It's CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK! CELEBRATE!

 

Summer vacation is coming! Get ready! Get set! Get Up a Rutted Road downloaded to your e-reader today! Find it on Amazon.com and GET READING!

 

CAMIE McCAIN had never met a hermit, not till Claude shows up smack-dab in the middle of Aunt Charlene’s old-timey kitchen. Camie reckons Uncle Glen is the recluse’s only friend. Off and on that summer, she spies Claude in the most unlikely places, but he vanishes before she can catch up to talk to him. Does he really live in a barrel in some lonely holler like the kids at church say? Is he on the run from the law? How come he shies away from folks like a skittish colt?

 

What do I like to read?

I'm an eclectic reader. My reading tastes cross many genres, including mystery, high fantasy (think Lord of the Rings), non-fiction, books about writing, historical fiction, adventure, poetry, biography, picture books--my tastes are varied. Two genres I will not read: what I call blood-and-gore crime and anything that even hints at the occult (no vampires, werewolves, zombies, or anything that glorifies the dark side or the enemy of God's people).

       I love nearly everything I've read by C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia, etc.), J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, etc., although I found The Silmarillion a little daunting), Kate DiCamillo, Patricia Reilly Giff, Sharon Creech, the team of Jerry Jenkins and Chris Fabry, and too many others to list.

       When I was in the eighth grade, my health teacher assigned us to write our autobiography. I thought my own life was too boring to write about (which was wrong, of course), so I fictionalized it, saying that I had survived many adventures all around the world. Of course, my teacher held me after class to question me about my travels (which included some journeys to other planets).

      "I read a lot," I told him. "I've been to all those places and done all those things through the pages of hundreds of books." He smiled, nodded, and gave me an A.

       Don't you love books? They can take you on amazing journeys through space, time, and imagination to places you'd hardly be able to visit physically.

      

Your Turn!

• Where have books taken you?
• Who are your favorite authors?
• What's your favorite genre?
• How do you feel when you finish a really good book you've spent some time with?
• Do the characters seem like friends?

Please answer in the "Comments" section below. I'd love to read your responses. So would others. Thanks for visiting Quirky Quill!

 

Keep reading good books!

Because of Jesus,

Sharon Kirk Clifton

 



Do You Write?

Shortly after I learned to read (and, by the way, that took awhile), I started writing. I loved it! The magic of putting on to the blank page my thoughts and imaginings fascinated me. Trouble was, too many of my stories sounded a lot like the latest horse novel I'd read.


Then one day I read in the Bible that there's nothing new under the sun. That includes plots (story lines, what I call "tale bones"). We writers make a plot our own by looking at old tale bones from different angles. We put new flesh on old bones by adding characters, actions, colors, feelings, places, problems, times, and dragons. Okay. So we don't always include dragons--but we can if we want to.


Back to my lead question. Do you write? If so, check out these sites listed in the inaugural issue of ACFW Journal, The Voice of Christian Fiction:

  

Aletheia Writing Magazine

Go Teen Writer  

Holy Worlds

Kingdom Pen

NextGen Writers 

Pekazoid Prophets

Writing for the Teenage Author

Written World Communications

ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) also recommends these books for youths who write (like you!):


A Teen's Guide to Getting Published: Publishing for Profit, Recognition, and Academic Success by Jessica Dunn


Seize the Story by Victoria Hanley


Spilling Ink by Ellen Potter


Rip the Page!: Adventures in Creative Writing by Karen Benke


In addition to those, I recommend any book about the craft of writing by James Scott Bell.

What do you write? Click on the "Comment" button below and tell me. If you have any questions about writing, leave those, too. I'll answer you.