Archive for the ‘writing’ Category
Brains Stages released August 28!
Posted on: June 28, 2018
- In: writing
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Woo-hoo!
August 28, 2018, Brain Stages will be ready for readers to snap it up and find out lots of insider info and fun, effective ways to nurture kids’ in line with how their brains develop.
You may have noticed Brain Stages has a new cover too. Double-whoo-hoo!
Sandra, independent publisher extraordinaire, revised the original cover with the feedback we received from friends and followers. Thanks so much to those of you who provided observations and suggestions!
Brain Stages is a grade-by-grade book, a What to Expect When You’re Expecting for elementary school. The idea is to help create a solid academic, social, emotional, and physical foundation to raise happy, well-adjusted children.
This project has been in the works for years. But our sources are as up-to-date as you can get. Many cited articles and studies came out this year. I so appreciate Sandra for allowing me to update things all the way to the deadline to get Brain Stages to the printer for the release of the advance review copies that will be out the last week in June.
New studies provide ever-greater detail to create an increasingly vivid picture for how children’s brains grow, develop, and learn.
In turn, I got to add valuable information, games, and activities up to the last second.
So. Much. Fun.
Not that scientists have brains all figured out. I’m sure lots of new discoveries are on the horizon, and I’ll keep you in-the-know on the Brain Stages blog.
(I’ve developed a sort of obsession with Google Alerts, to read articles and studies as soon as they’re published.)
And Reading Brain Stages will make you feel like you’re talking with a trusted friend, a supportive one with answers backed up by the latest intel and thousands of hours of experience.
Man, I would’ve LOVED to have had Brain Stages to support my child-raising journey in those early school years.
We’re living in exciting times!
Kids, parents, teachers, and caregivers have all been stressed out trying to keep up with societal expectations.
But less stress, more fun, and better results are right around the corner.
Here’s to happier, healthier kids, families, and schools everywhere!
Please share the good news on Facebook and Twitter. Let’s give people something positive to anticipate and celebrate!
Leave a comment if you have something you want to ask or tell us.
(Maybe tell us what you think of the cover?)
Also let us know if you’re a parent or teacher who can make time in July to look at an advance review copy of Brain Stages (digital or print version) and give us feedback before the book comes out in August.
Best wishes and happy summer!
Trish Wilkinson, co-author
Hello everyone! Announcing the launch of my new venture, the Magic Word Editing Co. My team of experts and I offer a full range of editorial and e-book design services for fiction and nonfiction authors, science and academic writers, and small businesses.
You can find us on LinkedIn and Facebook, too. There we’ll share news features, services, developments and announcements as the business grows. We’re happy to answer your questions and take suggestions on how best to fulfill your editorial and writing service needs. Projects in progress: a welcome video and a quick quiz to help our clients choose which of our services best meet their needs.
Do take a few moments to check out the site. Remember, we offer reduced-price service packages, and a 10% discount for referral clients. http://www.magicwordeditingco.com
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Working on a memoir?
Join Kirsten Imani Kasai for a 3-hour workshop on Tuesday June 6 at San Diego Writers Ink and learn how to mine your memories and life experiences to craft the compelling memoir or personal essay that you yearn to write. We’ll explore different techniques for finding the narrative amidst our memories, identifying elements of our story and discuss how to use creative license to handle fuzzy or painful memories. You’ll also discover how to bring real people to life as characters and identify what role you play within the story.
$45 for member/$54 for nonmembers
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By Trish Wilkinson
With academic demands ratcheting higher, stressing out children and their parents, seven years ago, I set out to write Grade by Grade: A Guide to Raising Smart, Happy Kids, K—6. The book would be a What to Expect When You’re Expecting for elementary school.
I’d collected a boatload of convenient games for parents and children to play on car 
rides, at the doctor’s office, or in line at the grocery store at each grade level—activities to help kids thrive, whatever their learning environment.
After twenty-three years of teaching, three years of research and interviews with lots of professionals and parents, I took an online class with Media Bistro and wrote a killer book proposal.
