11th Free “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest (Middle Grade Fiction)

Enter this FREE contest for the opportunity to have your MG manuscript judged by a literary agent!

Top 3 winners all get: 1) A critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work, by your agent judge. 2) A free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com.

Find out all about it and how to enter at:
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/11th-free-dear-lucky-agent-contest-middle-grade-fiction?et_mid=575716&rid=3118739

Research for Fiction

In The Farewell Season I included a lot of talk about food. Readers noticed. I received many comments about mouths watering and hunger pangs for blueberry kakar or ableskivers. Many assumed I'm good at Scandinavian cooking and some have even asked for recipes.

The truth is, it was all research. I scoured Scandinavian cookbooks at the library and sampled the tasty treats at the Scandinavian Festival in Junction City, Oregon. But I never baked a single crumb mentioned in the story. I do cook, and I and my husband are happy with the results. However, I stick to a collection of familiar (and easy) recipes, because I'm not all that fond of cooking. The enthusiasm for cooking must have skipped a couple of generations, because my grandmother loved to cook and so does my daughter. But my mother and I have cooked because we want to eat.

Non-fiction writers have to do a lot of research, of course, but so do fiction writers. I didn't know all that much about football before I wrote the book, but after reading a few books and attending many football practices, where I asked a lot of questions, I knew enough to write about it for my purposes. I also did research on grieving and grief counseling. For another story, I read an entire book about a minor league baseball team so I could write a couple of scenes where one of the main characters talks to a baseball scout.

Just because a story is fiction does not mean that "anything goes." The details need to ring true. Even in science fiction, fantasy and paranormal adventures things have to make sense to the reader. An imaginary world has to seem real. Anyone writing a historical novel or one set in an unfamiliar locale must get enough facts to be accurate and make the period or place come to life for readers.

It's easy to get lost in too much research. Some writers get so bogged down that they never write the story. Or they add details that are unnecessary just because they couldn't resist including them. Too much information is no better than not enough. The research must help advance the story.

The easiest way to do research, of course, is the internet. But visiting the library can yield nuggets not found online. Sometimes traveling to the location where a story takes place and talking to locals will yield color and details the internet or books can not. Interviews, as scary as they can seem to some writers, can be valuable. If you don't know a doctor, teacher, banker, architect, or whatever you need, ask a friend to introduce you or call, write or email explaining that you are a writer and tell them the basics of what you need to ask. Most experts are more than happy to share what they know.

So get out there and do your research. It can be time-consuming, but it can also be fun, and it will make your story more real.

Dare to Dream

Dream the vision of the writer you strive to be.

Start by writing just one sentence. Then one paragraph, one page, one chapter, one book.

Submit one manuscript.

Lather, rinse and repeat as many times as necessary.

Keep going and one day you will achieve your goal. It all starts with a dream.

The Bucket List

An email about The Bucket List has been making the rounds.

While it's kind of fun to check off the things on the list that I have done, it isn't really my kind of list.
I can't check off "been bungee jumping" or "hang gliding" or "camped in a tent," and the thing is I don't want to do any of those things!

Oh, there's nothing wrong with doing any of those things. They just aren't anything I want to do.

The kinds of things I would like to do while I still have time are to read more books and write more books. To make at least one person smile every day. To laugh and make others laugh. To savor my quiet moment in the morning when I open the door when it's just getting light out. To really enjoy each minute I have with family and friends.

So let others look forward to climbing that mountain or tossing a football around with Peyton Manning or being an extra in a blockbuster movie. I'd rather just look forward to enjoying more of the "little" things in life.

(But if someone wants to give me their box seats  for the Kentucky Derby one year, I'm game. ;D  )

Second Day of Spring? And it is Still Snowing? What is This?

Here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon it hardly ever snows. At all. A few flurries are cause for excitement. An inch closes the schools (because the city has very little equipment for taking care of snow).

So to wake up to seven inches of snow, and it is still coming down, is quite a shock! There are several branches down in the neighborhood, some of them large. I went out and knocked the snow off of shrubs and lower branches of the trees and those branches sprung right back up. Of course, I am soaked now, lol!

Kids are out playing and sliding in the snow. The birds sound bewildered (I can hear them, but I'm not seeing any). I think we have enough food for the day if I can't get to the store as I had planned.

I hope the plum tree in the back yard, which had already started blooming, will recover and bounce back up again.

Meanwhile, I watch out the window and enjoy the beauty of snow while also wishing that it stops falling really soon!

Create a Character

Stories need characters readers will care about.

Writers need to get to know their characters, so the readers will also get to know them. Start by describing as much as you can picture. What is the hair color, eye color? How tall? Fat or fit? What is your character's favorite food? Sport? Music? Or does your character hate sports? Or like ancient chanting, while everyone around him loves bluegrass?

Pick a character from a book you love and describe him/her. This will show you the kind of details you need to know about your character to make him come to life.

You won't know your character all at once. You'll learn about him as you write, discover things you never thought of. Once you really know and care about your character, the odds are your readers will too.

Love is Grand!

Love is grand!

Divorce is a hundred grand. *************************

 Time may be a great healer,

 But it's a lousy beautician.

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 Conscience is what hurts

When everything else feels good.

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 Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand.
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 Even if you are on the right track,
 You'll get run over if you just sit there.
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 In just two days, tomorrow will be yesterday.

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 I plan on living forever. So far, So good.
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 Practice safe eating -- always use condiments.
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 A day without sunshine is like night.

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It's frustrating when you know all the answers,

 But nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
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 The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time,

but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

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 Age doesn't always bring wisdom.

 Sometimes it comes alone.

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 Life not only begins at forty,

 It also begins to show.
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