tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31806133948457573622024-02-24T23:29:30.112-08:00meg_evonneMeghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-25604315357442185612017-03-15T15:17:00.000-07:002017-03-15T15:17:00.066-07:00Story Ideas and Where to Find Them!<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="f88lj" data-offset-key="9c4t4-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span data-offset-key="9c4t4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I'm often asked, "Where do yo get your story ideas?"</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9c4t4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">The answer is to quote the famous science fiction author, Connie Willis.She wrote alternate UK history novels like, <b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Doomsday-Book-Connie-Willis/dp/0553562738/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0553562738&pd_rd_r=S59ZQ76MQSR1CKHTWH7Z&pd_rd_w=u3ZPO&pd_rd_wg=Qx9Ql&psc=1&refRID=S59ZQ76MQSR1CKHTWH7Z" target="_blank">Dooms Day Book</a></i></b>, and <i><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Say-Nothing-Dog-Connie-Willis/dp/0553575384/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=SHN6XECPHM6B476EXM31" target="_blank">To Say Nothing of the Dog</a>,</b></i>.and </span><b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blackout-Connie-Willis/dp/0345519833" target="_blank">Blackout</a>. </i>Hugo Award Winner </b>and wonderful frequent teacher at <a href="http://clarion.ucsd.edu/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">The Clarion Writer's Workshop</a> at a <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://milehicon.org/" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">MileHiCon</a><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>told us to, "Keep your butterfly net out and scoop up everything you can! Someday you will use it."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My young adult author mind scooped this up today: <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/gma/mcdonalds-employee-jumps-drive-thru-window-rescue-unconscious-070949369--abc-news-topstories.html" target="_blank">McDonald's Employee to the Rescue!</a></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4bj8g-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">So, yeah,in my story there will be murder, mayhem, kidnapping or some major crime, but one of my young characters will defintely jump out a convenience store window like this young hero!</span></div>
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Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-51117367030536963692016-04-08T06:05:00.000-07:002016-04-08T06:05:24.543-07:00Fan Announcement: 2016 Malice Domestic Panel<span style="background-color: white; color: #191919; font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><u>Malice Domestic 28 (Bethesda, MD April 28th - May 1st)</u></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #191919; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I'm pleased to let you know that I have been selected to participate in the following panel at Malice Domestic.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #191919; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION THAT YOU'D LIKE ME TO ASK THESE GREAT AUTHORS?</span><br />
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M. (Meg) Evonne Dobson — <b><i>Moderator</i></b></div>
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Gretchen Archer</div>
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Susan Cox</div>
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R. Lanier Clemons</div>
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Karen Pullen</div>
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<span style="color: #191919;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Please note that I am scheduled to be part of the Author Signings occurring on<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1053242642" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday, May 1 at 12:40 PM</span></span>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #191919;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">There are other events that I am involved in, including the release of my Kami Files Short Story in the Malice Domestic Anthology!</span></span></div>
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Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-254905058149569962016-03-09T06:14:00.001-08:002016-03-09T06:18:45.166-08:00Short Story Wins Adult Genre in Tempe AZ Community & Arizona State University Contest<div class="" data-block="true" data-offset-key="l3g-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span data-offset-key="l3g-0-0">My short story, <b><i><u>Big Horn Mountain Carnivores</u></i>,</b> was chosen as the adult category winner in the 2nd annual Tempe AZ Community and Arizona State University contest. I am honored and humbled. Thank you to the judges from Tempe and Arizona State University Writing Program. (The title was orginally Big Horn Mountain She-Bitches, but there were rules on swearing.) </span>FYI - this is NOT a young adult work.<br />
Arizona friends, fans, and Iowa snowbirds, please join me at the public reading April 13th at the Tempe Public Library! Time: 6-7:30PM. More details to come.<br />
The contest was for anyone who has a Tempe library card. I have my writing studio in south Scottsdale, but I have a Tempe LIbrary Card as well as Scottsdale. My mom would visit a friend at an adult care facility while I disappeared to the library to write.</div>
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Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-40225119634197508822016-02-28T07:18:00.001-08:002016-02-28T07:19:21.155-08:00Chaos Haiku, written from the perspective of my protagonist Kami<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; border: 1pt none; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10pt; padding: 0in;">I’m exhausted but thrilled after my first Left Coast Crime
convention. What wonderful people! This haiku is from the perspective of my
protagonist in Chaos Theory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 115%;">Chaos brews unleash’d,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 115%;">wreathing skies, checkerboard land<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 115%;">there grieving, I yield.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; padding: 0in;">(The ‘d is a breath, a sigh, a gasp not a syllable.)</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; border: 1pt none; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10pt; padding: 0in;">Chaos Theory is a Poisoned Pencil YA crime fiction. It is about a
young woman who buries a letter written to her from her grandmother, given to
her on her death. Kami drops it unopened
into her school locker and buries it under mementos and items in a chaos theory
