The word 'vibrant'. When I think of this word immediately Mari's sweet angelic face pops in my head. I can see her vivid blue eyes. Her bright shining smile. She had a zest for life I think most people wish they could have. I sit here thinking back on Mari's life, and while there are those time that made raising her very hard due to her autism and her inability to be able to communicate and understand safety awareness, she was a very happy little girl. Her vibrancy seemed almost contagious at … [Read more...]
U is for Unsolicited Manuscript #atozchallenge
Have you ever gone to a literary agency's website or to a traditional publisher's website and looked up their guidelines to find out how you could send a query or proposal for your work only to find out it says something like this: We do not take unsolicited manuscripts. So exactly what is an unsolicited manuscript? It's one that is not represented currently by an agent or for a writer who has never been published before. In other words, agents and publishing houses don't want anyone to just … [Read more...]
U is for Unique #atozchallenge
A uniquely different kind of girl. Mari had one of those personality that sticks with you. If you'd met her, you remember her for the spunky little thing that she was. She rarely got upset but when she did you heard about it. She'd be playing with a toy and every seemed to be going fine when all of a sudden she'd scream at whatever it was she was playing with or doing, then either throw it or destroy whatever it was she was making. I know so many children who have autism have meltdowns on a … [Read more...]
T is for Tagline (Dialogue Tags) #atozchallenge
Taglines, or better known as dialogue tags, have been used in writing clear back to the Bible. They help the reader to know exactly who is talking during a scene. However, today, many publishers are moving away from dialogue tags as this is more telling than showing. Adding an action beat for whoever is talking is a way to show that person is the one talking instead of saying so-in-such said. As a reader, to be honest, I never really noticed that kind of stuff and it never bothered me. But … [Read more...]
T is for Time #atozchallenge
Time, is there really ever enough of it? No, not really. How many times have you heard someone say they wish they just had two or three more hours in a day to do something? I've heard it many times throughout my lifetime. It's probably been like this since the beginning. However, no matter how much we would wish it to be true, we will always have just twenty-four hours in a day. The thing is even if we did have those two or three more hours in a day those wouldn't seem enough either. We'd … [Read more...]
S is for Slush Pile #atozchallenge
The dreaded slush pile. No one ever wants their manuscript to be tossed into this pile. All their hard work given up to chance that maybe someone just might pull your manuscript out and read it thinking it was the next Nicholas Sparks or Nora Roberts best-selling novel. Unfortunately, for most of us, we will either end up in this slush pile or, quite frankly, no pile at all. I'll be honest. As most of you know, I've never been published so I'm, as they say, relatively green behind the ears … [Read more...]
S is for Special Education #atozchallenge #specialeducation
One of the most impactual things to happen in Mari's life was her schooling. From the time she was only two-years-old, Mari started attending the Early Intervention Program that was part of the Chicago Heights School District. She was apart of this program until we moved in September 2004 to DeKalb. She started in an Early Childhood program there but the teacher, while she was a really nice woman, was very honest with me when she said she didn't know what to do to help Mari and her autism. Of … [Read more...]
R is for Revisions #atozchallenge
When it comes to writing, no one should ever just take the first draft as the final draft because we need to be certain that it sounds okay, grammar and punctuation is correct, spelling errors, and things like that. We should know going in that whatever we write down (or type) that we will go back and read over what's been said to make sure it looks okay. Even if we are one of those lucky people who gets it right the first time through, most of us must do this. Editing can be a tedious thing … [Read more...]
R is for Remember #atozchallenge
It's hard not to remember such a remarkable little girl as Mari. I know that I might be a tad bit biased, but I also know how this one little girl touched so many people's lives in ways I never could have imagined. In the two weeks prior to Mari contracting E. coli, she was in a special summer school program as well as a camp for special needs children. She went to summer school Monday through Thursday until around 1pm and then a bus picked her up and took her to camp. On Friday's she got to go … [Read more...]
Q is for Query #atozchallenge
The dreaded query letter. No one wants to write this yet it is a very important part of the writing process. I wanted to get a specific definition for a query so I thought what better way to find it than by doing a Google search and here is what I found: "A query letter is a formal letter sent to magazine editors, literary agents and sometimes publishing houses or companies. Writers write query letters to propose writing ideas." A query is basically your first step in the door. That all … [Read more...]
