Before going on TURKEY HIATUS WEEKEND...

just a quick reminder that, once I've recovered from my tryptophan coma, I'll be spending some time annotating a copy of THE SOUND OF LETTING GO for one lucky winner!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Sound of Letting Go

by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Giveaway ends December 01, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Contest ends soon, so click if you want to win a gravy-stained arc (just kidding, it'll be a pumpkin
pie-stained arc!).

Happy Book Birthday to PUSHED by Corrine Jackson!

Go visit Corrine's WEBSITE

and learn about her many levels of awesome!

THEN, check this out!

 

From GOODREADS...

Remy O’Malley was just learning to harness her uncanny healing power when she discovered the other,darker half of her bloodline. Now she lives trapped between two worlds, uneasy among her fellow Healers—and relentlessly hunted by the Protectors.

Forced to conceal her dual identity, and the presence of her Protector boyfriend Asher Blackwell, Remy encounters a shadow community of Healers who will put her loyalties to the test.

Pushed to the limit, with the lives of those she loves most on the line, Remy must decide whether to choose sides in a centuries-old war—or make the ultimate sacrifice and go to a place from which she may never return…

I know you want to read this. And you can. Today! Just click on over to AMAZON, B&N or INDIEBOUND.

WHY I'M INSPIRED BY… @sarahockler

Weeping is not the same thing as crying. It takes your whole body to weep, and when it's over, you feel like you don't have any bones left to hold you up. 

-Sarah Ockler, Twenty Boy Summer p. 28

 

Like the stars, fading with the halo of the vanishing moon. Like the ocean, falling and whispering against the shore. Nothing ever really goes away - it just changes into something else. Something beautiful.

-Sarah Ockler, Twenty Boy Summer p. 289

 

REFLECTING ON READING

Through grade school, high school, college and grad school…at writing conferences and seminars…on author websites and educators blogs…one encounters the old saw that if one wants to be a good writer, they have to be a good READER.

Sometimes hearing that lesson gets annoying.  Even if I enjoy reading, being TOLD to do something kind of takes away my ownership of the act--even if I choose the books (which I don’t, always, since I read a lot for work). Two of my sons are dyslexic and telling them to be “good readers” is fraught on so many levels. One of those boys is a terrific writer, too, but reading a novel takes him an epic amount of time. So, it’s asking a lot.

Here’s the thing, though: Reading does help me as a writer. It helps me appreciate beautiful words strung together. It helps me grasp concepts like pacing, and develop strategies for presenting dialogue, that are nearly impossible to understand without good examples. When I’m not being nagged, I do love reading.

I love that feeling of racing to the end of a great book all the while dreading that last page because then it’ll be over and you’ll have to say goodbye to those characters who are breathing in your heart.

I love the way men and women all around the world put fingers to keyboard (or pen to paper) to tell their stories, leave a mark on the world, share an idea. I love to bear witness to that act by turning pages.

For the next 10 Mondays, I’ll be posting a series called WHY I'M INSPIRED BY… in which I share quotes from authors whose work I admire and from whom I have learned (and basically behave like a shameless fangirl).

Feel free to join me by leaving a comment and I’ll pop by your blog and say hello!