science experiment. In the final chapter, she deconstructs the mess in the
locker with a friend...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; padding: 0in;">"All fall semester, I hid from this letter, burying it under piles
of junk, while I tried to find the right place for it in my universe. It is
time. I open her letter... And think about a butterfly beating gossamer
wings--a tiny increment of everyday life, a tiny moment of chaos that changes
lives forever."</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; padding: 0in;">Best wishes on your blog, Mary. And thank you again for a
wonderful prompt!</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; padding: 0in;">M Evonne Dobson (Meg E Dobson)</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; border: 1pt none; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10pt; padding: 0in;">MEvonneDobson.com</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-60378427477921003762016-02-24T09:53:00.001-08:002016-02-24T09:53:13.994-08:00See you at Left Coast Crime in Phoenix? Giveaways!<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Look for me at Left Coast Crime 2016 in Phoenix Feb 25th to Feb 28th</div>
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<a href="http://www.leftcoastcrime2016.com/" style="line-height: 19.32px;" target="_blank">http://www.leftcoastcrime2016.com/</a></div>
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Left Coast Crime is an annual mystery fan convention, and I am thrilled to be a part of it this year. Give-away you ask? YOU BET!</div>
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For aspiring published authors: 5 PAGES/5 PEOPLE This is a chance to have me review 5 PAGES of YOUR MANUSCRIPT and 5 PEOPLE’s names will be drawn.</div>
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Also receive FREE DOWNLOADS of my short story POLITICS OF CHAOS if you post a selfie with me, sign up on my webpage, or post something on Facebook about meeting me in person.</div>
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Where will I be?</div>
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• Sisters in Crime’s reception (free food) Thursday 5:30PM to 6:30PM.<br />• Friday’s New Author Breakfast - 7:30AM – so drag yourself out of bed! I’m in the 2nd group being introduced! Probably in Regency B and C, but program will show it.<br />• Friday’s “From Fan to Published Author” Panel 1:30PM –2:30PM Ellis W<br />• Booksigning after the panel discussion.<br />• Saturday’s Discover Mystery Breakfast sponsored by my press, The Poisoned Pen from 7:30AM to 9:00AM. Meet the authors, obtain their secret passwords and you might win a great book bundle. I’ll have a table to host – so be there for an extra give-away from me too! Again probably in Regency B/C.</div>
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See you there! Next year’s venue for Left Coast Crime? Hawaii 2017</div>
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Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-70357778667105275012016-01-04T14:18:00.004-08:002016-01-04T14:18:58.620-08:00Every Dead Thing by John Connolly From a Personal Perspective<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Every Dead Thing</b> by John Connolly was not for me. I listened via Audible beginning to end, and the narrator was excellent, but there are crimes that I do not enjoy. Examples that I avoid at all cost being horror, true crime, and anything with child abuse or child death. I am glad that I've finally listened to a John Connolly, but I can't imagine I would seek out another. i realize that this is the first Charlie Parker, and perhaps the later books were more satisfying as he settled in as a character and the author as a writer.<br />
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For me, the police procedural information was wonderful, but then I didn't understand, with that depth of background information, how he could run around as a private investigator and claim he wasn't one (as he wasn't licensed etc.) There were other things that didn't stack up for me as well. As to John's writing style, the mix of personal to crime was off and came across as backstory rather than personal connective writing for me. The big problem I didn't care for was the depth and length of the backstories for every single character, including that character's parents, his children, his work buddies etc., and that single character might be a minor player or end up important. As the backstories are told, they don't necessarily make sense to the plot for several chapters. Often so much later that I couldn't remember who the individual was.<br />
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So for me, this was a sad and horrible read through the holiday season, but yet---I didn't put it down or move on to something else. That is an indicator of his abilities to hold me, but more likely the result that nothing else in my queue or what was coming out caught my attention.<br />
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I'll be more careful in the future. It is HORRIBLE when I turn away from something because the topic is too upsetting for me, but that is the way I am. I guess that's why I write young adult.<br />
<br />Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-28604999819877651812015-10-12T05:44:00.000-07:002015-10-12T05:44:15.327-07:00SCBWI-IA Fall Workshop - Huge Success<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I judge workshops by the quality and quantity of author craft
classes, the professional level of the instructors, the knowledge presented for
advanced writers, and the presenters’ technical skills and abilities to
communicate. SCBWI-IA's fall workshop was a huge success. I love workshops for
the chance to reconnect with fellow authors! And again, the intimate workshop
filled that lonely writers need checklists. It was money and time well spent. My
thanks go out to the hard work of the organizers and Connie Heckert. <a href="http://www.scbwi.org/members-public/connie-heckert" target="_blank">http://www.scbwi.org/members-public/connie-heckert</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There was a picture book track and a MG/YA
track. Each workshop added new insight into the business and author techniques.
Stacey Friedberg (who enjoys dark books!) from Penguin's Dial Books for Young
Readers<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.writingforchildrenandteens.com/publisher-directory/friedberg-stacey/" target="_blank">http://www.writingforchildrenandteens.com/publisher-directory/friedberg-stacey/</a>,
Laura Biagi,agent - Jean V Naggar Literary Agency Inc.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.jvnla.com/our_team.html" target="_blank">http://www.jvnla.com/our_team.html</a>,
and Alison Weiss - editor at Sky Pony, imprint of Sky Horse Books <a href="http://www.skyponypress.com/" target="_blank">http://www.skyponypress.com/</a> gave us
excellent information.
If you have the chance to join their workshops, I recommend them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A special thanks for coming to share her
thoughts goes to Susan Campbell Baroletti,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.scbartoletti.com/?page_id=7" target="_blank">http://www.scbartoletti.com/?page_id=7</a> Her
writing exercises stirred memories, hearts, and creative spirits. Her knowledge
guided, nourished, and filled me with awe! She is an incredible woman and a
wonderful role model for authors in any medium. Thank you Susan for re-lighting
the fire.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-26851196420235965862015-08-03T05:52:00.001-07:002015-08-03T05:52:25.433-07:00Watch for exciting news soon! :-)Watch for exciting news soon! :-)Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-68868461424385837502015-05-20T06:28:00.001-07:002015-05-20T06:28:11.131-07:00Writes of Passage anthology Edgar Winner!Check out my review post back on June 15th, 2014 concerning this inspiring work on the writer's journey. It's won an award from the Edgars! Writes of Passage is a great resource and provides wonderful motivation on the wide range of an author's concerns.<br />
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And did you notice my May note in the 'about me' section? It seems impossible to be included on such a list, but I am greatly honored. For my non-writing friends, a 'submission' is not a 'nomination'. The Poisoned Pen Press and its imprint the Poisoned Pencil is awesome.<br />
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If you haven't yet reviewed it, will you do so on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes and Nobel?<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23365858-chaos-theory?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">Chaos Theory on Goodreads</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Theory-M-Evonne-Dobson-ebook/dp/B00TKQR2XS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432128024&sr=8-1&keywords=chaos+theory+m+evonne+dobson" target="_blank">Chaos Theory on Amazon</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/chaos-theory-meg-dobson/1120022039?ean=9781929345083" target="_blank">Chaos Theory on Barnes and Noble</a><br />
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<br />Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-52656592986831019162015-04-16T08:38:00.000-07:002015-04-16T08:38:16.734-07:00Amazing Story from an Amazing TeacherSuzanne Kelly is an amazing teacher. When given the assignment to teach problem solving skills, she went out and earned a private investigator license! Then she wrote a story and a teaching package that was phenomenal using those new found skills to solve the crime. <br />
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She is retired now, but one of her best projects came about after she read a short World War II memoir. It was about men who survived three weeks in a life raft after the plane when down. Her students were filled with questions: What happened to those men? Where were they now? How did the experience change their lives? Those questions began a years work as the students first found the survivors, mailed them, and finally spoke with them. It was a story that reached international news services and television! Since then, she has kept in contact with some of them.<br />
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At long last, she put together the information they learned. It will be a fascinating book, and due out June 1st according to Amazon, see link below. For anyone in the Ames area, the public library will have a signing on May 2nd.<br />
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I urge you to read this story!<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reaching-Beyond-Waves-Inspirational-Survivors/dp/1555718124/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429194945&sr=1-1&keywords=reaching+beyond+the+waves" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Reaching-Beyond-Waves-Inspirational-Survivors/dp/1555718124/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429194945&sr=1-1&keywords=reaching+beyond+the+waves</a><br />
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Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-91552303686192306832015-03-17T18:11:00.001-07:002015-03-17T18:11:32.503-07:00Omnimystery News: A Conversation with YA Mystery Author M. Evonne Dobson<a href="http://www.omnimysterynews.com/2015/03/a-conversation-with-ya-mystery-author-m-evonne-dobson-1503130800.html?m=1">Omnimystery News: A Conversation with YA Mystery Author M. Evonne Dobson</a>Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-6322813139131948762015-03-09T05:24:00.000-07:002015-03-09T05:24:00.912-07:00Where to Find Your Story - What's the Big DealApologize for the fast, unedited posting. On a time schedule, like normal. :-)<br />
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What's the big deal about 'where to find your story?' Here's the freaking truth. For me, it's never been a problem--ever. That sounds egotistical, but it's not. I've written all my life and stories pop all around me. They gel in the middle of the night, and I know they are right when my heart isn't simply touched by them, but wraps tight around them until I HAVE TO TELL THAT STORY.<br />
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Of course, I've picked up ideas here and there at conferences--all excellent ones:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Tim Powers (SF/F) told a class that he researches until he has 'twenty ideas too cool not to use' and then he starts writing.</li>
<li>Connie Willis (SF/F MASTER) told a group that you must 'keep your butterfly net out and scooping up ideas all the time.</li>
<li>Mark Twain (you know Samuel Clemens) says that 'the difference between the right world and the the almost right world is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.' Or was that 'right word?' Doesn't matter, either work.</li>
<li>Joyce Carol Oates considers herself 'as a teacher, I am the ideal editor...who defines herself primarily as a friend of the text <b>and </b>a friend of the writer, <b>in that order.</b>' </li>
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My night writing has evolved into the bizarre. Normally ideas percolate like Connie Willis' butterflies, crashing around in a small space, until they merge as a story. Recently? Yeah, kind of freaky. I've been having dreams that aren't mine. I wake up and wonder where the heck that scene or that character came from. If I can't line it up with my real world, I've decided it's someone else's mind that came to visit.</div>
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Examples: </div>
