Richard Peck, born April 10, 1934 (age 81)is an American novelist, particularly for young adults. He taught junior high and high school English. He left teaching in 1971 to write his first novel, Don’t Look and It Won’t Hurt, in 1972, in which “A teenage girl struggles to understand her place within her family and […]
A Little Italian and Greek
Elaine Schmitz, author of Recipes & Recollections of My Greek-American Family, put greetings in her email to me which I asked what they meant. They are below and might be useful if you want to put in a little Italian or Greek into your story’s dialogue. In Italian: Buon giorno is Good morning, Buon pomariggio […]
David Congalton at CWC Tri-Valley Branch on June 20, 2015
California Writers Club, Tri-Valley branch meets once a month. In June the speaker will be: David Congalton is a radio talk show host and writer who spent 25 years chasing his dream of selling a script to Hollywood. The result was a 2014 feature film comedy Authors Anonymous, starring Kaley Cuoco, Chris Klein, Teri Polo, […]
Yard Sales Offer Prompts for Stories
After days of preparing for our community yard sale, the big day begins at 7 a.m. and lasts until 3 p.m. with several story prompts along the way. For instance, the boy, about 9 or 10 years old, who holds his sister’s hand to come to our tables while his parents talk to our neighbors. […]
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe, besides being a poet and spy, was considered the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day (baptized in February 1564). “He influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlowe…” When Marlowe was at Cambridge college, he was a spy for Queen Elizabeth. “Marlowe’s plays are known for the use of […]
Novel Revisions
I’m preparing for a garage sale scheduled in two days and I’m revising 10,000 words of my novel due for a contest on the same day. Actually, taking breaks from boxes of stuff to files on the computer made multitasking a good thing. One more day to get it all done.
Writers' Prompt from Jack Heffron
The Writer’s Idea Book by Jack Heffron includes more than 800 prompts. I randomly opened the book to “Chapter Fourteen: Your Fifteen Minutes.” Each chapter begins with a famous writer’s quote. Chateaubriand was assigned this chapter with: “Let us not be too scornful of fame: nothing is lovelier, unless it be virtue.” Heffron was a […]