MPL CREATIVE RESOURCES

WATCH FOR AN ITTY BITTY ANNOUNCEMENT

2011-09-07T07:21:00.003-05:00

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from
Mindy Phillips Lawrence
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September 7, 2011

There's something in the works at MPL Creative Resource and it's NOT bigger than a bread box. In fact, it comes in much smaller bytes! You could even say it's Itty Bitty.

YES! I'm at work on an Itty Bitty Book of Itty Bitty's from the award-winning "Sharing with Writers" newsletter of Carolyn Howard-Johnson. I'll be selecting my favorites from my column and expanding them into an e-book that I hope Kindle's your interest. I'll keep you advised of how near it is to publication and sound the trumpets when it's done.

Meanwhile, keep visiting this site, Carolyn's sites and Bev Walton Porter's Scribe and Quill.

May you be well and well read.

~ Mindy

Writing About The Great Outdoors

2010-08-26T17:43:00.004-05:00

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"Writing about the Great Outdoors"
Mindy Phillips Lawrence
August 26, 2010

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I have a friend who is the head pharmacist at a Walgreen’s store. When he's not dispensing medications, he's outdoors hunting and fishing. When he's not doing that, he's writing about it and taking very good photos of outdoor scenes. He’s a talented guy.

I’m not normally an outdoor chick, but lately I’ve been thinking about finding somewhere to place a small cabin so I can go and relax on weekends with an ice chest, a notebook and a camera. Yep. The bug has hit me. Between my pharmacist friend, Rudy, and my co-worker, Hoot Al, I’m thinking more about quiet time away from the city, a trail to walk on and a place to just think.

Many places take articles on these topics. Rudy writes a column for a regional newspaper on his thoughts about camping, hunting and fishing. Maybe I could write something similar on a city girl acclimating to the world of mosquitoes and toads. Who knows? Maybe someone would give a hoot about it.

==
Build This Cozy Cabin
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/2006-06-01/Build-this-Cozy-Cabin.aspx

Outdoor Eyes
http://www.outdooreyes.com/photo116.php3

Missouri Outdoor
http://missourioutdoor.com/

ShoMeOutdoors
http://www.shomeoutdoors.com/

Trails
http://www.trails.com/missouri-trails.aspx

Little Portion
http://www.littleportionfranciscansisters.org/

Writing the Controversial

2009-10-11T18:39:00.002-05:00

The Business of Writing I

2009-07-26T11:26:00.003-05:00

10k Write Day! On a WEEKEND!

2009-07-26T10:32:00.009-05:00

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For Milli Thornton's FEAR OF WRITING
http://www.fearofwriting.com
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10K Weekend Write!
Tentative Date: August 22, 2009

A Saturday Dedicated to WORDS

We all have a ton going on through the week and catch up with housework, second jobs, family and sleep on the weekends. I’m here to tell you that you also need one weekend a month to dive into the glory of words. You owe it to yourself. It’s like getting a weekend manicure – only this is a word-a-cure.

So here’s the deal. Join me, Mindy Phillips Lawrence, for the first WEEKEND 10-K Write on AUGUST 22, 2009 from 1am until 12am. OF COURSE you won’t write that long but you're going to want every minute to matter. Here are ten suggestions to make your 10K Writing Day count and give you time to get all those words written:

· Do everything you can around the house on Thursday and Friday before the Write begins.

· Prepare Saturday meals the day before so they can be nuked or cooked in 30 minutes or less (access a Web site or too for recipe ideas). This is the one day you have permission to eat in front of your computer.

· See if you can get your kids invited somewhere that day. See if granny is busy. If you ARE granny, see if you can swear off keeping the grandkids that day – or write around their visit.

· Lay out your clothes the night before.

· Shower early. It pries your eyes and mind open to begin your writing day fresh and alert.

· Start Saturday laundry and write from load to load. This is like having a writing timer set and you get clean laundry to boot.

· Establish a pattern you’ll use on both your weekend and weekly 10K Writes. DEDICATE yourself to giving a day a month to develop your stories, novels, articles, Web sites and so forth. It will pay off.

· Lay out all the writing paraphernalia you’ll need to write if yon intend to use a dictionary or a thesaurus (although this is actually a no-no on 10K Days).

