About

I’ve been writing fiction since I could hold a pen in my hand. My earliest works were unintelligible scribbles from before I learned the alphabet. The first story I remember writing in language people could actually read was in a first grade homework journal.

I was supposed to write about real things: what I had for breakfast, when I did homework or what I did for play.  The teacher was not happy to read about a boy who put on a cape, jumped off of a garage, and flew. I wish I still had that, but my mom only saved  select batch of artifacts from my childhood. That notebook wasn’t one of them,

From first grade until the fall semester of 2014, writing and I had an inconsistent relationship. We would meet every day for a few months, that would decline to a few days a week, and then we go months without interacting at all. Graduate School and 20+ page essay assignments were often were responsible for my lack of productivity in the fiction department.

Now, I teach writing at Northern Essex Community College and I write every day. My first novel, Power Surge, was published by NineStar Press on October 1st, 2018. The sequel will be out Spring 2020 and  an unrelated novel, Earth Reclaimed, will be published in 2021. I’m getting my first middle grade novel ready to query.

Check out my short fiction for sale on amazon.  Find me on Twitter @shatteredsmooth for bite size thoughts on publishing, writing, cats, dogs, mental health, and teaching.

Adjunct Thoughts

The term adjunct is a synonym for “extra.” It’s also the term used to define the increasing number of part-time faculty members teaching at colleges. In some cases, these adjunct or extra positions out number the full-time, tenure track ones. I teach at a school where are adjuncts are the majority and can’t help but snicker when I think of the terms origin.

The blog is a mix of articles about teaching in high-ed, craft essays focused on fiction writing, and narratives of my journey through the publishing industry. Occasionally, I’ll mix in a recipe or gardening related how-to piece, but usually, there is some connection writing.

In some ways, these things are “extras.” I don’t make much money off of writing, so right now, it is an “extra” or side-job even though it takes up more time than to almost everything else in my life.

There is an analogy in there somewhere.

The Book Reviews

Most of my book reviews are from the point of view as a writer. I comment on things like plot, character, voice and endings with two goals in mind:

1. Help readers determine whether or not they want to read the book
2. Explore what I and other writers can learn about our craft by studying that novel.

Advertising

I do not sell ad space on my site.

However, after looking at my website from someone else’s computer and seeing that WordPress was posting their own adds, I upgraded to the paid version. To try and cover some of the cost, I joined Amazon’s affiliate program. FWhen I post links to books on Amazon, they are connected to my affiliate account. If you click on the link and buy the book, I will get a small commission.

So, if you see something like the image below, or linked text a long the lines of “read a sample of the ebook” click on it, and buy it, I will get a tiny percent of the sale.

© 2018 Sara Codair