“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” ― W. Somerset Maugham And so once again, without knowing the rules, I have written a novel and seen it make its way out to the world of readers. Tuesday was release day for The Song of Sourwood Mountain. That is always an exciting day for …
When Writers and Readers Get Together
“The world belongs to those who read.” Have you ever been to a readers’ retreat? Do you even know what that is? It’s something a little new in the world of books, I think. A few years ago, an avid reader or two got together and thought how much fun it would be to actually meet the writers of those …
What Makes Characters Come to Life for You?
Do the characters in the stories you read come to life in your head? And in your heart? Is there some special something about the book or the characters that makes that happen for you? A few years ago I got a very nice note from a reader who had gone to Rosey Corner. She hadn’t read the first book, …
Book Release Week for When the Meadow Blooms
“A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.” ~Samuel Johnson I had the pleasure and blessing of having a new book release into the world of readers. When the Meadow Blooms has been flying through the mail out to mailboxes and through the air or however that tech magic works to electronic reading devices. Readers are finishing the story …
Jumping into a New Story
A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead. ~The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (1951) There’s truth in that first sentence of Graham Greene’s novel. A writer does have to pick that moment to let her characters come to life and …
Readers & Writers at the Fiction Readers Summit
“Let’s be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading.” – Lena Dunham I know all these wonderful readers and writers that I spent a couple of days with last week at the Fiction Readers Summit would agree with Lena Dunham on that extra day for reading. But not having that extra day …
Have We Forgotten How to Read?
I just read an internet post that suggests we’ve forgotten how to read. It included this quote from Eric Schmidt, the founder of Google. “I worry that the level of interrupt, the sort of overwhelming rapidity of information … is in fact affecting cognition. It is affecting deeper thinking. I still believe that sitting down and reading a book is …
A Moonbeam Award
Before I had the good fortune to find a home with an inspirational book publisher, I wrote a number of books for younger readers. Some of them were what might be called chapter books for middle readers. That would be kids eight to twelve or thereabouts. These were “coming of age” stories about a young character facing some crisis in …
When the Words Disappear
One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment. ~Hart Crane Sometimes I feel as though I’m soaked in those words as the writer above says I must be, but then other times the words seem to be hiding from me. Especially those two …
From South Africa with Love – A True Life Love Story
Don’t you just love a great love story? You all know how much I enjoy how you share your stories with me when I have a contest of some kind. Your stories make me the big winner in those contests. (I’ll be having a birthday contest soon.) I enjoy hearing from you in between contests too and I’m always glad …
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