“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 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
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
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
Thought for the Day: "Writing is like fishing. It's just like fishing. If you don't fish that often, you're not going to catch that many fish." ~Sandra Cisneros ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: My critique partners have accused me of having characters who are too perfect. I know I'm not alone in this. I have… Continue reading FIRES BURNING UNDERGROUND — Review & Giveaway
Thought for the Day: “There are no first drafts in the library.”~ Marsha Diane Arnold ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: I'm always on the lookout for articles on character, but the article HERE on Writers in the Storm by Sarah "Sally" Hamer is a very different take. How To Use Traits to Create Character… Continue reading HALF-TRUTHS — Review & Giveaway
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: "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: "The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart." ~ Maya Angelou ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Sarah Allen on Sarah’s Smorgasbord has such an entertaining and useful post HERE on Writing a Satisfying Self-Destructive Villain.… Continue reading THE THINGS WE MISS — Review
Thought for the Day: "If I can get a 'happy' ending - which is when for the characters I'm writing about, something happens that they move from wherever they are in the beginning to knowledge or wisdom, they know something they never would have acknowledged or realized if it hadn't been for my book --… Continue reading EXTINCTOPEDIA: Discover what we have lost, what is at risk, and how we can preserve the diversity of our fragile planet — REVIEW
Thought for the Day: "There are two reasons I support mistake-making. First, we know that failure means we tried. It also means if the mistake is wrong enough, we can make someone laugh." ~ Jorjeana Marie ~ Gifts for My Writer Friends: Writing good dialogue is a real art. I am always on the lookout… Continue reading WHAT GOES ON INSIDE A BEAVER POND? — Review
Rosi Hollinbeck 