But once I started sending out queries and talking to agents and publishers at conferences, the response was always the same:
“It’s a great idea, but parenting books written by teachers don’t sell well.”
It didn’t matter that I’m one of the few teachers who has taught all the grades, from kindergarten through sixth, so I could speak from experience. I didn’t have a PhD or several thousand blog followers, so the book wasn’t worth publishing.
My plastic file box, jammed with folders of notes, articles, research studies, and interviews, collected dust in our garage for three more years.
When our older daughter graduated from Cal Poly, and our younger daughter was in her senior year at Williams College, my husband and I decided to move to Bend, Oregon to put 94.9 Central Oregon Fox Sports Radio on the air. To make the move from San Diego, California, we threw out eighteen years of accumulated non-essentials—including my box full of research.
But no effort is wasted.
I often remind my clients of this. Our endeavors don’t always get rewarded in the time-frame we expect. Sometimes the skills we learn on a project apply to the next one that gets the results we’ve been seeking.
Shortly after my husband and I moved to Bend, I arranged for Howard Shulman to give a presentation on his book Running From the Mirror and to teach a workshop with me on how to write a memoir at the San Diego Southern California Writers’ Conference in February 2016. His publisher, Sandra, of Sandra Jonas Publishing in Boulder Colorado, called me to coordinate promotions for the book.
And the two of us hit it off.
Sandra is an incredibly conscientious, passionate hard-worker—like I am.
After the conference, we kept in contact, and she asked me to do a developmental edit for one of her authors. This author’s novel had a fabulous premise, but the story and characters needed fleshing out—which we did, and it’s awesome now!
Watermelon Snow by debut author William Lippett, an intriguing story of scientists, melting glaciers, catastrophic egos, treacherous journeys across the ice, and a bit of romantic tension, chock-full of suspense that’s sure to keep you turning pages, will be released in July 2017.
When wrapping up the edit for Watermelon Snow, Sandra mentioned one of her other authors, Jacqueline Frischknecht. Jackie was a PhD who’d done a ton of brain research related to how function and development affect children’s education. She wrote a manuscript called Boosting Brain Power: Leveraging Students’ Learning Abilities.
“What a fabulous idea!” I said and gave Sandra my one-sentence summary of the Grade by Grade project, so she would know I had the background to provide whatever help she might need.
Sadly, Jackie passed away while working to develop the manuscript for publication. The prose still needed focus, organization, and a friendlier tone.
Jackie’s dying wish had been to publish the book, and her family wanted to see that wish granted. Sandra asked me to read the manuscript to see if I could do a content edit that would: a) make Jackie’s writing sound more conversational, b) hone the focus, and c) flesh out the work to make the book user-friendly for parents and teachers. Excited to work with Sandra on another project, I told her I would be happy to read the manuscript and come up with a plan to get it in shape for publication.
Jackie’s research was excellent and her ideas empowering.
However, to make the book an effective resource, the material needed to be geared for parents or educators, not both. Experts all over the country train teachers to use brain research to drive curriculum, such as Dr. Eric Jenkins who has written many books for educators, Dr. Carol Dwek, and veteran teacher Pat Wolfe, so I told Sandra that Jackie’s work may best serve parents.
Still, to create such a manuscript, I would have to read more recent studies as brain development has been a hot topic over the last decade in the research community. I’d have to almost rewrite Jackie’s book to make it work.
“Would you mind sending me your Grade by Grade book proposal, so I can get an idea of what you’re talking about?” Sandra asked.
Although I’d tossed my magic box of research, the proposal had been saved on a flash drive, so I said, “Sure,” and attached the file to an email without much thought.
A week later, Sandra called and said she loved my book proposal: my voice, the grade-by-grade progression, how I present what will be expected of kids that year socially and academically, the games, the “Real Deal” (goofy true-life stories), the tips for everything from communicating with teachers to family organization to healthy snacks on the go…
And Sandra had sent the proposal to Jackie’s family. She asked them how they would feel about me co-writing the book with Jackie; that is, using Jackie’s brain research and ideas for capitalizing on current brain development and function to my grade by grade structure, integrating my information on social development, games, tips for organization, and all the rest.
