Author: Fern Brady

Fern Brady is the founder and CEO of Inklings Publishing. She holds multiple masters degrees and several certifications. She began her professional life as a foreign correspondent, taught for 15 years in Alief ISD, and is a full-time realtor in Houston…. read more
Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on STAAR Testing

STAAR Testing

This week was the final one before we went on Spring Break. I am looking forward to enjoying some time off from the kids. When we return, we will have four intense weeks of preparation for the STAAR Reading test. As a teacher, finding a way to make this fun and honor the learning that they actually need, beyond learning to test, can be a difficult quandary.

Monday, March 18, launches the World Cup STAAR Tournament of 2024. In each classroom, there will be five teams competing. They will be grouped by ability so that the struggle can be productive. If you put a more proficient student with very low students, then the higher level students end up doing all the work so the team wins.

Some might say having teams with high achieving kids go up against teams with struggling readers is unfair, but that’s sports for you. All teams are not created equal, and the point here is for the kids to push to the next level for the testing in a fun way. Thus, each day for 20 days leading up to D‑Day, the teams will have one Reading practice and one Revising & Editing practice to complete. Each week, teams will also have to complete two SCRs and one ECR response.

What are those, you ask? Well, an SCR is a short constructed response to a text. Essentially a single paragraph where students show they understood the question, found evidence in the text to support their answer, and can write with basic English conventions and good spelling. The ECR is an Extended Constructed Response. You might think this means an essay, and for later grade levels the requirements for paragraphing are more rigorous. However, for my 5th graders, the ECR is simply a longer paragraph which includes two reasons for their answer, two pieces of text evidence in support of their reasons, and a sentence explaining the connection between the reason and evidence. These are sandwiched between an opening statement that shows they understood the question/prompt, and a concluding statement that wraps it all up nicely.

Each week, the teams will have an opportunity to score goals. On the wall of my classroom, I have the goal posts and I have plenty of soccer balls to put in the net when they score. Each player scores a set number of goals per day depending on the grade they get on each practice, or doesn’t score as the case maybe. Additionally, a randomly selected player can score extra goals if they have done ALL the strategies we are teaching them to aid in their analysis and comprehension. One random player for the reading, and one for the revise and edit practice.

The defending champion will host the trophy at their table for the following week plus get to have an extra snack, a candy, and a special lunch provided by the teacher. Second and Third places for the week get snacks and candy prizes.

I’m thinking that for the final showdown, each homeroom can create a team and play out a real soccer game the week we take the test. The Friday of that week at recess, the two teams can go up against each other and we can see which one wins the World Cup STAAR Tournament of 2024.

Once we take the test on April 17, we can return to learning to read and write for the success of our lives. And this is exactly how I have presented this to my students, because I teach them to read and write, and then I pause to teach them how to successfully apply that in a testing genre. Wish us luck!

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Valentine’s Day Week

Valentine’s Day Week

Of course you knew I would find some heart picture with dragons in it, right?

Well this is the week we celebrate Valentine’s Day. It is a lovely holiday mostly geared towards those in romantic relationships. Though there are many stories of where the holiday came from, most agree that it was the catholic church’s attempt to replace a roman goddess of fertility celebration with something a bit more chaste.

Whatever the origins, it can be a hard time for those who are without a significant other. There are many people who spend this evening alone, and just as many reasons. Some are widowed, some divorced. Some single still looking. Seeing all the fuss about romance can be difficult when you do not have a romantic partner.

However, that doesn’t have to be the case. This is a holiday for celebrating love and love comes in many different ways. Familial love, Friendship love, love for your fellow humans, as well as self-love. I’v often thought that it would be good for us to focus more broadly (see how I worked part of the name for our blog into this;) on love in general rather than romance in particular in this month. It could be great time to promote doing acts of kindness and spending time with those you love.

Family love is just as important to celebrate on V’Day!

One way to celebrate Valentine’s Day is to go and hang out with friends who are as equally unattached as you. It could be great time to have singles events where you get to meet people, or to just go have dinner with friends. If you are part of a professional community, you could host an event where those who don’t have other plans could come out and enjoy the camaraderie of the community.

You could also hang out with your family and celebrate the love you share with them. Sure, there are other holidays specifically geared towards the celebration of family (Thanksgiving for example), but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t spend V’Day with loved ones too. And don’t forget your pets are loved and they are really the ones that return that love most unconditionally of all.

But beyond all this, if you don’t have a special someone, remember that YOU are a special someone. You can celebrate yourself. Don’t wait for someone else to send you flowers; buy your own. Want candy? Shop. Sure it is nice to get these from a partner, but you can celebrate yourself. Plus it is not a bad time to reflect on the qualities you hope to find in a good partner and assess your journey of self development, though be careful here that you don’t get into a depression.

