Here’s another creative writing prompt for your 750 words, a challenge to write 750 words each day in January to better Think Like a Writer.

What are you afraid to write about?
Write about it.
Grit your teeth.
Take a stiff drink (of sweet iced tea) and write.

Do it now.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Have you signed up for 750words.com yet? Or will you try doing 750 words on paper? I’ve just completed my 36th day of doing 750 words!

If the first task of Think Like a Writer is to observe the world around you, the task of the fiction writer or the novelist, is to create, then observe the world of the story. The exercise is the same, but this time you draw upon imagination. What does your character see, hear, taste, touch, feel as s/he moves around in his/her world?

As a writer you can create this purely from imagination, or you can draw upon observations about places you’ve visited. For example, I spotted this praying mantis on the Great Wall of China.



Thinking like a writer means to notice the small things like this, because often, it is the smallest details that make a story come to life. Yes, I observed the usual things while climbing the Wall, but the praying mantis is one of the special things I remember.

Details of Your Story’s Setting

Today, think like a writer and create the sensory environment of your story. Like yesterday, write out what the characters See, Hear, Feel, Taste, and Touch. Then write a paragraph using those details; don’t feel like you have to use every detail you wrote, just select the ones that work; add anything else that occurs.

Does the story come alive better now?
What writing exercises or prompts do you use to make a setting fresher and more alive?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Yesterday, December 31, my friend Charlie Woods rode his bike 60 miles and finished his yearly goal of 10,000 miles. That’s an average of 27.8 miles per day and he’s been hitting that goal for over 3000 days. Yes, without fail. Rain or shine (he has a stationary bike for bad-weather days), sick or healthy, he never misses.

It makes me think about my commitment to writing. Do I write every day? Almost every day. But EVERY day? No.
And what does this say about how I think about my life? How does a writer think?
I want to strengthen my thinking as a writer, I want a deeper commitment to writing.

A new tool I’ve found to do this is the website www.750words.com.
It’s simple. You log on the write 750 words every day. That’s it. Simple and easy. As the website says, it started with the idea of “morning pages,” but Buster wanted to create something online to do this. The 750 words you write every day are “private, unfiltered, spontaneous, daily.”

I’ve done it now for 33 days and earned several “badges“. No, they aren’t Girl Scout badges and really, they don’t matter much, except to me.

• Everyone starts out with an egg, a big fat zero.
  
• Writing 3 days in a row gets you a Turkey
  
• 5 days is a Penguin
  
• 10 days is a Flamingo
  
• 30 days is an Albatross
  
• 100 days in a row is a Phoenix.
  

I’m working on my Phoenix now! 35 days down, 65 to go!

In addition, I’ve earned these badges

• a Cheetah (fast typist)
  
• a Hamster (typing without distractions–no pauses greater than 3 minutes)
  
• The Early Rooster (because I type early in the morning) (There’s also a Night Bat, but I’ll NEVER win that one.)
  
  

It’s fun. I want that Phoenix.
For more information see the FAQ on 750words.com

Here’s my New Year’s Challenge to you! Join me in becoming an Albatross.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll post a daily prompt, which you can use, or you can do your own prompt, if you’d rather.

30 Days to Thinking Like a Writer Prompts

What I’m doing is using the 750 words as an exercise, like playing scales on a musical instrument. I want to sharpen my skills and the prompts will be something that encourages you to spend 30 days Thinking Like a Writer.

Day 1: Thinking Like a Writer

The basic exercise for writers is to observe the world around them and accurately reproduce it in their writing. As humans, we know the world around us by using our senses, what we see, hear, smell, touch and taste. For this exercise, just think about a place you’ve been recently. Maybe you’re sitting on a park bench, eating popcorn when a truck flies by.

Type, SEE. Then record specific observations. Specific is important. Not a truck. But a steel-blue Ford F-150 with mud streaks. The more specific you can be, the better.

Repeat for each sense; here’s an example.

• SEE: Steel-blue Ford F-150 with mud streaks
• HEAR: squealing tires, high-pitched, lasted 3 seconds
• SMELL: burning rubber, contrasted with the smell of popcorn popping
• TOUCH: chilly wind
• TASTE: buttered, salted popcorn

Some senses will be harder than others depending on the situation. You may not have a smell or a taste. Think of TOUCH as temperature and texture. This isn’t emotional, such as “I felt scared.” It’s the actual physical sensation of touching something; it can also be the kinesthetic feel of moving through space. Also, search for great verbs for each sense: shivered in the chilly wind, tires squealed, dropped the slick popcorn bag, clapped greasy hands to my ears. For HEAR, try for Onomatopoeia, whenever you can.

