cj Sez: Celebrating fall with one of my son’s photos and a Robert Frost poem: 

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood..... and I -

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

- Robert Frost

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How would you answer these questions?

  Do you have a tall, to-be-read pile of books residing somewhere in your home? 

  Is there one particular book you can point to as THE BOOK that captured your imagination and started you down a path that made a difference in your life. 

  Did you start reading more and more and maybe thinking about being a writer? 

  As a child, did you have a parent read to you? 

  Did you have a home library of books?

I’ll answer first:

  I have a small TBR pile and another small list of TBR Kindle books. I blame that on my eyes, and the fact that most books put me to sleep after about four chapters. Obviously, I’m a slow reader…unless I get captured by an amazing story and “in the zone.”

  THE BOOK for me is The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fennimore Cooper. Based on the French and Indian war and touching on interracial love, the story whetted my appetite for exciting adventure.

  I can’t remember that either of my parents ever read to me. My Sweden-born father didn’t read English all that well, and my mother wasn’t a reader by nature.  

  Companion to the above answer: We didn’t have a home library, although I do remember reading lots of comic books and some Golden Books. The Golden Books weren't mine, though

  All of that is to say, don’t compare your writing or reading life to anyone else’s. Sometimes, all it takes is a single story to bring about a love of books and spark one’s imagination.

  Despite not being introduced to reading books as a child, I grew to love the lyrical syncopation of words and syntax, and I am a published author, both traditional and self.

  How about you? What sparked your love of reading and/or writing? Can you pinpoint a single story? Or do you think it was the cumulative effect of childhood experiences?

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  The following Jane Friedman Blog post is by editor Tiffany Yates Martin, who writes . . .

“The Truth About First Lines.

  First lines are greatly overrated. Yes, there have been some classics that have been immortalized in the canon, but too many authors get bogged down trying to create that perfect opening sentence and prevent themselves from creating an effective story.”

  Click on the following link to read the rest of the post. 

Forget the First Line. Focus on First Pages. | Jane Friedman

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 Are you planning/plotting/thinking about doing NaNoWriMo? Author Neil Gaiman says: This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard. — Neil Gaiman

  I’m rooting for you!

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  That’s all for today’s post. You-all keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. Thanks for stopping by.

cj

  My short story, “Once in a Blue Moon,” is one of 18 short stories and poems in the anthology HALLOWEEN PIECES. 

  As of the time of this post, the Kindle edition is sale priced at $1.99 and available instantly.

Halloween Pieces: A Mobile Writers Guild Anthology - @ Amazon.com.

  THE DAWGSTAR is a suspense/thriller filled with international political gangsterism, nanosatellites (real things), assassins, fears of frankenfood, and more! A fast-paced Jane Bond-ish read with a touch of romance.

  DEATH ON THE YAMPA is a contemporary suspense/thriller tale with a touch of romance. A woman and the man she loves are rafting the Yampa River through the delicious scenery of Dinosaur National Monument when they encounter her fugitive brother who's joined a domestic terrorist group.

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