Carmela A. Martino

Here are links to the online resources I'll be sharing this evening at the Fountaindale Public Library presentation, "Great Beginnings: How to Hook Readers and Keep Them Turning the Pages":

* Writer's Digest magazine Jan, 2011 article by Elizabeth Sims, "8 Ways to Write a 5-Star Chapter One."
* Article by Bharti Kirchner in The Writer, Dec. 2010, “The Pleasures and Perils of Prologues."

Blog posts by former literary agent Mary Kole, who is also the author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit (Writer’s Digest Books):
• “The Promise of the Novel"
• “First Lines"
• “Fix Your Beginning"

Also, I won't be mentioning this article listing examples of some BAD ways to start a novel tonight, but it may be of interest, too.

If you have any questions about the presentation, you can post them as a comment below or email me via the "Contact" page of this blog.
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This post is for students of the fall 2016 session of my COD "Finding Your Writer's Voice" class.

To read winners of the Writer's Digest Photo Prompt contest, see this page. Remember: these are polished manuscripts--don't compare them to your freewrite story.

For info about the COD Writers at Work group see this website.

To learn about Waterline Writers, a group that meets monthly in Batavia, IL, see this website.

For an interesting article on the question of "Do I have writing talent?," see the Writer Unboxed website.

Here are two other articles you may find of interest:
a listing of some BAD ways to start a novel and
a piece called "The 'Zen' of Writing".

Finally, I invite you to sign up for my e-newsletter in the right sidebar on the News page. If you do, be sure to watch for a confirmation e-mail in your inbox--it may end up in your SPAM folder. You MUST click on the link in that e-mail to activate your subscription.

No matter what, I hope you'll keep writing!
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The Goodreads giveaway of the revised edition of Rosa, Sola was a great success, with over 600 entries! I mailed off the three copies this morning. I hope the winners enjoy the novel.

In honor of the new release of Rosa, Sola, I was interviewed for the VCFA Launchpad blog--they asked lots of questions about how the story came to be written and published. You can see the post here.

Also, today, Barb Grady Szyszkiewicz posted a lovely review of the novel at CatholicMom.com. She included some great character interview questions at the end of the review. I hope you'll head over to read the responses.

Rosa, Sola is included in the SCBWI Book Blast campaign. You can watch a brief video there of me discussing the book . While you're there, I hope you'll sign the guest book and click the "like" button for a fun surprise. (Caution: don't have your volume too loud!) Also, check out the
Fans of SCBWI Facebook page for fun Book Blast-related giveaways, including a chance to win copies of your favorite books.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I gave a presentation on "Coping with Your Inner Critic at the Catholic Writer's Guild live conference in July. I'll be repeating the presentation for the online conference in February, 2017. For more information, see the conference website.
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The Goodreads giveaway of the revised edition of Rosa, Sola ends tomorrow. If you haven't entered yet, you'll want to go to this Goodreads page and do so now.

Also, I'll be presenting a one-day workshop, "Great Beginnings: Hook Readers and Keep Them Turning the Pages," at the Fountaindale Public Library in Bolingbrook, IL at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 27. Registration is required, and begins October 6. Watch my Facebook page for details, or go to the library's website. Read More