Birthdays: Ovid (43 B.C.), Henrik Ibsen (1828), Isabel Burton (1831), B.F. Skinner (1904), Bill Martin Jr (1916), Mitsumasa Anno (1926), Lois Lowry (1937), Ellen Conford (1942), Louis Sachar (1954), Nina Kiriki Hoffman (1955), Mary Roach (1959), A.J. Jacobs (1968), Emily Giffin (1972),
Lois Lowry won two Newbery Awards: “Number the Stars” and “The Giver”
Quote: “My personal opinion is that you should not worry about ‘being published’. You should enjoy writing, and writing more and more, so that you become better at it. I always sort of cringe when I hear, ‘I want to be a published writer’ from a kid. I’d rather hear, ‘I love to write’.” – Lois Lowry
Tip: Go through your work and look for weak verbs and change them to stronger, more descriptive ones. Instead of “he walked”, try: strode, crept, tiptoed, stomped, etc. to describe how he is walking.
Jumpstart: Your house is on fire. You live alone and have no pets so there is nobody else to worry about. What do you try to save?
Birthdays: Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821), Irving Wallace (1916), Philip Roth (1933), James Redfield (1950)
Philip Roth was a multiple winner of the National Book Award as well as the 1997 Pulitzer in Fiction for “American Pastoral”
Quote: “The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.” – Philip Roth
Tip: Are you a panster or a plotter? A panster is someone who writes by the seat of their pants. They don’t know who the story is about or where it’s going, they just write and let the story go where it takes them. A plotter outlines everything beforehand. Most of us fall somewhere in between.
Jumpstart: Write a scene using words of only one syllable and short sentences like: “See Spot run.”, but do it as a murder mystery.
Birthdays: Stephane Mallarme (1842), Robert P. Tristram Coffin (1892), Wilfred Owen (1893), Richard Condon (1915), George Plimpton (1927), John Updike (1932), Joy Fielding (1945), Susan Patron (1948), Douglas Florian (1950), Franz Wright (1953)
Robert Coffin won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
John Updike won two Pulitzers for books in the Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom series.
Susan Patron won the 2007 Caldecott for “The Higher Power of Lucky”
Franz Wright won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Quote: “I think the most important part of storytelling is tension. It’s the constant tension of suspense that in a sense mirrors life, because nobody knows what’s going to happen three hours from now.” – Richard Condon
Tip: Many writers are members of groups for support and inspiration. Are you? Look around and see what’s available in your area, or online. Take classes. Bone up on the basics or go to deeper depths. Expand your mind.
Jumpstart: Write a scene about something you’re doing—perhaps a walk you take. Write it both from your perspective as an adult, then from a child’s perspective.
Birthdays: Sully Prudhomme (1839), Eric P. Kelly (1884), Emory Holloway (1885), Sid Fleischman (1920), Margaret Weis (1948), Alice Hoffman (1952),
Sully Prudhomme was the winner of the first Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901.
Eric Kelly won the 1929 Newbery Award for “The Trumpeter of Krakow”
Emory Holloway wone a Pulitzer Prize in Biography for his book on Walt Whitman.
Sid Fleischman won the 1987 Newbery Medal for “The Whipping Boy”
Quote: “Adult novels are as ephemeral as newspapers. Children’s books stay in print for decades.” – Sid Fleischman
Tip: Read a book. Any book. For a writer to truly succeed, s/he has to also be a reader. Read for pleasure, but also study the story. Rip it apart to see what makes it work.
Jumpstart: While walking through a parking garage, you hear a thump coming from the trunk of a car trunk. What do you do?
Birthdays: Paul Heyse (1830), Lady Augusta Gregory (1852), Charles Howard McIlwain (1871), Carl Schorske (1915), Richard Ellmann (1918), Lawrence Sanders (1920), Ruth White (1942), David Cronenberg (1943), James N Frey (1943), Lynda La Plante (1943), Heather Graham (1953), Ben Okri (1959), Simon Van Booy (1975)
Paul Heyse won the 1910 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Charles McIlwain won the 1924 Pulitzer Prize for “The American Revolution: A Constitutional Representation”
Carl Schorske won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction for “Fin-de-Siecle Vienna”
Quote: “To set a forest on fire, you light a match. To set a character on fire, you put him in conflict.” – James N. Frey
Tip: Google (or otherwise search) your name, or your pseudonym. How many places do you show up? Does anyone else share your name? Your writing should be the first thing people see about you, if that is your primary goal.
Jumpstart: Today is the “Ides of March”, a day that will live forever as a dark omen thanks to Shakespeare. What is your character’s “Ides of March”? What bad thing can happen to him or her on this day that would mark it as a day to remember (or forget)?
Warrior Angel Killian Dugan’s annual trip to the family castle in Scotland is shattered by the arrival of Legion Commander North. Killian’s skills are needed for an urgent time travel assignment. A rogue demon has escaped back in time. He must discover the why and where and stop the demon before it can damage the past and change the future.
