Yoga and I

               I took my first yoga class at the Y on Wednesday.  People are probably laughing at the thought, but it was great.  It somehow combines exercise and relaxation.  When you are finished your muscles feel challenged but not beaten up.  I also watched a video about establing Feng Shui in a room.  I like Yoga but I can't say much for the whole Feng Shui thing.

               I sent an e-mail to a literary agency today.  I researched in Jeff Herman's book, chose an agency in NYC and an agent who seemed like she might be open to my kind of writing.  But who knows?  Is my letter too long?  Is it too informal?  Does it tell too much of the story or not enough?  Still it's another step, perhaps a misstep (is that spelled correctly?) but a step nonetheless.  Here's the letter for my blog readers to peruse:

I have written a young adult novel called TISHA AND THE GIANT.  It is the story of Tisha Olsen, a high school golden girl.  She is sweet-natured, attractive, has supportive parents, is a really good soccer player, does well in school, blogs, and has a boyfriend she absolutely adores.  But toward the end of her junior year, things start to come apart for Tisha.  In the spring, her mom leaves Tisha and her father, and Tisha, because of her naivete and simple faith in the security and goodness of her life, never saw the signs that led up to it.  In July, she is injured in a summer league game, so her senior soccer season is out.  Then a few days into her senior year, her boyfriend Billy decides he’s interested in a beautiful freshman.  All that was constant in Tisha’s life, save for her friends Becky and Sandra, seems to be gone.

Someone else who cares tremendously for Tisha is watching her.  Kevin Conley is a 10th grader with a super crush on Tish.  When he sees her in the hall or on the sidelines at soccer games, Kevin is thrilled, and when Tisha becomes his math tutor, he is overjoyed.  But Kevin also worries about her, because on the first Friday of the school year, as he watches Tisha recording statistics on the side of the soccer field, he realizes someone else is watching her, too.  A big bear of a man with a snarl for an expression constantly has his eyes on Tisha.  Kevin is short and not too strong.  He also isn’t a very good student, but he is brave and imaginative.  At  home, where he has to deal with an abusive father, Kevin has created an alter ego--a superhero called the Giant. Knowing that the big beast of a man is a danger to Tisha, Kevin decides that the Giant must be her protector.

As September progresses, Tisha works to put her troubles aside, become a stronger person, and maybe even do a little self-reivention.  Kevin the GIant grows more mature and more determined as he watches out for his secret friend.  Only the Lump never changes as he moves inexorably toward a place where he can do to Tisha what he feels he must do.  Near the novel’s conclusion, the superheroic Giant must do battle with the Lump so Tisha will be safe.

I tried to deal with several themes in this YA novel including friendship, family issues, and the tremendous difficutlies that teenagers, especially girls, face growing up.  I have spent virtually all my adult life working with and spending time with teenagers,;in fact, they’re probaby my favorite people.  I believe the teens who live in the novel TISHA AND THE GIANT are like the ones I have a taught and known well over the years, bright, caring, and awfully vulnerable.

When I was teaching, I was always writing, but I never became fully involved until I became computer adept and was able to save and store and rewrite instantaneously.  Since then I have written nine full-length plays for high school and community theatre, all of which have been successfully produced.  In both 2001 and 2003, I  won the SYRACUSE POST STANDARD’s short fiction contest.  I attended two Highlights Foundation Workshops in Honesdale, Pa, where I worked with YA novelist Rich Wallace.

I write both a lot and passionately.  I currently have 3 completed YA novel manuscripts, and parts of 2 others, and have never attempted to market them.  I am really in need of representation and wonder if you might consider reading a bit of or a lot of TISHA AND THE GIANT.

Yours truly,

Greg Ellstrom