“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: "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
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
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
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
Thought for the Day: “Character is destiny. Change, growing from within and forced from without, is the mainspring of character development.”~ Rita Mae Brown ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: When I read wish lists from editors and agents looking for middle-grade books, the word "adventure" is almost always there. HERE is a good article… Continue reading THE FRINDLE FILES — Review
Thought for the Day: "Keep working on a plan. Make no little plans. Make the biggest you can think of, and spend the rest of your life carrying it out."~ Harry S. Truman ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: We all know how important the openings of our stories are. HERE is a good article… Continue reading IN THE SHADOW OF SUNRISE — Review
Thought for the Day: "If writing is thinking and discovery and selection and order and meaning, it is also awe and reverence and mystery and magic." ~ Toni Morrison ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Voice, voice, voice—that elusive characteristic of writing comes up so often. HERE is an excellent post from Lydia Netzer with… Continue reading ELSETIME — Review & Giveaway
Thought for the Day: “Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed.” ~ G.K. Chesterton ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: We all have bad habits, including crutch words we sprinkle freely throughout our manuscripts. HERE is a good… Continue reading SAFE HARBOR — Review
Thought for the Day: "Mostly it's lies, writing novels. You set out to tell an untrue story and you try to make it believable, even to yourself. Which calls for details; any good lie does." ~ Anne Tyler ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Our characters have to have relationships with other characters. HERE is… Continue reading THE GIRL WHO FOUGHT BACK: VLADKA MEED AND THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING — Review
Thought for the Day: "I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live."~ Francoise Sagan ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Backstory is something we all need to deal with, but how? Too much and we bury our story in it. Too little and we… Continue reading NOT NOTHING — Review
Rosi Hollinbeck 