The Write Stuff: October 2015

Monday, October 26, 2015

Halloweensie Special Edition

This is a special edition of The Write Stuff. Every year, writer and teacher Susanna Leonard Hill runs a Halloween writing contest on her blog, and every year I mean to enter but never seem to get my little story done on time. She calls the contest the Halloweensie Contest "because it's not very long and it's for little people." The story must be under 100 words not including the title, contain the words "dark," "haunt," and "costume," or some form of those words, and can be rhymed or not. Then we are to post our entry on our blogs and post the link on her blog. It's fun and there is still time to enter. Check out Susanna's blog HERE. So this year, with fingers firmly crossed, I am entering my own little rhyming story, The Halloweensie Party. (93 words) I hope you enjoy it.

The Halloweensie Party

Little witches dance and sing.

Around them darkest bats take wing.

Their cauldron sits on crackling flames.

The little witches chant some names.

“Oscar, Wilma, Hank, and Jean,

come join us for Halloween!

Costumes can be fun or scary —

pirate, ghost, or glittered fairy,

mummy, bear, or wolverine —

all of them are pretty keen.

We’ll bob for apples, sing some songs,

dance until we hear twelve gongs.

Midnight calls all monsters home.

No more will the creatures roam

or haunt the night for one more year.

Naught ‘til then for you to fear.”

For some reason, two notices did NOT go out this week and there is another post with the usual review and giveaway. Please check it out HERE.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Connect the Stars -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the

way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well

put that passing time to the best possible use.”

~ Earl Nightingale ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Erika Wassall has written a great post on Kathy Temean’s Writing and Illustrating blog on villains. Check it out HERE. She has great examples and good information.

Suzanne Warr has a guest post at Author’s Think Tank Blog about common novel problems she finds in her editing work. You can find it HERE. It’s an important one for writers and a good read.

Kimberly Griffiths has a great post HERE on setting, something that is so important in making stories come to life.

Last time I posted, I offered an ARC of Walter Dean Myers's last book, Juba! A Novel to one of you. This week, Carol Baldwin is the winner. If you don't know Carol, she is a writer from North Carolina who blogs about writing and books at Carol Baldwin's Blog (HERE) and also has a fascinating newsletter with author Joyce Moyer Hofstetter called Talking Story (HERE). Congratulations, Carol! I will get the book out to you this week.

Some of you may remember one of my middle-grade favorites last year was Saving Lucas Biggs by David Teague and Marisa de los Santos. Imagine how excited I was to learn the two had written another middle-grade book. Connect the Stars came out last month. Here is the review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review.

Audrey knows when someone is lying. She is never wrong. It’s a gift or maybe a curse for this 13-year-old girl. When she realizes her best friend has not only lied to her but hung her out to dry, it’s almost more than she can bear. No point in having friends if you can’t trust them. Aaron, also 13, remembers everything he has ever read or heard. Everything. He may know a lot of facts, but that doesn’t mean he really understands anything. Both of these kids find themselves at a wilderness camp with about a dozen other kids and a very scary

Marisa de los Santos

camp guide. Some want to be there, some don’t. Some are angry, some are sad, some are lost. But something happens that forces everyone to work together, and everyone is changed by it.

“The place was oddly beautiful, like almost everything soft had been peeled away to reveal the Earth’s bone structure, which was as stark as truth.”

David Teague

Marisa de los Santos and David Teague have written a taut, exciting story that will draw kids (and anyone else lucky enough to get their hands on the book) in and keep them turning pages. The dual points of view and beautiful writing make this story a real standout and a very satisfying read. This should become a middle-grade classic.

I have an ARC of this wonderful book I would be happy to send to one of you. To win, all you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower, and tell me that in a comment you leave on this post. If you are reading this in your email, click HERE to go to the blog so you can leave a comment. If you would like extra chances, please spread the word by posting the link on a Tweet, blog post, Facebook, or any other way you like. Let me know what you have done in your comment, and I will put in extra chances for you for each that you do.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for many more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Juba! A Novel by Walter Dean Myers -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“The mind of a writer can be a truly terrifying thing. Isolated, neurotic,

caffeine-addled, crippled by procrastination, consumed by feelings of panic,

self-loathing,and soul-crushing inadequacy. And that’s on a good day.”

~ Robert De Niro, actor ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends

The Writer’s Circle post on useless words is a really good one. The word THAT is one we could all use far less and be better writers for it. Check out the post HERE.

I have been suffering from the most mind-boggling writer’s block for so long. This post (HERE) on Adventures in YA Publishing by Jen Larsen says it all. It is a real day brightener.

The ladies who brought you The Emotion Thesaurus and other writing books are starting a new venture. There is an announcement HERE about it, and it also has several great checklists for writers. This is worth a look.

