“A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it is to be God.” ~ Sidney Sheldon~
Some Gifts for My Writer Friends:
Writers Helping Writers has a great guest post by Julie Musil about softening hard characters. She also links to an article by Angela Ackerman on 8 ways to make your character more plausible. Double whammy right HERE for the reading. Don’t miss this one.
A friend of a friend posted this on Facebook. If
you want to be sure a phrase or word you are using in your writing was used in
the period about which you are writing, you can check it with Ngram. Click HERE
for the link. But be careful. This could become a huge time waster if you
aren’t careful.
The Write Practice has a couple of articles with
practice worth looking at. Click HERE for their article about writing Dialogue. Click HERE for their article on using close third
person to get close to your characters.
Last week, I offered a signed copy of Sure Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington to one of my lucky readers. It pays to spread the word for extra chances. Our winner is Carol Federline Baldwin. WooHoo, Carol! Thanks for spreading the word. For those of you who don't know Carol, she is a teacher and writer from North Carolina and blogs at the aptly named Carol Baldwin's Blog, which you can find by clicking HERE. Hop on over there to find out more about her. Carol, I will be sending your book out this week. If you did not win, please keep reading. I have another giveaway this week.
A couple months ago, I read a book called A Hundred Horses by Sarah Lean for review for the San Francisco Book Review. It's a charming book and here is my review from SFBR.
Nell is lonely. She misses her father and, though Nell’s mother tries to fill her days, Nell is unhappy. She joins every club her mother suggests, but is still an outsider. She is looking forward to spring vacation with her grandmother, but everything changes. Nell is to be sent to stay with her Aunt Liv, someone she hardly knows, for two weeks. When getting her suitcase from the attic, she discovers a case with pieces of a toy carousel her father had made for her. She takes it with her. While trying to sneak it into her aunt’s house, Nell is almost run down by a horse, and a mysterious girl steals the case, but Nell can’t tell anyone because she isn’t supposed to have it. After her encounter, her young cousins tell Nell a story of a hundred horses. Nell begins a journey from being a lonely outsider to discovering the magic inside herself and all around her.
“Even in the pale light I saw the disappointment in Angel’s eyes. I felt like I had betrayed everything she’s shown me, interrupted some magic.”Sarah Lean has written a story that will enchant young readers with all things that girls like best—horses, mystery, magic, and charming characters in most interesting circumstances. This is a winner.
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| Jerry Lee |
I promised another give away and I will not disappoint. I have a gently-read ARC of A Hundred Horses for one of you. (U. S. addresses only please.) You need to be a subscriber or a follower (easy and free -- in the right-hand column you can join as a follower or subscribe by email) and leave a comment. If you would like to spread the word, as our winner Carol did, post the link to this post on Facebook or tweet it out or use any other social media. Just tell me how and where you spread the word, and I will put your name in the hat extra times for each that you do.
Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's blog for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday books. Just click HERE to check it out.
