Mildred Wirt Benson was sworn to secrecy and couldn’t reveal she had written the first twenty-three Nancy Drew Mysteries. there is no person Carolyn Keene! What?
Carolyn Keene was a pseudonym for ghostwriters of Nancy Drew Mysteries but Mildred Wirt Benson (1905-2022) wrote the first 23! (Click to read article)
Did you ever read a Nancy Drew mystery? Here’s another article about Carolyne Keene and the the syndicate behind the authors.
Last Friday, March 19, when visiting my family in Ohio, I photographed this colorful set of books on top of Charlie’s dresser. I’d not seen them altogether in this format . I know they’ve been read aloud numerous times to Charlie.(5) he always tells me about a grandmother in the books who knits.
Then one week later on March 26th my sister sent me this NYTimes obituary – Beverly Cleary passed away at 104 years of age.
Her books were always a favorite at school, too.
I’m Canadian, currently living in London with my husband and 3 kids. My blog is Dammit Karen and my website is Karen Hough Writes My author name is “K.A. Hough.” My book is called Ground Control”
Writing by Discovery
In writing, there are plotters – people that plot out their stories and follow that plan – and there are pantsters, which are kindly called “discovery writers.” This pantster signed up for National Novel Writing Month 2019 (NaNoWriMo).
I had an idea, a “what if,” and I had a deadline. Every night that November, after the kids went to bed, I followed my characters around for approximately 1800 words. Some nights it took an hour to meet my wordcount; some nights it took four. It was stressful, and I was tired, but it was only 30 days. I tried not to think about it during the day.
As a “discovery writer,” I honestly had no idea what was ever going to happen next. As I typed, I’d suddenly realize something about a character’s past. Or I’d leave a note to myself in all caps that said, “HOW LONG TO GET TO MARS?” – because now they were going to Mars (unplanned by me, but that’s where they were going, so I should probably find out more about it if I was really going to write this ridiculous book). I did research as I went, and kept a spreadsheet of links to NASA, MarsONE and studies about soil bacteria, which had – also against my will – become an issue on the space shuttle, and one that I couldn’t fix for months. I wasn’t in control.
The story went off in weird tangents – not my story, because my story was never supposed to be about space and soil – it twisted and turned. I wrote completely without a plan, without an ending in mind, and somehow, I managed to type my last word – my 50,083rd – just before midnight on November 30th.
It wasn’t the story I had planned to write, and they weren’t perfect words but there were 50,000 of them. I put it away for a month, then read it with fresh eyes, and while it was still imperfect, it wasn’t terrible. Over the next six months, in lockdown, I revised, expanded and rewrote while my kids sat and homeschooled beside me.
NaNoWriMo was a grind, but it gave me the reasonably short timeframe and the motivation I needed to finally write a novel. I even sat down to do it again this year. I wrote another 50K words in 30 days, but this time I was prepared. I wasn’t a pantster this time: I had an outline, almost chapter-by-chapter, of what I wanted to happen and what I wanted to develop. This story wasn’t going to go rogue on me (though it did, here and there), but I discovered something else: it wasn’t as much fun.
Ground Control is being published in e-book, paperback and hardcover formats in the Spring
(*My dear friend Joanne’s niece)
I received a copy of PERIGEE in the mail today. A gift from the poet Diane Kerr.
I had the honor of capturing her author photo which now graces the back cover of her just published poetry book.
Thank you Diane and congratulations on winning the Brittingham Prize in Poetry and having your book published at the University of Wisconsin Press.
To read reviews and/or purchase a copy click here
Release from the University of Wisconsin Press Click link for more information
“Diane Kerr mentors poets through the Madwomen in the Attic Creative Writing Program at Carlow University and is the author of the collection, Butterfly. Her work has appeared in the Alaska Quarterly Review, Mississippi Review, and Pearl, among others. She holds an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Kerr’s forthcoming Perigee follows a speaker’s emotional reckoning with a traumatic secret she felt pressured to keep during her girlhood. In varied lyric narratives, these poems reinforce that shock and suffering have no statute of limitations.”
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Perigee.
Mercy Watson books have been checked out of the Columbus Public Library and are now at home with my grandson Charlie, 3 1/2.
I’d never heard of the existence of Mercy Watson prior to last week’s Ohio visit. Charlie has always liked his soft pig toy and has a small pig on the kitchen counter where he eats lunch.
Mercy Watson is a pig. No, edit that statement
“Mercy Watson is a porcine wonder.” says Mr and Mrs. Watson
The author is Kate Di Camillo and illustrated by artist Chris Van Dusen
Seems that ‘buttered toast’ is a favorite of Mercy Watson.
Laura created a Mercy Watson breakfast for Charlie.
He was adjusting the mouth/cashew.
That is hand squeezed oj accompanying the toast. Mmmmm. 
I should have taken one more shot of the empty breakfast tray. 
a screenshot for the Mercy Watson site
Ed Lipsman. Author of Flashes of Fire. His debut novel.
(Priced reasonably @ 3.99) download onto a kindle. I love the Pittsburgh place references in it but you can live anywhere and enjoy his writing.
I know Ed from working together in an After School Program where he ran a terrific physical fitness program for our 4-8th graders.
He’s a loyal blog follower since the beginning, too. An all around great person!
I’m honored to have taken his author photo and happy to get the word out about his book.
For most of his adult life, Ed Lipsman studied a variety of martial
arts, including sword. He was a successful fighter in a medieval group,
winning a number of tournaments. Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor
at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where one of the
courses he teaches is a sword class. Flashes of Fire is his first book.
He gets struck with lightning while leaving a medieval fighting tournament and is transported to a strange, brutal, feudal world where swords rule and law doesn’t.”
Last Saturday night we were down by PNC Park and strolling along the walkway while the Pirates were inside the park, beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-1. The Allegheny River was muddy and reflecting the night lights of the boats and city.
My friend Steve saw a man he recognized. Captain George Boyle on the Safety Boat by the fireworks on the barge. They hadn’t seen each other in years.
Captain George was patrolling the river to keep the pleasure boats away from the barge where the fireworks were set to go off after the game, to keep the boaters out of the danger zone.
Captain George invited us aboard the Safety Boat, and Steve bought his book (which Captain George autographed for him) One of those serendipitous moments in life.
“A world traveling photographer and film producer chronicles the highlights and adventures of a unique and thrilling career”
If you’re from Pittsburgh you might have seen one of the 13 part TV series “What’s New at the Zoo” which Captain George filmed.
You can read about Captain George’s suiting up in scuba gear and his retrieval of the Gateway Clipper Steamboat’s Paddlewheel from the bottom of the Allegheny River.
Captain George Boyle just autographed a copy of You Ought to Write A Book…By George
Lots of adventures packed in twenty chapters! If you want a copy of his book just leave a comment and I’ll contact Captain George.
Here is what Mr. Fred Rogers said in the blurb on the back cover
“My goodness George, what a marvelous tome you have written. You certainly have gone to great lengths to help the reader understand some of the technical details of photography. I’m happy to be included in the events of your life.” Fred Rogers, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood