Monday, October 29, 2012

Lessons learned



Are you gearing up for NaNoWriMo? I don’t think I can participate for the entire month this year, but may try to get in a few thousand words (or more). Several years ago I completed the program, and took away two important lessons from the experience.

1)     Participating in the program forces us to make time in our schedules to write.
2)     With a word-count goal of more than 1,600 words per day, we turn off our internal editors.
Both of those lessons were valuable to me, and I hope you will share what you learned from your experience!
Write soon,
Mary

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Curious Fifi



A monkey named Fifi, two bicycles, some cheese, bread and water may not sound like the stuff of adventure novels, but for one writing couple, those items may have saved their lives in a daring escape from the Nazis. Fifi the monkey wasn’t literally a monkey, but a manuscript about a monkey whose name was changed later to George.
Hans and Margaret Rey, authors of the Curious George books, were German Jews who fled Paris in June of 1940, just hours before the Germans arrived. With the sale of a Fifi manuscript, they had purchased enough parts to make two bicycles. The Reys rode them for four days to reach Spain, where they sold the bikes for train fare to Lisbon. Fifi saved them again on the train when Hans was asked to empty his briefcase by officials who suspected him of spying. Fortunately, there were no secret documents, only Fifi manuscripts.
From Spain, the couple traveled to Portugal, then Brazil and finally New York, where they lived and  published Curious George books for many years. By the way, it was the publisher’s idea to change the name from Fifi to George.
Makes me think a little differently about the man in the yellow hat.

Write soon,
Mary

References
Conradt, Stacy. Mental Floss. Curious George’s Great Escape. Oct 2012. Print


Friday, October 12, 2012

Bella Arts Fest

I'll be signing my book Strengthen Your Nonfiction Writing from the Saturday Writers Booth at Bella Arts Fest tomorrow from 9-11 a.m. in St. Peters, MO. Come by and say hello!

Write soon,

Mary

Friday, October 5, 2012

Good news for my book-loving friends!



Do your loved ones ever ask you why you have so many books? Do you have stacks of books by your bed, favorite chair, kitchen or dining room table, etc? Or do you have so many books that you can no longer FIND your bed, favorite chair, kitchen or dining room table? If you are ready to part with some of them and earn a little cash, I have the answer.  
Cash4Books.net will buy your used books, and it couldn’t be easier. Go to their website, enter the ISBN numbers in the box provided, and they will give you an immediate quote. If you decide to sell, print out the postage for shipping at no cost to you, and Cash4Books.net will deposit the money into your PayPal account.
Let me know if you sell some books!
Write soon,
Mary