My next children’s book, Finally Home, stars a young girl who wants a dog for her birthday. Will she get one? Stay tuned.
Finally Home
Bee Wars, My Latest Book
My most recent children’s book is ready for purchase from Amazon. The models, my grandson Jack and husband Robert are proud to show it off! I’m delighted to share this story about a boy with great imagination who learns an important lesson about bees.
Yup, I’m writing a new mystery.
National Novel Writing Month
We, the crazy writers of #nanowrimo are attempting to write the rough draft of a novel in 30 days. The concept: If you write 1,667 words every day in the month of November, you will have the first draft of a 50,000 word novel. I have written approx. 20,000 words thus far. My work in progress (WIP) does not yet have a title, but when I know, you’ll know.
(I have to get back to writing, now.)
NOOOOOOOOO!
You might ask where I was last Tuesday. You open your email or social media and expect my weekly blog. You SUSPECT I am getting all ready for the National Novel Writing Month #Nanowrimo in November and have not a minute to spare.
Good guess, but you would be wrong. My computer…stopped. It…just…stopped…working. Robert and I did what we could, testing cords and monitors. Everything was in working order. The computer just would not work.
To the rescue came our wonderful, caped-superhero-computer-fixer, Ester Watson. Although she had to take the tower home with her, she delivered it back the next day in perfect working order. All is right with the world, and on November first, I started my new novel. Wish me luck!
A cameo in my next book!
My children’s picture book, Bee Wars, will be published later this month. Like my other children’s books, A Gift at the Door and Bully Pie, I use photographs translated into cartoon-like images. The lovely tire horse (pictured above) has a cameo in several scenes in Bee Wars.
The swing holds special memories. My sister, Karen Bowman, first bought the swing for my parents who lived on a farm in Kansas. Grandchildren, cousins, and an occasional adult would ride this beauty in their side yard. A yard, I must say, that would put most parks to shame. When my parents passed, my sister graciously gifted the much-loved swing to my husband and me for our grandchildren. Although Karen is no longer with us, her gift of joy for the next generation flows through the memories of my grandchildren.
I need a little help, please.
My dad used a word I believe he coined. When he would bring a bag, bundle, or box into the house and we wanted to know what it was, his response would often be WOOLENASY or WOOLENAUSSIE (some in the family say willinashy).
The meaning was “a secret” or “I’m not going to tell you.”
Of late, I have been wondering if “woolenasy” was a word from another language, slang, or a combination of a few words. Dad is no longer with us, so I am reaching out to biggest audience I know…social media.
If you have heard of this word before, please comment. If you don’t know this word, please retweet or share. I’m trying to reach as many people as possible. Thank you, one and all!
Inktober 2019 Day 2 – Mindless — Melanie Franz
(Here’s some fun… Go to your blog reader and type in “Inktober 2019” and you’ll find all kinds of fun folks who are challenging themselves with drawing a sketch a day for the entire month. I did it today and so many sketches caught my eye. This one, by Melanie Franz, made me smile. There are prompts that go with each day…but no two interpretations are the same. Try it! You can thank me later.
I might have missed something…
It’s been a few months since I published Double Take, my first mystery. In preparation for some publicity, I re-read the first chapter and to my horror and embarrassment, found two errors (and it was a short chapter). The more I read, the more errors I found. How frustrating.
Two dear friends are willing to re-read the book as well and we are all going to combine our info to (hopefully) clean up the text further.
The errors are not massive, many having to do with spacing and punctuation. At one point I seem to have used a colon followed by quotation mark and then an apostrophe!
A big shout out to those who have read the book and given me such positive feedback. I’ll keep on working, finding mistakes and trying to fix them.
Bounce back bamboo
I need to learn how to be more like bamboo. The top picture is bamboo in crisis because it is dehydrated.
The second picture is a few hours after the bamboo has had a nice long drink.
How do I encourage that kind of resiliency and flexibility in my own life? How do you?
How to un-block…
Writers often share stories of being blocked. They sit down to write and the white screen mocks them or their characters are in a pickle without a clear exit plan. Twitter, especially, is filled with stories about being blocked.
So I ask you…how do YOU get un-blocked? What are the techniques or events that have lead you to your breakthroughs?
Drawing on Words 