What If?

Writing Tip #5:  One of the best tools a writer has is the question “What if?”

Sometimes characters in a story fight you as you try to form them, as you try to manipulate their world. When that happens, play What If?  What if she liked him? What if she wasn’t allowed to like him? Or…What if she didn’t like him, but he liked her? What if she liked him but he was in trouble with the law? What if they were fated to meet, fell in loved and were sucked up into a UFO for alien experimentation?

Go crazy! Consider any scenario. What If allows me to break down walls that might be inhibiting my imagination. Somewhere along the way, I’ll often find the situation that will work, and my characters and I will be on our way again.

I am Pleased to Announce...

The publication of Relic, a middle grade supernatural mystery!

It is available on Amazon as a paperback for $8.99.

   For 12-year-old Samantha Whitaker, her parents’ dream of running a country
inn – which she calls “The Ick,” is pure torture.

  After purchasing a strange item in an antique shop just to annoy her mother, Samantha makes a desperate attempt to flee the small village by stealing her parents’ car – only to crash it when an odd village girl darts in front of her…then disappears.

  Despite Samantha’s resistance, a local girl named Twyla befriends her and aids her in looking for the missing girl. Her search leads Samantha to learn about a famous former
occupant – village benefactor, patron of the arts, and suffragette Olivia Ainsley Wagner Roth – who, according to the previous owner, still haunts the inn.

   An unusual relic, a hidden diary, an unfinished letter. Will Samantha’s supernatural sleuthing bring answers to a village mystery that has strange parallels to her own life?

Enjoy!

Vita Sudatio Interrumpitur

Life gets interrupted. Or should I say writing does. At least mine does at this time of year.

The start of the school year is always a hectic time. As a teacher, there are always high expectations, learning 120+ new names and faces, new demands of the profession, plus the stress of transition wear – but that’s an entirely different topic. Then there’s my family. In my house, we balance three different school districts and four different schools, dance, piano and family time.

So where does writing fit in? Fortunately, the start of the school year also means the monthly meetings of my writing group, so I have the welcomed pressure of writing for them.

Relic is also in its final stages, although I am surprised at how long those last few teeny tweaks take. My students are excited for me, and that warms my heart. While I wait for the (hopefully) final proof, I’m scoping out locations for book signings and possibly a book launch party! Stay tuned!