I'm amazed at how much fun I'm having writing fiction.
Longtime readers of this blog (grandma) will recall that I often whine about the difficulties of writing. I've likened it to digging ditches. I've written at least a half dozen posts about how I have to trick myself into writing everyday.
But since I've started this book, I can't wait to get back to it each morning. And when I'm at it, I stay at it. And sometimes I even come back to it in the afternoon, which I almost never did before.
Plus, when I'm not writing, I'm thinking about it. Playing around ideas. Jotting notes down in my journal.
Why did I put this off for so long?
(I've got 19 pages written so far. About a tenth of the way through, I figure.)
A Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year
A Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year
One of Kansas City Star's 100 Noteworthy Books of the Year
Winner of the William Rockhill Nelson Award for Nonfiction
Winner of the Harry Chapin Media Award
. . .
Forget the nerdy reputation that debate has. Instead think of a scenario as exciting as a sports game with high stakes like triumphing over racism. bad politics and abject poverty... An important, thoughtful and provocative look at race and class in America.
- The Boston Globe
Joe Miller's enthusiasm is infectious and the plot creates the suspense of a good courtroom thriller.
- Entertainment Weekly
The minute I finished Joe Miller's Cross-X, I held the book out in front of me -- amazed, rapturous, and hopeful... Miller's mesmerizing, vivid accounts of the debates will leave you crouched in your seat, holding your breath... An incredibly powerful, daringly hopeful book.
- Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Irresistible... Miller begins breezily but is soon deeply invested in the Central squad's mission to not only master the debate game on its own terms but revolutionize it with flashes of poetry and hip-hop wordplay... If all these kids could run things, Miller implies, imagine what could get done.
- Elle
2 comments:
Hi Joe,
I noticed that you also commented on the Ed Marquez story on TKC. I think the real story will get lost in the way Tony paints it as a black v Latino thing...don't you think it's really strange that two weeks after this:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/1595447.html
Ed is fired? I don't know if you write about local school pieces anymore for the downtowner, but this AND the fact that Debbie McGill (Helen Ragsdale's daughter) is still principal at Central despite the unsafe environment and her lack of full credentials to be a principal...always liked your work, so thought I'd pass it along...
I don't know, Joe. You're a natural. I can't wait to read it.
Fiction is so much more true than non-fiction.
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