If you do have a someone to celebrate with, enjoy and be happy. But don’t forget to send some notes of love to friends you know may be alone. When we were in school, we bought Valentine cards for everyone in our class — remember? Might be good to return to this idea of sending friends a little something when we know they are alone.

Posted on by Fern Brady - 1 Comment on Writing Kickoff for 2024

Writing Kickoff for 2024

The year of the dragon opens and I’m ready to push forward more of my universe’s stories.

Each year in January, Max Regan hosts two weekends of writing intensives. These four days, with their small and large group sessions, create an opportunity to begin the year focused on your work as a writer. To benefit from the opportunities of these weekends, you need to put aside other things that call your attention and put your identity as a writer up front and center.

The first of the intensives found me with a writing space that was completely topsy-turvy. My mom had all our rugs cleaned and to do so they had to move all my things about and unplug my stuff. They supposedly put everything back ‘where it was,’ but in reality they just moved the heavy objects to more or less the general area of the room where they thought they had originally been. Needless to say, it was a hot mess.

Arya is not happy to see the decorations go down. No more Christmas doggie treats!

So the first session, I took time to re-organize the writing space. I also had the opportunity to share my conundrum. I have one book that needs minor tweaks and is then ready to head out to copyediting — War Rising. I have another book with a significant amount of already written chapters and a clear outline toward finishing — Gortive Offensive. I also have Love’s Flame, the second book in The Dragon and His Kitten Series outlined and needing a first draft. So what should I do first?

Well, as I went through the first weekend, I made some strategic decisions. War Rising, book 2 of Thyrein’s Galactic Wall series, was the one that needed to be on my desk first. Clearly, the gap between book 1, United Vidden, and this one has been too long, even though fans of the universe got a chance to learn about Nichamir and Denipia in Love’s Call last year. That book is not the follow up of United Vidden and so War Rising is essential to move forward.

I am working on a short story for this contest. I think it’s okay to enter since I don’t have too much to do except oversee the process and the judging is blind.

So, when the second intensive weekend came along, in spite of the fact that I had not finished actually re-organizing ALL the space of the room, I decided to use the sitting area section that was open and available and begin the final read through of War Rising. I also had the opportunity to work various short stories in the groups and place them into contests. I even submitted some poetry, though I don’t really think my poetry is that great. But then if you don’t submit, the answer is always no. Maybe I’ll get a yes on some of this?

The book’s preliminary cover is drafted. Of course, tweaks are needed but I am so inspired by Verstandt’s artistry!

Anyway, this month is all about getting War Rising ready to go to copy edits. By the end of the second intensive, I was half way through the novel. Last weekend, I had to stop and put away the Christmas decor before my HOA sent us a lovely letter about it. I’m committed to pushing this book out to the next phase of production by end of January, so this weekend is the final push. Wish me luck!

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Holiday Time!

Holiday Time!

Well, we finally are on holiday. I rather like the school calendar CyFair has more than the one we used in Alief. We let out for the winter break on Thursday but we don’t return to work until Monday, January 8th. It’s nice having those days post New Year’s to get things done rather than extra days during the hectic pre-Christmas time.

I have to say I was very proud of my students this past week. Many classes were acting up and being squirely but not my kids. They were focused on finalizing work and finishing our sports book club. We had a lovely day on Thursday as we completed an art project and did some writing while listening to music and enjoying snacks.

The one bad thing about the calendar is that we don’t get a day of work before the kids arrive. January 8 is the first day back for everyone. So there’s no time to be in our rooms and prepare. The school will be open on Friday January 5th and I will go early and do a morning of cleaning out the old and being ready for the new.

For now, it is time to clear the mind of that part of my life and focus on other things. During the holidays, I will need to reorganize my work study at home. We had the carpets cleaned and so everything is just topsy-turvy in there. It will be good to go through my files and purge and organize again.

Plus, now that I have a better handle on the time I need for school work, I can plan the time allotments for Inklings, Houston Writers Guild, and my own writing time much more realistically. It has been hit or miss with that this semester and it has added stress as I toggle from one thing to another in a disjointed manner. I hope to start 2024 with a more streamlined agenda — you guys remember my post about how I do my time allotments, right?

Right now, as I write this I am enjoying some quiet holiday rest. The house is set for Christmas and it is Christmas Eve. We are hosting at our home. And, starting yesterday, we are on a Terminator Saga binge watch. Seems appropriate to choose that series this year…

This will be our final blog post for the year. Ellen, Rachel and I will be back the first week in January. Hope everyone’s holidays are full of love and laughter. See you in 2024!

