Susan Stoderl
- Dec 7, 2022
- 2 min
Genre-Bending: Not Fitting In
I was looking for a quote for the graphic on Ms. Gabaldon's website and found one that looked interesting. However, it didn't make much sense. According to the all-knowing Prof. Wikipedia, Ms. Gabaldon has a bachelor of science degree in zoology, a master of science degree in marine biology, and a PhD in behavioral ecology. Hence, the quote. An unusual education for someone who would end up writing a massive amount of popular fiction. I felt a certain kinship since my educati
Susan Stoderl
- Nov 25, 2022
- 2 min
A Second Peek into Mission 1: All in a Day's Work
High above Fifth Avenue, Wahoo the Raven daydreamed on his string bag hammock. His iridescent black feathers sparkled in the sun. What now? Should he return to typing his memoir on his BlackZip™ typewriter, which he had designed, assembled, and trademarked under his BlackRaven™ brand? He could only write RavenSpeak in hieroglyphics, which no human could read, so he was forced to type his memoir in English. Maybe he should just idle away an hour until it was time to go visit J
Susan Stoderl
- Nov 18, 2022
- 3 min
Confessions of a Self-Care Avoidance Expert
After putting out my first book last week, I had an endless list of things to do to market it. I was overwhelmed and exhausted and could not make myself do one more thing. I was even questioning why I was even trying to be an author. Then last Sunday morning, I sang in my church choir along with choirs of three other Episcopal churches in a joint service to honor the one-hundredth anniversary of the Diocese of Western North Carolina. Preaching the sermon was Bishop Curry, who
Susan Stoderl
- Nov 16, 2022
- 1 min
Watch Sophia and Pedro Chat About Their Author
#writerscommunity, #middlegradedetectivebook, #middlegradefiction, #middlegradezoobooks, #indiauthor, #writersofinstragram, #writerslife
Susan Stoderl
- Nov 11, 2022
- 2 min
A Peek into Mission 1: All in a Day's Work
Chapter 1 A New Beginning Nana’s memorial service (arranged by Sophia MacGregor, Life Celebration Planner Extraordinaire) was over. Sophia noticed that even sorrow didn’t stop her editorializing in “parentheticals,” her silent qualifiers of spoken words. She sat in apartment 4B with her best friend, Pedro Gonzalez. Everything was so familiar until she thought of Nana’s absence. In a rare moment of panic, Sophia came close to sobbing. “What if the school finds out I live here
Susan Stoderl
- Nov 4, 2022
- 1 min
Countdown |6 Days
#writerscommunity, #middlegradedetectivebook, #middlegradefiction, #middlegradezoobooks, #indiauthor, #writersofinstragram, #writerslife
Susan Stoderl
- Nov 2, 2022
- 2 min
The Week Before Sophia Comes Out
I was deciding what to write about today and then it occurred to me. What else could I write about but my anxiety about getting everything in place for my book launch? The least that a writer does to publish a book is to write it. That's the easiest part. I could have written ten more in the time that it has taken to learn everything necessary to get it before the public. I have reams of notes and web articles on all facets of self-publishing, and I still don't know exactly w
Susan Stoderl
- Sep 14, 2022
- 1 min
More Work Done | More to Do
#WritersLife, #Update, #IndieAuthor, #SelfPublishing
Susan Stoderl
- Aug 31, 2022
- 1 min
Late Bloomer, not once, but twice | Eugenia Lovett West
Eugenia Lovett West was born in February 1923. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College amidst WWII and took jobs with Harper’s Bazaar and the American Red Cross before marrying her dashing fighter pilot. Four children later, and after many small newspaper assignments which grew tired of, she turned her focus to novels. Doubleday and Ballantine published her first novel, “Ancestors Cry Out” in 1979, at fifty-six. Until almost thirty years later, no more published novels. “Wi
Susan Stoderl
- Aug 24, 2022
- 1 min
Fanny Fern Tales | Getting Up the Wrong Way, Part 2
Part two in my Fanny Fern Tales series is based on her humorist columns published in the New York Ledger in the 1850s-70s. The articles, written colloquially and using a 19th-century writing style, portray women's and children's lives during that time. Do not let the somewhat archaic use of language stop you from laughing. #FannyFern, #WomenWriters, #WritersLife
Susan Stoderl
- Aug 20, 2022
- 1 min
Saturday Series | Walter Mosley
“If you want to be a writer, you have to write every day. The consistency, the monotony, the certainty, all vagaries and passions are covered by this daily reoccurrence. You don’t go to a well once but daily. You don’t skip a child’s breakfast or forget to wake up in the morning. Sleep comes to you each day, and so does the muse.” (July 2000) Walter Mosley (b. 1952) was the only child of a Jewish mother and African American father. On his website, he is described as "one of t
Susan Stoderl
- Jul 29, 2022
- 2 min
Writer's Life | The Social Media Battle
In June, I began building a new website and updating social media sites from a composer/writer frame to an indie children’s book author heading toward two book launches. The ins and outs of using social media as a marketing tool have become a dreaded specter of my daily existence. Long before I began building my new Facebook (“FB”) and Instagram pages, I received notice that FB was taking down my old professional page since it had been unused for over three years. I wasn’t co
Susan Stoderl
- Jul 27, 2022
- 1 min
A Family by Choice — Not Blood
One of the major themes of Sophia of the Bright Red Sneakers series is the creation of her own unique family as an orphan. This would also apply to kids who have parents but still spend many hours alone. Pedro has living parents but is an only child. His parents work five and one-half days a week away from home, so he is often alone. Sophia and Pedro become de facto brother and sister, and BFF. The other chosen members of her unique family are all single adults, ranging in ag
Susan Stoderl
- Jun 27, 2022
- 1 min
Morning Stillness
I try to begin my day in stillness each morning. I admit to a fetish for candlelight and prefer votive candles in stained glass holders because they burn higher—no doubt a vestige of my prior tenth-century vocation as an abbess of an English convent. During winter, I sometimes leave them burning most of the day. This morning it was light but cloudy, so I lit my candles to begin my day in stillness and centering. After a certain point, the liquified wax threatens the flame’s s