Next Potato

I guess I am 6th potato at this point and very honored to be included in "One Potato...Ten."  This is my first attempt at blogging, and I'm more than a little intimidated.

My name is Edie Hemingway.  No relation to Ernest, as Hemingway is my married name, but E. Hemingway is not a bad name for a writer to have.  I first decided to be an author back in 4th grade when I won a writing contest, but over the years writing often took a back seat to raising two children, teaching, owning and operating a frozen yogurt business, working in college admissions, etc.  In 1996, my first middle grade novel, Broken Drum, co-authored with my friend, Jacqueline Shields, was published by White Mane Publishing Co., Inc.  And in 2000 our second co-authored book, Rebel Hart, was published.  Both Civil War novels have been licensed by Scholastic Book Fairs in the past 2 years (Broken Drum now titled Drums of War) and have enjoyed new lives in classrooms across the country--very exciting!

Determined to continue my writing career on my own, I enrolled in the Spalding University MFA program, where I met Stephanie Bodeen, our founding potato, and Betsy Woods, another one of our potatoes.  My creative thesis, Road to Tater Hill, is under contract with Delacorte Press/ Random House and will be released in September 2009.  Another result of the MFA program is my discovery of a love of teaching creative writing.  I teach classes at two local community colleges in Maryland and also offer monthly workshops at Misty Hill Lodge, my 1930s logcabin home on Braddock Mountain near Frederick, MD.  When I'm not teaching, I enjoy kayaking with my family and learning to play the mountain dulcimer.

I especially like the "potato" theme of our group because of its connection to the title of my book.  "Far in the distance I spotted Tater Hill, the one bare mountain with a rounded top, like a peeled potato." You can visit my website at www.ediehemingway.com.