HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Birthdays: Andrew C. McLaughlin (1861), Harry Matthews (1930), Carl Bernstein (1944), Phyllis Root (1949), George Shannon (1952), Paul O Zelinsky (1953), Claire Cook (1955), Lucinda Riley (1965),

Andrew McLaughlin won the 1931 Pulitzer for “A Constitutional history of the United States”

Carl Bernstein (along with Bob Woodward) broke the Watergate scandal story

Quote: “How do you know when it’s ready to submit? My advice is to polish, polish, and polish, then put it aside for a while, take it out and polish it again.” – Claire Cook

Tip: Stop pressuring yourself. Very few writers can write brilliantly from page one. Go ahead and write “junk”. You can come back and edit it later. You can’t edit a blank page.

Jumpstart: Today is Valentine’s Day. Your character is going to meet her love at the top of the Empire State Building ala An Affair to Remember—will he be there? Why or why not?

NEW REVIEWS

New reviews are up on these pages:

Under Mysteries:

Gone Before by Terry Korth – a thriller mystery that will keep you guessing

But Knot for Me by Betty Hechtman – a cute cozy with a muffin recipe

Under LGBTQ for Adults:

Least Resistance – a M/M contemporary romance from Andrew Grey

Under Romance:

Twisted Lies by CB Clark – a romantic suspense story

Let it Melt by Margot Johnson – a short (142 pages) contemporary romance perfect for Valentine’s Day

Birthdays: Eleanor Farjeon (1881), Georges Simenon (1903), Simms Taback (1932), Elaine Pagels (1943), Simon Schama (1945), William Sleator (1945), Janet Taylor Lisle (1947), Denise Austin (1957), Peter Heller (1959), Maureen F. McHugh (1959), Henry Rollins (1961),

Simms Taback won the Caldecott Medal for “Joseph Had a Little Overcoat”

Quote: “I write a thousand words a day, and I always stop in the middle of a scene or thought, and it makes it easy to pick up on the next day.” – Peter Heller

Tip: Character names are very important. Make a list of names – you can gather them from newspapers, magazines, etc. But be sure to mix up first and last names so you’re not writing about real people.

Jumpstart: You’re at work, bored to tears with entering data into yet another spreadsheet. You get up to grab a cup of coffee and glance out the window, and see something you never thought you’d see…

Birthdays: Charles Darwin (1809), George Meredith (1828), Fred A. Shannon (1893), Alan Dugan (1923), Donald Kingsbury (1929), Judy Blume (1938), David Small (1945), Ray Kurzweil (1948), Jacqueline Woodson (1964),

Fred Albert Shannon won the 1929 Pulitzer Prize in History for “The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861-1865”

Alan Dugan was an American poet, National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winner for “Poems”

David Small won the 2001 Caldecott Medal for “So You Want to Be President?”

Jacqueline Woodson won the National Book Award and a Newbery Honor in 2015 for “Brown Girl Dreaming”

Quote: “I hate first drafts, and it never gets easier. People always wonder what kind of superhero power they’d like to have. I wanted the ability for someone to just open up my brain and take out the entire first draft and lay it down in front of me so I can just focus on the second, third and fourth drafts.” – Judy Blume

Tip: A redundancy is the use of a word or words that are not necessary and can be eliminated without losing the meaning of the sentence. “That” and “of” are often not needed. Go through your story and eliminate them where possible.

Jumpstart: Make a list of every place you’ve been in the past 24 hours. Describe each location in detail and the feelings associated with it. If you’ve not been anywhere, pick the last time you went somewhere and describe that, even if it’s just the grocery store.

Birthdays: Sidney Sheldon (1917), Gordon Lish (1934), Jane Yolen (1939), Joy Williams (1944), Pico Iyer (1957), Mo Willems (1968),

Quote: “Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.” – Jane Yolen

Tip: Go to a library and browse the stacks. Check out areas you don’t normally go. What can you find that’s new and different for you?

Jumpstart: Make a list of images you find disgusting or ugly. Choose one and write a description that redeems that object.

I’ve read a lot of Sidney Sheldon and Jane Yolen. Love them both. But one of Jane’s personal favorites? “Take Joy” about finding the joy in writing when you’re struggling. “Are you a writer longing to rediscover the joy that you once had in the craft (or even find it for the first time)? In this inspiring guide, Jane Yolen, an author who has been called America’s Hans Christian Andersen, shows writers how to focus on aspects of the craft that bring them joy.

She remarks in the first chapter, “Save the blood and pain for real life, where tourniquets and ibuprofen can have some chance of helping. Do not be afraid to grab hold of the experience with both hands and take joy.”

Get a free PDF book from The Wild Rose Press!

Blurb: LIVE, LOCAL, AND DEAD follows New York City DJ Jaye Jordan’s new start at a tiny Vermont radio station, after her husband survives cancer but their marriage doesn’t. She thinks she’s got enough trouble with protests because she replaced angry talk with love songs…and then the talk show host turns up dead in a snowman in front of the station. Plus, her second-chance romance with her old crush – the governor – turns out to be much more dangerous than either of them expected. Add in a colorful cast of locals, the cranky station cat Neptune, and Charlemagne the Moose, who has flatulence issues…and it’s more fun than anyone should be allowed to have in maple sugaring season.

Publisher (Crooked Lane Books): Live, Local, and Dead by Nikki Knight: 9781643859453 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Amazon: Amazon.com: Live, Local, and Dead (A Vermont Radio Mystery): 9781643859453: Knight, Nikki: Books

B&N: Live, Local, and Dead by Nikki Knight, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

BIO: Nikki Knight is the pen name of award-winning New York City radio news anchor Kathleen Marple Kalb. She’s been on the air since she was a teenage DJ in her small Western Pennsylvania hometown, working in newsrooms in Pittsburgh, Vermont, and Connecticut – and never losing her love of radio, or her hatred for snow. She also writes the Ella Shane historical mystery series for Kensington, and her short stories appear in several anthologies. Her Vermont story “Bad Apples” was an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Black Orchid Novella Contest. She, her husband, and their son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.

LINKS:

Website:  https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/nikki-knight

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NikkiKnightAuthor

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/NikkiKnightVT

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathleenmarplekalb/

Birthdays: Anthony Hope (1863), Amy Lowell (1874), Thomas Bernhard (1931), Lionel Fanthorpe (1935), J. M. Coetzee (1940), Alice Walker (1944)

Amy Lowell won the 1926 Pulitzer for Poetry.

J.M. Coetzee won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Alice Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and the National Book Award for “The Color Purple”

Quote: “Fiction is such a world of freedom, it’s wonderful. If you want someone to fly, they can fly.” – Alice Walker

That quote above is why I write fantasy and science fiction. I can have my characters do whatever I want. Want to fly with a dragon? I can do that. Want to do magic? Yep. Want to live on the moon? Got you covered. Building new worlds is so much fun. Writing lets your imagination soar.

Tip: Make a list of words that sound good to your ears. They might be onomatopoeic (words that sound like what they describe like buzz, sizzle) or simply words that suggest particular emotions or qualities. Keep them on hand for when you need a specific feeling.

Jumpstart: He stared at the key in his hand…the key to everything…

New books from The Wild Rose Press:

Birthdays: John Ruskin (1819), Jules Verne (1828), Kate Chopin (1850), Elizabeth Bishop (1911), Lisel Mueller (1924), Neal Cassady (1926), Donna Jo Napoli (1948), Barbara Joosse (1949), Rebecca Wells (1952), John Grisham (1955), Rachel Cusk (1968), Mary Robinette Kowal (1969)

Elizabeth Bishop won the Pulitzer and National Book Award and was US Poet Laureate from 1959-1960.

Lisel Mueller won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer for Poetry.

Quote: “Write a page every day. That’s about 200 words, or 1 000 words a week. Do that for two years and you’ll have a novel that’s long enough. Nothing will happen until you are producing at least one page per day.” – John Grisham

Tip: Switch writing gears. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper or an article for your writer’s group newsletter. The change of pace can revitalize you.

Jumpstart: One of your characters keeps something in a box, buried where no one will ever find it. What is in there? What is the significance of the object? Where is it buried?

New books from The Wild Rose Press:

Birthdays: Thomas More (1478), Charles Dickens (1812), James Murray (1837), Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867), Sinclair Lewis (1885), Fred Gipson (1908), Marion Cunningham (1922), Gay Talese (1932), Eric Foner (1943), Karen Joy Fowler (1950), Patrick McGrath (1950), Emma McLaughlin (1974).

James Murray was the primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Laura Ingalls Wilder is famous for her “Little House” series.

Sinclair Lewis won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Fred Gipson is best known for his 1956 novel “Old Yeller”

Marion Cunningham was noted for her work on The Fannie Farmer Cookbook

Eric Foner won the 2011 Pulitzer for History for his book “The Fiery Trial”

Quote: “The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will’. Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities.” – Charles Dickens

Tip: Your main character(s) should grow and change through the story. By the end, they should have changed for the better and grown in positive ways.

Jumpstart: Your character is building a new house. What does it look like? Give details.

Check the review pages for new ones under Romance, Mystery, LGBTQ+ for Adults, and Nonfiction.

Birthdays: Louis Dudek (1918), Carl N. Degler (1921), Keith Waterhouse (1929), Tom Brokaw (1940), Daniel Yergin (1947), Michael Pollan (1955), Kevin Trudeau (1963), Kathryn Stockett (1969),

Carl Degler won the 1972 Pulitzer for History for “Neither Black nor White”

Daniel Yergin won the 1992 Pulitzer for Nonfiction for “The Prize”

Quote: “I sit in my little office and I feel like I’ve got all my readers staring at me.” – Kathryn Stockett

Tip: Get your mind off your WIP (work in progress) and read something totally different. Don’t analyze, don’t critique, don’t make notes. Just relax and read.

Jumpstart: You have to evacuate your home quickly due to a natural disaster (or some other emergency). What do you take? What do you leave behind?

New books at The Wild Rose Press:

Birthdays: Herman Charles Bosman (1905), William S. Burroughs (1914), Margaret Millar (1915), Andrew Greeley (1928), Stephen J. Cannell (1941), Bill Strauss (1947), Terence Blacker (1948), David Wiesner (1956), Tom Eaton (1977)

David Wiesner Won the 1992 Caldecott Medal for “Tuesday”, 2001 for “The Three Pigs” and 2006 for “Flotsam”.

Quote: “For it is not the story that counts. What matters is the way you tell it.” – Herman Charles Bosman

Tip: Go for a walk or do other exercise for at least ten minutes—more is better. Do this especially if you’re stuck on something. Fresh air and movement gets the blood flowing – and wakes up the brain.

Jumpstart: Your house is haunted. Who is haunting you and why? Are they friendly? Or evil?

New books from The Wild Rose Press: