Birthdays: Cyrano de Bergerac (1619), Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806), Ring Lardner, Sr. (1885), Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909), Will Eisner (1917), Gabriel García Márquez (1928), Chris Raschka (1959), Patrick deWitt (1975), Daniel H. Wilson (1978),

Gabriel Garcia Marquez won the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature

Chris Rascha won the 2006 Caldecott Medal for “The Hello, Goodbye Window”

Quote: “Whatever I’m thinking about has got to fit into thirty-two pages, the standard picture book size. So that’s something. But the structure and the form for me are almost the most important, because these will express as much as words and images will the content of the work” – Chris Raschka

Tip: If you are going the traditional publishing route, make a list of ten publishers/agents to send your latest work to. Do your homework. Don’t just pick names out of a list. Study the guidelines and submit to those who handle your kind of writing.

Jumpstart: You come home to find fifteen messages in your voicemail. All from the same number—one you don’t recognize and can’t find through an online search. The first message says, “If you want Darcy to live, you’d better answer.” The messages get increasingly threatening. Who is Darcy? Do you know? What do you do?

Birthdays: Howard Pyle (1853), Frank Norris (1870), Charles H. Fuller, Jr. (1939), Mike Resnick (1942), Mem Fox (1946), Leslie Marmon Silko (1948), Robin Hobb (1952), Mark Z. Danielewski (1966), Sarah J. Maas (1986)

Quote: “The first thing you have to do is write. There is no easy shortcut about that. Having a great agent or your cousin being best friends with an editor won’t change that. First, you have to write the book (or story) beginning to end. Then you have to make it the best story you can possibly create.” – Robin Hobb

Tip: Do you do crossword or other word puzzles? You should. They will stretch your vocabulary and help you with your writing.

Jumpstart: You’ve been cursed by a witch. You will never write another word unless you…. What is the worst possible you can think of that you do not want to do? Do you do it?

Birthdays: T.S. Stribling (1881), Meindert DeJong (1906), Barbara Follett (1914), Alan Sillitoe (1928), David Plante (1940), James Ellroy (1948), Julia Cameron (1948), Peggy Rathman (1953), Geoff Nicholson (1953), Daniel Woodrell (1953), David Carter (1957), Khaled Hosseini (1965), Dav Pilkey (1966), Fiona Maazel (1975),

T.S. Stribling won the 1933 Pulitzer Prize for Literature for “The Store”

Meindert DeJong is a multiple winner of the Newbery Award for his children’s books

Barbara Follet was a child prodigy whose first two books were published when she was twelve and fourteen. She disappeared at age 25.

Khaled Hosseini is best known for his 2003 novel “The Kite Runner”

Dav Pilkey is most noted for his children’s series “Captain Underpants”

Quote: “Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies to arrive at a greater truth.” – Khaled Hosseini

Tip: Pretend you’ve been offered a spot on a talk show to promote your book. What would you say? This can be the beginning of a blurb.

Jumpstart: Using the names Tiffany and Bertha, write a scene for each of them, but don’t stereotype them. Give them something different than what their names conjure up at first thought. For instance, Bertha could be a pole dancer and Tiffany a strong, tough, Marine.

Birthdays: William Godwin (1756), Arthur Machen (1863), Edward Thomas (1878), Fory Nichols (1896), Peter Abrahams (1919), Ronald Searle (1920), Erik Blegvad (1923), James Merrill (1926), Nicholas Freeling (1927), Patricia MacLachlan (1938), Ron Chernow (1949), Julia Glass (1956), Nicholas Shakespeare (1957), Stephen Budansky (1957), John Matteson (1961), Tyler Florence (1971)

William Godwin was a novelist and father of Mary Shelley of “Frankenstein” fame.

Roy F. Nichols was the 1949 Pulitzer Prize winner for History for “The Disruption of American Democracy”

James Merrill won the 1977 Pulitzer for Poetry

Patrician MacLachian is best known for her 1986 Newbery medal winner “Sarah, Plain and Tall”

Ron Chernow won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for “Washington” biography

Julia Glass won the 2002 National Book Award for “Three Junes”

John Matteson won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for “Eden’s Outcsts”

Quote: “My inspiration for writing is all the wonderful books that I read as a child and that I still read. I think that for those of us who write, when we find a wonderful book written by someone else, we don’t really get jealous, we get inspired, and that’s kind of the mark of what a good writer is.” – Patricia MacLachlan

Tip: Expand your professional library with books like “The Emotion Thesaurus” by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi or Roget’s Thesaurus or “Character Naming Sourcebook” by Kenyon or other reference books. And don’t just let them sit on your shelves—use them!

