Love, Laughter, and Life

Adventures With a Book Lover


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Does Your Story Need a Heart Transplant? by @BonnieAdamson and #GIVEAWAY

Three case histories Sometimes I have what I think is a great idea for a story. I plot it out, polish the text, start thumbnailing scenes and begin working on character design. And then I hit a wal…

Source: Does Your Story Need a Heart Transplant? by @BonnieAdamson and #GIVEAWAY

These case histories give very good examples and tips of how to fix  stories. Thanks, Bonnie!


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Early Pumpkin Harvest

Safe and gorgeous

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

I harvested 8 pumpkins this morning.

It’s August.

Harvesting pumpkins in August just does not sound right. Especially when it will be around 90 later this afternoon.

Not right at all.

Extenuating circumstances encouraged me to wade deep in the bristly pumpkin patch and knee high grass to grasp my favorite orange fall buddies. Er, I mean, signs of the season. Sure, I talk to my pumpkins. And those dratted slugs and squash bugs. I do admit to speaking kindly to my pumpkin pals. Not so much with the vermin.

Doesn’t everyone talk to their plants and garden inhabitants? No? Hmmm.

Slugs. They were eating HOLES in my pumpkins! I rolled one large pumpkin over and a huge spotted slug, probably 3-4 inches long when stretched out, was coiled comfortably in the blossom end hollow. UGH. Tiny little slime booger slugs were creeping all over as well.

Odd. Spring. Weather. We had the weirdest spring. That is all I can blame on the extremely early crops. It was very warm, very hot, and then very cold. Plants in my area don’t know what to do. Except grow.

Squash bugs. I’ve been so busy packing up the house, I missed recognizing the sign of yellowed leaves that indicated I had extra special garden pest visitors. Why, those hungry little insects have moved right in!

Orange. These pumpkin babies were colorful and ready to visit my porch.

Snip, snip, tug, and off we went away from hungry mouths to the safety of shade and protection.

Fall (in August) here we come!

How is your garden growing this year?


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Listening to Your Characters by @mimicross and #GIVEAWAY

“She’s gonna listen to her heart It’s gonna tell her what to do.” — Tom Petty And it’s going to tell you, the writer, what to do. Listening to your main character’s heart—is going to te…

Source: Listening to Your Characters by @mimicross and #GIVEAWAY

Listening to your characters will allow you to give them heart. That’s what I forget to do! LISTEN. Thanks, Mimi.


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Writing with Heart and Soul by Kelly Starling Lyons

Before I became a children’s book author, I wrote newspaper and magazine articles. I looked forward to feedback from editors that would help my stories shine. But one day, I received a note that ma…

Source: Writing with Heart and Soul by Kelly Starling Lyons

Thanks for sharing these tips, Kelly!


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From Paper to Pulse: Character with Heart by @TerraMcVoy 

Creating a character with real heart is hard. It isn’t like slapping a wristwatch into a Tin Man and telling him he suddenly has one. Writing a character who possesses true heart requires the same …

Source: From Paper to Pulse: Character with Heart by @TerraMcVoy 

How to create a character with heart – by Terra McVoy. Thanks, Terra!