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Holiday Decoration Time

Holiday Decoration Time

Added lights to our outdoor front door area this year.

Christmas is coming around again. Seems like only yesterday we were taking down the decor from the last one. Now, it’s time to deck the halls once more. In my family, we take turns hosting the celebrations. This year, everyone is coming to our house.

In previous years, I set up the tree in the entry vestibule. It’s a cathedral ceiling and open to the living room as well as visible from the double front doors. The perfect spot to showcase the lights from the street as well as enjoy them from within. And it looks super cool with our seven foot tree all decorated and the bannister behind it hosting a nice garland.

Last year’s tree in blue and silver. Went with red this year.

Yet it is not a very comfortable set up for the actual gift giving moment. The area has no seating, so we have to bring over the dinning room chairs. It’s not horrible, but it’s not as comfy. Still, it has worked up to now.

This year, I had an idea. Instead of setting up the big tree in the entry area, I set up a smaller tree in the living room. The big fellow could fit but it would looked very cramped. Instead, this little white tree makes the space look pretty and has plenty of area around it for the presents. Since the living room seating is around it, the passing out of gifts is going to be a comfortable affair.

Our spindly white tree and chimney decor.

I also added a garland and lights to the chimney to make the space extra festive this year. All in all, though not as speldorous, the new set up looks lovely in our cozy home.

As I was commencing the decoration day, I looked for my white spindly tree. I could not find it. It was not in any of the storage boxes we had in the one closet that houses all our Christmas stuff. The only small tree I could find was a solid silver statue tree. There was no way to hang any ornaments on him, but he would have to do.

This year’s staircase garland.

I set about decorating it and soon had it looking pretty nice. Then my mom woke up. I asked her what happened to the white pre-lit spindly tree we had bought way back when. She didn’t remember ever having one. At last, my dad came down and he told us it was stored in the garage. I had never considered looking there because as far as I knew only our out door reindeer were in there. Everything else, or so I thought, was in that one closet.

Upon searching the garage, I found the white tree. So, this year, I decorated two trees. The silver statue tree ended up in my father’s office and is in front of a window so there you go. Now, we have a tree that can be seen from outside like we normally did with the entry area one.

Dad’s office got a tree this year… by accident.

So, that’s the saga of this year’s Christmas decorations. By the time it was all set up, it had taken all day and my body was sore. I’m not as young as I used to be. This kind of thing didn’t cause achy muscles before. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile endeavor to have the home decked out for the holidays.

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Haunted Holidays is Coming

Haunted Holidays is Coming

Saturday, November 18, starting at 6pm, writers from Houston Writers Guild and Women in the Visual and Literary Arts will be at Brazos Bookstore for the annual Haunted Holidays Short Story Reading. This event began as the brainchild of the amazing ELLEN SEATON.

This year’s flyer, which you can enjoy here, was designed by Melody Locke. Her hauntingly beautiful artwork has given the event a whole new look. The partnership with Brazos Bookstore was originally for Haunted Winter Stories but last year the event was expanded to include any holiday tale with a haunted twist.

If you are a writer and would like to read a story that evening, there are still some spots available. You can register on the information page on the WIVLA website: https://www.wivla.org/calendar-from-mw#!event/2023/11/18/haunted-holiday-readings

The truth is that this year I will be reading a slightly revised version of the first story I ever read aloud for this event. Last year, I made up a whole new holiday for Thyrein’s Galactic Wall because… well I do love world building. But with my new full time job and my second novel waiting for me to finalize the edits from my editors I just didn’t have the time to do a fresh tale.

Original artwork from previous years.

The first year I participated in this event, it was held via zoom because we were mid-pandemic. So it will be nice to see how this winter witchy tale does to a live in person audience. Since I first read it, the characters have, as they often do, taken on a new life of their own. There’s a backstory now of the lady that leaves the cottage to the protagonist of the tale I will read next Saturday at Brazos Bookstore. I am certain that if I’m not careful this could become a whole new series of novellas. Not that I could keep them from blossoming if I sat down in earnest and wrote on it. They might well end up epic novels.

Just because I won’t write again until after the coming Thanksgiving break.

But, I must keep them where they are now — short tales. I have to get the two connected series I already have books published on out before I go off into yet another story line.

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Nanowrimo 2023

Nanowrimo 2023

On top of everything else I’m doing, I’m still one of the MLs for Nanowrimo Houston.

Well if it isn’t November already. Wow, the year does fly by. So now that we are here, it’s Nanowrimo season. November is National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is 50,000 words in 30 days.