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<li>Last night in my dreams I met a woman (not homeless, but dang close) who lives in Seattle (yes, I've visited but that's it) and lives in a home that is a tiny Quonset hut. It must leak because inside that is a large hiking type hut. (She's very proud it, the tent, has two rooms, but you can't stand in it.) She burrowed into my heart like I imagine blood worms do in dogs' hearts. And isn't that a lovely idea. I will write about her one day. She was a proud woman.</li>
<li>This is more typical of where my ideas coalesce. I'm researching #GamerGate for a short story, or maybe more, and last night went on line to try to contact some of the major players via twitter (since their website entitled Fat, Ugly, or Slutty, (FUoS) title based on what some fellow gamers think about women players--especially the ones that routinely crush male players online.) So many ideas thunk around in my brain space like boulders carried along in molten lava. Take away, as Wil Wheaton points out? You write off the comments as being from twelve-year-old boys, but the average gamer age is 34. That's a frightening and very Kami Files worthy plot idea. </li>
<li><b>Things start to gel, outline shapes up, characters rise, and all of it wraps around my heart and burrows in for the long haul. After all, I'll live with these characters and their lives for over a year. They need to be worthy of the attention.</b></li>
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So then it's time to begin. Stop posting on your blog. Get to work, Meg. And that's why this isn't edited nice and neat. Still, it might be helpful for fellow authors or for readers who have always wondered.</div>
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Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-54842226347826709602015-01-23T09:30:00.003-08:002015-01-23T09:30:51.235-08:00Endorsements and Book Giveaway for Chaos Theory! Please visit my website at www.MEvonneDobson.com to see what wonderful endorsements have come in for my contemporary crime fiction/mystery, Chaos Theory releasing Feb 3rd from the Poisoned Pencil, imprint of The Poisoned Pen Press - one of the nation's largest publisher of hardback mysteries! Including one from 2013 YA Edgar (Mystery Writers of America's top honor) finalist Kathyrn Burak.<br />
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And then visit Goodreads for a chance to win a free copy being offered by the press!<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/122180-chaos-theory" target="_blank">Chaos Theory Book Giveaway!</a>Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-45954176805241856512014-11-14T18:48:00.000-08:002014-11-14T18:48:59.601-08:00Exceptional Pink Ribbon Warrior's Memoir<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmx51HSVJbiOLqoqWu1tzGdthrfWI1CjSovL44ky6Ojwggr0WNTaOXUIIulZU9oV6fmwGjGh4h0yxOwClX74TonmXlezL9mCoxL-vMWln6LZd-oR_KZjrGvmswn9wXhHiF29vnLYgQjSHn/s1600/Grit+and+Grace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmx51HSVJbiOLqoqWu1tzGdthrfWI1CjSovL44ky6Ojwggr0WNTaOXUIIulZU9oV6fmwGjGh4h0yxOwClX74TonmXlezL9mCoxL-vMWln6LZd-oR_KZjrGvmswn9wXhHiF29vnLYgQjSHn/s1600/Grit+and+Grace.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
<span class="item" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="fn"><a class="bookTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22926218-grit-and-grace" itemprop="url" style="color: #666600; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">Grit and Grace: Fighting Breast Cancer One Step at a Time</a></span> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="by smallText" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 14px;">by</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a class="authorName" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8319663.Carrie_S_Bell" itemprop="url" style="color: #666600; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none;"><span itemprop="name">Carrie S Bell</span></a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
<div itemprop="reviews" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Review" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">
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<a class="leftAlignedImage" href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3858499-m-dobson" style="color: #666600; float: left; margin-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="3858499" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/users/1395504148p2/3858499.jpg" style="border: 0px;" /></a><div>
<span class="reviewer"><a class="userReview" href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3858499-m-dobson" itemprop="author" style="color: #382110; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none;">M. Dobson</a></span>'s review <div class="right dtreviewed greyText smallText" style="color: #aaaaaa; float: right; font-size: 10px; line-height: 14px;">
<span itemprop="publishDate">Nov 14, 14</span> <span class="greyText"> · </span> <a class="smallText greyText" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/22926218" style="color: #aaaaaa; text-decoration: none;">edit</a><span class="value-title" title="2014-11-14"></span></div>
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<span class="value-title" title="5"></span><a class=" staticStars stars_5" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="background-image: url(data:image/png; background-repeat: no-repeat; color: #666600; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; height: 15px; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap; width: 75px;" title="it was amazing">5 of 5 stars</a></div>
<span class="userReview" style="color: #382110; font-size: 13px;">bookshelves: </span><a class="actionLinkLite" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3858499-m-dobson?shelf=a-quest-for-sanity-in-an-insane-wor" style="color: #215625; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">a-quest-for-sanity-in-an-insane-wor</a>, <a class="actionLinkLite" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3858499-m-dobson?shelf=pink-ribbon" style="color: #215625; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">pink-ribbon</a>,<a class="actionLinkLite" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3858499-m-dobson?shelf=pink-ribbon-heroes" style="color: #215625; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">pink-ribbon-heroes</a><br /><div>
<span class="">Recommended to M. by: </span>my writing critique group</div>
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<span class="">Recommended for:</span> pink ribbon heroes fighting cancer</div>
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Read in November, 2014 — I own a copy, read count: 1</div>
