End of year is a time for reflection. So spill it. What advice would you give to your younger writer self…and at what age?
For an added degree of difficulty…would you listen? We’re all ears…
FOR READERS: How much do you value your privacy? Would you be willing to pay for social media and email in exchange for your privacy?
FOR AUTHORS: For authors conducting promo business on Facebook or Twitter, what service would you like to see or have improved? Would you be willing to pay for that service?
Day before yesterday I stopped into a Barnes & Noble in Maui (where they have an excellent B&N) and discovered that they were running a local holiday fundraiser to support literacy and early readers. At this particular store they were asking customers to choose a Little Golden Book, which would be given away to a young reader. After considerable thought, I chose THE POKY LITTLE PUPPY. But it was a tough call.
My second choice would have been THE LITTLE RED HEN; but Little Red struck me as a bit of a Huffy Henny when she refused to share her baked bread with the other farm animals (although she certainly had just cause).
Turns out my fave, THE POKY LITTLE PUPPY, is one of the all-time bestsellers. Here’s a link to a list of some titles of the classic favorites in this series. (By the way, I loved wandering around the children’s books section of that book store. Everywhere I looked, there were parents and small children engaged in intense, earnest discussions about books and stories.
Let’s all resolve to patronize physical bookstores as much as possible in 2016. They are so incredibly valuable as venues for introducing children to the magical world of reading!)
Which Little Golden Book would you choose to give to a tiny reader, to best introduce them to the magical world of books and reading?


Hemingway wrote standing up. Capote called himself a “horizontal author” preferring his bed or couch to write. Victor Hugo (Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame) wrote in the nude. He had servants hide his clothes to insure he wouldn’t leave his residence.
What about you? Do you have any MUST DO rituals when you start your writing day or when you start or end a book?
CAUTION: If you are a Victor Hugo admirer, DO NOT post photos.)
Have you ever tried working on more than one WIP (Work in Progress) manuscript at a time? If so, what benefits did you notice? Did you double up on your word count or write half-speed on each?
(This question doesn’t apply to editing a completed draft while starting something new.)