· Plan 15-minute breaks to where you don’t get sick of the written word.

· Plan to take a walk during the day to exercise your muscles and air out your mind.

There you are. I’ll be writing with you and reporting my progress on the link Milli gives us. Just knowing that other people are in this with me is a huge boost so CHECK IN! CHECK IN! CHECK IN!

Mindy Phillips Lawrence
Springfield , MO

A SHARED BIRTHDAY

2009-04-03T03:00:00.004-05:00

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"An Itty Bitty Column on Writing" by Mindy Phillips Lawrence
From Sharing with Writers (Carolyn Howard-Johnson)
January 19, 2009
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I join these people in celebrating January 19th as my birthday: Chinese philosopher Tai Chen (1724), Scottish inventor James Watt (1736), US poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809), French painter Paul Cezanne (1839), US author and critic Alexander Woollcott (1887), US publisher Oveta Culp Hobby (1905), US actress Jean Stapleton (1923), Canadian broadcast journalist Robert MacNeil (1931), US singer Phil Everly (1939), English singer and actor Michael Crawford (1942), US singer Janis Joplin (1943), US singer and songwriter Dolly Parton (1946), and US newscaster Ann Compton (1947).

I’m not a teenager but I’m certainly not ready to relinquish my life to the “has been” pile either. In fact, I wish I had money for everyone who says to me, “I’m too old to do that.” BALDERDASH! Here are a few examples of writers who did NOT quit just because they had birthdays:

Norman Mailer
Until his death on November 10, 2007, Norman Mailer wrote. He was working on the second novel in a trilogy beginning with A CASTLE IN THE FOREST (2007) when he ran out of time. He was 84.

Helen Hooven Santmyer
Santmyer wrote her well-known novel, …AND LADIES OF THE CLUB, when she was 88. The 1400-page novel sold only a few copies before becoming a Book-of-the Month selection and taking off with readers. It was on the New York Times Best Seller List.

Elizabeth Jane Howard
Howard still plies her writing wares at 85. She lives and works in Suffolk, England. http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/an-85-year-old-novelists-writing-room/ She works on a MAC computer and sits in an old chair that she says is comfortable. Her first novel was THE BEAUTIFUL VISIT.

Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe is 77 and shows no signs of stopping. His fourth novel, BACK TO BLOOD is set to be published in 2009. He sent shock waves through the publishing industry when he recently ditched Farrar, Strauss and Giroux for Little Brown.

Joan Didion
At 74, Joan Didion is still producing work. In 2005, she wrote the heart-wrenching book THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, a catharsis about the death of her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne. She is working on an HBO special about Washington Post’s grand dame, Katharine Graham.

Mary Oliver
Oliver, a Pulitzer-Prize winning poet, is 71. Her remarkable poetry gets deeper and richer. Her most recent book, RED BIRD, came out in 2008.

What birthdays do is make you think about what is important to you as you become aware that you have less time ahead of you. The worst thing you can do is to get into the thought pattern that you are too old to do anything. The wheels will come off the wagon in due time. Meanwhile, keep driving HARD toward that finish line. Make the trip interesting.

LINKS

EXPLORING THE PAST: CREATIVITY IN OLD AGE
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9505EFDA1439F931A35750C0A967948260

HOW CREATIVITY KEEPS US AGELESS
http://www.beliefnet.com/Health/2007/05/How-Creativity-Keeps-Us-Ageless.aspx

'IT'S NEVER TOO LATE' FOR CREATIVITY, SAYS GERONTOLOGIST
http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/17605/edition_id/349/format/html/displaystory.html

CREATIVITY MAY PLAY KEY ROLE IN HEALTHY AGINGhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4893420/

Para el amor de palabras (For the Love of Words)

2009-03-25T03:00:00.005-05:00

RESEARCH AND WRITING

2009-03-25T03:00:00.003-05:00

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"An Itty Bitty Column on Writing" by Mindy Phillips Lawrence
From Sharing with Writers (Carolyn Howard-Johnson)
March 25, 2009
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Many of us work on articles, novels and other forms of writing for which we much do research. Thanks to the Internet, the job is much simpler than it used to be. However, sometimes it is still daunting.