Once you have the sensory information recorded (I call this a sensory details worksheet, the most important prewriting activity for a narrative, fictional or real), then use the information to write a paragraph or two. Add any information that occurs to you as you write and don’t feel compelled to use every detail. Just use what works.

A chill wind blew steadily and I hunched under my trench coat, crunching my popcorn, when suddenly, a steel-blue Ford F-150 sped down the road, just as the stop light turned yellow, then red. Wheeeeeeeee! The high-pitched squeal from the truck’s brakes blasted the quiet day. It stopped. Halfway through the intersection, but just short of a red Miata convertible, with a crazy driver who thought such a chilly day was a good day for driving around with the top down. No, the crazy driver was behind the wheel of the Ford.

Not great writing, maybe, but specific and detailed. That’s what you want when you do this exercise, practice your scales, write your 750 words.

Try it with me. Either on paper, computer or online at www.750words.com (it’s 3 typed double-spaced pages, if you do it offline). I’ll post prompts daily for 30 days as we Think Like a Writer and earn your first albatross!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Grinch Tips on Character

How the Grinch Stole Christmas Movie

Take a page from Dr. Seuss. Be nasty when you create characters. Try different physical descriptions, motivations, typical ways of moving, common phrases and specific actions.

Grinch Tips on Setting

Whoville. What kind of name is that for a town? A memorable one. And the Whos are memorable. Dr. Suess was a genius at creating fictional worlds that are believable.

Take another look at your setting: create a town, populate the town with a mayor, a teacher, families. Now, write a story set in that town.

Grinch Tips on Plot

The Grinch ties his best to ruin Christmas by stealing every THING that relates to Christmas. Things become worse and worse for the Whos.

Make sure that you intensify the conflict of your story. No one will read boring, nothing-happens stories. Burn this into your sense of story: without bad things happening, there is no story. Dr. Seuss intensifies the dilemma by having the Grinch do every despicable thing possible to ruin Christmas.

Grinch Tips on the Blackest Moment of the Story

Popular book for over 50 years!

Dr. Seuss did not try to avoid the blackest moment and neither should you. What is the absolute worst thing that could happen to your characters? Make it happen. Be a Grinch, be nasty.

But also follow that moment with a twist. It doesn’t have to be a complete reversal like the Whos manage to pull off. But it should be a small moment of hope, of defiance against the evil. Slap ‘em down and watch ‘em get up again. And your audience will stay with you forever (Right, Theodore Geissel?)

Grinch Tips on Story Endings

At the end, the Grinch’s heart grows two sizes larger. It’s a poignant moment of clear character growth and change. The metaphoric becomes concrete.

Draw two columns down a page and label the columns, Before and After. In the Before column, write details of your character in the story’s opening. In the After column, write details of your character in the story’s ending. Make sure there is a sharp difference, a big change. If there isn’t, what changes make sense in the context of the story. Now, revise to make sure the character’s heart does grow two sizes larger!

Winter Writing Lesson Plans for Teachers

In appreciation for all you do for children’s literature, I am offering a free set of lesson plans for Winter Writing with Kids. Based on popular Christmas and winter children’s stories, kids will learn 34 skills of writing.

Download the FREE Winter Writing with Kids 2011 here.

11 Ways to Ruin a Photograph: Winner of “The Help” Children’s Story Contest

My story won “The Help children’s story contest! Read more about this family story written by Darcy Pattison.

By the way, there’s an app for the Grinch!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Need to know how well your writing, editing and revisions are going? Here’s a variety of checklists to help you evaluate where you are in the writing process.

