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:

Birthdays: Charles Lindbergh (1902), MacKinlay Kantor (1904), Betty Friedan (1921), Russell Hoban (1925), Stanley Karnow (1925), Siobhan Dowd (1960), Stewart O’Nan (1961), Ben Lerner (1979)

Quote: “…every day I don’t write feels like a lost day. I never believe that a story will be finished until I’ve typed the last period. And it is always a miracle if I get it down before being run over by a juggernaut.” – Siobhan Dowd

MacKinlay Kantor won the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “Andersonville”

Betty Friedan is best known for her 1963 book “The Feminine Mystique”

Russell Hoban wrote books like “Bread and Jam for Frances” for children

Stanley Karnow wrote about the Vietnam War and won the 1990 Pulitzer for History

Tip: Get a notebook – a three ring binder is best – add paper and pockets and start adding stuff to it to use in future stories. Pictures, thoughts, etc. You can also do this in Pinterest or OneNote or other programs online.

Jumpstart: Write a voice mail message for a literary character or author but do it in the “voice” of the character. For instance, Hamlet: To answer, or not to answer, that is the question…

Birthdays:  Sidney Lanier (1842), Gertrude Stein (1874), James Michener (1907), Richard Yates (1926), Joan Lowery Nixon (1927), Paul Auster (1947), Henning Mankell (1948), Ransom Riggs (1980)

Gertrude Stein’s memoir “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” made her a literary cult figure.

James Michener won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948.

Quote: “I’m not a very good writer, but I’m excellent rewriter.” – James A. Michener

Tip: Get to know your character: what does s/he like to watch on TV? Music? Movies? Clothing? What sets her apart from other characters?

Jumpstart: Describe where your character works. How did s/he get the job? Does s/he like it? Does s/he get along with his or her coworkers? What does s/he do? Write a scene with him or her at work.

From The Wild Rose Press:

Check them out and you could enter the contest to win a prize package or find a really good book to read, like:

Birthdays: James Joyce (1882), Johnston McCulley (1883), William Rose Benet (1886), Ayn Rand (1905), James Dickey (1923), Ina Garten (1948), Judith Viorst (1931),Thomas Disch (1940), Josephine Humphreys (1945), R. Scott Bakker (1967), Santa Montefiore (1970)

James Joyce wrote stream of consciousness form in works like Ulysses.

Johnston McCulley created the character Zorro.

William Benet won the 1942 Pulitzer for Poetry for “The Dust Which is God”

Ayn Rand is most famous for her book “Atlas Shrugged”

James Dickey was the eighteenth Poet Laureate of the US and author of the novel “Deliverance” which was made into the 1972 movie.

Judith Viorst is most well known for her children’s books like “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”

Quote: “Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.” – Ayn Rand

Tip: Most books are built around a central theme—a social problem, moral issue, intellectual question, etc. What is your story about?

Jumpstart: You’re stranded on a desert island. What do you have with you and what can you do to save yourself?

Vann Noble did his duty. He served his country and returned a shell of a man, wounded inside and out. With a missing limb and battling PTSD, he seeks healing in an isolated cabin outside a small Texas town with a stray dog that sees beyond his master’s scars. If only the white rune’s magic can bring a happily ever after to a man as broken as Vann.

On the run from hired killers and struggling to make sense of her unexplained deadly mission, Nakina Bird seeks refuge in Vann’s cabin. She has secrets. Secrets that can get them all killed.

A ticking clock and long odds of living or dying, create jarring risks.
Will these two not only survive but find unexpected love along the way? Or, will evil forces win and destroy them both?

PURCHASE LINKS: JAGGED FEATHERS

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Jagged-Feathers-Jan-Sikes/dp/150923943X/

BARNES & NOBLE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jagged-feathers-jan-sikes/1140380666?ean=9781509239436

I’ve been an avid reader all my life. I can still remember the excitement that surged through me the first time I realized I could decipher words. Many summers, I won the highest award possible from the Hobbs, NM Public Library for reading the most books.

There’s nothing I love more than losing myself in a story.

Oddly enough, I never had any ambition to be a writer. But I wound up in mid-life with a story that begged to be told. Not just any story, but a true story that rivaled any fiction creation. Through fictitious characters, the tale came to life in an intricately woven tale that encompasses four books. Not satisfied to stop with the books, I released music CDs of original music to match the time period of each story segment.

