The Apprentice

Yesterday I did a virtual visit with students at the Miquon School; they’d all read Dragons in a Bag and The Dragon Thief and wanted to know when the third book would come out. I told them about publishers giving authors the thumbs up or thumbs down on new stories, and how Random House indicated they don’t want to continue the dragon series. The kids were outraged, of course, but I assured them that my agent was looking for another publisher and that I was prepared to publish the rest of the series myself. One boy, Alex, insisted that I forget about finding another publisher and just do the book myself. Sound advice! It would be interesting to see whether fans of the first two books would be willing to buy an indie title because it hasn’t worked in reverse—those who love the dragon stories don’t seem willing to take a chance on the self-published books, even though they also feature mythical creatures and a racially diverse cast of kids. For now I’m sharing the summary I developed for The Witch’s Apprentice, the next book in the series. Kids give it the thumbs up…

Sis was wrong.

Everybody knows it, but nobody wants to admit that the Guardian of Palmara—the realm of magic—made a mistake. Jaxon figures folks are probably afraid of making Sis mad—and he doesn’t blame them. He saw Sis turn into a scary dragon once before! But someone has to tell the truth. And the truth is, Brooklyn needs magic.

Sis thought all the magical creatures belonged with her in Palmara. But since Sis crossed into their world to reclaim the dragon that Kavita stole, Brooklyn has changed. Instead of sweltering summer heat, the weather has been unseasonably cold. Mama has developed a mysterious allergy, and Kenny and Vikram stopped speaking to each other after having a silly argument. Ma has been a witch her whole life but now she can’t even remember simple spells. She gave Jaxon her witch’s manual, but he can’t read it because the ink is disappearing from every page! How will Jaxon become Ma’s apprentice if no one shows him how?

Ma finally summons her sister witches to help complete Jaxon’s training. But the coven soon faces a more serious crisis—Blue is back and he’s suing Sis! Jaxon has been called to testify before the Supreme Council. Jax knows Blue can’t be trusted, but what if he’s right? What if the Guardian’s desire to keep the dragons safe puts everyone else in danger?

Lately I’ve been waking up to the sound of crows cawing in the pine trees outside my window. The seed keeps disappearing from my feeder but I haven’t seen any birds out back. I guess I imagined “country life” would include flocks of colorful songbirds, but Lancaster is still a city. Last week while I was filling the feeder I did see a heron in a neighbor’s yard, but I haven’t seen any raccoons prowling at night. There aren’t even any mice in this old Victorian house! Last night I watched a reality show about a group of English artisans who tried to recreate the arts & crafts guilds of the Victorian era. They lived in a manor house out in the country and each week were given an assignment: to recreate an object (china, wallpaper, a clock, curtains, furniture, tiles, a weathervane) using only the tools available in the 1890s. One young woman was unsure of herself and felt like an imposter, but by the end of the series she didn’t want to go home! She used embroidery to help manage her anxiety and made some beautiful things with her fellow craftspeople. Some artists thrive in isolation but you never know how you might create differently if you were forced to share space and tasks with others. Would I be a different writer if I lived in a bigger city or farther out in the country? We had an intimate but rich conversation in DC last week, and the librarians we met have since invited me and Bre to be guests on their podcast. Things like that don’t happen here in Lancaster; there’s no Black-owned bookstore, no librarians of color who want to talk about misogynoir and gender disparities in the Black community. But I have connected with some local teen poets and hope to film them reading my poetry next month. I’ve written about medieval guilds before but wonder if I could commit to a group that had a mission and guidelines about how and why to create. Networking is hard for me, so joining a collective or guild would probably help. But I’m not a joiner and quickly feel oppressed by the demands that come with belonging to any organization. I just had to update a bio for a publisher and they had three professional associations listed under “memberships.” Now I’m down to one. I’m reading a book about utopian communities and my ideal society would invest in artists—maybe not isolating them from the rest of society, but giving them time and resources to simply create. Artists still create even when they don’t have those things, but what would art look like *without* so much needless suffering? I’ve been asked to write an essay about poetry and protest—what can Black women artists teach us about revolution? I’ve gathered a few Audre Lorde quotes and know I want to start with Nikki Giovanni’s “For Saundra.” Just sent Prof. Giovanni a copy of Say Her Name, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with educators in Seattle next week when I attend a #BlackLivesMatterAtSchool meeting. I guess I should see if there’s a chapter here in Lancaster, but if there is…would I join?

So far I’m not upholding my resolution to travel less. After Seattle and Toronto, I’ll be heading to Los Angeles next month. Then I’ve been invited to speak at a college in Montreal and in March there are trips to MA and TX. Maybe I only dream of living out in the country because I think it would help me say no to these endless requests to travel. Maybe working in isolation makes me crave human connection, and that’s why I keep saying yes to speaking gigs. Maybe traveling all the time and looking at condos in Chicago is just a way of not being fully present in my life. Whatever the answer, I’ve got two days to write before getting on the plane so it’s time to get back to work!