Recently, my goal was to make a connection between Ireland and Germany in the years leading up to World War II, particularly in 1938. I didn’t know if there was an association but, thanks to Google, I found what I wanted.

If you do non-fiction writing or have a business helping others do research, you know how indispensible it is to know how to do good literary detective work. Google is not the only source.

Libraries
I am fortunate to have a large public library system where I live and very good personnel there who will help me find what I need. They also allow me to interlibrary loan resources that they don’t have in house. Because of this, I have books from several far-flung college libraries in my stack at home.

Also, if there are colleges and universities in your city, or nearby, you can usually join them for a small amount annually and have access to their works. I am a member of the Missouri State Library System, Mineral Area College Library in Park Hills, MO and the Magale Library at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Arkansas where I graduated. I will soon add the Missouri State University Library System here in Springfield.

University Faculty
Your local college or university often has faculty personnel willing to help you with research questions. Even if you are trying to figure out a computer problem, you can often call a community college or university and get someone to help you. If you are doing research in a particular field, you might call that department and find a faculty member who will answer your questions.

Experienced Individuals
By use of the Internet and through referrals, you can often find those who have direct experience in the topic you are researching. For instance, if you need to figure out a police procedure, you could call the non-emergency number of your local police department, or make a trip there in person, and find someone willing to speak with you about what you want to know.
The Internet has many lists of those who are professionals who are willing to answer your questions so get out there and find your answers.

LINKS

University of Wisconsin Expert Database
http://experts.news.wisc.edu/

California State University Expert Database
http://www.csuchico.edu/pa/fdb/

Monmouth University Expert Database
http://www.monmouth.edu/about_monmouth/public_affairs/experts/default.asp

Washington University (St. Louis) Expert Database
http://news-info.wustl.edu/experts/

University of Virginia Expert Database
http://www.virginia.edu/facultyexperts/expert.php?id=289

University of Arkansas Expert Database
http://experts.uark.edu/

Louisiana Tech University Expert Database
http://www.latech.edu/technews/tech-sources-home.cgi

Penn State Expert Database – Criminal Justice and Race
http://experts.psu.edu/topics.php?topic=12

Character Development

2009-03-13T03:00:00.002-05:00

Writing Hot

2009-03-11T03:00:00.001-05:00

ESSAYS ANYONE?

2009-03-08T15:31:00.001-05:00

Presenting with the Best

2009-03-08T15:20:00.001-05:00

Novels as Classrooms

2009-03-07T18:28:00.006-06:00

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"An Itty Bitty Column on Writing" by Mindy Phillips Lawrence
From Sharing with Writers (Carolyn Howard-Johnson)
March 7, 2009
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It’s Saturday morning and you’re staring at a blank page on your computer wishing it would miraculously turn into the Great American Novel. Unfortunately, it stays blank. You idea bin is dry and you aren’t sure how to express the one thought circulating through your head. Here’s an idea for you. READ.

In my home office, I have a pile of books that I’ve decided to study. They include Dan Brown’s THE DAVINCI CODE, V.I. Naipaul’s A BEND IN THE RIVER, Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s THIS IS THE PLACE, Dan Skelton’s OUT OF INNOCENCE and Laila Lalami’s ARC of SECRET SON. Lalami’s book weaves together the threads of a young man searching for his identity, the definition of “family” and the factions seeking to take over the heart of Morocco. I began to think how the writer structured her novel, developed the characters and set them on the road to either catastrophe or freedom. It was a perfect vehicle to study.

Here are some ways to turn the novels you read into classrooms for your writing:

* Pick one or two books that you think are exceptionally well written and in the genre in which you want to write.

Read these books once or twice, paying attention to how they are structured.

Choose one of these books and dissect it in these ways:

* Define the setting of the novel.

* Write a paragraph synopsis of the novel chapter by chapter.

* Make a character sketch of each main character.

* Outline how these characters develop throughout the story and how they interrelate.

* Is the setting a character in and of itself? Think the Mississippi River in Tom Sawyer. If so, list its characteristics as if it were a person.

* Look at the literary conventions used in the book: Metaphor, allegory, etc.

* Does the novel make a political, religious or social statement? If so, make some notes about where and how it achieves this goal.

* If the novel is a fantasy, in what way does it relate to the World we live in? What does it say about that World?

* What do you think you could have done better if you had written the book? Even Nobel Prize winners aren’t perfect.

Yes, this will take time. Yes, you will not be actually writing your Great American Novel when you are doing this. The important part is that you are training yourself to write it.

If you want to cut to the chase, look at the links below for sites that have already dissected classic novels. Not only do Sparks, Cliff Notes and Pink Monkey tell you about a book, they also show its structure. However, DO NOT use these tools in place of reading each book that you choose. You might differ with what an academic has said about the piece. In fact, please put your own thoughts down about the book and use the professional notes as a guide only.

Copying the plot of any of the novels you read is not the intention of this lesson. The goal is for you to learn character development, plot structure and insight in order to write your unique work. Whether you realize it or not, you have the same potential that published writers have. The only difference is they lucked out and found a publisher. You may have to write several novels until this happens to you--and it might not--but the process is paramount. There is CreateSpace.Com and other places to publish if you are not willing to wait for a big break (or if you have waited and get too discouraged). REMEMBER to edit your work to a fine polish whether you publish traditionally or otherwise.
Study, write and bloom!

LINKS

The Best Notes – Online Sparks and Cliffs Notes
http://www.thebestnotes.com/

Pink Monkey – A Web site that breaks down the plot, characters and meaning in famous novels. Use as a beginning, NOT a crutch.
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/

Writing a synopsis
http://www.ehow.com/how_4449207_write-synopsis-book.html

CreateSpace – Amazon’s arms for publishing on demand
http://www.createspace.com/

Pulitzer Prize Winning Authors
http://www.powells.com/prizes/pulitzer_fiction.html

Nobel Prize Winning Authors
http://almaz.com/nobel/literature/

New York Times Best Sellers
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/

Literary Terms
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/lit_term.html

Plot Development
http://www.learner.org/interactives/literature/read/plot1.html

Reviews for Riters © on the HowToDoItFrugally site
http://www.carolynhowardjohnson.redenginepress.com/free_content.htm

Kids’ Stuff

2009-03-04T03:00:00.002-06:00

Thinking Stone Press and MPL Creative Resources

2009-02-14T19:34:00.003-06:00

Let Thinking Stone Press guide you through the process of publishing your OWN commemorative book for a loved one. We provide the book cover, the editing, formatting and coach you through placing your book on Amazon through CreateSpace – all for $250. It’s a great bargain!

E-mail thinkingstonepress@yahoo.com for details.

P.S. We do poetry chapbooks, too.

Rejection: A Positive Step Toward Publication

2009-02-03T21:51:00.008-06:00

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"An Itty Bitty Column on Writing" by Mindy Phillips Lawrence
From Sharing with Writers (Carolyn Howard-Johnson)
February 3, 2009
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You send off a query and wait for an answer. And wait and wait and wait. One day, a thin envelope comes in the mail or an e-mail comes from the publisher. The contents says, “Thanks, but no thanks.” For the next day or so, you are in a blue funk. How could the editor not see how excellent your topic was? How skillfully you wrote about it? You begin to believe that all editors are born to reject.

Are you SURE about that? If that is true, how do all those OTHER articles, stories and books get published? Someone gets accepted. Why not you? Rejection exposes all our insecurities, dragging them to the surface. Even seasoned authors tend to question their abilities and rejection fuels thatfire.

But, here’s the thing. Rejection is a powerful teacher. Here are some ofits lessons:

~Rejection lets you know how deeply you want to fight for publication
~Rejection makes you tweak your writing and make it better
~Rejection makes you read the markets you query more closely
~Rejection makes you study the market’s cycle to see what’s hot and what’s not and try to produce a hot bit of writing
~Rejection teaches you not to take rejection letters personally
~Rejection makes you decide whether to choose to think positively ornegatively about your work

I read somewhere that when you receive a rejection you should allowyourself FIVE MINUTES to throw a temper tantrum in a room by yourself. After you have done this a time or two, you will realize that five minutes is an awfully long time to rant all alone.

So, get back to writing!