1. Checklist of 17 Character Qualities
2. 10 Checkpoints for a Scene
3. Style: Checklist For Fiction Writers
4. Editing Checklists for Story, Plot, Characters, Dialogue and more.
5. A Novel Writing Checklist
6. Story Plan Checklist
7. Synopsis Checklist
8. The DUMMIES Checklist for Writing a Novel and Getting it Published
9. The Checklist for Critiquing a Novel (Things to Look For)
10. Revision Checklist for Novelists
11. Writer’s Editing Checklist
12. The Expanded Power Revision Checklist

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Ours is a business of ideas: unique, fresh, high-concept, sweet, outstanding. Without a great idea, your story has little chance of flying in “today’s crowded market.” One new source of ideas is the curriculum that is taking shape around the Common Core State Standards. In the past two years, education reform has swept across the nation as many states adopted these new standards, and many are beginning implementation this year. It will be the face of education for the next decade.

Good bye, No Child Left Behind!

Hello, Common Core State Standards!

What Do New Education Standards Mean For Writers?

Our concern here isn’t the standards themselves. For that, you can read these articles from my sister site, commoncorestandards.com.

• History of National Standards: Where Did They Come From?
• Who Wrote the Common Core Standards
• Authors of the Common Core Standards
• 6 Shifts in Learning: CCSS Sytle
• FAQ: List of Common Core Required Texts
• Text Complexity: Choosing Exemplar Texts
• To find out what YOUR state is doing for the CCSS, find a link here to the State Department of Education for your state.
  States: Links to State Departments CCSS Standards

Important for us as writers, though, it to know what teachers are teaching and at what grade level. For this information, there are two sites you should know. First is corestandards.org which is the official site for the CCSS, and home of all the pdf versions of the standards themselves. Read these as you find time. The second is commoncore.org which is a non-profit organization, supported partially by the Gates Foundation. They have written curriculum maps, documents which give flesh to the CCSS by suggesting topics and units for every grade level; overall, the combined units should cover all the CCSS standards. These are often recommended by state department of educations, but they are NOT the official standards themselves. Still–they are often recommended, and that means, they are a good source for knowing what is being taught around the country at each grade level.

Here are links to each grade level’s curriculum maps. Have fun reading through these to see what is currently recommended. Use it as a prompt to jump-start age appropriate ideas. Of course, remember that picture books can take 2-5 years to be published and novels can take a couple years. So don’t write something just to jump on this new education bandwagon; but if you find inspiration here, you can be confident that some teacher will be looking for your story and will be more likely to buy it.

Links to the K-12 Curriculum Maps

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

12 Updated Resources for 2011

1. State of the industry. First, a basic question: Are picture books dead? Not according to Karen Springen and PW.
   Don’t Write the Obit For Picture Books Yet, By Karen Springen, Dec 12, 2010
2. Writing Encouragement. Natl Pic Book Writing Week May 1-7, 2011

   National Picture Book Writing Week is a take off on the National Novel Writing Month and encourages writers to work on children’s picture book manuscripts.

Basic Resources for Writing Children’s Picture Books

3. 30 Days to a Stronger Picture Book. Children’s picture book author, Darcy Pattison has 30 posts about how-to write a children’s picture book. Answers questions like, where do I find an illustrator? (You don’t! See why.)
   This is also available as an ebook.
   
   
   
4. Getting Started: The Basics of Children’s Writing and Illustrating, by Harold Underdown
   Introductory information for people wanting to get published as a children’s book writer or illustrator in the United States, by former editor.
5. Picture Book Editing Checklist

Authors on How-to Write a Children’s Picture Book

6. So You Want to Write a Picture Book–advice from author Mem Fox.
7. Nancy Antle on Writing Children’s Literature: Interview about Dos and Don’ts of Writing Picture Books.

Philip Bell: Capturing Childhood Magic With Picture Books

Updated Information on Self Publishing a Picture Book

8. Why I’ve Switched to CreateSpace for Picture Books, by Aaron Shepard

   Long-time self-publisher has insider knowledge about various POD options and explains why he’s switching to Amazon’s CreateSpace.

How to Write a Rhyming Picture Book

9. How To Write a Rhyming Picture Book and Get it Published — Part 1: A Writer’s Perspective.
10. How To Write a Rhyming Picture Book and Get it Published — Part 2: A Publisher’s Perspective.
11. How To Write a Rhyming Picture Book and Get It Published — Part 3: A Reader’s Perspective.
12. 
    Write a Rhyming Picture Book blog article, by author Patricia Thomas

Other Posts about Picture Books on Fiction Notes

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Wise Men Give Writing Tips

For the last few years, Fiction Notes has offered writing tips from famous holiday or winter characters. In keeping with that tradition, we offer this year 7 writing tips from the 3 Kings.

