White desk with pink notebook, roses, keyboard, and gold paperclips that Francesca Varela uses to write environmental fiction

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  • Connecting with Cottonwood Trees

    2–3 minutes

    I admit it. I ate leaves at recess. Okay, I chewed on them and spit them out afterward, but, to a third grader, that counted as eating. My best friend and I gathered browning leaves from the grass and took large, savage bites out of them, enjoying the rough, papery texture and the bitter crunch. They could

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  • The Path To Publishing: How I Became a Published Author

    2–3 minutes

    I decided what I would do with my life on a fall afternoon thirteen years ago. I was slouched over the thin plastic desk of my third-grade classroom, my hand tight from grasping my pencil. Behind the single sheet of paper provided for the assignment I had stapled four more; there was just too much

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Learn more about Francesca Varela's novels