My blogging may become a bit sporadic over the next couple of months. We bought a house this week which we will close on early November, then make a slow move before we put our present house on the market. We have nearly fifty years of stuff we have collected to sort through and downsize. We will be moving closer to our grandchildren and into a more manageable home. Anyway, while my intention is to blog every week, there may be Sundays I simply don't get to my blog. But rest assured, I will be back.

Last week, I offered a copy of The Looney Experiment by Luke Reynolds to one of you. This week's winner is Helen. Helen is an occasional artist who lives in the mountains of New Mexico. Congratulations, Helen! I will get your book out to you soon. For the rest of you, I have a most interesting book this week and a giveaway.

It was a sad shock in July of 2014 when it was announced that Walter Dean Myers had died. I really liked the books of his I had read, and I knew he had legions of young fans. When I ran across his last novel on the list of choices from the San Francisco Book Review, I had to grab it. I'm glad I did. It's a great example of historical fiction called Juba! A Novel. Here is my review.

Juba lives with Stubby, another young black man, in a room they rent from a white man in New York City. It is 1842 and neither has much in the way of future prospects, but both have dreams. Stubby wants to be a great chef and Juba a dancer. Mostly they help their landlord in his smoked fish business, but it is barely enough to keep body and soul together. Juba dances wherever and whenever he gets a chance, making very little money doing it, but his fortunes change a bit when Charles Dickens attends a performance. Dickens is dazzled by Juba’s fast, intricate footwork. When Dickens returns to England, he writes about Juba which leads to what seems to be a great opportunity for Juba to work in London. But is it?

“I ended up with a ‘yes,’ and Mr. Pell said he was glad and that he thought I would be glad as well. He set up a time for me to meet the other performers.”

Walter Dean Myers brings the true story of Juba to life for modern readers with

Walter Dean Myers

a first-person narrative based on impeccable, deep research. The voice is so real, readers will forget this is historical fiction and will come to believe they are reading a diary. Adding to the realism, it is illustrated with maps, photographs, and reprints of handbills and newspaper ads, stories, and drawings.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

The Looney Experiment -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“I have often thought that this [East of Eden] might be my last book.

I don't really mean that because I will be writing books until I die. But

I want to write this one as though it were my last book. Maybe

I believe that every book should be written that way.”

~ John Steinbeck ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

If you write for middle graders, you sure don’t want to miss the guest post for The Writer’s Dig HERE by Luke Reynolds, 7th-grade teacher and author of The Looney Experiment. It is very good advice.

Janice Hardy posted a good article on character development HERE. As always, this is well worth your time.

A.J. Steiger has a guest post on Adventures in YA Publishing about when to break writing rules. Click HERE to read this excellent post.

Last week I offered an ARC of Cynthia Levinson's new book, Watch Out for Flying Kids. Cynthia offered a signed bookplate and a clown nose to the winner as well! How fun is that? This week's winner is Sue Heavenrich, a science and environmental issues writer for both adults and children and a blogger extraordinaire. She regularly posts to THREE blogs -- Archimedes Notebook, Sally's Bookshelf, and The Marcellus Effect -- all of which are worth visiting. I always learn something when I read her blogs. Click on any of their titles to see them. Congratulations, Sue. I will get the book out to you this week. I do have another giveaway this week, so please keep on reading.

A few months ago as I was choosing books for review for the San Francisco Book Review, I ran across a book called The Looney Experiment by Luke Reynolds and was attracted by the title. I read a little about it and requested it. I am so glad I did. It is an absolutely terrific book. Here is the review I wrote for SFBR.

Atticus Hobart’s life isn’t so good. He can’t bring himself to speak in public. He hears voices in his head. He’s in love with the most beautiful girl in school, and he’s sure she doesn’t know he exists. The school bully, Danny Wills, has too much power and is completely protected. Danny’s father is the baseball coach, and his mother is school board chairperson. He can call Atticus “Fatticus” all he wants and beat him up with no qualms. Just when Atticus thinks things can’t get worse, his father leaves and his English teacher is replaced by the strangest, oldest teacher on the planet. But this teacher, Mr. Looney, introduces Atticus to new ways of looking at things and, perhaps most important, new ways of looking at himself. Just as Attius seems to be getting his balance, something happens to threaten it all.

“Then you grow up and realize that’s all load of crap. Your

parents decide they’re going to get divorced; you get bulled

at school because you’re a mime compared to everyone else;

and you’ve got the World’s Worst Name.”

Luke Reynolds has written a story that will resonate with a lot of young people,

Luke Reynolds

both boys and girls. The premise is surprisingly fresh, the characters real and believable, and the writing is simply terrific. This book deserves readership far beyond the middle-school audience for which it is intended. Don’t miss this amazing book.