Happy Holidays!

Previous Holiday Writing Tips

Frosty the Snowman’s Top 6 Writing Tips
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer’s Top 5 Writing Tips
Santa Claus’s Top 5 Writing Tips
The Gingerbread Man’s Top 5 Writing Tips
12 Days of Christmas Writing Tips
Download the FREE pdf of Winter Writing Activities.

We Three Kings

1. We three kings of Orient are
   Bearing gifts we traverse afar
   Field and fountain, moor and mountain
   Following yonder star

   Orient the reader. Character, setting and goals are immediately set up here. We know WHO (Kings), WHAT (bearing gifts and following star), WHERE (afar – over many different terrains), and WHY (to follow the star and deliver gifts). When you write, try to orient (pun intended!) your readers right away, so they aren’t confused about what is happening in the story.

2. O Star of wonder, star of night
   Star with royal beauty bright
   Westward leading, still proceeding
   Guide us to thy Perfect Light

   Verbal Play: This refrain or chorus is playful and fun to repeat. Try to find places to play with language as you write.

3. Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
   Gold I bring to crown Him again
   King forever, ceasing never
   Over us all to rein
   (Repeat Chorus.)
   

   Specifics: It’s important to be specific in a story and give details, The next few verses will give specifics of what gifts are being brought to the newborn King: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

4. Frankincense to offer have I
   Incense owns a Deity nigh
   Pray’r and praising, all men raising
   Worship Him, God most high
   (Repeat Chorus.)

   Use Sensory Details: Even in a song, the writers recognize the importance of including sensory details, things you see, hear, smell, taste and touch. Here, the smell of incense is highlighted. Make sure you highlight other senses, too!

5. Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
   Breathes of life of gathering gloom
   Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
   Sealed in the stone-cold tomb
   (Repeat Chorus.)

   Summarize when space is limited–but do it with verbs. The summary of the life of Jesus is amazingly compressed into about nine words. Notice the importance of the verbs in this compression. Verbs hold much of the action of a story and by emphasizing verbs, you can strengthen almost any writing.

6. Glorious now behold Him arise
   King and God and Sacrifice
   Alleluia, Alleluia
   Earth to heav’n replies

   Epiphany/climax: The word ephiphany originated in religious literature as a moment when God/heaven is revealed in a splash of light and glory. Singing about the resurrection of Christ is indeed an epiphany moment. In your story, did you actually WRITE and climax of your story? It should change everything for the characters involved. Here, Christ’s resurrection changes the world as he offers a new way for men to have a relationship with God and the response of the song is, “Alleluia, Alleluia.” A true epiphany.

7. O Star of wonder, star of night
   Star with royal beauty bright
   Westward leading, still proceeding
   Guide us to Thy perfect light

   Denoument: A final repetition of a chorus is a fitting end. It repeats the verbal play, while replaying for the reader/singer the travel of the Magi.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Build a Scene List: Then Prune

30 Days to a Stronger Scene Table of Contents
By now, you know what a basic scene is and how to plan a scene. Today we’ll move past the planning to the writing stage. When you write a scene, it helps to break down the actions and emotions into a beat sheet.

Some people use beat sheets to refer to the flow of scenes, but here, I’m using it to refer to the flow of actions and emotions within a single scene.

Featured Today in Fiction Notes Stores

Beats within a Scene

Here’s an example of beats within a scene I was just working on.

Action Beats/Laurel’s Emotional Beats

• Laurel says she must go/reluctant to leave Jassy
• Jassy gets cloak/staff to escort her/pleased Jassy is coming, shy with Jassy
• Walk through snowy woods/lonely
• A figure appears/fear
• Jassy attacks/please he’s protecting her
• Laurel says, Stop, I know him/surprise
• Laurel introduces Jassy to older man/hesitant, aware of criticism
• Jassy asks for job/hopeful
• Older man looks at Jassy’s hands/encouraged by serious consideration
• Laurel admits she told a secret/scared, glad Jassy is there to protect

In some ways, you might notice, this detailed beat sheet reads like a narrative summary. What’s missing is the detailed development of the scene with full dialogue, action, emotions and thought. Some people even write a full novel with narrative summary, then go back and expand. I feel like that’s what I’ve done on some of my early drafts.

