Category: Ballet Trilogy

While I wait for my recently completed books to arrive, I often take a writing break and work on tasks I’ve let go while I was focused on my deadline. Things like: I wander around, wondering what to do with myself without pages to edit. I clean closets and drawers and sort through the papers and books that I may or may not need now that the book is completed. I enjoy lunch with my friends, make overdue phone calls, and scout out belated-and-need-to-be-mailed birthday gifts. I wonder what’s missing from my days. (It’s writing!) I start a new writing...

When I wrote this in early 2010, these were my favorite books for writers. Since they remain the same, I’m sharing the post again. Enjoy! I am not one for practicing random writing. Occasionally it does seem like the only way I can get words to paper, but, most of the time, I write within a story that plays into a novel-length work. When I do practice for practice sake, I have two favorite books. Word Painting: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively by Rebecca McClanahan suggests exercises that allow me to use my own writing. My favorites include keeping...

Writing a novel often forces you to leave out bits and pieces. In the case of Letters to Follow-A Dancer’s Adventure, the book is written for young adults (and the young at heart). Teens today want action rather than descriptions. I love descriptions and sensory details. So, when I get “carried away,” I save those bits and hope to use them elsewhere. This is one such elsewhere place! Nazaré, Portugal: a scene   The warm sand slid between her toes as she walked toward the waves. If she closed her eyes, she needed to listen hard to hear the water’s...

Have you ever wondered what goes into critiquing a fiction book, short story, or article? If so, check out the list of criteria editors and critique member may consider. And, if you read a book and find something missing, the reason you feel at a loss, may be that the author inadvertently missed a key component. (That’s way authors work with early readers or critiquers to discover and repair these issues.) Conflict • Does your story begin with some sort of conflict—either internal or external? • Does the beginning set up the bigger “conflict” of the entire novel, the issue...

In mid-February I challenged you to come up with zany rhymes reminiscent of  see you later alligator. Here’s the extended list. Enjoy, my boy!  It’s a pearl, my girl!   Chop, chop, lollipop See you soon, baboon Up a tree, tiny flea Take care, polar bear In the air, big brown bear In an hour, sunflower Chow chow, lazy cow Better shake, rattlesnake Bye, bye, butterfly Got to go, buffalo Let’s jam, awesome Sam In pocket, shiny locket Be so sweet, parakeet In a flash, succotash Out the door, dinosaur Off the bed, sleepy head  

See you later alligator…in a while crocodile You’ve seen this and heard this before. Now the challenge is on!! What zany rhymes can you create that follow the same pattern? Send them in. I’ll post the results in March. Until then, give a hug, Ladybug!