Thought for the Day:
“You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream,
the farther you get.”
~ Michael Phelps ~
Gifts for My Writer Friends:
Jane Friedman has a wonderful post HERE on How to Immediately Improve Your Query Letter’s Effectiveness.
Adventures in YA Publishing has some good, instructive posts. The post HERE will help you Strengthen Your Verbs and Your Writing.
Greg Pattridge has another great post HERE about editing — searching for problem, over-used words.
Last week, my daughter Maggie was in town from New York. We had a lovely family dinner, and I never got around to writing my blog post. Next Saturday morning, I will load my two grandkids, Gehrig and Gracie, into my Prius and move on down the road. We are driving to Denver for a couple days, then on to Montrose, Colorado, to visit friends and family. I will be on the road for the next two Sundays, so I won't be blogging. See you here again in three weeks.
For those who need reminding how much patience is needed in the business of writing, I have a story for you. I had an email about ten days ago from an editor at Humpty Dumpty magazine. She reminded me I had sent them a little story in 2015 and wondered if it was still available.They wanted to buy it for their September/October issue. I had given up on finding a home for that little story. So hang in there. You never know when you'll find a little success.
Last time I posted, I promised one of you an ARC of Wicked Bugs by Amy Stewart. The winner this time is Jenni Enzor. Congratulations, Jenni! If you don't know Jenni, she is a writer from Oregon who blogs HERE and has great book reviews and posts for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. It's definitely worth a look. Jenni, I will get your book out soon. For the rest of you, keep reading. I have another fun book to giveaway.
I've been on a bit of a non-fiction kick lately and have another one for you this week. The Manhattan Book Review had Women Who Dared: 52 Fearless Daredevils, Adventurers, and Legends by Linda Skeers on their review list recently so I grabbed it. I love reading about these interesting women. Here is the review I wrote for the Review.
What do a wing walker, a wrestler, a cosmonaut, a lighthouse keeper, and a spy all have in common? They are all women who did these things long before it was acceptable for women to be in such professions. Author Linda Skeers has gathered the stories of 52 women who did amazing and wonderful things with their lives in times and places when, according to their societies, they had absolutely no business doing them. Take Rose Fortune for instance. She was a former slave who escaped to Canada with her family in the late 1700s. She was an entrepreneur who built a business on transporting luggage and making wake up calls. This is just one example of these many fascinating women. Each has a full-page biography with some fun graphics, created by illustrator Livi Gosling,
and a full-page drawing of the woman. Young readers, ages eight and up, will find wonderful role models and their compelling stories in these pages that may give them the impetus to try new things and take the steps they need to create their own daring moments in life. The writing is snappy and the illustrations fun. This is a winner.
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| Linda Skeers |
I have a gently-read ARC of this book to share with 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.
