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C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

First Wednesday IWSG Rocks

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#IWSG
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On every first Wednesday, it’s time to rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

The awesome co-hosts for the May 3 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Meka James, Diane Burton, Victoria Marie Lees, and M Louise Barbour!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or a story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say. 

Remember, the question is optional!

May 3 question – When you are working on a story, what inspires you?

In the beginning, the freshness of the idea is inspiration enough to start writing down the first words.

When I reach what I think is the middle, I need to boost that inspiration–I think of it as enthusiasm–by walking a lot while I talk to myself. This “talk” is often dialogue between characters, or it’s me berating myself for thinking I could ever write a book.

As I cross the finish line, I’m usually inspired by the checkered flag, even though I know I’ve only completed the first draft and there’s a lot of work ahead.

I’ll be interested in reading what others use as inspiration.

My newsletter goes out on the first Thursday of the month. If you’re interested in reading it, you can sign up HERE. You get one of my “spooky campfire” stories as a gift when you do. This month’s topic is “Why Readers Stop Reading A Book.”

Quote of the Month: Don’t wait around for inspiration to zap you, go find it for yourself in whatever way works. (Notice that there are no quotes around this one. It’s mine–not original in thought, but my words.)

Winners! Ageism in PBs, Volume 3

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Remember this little Meme Hop? Well, it turned out to be a lot of fun and easy to do. It wasn’t easy to pick winners, however. Tara, Christine and I had a devil of a time. But here they are. All very funny. And I only am showing one of each entrant. Some had several. Way to go writers.

Thanks for playing everyone! Here were the book prizes. 

PepperWords won one of the $25. GC from Amazon. 
J.Lenni Dorner won an eBook of Double Negative. 
Junetta won a copy of Sudden Secrets





Check out the other winners on Tara and Christine’s sites. They each offered copies of their books, and there was one more $25 GC. Were you one of the lucky meme-makers?
L.L. is one of my Newsletter followers and she just won a signed copy of A. Formento’s Twigs. Congrats L.L. The book is on the way.
My March Newsletter goes out next week. Hope you’ve signed up. I’m sending everyone a Marketing Checklist with examples of how I’m using it to improve my marketing. More about my marketing next month. There’s also some news. Yes. I actually have NEWS. 


In case you’re interested: My previous posts on AGEISM. Post 1 Post 2

David Wiesner is one of my favorite picture book writers, and I have three of his books. I decided to take a look and see 1) if he had any elderly characters and 2) if he treated them fairly or as stereotypes. Here’s what I found. In one book there were zero elderly, even the animals were young. In another there was one picture of adults, however, I couldn’t count them as elderly. They were reading while their son explored the beach. In the third book there were four characters that were pictured as elderly: round glasses, gray hair and facial lines. All were stern and, while not unkind,  they were stiff and all business. It didn’t look as if being older was much fun.

A writer friend, Cynthia Jaynes Omolou published this PB, so I took a look at it again to see what she’d done with elderly characters. Hurray for Omolou. She not only had three elderly characters ( two men and a woman), but they were of varied ethnicity.

Quote of the Week:  “Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.” Theodore Roosevelt