Birthdays: Roald Dahl (1916), Else Holmelund Minarik (1920), Daniel Defoe (1660), E. Lockhart (1967), JB Priestley (1894), Sherwood Anderson (1876)

Tip: Don’t modify things that shouldn’t be modified: very unique, slightly impossible, mostly alone, endlessly eternal. Unique, impossible, alone, eternal and other words like them are ultimate words. Nothing else is necessary to explain them. If someone is alone, there is no one else with him. If another joins him, he is no longer alone.

Thought for the day: “If you spend your time saying ‘I’m never going to finish this book’, you probably won’t.” – Marylee Woods

Jumpstart: Write about something you desperately wanted one time in your life and didn’t get. What would be different if you had?

Birthdays: Enid Blyton, Philip Ardagh, Andre Dubus III (1959), DH Lawrence (1885), James McBride (1957), Jessica Mitford (1917), O. Henry (1862)

Tip: Hang in there and keep going. Dr. Seuss’ first children’s book And to Think that I saw it on Mulberry Street was rejected by twenty-seven publishers. The twenty-eighth—Vanguard Press—sold six million copies.

Thought for the day: “Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.” – Henry David Thoreau

         “I’ll give you the whole secret to short story writing. Here it is: Rule 1: Write stories that please yourself. There is no rule 2.” O. Henry

Jumpstart: Describe in detail a perfect day, or, today is the 20th anniversary of the bombing of the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon and downing of the plane in Pennsylvania. Describe that day from your perspective.

Birthdays: Carl Van Doren (1885), Cyril Connolly (1903), Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880), Marian Keyes (1963), Mary Oliver (1935)

Tip: On the first page, you should have the answers to three questions: Whose story is this? (main character) What’s happening? What’s at stake?

Thought for the day: “The story begins when things change. The adventure begins when things go wrong.” – Dennis McKiernan

Jumpstart: You work at a pet shop and arrive in the morning to find cages opened and animals everywhere—including the snakes—what happens next?

Tip: Avoid vague words like usually, pretty, very, just. (She was very pretty vs. She was beautiful vs. She was Aphrodite made flesh.)

Thought for the day: “Edit, edit, edit. Scrape off the dirt so that the diamonds can shine. A lot of writing is knowing what to take away.” – Erica Jong

Jumpstart: “It was worth a try,” he said as he shrugged.

“No, it wasn’t. Look what happened. Now, we have even more of a mess to clean up.”

When honor meets temptation…

California “Callie” St. John learned the hard way just how much one night of rebellion can cost. Determined not to repeat past mistakes, she tries to be the perfect daughter by volunteering with various charities and keeping everyone at arm’s length. After narrowly escaping a car bombing, she is forced to accept help from the one man who can get past her defenses, making her long for the impossible — letting him into her life…and her heart.

 Lieutenant James “Hawk” Hawkins, a member of a Special Ops unit of soldiers with unusual abilities, is known for keeping his cool in any situation. Acting as a bodyguard to the daughter of one of DC’s mover and shakers is just one more mission like any other. When an enemy from his past targets the spoiled socialite, Hawk realizes she is more than she seems.

With his reputation on the line, he’s willing to risk everything to keep her safe. But succumbing to temptation isn’t an option…no matter how much he wants to give in.

Author Bio:

Katherine Grey writes sexy sweet contemporary romances with a hint of the paranormal. She lives in upstate NY with her family. When she’s not writing, she can be found up to her elbows in flour trying out new bread and cookie recipes.

Buy Link: Amazon – Honor Bound

Social Media Links:  Facebook    Bookbub   Goodreads

Birthdays: Alice Sebold, China Miéville, Christopher Brookmyre, Henry Seidel Canby, Robert Pirsig, Vendela Vida

Tip: To have an element of reality, your story people must also feel, as well as think, and act, and they must react to the emotions of those around them.

Thought for the day: “I write fiction and I’m told it’s an autobiography. I write autobiography and I’m told it’s fiction, so since I’m so dim and they’re so smart, let them decide what it is or isn’t.” – Phillip Roth

Jumpstart: I didn’t know what I would do. I didn’t even know if I could go. But I had no choice. It was…

Birthdays: Ward Just (1935), Tomie dePaola (1934), Paul Fleischman (1952), Arthur Koestler (1905), Frank Yerby (1916), John Cage (1912), Sam Hamill (1943)

Tip: An antagonist is a person (or thing) that opposes the protagonist. It doesn’t have to be inherently bad, but it does have to throw roadblocks in the hero’s way.

Thought for the day: “Writing a novel is like building a wall brick by brick; only amateurs believe in inspiration.” – Frank Yerby

Jumpstart: Your character opens a fortune cookie and the strip inside says: “You will receive a legacy from a distant relative.” What is the legacy and why is she the one receiving it?

Birthdays: Richard Wright (1908), Joan Aiken (1924), Syd Hoff (1912), David Lagercrantz (1962), Mary Renault (1905),

Tip: Confusing pronouns: “The lazy dog sat on the sofa. It was soft and plump.” – The second sentence could apply to either the dog or the sofa. The “it” makes it unclear. You need to be specific here. This often happens in books where there are multiple characters of the same sex. Using “she” or “he” for everyone gets too confusing as to who is whom.

Thought for the day: “Just because I’m sweeping leaves doesn’t mean I’m not thinking.” Joan Aiken

Jumpstart: It’s spring and the birds are coming home. All of them. We need to be ready…

Birthdays: Sarah Orne Jewett (1849), Aliki (1929), Adriana Trigiani (1969), Alison Lurie (1926), Jenny Han (1980), Kiran Desai (1971), Lawrence Clark Powell (1906), Malcolm Gladwell (1963)

Tip: Dangling modifiers: modifiers are words or phrases that enhance other words in a sentence. If you misplace them (dangling), you can change the meaning of a sentence, or make it impossible as in: “Carrying the box, the leaves blew across his path.” In this case, it sounds like the leaves are doing the carrying. Much better: As he carried the box, the leaves blew across his path. Or: The leaves blew across his path as he carried the box.

Thought for the day: “You can’t write well with only the nice parts of your character, and only about nice things. And I don’t want even to try anymore. I want to use everything, including hate and envy and lust and fear.” – Alison Lurie

Jumpstart: You’re going to be on a reality show—one that’s never been seen before. What will it be? What will the challenges be? What is the prize? Why are you doing this?

Birthdays: Allen Drury (1918), John Bierhorst (1936), Demi (1942), Barbara Dillon (1927), Ellen Stohl Walsh (1942), Eugene Field (1850), Jack Bickham (1930), Joseph Roth (1894)

Tip: Watch your verb tenses. Whether writing in present or past tense, keep it consistent. I’ve seen too many books where the writer slips from present tense (I am doing this) to the past (I did this) to future (I will do this) sometimes in the same sentence. Most books are written in third person/past tense (She painted the picture.). Some in first person/past tense (I painted the picture). Whatever person/tense you choose, make sure you are consistent throughout.

Thought for the day: “Books cannot change. A thousand years hence they are what you find them today, speaking the same words, holding forth the same cheer, the same promise, the same comfort; always constant, laughing with those who laugh and weeping with those who weep.” – Eugene Field

Jumpstart: This is National Beheading Day. Why would anybody name a day after such a horrible practice? What is the history behind this day? Your character celebrates this day – why and how?