“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.” ~ Anna Quindlen
Thought for the Day: “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”~ J. K. Rowling ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Siblings are often a big part of middle-grade fiction, so… Continue reading MERCY WATSON IS MISSING — Review
Thought for the Day: “Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.”~ William Faulkner ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: It’s time to query. HERE is a great post from Rebecca Moody posting on Writer’s Rumpus with Evergreen Advice for Entering the Query Trenches.… Continue reading ALL THE SMALL WONDERFUL THINGS — Review
Thought for the Day: "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”~ Colin Powell ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Ever heard the term “implied dialogue?” I don’t think I had, so when I saw the post HERE from Louise Harnby, I was intrigued. This… Continue reading UP FOR GRABS — Review
Thought for the Day: “The key to all story endings is to give the audience what it wants, but not in the way it expects.”~ William Goldman ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Pacing is something, as writers, we need to think about. If we manage pacing well, it can make a world of difference… Continue reading THE RED PENCIL — Review
Thought for the Day: “You have to hold your audience in writing to the very end -- much more than in talking, when people have to be polite and listen to you.”~ Brenda Ueland, writer ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: We all want our characters to be truly well-rounded. HERE Deborah-Zehna Adams has the… Continue reading SOUTHPAW SULLY — Review
Thought for the Day: You think your pains and heartbreaks are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who have ever been alive.~ James… Continue reading CALL THE PUFFINS! — Review
Thought for the Day: “Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”~ Louisa May Alcott ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: We often hear editors, agents, and instructors talk… Continue reading KIDS CAN COOK ANYTHING! — Review
Thought for the Day: "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist." ~ Pablo Picasso ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Characters just cannot be boring if you intend to keep readers engaged. HERE Amy Wilson has a really good (and fun!) post on Boring Characters at Good Story Company.… Continue reading WHEN SEA BECOMES SKY — Review
Thought for the Day: “Poems are short storieswith punctuation disorders”~ Tom Cassidy ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Every novel is made up of a lot of scenes, and we want our scenes to be strong and sharp. HERE K. M. Weiland has a great post on scenes: An Intuitive 4-Step Process for Creating Vibrant Scene Structure.… Continue reading BEHOLD OUR MAGICAL GARDEN: POEMS FRESH FROM A SCHOOL GARDEN and COUNTING IN DOG YEARS AND OTHER SASSY MATH POEMS — Reviews
Thought for the Day: “When it comes to people - don’t write about who you know, but what you know of human nature.”~ Candace Bushnell ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: In my early days of writing, I formed a critique group. One of the writers insisted that all writing had to be in a… Continue reading ARTEMIS SPARKE AND THE SOUND SEEKERS BRIGADE — Review
Rosi Hollinbeck 