April Davila - Author
Preparing to move has gotten the better of me. All I want to do is work on my novel. It is coming along very well, better than it has in a long time, and yet, life continues. Lunches need to be made, bedtime stories told, appointments attended, and … [Continue reading] about No Need to Ask
When I started my novel, my thesis advisor suggested I check out a book called Winter's Bone. This was back before it was a movie with the impeccable Jennifer Lawrence staring as the main character, Ree. (Yes, I've been working on this novel for a … [Continue reading] about Reverse Engineering a Story
Last week I got feedback from my class on my new opening pages. When I finished the last draft of my story, I asked a former teacher of mine, Rita Williams, to give it a read. Her biggest note was that she felt I came into the story too late. In … [Continue reading] about Feedback on my New Opening
The kids' school tagged a teacher-development day onto this three-day weekend to make it a whopping four-day extravaganza. So I'm sitting here, in the airport, on a Tuesday, after four fantastic days in Northern California, with mixed feelings about … [Continue reading] about Creative Community
I mentioned a while back that I was planning to take a UCLA fiction writing course, Novel IV. My motivations were twofold. First, I really enjoy getting know local writers and I figured an advanced course would have some interesting people in it. … [Continue reading] about Always Learning
For the past four years, I have been getting up at 5am to write. It was a tough transition at first, getting up that early, but between working full-time, taking care of two kids, and occasionally exercising, it just ended up being the easiest time … [Continue reading] about Defending My Writing Time
Daniel was asleep when I got home last night. I snuck into bed and curled up beside him. At about 1 in the morning he rolled over and asked me what I was doing on March 4th. I think I groaned something like "shut up," because really, 1 in the morning … [Continue reading] about We Got The House!