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In Grit and Grace, Carrie S. Bell shares and bears her soul to provide knowledge and hope for all fighting cancer. All profits are donated to cancer charities. And she does it with love, passion, and honesty.<br /><br />I met Carrie S Bell in a writer's critique group. That first time, she brought pages from her cancer-fighting memoir she was considering publishing, and I loved them. Last time we met, she handed me the published work! How thrilling to see her writing quest and her personal cancer journey at last in book form and in my hands.<br /><br />We share a common love of the Sonoran Desert. The thesaurus offers alternatives to the word desert: wasteland, wilderness, waste, barren and arid region, desolate tract. Yet there are some of us who find solace, comfort, peace, and beauty there. It takes grit to not only survive the desert but to embrace it. We both admire the plants and animal life that adapted over time to flourish there. However, while I putz along on gentler slopes and less strenuous climbs with naked bow in hand, Carrie seeks the mountaintops.<br /><br />In her cancer fighting memoir, Grit and Grace, she shares the ups, the downs, the in-betweens, and the difficult reality of fighting breast cancer. Her determination to trek to soaring desert peaks is the same determination she applied to her cancer battle.<br /><br />We share something else, the dogged determination to pursue our writing passion.<br /><br />I look forward to reading her future works of fiction, but dare I hope she'll bring the mountain tops and the desert with her into the works? I hope so!<br /><br />With great admiration, Meg E Dobson, AKA M Evonne Dobson</div>
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Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-84261879105988095972014-10-25T10:21:00.001-07:002014-10-25T10:21:40.572-07:00Cover Reveal of Chaos Theory! Release Date Feb 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtOxbWse-_LfeBE9ilDw7z0MDx-Lz676aMW8e-cmovGAifAGKtpbnpGayU8Qd8h7BaoJUa6hCkIUwmYCmJ0Lrl-bQjJegSskX3xz4bxPhHOO4v8y3LS6Nn2OcX28csOhA7PufaSb8l7edL/s1600/Chaos-Theory-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtOxbWse-_LfeBE9ilDw7z0MDx-Lz676aMW8e-cmovGAifAGKtpbnpGayU8Qd8h7BaoJUa6hCkIUwmYCmJ0Lrl-bQjJegSskX3xz4bxPhHOO4v8y3LS6Nn2OcX28csOhA7PufaSb8l7edL/s1600/Chaos-Theory-2.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a>Thank you James Ryan Daley for the images!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_kZgyoNCv7TowNi_B2LyHdAsZVIg8K0xVQpFl-Go3wR8gV63_4kXtZUQz6V65eMOGo484KuP__SZ7Dlm49kS4z1xatr4OQRnvoFyO6j45_KzXC5vaAy9IR6xBPzWpWOF9NYlRoFB3E6xi/s1600/Chaos-Theory-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_kZgyoNCv7TowNi_B2LyHdAsZVIg8K0xVQpFl-Go3wR8gV63_4kXtZUQz6V65eMOGo484KuP__SZ7Dlm49kS4z1xatr4OQRnvoFyO6j45_KzXC5vaAy9IR6xBPzWpWOF9NYlRoFB3E6xi/s1600/Chaos-Theory-1.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a>Thank</div>
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You Poisoned Pencil!</div>
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And thank you to my editor. The art department, the publicist, and my fellow press authors!</div>
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The ARC is making rounds. If you will read for honest review on Goodreads, B&N, and Amazon, let me know?</div>
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<br />Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-88080800266213886622014-10-01T19:51:00.000-07:002014-10-01T19:56:04.870-07:00Jack Gantos in Final Five Kirkus Prize 2014How do you top a Newbery Award? This works! Congratulations to the amazing author Jack Gantos. This is how you close out a series.<br />
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https://www.kirkusreviews.com/prize/2014/finalists/young-readers/<br />
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As to the other finalists? My 'to be read' stack just increased in volume.Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-68395860132494047602014-09-29T05:54:00.000-07:002014-09-29T05:54:07.644-07:00Single Most Important Revision Question to AskYour rough draft is done. Congrats. Bells. Whistles. And so what? That's nothing. It's only a pile of horse apples. Face it. Face facts. Face reality. That stinking, smelly thing goes no where, but know that hidden within are the jewels that make it special. If you have trouble finding them, put it aside for a bit before you return. Let the critic go when you come back. The critic deserves no seat at the table or a view of your laptop.<br />
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Bring new revisionist eyes and your tool box. Now it's time to roll up your sleeves and dig deep. You'll find the jewels. You're expand them, set them up early, and let them linger as the pages pass by. Yes, you need to do the grammar stuff, but right now? It's all about your story and how effectively you've told it.<br />
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The single most important revision question you pull from your tool box will be your jewel cutter tools. And the main one is, <b>"How does this scene relate to my story?"</b> If it doesn't--yank it, no matter how beautiful or intriguing. You HAVE to pull it. (You might find a few cases where you can rewrite it later, so never delete forever, but remember that if it doesn't belong, it's ineffective.) <b>My rule of thumb is that every scene must advance three aspects of the main plot.</b> It might be driving forward the plot, revealing a character's motivation or soul, or firmly tying a subplot to the main plot, or shining light on the main plot line from another perspective. The three aspects don't have to be world moving stuff. It might simply add tension to ramp up the story: a character argues with another, or has a romantic interlude, or confronts something frightening from their past.<br />
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There can be a hundred reasons to include a scene, but you NEED three reasons to prove that its earned its place. Anything less, and you're lacking the depth and richness you need to expect from your storytelling. Think of this as the bulky hammer that cracks the diamond into pieces, or finds the marble figure outlines beneath the solid block. (I love the imagery of this 3D aspect. Your manuscript needs the 3D of a fine sculpture to be good.)<br />
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<b>Like all good Single Most Important Questions, it has layers.</b> You now pull out your finer tools. <b>"How does this <u>sentence</u> relate to my story?"</b> Is it an effective sentence? Does it do what it needs to do? Also, it has to be clearly communicated to readers; if readers can't understand it, you failed. Use your smaller chisel to make that sentence a beautiful arm or leg, a curved buttock. Well, you get my drift.<br />
<br />
Then you reach for your finest files from your tool box. Here, you borrow from the poet. <b>"Is this the <u>right</u> <u>word</u> for this sentence and this scene." </b>And yes, by now you've gotten it in grammar-okay shape by this point, but that isn't your goal. The storytelling is the goal!<br />
<b><br /></b>
Parelli is a famous horse/rider trainer. He says, "You have to slow down to speed up." Manuscripts are like horses. Rough drafts are no different; dig deep to speed up the main plot story telling.<br />