Using a detailed beat sheet for a scene, you can go on and write it easily. The key here is to remember that the beat sheet is a guide for the scene. By developing it early, you’re forced to think about the progression of action and emotion and take into account the physical/emotional settings. However, as I write from a beat sheet, I invariably find ways to introduce more tension. I don’t mind adding, subtracting or shifting the beats as needed when I write. The beat sheet has done it’s job at that point by keeping me focused and I’m willing to let the writing take a tangent course, as long as the focus is getting sharper in the process, instead of blurrier.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Guest post from Dori Butler

What advice would you give to your younger self?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Always. But wanting to be a writer is probably a lot like wanting to be a baseball player. Or a movie star. A lot of people want it, but most will settle for something else.

One thing that sets me apart from other people is I’m determined. Some might say stubborn. I’m also relatively patient. When I want something, I go after it. And I don’t give up until I get it.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have doubts. I’ve had a lot of doubts about my writing through the years. There have been times I wondered if I was wasting my time…times I considered giving up…times I wished I could look into a crystal ball and see whether I was ever going to get anywhere. Would I ever get published? Would I ever publish a book? Would I ever publish a book with my name on it rather than someone else’s? Would I ever publish a series? That’s what I really wanted to do…publish a series of my own.

Now that I’m more than twenty years into my writing career, I know the answers to those questions. If I could actually talk to a younger version of myself at various points my life, and offer some advice, this is what I would say:

Dear 21-year-old Dori,

Dori at 21

So what are you working on? An eight-book picture book series called Plato Goes to Obedience School. Wow. Eight books, huh? All about a cocker spaniel who goes to obedience school. You don’t realize this yet, but you don’t have enough story there to sustain one book, much less eight. You’ve got the start of a character, but no plot. No. I’m sorry, you really don’t.

Let me ask you this: What does Plato want? What is he willing to do to get it? What is he going to DO in each of these eight books to move the story forward? Where’s the conflict? Where’s the adventure? Where are the high stakes? You need to read A LOT more picture books if you think you want to write picture books. You need to learn the elements of a good story. In fact, maybe you should think about writing just one good story at this point. It’s too early to be thinking about a series.

I know you really want to write a series. But trust me, you’re not ready. And Plato Goes to Obedience School is NOT series material. By the way, six-year-olds don’t even know who Plato was, so you might consider changing the name of that dog. Yeah, I know…that’s really your dog’s name, but nobody cares. Please, do me a favor. Don’t send that series proposal out. Just keep reading, keep writing, keep learning. One day you will publish a series of your own. It’ll even be a series about dogs! But it’s not going to be Plato Goes to Obedience School. It’s just not. Put this away and don’t ever show it to ANYONE! You still have so much to learn…

–Middle-Aged Dori

Dear 29-year-old Dori,

I know…you never saw yourself living in Iowa, of all places, and yet here you are. Let me tell you this: you’re going to come to love Iowa and your life there. Really, you are. And your new friend, Carol? She’s going to change your life because she’s going to tell you about book packagers. She’s going to show you how to approach them, she’s going to read your Sweet Valley Twins audition piece, she’s going to be your biggest cheerleader next to your husband, and you’re going to get hired as a writer for the Sweet Valley Twins series. You’ve already published a bunch of magazine stories, but these are going to be your first published books. They may not be “your” books, but you’ll find subtle ways of making each one your own while remaining true to the series. This is going to be a great experience for you. You’ll get a 10-page outline for each book you’re contracted to write and then you’ll have 4-6 weeks to write each one. I know that doesn’t sound like much time, but don’t worry. You’ll make every deadline. You’ll learn how to structure a novel, match a series voice, maintain a character over several books, work with an editor, meet a deadline, revise, and you’ll actually get paid to learn all this.

Caution: you’re going to get so good at this that the assignments are going to come one after the other. And you have two little kids now. You’re going to actually make some money as a writer, but you’re not going to have time to write anything of your own. And one day you’re going to wake up and realize that everything you write sounds like a Sweet Valley Twins book. So here’s a piece of advice: slow down a little. I know it feels good when someone calls you up and offers you a contract, but learn to say no once in a while. It’s perfectly reasonable to say, “I’d like to, but I just can’t do another book this month. Could I do one next month instead?” And then use that month off to recapture your own voice.

–Middle-Aged Dori

Dear 32-year-old Dori,

So you think you’re ready to try again. You think you’re ready to propose your own middle grade series. You’ve learned all you’re going to learn from writing Sweet Valley Twins books. You’ve continued to publish magazine stories. You’ve even published a few picture books with regional publishers. But what you really want is your own middle grade series. You’ve read a bunch of other people’s series. You understand what makes a series. You even have an idea: you want to write about a girls’ baseball league. That’s not a bad idea.

You understand now that series are all about character. You’ve created nine different girls, each with her own story. You’ve got action. You’ve got adventure. You’ve got friendship. You’ve got conflict. You’ve got characters who are doing things. And at the heart of it all, you’ve got baseball.

It would help if you were a little more passionate about baseball. Sure, you know how the game is played. You know a lot about the history of women in baseball. And A League of their Own is your favorite movie. But let’s be honest. You’re not really passionate about baseball. Not really. So why do you want to write about it?

What’s that? You say you’re writing about middle school girls…middle school girls who happen to play baseball. You’re not really writing about baseball.

Yeah, okay…I’ll buy that. Temporarily. Because, after all, you’re going to get really close with this series proposal. You’re going to send Harper Collins your list of characters, a synopsis of book one, ideas for the next three books, and two sample chapters (the only ones you’ve actually written) from book one. And they’re going to get back to you after a couple of months and ask you for the rest of book one.

That single phone call will inspire some passion for baseball. You’ll read a bunch of books about baseball; you’ll even start reading the sports section of the newspaper now and then. You’ll spend the next couple of months frantically writing the rest of book one and then you’ll send it off. And you’ll wait…and you’ll wait…and you’ll wait…

But guess what? HarperCollins will NEVER give you an answer. You’ll call them and ask about the status of your manuscript after six months and again after nine months. You’ll get some encouraging news both times, but they will never offer a contract, nor will they ever tell you they’re not interested. They’re just going to hold that proposal FOREVER.

Eventually you’ll find out that Peachtree is looking for girls’ series ideas. So you’ll send your series proposal to them. This time when somebody asks about the rest of book one, you’ll be able to send it right away because you’ve actually finished it. And guess what? They’re going to tell you it’s got “too much depth” for a paperback series (which is going to blow you away because you are the queen of the “your story lacks depth” rejection letter). But they’re going to offer you a contract for it as a stand-alone hardcover novel “with sequel possibilities,” and in 2003 Sliding Into Home will be one of your first published middle grade novels.

Don’t give up!

Sincerely,
Middle Aged Dori

Dear 43-year-old Dori,

Mouse and Dori

You’ve been working with Albert Whitman & Co. for seven years now. You’ve written Boxcar Children books for them (which is a very different experience from writing Sweet Valley Twins books. You don’t get any outlines for Boxcar; you get to come up with the mysteries yourself. Too bad we can’t tell 7-year-old Dori, who LOVED the Boxcar Children series, that she would one day grow up to write them!). You’ve published five books of your own with Albert Whitman. And your editors there know you well enough to know that you’ve always wanted your own series. You’ve even discussed a series idea with them. All you need to do is write a couple of sample chapters and a synopsis of the first book, some character notes, and ideas for future books.

What’s that? You’re not all that excited about the series idea you’ve already discussed with them? You’ve got a new dog that you’re training to be a therapy dog, and really, you’re all about the dog right now (and the kid who’s moving out in 10 months). In fact, the dog is actually taking precedence over the writing. But…it might be fun to write a beginning chapter book series from the perspective of a dog. Maybe from the perspective of a school therapy dog who solves mysteries. I know, that’s not what you and your editor discussed. And you’re worried this idea is a little too close to Plato Goes to Obedience School, which you understand now was a really BAD idea.

But keep going! You know so much more about writing and constructing a series now than you did when you wrote Plato Goes to Obedience School. And most important, you’ve got PASSION for this project! Don’t worry…Albert Whitman & Co. is going to love it!

–Middle-Aged Dori

P.S. Your dog is going to be an awesome therapy dog!

If I was given an opportunity to look into a crystal ball and see answers to those questions, I don’t think I’d look. I’d rather keep doing what I’m doing and discover the answers to those questions as they happen. After all, it’s the questions that keep life interesting. I wonder if 75-year-old Dori would agree?

I wonder what advice 75-year-old Dori might have for Middle Aged Dori?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win