To all my current and future #DCSPeeps (DECIDE, COMMIT, SUCCEED), welcome to my new series in my continuing effort to inspire, amuse, and entertain you! Each Monday I will select a new word to analyze how it might apply to our writing lives and also give you a peek into my childhood growing up in the swamps of southern Louisiana. So kick back, put your feet up, and check out my story about TODAY'S WORD:
BROKEN
When my sister and I were growing up, we helped our mother with the holiday baking. My brother and oldest sister were both in the military.
That meant every year my mother would spend hours in the kitchen preparing a sweet, culinary care package to ship out to places throughout the country as my siblings waited to receive some homemade love in a little brown box.
Cut out sugar cookies covered in colorful royal icing, thumbprint cherry cookies, oatmeal cookies bursting with golden raisins, and snickerdoodles I would only see at Christmas time.
Everything had to pass the MOM test before it could go in the box.
You would think my stomach would have ached with the taste testings of so many sugary delights.
Nopie.
We actually weren’t allowed to EAT any of those cookies.
Not one.
They were for the ones in faraway places, while the burnt, BROKEN pieces were just as flavorful as the rest.
The next time you start to create perfect characters for your stories, my DCSPeeps, realize it's the BROKEN and flawed personalities that connect with your readers, not those demigods on Mt. Olympus. BROKEN people like...
The ditzy neighbor that's a little bit OCD.
The strong, leading man that tears up at sad movies.
The work driven female that can't seem to complete any home projects.
Take time for another look at your stories and see how you can BREAK those perfect characters into more realistic people. And don't worry whether a flawed main character will be welcomed by your reader. They may be BROKEN, but they're are ALL just as sweet!
I hope you have an awesome day today because you deserve it!
Children's book author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a
4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a 'ninja' writer of
children’s picture
books, middle grade chapter books and young adult novels by night. Donna
is a BOOK
NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of
children’s books. She is also a book reviewer for Harper Collins,
and a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. Donna
is a lover of dark chocolate, good stories, and an adoptive mom to 20-pound
guard
kitty in Knoxville, Tennesse
Story Catcher Fan Club Emai: www.storycatcherfanclub@gmail.com
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ReplyDeleteOnly 11 more days...patience is a virtue...;~)
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Great post, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
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