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 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...]
O is for opens a door, window or gate
It seemed like there was never a door, window or gate that'd get in Mari's way. She'd simply open it and go where ever it is that interested her at the time. In her last six months we had moved to a new house in Burbank, Illinois. I think it was in this house where Mari was the most active with trying to do whatever it was she wanted to do without any regard to the safety aspect so Mommy also had several minor heart attacks as a result. I have to smile now looking back on those times knowing … [Read more...]
O is for Outline
Or as I like to call it: Plotter. In writing a novel you have what we writers like to call either Pantsers or Plotters or somewhere in between. A pantser is someone who writes their novel, as they say, by the seat of their pants. In other words, there is absolutely no plotting of the novel whatsoever. They write their novel as it comes to them. However, with a plotter, it 180 degrees in the opposite direction where they outline everything before they write a single word for their … [Read more...]
M is for Mari’s World
Mari's World. What would it have been like to visit her world? It constantly brought a smile to her face. She'd be zone out sitting in her chair. You'd wave your hand in front of her face and she wouldn't flinch. You have to clap your hands really loud two or three times to bring her back to our world. I wondered if she'd be playing in some puddles getting all wet. Or maybe she met Dora and went on a new adventure taking Backpack and Diego along with. Or maybe she went on another adventure with … [Read more...]
L is for Literary Agents
How many of us dream of being a published author someday? I have a feeling many of us do, especially if we know we're writers and have been working on a book of any kind. Writing is relatively new for me. I only found writing after the loss of my daughter. I actually started writing while she was in the hospital those sixteen days fighting for her life from what the E. coli did to her little body. But in the end it had wreaked too much havoc on her little body and she went home to be with … [Read more...]
K is for Kindle Matchbook
How many of shop on Amazon today for a new book or whatever else it is we might be looking for? I have a feeling the majority of us go to this cyber giant for whatever it is we plan to read next. Are you one who still like to read the old school way of either a hardback or paperback book? I used to be like that up until about a little over a year ago when I needed to walk on my treadmill to help with hip pain issues I'd been having. However, either walking with a book in hand or even trying … [Read more...]
J is for Jump
I sometimes used to think of Mari as my little jumping bean due to how much energy she could exude. Right before Mari got sick I'd ordered this trampoline for the backyard. When it came in we had invited part of Keith's family over to help us put it up as Mari was going to love having this. As we were laying out the pieces and checking off all the parts, one of the critical pieces you needed to put it together ended up being missing. So we had to put it all back away. And you've probably … [Read more...]
D is for Deep POV
In many of today's novel, the writer wants to delve deeper with their stories giving the reader a more in-depth look into who the characters are and what they're thinking. The technique being used is called deep POV (point of view). I remember when it was first suggested that I do this with my fiction novel. I had not earthly clue what that was. I understood POV to be what character the scene would be told from whether it was first person, third person, omniscient. However, deep POV was a new … [Read more...]
B is for Backstory
How do we get to know the characters of the stories we either write or read about. One way is to weave backstory into book. However, you don't want an info dump of information where you completely lose your reader as they've lost interest with your novel. You want to engage the reader from the first page to the last. One place considered a no-no is to put backstory in the first chapter, and especially the first scene. As a reader they may say who cares because she wants to feel like she's … [Read more...]