Jackie’s family liked the idea and even paid me a stipend to work like crazy for five months (in the proposal, I’d given myself a year) to complete the manuscript. I mourned the loss of the box I’d thrown out in the move, but truthfully, the more recent interviews and research will better serve parents anyway.
THIS is the book that was meant to be published.
Jacqueline Frischkknecht 1932-2015
Though I never had the pleasure to meet Jackie in person, we share our passion for educating and empowering children and families. At times, I felt her looking over my shoulder, guiding my research, nudging me to include this or that as my fingers flew across the keyboard. I learned so much about brain development and the nuts and bolts of how humans learn.
BRAIN STAGES
A Grade by Grade Guide to Raising Smart, Happy Kids, K—5
by Jacqueline Frischknecht, Ph.D. and Trish Wilkinson
will be released in early March 2018.
Parents who have children at various grade levels are reading chapters to give feedback, and we’re fine-tuning the manuscript now. But mostly they say things like:
“I used to get annoyed with my daughter, but now that I know what’s going on in her brain, somehow the things she does are less frustrating. Our house is so much more relaxed than it was before I read that chapter.”
Soon I plan to launch a Brain Stages website where I’ll post videos of kids and parents playing some of the games in the book as well as all kinds of helpful hints for raising smart, happy kids, so stay tuned…
I’d say, “Wish us luck,” except there have been too many “coincidences” involved with this project. 
Whatever your beliefs, providence or the cosmos, BRAIN STAGES: A Grade by Grade Guide to Raising Smart, Happy Kids, K—5 was simply meant to be.
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To celebrate the release of A CORNER OF HER HEART, I’m giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card. More about that later, but first, here’s a sneak peek inside the pages …
Monica lifted her head from the pillow. That was a mistake. Why did I order that third pitcher? Her head, heavier than a bowling ball, pounded as though she had used it to throw a strike. Voices seeped through her bedroom door. Joyful sounds of Brad and the boys playing. She licked her lips, hoping to get the saliva moving. No luck. Cotton balls would fall from her mouth at any moment.
She didn’t remember much after Kate brought her home, except Brad holding her hair while she hugged the toilet. Tequila is not my friend.
Monica forced herself up and reached for a water bottle Brad had left on her nightstand. She slowly sipped, listening to what sounded like…
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A Corner of Her Heart
Posted on: September 20, 2016
Am I excited to share this news!!
The Kindle edition of “A Corner of Her Heart” is available for pre-order. This is first installment in my Begin Again series. The novel will also be available in paperback on the October 14 release date.
Hope you enjoy this peek inside the pages . . .
Monica lifted her head from the pillow. That was a mistake. Why did I order that third pitcher? Her head, heavier than a bowling ball, pounded as though she had used it to throw a strike. Voices seeped through her bedroom door. Joyful sounds of Brad and the boys playing. She licked her lips, hoping to get the saliva moving. No luck. Cotton balls would fall from her mouth at any moment. She didn’t remember much after Kate brought her home, except Brad holding her hair while she hugged the toilet. Tequila is not my friend.
Monica forced herself up and reached for a water bottle Brad had left on her nightstand. She slowly sipped, listening to what sounded like bodies bouncing off the walls. Definitely a sock war was underway. Monica would find her sons’ socks, now rolled up into balls as ammunition, for days. Guys could make a game out of anything.
She gingerly placed her feet on the carpet and ambled toward the family room. A cobalt-colored orb Monica recognized as part of Burke’s soccer uniform flew past her nose.
“Mom,” nine-year-old Burke shouted, “get back, you’re in the battle zone.”
“Cease fire.” Brad appeared from behind a chair and waved his arms. “Hi honey. Feeling better?”
“A little. What time is it?”
“About three,” Brady answered, stepping in from the hallway, “Dad kept us quiet all morning.”
