Birthdays: David Hume (1711), Robert Browning (1812), Rabindranath Tagore (1861), Wladyslaw Reymont (1867), Archibald MacLeish (1892), Gene Wolfe (1931), Nonny Hogrogian (1932), Angela Carter (1940), Peter Carey (1943), Deborah Wiles (1953),

Rabindranath Tagore won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Wladyslaw Reymont won the 1924 Nobel Prize in Literature for “The Peasants”

Archibald MacLeish was Librarian of Congress and three-time winner of a Pulitzer Prize.

Nonny Hogrogrian was a two-time Caldecott Medal winner.

Quote: “Writers live with doubt and failure. Most days we don’t succeed. Most days we know we have to rewrite, that we haven’t yet arrived. This is not always unpleasant, but it can be.” – Peter Carey

 Tip: Decide what tense you want your story to use and stick with it. Whether you go with first person/present tense (the hardest to do) or third person/past tense (the most common) doesn’t matter. Sticking with it does. Go through your work and make sure you use the same tense throughout.

Jumpstart: You have to describe the taste and uses of a lemon to someone who’s never tasted or used one before. What do you say? Remember, if you turn them off by talking only about how sour it is, they’ll never try lemon meringue pie or a tall glass of fresh lemonade. Think about how to put a positive spin on something negative.

Birthdays: Sigmund Freud (1856), Gaston Leroux (1868), Harry Golden (1902), Harry Martinson (1904), Leo Lionni (1910), Randall Jarrell (1914), Theodore White (1915), Orson Welles (1915), Ted Lewin (1935), Barbara McClintock (1955), Jeffrey Deaver (1950),

Gaston Leroux, a French author, is most well known for his novel “The Phantom of the Opera”

Harry Martinson won the 1974 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Leo Lionni was a four-time Caldecott Award winner.

Randall Jarrell was the US Poet Laureate from 1956-1958.

Ted Lewin won the Caldecott Honor in 1994 for “Peppe the Lamplighter”

Quote: “Outlining is the most efficient way to structure a novel to achieve the greatest emotional impact. The most breathtaking prose and brilliantly drawn characters are wasted if the plot meanders and digresses. Outlining lets you create a framework that compels your audience to keep reading from the first page to the last…Best of all, once the outline is finished, you can write the book very quickly and in any order.” – Jeffrey Deaver

Tip: Don’t forget to get up and move every thirty minutes or so. It refreshes your brain and gets the blood flowing in your body.

Jumpstart: You’re at a large, unfamiliar hotel and get off the elevator on the wrong floor. Just as the doors close behind you, you see something you shouldn’t. What do you see? What happens next?

Birthdays: Thomas Kinsella (1928), Amos Oz (1939), Kim Edwards (1958), Robin Cook (1940), George Will (1941), Don Wood (1945), Graham Swift (1949), David Guterson (1956), Kristin Harmel (1979)

Quote: “Words create conceptions and self-conceptions and ultimately nations. They can start and stop wars. They can wound and heal. Choosing words carefully is a moral responsibility.” – Amos Oz

Tip: Always carry a notebook or have a note app on your phone for those “brilliant idea” moments.

Jumpstart: You’ve been tapped to be the new Grim Reaper. You’re presented with the cape, the scythe, everything. Do you take the job? Why or why not? If you don’t, what happens to you?

Birthdays: Niccolo Machiavelli (1469), Jacob Riis (1849), E.W. Howe (1853), Andy Adams (1859), Dodie Smith (1896), May Sarton (1912), Ben Elton (1959), Reza Aslan (1972)

Dodie Smith is known for your book “The Hundred and One Dalmatians”

Mavis Jukes won the 1985 Newbery Award for “Like Jake and Me”

Quote: “I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring – I wrote my very best poem while sitting on the hen-house.” – Dodie Smith

Tip: Don’t use song lyrics in a story unless you wrote the song. Getting permissions can be difficult and expensive. Not getting permission could end in a lawsuit. Even a few lines can be problematical.

Jumpstart: For just one hour, you have the power of a god. What would you do? Why?

Under “Fiction“

Dangerous Leads by Andrew Rowberry – 4 sparklers for this first person PI story.

Grayson by Tamara White – 3 Sparklers for this contemporary fiction book

Under “LGBTQ+ for Adults:

In the Weeds by Andrew Grey – 5 Sparklers for this contemporary gay romance.

Birthdays: Novalis (1772), Jerome K. Jerome (1859), E.E. Smith (1890), Benjamin Spock (1903), Martha Grimes (1931), Esther Freud (1963),

Dr. Benjamin Spock was best known for his “Baby and Child Care” book

Quote: “You can’t be blocked if you just keep on writing words. Any words. People who get ‘blocked’ make the mistake of thinking they have to write good words.” – Martha Grimes

Tip: Learn to use “track changes” in your processing program. It’s what most editors and publishers rely on when editing your work.

Jumpstart: Look at a scenic picture. What is happening just out of sight? Describe the scene and what is happening in detail.

