Happy Tuesday Everybody, We're continuing the Learning Challenges/Disabilities blog series.  For those just joining us, I will include the preface I had up for last week. There are young people in the world struggling with learning differences (sometimes called learning disabilities) who may or may not feel they aren’t as good as those who don’t have these disabilities/challenges. The three of us—Bethany Averie, Ryan Jo Summers, and Christie Craig—have all faced learning disabilities/difficulties and based on our personal experiences, and what we see in the world today, were inspired to share our own stories with you. We’ll be posting each author’s Q&A style on all our blogs. Last week was Bethany Averie. This week will feature Ryan Jo Summers, then the next Christie Craig.  Our wish is for you teens and young adults to never be afraid to dream big. In a world where less than someone’s definition of perfect can mean the difference between acceptance and ...

Happy Tuesday All, This is the beginning of a very special blog series I'm doing with two other authors. Please be respectful of all those involved. Thank you! There are young people in the world struggling with learning differences (sometimes called learning disabilities) who may or may not feel they aren’t as good as those who don’t have these disabilities/challenges. The three of us—Bethany Averie, Ryan Jo Summers, and Christie Craig—have all faced learning disabilities/difficulties and based on our personal experiences, and what we see in the world today, were inspired to share our own stories with you. We’ll be posting each author’s Q&A style on all our blogs for the next few weeks, starting with Bethany Averie. The next week will feature Ryan Jo Summers, then the following week will be Christie Craig. The same interview will appear on each author’s blog, for example—Bethany’s interview will be on her own blog, Ryan Jo’s, and Christie’s for the first week, the...

Good Morning Folks, For those of you who have seen (or remember) the He-Man and She-Ra cartoons of the 1980's those words in the title of this post should be familiar to you (it's what they said after they changed into their powerful alter-egos). So, what's an author's "power"? Generally it's the author's greatest strength. Something that gives the author that extra oomph . Oftentimes, it's the ability to create great descriptions, or fabulous dialogue. Or just simply the uncanny ability to draw a reader in (I'm going to cite Stephenie Meyer here as someone who can definitely draw a reader in). As to dialogue, Kerrelyn Sparks has some humorous dialogue. Kim Lenox creates some really good description. Character--Laura Childs--I still want to know what happens next with Theodosia Browning. Someone like Nicholas Sparks created a story of tender love and care in A Walk To Remember . For me, John Grisham ups the suspense in his novels. Weaving ...

Good Afternoon All, The greatest joys for an author is when they finish a manuscript and getting published. But before that happens, there's little moments of triumph and agony. Times when the story just flows from the fingertips, moments when the characters are most engaging, falling in love with the story for the first time, times of big flashes of inspiration, et cetera. Sorrows come when an author is struggling with a plot point, or when something isn't fitting...or if the story just doesn't want to "behave" itself. A character can be acting unlike his or herself, or scene the author likes has to be cut. But despite all this, most of the time a writer comes back to why he or she is writing in the first place: Could it be because said author just can't help it? Maybe the author in question feels compelled to write--like the story is just bursting out from inside the writer. Whatever the reasons, an author needs a reason to write. So what are your reasons ...

Good Morning All, Originally when I was going to post I didn't know what I was going to say, but I was talking to a friend of mine about things to do with devoting oneself to writing (being in it for the long-haul) and suddenly it came to me. That's a blog post. So kudos awards go to Michelle The Merry (as she likes to call herself--I send you a very enthusiastic "Whoopee!") What does a writer have to do for love of the craft? Is it sitting in front of the computer (or notebook) and push through a difficult place to get the story out? Is it researching for hours and hours about a topic that has to be presented as realistically as possible? Is it reaffirming oneself despite doubts? Is it researching the publishing world to know exactly the right agent or publisher to query? Is it getting feedback? Is it settling for simplistic writing or going for the fancy writing? It's all these things and more. It means deciding that writing is the career of choice. I'm not ...

Mornin' Folks, My son, who usually wakes up after 8 a.m., decided to get up around 6:30 or so this morning. My wonderful husband hung out with him while getting ready for work, but then came 6:50 and my husband needed space (and son distracted) so he could slip out the door. Son did not want to go back to sleep, so I ended up getting out of bed. So much for him getting up after 8. So, today is probably a two coffee day. Don't get me wrong, I've gotten up earlier than just after 7 a.m. I've been known to even get up as early as 5 a.m. (and a couple of times even earlier than that) when necessity merited it. But it's not my favorite time to get up. Other people who have kids who get up earlier probably think I'm spoiled. And I guess I am. Mornings and I aren't exactly the best of friends. I've had to become more of a morning person after becoming a mom, but it doesn't mean that's my favorite part of motherhood. Nope. My favorite part of motherhood ...