And already, I’m behind. I didn’t start on November 1st as I have in the past. Usually, I wait up until midnight on October 31st and then I start writing my nano project. But not this year. I’m working so I couldn’t stay up that late on a school night.

So I haven’t actually started a project yet. I do have two books outlined and ready to write. Love’s Fire is book two of the Dragon and His Kitten series. I should work on that one as it is the next one that needs to release after War Rising.

This is the outline for Love’s Fire, which will be book 2 of the Dragon and His Kitten series.

Which of course brings me to the fact that War Rising, book two of the Thyrein’s Galactic Wall main line series, is waiting for the final edits. Max Regan, editor extraordinaire, has sent me the feedback and I need to make the final tweaks so it can go off to copy editing. AND I need to start working with my designer on a cover for it.

But that won’t do for Nano. You can’t successfully complete 50,000 words on a revision draft, least of all if it is pretty ready to go. SO, Love’s Fire is waiting for me. Then again so is Gortive Offensive.

Ah, yes. That was supposed to be book 2 for Thyrein’s Galactic Wall and the sequel to United Vidden, but the preparations for war took so many words (nearly 127,000) that we had to cut it off and create War Rising.

Here is the outline for Gortive Offensive. This will be book 3 of Thyrein’s Galactic Wall series of which United Vidden is book one.

I have Gortive Offensive mapped out as well. To be honest, I even have a nice start on it because of the chapters that didn’t make it to War Rising which had already been written and which are being shifted to GO, which is now book three.

So, as this weekend, the first in November, kicks off and I host my first write ins, which book will I work on? I honestly don’t know. I guess when I sit down later tonight during the first write in I’ll see which one decides to speak to me.

All in all, this is a good moment for me. I’ve been so swamped with keeping Inklings going and full time teaching, not to mention Authorpalooza conference and the release of the Journey into Art volume for Houston Writers Guild and Women in the Visual and Literary Arts, that I haven’t written anything since August. It will be lovely to get myself back into my projects and back to my writing soul.

Posted on by Fern Brady - 1 Comment on Author’s Professional Growth

Author’s Professional Growth

As a writer, it is important to stay abreast of what is happening in the publishing industry. Many things have changed and when you are serious about having a career as an author, you must stay informed. Author conferences are a wonderful place to network and learn about what is happening in this vibrant industry.

The Houston Writers Guild is hosting an in person conference the weekend of October 6–8, 2023. There will be many amazing sessions to select from as well as lunch as a group on Saturday. Here’s a few things the Guild is offering this fall:

The venue is both comfortable and ideally located for a wonderful view of Houston.

The conference venue is the beautiful Hilton Houston Plaza/Medical Center Hotel located at 6633 Travis Street I Houston, TX 77030  Friday night kicks off the weekend with a session on how to use anthology and journal publications to build your author platform followed by the celebration of the winners of the Journey Into Art short story contest. The compiled anthology features the authors that won this contest sponsored in collaboration with Women in the Visual and Literary Arts as well as local publishing house, Inklings Publishing. (yes my company)

Saturday is the main day and starts with a powerhouse keynote by renowned fantasy author Kevin J Anderson. Sessions offered during the day include: Tips to being a freelance author; legal issues for authors; several sessions on different types of editors and when you need which; using writing to bolster your personal and professional life; a magnificent panel on writing diversity into your books; effective kickstarter campaigns; writing for radio; marketing tips for authors; using critique groups effectively; and even an old-style Samurai Renga Poetry competition.

Sunday the weekend closes with a wonderful session by Kevin J Anderson on how to maximize your productivity.

In addition to the presentations, the conference offers add ons such as pitch sessions with agents and aquisition editors of small presses looking for new voices. Plus, an opportunity to have a one-on-one session with a social media expert. Aimee Ravichandran of Abundantly Social is an award winning influencer who can help authors expand their reach and build audience. This is a golden chance to have her look at your platform and give you specific tips to improving your reach.

If you are an author, I strongly encourage you to check out this conference. It will be a great event and offers many oppotunties for authors to grow professionally. Here’s the link to the website for a more complete description of the offerings as well as a chance to get your tickets. While you are there, consider joining the Houston Writers Guild. It is a volunteer run organization that truly seeks to help ALL authors succeed by offering many different programs. You can check out the membership benefits at the link below.

Link to conference information:

https://www.houstonwritersguild.org/writersroom

Membership Page for HWG:

https://www.houstonwritersguild.org/membership

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Shifting Gears

Shifting Gears

An actual picture of me recalibrating my carefully managed life. LOL

There are moments in life when you need to stop and assess. Life has a way of pushing you forward, the ebb and flow of it moving you in an inertia that never stops. If you are not purposeful, you end up living life by default rather than by design.