“I asked to play sock war,” Bodie said, his voice barely higher than a peep. “Dad and me are a team.”
Monica moved to where Bodie sat and joined him on the couch. “Are you winning?”
“I think so,” Bodie replied, pointing to an arsenal of socks.
These moments made Monica’s life. Her sons enjoying each other, laughter rising throughout her home. Getting drunk last night was an escape, but she couldn’t escape her obligations. She didn’t want to. God blessed her with four sons to love and guide into manhood.
She soaked in their faces, sweaty and innocent. How could she steal this life from them? Monica would never forget what Brad had done. Still, she had to find a way to forgive him and make their family whole again. Her sons’ childhood depended on that.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Kobo
iTunes: Coming Soon
About the Author
When she’s not playing with her granddaughter, Pennsylvania native Claire Yezbak Fadden is writing contemporary women’s fiction. Her books feature strong women who overcome life’s challenges, always putting their families first.
There’s a special spot in Claire’s heart for carousel horses – quite possibly the result of watching “Mary Poppins” 13 times as a young girl. She loves butterflies, ladybugs and confetti! Just ask anyone who’s received a birthday card from her. Claire cheers on the San Diego State Aztecs, her alma mater, and she is a Black & Gold fan — Pittsburgh Pirates, Steelers and Penguins. The mother of three, she lives in Orange County, California with her husband, Nick and two spoiled dogs, Bandit and Jersey Girl.
Claire’s work as an award-winning journalist, humor columnist and editor has appeared in more than 100 publications across the United States, Canada and Australia.” A Corner of Her Heart” is her debut novel.Follow her on Twitter @claireflaire, email her at claire@clairefadden.com, join her Facebook Fan Page or visit her at clairefadden.com. Join her mailing list for sneak peeks, prizes and fun.
Hi there. Trish Wilkinson here, novelist, writing coach, freelance editor, and member of Page a Day Writers. Recently, I decided to post writing tools on my Write to Win! website using materials I present at workshops. I thought Page-a-Day readers might appreciate them as well. Below is the beginning of the outline author Howard Shulman and I used to teach workshops in February on writing memoir for San Diego Writers’ Ink and the Southern California Writers’ Conference. If you have questions or would like further assistance, send an email to Trish@write-to-win.com, and I’ll be happy to help.
Memoir: How to Write a Salable Personal Story and Enjoy the Process
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The three things that will make your memoir successful:
- Write your story as the illustration of a universal theme
(what Marion Roach Smith, author of The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-standardized Text for Writing and Life(TMP), calls “The algorithm”, p.23)
Exercise 1: Write your own statement that describes your memoir below.
“This is a story about ____________________________ and the illustration is
________________________________________________________________.
Examples: – This is a story about the struggle for love and acceptance, and the illustration is Howard Shulman’s disfigurement as an infant and subsequent abandonment by his birth parents. Running from the Mirror
– This is a story about self-discovery, and the illustration is Elizabeth Gilbert’s journey choosing places to explore pleasure, spirituality and love. Eat, Pray, Love
– This is a story about emotional survival, and the illustration is Augusten Burroughs’s childhood, coping with his mother’s mental illness. Running with Scissors
– This is a story about love and loss, and the illustration is Nicholas Sparks’s relationships with his family members.Three Weeks with My Brother
Ask yourself: Who are you in your memoir? What is your position as the expert who has experienced your theme? What is your purpose; that is, what’s in it for the reader?
- Tell the truth (be real, for better or worse, because that’s what gives you credibility).
- In the revision phase, make every word/page drive your story forward in a context the reader can relate to (see hand out for the “how to” on “showing” vesrsu”telling”). If a sentence or scene doesn’t relate to your theme, leave it out.
“…when you have a flash of understanding on one topic, you can write an essay. Write an essay and you tackle a scene. Master the scene, and you can write seventy-five of them and have yourself a book. And here’s an unexpected dividend: Write a book about an aspect of your life, and you might gain perspective since … success in writing is all about which details you choose to emphasize.” (TMP, p. 34)
Click here for two more exercises, specific steps for revision once you’ve written your first draft, and concrete publishing options.