Jumpstart: You glance out your window late at night and see your neighbor digging a deep hole. You’ve always thought he was a strange character. Do you go out for a sneaky, but closer, look? Or do you just grab the binoculars and watch from a dark window? What is he digging the hole for? Write two scenes—one from your POV, one from his.

Birthdays: Sholem Aleichem (1859), John Jay Chapman (1862), Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) (1904), David Goods (1917), Tom Wolfe (1931), Leo Dillon (1933), John Irving (1942), Peter Straub (1943)

Sholem Aleichem is the pen name of Solomon Rabinovich whose “Tevye the Milkman” stories were the basis for “Fiddler on the Roof”

Theodore Geisel is better known as Dr. Seuss.

Leo Dillon was a Caldecott winner in 1976 and 1977. His best known work is “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears”

Quote: “I’ve always preferred writing in longhand. I’ve always written first drafts in longhand…I write very quickly; I rewrite very slowly. It takes me nearly as long to rewrite a book as it does to get the first draft.” – John Irving

Tip: Start a spreadsheet, one page for each manuscript you have, and track who it is sent to, when, the response, etc.

Jumpstart: A “Tom Swiftie” is a pun-like adverbial tag and should not be used except when you want to have a bit of fun, but remember that they will probably be edited out at the end. Example: “We need a new light,” he said darkly. Or: I can’t find the bananas,” Tom said fruitlessly. Write a short scene where you use as many Swiftie’s as possible.

Birthdays: Mary Boykin Chestnut (1823), William Dean Howells (1837), Lytton Strachey (1880), William Lederer (1912), Ralph Ellison (1913 or14?), Octavio Paz (1914), Robert Lowell (1917), Richard Wilbur (1921), Leo Buscaglia (1924), John Fowles (1926), Beni Montresor (1926), John Jakes (1932), Judith Rossner (1935), Marge Piercy (1936), Robert Hass (1941), Jim Crace (1946), Ian McDonald (1960)

Octavio Paz won the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.

William Lederer is best known for his book “The Ugly American”

John Fowles is best known for his book “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”

John Jakes is noted for his series “North and South”

Judith Rossner is best known for her book “Looking for Mr. Goodbar”

Quote: “Words are your business, boy. Not just the word. Words are everything. The key to the rock, the answer to the question.” – Ralph Ellison

Tip: Most readers identify with the first character they encounter. Make sure this is your main character.

Jumpstart: You’ve moved to a new home. While doing some cleaning, you find a loose board in a closet. You pry the board up and find…

I know it’s not a leap year, but I wanted to get the “leap babies” who are authors in here too.

Birthdays: Michel de Montaigne (1533), Marcel Pagnol (1895), John Tenniel (1820), Stephen Spender (1909), Walter Tevis (1928), Steve Martini (1946), Megan McDonald (1959), Colum McCann (1965), Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) (1970),

Quote: “There are many, many types of books in the world, which makes good sense, because there are many, many types of people, and everybody wants to read something different.” – Lemony Snicket

Tip: In the best stories, the main character has to not only overcome the external problem, but internal ones as well. She should change as a person—grow and become better. What conflicts does your character face?

Jumpstart: Make a list of places you would like to visit. Now do the research. Besides money, what would you need to go there? Why do you want to visit them? If you can’t go, how much can you find out about them through research? Put your main character there, or have her dreaming about it.

February 29

Birthdays: Dee Brown (1908), Hermione Lee (1948), Tony Robbins (1960),

Quote: “You just don’t give up. There have been times when everything seemed to conspire against getting a book done or printed, and I would feel like turning my back on the whole thing. But I came back and persisted.” – Dee Brown

Tip: Set a goal, one you can attain, like one page a day. And keep that goal.

Jumpstart: Your character is planting a garden. What does she plant? Vegetables or flowers? Or both? What kind? How big is her garden? Is it a single pot on a tiny balcony? Or an acre of corn and spinach?