LINKS

“How to Deal with Rejection,” Shruti Chandra Gupta
http://literaryzone.com/?p=340

“How NOT to let Rejection Ruin Your Writing Career,” Melanie Marten
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/76897/fiction_writers_guide_to_getting_over.html?cat=24

“Relishing Writing Rejection,” Janet Grace Riehl
http://ezinearticles.com/?Relishing-Writing-Rejection

“Coping With Rejection,” Moira Allen
http://www.writing-world.com/basics/rejection.shtml

“Rejection: A Normal Part of a Writer’s Life,” Jason Lusk
http://writinghood.com/writing/rejection-a-normal-part-of-a-writers-life

INTO WORDS: An Itty Bitty Column on Writing

2008-08-24T18:46:00.007-05:00

A Cultured Breakfast

2008-08-24T18:37:00.002-05:00

When I used to live less than a mile from a Steak and Shake, I’d often go there for breakfast on Saturday mornings. The waitresses knew me and exactly where I’d want to sit – near the two tables scooted together where all the retired men had their conversations. I’d sit there with my cup of coffee, a notebook and a pen trying to catch snippets of their conversation. It made good background for dialogue.

As I sat there one Saturday, a dark-haired man took the small booth in front of me. I noticed that he contemplated the menu more than usual and then called a waitress over. As I listened in, he asked her what might be on the menu that contained no pork and that wasn’t cooked in a container where pork had been prepared. The waitress shook her head, confused, and tried to help him work it out. I didn’t hear what he ordered, but it made me curious.

As I was leaving I said, “Hello. Are you a vegetarian? I overheard you ordering.”

“No, I am Muslim,” he said. “Would you like to sit with me and talk?”

“Yes,” I said and took the seat across from him at the small booth. In a post-9-11 world, this might have been considered strange but I didn’t consider it anything but solving my curiosity. We talked about many things. He had a lovely smile. Eventually, he asked, “Do you feel uncomfortable sitting with me.”

“No,” I said--and I didn’t. But I remembered it.

As the conversation closed, he scooted my bill to his side of the table and bought my breakfast. I thanked him for his kindness and never saw him again. Later I learned he owned a motel in a nearby town.

The entire experience came about because I eavesdropped. I learned a bit about his culture, had a very interesting conversation and a good breakfast thanks to a very kind man.

INTO WORDS: An Itty Bitty Column on Writing - Time, Oh Time

2008-07-15T18:55:00.003-05:00

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"An Itty Bitty Column on Writing" by Mindy Phillips Lawrence
From Sharing with Writers (Carolyn Howard-Johnson)
July 15, 2008
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TIME, OH TIME, WHERE DO YOU GO?

Forgive me, for I have sinned against time!

My client, Dan Skelton, started writing his novel RENASCENCE in October 2007. The completed manuscript is around 100,000 words. While he was writing it, he taught classes at two different universities, commuting to one of them several times a week. He and I bounced sections of his book back and forth almost daily over e-mail during this period, which took a great deal of his time. He finished the manuscript on June 21st, just before midnight on Summer Solstice. Aside from teaching and writing, he also took time to be a grandfather to his two grandchildren (including going to soccer games) and help around the house. He read deeply.

What is truly amazing is that this busy man who still essentially teaches full time and continues commitments to his family, can, and did, produce a rich and wonderful novel while living his regular life. He wrote mostly on weekends and completed the book over summer break – although he taught a summer class.

I have whined for years about not having the “time” to write. Now, through the example of this former professor of mine, I see the error of my ways. It’s not that I don’t have the time, it’s that I don’t make an appointment with myself to do it. There’s always something else to do, as there always will be. It’s the time commitment that Dan Skelton made to RENASCENCE that produced a completed manuscript and put it in my hands to sell.

Writers, artists and other creative people have to make appointments with their work. Nothing creative goes on if you are not consistently in the chair writing. I’ve known Skelton on and off for forty years. He was serious about his work when he was 30 and is still serious about it at 69. He’s a great example of what it takes to be committed to the craft.

What I want to get through in my Itty Bitty column this week is – STICK WITH IT! Have a time that you write, even for thirty minutes a day. Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet, Mary Oliver said in her little volume, A Poetry Handbook, that if the creative heart and the skills of the conscious mind fail to keep their appointment with one another, nothing creative happens. But, if you DO keep your appointment with your creative ability, your Muse begins to know when you will be there and starts arriving at the same time.

