Just me and my gnomies

Yes, it's true. I've ACTUALLY taken a photograph with some level of skill. And I managed to realize something along the way. A reeaalllly good photograph has the same job as a reeaalllly good story and the exact opposite of a reeaally good meal. The photograph and story need to leave you hungry for more. Inspired. The good meal? Nap.

Smell that?

Some great information on the stinky odds of publication and why you don't need to care....
http://www.underdown.org/publishing-odds.htm

Ummm...no.

As a mom, I'm reminded on a daily basis just how unfair life is. My cherub faced four-year-old is convinced the world would be a much better place if only popsicles were all or part of the four food groups. My seven-year-old daughter believes if I went to first grade with her each and every day, no one would really care or notice. And my tween son is certain he's old enough to backpack across one of the largest cities in America. It just isn't so. Yes, it seems as though injustices abound. Life is full of rules (shhhhh, don't tell them I said that). Writing is full of rules too. The good "I'm really-ready-to-be-published" kinda writing anyway. I recently found some specific no's to keep in mind regarding the very PB you may be passionately working on now....

1. too slight
2. too quiet
3. forced rhyme
4. off rhythm
5. too similar to something already on the market
6. forced/inauthentic dialogue
7. too diadactic
8. melodramatic
9. cliche
10. slow pacing
11. too niche in appeal

Now back to life's inequalities....

Momma Moment

With Mother's Day just around the bend, this is just a little something I wanted to share with all you mommas out there. Heck, even if you're not a momma, I hope you'll get a chuckle or two. Like most momma's out there, my son unknowingly provided a wealth of inspiration for me when he was younger (now as a tween, he just tries to steal my ideas and thinks I'm a complete moron - good times!). This story was no exception. As momma, mommy, mom, mother, mum, mamma, mama, mutter, or, my personal fav haha (Japanese), I take great pride and unending pleasure knowing there are bazillions out there trying to get a job done and have a little fun somewhere along the way. So whatever your monicker is, peace be with you (and save some for me too)....

Aye! Aye! Aye! Aye!

Aye, aye, aye, aye! Fiesta has come and gone but not without leaving behind its fair share of silliness and exhaustion. I've been supplementing our annual Fiesta activities with plenty of multicultural PB's which, I'm ever so proud to report, my library is in no short supply of. Move over Dora and Diego, meet Sparrow Girl ! More aften than not, I gravitate toward the humorous, but Sara Pennypacker's book, I gotta say, taught me a thing or two. Give it a read...with or without mariachi music.

A place to call my own

We're different. We're the same. Writers that is. We have a passion to write. And we all require a spot of our very own to do just that. On my best days, I imagine my perfect spot to be something like the photo. Yeah, I know, that's where I'm different than most others. My spot has no running water, no heat, and no electricity. Ahem....not even a front door. It's in the middle of nowhere and still seems at the heart of all that's important and essential. It screams inspiration to me. Funny how that works. Or, perhaps just plain strange, as my thoughtful husband prefers to define it. You decide....

What's on your plate?

UUMMMMMMMMM!

What a treat!

Cheerios 4th Annual PB contest for

unpublished

starving

writers

www.spoonfulofstories.com

AND

Win a free critique of your most specialist (you know the one)

rhyming PB manuscript by a rhyming pro

and winner of the Cheerios 2nd Round of Spoonful of Stories

www.loridegman.blogspot.com