Happy writing!
Trish W.
When an Infection Eats Your Face: Meet Howard Shulman, author of Running from the Mirror
Posted on: November 3, 2015
- In: author | memoir | writing | writing craft
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Imagine you’re born perfectly normal, but then a virulent infection devours your eyelids, nose and lips. Your parents decide they can’t handle raising such a needy kid, so you become a ward of the state – and a doctor gets permission to do experimental plastic surgery on you.
This is Howard Shulman’s story.
Recently, his memoir Running from the Mirror was released by Sandra Jonas Publishing, and it’s riveting.
I met Howard a few months before his book was released. He’d called and told me he met a friend of mine in line at Starbucks who gave him my number. He wanted to talk to a local fellow author about giving writers’ workshops together. We met at a coffee shop in Chula Vista, California, where Howard shared his experience writing his memoir: cleansing yet uncomfortable, often frustrating, sometimes sad or filled with regret. Still, the satisfaction of knowing how far he has come and the hope his story might give to others made the project worth the effort.
Talk about grit. They don’t make ‘em much more bad ass than Howard.
Now in his 50s, what he treasures most is his family.
Since that first meeting, Howard and I have become friends, and we’ve planned some great workshops on writing craft, character development, and story structure. Be prepared to hone your skills, save time in revisions, and have a lot more fun, whether you write fiction or nonfiction. If you’re interested in participating in a writers’ workshop with Howard and me, please leave a comment with your contact information, or email me at writetowinwithtrish@gmail.com.
A portion of Howard’s sales go to Hillsides, an organization that works to recreate the lives of at-risk kids. For more information about Howard’s book or to order Running from the Mirror, click here.
Kirsten Imani Kasai Tattooed Poets Project
Do you wonder about the meaning or inspiration behind people’s tattoos? Mine are very significant to me, not to mention that I find them all very beautiful (and love the queries/compliments/comments that my anatomic human heart generates). Tattoos Day is celebrating poets and their ink via the Tattooed Poets Project.
Check it out here to read my poem “process aestivation.” You’ll find many other amazing poetic works and images featured on the site, too, so be sure to explore.
Thanks to Bill Cohen for featuring me and my work on the blog!
Resting in the Lull
Posted on: April 20, 2015
- In: writing
- 8 Comments
Creative folks know well that feeling of relieved disorientation that follows the conclusion of a project. For me, finishing a novel brings with it a period of rest and recuperation. The storm abates. We can rest in the lull before new waves build and crest to send us on another journey.
Right now, I’m in the lull. Recently, I finished the Gothic novel (The Book of Blood Magic) I’d been working on for the past three and a half years, packaged it up beautifully, and had it “blessed” by my energetically magical friend before sending it to my agent. It’s been close to three weeks since it left my hands, and I’m still kind of stumbling around, blinking in the sunlight as if I’d just left a movie theater in the middle of the day after completely losing myself in Story.
I have to stay busy, in the meantime. The waiting is the worst part. Is it readable? Saleable? Marketable? Who will buy?
The lull is admin time. I catch up on short story revisions, embark on a mad submission spree, researching lit magazines and sending in new work while it’s still fairly fresh and exciting to me. Fool around with my poetry. Touch up my website and CV. Stave off the looming finance/career paranoia and anxiety that dogs me, always. (I fear what I’ve termed Melville Syndrome*–experiencing a spate of successes but dying misunderstood, unread and labeled a literary crackpot, only to have my work become a classroom staple that inspires movies, an opera** and seeps into popular speech a century after my demise.) But mostly, I use the time to think. Which dormant project speaks to me with the loudest voice? Which seed will I water and nurture to fruition?