FRIENDS TO THE END by C.L. Colyer

Fiction, Middle-grade, Paranormal (ghosts)

5*****

Blurb: Twelve-year-old Zach is convinced he’ll never be happy without his best friend Jeremy by his side. But both of their lives changed with a bang five months ago, and as far as Zach’s concerned, it’s his fault Jeremy will never see his twelfth birthday. When Zach moves with his family to a Chicago suburb, he quickly becomes friends with a group of thrill-seeking kids trying to find a disappearing haunted house. But Zach’s not worried. He doesn’t believe in ghosts, so he follows them into a wild, dangerous encounter that becomes a battle to decide what’s real and what’s not. 

Thoughts: Wow. This is a great story—one to tell on a dark night during a sleepover (preferably while safe in a parent’s house!). It’s happy/sad/funny/distressing and more, but has a good ending that leaves you smiling.

Zach and his family moved from Chicago to a suburb, Nothiningness (Interesting name). Zach lost his best friend Jeremy to a drive-by shooting that Zach blames himself for. He doesn’t want to move, to start a new school, to make new friends, but all those things happen. His friends—Dom, Josh, Morgan (a girl)—take him on and they go about their lives being kids—which means getting into mischief. Like looking for the legendary vanishing house on Wayward Lane. They’ve been ordered to stay away from there, so of course they go. At midnight. During a full moon. And end up in more trouble than they can imagine.

What I liked: The characters are all well-done and believable, though I wish the author hadn’t made the teachers so…stereotypically nasty. I liked the way Dom, Josh, and Morgan take Zach into their group and how Morgan keeps Zach’s secrets although she knows what happened to him. I especially liked Jeremy’s ghost telling Zach he was okay and at the end with the baseball. Perfect.

What I didn’t like: Just one minor thing: how do they explain the gash in Zach’s leg to the parents when they were supposedly sleeping in the basement all night? One minor thing I would have liked to have seen tied up.

Recommendation: Even if you don’t have kids, if you like ghostly stories, pick this one up. It’s well-written, has scary parts, and a good ending that leaves you smiling.

Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Birthdays: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807), Laura E. Richards (1850), Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. (1888), John Steinbeck (1902), James T. Farrell (1904), Peter De Vries (1910), Lawrence Durrell (1912), Irwin Shaw (1913), N. Scott Momaday (1934), Ralph Nader (1934), Uri Shulevitz (1935), Ken Grimwood (1944), Alexandra Bracken (1987),

Laura Richards won the Pulitzer for a biography of her mother Julia Ward Howe

John Steinbeck won both the Pulitzer for Fiction and 1962 Nobel for Literature

N. Scott Momaday won the 1969 Pulitzer for Fiction for “House Made of Dawn”

Uri Shulevitz won the 1969 Caldecott Medal for “The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship”

Quote: “Write what you want to read and don’t even THINK about trying to be published until after you’ve produced something you love and believe in. Easier said than done, but when you genuinely love something it comes through in your writing.” – Alexandra Bracken

Tip: Writing is not supposed to be torture. Yes, there are days when it’s difficult, but if you are dreading it, then you may be writing the wrong thing. Try changing your point of view and try to have fun with it.

Jumpstart: Watch TV without the sound on, using closed captioning. Do you feel like you’ve missed anything? Then turn the sound on but turn away from it so you don’t see it. Again, your feelings? (Note, for those who are hearing or visually impaired, try doing something that tests a different sense)

Birthdays: Christopher Marlowe (1564), Victor Hugo (1802), Fanny Craddock (1909), Theodore Sturgeon (1918), Christopher Hope (1944), Sharyn McCrumb (1948), Elizabeth George (1949), Michel Houellebecq (1956), Atiq Rahimi (1962)

Victor Hugo is best known for his books “Les Miserables” and “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”

Quote: “Essentially and most simply put, plot is what the characters do to deal with the situation they are in. It is a logical sequence of events that grow from an initial incident that alters the status quo of the characters.” – Elizabeth George

Tip: Don’t be your own worst enemy. Forget about “But first…” syndrome (I want to do this, but first I need to…). The mind can find five hundred different excuses that stop you from writing. Tell it to shut up and let you get to work.

Jumpstart: This is national Tell a Fairy Tale Day. What’s your favorite fairy tale? Why? What makes it so memorable? Write a character who could fit into the story and rewrite it with that character.