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:
CHANGE
Christmas time was always fun at my house growing up. After my father would take us out to the country to cut down our Christmas tree, Mother would go into high gear making our house very festive for the holidays.
She would also save back spare CHANGE all year long and then divide it amongst us four kids so we could do our Christmas shopping. Trying to buy for five other people when I only had a handful of CHANGE to begin with was challenging so I had to be really creative.
I will never forget what I gave my mother one year. I liked the bowl of plastic vegetables which always sat on the dining room table, and the holiday dioramas my mother always created every Christmas, so I knew EXACTLY what to get her with my CHANGE.
My brother and sisters laughed when she opened her presents from me...one was a wax cucumber and the other one was a small velvet covered plastic reindeer...but Mother just acted like there were no better gifts to receive. She could have CHANGED them for something else but the cucumber was immediately placed on top of those plastic vegetables and that reindeer found its way into every Christmas diorama for many years to come.
Writers deal with CHANGE all the time.
Their ideas begin as a passing thought, sometimes CHANGING into a first draft, then CHANGING many more times into their latest revision, until finally CHANGING into the polished manuscript they send out into the world. If they are lucky, an agent or editor will ask them to CHANGE a story some more with the hope that one day a publisher will care enough for their submission to put a little CHANGE in their bank account...;~)
ARE YOU THE MISSING PIECE? is now available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble Bookstore, and other fine retailers. It was a #1 bestseller in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US earlier this month.
International best selling author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt Taekwondo Instructor by day and a 'ninja' writer of children’s picture books, chapter books and young adult novels by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host and book reviewer for Harper Collins, She is also a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators and Children's Book Insider. Donna is a lover of dark chocolate, time at the beach, and well written stories.
