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Melissa Iwai is participating in an AdventChallenge2014 this month and she sent me this fun illustration from December 3rd. Thought it might give you ideas for decorating your best friend. Melissa was featured on Illustrator Saturday. Now her husband has something to tout about below.

After being read and
reviewed by Karen Haas in New Jersey, Cherry Money Baby by John Cusick took at trip to Pennsylvania and visited Gail Krause.

Gail is  pictured on the left holding Cherry Money Baby taken on Thanksgiving day in the Poconos.

Isn’t it a great holiday picture?

After Gail read it she wrote a review on Amazon and Goodreads, then set Cherry off on a trip to visit someone in Louisville, Kentucky.

We’ll have to wait and see where Cherry ends up traveling after that.

Kate Sullivan at Delacorte Press has won two middle-grade novels by Denis Markell (Melissa Iwai’s husband) at auction. The first book, Click Here to Start (a Novel) , is pitched as The Westing Game for fans of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. In it, young Ted Gerson inherits “all the treasure” to be found in his great-uncle’s old apartment – only to realize the flat is actually an in-person “escape the room” game and the reward for completing it could be extraordinary. Publication for Click Here to Start is set for summer 2016; the second book is untitled. Holly Root of Waxman Leavell Literary Agency sold world English right to both books.

Chris Behrens’ had good news. He received a letter from Barnes and Nobel’s Small Press Department in NYC saying they wanted to include his book, Savanna’s Treasure on their stores book shelves. I asked how this came about and he told me he had written a letter to B&N’s Small Press Department and sent them a book to review. I am sure this will help increase his sales.

Congratulations, Everyone!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

The Writing Whisperer

Who pushes you to keep writing when you want take some time off?  Who prompts you when your struggling for an idea?  Who sharpens you when you thought your writing was as good as it could get?  

For my final semester at Dominican College in Blauvelt, NY, I had the wonderful opportunity to be pushed and sharpened.  I had been pushed and sharpened in all my classes at DC, but I hadn’t taken any creative writing classes yet.  The schedule just never worked out.  Since I was on target to graduate this spring, this was a now or never moment for me.  I had been struggling with my personal writing projects, and I needed to know if I should keep going.  So I used some vacation days and Dr. Stiles, the writing instructor, was kind enough to let me audit the class. 

“This is a high intensity writing class.  You will be writing a lot!  Your 1st prompt is to describe someone’s hands, and I want details.  You can write a poem or a short story or anything, just write,” Dr. Stiles said.

I struggled with that prompt, because I tried to write a poem in a style I was very unfamiliar with.  My classmates did well.  It seemed easy for most of them, and I was beginning to wonder if I belonged there at all.  Strike 1, I thought.

2nd prompt: To describe someone’s room, so we can figure out whose room it is.

I knew this wouldn’t be easy for me because I usually lack the patience to set things up.  I always want to jump right into the story.  Just last fall, an editor, who I met via an SCBWI dinner in NYC, noted the lack of a setting in one of my manuscripts.  That critique from the editor was invaluable because it showed me what one of my weaknesses was.  Now, I could use this prompt to work on it and get some quick feedback from a group of writers and the professor!  Although I found myself struggling to set the scene, I was determined to show a setting with lots of details. 

Dr. Stiles pointed out that, despite the okay details, it was difficult to know whose room it was.  Strike two, I thought.  And just when I thought I was headed for the showers, which is what they say in sports when your finished, she gave a prompt that changed everything.

3rd Prompt: You run into an old friend!

I smiled!  To be continued…   

If you subscribe to Sprouts, you should have just received your 2nd issue; Chris has an illustration in the Illustrators Showcase.  To see Chris’s artwork you can go to: http://www.chrisjbehrens.com

I thought it might be fun to try your hand at one of the writing prompts Chris had in class.  If you write something send it along to me and I will post some that I receive.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

5 Comments on Guest Blogger Chris Behrens – The Writing Whisper, last added: 6/3/2010