Tidbits for writers and readers

 cj Sez:  Here’s a tip for authors from my fellow Mobile Writers Guild member Joyce Sterling Scarbrough:  “Chicken Soup for the Soul has a number of submission calls out right now, including one for kids and teens dealing with the challenges of this pandemic.”

Changing Your World One Story at a Time®

   “If you or a young writer you know has a story or poem you'd like published, please submit!”  

Submission guidelines here:   https://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics?fbclid=IwAR3r5WuvM54nyWcBXYQYdT2QeEOrwAF4dRUQHulwUCgSY_OuxBQ3VTE7mVE

And cj's tip for readers…these are great books for your to-be-read stack.

////

Rooting for you… 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

////

   Nearing the home stretch and worried you aren’t going to succeed? Here are some words from Kurt Vonnegut:

   “When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of “getting to know you” questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.

  And he went WOW. That’s amazing! And I said, “Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.”

   And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”

   And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them. I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could “Win” at them.”

//// 

   John Floyd is a prolific author (he’s written 32 stories in 2020), and his short mysteries are favorites of mine. In a recent Sleuth Sayers column, he recounts how he reworks old, unsubmitted stories he’s had stashed away for years and then submits them…some moved on to become award winners. Maybe there are points you would find worthwhile…I sure did: https://www.sleuthsayers.org/2020/11/the-same-old-story.html?fbclid=IwAR05pLxJJr9NcZGJ1E4LtmsAc7WUbYRHLjUfSrMxkikY1mBmwGyGoTSFP_0

////

   HOMETOWN HEROES eBook is on sale now. This anthology brings you five Christmas romances that celebrate everyday heroes.

   From paranormal to contemporary to historical, there's something in this anthology to fill everyone with the spirit of the season.  

   On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ncvCS5

////

   99 CENTS !! PREORDER PRICE for Bienvenue Press’s upcoming charity anthology HOMEROOM HEROES. Look for it on Amazon Saturday, December 5. The final cover reveal coming soon.

   In “The Substitute,” my short story in the anthology, an FBI agent’s undercover assignment as a substitute teacher gets complicated when he falls in love with a first-grade grade teacher. Here are the opening lines:

     “Will Miss Melanie Andrews please report to the office,” the voice blared over the school’s intercom system.              

    Mel stopped setting out the materials she was readying for her first-grade students and stared at the speaker mounted in the corner of her classroom. She frowned, hurriedly dropped the last few crayons on the work tables lining the walls, and sealed the hazmat bag where she’d put the paper towels she used to sanitize the desks.

    “What now? I haven't had time to do anything wrong yet.”

    Being called to the principal’s office wasn’t how Mel wanted to begin her first day back in the classroom after summer break.

    How embarrassing, she thought. Everyone in the school heard that and will be wondering what I’ve done this time.

////

 

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

cj

P.S.  TO ORDER my autographed books or any book of your choice on-line from a favorite, indie bookstore, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us

➜ Follow me . . .       

➜ on Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page 

➜ on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

➜ on BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson

➜ on Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6

Did you remember?

cj Sez: Did you remember to turn your clock back an hour?  I did, and when the alarm went off this morning at 6:30 a.m. but my internal clock kept saying it was really 5:30 a.m., I was a bit … annoyed.  

   By the by, I think I found the answer to why there is a time change twice a year. According to a USAtoday dot com article:

“The U.S. first implemented daylight saving during World War I as a way to conserve fuel with the Standard Time Act of 1918, also known as the Calder Act.”

   If you’re an author, there a correct way to write it in your stories (which I learned this week). The correct term is daylight “saving” (not savings) time, and the AP Style Guide says it’s properly all lower case.

  Okay, that finishes that topic until next March.

/// 

Passing along info:

Chicken Soup for the Soul is looking for stories for these upcoming books:

Life Lessons from My Cat - deadline Nov 30
Running for Good - deadline Dec 15
Stories About Angels - deadline Dec 31
Stories About Miracles - deadline Dec 31
The Golden Years or Your Second Wind deadline - Dec 30

https://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics

///

   Books are always great suggestions for Christmas gifts. BSP: I have stories in several anthologies with Christmas as the theme. Here are two:

Christmas Through a Child’s Eyes

Back cover blurb:

“The joy of Christmas often gets lost in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. For many people, fond memories of a childhood Christmas can bring back that special feeling. This book collects tales written by adults remembering their favorite Christmases of the past.”

Paul Harvey blurbed the front cover this way: “In a child’s eyes, Christmas is defined as never before.”

My story, written under my maiden name of Marilyn Olsein, is titled “Dancing with Daddy,” and relates how, as a six-year old, I reconnected with my Swedish father after a major upheaval in our lives.

The anthology is still available on Kindle.

Hometown Heroes, a Christmas Anthology will be available in time for the holiday. The publisher predicts it may even beat the projected Dec 4 launch date. Be sure to watch for it on Amazon. It’s a dual purpose book: Entertaining contemporary romance stories for you and/or gifts and proceeds to benefit the Cajun Navy. My story is titled “Hobbes House Noel.”

