June Shaw's Blog, page 26
December 25, 2013
Happy Boxing Day to All Readers!
When I was young you could buy a paperback book for 35 cents. Of course it was much harder to come up with 35 cents back in those days, but it was still a good price. At least for a bibliophile like me. And this love for books led to my becoming an anglophile. Let’s just say that I’m a lover of all good things.
Back in the mid-fifties we teenagers would hang out in the local drugstore. These were magical places for me, because those four walls contained all of the things I loved best. A soda...
December 23, 2013
December 19, 2013
Spider Mountain Isn't Really a Mountain at All
My first audio book was just released, a novel for 9-12 year-olds. Mystery of Spider Mountain is a semi-autobiographical novel based on my childhood, growing up in the Hollywood Hills where, if you climbed high enough, you could see the Pacific Ocean.Spider Mountain was home to all sorts of crawling creatures, including trapdoor spiders which my brothers and I watched spin hinged doors to hide their homes in the ground. There were also a few tarantulas that had escaped Cen...
Spider Mountain Wasn't Really a Mountain at All
My first audio book was just released, a novel for 9-12 year-olds. Mystery of Spider Mountain is a semi-autobiographical novel based on my childhood, growing up in the Hollywood Hills where, if you climbed high enough, you could see the Pacific Ocean.Spider Mountain was home to all sorts of crawling creatures, including trapdoor spiders which my brothers and I watched spin hinged doors to hide their homes in the ground. There were also a few tarantulas that had escaped Cen...
December 18, 2013
December 15, 2013
You Cannot Kill The Christmas Spirit
<!--[if gte mso 9]></div>
December 13, 2013
Reading Christmas Books
by June Shaw
It seems that lots of readers enjoy purchasing and reading books that deal with Christmas when it's that time of year. They look for Christmas in the titles. Often a decorated tree on a book's cover and a character wearing a Santa hat are all it takes for a buyer to pluck up a book.
Falling snow entices many to grab a book, although recent blizzards that have swept through the U.S. may have calmed that enducement for now.
Almost any book or story that mentions Christmas or the holi...
December 11, 2013
Discovering the Joy of Reading, circa 1944
by Jackie King
People talk about the books that changed their lives, and many books have influenced me. But what changed my life, and at a very early age, was discovering books in general.
I remember the first time that I fell into the pages of a book all by myself. I can still recall the awe of it all. Between my hands I held the promise of a lifetime filled with adventure and pleasure and comfort. I was overcome by the wonder of it all, and, much like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, my world tur...
December 10, 2013
An interview with Jack Carston
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
December 5, 2013
Writing Lessons I've Learned
by Jean Henry Mead
When I wrote my first novels, I spent an inordinate amount of time rewriting first chapters before progressing to the second, only to rewite them again before I finished the book. I finally learned to write them once and forget them until the first draft was completed.
I’ve never been able to outline a novel because I give my characters free rein. They rarely submit to what I might have planned for them because they seem to have minds of their own, and I don’t want them doing...
When I wrote my first novels, I spent an inordinate amount of time rewriting first chapters before progressing to the second, only to rewite them again before I finished the book. I finally learned to write them once and forget them until the first draft was completed.
I’ve never been able to outline a novel because I give my characters free rein. They rarely submit to what I might have planned for them because they seem to have minds of their own, and I don’t want them doing...
