Honeysuckle, Fireflies, and Time Travel: It's the Little Things that Count

Great fiction can transport us, not always through its clever plotting or dynamic characters, but often through the perfect, well-placed sensory detail--some unexpected image, sound, or scent that lights up our synapses. I've been reminded of this lately, by the sweetly-subtle scent of mimosa blossoms and honeysuckle on a recent neighborhood walk, by a friend and author's offhand Facebook mention of her children chasing fireflies. Those little sensory details combined to pluck a hidden string in my mind, transporting me back to the shade of my grandparents' huge pines and maples, to the sweet, wet dew on my bare feet on a summer's night, to my sister's and brother's laughter and my parents' and grandparents' smiles from the front porch rockers as they watched us race about the grassy creekside lawn competing to capture lightning in a bottle. This is why the best writing feels like a homecoming. Though the characters and situation may be novel (no pun intended), it is the use of universal detail that forges the bond between the author and the audience, that brings the tale to vivid life inside the reader's head.

What unexpected detail has illuminated your fiction today? Image from website A Day in the Smokies.

Still crazy after all these years (Heart "Crazy On You" then and now)

Yes we get older...and bigger. But as much as I loved the ramped kid version of this song (and yes, I could play that awesome guitar riff at the beginning), I'm definitely into the big broad version. Way to evolve, Wilson sisters!
 

Sign Up for an Online Class from Colleen Thompson:The Marathoner's Guide to Writing

Beginning June 18th, I will be teaching a week-long online class for RWA University: "The Marathoner's Guide to Writing: How to Stay in It for the Long Haul without Losing Your Patience, Your Persistence, or Your Mind." Here's the class description: Class: The Marathoner's Guide to Writing: Staying in It for the Long Haul without Losing Your Patience, Your Perspective, or Your Mind Class Dates: Monday, June 18 - Friday, June 22 Instructor: Colleen Thompson Class Description: How do some authors manage to stay fresh, relevant, and published, while so many others burn out and fade away after only one or two books? With 20 books and more than a dozen years of experience behind her, RITA-nominated, best-selling romantic suspense author Colleen Thompson shares wisdom she's collected from numerous veteran authors on the qualities that will help prepare you to survive and thrive for the long haul. Topics for discussion will include: • Balancing the needs of the market with the needs of your muse • Keeping criticism and rejection in perspective • Keeping both your ego and professional jealousy in check • Honoring and accepting your own pace and talents • Continually striving for improvement • Blazing your own unique trail to success For more information or to sign up for the class, please follow the link to RWA University. Hope to see you in class!

"Rejected" (7 min of bizzarro, 2 min of wow)

THE HURRICANE LOVER is fiction. Climate change is real.

Set on the Gulf Coast during the devastating hurricane season of 2005, Joni Rodgers' novel The Hurricane Lover weaves real weather feeds from the National Hurricane Center and actual emails to and from FEMA officials into the story of an obsessed weatherman, an ambitious journalist and a con artist using chaos as cover for identity theft and murder.

"It's about 40% fiction," says Rodgers, who volunteered with relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and witnessed Hurricane Ike up close and personal. "The rest comes from what I heard and saw that summer and from five years of mind-blowing research."

Rodgers, a New York Times bestselling author repped by William Morris Endeavor, says she chose to indie publish the novel because she wasn't willing to "sacrifice relationships for car chases" or water down the politics to accomodate a corporate publisher.

"Two weeks before Katrina, a prominent scientist at MIT - a guy with no political dog in the fight - published the results of a study clearly connecting the dots between climate change and megastorms," says Rodgers. "I wanted to make the science accessible by placing it in the context of these characters' lives. My hope is that the suspense will keep the pages turning, the reality of what happened will blow readers' minds and the human heart of the story will stay with them."

Read The Hurricane Lover FREE on Kindle today and tomorrow.

Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows" (Yay for MAD MEN music director!)

Maurice Sendak on life, death and best friends

Thanks for the rumpus, Maurice Sendak

Trying to find words to express how I feel about the death of Maurice Sendak. Huge gift to my life. Huge gift to my kids' lives.

Where the Wild Thing Are was the very first book I bought with my own money. It was 1968. I earned $5 singing at the Bike-o-Rama and spent $2 on a paperback of this book I'd stared at for hours in the public library. I was thrilled to have my own copy and drew my own illustrations in most of the white spaces. I think Mr. Sendak would have approved of this.

Over the years, I staged several versions of WTWTA with various children's theatre troupes and after school arts programs. Always a big hit, as it required each child to make his/her own wild thing costume from trash bags, construction paper, yarn, egg cartons, etc. Also required: wild rumpasing. The kids had a lot of fun, and the parents had rich home movie fodder.

When I was working on Sugarland, I took a trompe l'oeil class, and painted my pantry door for practice, recreating scenes from In the Night Kitchen, which had recently caused a huge argument between me and another PTO mommy at my kids' school because of the little boy's penis. My kids adored that book and insisted I steal the pantry door right off the hinges when we moved out of that house.

Maurice Sendak's influence on my life and art is mostly subliminal, but very strong. He was brave and unique in a way that called on each of us to know our own bravery and uniqueness.

I'm just so glad to have shared my world with this wildly wonderful artist and so grateful that he shared his world with me.

Feel free to create your own caption

Gare Bear stops for coffee with a friend at Sam's in the Brouxelles Midi train station.

Willie Nelson "The Scientist"

Tim Curry "I'm Going Home" from Rocky Horror

League of Extraordinary Authors: Writerkind: Win a Kindle Fire in our Flash Fiction...

Check out this amazing flash fiction contest! Do you have what it takes to write a 500 word story?

BtO founder and NYT bestseller Joni Rodgers is one of the judges, and the prizes are primo.

League of Extraordinary Authors: Writerkind: Win a Kindle Fire in our Flash Fiction...: May is National Short Story Month! We're celebrating with daily short story features and (ta-rin-ta-RAH!) the 1st Annual Stella Link Flash F...

A Note about Copy

What makes you pick up a book in a store? The cover? But you immediately flip it over to read a description of the book, don't you? All writers should be interested in cover copy for their books, especially self-publishers. Take a peek around the stores you frequent, virtual and online, and see what kinds of copy makes for good sales. What copy makes you want to actually purchase the book?