Birthdays: Joseph Addison (1672), James Ford Rhodes (1848), Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881), Elizabeth Marie Pope (1917), Joseph Heller (1923), Bobbie Ann Mason (1940), Karen Thompson Walker (1980)

James Ford Rhodes won the 1918 Pulitzer Prize for History for “History of the Civil War, 1861-1865”

Elizabeth Pope received a Newbery Honor for “The Perilous Guard”

Quote: “Words, when well chosen, have so great a force in them, that a description often gives us more lively ideas than the sight of things themselves.” – Joseph Addison

Tip: Don’t use fancy fonts, weird characters, or unusual symbols in your manuscript unless absolutely necessary. Jumpstart: You’re at a conference and sit at a table with seven strangers whom you hit it off with, although the talk seems a bit odd to you at times. You shrug it off as you are having the best time you’ve had yet. Then you realize you’re at the wrong banquet. What do you

Birthdays: Alice B. Toklas (1877), John Crowe Ransom (1888), Larry Niven (1938), Annie Dillard (1945), P.C. Cast (1960), John Boyne (1971), Naomi Novik (1973).

John Ransom won the National Book Award for Poetry in 1964.

Annie Dillard won the 1975 Pulitzer for General Nonfiction for “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek”

Quote: “If what you have to say is important and/or difficult to follow, use the simplest language possible. If the reader doesn’t get it then, let it not be your fault.” – Larry Niven

Tip: Always back up your work. ALWAYS!!!

Jumpstart: Pick one day of the week and write a paragraph or a page about that day. What do you commonly do on that day? Describe the typical day in detail, being very specific. Now, put your current character in that day—how would he or she react differently than you?

London 1950s and everyone has a secret

When Harriet Laws loses her grandmother and her job, her happy life in London seems over. Alone, grief-stricken and penniless, she thinks wildly of ending it all. Fate steps in as Tom Fletcher saves her, gives her hope, and guides her to new employment. He takes her to dinner, and she finds him attractive. He’s older, but she doesn’t mind. Does he? Tom, a quiet, hardworking man, is unsure of Harriet’s feelings, but he’s also very busy building his business interests. So it’s no wonder a suave, sophisticated fellow walks off with Harriet right under Tom’s nose. What follows, no one could have predicted, as Harriet not only loses contact with all her friends but must again fight for her very life…will she ever see Tom again?

Buy Links:

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About L. B. Griffin

Gran’s retirement plans to trek around the world put on hold when TWRP offered the contract. Compulsive writer of fiction. Published at last! Happily married, surround by family and lives in Wiltshire UK .

Website: Blog: www.wifeinthewest.com

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What real life experience made it into your novel? That’s a great question. I’ve always written around the paid day job. We had a growing family and bills to pay. Plus, I never considered giving up paid work to write, simply because I never felt my work was good enough. I write about real, down to earth, honest, hardworking people. Though my characters are fiction, they have been developed over the years through teaching and working with so many amazing people. They gave me the wealth of life, ideas, experience and the desire and need to write. They had no idea, but those wonderful people taught me so much about life that I really didn’t know existed until I met them. They don’t see themselves as survivors, or courageous, but they sure are!

Did you have to cut any favorite scenes?  Yes. The story started out at 180.000 words. Not quite War and Peace, but obviously way too long. I discovered much later that the original Secrets, Shame, and a Shoebox naturally fell into two books. I learned a lot having to re-write and develop the storyline in an entirely different way. Cutting out your ‘darlings’ can hurt but can also be empowering. Plus, its often suggested to keep the cuts and maybe they will come in somewhere else. For those who love Harriet, look out for her, I promise she will be making a comeback.

Do you Google yourself? When Google first I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about. Of course, I just had to look. To have my name on a world wide web? Amazing. The only other time was when my husband did some research when my book was about to be released – he couldn’t wait to show me. It all still feels very surreal.

Does your family support your career as a writer? My whole family have been absolutely amazing. The trouble is when I read this now, I feel so very needy. But I am so very grateful for all their help. My IT skills are next to zero, but my family have been with me from the very start of this very exciting, fantastic journey. My daughter, Kelly. She has started her own gifting business, I Love Surprises, and balances that with her one year and 12 year old, yet she still finds time to help me with the IT side of things. I am so lucky. My son Sam is just the same. He has stepped in and helped me out with blogging – which was one of the conditions of the contract with The Wild Rose Press. Sam, like so many parents he is busy with his work life at ElevateOM along with managing a growing family, but he is always there to lend a hand. Even when I don’t ask! My husband, well what can I say. I am blessed and I know it. He is so encouraging and supportive, and steps in when I get frustrated with the computer. At times I just want to chuck it out the window, but when he comes along, I know I can breathe again.  

Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?  Yes. I doubt that anyone will find them unless they know the real me. So yes, I’ve hidden a gem or two, really just for me to know, and others to discover if they care to.

Do you have a writing routine? Pinch me now. I can’t believe I’ve been fortunate enough to be published. I’ve been writing for years. Before I retired, I would get up at silly o’clock in the morning, write as much as I could, then fly out the door, toothbrush in hand and sometimes forgetting I still had my slippers on! At night, after the kids went to bed, and if there was an ounce of creativity or energy left, I might do a little more.

What is your next project? I’ve sent the galley back to the Wild Rose Press – for my second novel, The Twenty-One-Year Contract! So excited. It should be released late spring 2022! I will be keeping everyone up to speed.