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Catching Fire and Helping Children
Catching Fire and Helping Children I was watching Catching Fire with my family. In the scene where Katniss and Peeta are giving a speech to District 11 they’re told to read their speeches from prepared cards. Peeta looks at his card and begins to read as the crowd stands emotionless, then he puts down the card and speaks from his heart. When he does he and Katniss inspire the crowd. Sitting in the theatre it suddenly occurred to me that writing is the same. If I throw away everything that is on the surface and dig deep, connections are made. For adults it takes courage to go deep and slice through the layers…
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Growing Avocado Trees
I didn’t recognize the symbolism of growing an avocado tree at the same time I was beginning my journey of becoming an author. I simply loved avocados. Four years later as I set a new seed on my windowsill at the same time I was stressing over how to market Mystic I realized my avocado trees represented change and growth from within myself. They were my reminder that even though I could envision the giant tree that would fill my yard it wasn’t going to grow overnight. I needed to care for it every day while enjoying each day and know that eventually my seed would be a majestic tree. Here’s how to grow an avocado tree. This picture was…
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MYSTIC
MYSTIC’s book birthday was yesterday January 5, 2013! You can purchase a copy through CreateSpace or Amazon. The Kindle version is coming soon. I have to give a huge shout out to Beth, Ashley and Chris from Project Team 1 at CreateSpace. I decided January 5th was the perfect book birthday for MYSTIC and I begged and pleaded and offered chocolate (not really) to the Project Team to make it happen. They did! I am very grateful to them. Why was January 5th the perfect date? Well, it began on January 5th, 1912 when Virginia Titus Keen was born–My grandmother. She was very, very special to me. Eric and I got married on…
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An Author’s Journey Part I
I’ve listened to many authors speak of their writing journey. Not one of them said they published their first novel in two or three years. They all told a story of how their first novel took them five to ten years from the birth of an idea to publication. I listened and then decided I’d be different. No way was it going to take me so long to get my first novel published. I was wrong. Those of you who have been following me on Facebook and this blog know that I’ve been working on a middle grade fantasy called MYSTIC. My mantra for the past three years has been, “Yep, I’m still…
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Introducing uTales and SNOW GAMES
I am very excited to introduce to you, uTales and Joanna Marple, the author of SNOW GAMES. Meeting authors and illustrators online or in person is a thrill for me. Having them guest blog and share their art makes me feel as though I’m helping to spread joy around the world. In this post Joanna Marple writes about the creative process in developing her characters for SNOW GAMES. I found it fascinating. It’s an excellent resource for teachers of young writers. While this is Mouse’s story, SNOW GAMES really does in many ways have four protagonists. This was an issue I grappled with in writing this story. I knew that I needed a…
