Answer to Word for Wednesday

The word vamoose means to leave quickly. If you want to double-check, look here.

Word for Wednesday - Game for Writers

Guess what the word Vamoose means.

Put your guess in the comments section then come back around 3:00 to see if you were write or wrong ;)

Tip for Tuesday

Sometimes writers need a little inspiration and I got some this past weekend from a friend. She said that, when she's trying to imagine a home for her characters, she goes out and drives around different neighborhoods looking at houses. She finds one she can imagine her character living in and then takes a few notes to help her when she's plotting out her pages.

I thought this was a great idea. I might even use it the next time I'm trying to create a setting for my character.

Do you have any ideas like this that you use when you write? Please share your inspiration in the comments section.

First Page Love with Lisa Schroeder

Writers all know how important that first page can be. It can hook an agent/editor but it can also make them stop reading. . . and none of us want them to move on to another manuscript in their never-ending pile.

So making that first impression right is critical. That's one reason the SCBWI sponsored a lesson on the craft of writing that ever-important first page with Lisa Schroeder. She gave up a morning (when the sun was out--which is rare in Portland, Oregon) to help us wannabe writers learn from her experiences.

She very graciously shared a few hints on what we writers can do to make sure our first page is strong enough to get our reader to go on to page 2...3, and hopefully even page 4.

I took notes and here are a few tidbits of wisdom that I captured from Lisa Schroeder (author of I Heart You - You Haunt Me, Far From You, Sprinkles and Secrets, Chasing Brooklyn, It's Raining Cupcakes, and The Day Before, which she shared with us at the SCBWI Smooze on Saturday, April 30th:

1) Have your first page start at a moment of significance;
2) Remember voice is important but have your characters doing something;
3) Have a conflict of some sort where the reader is playing catch up; and,
4) Leave your reader with questions.

If your reader has questions, they'll likely turn the page to find the answer.

She also gave us some morsels of what not to do:

1) Starting with dialogue is hard because the reader will likely have too many questions;
2) Editors and agents see too many stories starting with a dream;
3) Remember not to have too much back story; and,
4) Starting with action can be disorienting.

Another point she made was that we don't want to read about ordinary people, we want to be transported or entertained by the extraordinary.

Lisa went above-and-beyond the first page and also talked to us about picture books and cover art for books. She even recommended a few books on craft and much, much more.

It was a wonderful way to spend a morning, listening and learning from Lisa.

EGGscellent Decorations

There is no reason you have to only use food coloring to decorate eggs. All you have to do is think outside the...oval.

And, I love decorating for holidays...all of them. Plus, I still love decorating eggs. So, after dinner on Sunday, we all colored eggs. Oh, we also glued and painted them.


Hope you all had an eggscellent weekend. :)

Eggs Goldenrod

Mom never believed in wasting anything. And, she couldn't afford to throw food away. So, at Easter, after she'd boiled dozens of eggs for us kids to color, she had to find a way to get us to eat dozens of eggs--without complaining. We never knew it, but she was super-sneaky and always gave foods fun names so we kids wanted to eat her specialties.

And, growing up in a family with nine kids and grandma living with us, Mom had to make cheap meals (for 12 people) and find a way for us kids to love them. Here's one of her secret recipes that we kids loved even tho' it was inexpensive food and we thought it was fancy.

We ate it every morning for Easter. It was a great way to use all the broken eggs that we couldn't use for our Easter EGG HUNTS.

Mom called it "Eggs Goldenrod", or Daffodil Eggs. (Mom called daffodils "Goldenrods" or "buttercups") and here's how she made it:

She toasted a piece of bread then she chopped up hard-boiled egg whites and made a white sauce.

She poured the white sauce over the toast and then crumbled the egg yolks over the white sauce. Her finishing touch was to sprinkle paprika into the center of the daffodil. WHOO-HOO fancy, CHEEP, food for Easter morning. We kids loved it so much we asked for it all spring long.

Try it, you might like it. :) I hope you do.

It's SEW Simple to Make a Tablecoth for Your Holiday Table

It is SEW simple to make a tablecloth for your holiday table. It doesn't matter what holiday it is, just go to the fabric store and pick out your fabric. I got this indoor-outdoor fabric for $6.00 per yard. I bought 3 yards ($18.00) but I had a coupon for 50% off. So it only cost me $9.00. And, I can use this tablecloth for picnics outside too.

First I ironed the hem so it wouldn't need to be pinned. Then I sewed the edges.


It turned out just the way I wanted it. Then I decorated the table. And WAH-LAH SEW simple holiday decorating.