Congratulations to Linda Andersen for winning a copy of Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling. ********** When I recently completed reading John Bemis' first book in the Clockwork Dark Trilogy, The Nine Pound Hammer, I considered reviewing it here. But then I found this excellent review and figured I couldn't do any better. Instead, John agreed to answer questions about how… Continue reading The Nine Pound Hammer: An Interview with John Bemis and a Giveaway
In the final post of this series, John Claude Bemis shares the last five points from his talk at the Table Rock Writers retreat on “What Creative People Can Learn from Observing Children. Directions for how to win an autographed copy of The Prince Who Fell From the Sky follow this post. If you missed… Continue reading Gifts from John Bemis- Part III And a GIVEAWAY!
If you missed last week's post, I shared ten things I learned In John Claude Bemis's writing class at Table Rock Writers retreat. John also spoke to the entire group on, “What Creative People Can Learn From Children.” After quoting Picasso: “Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once we grow… Continue reading Gifts from John Bemis- Part II
Congratulations to Linda Andersen who won a copy of Steering Toward Normal by Rebecca Petruck. Two weeks ago I attended the Table Rock Writers Retreat in Wildacres, NC and participated in John Claude Bemis' class on Writing for Children and Young Adults. It was an inspriational week that left me excited and raring to dig… Continue reading Gifts from John Bemis– Part I
Congratulations to Lindsay Fouts, my new blog follower, who won James Scott Bell's book, Plot and Structure. ********* As I begin the fourth major draft of Half-Truths, I need to attack some of my writing weaknesses. According to my writing coach Rebecca Petruck, I have to work on my "internal-life writing muscles." To do this, she… Continue reading Learning Character Internalization
I thought I'd share some of what I learned this past weekend at the SCBWI-Carolinas conference. 1. I'm not as close to having a finished manuscript as I'd thought (more on this in a future blog). Mary Cate Castelanni 2. From Mary Cate Castellani, editor at Walker Books: A book's definition of either Middle Grade… Continue reading 8 Takeaways and 1 Giveaway