///

That’s it for this post. Please join me next week when I’ll write a bit about the significance of Poppy Day. You all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

A few more Christmas gift ideas:

Choosing Carter    https://amzn.to/2CJxs8Z

Deadly Star   https://amzn.to/2O8NFGZ

The Posse, a Western anthology   https://amzn.to/2EKUA9B

Pieces, a Mobile Writers Guild Anthology  https://amzn.to/2Dk84Yr

GIVEAWAY CHALLENGE . . .

If you’ve read any of my works, let me know you left a review at Goodreads, Amazon, wherever—good, bad, or simply “I read it.”—and I’ll put your name in the raffle hat. It doesn’t have to be a new review. The random name I draw on December 6 will receive a nice gift bag of goodies. I’ll post the winner’s name on my Facebook page, so be sure to stop by.

Qrtly newsletter sign-up:  cjpetterson@gmail.com

cjpetterson/author on Facebook   

Amazon Central Author Page =  https://amzn.to/2v6SrAj

Simon&Schuster Author Page = https://bit.ly/2uo1M0Z

Footnote: USAToday reference:   https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/11/01/daylight-saving-time-ends-sunday-get-ready-fall-back/1846836002/

So, how important are opening lines?

cj Sez: I want to stress again the importance of a good, inviting opening line, opening paragraph, or opening chapter.

There’s a lot of advice that says start a story in the middle of a drama, some captivating situation. This is the hook with which a writer can snag the reader’s, or agent’s, interest.

Ken Follet, in The Pillars of the Earth, starts off with “The small boys came early to the hanging.” Wouldn’t you want to find out more?

This one from Toni Morrison’s Paradise doesn't just pull the reader in, it yanks them in:  “They shoot the white girl first.”

One of my personal favorites is from Prison Letters, Corrie ten Boom’s memoir of her time in a WWII concentration camp: “From time to time, I wrote short sketches on scraps of paper.”

In a 2013 interview with Joe Fassler, Stephen King said: “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story.” He goes on to say, “For me a good opening sentence really begins with voice.” He thinks readers are drawn to the story because of the voice of the writer.

In each of the opening-line examples above, you get a good sense of the author’s voice and how the rest of the story is going to be told.

Authors know (for sure) that introductory lines are hard to write. They are also generally fluid; that is, they change as the writer gets further into the story. King, himself, said it used to take him months or even years to settle on an opening line. (I doubt it takes him years now, considering how prolific and masterful a writer he is.) He also said, “A really bad first line can convince me not to buy a book—because, god, I’ve got plenty of books already—and an unappealing style in the first moments is reason enough to scurry off.”

Wow, would I hate that. All those hours and months that turned into years wasted because I blew the first line. I try to develop first lines that fit both the story and the genre.

Here’s my first line for my romantic suspense (ala Jane Bond-style) Deadly Star:  

“I am not going to die; I am not going to die.”

And for Choosing Carter:  

Bryn McKay’s body ricocheted off the passenger door as the pickup, engine roaring, veered from one side of the Colorado mountain road to the other.

For the untitled detective mystery I’ve just finished:

            “We bury our dead alive, don’t we?”

Do you start your stories in an active scene? Or are you in narrative voice? Please make sure it’s not in backstory.

People Magazine had the Chicken Soup for the Soul anthology Best Mom Ever! 101 Stories of Gratitude, Love and Wisdom on their Mother’s Day Must haves . . . and my friend and fellow Mobile Writers’ Guild author, Candice Marley Conner, has a story, “Cracks in the Clay,” in the anthology. Yay.  This anthology is not just for Mothers’ Day…a special gift for a special woman in your life for any occasion. Buy it now here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1611599547/

Got a story that would work for Chicken Soup for the Soul?  The following anthologies have approaching deadlines:

Positively Happy / May 31, 2017

My Crazy Family / June 30, 2017

Miracles and More / August 31 2017

Stories of Redemption / August 31, 2017

Christmas and Holiday Collection – 2018 / October 31 2017

For more info:

http://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics

http://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/submit-your-story

Ten Rules for Happier Living

1.) Give something away – no strings attached.
2.) Do a kindness – and forget it.
3.) Spend a few minutes with the aged – their experience is priceless guidance.
4.) Look intently into the face of a baby – and marvel.
5.) Laugh often – it is life’s lubricant.
6.) Give thanks – a thousand times a day is not enough.
7.) Pray – or you will lose your way.
8.) Work – with vim and vigor.
9.) Plan as though you will live forever – because you will.
10.) Live as though you will die tomorrow – because you will, on some tomorrow.

COMING ATTRACTIONS . . . Arriving July 10:  A new Crimson Romance bundle about athletes and the sports they love, Bodies in Motion, includes Choosing Carter (rafting and off-roading). Watch for it on Amazon.

Okay, all you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same

cj

PS:  Re the opening toon: It really is a dark and stormy night here in Mobile as I try to get this post online before the lightning storm forces me to disconnect the computer. 

Facebook

Simon&Schuster Author Page

Amazon Central Author Page 

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

California Kisses 10-book publishers bundle on Amazon 99 cents

“Bad Day at Round Rock” a historical fiction short story in  The Posse, a Western anthology.  

Newsletter sign-up:   cjpetterson@gmail.com