A Writing Lesson From a Child, a Book Launch, a Contest, and More!

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I have FOUR important points to share with you today, including a very important writing lesson at the end of this post. You don't want to miss out on any of this! (The message is powerful whether or not you write.)

First: Release Day!

The Watchers at War, the exciting conclusion of The Watchers of Moniah epic fantasy trilogy, is available today. 

Get it here!


Second: Get Free Books

There's still time to enter the book launch contest and get personalized copies of The Watchers of Moniah and The Watchers in Exile for free! PLUS some great SWAG! Hurry, the contest ends at midnight on Mar. 1, 2021.

Enter the Contest

(Note: you receive 5 entries if you subscribe to my newsletter. If you already have subscribed, type "Duplicate" in the How did you find us question so you don't get extra newsletters.)

Third: Pitch Workshop

I'm presenting a workshop on how to pitch your manuscript on March 2 at noon through South Carolina Writers' Association. It's free and they require registration.

Register for the workshop.


Fourth: A lesson from a nine-year-old

Last week, we learned that the literary organization, Emrys, selected my nine-year-old grandson's short story for publication in their inaugural Young Emrys literary journal!

Emrys is a literary organization known for writing workshops, writing events, and more. The news prompted huge celebrations at home and school. We are so proud of him.

This success story comes with an important lesson. My grandson wrote this story during e-learning . That makes the process sound simple. Far from it!

His teacher provided a crazy photograph and instructed the children to write a story about it. Unlike previous assignments, he fought the idea of writing a story. "I'm not going to write it," he told me every time I tried to help him brainstorm ideas. 

This shocked me. He'd written several amazing stories for class before this one and received amazing acclamations from his teacher and classmates. They love his writing. 

For some reason, He. Did. Not. Want. To. Write. This. One.

He waited until late Sunday evening before finally sitting down to write. He grumbled and whined for a few minutes, then the words flew across the page. He just had to get his BIC (behind in the chair). Thank goodness he did!

Sometimes our best work comes from tremendous struggles, and it took a child to remind me of this.

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