I’m finally ready to begin (again) writing the feminist Utopian novel that’s been simmering away on the back burner of my creative brain for many years, but it’s a complex project requiring much research. However, now is probably the perfect time to go back to the Ice Song series and resume work on the third and final installment now that I’ve settled on a title (Tattercoats). Hopefully, it’ll be quick and relatively fun, and I’ll likely self-publish this one (as I learned that most traditional publishers don’t want to pick up a single book from a series). It’ll be a loving labor, a tying of the bow.
Learning to navigate the lulls in our writing careers means being willing to be nonproductive, to honor the process of gestation as much as the conception and birth of our works. To endure the uncertainty of waiting, to appreciate the lessons learned and the risks taken in our latest project. It is a time of restoration and preparation; we strengthen ourselves for the work ahead. In the lull, we can anticipate the next phase of adventure, the certain successes and disappointments, secure in knowing that the quiet room in our heads, so recently vacated by our characters, will again entertain a party of strange and charming guests.
*Or worse, EA Poe. Dying penniless and ill in a gutter, only to have my work spawn an entire literary industry of hipsterish t-shirts, lunchboxes, household decor, ladies aprons, wall plaques, pillows, films, scads of reprints and spawn new fiction genres. Sure, it’s kind of awesome, but if it happens to me, I’d like to be around to enjoy it.
**I was terribly excited about attending a performance but drank too much wine beforehand and subsequently slept through most of the second half.
Honored and Happy
Posted on: April 10, 2015
Our very own Page a Day Writer, Sharon Cooper, recently received two more awards for her excellent romance novels. Go Sharon!
Hi all!
I spentthispastweekend in Dallas, TX celebratingthe 20th Anniversary of Romance Slam Jam (RSJ). Forthose of youwho are not familiar with RSJ it’s an organization that brings African-American authorsandreaderstogether. RSJ has created an opportunityforreaders to meetandget to knowsome of their favoriteauthors.
It was super exciting to meet readers who have sent me wonderful emails and who I communicate with on social media platforms. I’m telling you, some of these readers know my characters better than I do! I really enjoyed discussing the stories with them!
Though I attended as an author, I have to admit I didhave my fangirl momentswhen I sawsome of my favoriteauthors (Beverly Jenkins, Farrah Rochon, Sienna Mynx, Zuri Day, and the list goes on). Andwhat TOTALLY blew me away
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Sharon won’t brag on our writers’ blog, but I’m happy to let you know about her extreme awesomeness! Already a successful self-published author, Kimani Romance, a subsidiary of Harlequin, asked Sharon to write a few books for them. I believe this one is her second traditionally published novel, and she is still self-publishing other titles. Hybrid authors are becoming more common. Check out Sharon’s website https://sharoncooper.wordpress.com to see all the titles she has published in the last few years. This girl is cookin’.
Woo hoo! Look what’s available in paperback – SIN CITY TEMPTATION!
Is love in the cards?
Former police officer Trinity Layton will do anything to keep her personal security business afloat—even babysit professional poker player Gunner Brooks. Bizarre incidents have been plaguing the poker tour, and Trinity has been hired to keep Gunner safe. But when the gorgeous playboy convinces her to pose as his girlfriend, she might be the one who needs protecting, as their passionate charade quickly becomes all too real.
A gambler in the game of life, Gunner has made his fortune playing for the greatest prizes. The last thing he needs during this tournament is a bodyguard hanging around, especially one as alluring as Trinity. And being together 24/7 just tripled their odds of falling for one another. Now, as Gunner prepares for the championship of his career, he’s playing for the highest stakes of…
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Three Tricks For Showing Rather Than Telling
by Trish Wilkinson
For readers to become invested in a story, they need to “see” characters’ movement and action within a setting. Writers often hear, “Show don’t tell,” and sometimes we think, “But I did show – didn’t I? How do I fix this?”
Here are a few quick tips for showing rather than telling:
- Use ACTIVE VERBS rather than passive ones wherever possible.
Keep this list of passive verbs near your computer until you get in the habit of using them sparingly. (I tell my students: “If you must use passive verbs, limit them to no more than one or two on a page.”)