<br />
(Sorry for the rough draft on this blog post, but I need to be working my rough draft for Book II of the The Kami Files, tentatively entitled, TET Theory.)Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-56645670010521352022014-09-12T05:07:00.001-07:002014-09-12T05:07:50.200-07:00The Bitter Script Reader: Nathan Fillion is part of a great cast for The Black List's next live reading!<a href="http://thebitterscriptreader.blogspot.com/2014/09/nathan-fillion-is-part-of-great-cast.html?m=1">The Bitter Script Reader: Nathan Fillion is part of a great cast for The Black List's next live reading!</a> What I wouldn't give to be at this! @nathanfillion take on road! Take on road hell make the movie!Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-55677902517494637992014-08-30T20:09:00.000-07:002014-08-30T20:09:11.502-07:00<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">It was inevitable that I would read this book. I've put it off for years. How do I approach a science fiction award winner when the author despises the genre. She uses the most twisted verbal acrobatics to deny what sits on the end of her nose. She masks it in 'speculative' fiction.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">To qoute the master, "A rose by any other name..." Her denial is a sad statement of her prejudices which she so deftly writes upon her pages. That her style lifts the form to mass literary acceptance can still not mask the SF skeleton and soul.</span><br />
<img src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1294702760l/38447.jpg" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">As to the novel itself, the world building is extensive and the plot lacks the strength of a strong protagonist and instead gives us a depressed and oppressed woman to excoriating depth. She does nothing to propel the plot--and it works.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The technique exquisite, the world deeply developed, and the characters are gentle glimpses of every day people in extraordinary circumstanes, and most definitely science fiction at its best, denied by the author or not.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1038725218?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1038725218?book_show_action=false</a></span>Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-32727996592097159242014-08-28T02:25:00.000-07:002014-08-28T02:25:21.238-07:00Half a King is a huge disappointment bordering on fan ficThis will be my shortest ever review. See Goodreads review for longer version.<br />
<br />
If I want GRR Martin, I will wait for his next. Even the series title is ripped from another author.<br />
<br />
What was Abrocrombie's was cliche. I give him credit only for his mimic abilities in the fashion of a TV series rip off.<br />
<br />
Reading a favorite character out of another author's pen was disgusting and offensive.Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-2518016304751995002014-06-27T14:58:00.000-07:002014-06-27T14:58:24.204-07:00Calling Research Guinea Pigs!Scientific Study Needs You. Especially teens and young adults!Call for research guinea pigs! Especially if you are a teen or young adult, this vocabulary study needs your help, but everyone can play. Give it a shot?<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>h</u><a href="http://testyourvocab.com/" target="_blank">ttp://testyourvocab.com/</a><br />
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Test<br />your<br />vocab</h1>
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How many words do you know?</h2>
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I'm old, so nt 32600 isn't bad. 80th percentile group. Where do you fall? I was doing fantastic until I hit the last column filled with Latin based words. I could have deciphered some of them, but I stayed true to their request to only mark words you comfortably use and identify. See, I knew there was a reason I should have taken Latin over French in high school. :-(</div>
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An internet friend in her 20's was an amazing 39000 plus. With that, I had to send it to a copy editor friend. He had 40,600. </div>
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As a writer though? The suggestion is to avoid ALL Latin based words and stick with the Saxon ones. You know, chose smart over cerebral or shit over defecate? Ha! Maybe you have some too?</div>
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Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-87578745213570923742014-06-25T11:51:00.001-07:002014-06-25T11:52:14.147-07:00Macavity Award Nominations 2014<a href="http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2014/06/macavity-award-nominations-2014.html#sthash.XMj12SvN.cmfs">Macavity Award Nominations 2014</a> <--looking a="" check="" for="" nominations.="" out="" p="" read="" summer="" these=""><br />
<br />
You'll note that Ian Rankin's is listed. And yes, he posted this to his twitter account. I love twitter!</--looking>Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-7486113624854367252014-06-17T06:35:00.001-07:002014-06-17T06:35:30.946-07:00The Writer and Michelangelo; an Editing JourneyIn 1993, I spent a week in Rome. As the years pass, many of my memories fade of that trip, but standing beside and beneath Michelangelo's statutes of The Pieta and Moses? That experience will never go away. How can you ever forget such vibrant warm life created out of marble? I marvel at his ability to see those characters hiding inside that cold block of raw material. I'm staggered by the time it took to complete them, as well as the time and practice it took to obtain the technical skills to create them. That is not a miracle but determination and dedication.<br />
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My daughter calls it positive space. She should know. She's an art teacher. To me, I know only that Michelangelo had to remove what didn't belong to get to what did.<br />
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As writers in the editing phase, we must do that as well. We create our marble block, although ours is a gooey mushy clump-like clay, but once the plot and characters are there? The clump becomes hard, unyielding marble that a writer must chisel. It isn't a passive endeavor. You have to sweat to chip those parts away. Your muscles quiver with the effort. Your mind becomes exhausted.<br />
<br />
When you finish the big chunk removal, you move on to the tiny and infinitesimal. Each word, each sentence, each paragraph, each chapter until you reach the warmth and shine of your true story beneath the crud. As you do it? The time passes--sometimes months--until your heart beats harder and your soul cries out as you see the small glimpses of what your story will become. Like Michelangelo, you apply the chisel to find the heart hiding within the cold block of marble.<br />
<br />
I will never reach the perfection of Michelangelo, but I will try. I will never stop trying.<br />
