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QUEENIE IN SEVEN MOVES — Review & Giveaway

Thought for the Day: “Think of your main characters as dinner guests. Would your friends want to spend ten hours with the characters you’ve created? Your characters can be lovable, or they can be evil, but they'd better be compelling.”~ Po Bronson ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: I posted an article by Jan Fields… Continue reading QUEENIE IN SEVEN MOVES — Review & Giveaway

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THE ACCIDENTAL STOWAWAY — Review & Giveaway

Thought for the Day: “The business of the poet and the novelist is to show the sorriness underlying the grandest things and the grandeur underlying the sorriest things.” ~Thomas Hardy ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Every once in a while, I struggle through reading a book that has an unlikeable character at the center… Continue reading THE ACCIDENTAL STOWAWAY — Review & Giveaway

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SAM — Review & Giveaway

Thought for the Day: "The writer must have a good imagination to begin with, but the imagination has to be muscular, which means it must be exercised in a disciplined way, day in and day out, by writing, failing, succeeding and revising."
 ~ Stephen King ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: I keep saying one… Continue reading SAM — Review & Giveaway

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NOT LUCILLE — Review & Giveaway

Thought for the Day: "The characters in my novels are my own unrealized possibilities. That is why I am equally fond of them all and equally horrified by them. Each one has crossed a border that I myself have circumvented."
 ~  Milan Kundera ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Lisa Hall-Wilson has a great post… Continue reading NOT LUCILLE — Review & Giveaway

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ONE WRONG STEP — Review

Thought for the Day: “The difference between the ‘almost right’ word and the ‘right’ word is really a large matter … ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”~ Mark Twain ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: I'm always interested when I see a post about villains. HERE Natalie Hart, writing for Writer… Continue reading ONE WRONG STEP — Review

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THE ABILENE KID: DEAD MAN’S HAND — Review

Thought for the Day: "Try to get your characters into interesting trouble. Allow your characters to misbehave. Let them stay out after 11."
 ~ Charles Baxter ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Humor in kids’ stories is always a great element to add. HERE is a terrific post by John Bladek on Adding Humor to… Continue reading THE ABILENE KID: DEAD MAN’S HAND — Review

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CLARICE BEAN, SMILE — Review & Giveaway

Thought for the Day: "Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of."
 ~ Kurt Vonnegut ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: I think we all tend to focus on plot, but HERE… Continue reading CLARICE BEAN, SMILE — Review & Giveaway

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A DAY WITH MOUSSE — Review

Thought for the Day: "An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this."
 ~ Stephen King ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: I will meet with my critique group next week. There is always a little trepidation for me when… Continue reading A DAY WITH MOUSSE — Review

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ORRIS AND TIMBLE LOST AND FOUND & MERCY WATSON IS MISSING! — Reviews

Thought for the Day: Writing is rewriting. A writer must learn to deepen characters, trim writing, intensify scenes. To fall in love with the first draft to the point where one cannot change it is to greatly enhance the prospects of never publishing. ~ Richard North Patterson ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Good posts… Continue reading ORRIS AND TIMBLE LOST AND FOUND & MERCY WATSON IS MISSING! — Reviews

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OCTOPUS MOON — Review & Giveaway

Thought for the Day: "If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes."
~ Mickey Spillane ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Robbie Cheadle has written a most interesting post about symbolism HERE on… Continue reading OCTOPUS MOON — Review & Giveaway