On the mend… physically and spiritually

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you to all of you who sent well wishes and prayers for me.  Tonight I feel almost human again and I’ve been told by an on-call nurse that I am no longer contagious, even though I’m still sniffling and sneezing and coughing.  Tomorrow I’m going to try half a day at work and see how I do.  Poor Miss Rose has had to cover for me too long! Continue reading

Good books for middle school

“There is creative reading as well as creative writing.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time
(or the tools) to write.”  Stephen King
 

 If you are inclined to write for 6th-8th graders, you’ll want to read some of the best of what’s out there now.  Here are my top 12 picks:

Many Windows On the World

My husband, Mark, is a long haul trucker.  He has been in nearly all the lower 48 states with the exception of a few in the NE corner of the country.  He’s seen all sorts of beautiful sights and had many adventures.  Wherever he goes he takes a camera, and he’s always ready to shoot something spectacular or interesting.  He took the picture I’m using for my Continue reading

Fun research!

I had a 45 minute call with my business mentor, Elge Premeau, today.  She was very pleased with my web site and my blog.  She’s going to try to help Jamey (my technical administrator) figure out how to make this an RSS feed so I won’t have to e-mail everyone Continue reading

Map your scene

 

When someone asks if I will edit their manuscript for them, I first tell them to send me several pages which I will edit for free.  Then I can give them an estimate of what I will charge for the whole book.  I had a prospective client send me an action scene out of a book he was writing.  For privacy, I won’t tell character names or the name of the writer, but here is a brief description of the action: