January 19

Birthdays: Edgar Allan Poe (1809), Alexander Woollcott (1887), Patricia Highsmith (1921), Jean-Francois Revel (1924), Nina Bawden (1925), Margaret George (1943), Julian Barnes (1946), Paula Deen (1947), Eden Robinson (1968), Casey Sherman (1969), Edwidge Danticat (1969)

Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian-American author whose books have been nominated for multiple awards and “The Farming of Bones” won the American Book Award.

Patricia Highsmith was an American author (d.1995) whose psychological thrillers were adapted into more than twenty films, including “The Talented Mr. Ripley”.

Quote: “When you read a great book, you don’t escape from life, you plunge deeper into it.” – Julian Barnes

Tip: Look out for dangling modifiers. This happens when a modifier has nothing to modify. For instance: “Having run through the mud, new shoes were needed.” In this sentence, there’s an action (having run) but no subject. A better way of writing this would be: Having run through the mud, Joan needed new shoes. Even better: Joan ran through the mud and now needed new shoes.

Jumpstart: In addition to being National Hot Tea Month, January is also National Oatmeal and National Soup month. Create a menu for your character using these three basics. Would s/he go for elegant or simple? Would s/he eat in a restaurant, diner, or at home? Alone or with someone? Write the scene.

Who hasn’t read Poe? I loved his books as a teen, and still do. They get into your head. From “The Telltale Heart” to “A Cask of Amontillado” to his poems like “The Raven” or “The Bells”, they are works that will live forever.

January 16 Writing

Birthdays: Peter Roget (1779), Austin Dobson (1840), A.A. Milne (1882), William Sansom (1912), Robert Anton Wilson (1932), Raymond Briggs (1934), Binyavanga Wainaina (1971)

Where would we be (exist, live, stay, etc.) without Peter Roget and his thesaurus?

Robert Anton Wilson was a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, and more. He wrote 35 books, including “Cosmic Tiger”, “Schrodinger’s Cat Trilogy”.

Quote: “Is ‘The Wind in the Willows’ a children’s book? Is ‘Alice in Wonderland? Is ‘Treasure Island’? These are masterpieces which we read with pleasure as children, but with how much more pleasure when we are grown-up.” – A.A. Milne

Who doesn’t know about Winnie the Pooh and all his friends? But Milne is right. When we read these stories as adults, we understand more and get more from them than when we read them as children. But the enjoyment is there for everyone.

Tip: Read your story out loud. Are there areas you tend to skip over? So will your reader.

Jumpstart: This is “Winnie the Pooh Day.” If you could be a character in a Winnie the Pooh story, who would you be and why?

New Reviews

The reviews can be found on their genre pages as well as Goodreads and some other sites.

Under LGBTQ for adults:

“Resident’s Dilemma” by Andrew Grey – a 5**** read for this 105 page contemporary romance

“Rescue Us” by Andrew Grey – 4**** for this short contemporary romance.

Under Holidays

“Crinkles All the Way” by Ann Trader – 4**** for this 69-page contemporary holiday romance.

Under Romance

“Reluctant Hearts” by Linda Griffin – 4**** for this collection of four stories

Under Nonfiction

The Everything DASH Diet Meal Prep Cookbook by Karman Meyer – 4*** for this healthy eating cookbook

Spotlight: Andrew Grey

Title: Rescue Us

Author: Andrew Grey

Series: A Most Love Dogs Novel

Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance

Publisher: DreamSpinner Press

Release Date: Jan 3 2023

Edition/Formats Available In: eBook & Print

Blurb/Synopsis:

Everyone needs to be rescued sometimes.

As a vet tech, Daniel is usually first in line to come to animals’ aid. When he and his boss get a call about an animal hoarding situation, they expect the handful of badly treated dogs… but the tiger comes as a surprise.

Wes recently left his job to care for his sick mother. Now that she’s on the mend, he needs work, and he finds it at a bustling shelter. But the animals aren’t the only ones in need. His kind, chatty coworker Daniel is dealing with an abusive boyfriend—something Wes, whose father was an alcoholic, has experience handling. Wes steps up to help Daniel kick his boyfriend to the curb, but in the process, he finds himself falling for Daniel himself.