<br />
Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-57763576902571238732014-06-15T14:51:00.001-07:002014-06-15T14:53:53.035-07:00Pushing the Envelop to Tell a Great Story; Review Jesus Jackson by James Ryan Daley due out Sept, 2014<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">My copy was an advanced promotional edition for review purposes. It will be released by the new imprint The Poisoned Pencil, a division of The Poisoned Pen Press on September 1st, 2014. My own Poisoned Pencil work will be released February 3rd, 2015. </span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">Genre: edgy YA contemporary crime fiction</span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">Appropriate ages: 14 </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">& up</span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">Strongly recommend</span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">Quality thoughtful work, not only well written but intriguing from a plot stand point as the main character deals with the death of his older brother. Both he and his brother attend a catholic high school, but neither believes in God. After his brother dies in a possible murder or suicide, the main character runs across Jesus Jackson who promises, for a fee, to help the main character find his faith. Jesus is quite willing to make that any faith you wish. His specialty it turns out is pushing, sometimes literally, his clients into a leap of faith--even our main character who wishes his faith to be nothing at all. A challenge Jesus agrees is challenging, but it's doable. Therefore $12.00 is paid and the contract is made.</span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">The idea of incorporating a Jesus figure was not only intriguing, it works extremely well. It might turn off some readers to the work, but it frankly lifted this story up several notches in my critical review. This isn't </span><u style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">Are You There God, It's Me Margaret</u><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;"> by Judy Blume--but it's a similar quest told from the view point of a young man facing the loss of his dear brother.</span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">I found it as funny as it was touching. The teen relationships were believable and the voice strong.</span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">Give this out of the box book a try. I believe you also will enjoy it. </span></span>Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3180613394845757362.post-47937760866823079092014-06-15T08:13:00.000-07:002014-06-15T08:55:18.565-07:00Another Book for Your Writer's Tool Box, Writes of Passage<h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">My basic
writer’s tool box is filled with books.</span> <span style="font-weight: normal;">My go to
book for writing inspiration has always been Jane Yolen’s <span style="color: blue;"><i>Take Joy</i>;</span> for editing, it’s <i><span style="color: blue;">Self
Editing for Fiction Writers</span></i> by Renni Browne; for in the trenches and
needing humor, it’s Anne Lamott’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bird-Some-Instructions-Writing-Life/dp/0385480016/ref=la_B0034PEWO8_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402839039&sr=1-1">Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing
and Life</a>. </span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Besides
writing<i>, </i>you’ll note the common
denominator is humor. As writer’s we need that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-weight: normal;">To that mix, I’ve added another
book, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="color: blue;"><i>Writes
of Passage</i>, <i>Adventures on the
Writer’s Journey</i>,</span></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-weight: normal;"> Sisters in Crime, edited by Hank Phillippi Ryan
2014. </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-weight: normal;">It’s essay
collaboration on all stages of writing by writers who know. Each offers advice
from the heart with humor and kindness. As I step from stage to stage as an
author, each new level requires new skill sets and bravery to face new fears.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">The best way to share this from a
writer’s perspective is to list some my highlighted quotes. I highly
encourage you to purchase this for your own writer’s craft bookshelf. Thank you to all the contributors for excellent advice.<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Hank Phillippi Ryan<span style="font-weight: normal;">, “…the one secret of writing:
Every single author has felt the way you do. Without question, I can assure
you, every single one. …This little book is your weapon against fear, your
ammunition against self-doubt, your antidote for gloom. …They say you can only
learn from experience. And that may be true. But what they don’t tell you is
that it doesn’t have to be your own experience.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Catriona McPherson<span style="font-weight: normal;">, “…we happily share our daily word
count on our Facebook page, but I’ve never seen someone post news of six hours’
good, hard thinking and expect a high five. …That’s where the stories come
from.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Sandra Parshall<span style="font-weight: normal;"> on who you are, “You’re a writer.
That’s your identity. Don’t let anyone take it away from you.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>JoAnna Carl & Eve K Sandstrom<span style="font-weight: normal;"> on research, “People just love to
tell you what they know. …Writers, don’t be shy! Ask somebody!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Kylie Logan<span style="font-weight: normal;"> on writing reality, “Wabi-sabi is a Japanese
concept. It’s all about the appreciation of imperfection and impermanence. In
other words, the acceptance of transience. …I have to remember that a book, at
any stage in its writing, is a product that’s growing and changing. In other
words, it’s transient. ...when I’m writing—when the creative juices are
flowing and the words are tumbling out of my brain and my fingers are racing
across the keyboard---it’s okay for my writing to be a little wabi-sabi.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Clare O’Donohue<span style="font-weight: normal;"> on writing spaces, “As a
home-office-less writer, I’m pretty much doomed to wander the earth looking for
a place to rest my weary PC, so I’ll write anywhere I can find a seat.” But if
you do it in public, expect your intent and often discomforting expressions may
terrify people in public. Ha!<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Lori Roy <span style="font-weight: normal;">on her writing organization skills, “While
organization served me well as an accountant, it does me no good as a writer.
