'Dan, Time Boy'

I promised to let you know how the deadline went for writing Dan Time Boy. Just today, the last day of September, I finished the story, basically, from beginning to end. I'm glad to have it finished, basically, because now I can concentrate on a few other jobs around house.

Now comes the next process.

First Shirley reads it looking for typos, awkward stuff and a general read-through to see if she 'gets' what I'm trying to do.

Second, if I feel good about it, I may 'test-drive the story with some students of the age it is meant to appeal to. The trick is to find students who are critical thinkers and willing to give feedback beyond "I like it."

Third, (and ongoing) as I think of little bits and pieces to put into it, I will add them in. In this story, Dan will imagine amusing newspaper headlines as different events happen. I don't have them all in yet because I haven't thought of them all yet.

Fourth, and hopefully not prematurely, I will send an inquiry letter to the publishers I think may be interested. I don't want to create a bad impression so everything I send should be as complete as I can make it.

Here's another sample from Dan Time Boy;

After recess, things settled down in class. Miss B. played a Bill Nye the Science Guy video on the Smart Board to introduce a new science topic. The lights in the classroom were off and the room was quite dark, but Dan could see Axel and Wolfgang off to the side whispering and looking at Charlie.
Dan went to work again.
When he was finished there was a scream. Actually two screams.
“Aaaah!” Wolfgang shouted, “Somebody touched me!”
Miss B. sighed, paused the Smart Board, and turned on the classroom lights.
Everyone looked at the two boys who were out of their seats, staring at each other.
Axel growled, “You pervert, how come you’re wearing my shirt?”
“But you’re wearing MY shirt!” howled Wolfgang. Sure enough the two boys were suddenly and unexpectedly wearing each other’s shirts.
The rest of the class started tittering.
Dan had a special grin on his face as the; “I’m going crazy, and “this is too weird” comments from the boys died down.
Boys and girls alike grinned at the two bullies’ red faces.
“What were they doing in the dark?” whispered a girl.
“This place is haunted...” is all Wolfgang could say.
Finally, Miss B. sent them to the washroom to change.
Miss B. was looking like she needed a weekend already and it was only Monday.
Of course Dan had stopped time, wrestled them out of their shirts, switched them and buttoned the others’ shirts up again, and dragged them back into their desks in the same pose they had begun with. The effort took a long time but it was worth it.