Navigating a new relationship when they both have traumatic pasts is one thing. But when a shady group starts targeting the tiger they are trying to find a zoo placement for, the stakes are raised even higher. Can Wes and Daniel come together to rescue the animals—and each other?

Book Links

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

DreamSpinner Press

Andrew grew up in western Michigan with a father who loved to tell stories and a mother who loved to read them. Since then he has lived throughout the country and traveled throughout the world. He has a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and works in information systems for a large corporation. Andrew’s hobbies include collecting antiques, gardening, and leaving his dirty dishes anywhere but in the sink (particularly when writing) He considers himself blessed with an accepting family, fantastic friends, and the world’s most supportive and loving partner. Andrew currently lives in beautiful, historic Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Author Links

Amazon Author Page

Barnes and Noble Page

Dreamspinner Press

Facebook

Facebook Group All the Way with Andrew Grey

Goodreads

Twitter @andrewgreybooks

Website

For Other Works by Andrew Grey

(Please Be Sure To Stop by His Website to See All of His Works)

January 15 Writing

Birthdays: Moliere (1622?), Ernest Gaines (1933), Robert Silverberg (1935), Frank Conroy (1936), Jenny Nimmo (1944),

Ernest J. Gaines is most famous for his books “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman”, A Gathering of Old Men”, and “A Lesson Before Dying”.

Robert Silverberg is a multiple winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards for his science fiction works.

Quote: “What is history, other than a matter of choice, the picking and choosing of certain facts out of a multitude to elicit a meaningful pattern, which was not necessarily the true one? The act of selecting facts, by definition, inherently involved discarding facts as well, often the ones most inconvenient to the pattern that the historian was trying to reveal. Truth thus became an abstract concept: three different historians, working with the same set of data, might easily come up with three different ‘truths’.” – Robert Silverberg

“Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.” – Moliere – a French playwright considered to be a master of comedy.

Tip: Why are you writing? To inform readers? To entertain them? To make them want to do something? Figure out why you are writing. This will help determine what you write

Jumpstart: Using the words: fog, almonds, skull – finish the following: I’d never been so lost….

January 14 Writing

Birthdays: Hendrik Van Loon (1882), Hugh Lofting (1886), John dos Passos (1896), Emily Hahn (1905), Tillie Olsen (1913), Dudley Randall (1914), John Killens (1916), Kenneth Bulmer (1921), Yukio Mishima (1925), Thomas Tryon (1926), Taylor Branch (1947), Eric Maisel (1947), John Lescroart (1948), Mary Robison (1949), Arthur Cover (1950), Maureen Dowd (1952), Anchee Min (1957), David Beren (1957),

Hendrik Van Loon won the first Newbery Award in 1922 for his children’s book “The Story of Mankind”

Hugh Lofting wrote “Dr. Dolittle”

John Dos Passos is best known for his USA Trilogy

Taylor Branch won the Pulitzer Prize for History for “Parting the Waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-63”

Quote: “I make no claim to be an authority on writing or illustrating for children. The fact that I have been successful merely means that I can write and illustrate in my own way.” – Hugh Lofting (creator of Doctor Dolittle)

Tip: If you want to be a successful writer, you have to be willing to promote your work and yourself. If you don’t, you may get published…but you’ll rarely get anywhere. Figure out what you’re comfortable with and do it. A good rule of thumb is to spend ten percent of your writing time on promo.

Jumpstart: Get a timer and set it for fifteen minutes, then write. Anything. Everything. Do not think about anything. Just write. No idea? Write about that.

January 13

Birthdays: A.B. Guthrie Jr. (1901), Carolyn Heilbrun (aka Amanda Cross) (1926), Michael Bond (1926), Flora Nwapa (1931), Horatio Alger Jr (1932), Ron Goulart (1933), Carolyn See (1934), Edmund White (1940), Frank Peretti (1951), Jay McInerney (1955), Claudia Emerson (1957), Lorrie Moore (1957),

A.B. Guthrie Jr. won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “The Way West”

Claudia Emerson won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for “Late Wife”

Thought for the day: “The great advantage of having a bear as a central character is that he can combine the innocence of a child with the sophistication of an adult.” – Michael Bond (creator of Paddington Bear)

Tip: Know your audience. Writing for children, teens, young adults, adults all require a different style of writing. So do different genres. Figure out what you want to write, who you’re writing for, and learn the craft for that angle.