Killian’s girlfriend Chinoah Grace, a Native American shapeshifter is included in the mission which takes them to the wild west town of Wylder, Wyoming in the year 1878. She will have her hands full fitting in and making friends.
Nothing is as it seems. They encounter visions, spirit quests, and a mysterious shaman. On top of it all, blending in as a blacksmith is more physically difficult than he imagined. But not as challenging as keeping his hands off his undercover wife. Will they complete their assignment or run out of time?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
They waved goodbye to their friends and slipped out the back door. It was a bit of a walk to the Mists, but porting in broad daylight wouldn’t be wise. As they walked through the eerie Scottish Mists, the silence wrapped around them like a smothering blanket. A stand of druid stones emerged from the thick fog towering above them. Chinoah shivered against him. Magic rolled of the stones in warning. With the image of the 1878 blacksmith shop in his head and whispering spirits in his mind, their adventure began. His hands tightly wrapped around Chinoah, their duffels secured on their backs. He closed his eyes and focused his vision on Wylder, Wyoming Territory of 1878 inside Dugan’s Blacksmith shop. This was his first mistake. He was unsure of the blacksmith shop’s interior, as he’d never seen it. Instead, they are unceremoniously dumped, what he hoped was only several yards outside the shop, in the worst blizzard he’d ever seen. He tightened his grip on Chinoah. Guess I paid too much attention to the description of the building itself and let that disrupt my landing location. The wind-driven snow swirled around them, making visibility difficult if not impossible.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Tena Stetler is a best-selling author of award winning paranormal romance/mystery with an over-active imagination. She wrote her first vampire romance as a tween, to the chagrin of her mother and the delight of her friends. Colorado is home; shared with her husband, a brilliant Chow Chow, a spoiled parrot and a forty-five-year-old box turtle. When she’s not writing, her time is spent kayaking, camping, hiking, biking or just relaxing in the great Colorado outdoors.
Her books tell tales of magical kick-ass women and mystical alpha males that dare to love them. Travel, adventure, and a bit of mystery flourish in her books along with a few companion animals to round out the tales.
Birthdays: Hugh Walpole (1884), Janet Flanner (1892), Giorgos Seferis (1900), Margaret Craven (1901), Mircea Eliade (1907), L. Ron Hubbard (1911), Marie Rudsill (1911), W.O. Mitchell (1914), Ellen Raskin (1928), Diane Dillon (1933), Barry Hughart (1934), Ridley Pearson (1953), Caryl Phillips (1958), Alastair Reynolds (1966),
Giorgos Seferis won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Ellen Raskin won the 1979 Newbery Medal for “The Westing Game”
Quote: “It comes down to hours and hours of work. I rewrite every novel no fewer than four times, sometimes as many as nine times. You can’t believe how many hours that consumes. It’s ENDLESS. You have to be patient to be a published writer, and you have to practice humility, because the editor (or teacher) is nearly always right.” – Ridley Pearson
Tip: Do you use a pseudonym? Do you want to? Make a list of possibilities and search for them online to make sure they’re not in use by someone else.
Jumpstart: In China, Ching Ming is a day when people visit the graves of their ancestors. Take a trip to a cemetery—the older the better—and note dates, ages, names, epitaphs (if any). Pick one or two and write about their life.
Birthdays: William C. Bruce (1860), Jack Kerouac (1922), Harry Harrison (1925), Edward Albee (1928), Virginia Hamilton (1936), Patricia Hampl (1946), Sandra Brown (1948), Naomi Shihab Nye (1952), Carl Hiaasen (1953), Ruth Ozeki (1956), Dave Eggers (1970),
William Bruce won the Pulitzer Prize in History for “Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed”
Jack Kerouac is best known for “On the Road”
Harry Harrison is best known for “Make Room! Make Room!”, the basis of the film “Soylent Green”
Virginia Hamilton was the winner of the 1975 Newbery Award for “M.C. Higgins, the Great”.
Quote: “You can do the best research and be making the strongest intellectual argument, but if readers don’t get past the third paragraph you’ve wasted your energy and valuable ink.” – Carl Hiaasen
Tip: You just got “the call” – make a list of questions to ask the agent or editor. Keep them handy for when it does happen, even if it’s through email.
Birthdays: Wanda Gao (1893), Ezra Jack Keats (1916), Peter Sis (1949), Douglas Adams (1952), D.J. MacHale (1955), Libba Bray (1964), Deborah Copaken (1966), Sylvia Day (1973), Kate Brian (1974), Christopher Rice (1978)
Wanda Gao is known for the Newbery Medal winner “Millions of Cats”
Ezra Jack Keats won the 1963 Caldecott Medal for “The Snowy Day”
Douglas Adams is best known for his “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series
Quote: “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” – Douglas Adams
Tip: “Her eyes dropped to the floor.” – ewwww. Check your story for loose body parts. Unless it’s a horror story or gruesome murder scene, you shouldn’t leave them lying around. Her gaze can drop to the floor, but not her eyes. And don’t “toss yourself” anywhere. Unless you’re a clone.
Jumpstart: Create a comic book superhero. Male or female? Human? What powers does s/he have? How does s/he use them?
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