In order to be purposeful, you need to intentionally build in the habit of stopping and assessing. There are some good moments in the year for doing this that seem almost built in for it. The end of the year and the beginning of a new one in December-January is one good moment for introspection. Though the holiday season can be a very emotional time as well as very busy for people with families, it can be difficult to carve out time to spend on evaluating how your life is going, where it’s going, and what if anything might need to change. Never-the-less, taking a few days to stop and see what the year that is closing results are and planning some goals for the one that is opening is a good habit to get into.

My new classroom. Excited to be back on the front lines of learning.

Another moment for introspection is the summer which can be a time to refresh and evaluate, especially for those who work in education or who have kids. A school year ending, and then a few months later, a new one starting can provide a great moment to stop and evaluate things.

For me, the end of this school year brought an awareness of many things that needed to be recalibrated in my life. The fiasco that occurred with the parents that went against Writers In The Schools, and me being caught in the cross hairs, brought into my awareness the reality of my work with WITS. The fact is, I was devouring what amounted to a full time job, in terms of hours on campus due to class schedules, while not actually being paid for all those hours. Because the program pays only for the hours you teach, the down time in between when you can’t go anywhere else or really do much else is unpaid.

Still needs a lot of work, especially decorative pieces for my walls, but it’s getting there.

Looking at the economic growth Inklings Publishing has made from the set backs of the pandemic these past three years has made me very happy. Yet, as I look at the new marketing options before us, I realize that continuing to take a salary from the company might not be the best option. I can take that money and invest it into growing it with new avenues of advertising and marketing.

So, I made the decision this summer to apply for a full time teaching position. I will basically be spending the same amount of time in a school, only this time I’ll be working the whole time and getting paid a full salary with benefits. This frees up my salary with Inklings to be used to grow the company. Some might argue against reinvesting my pay from the company. But, I have found, that this path worked well for us in the beginning years, when I did not pay myself and lived off of my other work.

Hmmm. Gotta think of some anchor charts and displays.

Am I going to be exhausted? Yes. But then again that’s not really new. Will I need to redo my handy-dandy time budget so I can stay balanced and get my writing out within the scope of time I have been planning? Absolutely. If you don’t know about my planning process, check out some of my first blog posts I did here. I laid it out for anyone who wants to follow it.

Back to School Time is Here!

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on A Writers Notebook

A Writers Notebook

Well, it is time once more to start a new notebook. A Writer’s Notebook is a term coined by Ralph Fletcher. In his book by that same name, he describes how authors all have notebooks in which they collect seeds for possible writing pieces. Of course, it also includes writing pieces and design documents.

When I was young, I started the habit of creating a collage for my writers notebooks. Over the years, it has been fun to decorate the covers of my notebooks. It has also been a great way to see, in part, my evolution.

Some of my oldest notebooks are covered in pictures of movie stars. Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, and Denzel Washington have made many cameos on my covers. Also found there are the Prince of Monaco as well as King Felipe of Spain. Needless to say, there are only hot males. No ladies.

If you look at covers of those notebooks that are after I had married, you will find that there are no more hot males. And while there are significant differences across time in what appealed to me, what images showed up on these covers, there are some constants.

Maleficent is always there. I adore that character. She is the epitome of a strong confident woman. Yes. She’s evil. But she knows who she is and embraces herself fully. Naturally, I’m referencing the cartoon movie and not the live actions.

Other images that have remained across the years included: Barbie, Hello Kitty, dogs and wolves, sharks, and dragons. Some newer images that have come along in more recent years include swords and cigar rings. I love putting the various rings of the cigars I smoke on my covers. Since I like a variety of cigars, the rings are a kaleidoscope of colors and brands.

Recently, I have moved from composition notebooks to the cute notebooks that you can buy in stores. Although these already have cool designs, I still add a bit of my own flavor on the covers judiciously and on the inside flaps. Some that are just solid colors I can decorate fully.

Another new development is sticky notes. I’ve started labeling the items within the pages with sticky note tabs. This came about because I was sure I had already written the birth scene of Verena’s son but I couldn’t find a computer file with it. So I considered I might have written it by hand and it could be in a notebook. Since I was already scanning them for content, I stated tabbing the general topics and pieces so in future it would be easier to find what I might be looking for.

If you are a writer and have some amazing writers notebooks, I would love to hear from you. Feel free to post on Fern Brady, Author on Facebook some of yours notebooks and let me know how you use this tool. Even if you are not an author, and just enjoy journaling, or scrapbooking, please share some of your wonderful creations with me. https://www.facebook.com/fernbradyauthor