Life, love and the pursuit of a good story
Lots of great information out this week as part of the So You Think You Can Write online conference and competition, like the infographic below defining romance novel terms. You still have time to submit. The contest closes on Monday. Check out their blog for more great writing advice.
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The Valentine’s Day card that made me tear up was this one, because I could read it without too much trouble at all.
Dear Stacy, Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you. I am making a valentine for the best mom ever. Happy Valetine’s. From Charlie
If you read the many social media advice pages, you could be forgiven for thinking that all you need for success with social media is to learn some tricks and tips for Facebook and Twitter (or any one of the latest social networks with a buzz). This is a bit like saying if you learn to use Microsoft Word, you will have no problem being a successful writer.
–“3 Epiphanies about Social Media Marketing for Books” by Lisa Buchan in Publishing Perspectives
Charlie read these two books to me tonight, even though his throat hurt and he was ready for sleep at 6 pm.
When we finished I Went Walking, he said, “Did you see what level it is?”
“No,” I said, flipping the book around to see.
“It’s level C.” He smiled really big. “I moved up a level.”
I wish I had a picture of his proud smile. He knows just how hard he’s worked and how much he’s practiced to make that move happen. He deserves bragging rights.
A new study from
Digital Book Word and Writers Digest
I wasn’t able to attend this year’s Digital Book World conference in person because of the kid’s tonsillectomy. (It went well!) But at the last minute someone sent me a link for live streaming and on-demand access. I haven’t made my way through all the sessions yet, and it’s already been worth the money. I especially like the ability to pause, rewind something interesting and watch the sessions on my own schedule.
The “What Authors Want” study from Digital Book World and Writers Digest was a really informative piece, and several of the smaller sessions have led to ideas for new projects and investigations.
I like my new school
Last year, Charlie was baffled by the idea of sounding out words and using invented spelling. Probably because the sounds and the meanings and the letters were a disorganized jumble in his brain. Or maybe his weak attention system wouldn’t let him focus long enough to figure it out.
But this year, at the beginning of October, he began Reading Recovery, a one-on-one, daily program with a reading specialist trained in Orton-Gillingham and other methods. After only a week or so in the program, I overheard him sitting on the couch willingly sounding out “I like my new school,” which he wrote all by himself! It came out as “ILGMNOSCOL.”
In that first attempt, there were no spaces between the words, and the sounds in each word ran together. But earlier this week, he sounded out Barkley, stopping on each sound to connect it to a letter: BRCLE. And all through our Christmas trip, he voluntarily sounded out names and ideas and copied words he saw while driving.
These are huge, huge jumps for him. So huge that I teared up when I stopped in the reading specialist’s office to thank her for her work.
Stacy Boyd's Blog 