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:
KILL
Some people think the stories I tell about my childhood HAS to be made up. I swear they are all true and just goes to show how resiliant my mother was to raise four children on a poor man's salary. Mother supplemented all our meals with produce from a homegrown garden, and even an occasional roadKILL offering.
One Sunday after church, my siblings and I were making our way home when we had the fortunate opportunity (or misfortune as the case may be) to see a car hit and KILL an armadillo in front of us. This was before armadillos started carrying diseases that could KILL you, so the only thing we saw was our next meal being hand delivered to us. All we had to do is get it home.
The four of us took turns dragging the beast down main street and back alleys. Imagine my mother's surprise when I walked into the house tugging on the tail of that roadKILL like I was the founder of the feast!
Writers also have a warped sense of what needs killing. We spend countless hours, if not days, searching for just the right words to share the characters in our heads with the world...only to KILL off those little darlings if they don't serve the better purpose of our stories. And in the end, our words and our worlds are the stronger for it...
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.
