Monthly Archive: March 2015

Word Play Challenge

Word Play Challenge

I was never a good reader as a child, but I’ve always loved words: their sounds and the way their letter combinations can jump around to make different words. I always had trouble with transposing those common primary devils saw-was and help-play. As a new teacher, I learned I was mildly dyslexic. I also learned that confusion included numbers as well. If you ask me to read a long string of numbers I might start anywhere telling you the numbers (of course they’d be out of order) and then writing them down in correct sequence. Strange huh? I’d have never...

One-Sentence Challenge

One-Sentence Challenge

Here’s a fun exercise to stretch your mind and use up brain cells. Try writing one l-o-n-g sentence that creates an image or shares a cohesive idea.   One-Sentence Challenge Yesterday I sat waiting for the doorbell to ring which meant my books arrived and I’d hold the early copies in my hands and then rush to the phone to call Linda and share the news that I’d finally completed 84 Ribbons, book one in my trilogy/ writing cycle which started as an overnight idea when I couldn’t sleep so I sat in my living room and let Marta’s story...

Letter Writing Follow-up

Letter Writing Follow-up

In January I wrote about  the lost art of letter writing. Since then I’ve received FIVE unexpected letters. Four arrived together as compact 4×6 note cards, one as a full, typed page. All represent the first letters I’d received in a long time (especially since only a handful of friends write holiday letters anymore.). Let me share the essence of their content. My “biggest fan” letter arrived from Canada via Arizona. A young dancer wrote to me telling me how much she enjoyed 84 Ribbons and that she identified with Marta, the main character in the book. Talk about being...

Carol: A Sketchy Character

Carol: A Sketchy Character

Character sketches are fun and part of an author’s ‘research’. They may be based on people we know, or they may be total fabrications. Sometimes, we take the best or worst traits of people we know and use them to jump-start our thinking. Then there is CAROL: the character many of you love to hate. Where did she come from and why? CAROL is a natural antagonist, just like some people we know. Life gave her lemons and she decided to squeeze the sourness onto everything and everyone she knows or comes into contact with during Marta’s story in 84...