Below are some good links to help you make and keep your appointment with writing. Will YOUR manuscript be ready in nine months? I hope so.

A Poetry Handbook, Mary Oliver, 1994
http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Handbook-Mary-Oliver/dp/0156724006/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216571164&sr=8-1
Five Tips for Finding Writing Time – Michael Stelzner
http://www.copyblogger.com/find-time-to-write/

Finding Time to Write – PoeWar
http://www.poewar.com/finding-time-to-write/

“Time and the Writer” – Moira Allen
http://www.writing-world.com/basics/time.shtml

Brainy Quotes – Mary Oliver
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mary_oliver.html

INTO WORDS - An Itty Bitty Column on Writing - Media, Writing and Promotion

2008-05-24T17:28:00.007-05:00

INTO WORD - An Itty Bitty Column on Writing!

2008-05-19T18:58:00.006-05:00

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"An Itty Bitty Column on Writing" by Mindy Phillips Lawrence
From Sharing with Writers (Carolyn Howard-Johnson)
May 18, 2008
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Lit Pimp

I shared an article I saw on the Internet with one of my clients, the most sophisticated, intelligent person I can think of. The article talked about literary agency being a lot like acting as a pimp for someone’s books. Did my client get upset when I sent that article to him? Not at all. He told me to “pimp away.” And what did I do? I reached back in the depths of my closet and pulled out my stiletto heels and red dress. In other words, I got busy.

Pimping may be a strong term with a bad connotation, but writing is hard work. Finding someone to encourage you through that process is heavenly. That’s where a really good agent comes in. If you plan to act as your own agent, there are several books on the market that will tell you the process. One is HOW TO BE YOUR OWN LITERARY AGENT by Richard Curtis. However, only a good agent knows how to go to bat for you when contract time rolls around. Better set aside time to learn the rudiments of law associated with publication if you plan on representing yourself.

A good blog to read on the subject belongs to literary agent, Kristin Nelson. PubRant.Blogspot.Com covers a great deal of information on contracts –enough that you see that you’ll need professional help. Another is a blog by agent Terry Whalin called The Writing Life.

Or – if you’re brave – find a former student to help you like my client did. I’m finally learning how to balance in my 6-inch heels.

Hey You! That’s MY streetlamp!

~*~

RESOURCES FOR WRITERS - Agents and Such

Books

How To Be Your Own Literary Agent: An Insider's Guide To Getting Your Book Published, Richard Curtis
ISBN-10: 0618380418
ISBN-13: 978-0618380411
http://www.amazon.com/How-Your-Own-Literary-Agent/dp/0618380418/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211242096&sr=8-1

Be Your Own Literary Agent: The Ultimate Insider's Guide to Getting Published, Martin Levin
ISBN-10: 1580083382
ISBN-13: 978-1580083386
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Own-Literary-Agent-Published/dp/1580083382/ref=pd_sim_b_title_3

The Writer's Legal Guide: An Authors Guild Desk Reference, Tad Crawford and Kay Murray
ISBN-10: 1581152302
ISBN-13: 978-1581152302
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1581152302/ref=s9sims_c6_at1-2871_p?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1QHX4TT9JCQNS38S9DDK&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=320448801&pf_rd_i=507846

BLOGS

PubRants.Blogspot.Com
Blog of Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Agency
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/

The Writing Life
Blogspot of Literary Agent, Terry Whalin
http://terrywhalin.blogspot.com/

- - - - -
Mindy Phillips Lawrence www.freewebs.com/mplcreative is publicist and literary agent for Dr. Dan Skelton and representative for the fiction work of Bev Walton - Porter. She is in the process of researching a novel titled ALONE IS WHERE WE BEGIN.

Writing, editing, and promoting equals SUCCESS!

2007-12-05T21:20:00.001-06:00

So many people dream of writing. They think about the big names they know, the books they read, and think they have a book in them as well. Maybe. Writing is one of the most difficult professions anyone could pursue. Hours and hours of your time are spent on a computer trying to turn a blank screen into something creative, a story or article that conveys a message or tale that will be favorably received by the reader.

This site is dedicated to passing on what I know and what I learn about the craft of writing and promotion to others. It is my gift to the writing community.