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Living, Breathing, Writing: A Lesson A Day
Check out the Sampler and then buy a month's worth of fabulous writing tips and exercises, in-depth how-to's, lighthearted encouragement, and more...
Living, Breathing, Writing: A Lesson A Day!
Volume 1
“Having Chelle Cordero's blog on my Kindle is like having an author here
in residence with me. She gives inspiration, motivation, and best of
all, practical advice and solutions. I love the ‘writing exercises’ she
offers at the end of each blog, as well as the ‘writing prompts’.” ~J.B.
Naylor
And now, Kindle owner or not, writers are able to get in on the fun and
active lessons from the Kindle Blog—Living, Breathing, Writing, by
Chelle Cordero.
Welcome to a complete month of lessons about the craft of writing and
being a writer. In the BONUS Section of this book you’ll find more than
50 brain-starting exercises to help you get those words on paper.
These short lessons and activities have been previously published as
part of the acclaimed Amazon Kindle blog Living, Writing, Breathing
available by subscription for Kindle owners, and consistently in the Top
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Chelle Cordero Article (reprint)
Like many authors, I like to write the kind of stories I like to read and I like contemporary (like really present day) tales. Of course we live in a rapidly changing world and the time between writing and out-there for purchase can sometimes cause a few wrinkles.
When I wrote my most recent novel, Hyphema, I really decided to tackle a current subject. The (Matt Garratti) hero’s wife is a Pakistani born Muslim immigrant to this country. Sudah is working towards her citizenship and wants to be American, but the family’s move to North Carolina is met with some snide remarks and suspicion from their new neighbors about her background.
In one scene, Sudah is confronted by the wife of one of Matt’s co-workers; Donna grew up sheltered with limited contact to anyone “different”, all she knows about Muslims are the headlines and her family’s ire about an older cousin’s fiancé killed on 9-11. Donna shouts the statement, “And they say that Bin Laden lives like a hero in Pakistan.”
Hyphema was first made available for sale in e-book form on April 18 and scheduled for print in May. As we all know from the news, it was announced on Sunday evening May 1 that Osama Bin Laden was found and killed by American forces – in Pakistan. Although the actual news is much more monumental than the release of a novel, yikes! As an author my mind was spinning.
When I wrote my novel Hostage Heart I made a lot of references to the 2005 devastation in Louisiana after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In 2008 Louisiana was again bracing for another violent hurricane, Gustav. While the level of damage was far less, it still made a dent in my manuscript which I was already editing. I made mention of hurricanes “over the past few years” and alluded to the heroine graduating from a makeshift schoolhouse before the “last round of hurricanes hit”.
Writing stories that are “ripped from the headlines” can prove perplexing. All I can say though is, much like the action in my novels, life is fast paced and forever changing. They say that life imitates art and I am trying to keep up with it.
Download this Free Sampler of all Chelle's Novels!
About Chelle Cordero:
I was always a kid with a wild and vivid imagination and loved to spin a few yarns. Growing up in the city (NYC) and working my way through college, I had the opportunity of working some rather unusual and interesting jobs that only fed into the imaginary scenarios growing in my mind. By the time my husband and I settled in the burbs to have kids, I decided to write full-time and did so for a number of magazines and newspapers… but I still dreamt of growing up and becoming a novelist.
In 2008 my first novel Bartlett’s Rule was published by Vanilla Heart Publishing. My hubby says that when I received the acceptance note from Kimberlee Williams (managing editor), it was the first (and only) time he ever saw me speechless. I now have nine novels (7 romantic suspense and 2 mystery) and one writing instruction book. I also author an Amazon Kindle Blog called Living-Breathing-Writing and I am still writing for newspapers and magazines.
I think I like writing.
My website: http://ChelleCordero.com
My blog: http://ChelleCordero.blogspot.com
Be sure to visit our New VHP Author's Blog and Site where we'll be giving away prizes through the month of September for our Grand Opening. We'll have Author chats, a time to visit with a VHP Author and win giveaways, our title catalogs (Kindle, Print, AllRomance, and Smashwords Multiformat, Author Accolades, drawings for neat swag, and more...
http://VHPAuthors.wordpress.com
And over on our Vanilla Heart Books And Authors Website, you will find book videos, announcements, specials, more freebies, extensive author pages, and our FREE downloadable and printable Book Club Extras, with discussion starters, title information, and color bookmarks, plus catalogs with buy links, seasonal discounts and specials, and surprises...
http://www.VanillaHeartBooksAndAuthors.com
Posts
I smiled when I got to that part of Hyphema, because the timing was so very close! But yes, it is something we, as authors, must be aware of. Same with comments about pop stars or actors--who in twenty years is going to know who Katy Perry or the latest Disney star are? But I've noticed even "big name" authors do this sort of thing. Kathy Reichs is notorious for dropping song titles into her novels.
ReplyDeleteLOL, I was just having a conversation with a friend about mentioning some of the shows I grew up with (like "Man from U.N.C.L.E., etc) and getting the reaction from a young'un... "Man from WHAT?" Time does go by pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteThis is one reason I prefer to write Science Fiction and Fantasy ... I can just make it up and not worry about what's happening in the world around me. Even if I do throw in a contemporary reference (... she was sitting, reading the latest Stephanie Plum novel ...) I carefully don't mention WHICH Plum novel it is. I also tend to set things in a fictional town or city of nebulous geography, rather than worry about NYC, or what hurricanes have hit New Orleans.
ReplyDeleteI just don't want to have to worry about the sort of things that are giving you trouble.
My stories are set within a 1960s-1980s time period, so I have the luxury of knowing what events have remained somewhat in the public mind long after the fact. If I were writing stories set in the current year, I would always be worrying about events overtaking my plot and about which references will add realism and which references will date the novel badly within a few years of its release.
ReplyDeleteI liked your references in Hypheme to the hurricanes because they were part of the time and place as it was in the snapshot moments in which the story was set.
Malcolm
Have had the same thing happen when long ago I wrote a book about a hospital where the nurses threatened to strike. In reality they did but in my book they didn't because several things were discovered before the strike happened. In reality the things I used were discovered afterwards. Sometimes writer;s seem to have a link to tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI definitely was shocked when Bin Laden was found in Pakistan, especially after that interchange in my book.
ReplyDeleteI've seen this happen a few times in TV shows that advertise "ripped from the headlines" and they pick up a story that winds up having more action/info by the time it airs.
What brilliant timing! And what a great collection of books.
ReplyDelete