope you enjoy it, and that you view it as time well spent. Thanks!