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Birthdays: Zane Grey (1872), John O’Hara (1905), Thomas Merton (1915), Norman Mailer (1923), Oe Kenzaburo (1935), Norris Church Mailer (1949), Denise Fleming (1950), Laura Lippman (1959), Patrick Gale (1962), Steven Amsterdam (1966), Daniel Tammet (1979)

Quote: “There’s always time to read. Don’t trust a writer who doesn’t read. It’s like eating food prepared by a cook who doesn’t eat.” – Laura Lippman

Norman Mailer won the Pulitzer Prize twice and the National Book Award.

Oe Kenzaburo won the 1994 Nobel Prize for Literature

Daniel Tammet is an English writer and autistic savant. His 2006 memoir “Born on a Blue Day” is about his life with high-functioning autism and savant syndrome.

Laura Lippman’s novels have won the Edgar, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe, and Barry awards.

I remember reading Zane Grey with my dad. He was a huge Zane Grey fan. Me, not so much, but it was the act of going to the library with him and having him read them to me that meant something. Read to your kids. It means everything.

If you like westerns, try some of The Wild Rose Press Wylder series.

Birthdays: Thomas Paine (1737), Anton Chekhov (1860), Romain Rolland (1866), Vincente Blasco Ibanez (1867), Bill Peet (1915), Paddy Chayefsky (1923), Edward Abbey (1927), Christopher Collier (1930), Germaine Greer (1939), Robin Morgan (1941), Rosemary Wells (1943), Olga Tokarczuk (1962)

Quote: “Be sure not to discuss your hero’s state of mind. Make it clear from his actions. Don’t tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass.” – Anton Chekov (defined one of the most enduring and popular literary devices “Chekholv’s Gun” – the writer unobtrusively introduces an object early on in the story—but its significance does not become clear until much later.)

Paddy Chayefsky won three Academy Awards for his original screenplays for “Marty”, “The Hospital”, and “Network”

Romain Rolland won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.

Vincent Ibanez is mostly known for Hollywood adaptations of his works.

Bill Peet was a childrens’ author and illustrator and also a writer for Disney.

Christopher Collier was a Pulitzer nominee and Newbery Honor winner.

Olga Tokarczuk won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Coming July 26, 2022!!!

Up for preorder now! See links below.

In Gabby Allan’s second Santa Catalina Island-set mystery series with a rom-com twist, boat tour guide Whitney Dagner, her chonky cat Whiskers, and Whitney’s not-so-ex police diver boyfriend must lead a dangerous investigation into years of scandal and bad blood…

Take in the wild beauty of Santa Catalina Island with tour guide and eclectic gift shop owner Whitney Dagner. On the itinerary: dramatic Pacific coastlines, diverse marine life, and murder!

Since returning home from mainland California and finding her groove with the family tourism business, Whitney Dagner’s daily routine has become a wonderfully chaotic adventure. She and her nimble kitty, Whiskers, often find themselves at the center of the action on Catalina, from staged treasure hunts to gossipy birdwatchers. But before Whit can get too comfortable in the place where she grew up, a gift shop order leads to a stunning discovery—someone’s dead body . . .

One of Whit’s best boat tour client’s, Leo Franklin was young and newly engaged when he unceremoniously took his own life. Only it doesn’t seem like that’s what really happened—not after the suspicious activity displayed by his family’s old rivals at the scene of his death. As a bitter, generations-long feud between Leo’s kin and the local Ahern clan comes to a head, Whit and her police diver not-so-ex-boyfriend must lead a dangerous investigation into years of scandal and bad blood to figure out who’s innocent . . .and who’s covering a killer’s tracks.

Universal buy links

After writing plays for her friends to act out as a kid, bad poetry in high school, and her high school Alma Mater song, Gabby Allan finally found her true passion—cozy mysteries. Being able to share her world with readers, one laugh at a time, and touch people’s hearts with her down-to-earth characters makes for the best job ever. This California girl now lives with her husband, daughter, and two insane dogs in Central Pennsylvania where she is hard at work on her next novel.

Website

Available from The Wild Rose Press:

Today’s literary birthdays:

Birthdays: Mary Dodge (1831), Philip Jose Farmer (1918), Jules Feiffer (1929), Susan Griffin (1943), Angela Davis (1944), Christopher Hampton (1946), Jonathan Carroll (1949), Laurence Shames (1951), Nick Flynn (1960), Shannon Hale (1974),

Quote: “There’s almost always a point in a book where something happens that triggers the rest of the plot.” “Just write about what bites you and damn the rest.” – Jonathan Carroll

Philip Jose Farmer was a prolific writer best known for his Riverworld science fiction novels.

Shannon Hale writes YA fantasy. Her novel “Princess Academy” won the Newbery Honor.

Susan Griffin’s book “A Chorus of Stones” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

Jules Feiffer, an American cartoonist, won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize.