Where Do Ideas Come?

Writers are sometimes asked, "Where do you get your ideas for your stories?" Ideas come from a pazillion places. If you pay attention during your day to day life, you'll meet up with dozens of them. Some come from snippets of conversation you overhear. Some come from encountering a total stranger in the checkout line. Ideas can come from life experiences, dreams, feelings, and things you read. They can even come from a statement you read on the back of the cereal box.

Keeping a little notebook handy to write down these fleeting ideas is a wise thing to do. If not written down, many a great idea vanishes into thin air within an astonishing short period of time.

Hooks and Leads

I subbed in a sixth grade class yesterday. The writing assignment was on argumentative introductions. The students were to pick a topic sentence and then to write six introductory sentences, one for each of six types:

1. Question
2. Anecdote
3. Strong statement
4. Statistic or fact
5. Unusual detail
I can't remember the sixth.

Some students struggled with coming up with a topic sentence; they would just write down a topic, like bullying, instead of a sentence like: Bullying is a major problem in schools today. Then to come up with different leads for that statement took some quite a long time.

I told them that as a newspaper and magazine journalist, hooks or leads are very important. They're perhaps that hardest part of the article to write, in many cases. If we want someone to read what we've written, however, we have to lure them in with an intriguing hook.

Two Secret Worlds Books Available

I'm delighted to announce that the first two of my Secret Worlds Books are now available on I Book Store, Amazon, Google Books and Kobo. They will soon be available on Nook. Junior readers, ages 8 to 11, will be delighted with Secret of Bombastic Bertha and the Bamboozles and Return of the Schmurthies. The fast-paced stories are packed with adventure, fun, humor and mystery.

Ebooks are on the Rise--Especially for Kids

Some of us older folks may still prefer reading by physically holding a book in our hands, but kids are turning to ebooks more and more. Here's an article by Jeremy Greenfield on the Forbes website:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremygreenfield/2013/01/31/if-kids-are-our-future-our-future-is-ebooks/
Writes Mr. Greenfield: "The next wave of the ebook revolution is coming and it’s going to be led by kids. While just under a quarter of U.S. adults are reading ebooks, some 54% of kids are reading them — that’s more than double."

We wish you and yours a very Happy New Year!

Christmas is About People, not Things

The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world's busy life and become more interested in people than in things.
~ Thomas S. Monson
Merry Christmas!

The Magical Wonder of Christmas

Last night I went to a wonderful Christmas Concert at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, at which the Sesame Street Muppets and Santino Fontana performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. An audience of 21,000 people, including children ages 5 and up, were enchanted with the delightful and magnificent performance. 

I was especially intrigued watching the little children, including my 7-year-old grandson, as they witnessed this magical performance. What a wonderful experience...to not only enjoy the fun of the Muppets and the wonderful dancers, the lights and decorations and special effects, but also to have a chance to listen to a full symphony orchestra and exceptional choir perform. 

These are the kinds of experiences that help mold children...experiences they never ever forget.

Give the Gift of Creativity

I've run across some websites lately the share lists of creative gifts you can give this holiday season. Instead of toys, consider giving a child such things as magic markers, colored paper, scrapbook scissors, glitter glue, craft foam...things that can be used to create a myriad of artistic masterpieces. The same holds true when it comes to adults...give such things as scrapbook supplies (for the scrapbook fanatic), a gift certificate to Home Depot or a yarn store or fish lure store, depending on the interests of the person you have in mind. For the wannabe artist, give art supplies. You get the idea. Other ideas for creative gifts include providing lessons, special family excursions and coupons for spending time together.

It may take a little extra thought, but this holiday season give gifts of creativity and gifts of memories.