Whimsical Word of the Week

Obfuscate - (verb)
render obscure, unclear, or unintelligible.
Example: The sorcerer's spell was able to obfuscate the prisoner's memory.

Bibliophile's Corner

The Bronze Key
Magisterium Series - Book 3
by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

Amazon Description:
Magic can save you.
Magic can kill you.

Students at the Magisterium are supposed to be safe. Under the watchful eyes of the mages, they are taught to use magic to bring order to a chaotic world.

But now the chaos is fighting back. Call, Tamara, and Aaron should be worrying about things like pop quizzes and magic contests. Instead, after the shocking death of one of their classmates, they must track down a sinister killer… and risk their own lives in the process.

As Call, Tamara, and Aaron discover, magic can only be as good as the person who wields it. In evil hands, it has the capacity to do immeasurable harm, unless it is stopped in time.

In this striking third book of Magisterium, bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare present us with a school where anything, good or evil, can happen, and the only way to unlock the truth is to risk everything to find it.  

My Thoughts:
The Bronze Key, by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare, is fast-moving and filled with magic - a marvelous upper middle grade novel! Complex and believable characters, coupled with a plot full of twists and turns, make this book a must read for any reader who loves tales of fantasy.
I highly recommend The Bronze Key to readers from the ages of eight to eighty, and anxiously look forward to Book 4 - The Golden Boy!

Storyteller's Journey

Photo credit: Public Domain

  This Author's Humpty Dumpty Rewrite

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *
  Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
  Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
  All the King's horses,
  And all the King's men,
  Couldn't put Humpty together again!

    ~ An English Nursery Rhyme ~
       

When I received my editorial notes last winter, there was good news and bad news. The good news was that I do have skills as a writer; the bad news was that my light fantasy novel needed to be restructured, etc. While that might sound simple enough, nothing could have been further from the truth! And while Humpty Dumpty fell off a wall and could not be put back together, my middle grade manuscript has been torn apart, and indeed been put back together. It's been restructured, strengthened, tightened, and given a much needed dose of magic. It's taken me eight months to complete - and it still needs revisions & edits!

Tackling a major rewrite is not for the faint of heart.

Here is a list of traits required to achieve a Humpty Dumpty rewrite:

*Perseverance - being a stubborn soul helps!

*Conviction - that your story is worth the time and effort.

*Knowledge - you must clearly know what is wrong with your story.

*Organization - to  improve your manuscript you must have a plan.

*Love - you must love your protagonist & your story to see it through.

*Belief - you must believe that once completed, the novel will sell.

*Drive - you must be driven, single-minded, not easily distracted.

The above list is clearly not for the casual writer. So why bother?

As I mentioned above, I did just complete my rewrite, but it still needs revisions, beta reading, and possible edits. Then there's the crafting of the dreaded query letter. Submitting to an agent is still months away. However, I'm already reaping rewards from the painstaking process.

Over the last eight months I've developed more writing muscle!

It's not difficult to sit down with a cup of coffee & jot down a few action scenes with your favorite character. However, a major rewrite is like tearing down a house, picking up the pieces, then reassembling the house into a better version of itself. Being a nerd/student-type helps.

Note: I recently purchased THE MAGIC WORDS by Cheryl B. Klein; the timing of that book's arrival could not have been better! While I have completed my reading of the informative resource book, I have not yet completed the exercises included in its pages. I plan to slowly reread the book and then complete most of the exercises. I strongly recommend that every writer of MG, & YA fiction, read the book - it's that good. Ms. Klein even includes the key elements in a manuscript that she always looks for when considering an author's submission.

We'll see if my Humpty Dumpty rewrite gains me agent representation. If not, I'm still a much better writer for having gone through the process.

Whimsical Word of the Week

Concord - (n.)

agreement or harmony between people or groups.

Example: The politician worked for a pact of peace and concord between her country and the United States.

Happy International Day of Peace! 

Bibliophile's Corner

Wolf Hollow
by Lauren Wolk

Flap Copy Description:
Growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and while her bullying seems isolated at first, things quickly escalate, and reclusive World War I veteran Toby becomes a target of her attacks. While others have always seen Toby’s strangeness, Annabelle knows only kindness. She will soon need to find the courage to stand as a lone voice of justice as tensions mount.

My Thoughts:
Lauren Wolk has written a true middle grade masterpiece; Wolf Hollow is an example of children's literature at its finest. The reason I feel so strongly about this book is because the author didn't just pen a well-written novel for children, she wrote a novel with an exceptional protagonist living in an adult world - with all its complexities. Respecting her readers, Wolk includes lies, secrets, pain, death, and sorrow in this poignant, yet inspirational story. A must read!
I highly recommend Wolf Hollow to readers aged eight to eighty!

Click here to learn more about the author Lauren Wolk.

Storyteller's Journey

My Writing Life

As summer transitions into autumn, I realize that my life as a writer is also transitioning. When I began seriously writing ten years ago, my goals were to write a book and get published.

While I've achieved both those goals, what I've learned along the way is that there are other goals much more intriguing and satisfying to me. My life as a writer is what makes me most happy. The writing, the researching, the blogging, the networking, the retreats, and on and on. Since my school days, just being a student has always been what offered me the most satisfaction. For me, being a writer means being a student. So, while I have new goals, new stories, & new opportunities, I also realize I have a new stability and a new routine in my life as a writer. Completing a new story, finding the right agent, or publishing a new middle grade novel, cannot make me any happier than I am right now. (Well, gaining agent representation might make me a bit giddy!)
    
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        Wishing all you scribes a wonderful season of writing!

Whimsical Word of the Week

Trogglehumper - (n.)
the very worst nightmare you can have.
Example: The troll was troubled by a trogglehumper as he tossed and turned in his sleep. 
(From the Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary)