Florida SCBWI Workshop

I hestitated about going to this workshop because I am more of an introvert than an extrovert. My best writing buddy (Pat Weaver) was back in Alabama and she always broke the ice for me. But...she talked me into going without her and I'm glad she did.

I took the Middle Grade track with Tracy Adams and Donna Gephart. What a hoot!
I learned and relearned writing techniques. I feel I really got some good writing tips.

Donna was very inspirational. She said her first novel didn't get published, and neither did her second, third, fourth or fifth novel!

Tracy commented on first pages that Donna read.
Some of things she mentioned about the first pages were:
Setting- environment-describe room or where ever the scene is taking place. The first pages that she read that she liked gave an idea of the chararcter, their age, the room or scene.
Keep the beginning in one scene-don't start on one day and cover several days, weeks or months in one scene.


Dialogue: Donna commented on keeping speech tags to a minimum- just "he said" or "she said".
Avoid addressing the reader.

There was so much I learned, and best of all getting to meet new writing buddies!

Went to Alabama to visit family and friends. We always consider ourselves blessed when we (all 6 ) can be together. This picture was taken at my sister, Glenda's house. She's the second from the right. June, sitting next to me, drove all the way from Ohio. Or rather her daughter Rachel did the driving.
Larry is the youngest and the only boy. Thank you Steve for taking the picture for me.

Thinking back to when we were all under one roof, actually it was only five, because June had married by the time Larry was born. But there were five girls under one roof and ONE bathroom! Don't know how we did it. But we had a lot of fun.
Thanks for the great visit and hope ya'll come see me soon in the Sunshine State.

On a beautiful Saturday, downtown Ocala, You can see plants and flowers.

You can see husband coming away with a bag full of delicious fruit and vegetables. Sometimes we get a bunch of shrimp. The best shrimp I have ever tasted is cooked by my husband.

I love to watch people barter and sell and see what is for sale. I've found homemade soap, and goats milk soap, molded in pretty shapes. There is a baker I visit too much. I get chocolate chip cookies, brownies and coconut cake. Yum! Yum!

See you next Saturday at the Farmers Market on the square.

Learning lessons from ICL

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? I've always struggled with how to determine the target age of a book. Not any more. You can find a code in the front or back of a book that looks like 008-012 for ages 8 to 12 or 07-011 for ages 7-11. Also if you are reading a book and thinking, "I wonder how many words this book has?" You can divide the number of pages by 4. So for exmaple I am reading HOOT,by Carl Hiaasen and it has 292 pages. Divide that by 4 and you get 73 add 3 zero's. (1000 words per 4 pages.)

So if you are researching to see how long your book should be to reach a ceratin target age, go to the library or bookstore and start multiplying and dividing and see if you can find the code for the target age.

Horse Country

There are approximately 50 of these horses all uniquley painted, scattered around Ocala. We love to discover where they are. They usually have some sort of theme. I always think of my friend Pat when I see one. I can't wait to show off our lovely city.

Seeing faces and new places

Ken and I are enjoying finding our way around Ocala and the surrounding area. This weekend there was a cattle drive though the middle of town. We found out that this used to be the norm here. We always enjoy going to the farmer's market and getting fresh fruits and vegetable and shrimp! I have found a vendor that makes the best pear jam. It reminds me of my great-aunt Mittie Lee's jam. I used to spend Friday night with her and in the morning we would eat bisquits and pear preserves for breakfast.

Later Saturday afternoon we went to Lake Weir and ate at Gator Joe's where this humongous alligator used to live until someone finally killed it.

It was also in the vicinity of Ma Barker and her gang. I just love finding bits of history and got to thinking...is there some loot still around? A treasure story? Maybe.

I guess the point is there is always something interesting going on somewhere that can inspire you to write.

Oh and we did call some friends to let them know that the weather is fine and come down for a visit when you get tired of that cold weather.

Saying good bye too soon

My friend has suffered a terrible tragedy. Her 17 year old nephew died in a car accident Thursday. I have met him at Pat's several times and the shock has numbed me. I can't imagine the pain they are going through now.

It seems there is way too much death. In the few short months I have said good-bye to two friends from cancer.

I know we will continue to go on. But our hearts will be a little heavier, the moments with friends and family, so much more precious.

Take care my friends. Love you all and you are all in my thoughts and my constant prayer for you to have strength.

God be with you.