Instead of papers filed in a three-ring binder, the holes of each page
reinforced, my research is piled around my office, stuffed in drawers, jammed
in manila folders I won’t be able to find later.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Clea Simon<span style="font-weight: normal;"> on writing, “As a working author, I can attest to
one vital truth: There is always time for laundry, and that’s not a bad thing. …That troublesome subplot will find itself resolved somewhere between the cold
and hot water loads.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Proofreading advice from </span>Elaine Viets<span style="font-weight: normal;">: “Will you get them all<all typos="" your="">?
Not this time. But you will see the last few typos—when your finished novel
arrives.”<o:p></o:p></all></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Terry Shames<span style="font-weight: normal;"> on A Little Help from My Friends, “I was a member
of <sisters crime="" in="" s=""> Guppy Chapter.<o:p></o:p></sisters></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Leslie Budewitz<span style="font-weight: normal;"> on above, “What groups do best…is encourage their member and leverage information. Every opportunity and
accomplishment I’ve had as a writer started with something I learned from a
group. And with SinC and the Guppies, I didn’t even have to put on shoes.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Deborah Coonts<span style="font-weight: normal;"> on talking with other writers, “From
Nancy Martin, [an author mentioned by several of the contributors] the
wonderful writer of the Blackbird Sisters series, I learned that…writers…
are the most accepting, supportive, wonderfully weird group of friends. …Walk
into writers’ conferences…knowing that you belong. …Then reach out a hand to
a newbie and bring him or her into the clan.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Emily Dickinson<span style="font-weight: normal;"> a quote long known but always
helpful, “’Hope’ is that thing with feathers—That perches in the soul—And sings
the tune without words—And never stops—at all__<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Kaye George<span style="font-weight: normal;">, “The most important thing I learned was that this
is not an easy process and it would take time and patience and tons of persistence.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Barbara Ross<span style="font-weight: normal;">, “The most important character trait a writer can
have is not hope. It’s resilience. But how do you get it? You write more.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Sharon Wildwind<span style="font-weight: normal;">, “Want to add a quick fix to the
hope chest? Drink water. Two percent dehydration…impairs decision making and
reduces creativity. Sometimes hope is as simple as a glass of water.” And “In
the words of <i>Galaxy Quest’s</i> Jason
Nesmith, “Never give up. Never surrender.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Joelle Charbonneau<span style="font-weight: normal;">, “I learned to self-motivate based
on love of the craft and the thrill of climbing the storytelling mountain and
getting to the other side. …I became an author the day I made the commitment
to myself and the story I was telling.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Sujata Massey<span style="font-weight: normal;"> offers six effective marketing and
promotion ideas that won’t kill ya.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Cathy Pickens<span style="font-weight: normal;"> on hitting the wall, “The best artists learn to
shove on through <the wall="">. And that’s the secret: not dancing around
it, ignoring it, or pretending you can plan enough to avoid it completely, but
pushing on through.”<o:p></o:p></the></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Patricia Sprinkle<span style="font-weight: normal;"> offers a personal story on
promotion that made me roar out loud! As her husband commented, “We can’t
afford too many successful signings.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Barbara D’Amato<span style="font-weight: normal;"> shares a hilarious road trip with
another other author. They hear a precious story from a married couple at a road side
vendor stall. They both get in their car smiling, knowing that they were going to use the conversation in something sometime!<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Luisa Buehler<span style="font-weight: normal;"> on Writes of Passage, “How different the feeling of
knowing you’re moving forward and not muddling through. How defining the moment
when you understand the difference, not only in your mind but in your heart.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Lucy Burdette and Roberta Isleib’s <span style="font-weight: normal;">essay on the difference between
hope and success reminded me of a quote I keep taped to my keyboard. It’s from
some 15<sup>th</sup> century manuscript copied from a Great Course on
literature. It reads, “Like the light of reason shining upon long cherished
illusions.” This piece reminded me to shine that light of reason on my writing
so I see reality as well as my dream to make it happen! Remove the illusions and then you can proceed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Harley Jane Kozak<span style="font-weight: normal;"> shares how to translate your
editor’s revision requests into happy to-do lists that fix the problems. Then “Use
fancy fonts and different colors and mount it on beautiful paper, suitable for
framing. …After that I filed that horrifying eight-page editorial letter in a
box that I locked in a vault that I buried under the floorboards, never to read
again. And then I could work.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>J. A. Hennrikus<span style="font-weight: normal;">, “Don’t forget to be happy. … stop
and celebrate every passage<you a="" goal="" reach="">.”<o:p></o:p></you></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From </span>Deborah J Ledford<span style="font-weight: normal;">, “Writing can be a lonely
profession, and only your fellow writers know what it takes to commit, pour out
your heart, offer your soul to strangers, and hope the reader will accept what
you have to offer. …Surround yourself with like-minded, supportive, and
creative people.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sisters in Crime’s motto is ‘you
write alone, but you are never alone.’ Not a bad offer to writers.</span></span></div>
Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01806075459880162155noreply@blogger.com0