Jumpstart: The borough has just dumped four feet of snow in front of your driveway and you cannot get out. Come up with a plausible excuse for your boss as to why you can’t get to work. You’ve used the “snowed in” excuse one too many times.

Oh, sweet Paddington Bear, at the train station, with his blue coat (with the tag), red hat, and suitcase. Such adventures he had.

January 12 Writing

Birthdays: Charles Perrault (1628), Edmund Burke (1729), Laura Adams Amer (1874), Jack London (1876), Margaret Danner (1915), William Nicholson (1948), Haruki Murakami (1949), Walter Mosley (1952), David Mitchell (1969), Julia Quinn (1970),

Charles Perrault is noted for being the originator of the fairy tale genre.

Laura Amer won the 1932 Newbery Award winner for “Waterless Mountain”

Quote: “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” – Jack London

Tip: Be sure to give your characters conflicts to struggle against—both internally and externally. Basically, what do they want? Why do they want it? Why can’t they have it?

Jumpstart: Create a new creature for a fantasy world. What does it look like? Large or small? Furry, scaled, hairy? Legs? Wings? Would it be of use to humans? In what way? What does it eat? Where does it live? Be specific.

I read a lot of Jack London when I was in high school. Some of his works are still favorites. But Charles Perrault is the one who gave us tales we’ll remember forever – like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Puss in Boots, and more.

January 11 Writing

Birthdays: Alice Rice (1870), Aldo Leopold (1887), Bernard DeVoto (1897), Alan Paton (1903), Manfred Lee (1905), Helen Howe (1905), Robert O’Brien (1918), Mary Rodgers (1931), Jill Churchill (1943), Diana Gabaldon (1952), Jasper Fforde (1961), Alethea Kontis (1976)

Alan Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist who was famous for his first novel “Cry, the Beloved Country”.

Bernard DeVoto won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for History for “Across the Wide Missouri”

Manfred Lee wrote under the name “Ellery Queen” and was famous for his mysteries.

Robert O’Brien won the 1972 Newbery Medal for “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH”

Mary Rodgers, writer of books like “Freaky Friday” is the daughter of Richard Rodgers and she started out writing musicals.

Quote: “If you’re going to have more than one person read your book, they’re going to have totally different opinions and responses. No person – no two people – read the same book.” – Diana Gabaldon

“ Getting a book published is one of the hardest things you’ll ever do and getting a picture book published is darned near impossible. Have a thick skin, and prepare yourself for truckloads of rejection and humiliation. But if you’re just masochistic and hard-headed enough to never give up, you’ll make it happen. (Just like anything else in this world.) I wish you the best of luck!”- Alethea Kontis, writer of YA books, picture books.

I love Diana Galbadon’s series, though I haven’t read them all. But I do like the way she writes.

And Ellery Queen has always been a favorite as well!

January 10 Writing

Birthdays: Robinson Jeffers (1887), Dumas Malone (1892), Cynthia Freeman (1915), Philip Levine (1928), Stephen Ambrose (1936), Daniel Walker Howe (1937), Jared Carter (1939), George Alec Effinger (1947), Dorianne Laux (1952), Steve Hamilton (1961)

Philip Levine won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for “The Simple Truth” and was appointed Poet Laureate of the US for 2011-2012.

Dumas Malone won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for History for his biography of Thomas Jefferson

Daniel Howe won the 2008 Pulitzer for History for “What Hath God Wrought”

Dorianne Laux is a multiple prize winner for poetry

Quote: “If that voice you created that is most alive…isn’t carried throughout the whole poem, then…destroy where it’s not there.” – Philip Levine

Tip: Don’t jump point of view. Yes, I know some big authors do it and get away with it. That’s because they’re already established and make a lot of money for the publishers. If you’re new to the craft, you need to keep your POV to one per scene. If you must do more, be sure to add a space between speakers so the reader knows you’re changing POVs.

Jumpstart: Write your writing bio. No more than a hundred words – and in third person. Make it interesting, not just a grocery list of name, age, etc.