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The Madness of Writing a Novel (in my own words)
✨HOW DOES IT FEEL WHEN YOU’RE IN THE ZONE?✨ I’ve hit my stride, finally. As we are approaching mid-July, I’ve made some pretty good progress with reading and writing. I’m about to hit 26,000 words on my work in progress, and my goal this week is to make it to at least 30,000 words. As well, I’ve finished one book about bookstores and I’m on to another. My pile of these books is pretty tall, so I have a lot to work toward. I’m also finishing the last week of the master’s course I’m teaching, so it’s been a little busy. What do I mean when I ask how it…
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Happy World Book Day
*** What’s one of the first stories you remember reading as a child? The Tale of Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash and Cinderella were two of mine. Now I prefer stories about fire-breathing dragons that torch fighting pits with Daenerys and love stories that make me feel so deeply for the characters, I want them to be together, such as with Francesca and Robert in The Bridges of Madison County. Books allow us to travel to foreign lands, melt the Wicked Witch, or be visited by three ghosts before Christmas morning..It’s World Book Day today. Pledge to yourself that you’ll create a summer reading list and conquer it like…
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On This Valentine’s Day, LOVE
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Today is what life is all about, people: LOVE. And it’s not always romantic love—just love in general. I’ve spent years writing books with love as a core theme. Love for a father, a mother, a grandmother, a grandfather; love for a daughter or son; love for one’s work; love for dear friends; love for life; and letting go of one love to begin another. . We’ve all been there. We’ve experienced euphoric relationships and devastating ones. We’ve felt the waves of a new love and the crushing sensation of a broken love. . People often ask me how much of “me” goes into the…
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Scientists Say This Helps You Look Sexy
What’s the last book you’ve read cover to cover and LOVED? If you can’t answer this question, maybe you’re not reading enough. And if you’re not reading enough, you may not be getting the benefits of reading, which include these scientific facts below. Reading makes you more empathic Reading helps prevent Alzheimer’s disease Reading makes you more apt to lean something new every day Reading helps your memory Reading helps your critical thinking skills Reading expands your vocabulary Reading helps people get ahead in life & career Reading makes you seem intelligent, which is regarded as sexy, especially by women Reading helps fuel your imagination Reading develops a person’s ability…
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Celebrating World Book Day 2019
Dear Readers, Do you remember the first book you ever read? If not, do you recall what your favorite book was as a child? You know, the one you had your mom or dad read to you over and over again because you loved it so much? Do you remember being a teenager and maybe not loving the books that were assigned in class, but then later, recalled aspects of them and perhaps gained a greater appreciation for them as you matured? Can you list all the books you read last year, and have you been keeping track of the books you’re reading this year? Do you share books with…
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To Write, You Must Fall In Love … With Words
The words in the heart above were made with love. And love was one of the favorite words selected as their favorite by some of my friends. When I put a call out on Facebook for people to tell me what their favorite word was, I received 67 responses. Not too bad for a quick poll as summer began to wind down. As I promised my Facebook friends who participated, their words made it into this blog post which I will share with my students next week. Some words are more powerful than others; words help us truly define things we want to express or clarify; and when stringing words…
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Book Vlog (I prefer to call it a chat) About My Books—Available for Book Clubs
When you have friends ask you what your books are about, you realize you have some work to do to better promote and explain the novels you’ve written. In this video, I give a short overview of my four published fiction books, including my most recent release, published just three weeks ago. (Sorry about the loud bang when I talk about the first one…still new at this thing…) I’m also available for book clubs, whether I come in person or call or Skype in–I’ve done both, so whatever works for your book club works for me. Thanks for taking a peek.
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How My READING BOOKS Poll Stacks Up Against (pun intended) Official Polls
Let’s Talk About Books & Reading We just completed the third week of the spring semester, and as is typical as I begin to talk about writing and reading in classes and asking students questions, I can get a little depressed when I realize how few students are reading books for pleasure these days. With so many distractions such as television, video games, socializing with friends, sports, and other commitments and activities, I decided to conduct my own informal poll on Facebook, something I had never done before. The question I posed was this: HOW MANY BOOKS DID YOU READ IN 2017? 0-10 OR MORE THAN 11? I received 143…
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Tips To Get You Started on Your Novel
When people ask me how to begin writing a novel, this is what I usually tell them, along with “believe in yourself” and “go for it.” For an upcoming artist collaboration and exhibit scheduled at our university for this Thursday, I drafted a little infographic. This infographic includes tips about writing novels and some of the things that I’ve been taught over the years, along with what I’ve gained from the experience of writing three indie novels. William Zinsser, in his famous book On Writing Well, says it best about writing: “Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time,…
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Old Postcards & My Book Resolution
I’m knee deep today in organizing for the spring semester, but I wanted to take a quick coffee break to show you these two gems I came across in my collection today. I love old postcards, and as I’m getting back to the simpler things in life, and am much happier for doing so, letter writing and postcard writing are such a great way to bring back taking time to put your feelings on paper. I loved the idea that I read that inspired a blog post a couple of years ago—every time you go on vacation, mail home a postcard to yourself (or postcards, depending on how long you’re…
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Two Books Down So Far in 2018; Letters to Write
The other day, I blogged my post-Christmas letter, which really wasn’t too much of a Christmas letter at all, replete with all the “what our family has been up to;” in fact, it was more of a review and a what-I-got-out-of the book The Man Who Invented Christmas letter. That was the first book I completed in the New Year. I can now check another book off my 2018 READING LIST: Marisa de los Santos’s wonderfully cheeky and heartwarming first book, Love Walked In. The book was my choice for tonight’s book club meeting, as I’ve wanted to read it for years, ever since my mother stuffed it into my…
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Do You Write to Sell or Do You Write to Tell Good Stories?
Yesterday, when I was texting with a dear friend of mine who has been quite influential in my life and career, I shared with him that I was taking a break from writing for a bit. Which, as you know, if you’ve followed along thus far in my tales of woe, really means that I became burned out doing book promotion as opposed to book writing. Anyway, he asked me this question at end of our text thread: Do you write to sell or do you write to tell good stories? I looked at what he had written for a long time, pensively, unsure as to how I would answer…