- Forms of be to AVOID: is, are, was, were, be, being, and been
- Auxiliary verbs: am, did, do, does, can, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must, has, have, had, could
- Adjectives (describing words)
- Adverbs (words used to…
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Hi readers!
If you liked my short fiction piece “Black Sun,” about the aftermath of a volcanic super eruption, please take a few seconds to vote for it to win Story of the Month.
Click the link to head to Drunk Monkeys. 🙂 Thanks pals!
Kirsten
Poetry, Photography and Art: online reading and Q&A with Kirsten Imani Kasai and Pretty Owl Poetry
Posted on: October 24, 2014
- In: writing
- 3 Comments
I had a great time reading a few poems and chatting with the lovely folks over at Pretty Owl Poetry about art, words, process and creativity last night. My poem “thirst” appeared in their third issue along with a photograph that I took in Romania (cover). Thanks to Kelly, Rose and Gordon!
Let’s Talk Point of View
Posted on: October 20, 2014
Here’s a great post from Kathy Teamen, authot of blog: Writing and Illustrating that does a great job of clarifying point of view. Several of my coaching clients struggle with POV, and this short article does a great job of summarizing how it works.
I added Jill Elizabeth Nelson, Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View to my writing library and want to recommend that you check it out. The information is good and the price is right – $3.99 on Kindle and $5.39 in paperback. You can take a look at Jill’s romantic suspense novels by clicking this link to her website. http://www.jillelizabethnelson.com/
Below are just a few things that Jill explains in her book. She gets more in depth during the book.
In fiction writing, the position from which anything is considered in any given scene should be the character through whose head we are viewing events. That character’s psyche – his or her very soul – is the standpoint from which everything else in the scene is presented and evaluated. This particular character is the point-of-view character or POVC.
In order to remain firmly inside the POVC’s head, nothing in a scene can be presented for…
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Breakout Author of the Year!
Posted on: October 18, 2014
Sharon C Cooper, one of our Page a Day authors, is at it again. Go Sharon!
Hi all, I have some exciting news! But first – what a fun weekend! I attended the second annual B.R.A.B (Building Relationships Around Books) Readers Retreat and had a blast! B.R.A.B is an online (Facebook) book club with over a thousand readers (and authors) and it’s the place where I have found some great books by new (new to me) authors.
Though I attended the retreat (held in Georgia) as a reader – so that I could support some of my author friends and meet some of my favorite authors – I had the pleasure of meeting some of MY fans! How cool is that!? I thought the event was very well thought out and though it was for the readers, I think authors really enjoyed themselves as well. I know I did!
Okay, so now for my exciting news – I, Sharon C. Cooper, was one of six authors nominated…
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Sometimes you have to shop a story around for quite a while before it finds a home and it’s easy to become discouraged as the “No, thank you,” emails mount up in your inbox. Luckily, my short story “Black Sun,” which follows narrators in Kenya, England and Japan as they cope with the aftermath of a volcanic super eruption, landed safe and sound at Drunk Monkeys after playing submissions roundabout for a year. If you really love and believe in your work, keep shopping it around till you get that enthusiastic “Yes!” that tells you your writing has found its audience.
Read it here: http://www.drunkmonkeys.onimpression.com/black-sun/
If you’re a writer who plans to seek out an agent, either sometime soon or in the indiscriminate future, check out this post by Carly Watters, Senior Agent for P.S. Literary. She shares a feature to include in your query letter that I hadn’t seen before, but it makes perfect sense.
How Writers Can Show Agents They’re Career Authors.
In any case, Happy writing!
The Page a Day Writers Group is a diverse collection of wonderful writers based in San Diego, CA. We've been meeting monthly since 2004. Our primary function is in-depth writing critique, marketing and brainstorming, but there's usually some wine, chocolate and ribaldry involved too. We write fantasy, humor, literary fiction, nonfiction, romance, thrillers and YA. Join us on our journeys to publication and the wonderland beyond!
The Page a Day Writers Group 