Final day, final letter of the A to Z Challenge. This is… Z – END Thank you so much for sharing this challenge with me. You are the reason I write. Deborah It takes two flints to make a fire. ~Louisa May Alcott
April 2013 archive
Permanent link to this article: https://www.deborahsmall.com/z-is-for/
Apr 30
Y is for Yippee! and You
Second to last day of the A to Z Challenge, and I am almost all lettered out. And totally chuffed. I decided to sign up for A to Z to challenge myself—no, to prove to myself, that I was better. Healed. Well enough to pick up the stiff, dry and cracked reins of my authorial dreams, get …
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Apr 28
X is for Xenophobia
So close to the end of the A to Z Challenge…letter X today… Xenophobia = Chauvinism, intolerance, racism, prejudice; it makes or breaks character, and fiction. Martin Luther King Jr., Oprah Winfrey, Norma Ray, the suffragettes, gay men and women…past and present examples of real-life individuals and groups fighting for recognition, respect, and the same rights persons …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.deborahsmall.com/x-is-for-xenophobia/
Apr 26
W is for Wow! Words.
A to Z Challenge nearing the end. It’s letter W, or Wow! Words. Wow. An odd word. A palindrome. What’s a palindrome? A word, phrase, or sentence that spells the same backwards and forwards, like tot, bob, peep, pop, damm’it I’m mad, etc. I know. Cool. And fun. Words are fun. My favorite games as a child were …
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Apr 26
V is for Valor
A to Z Challenge letter V today. And the theme, valor. Valor. A quality of being that transcends physical strength, or mental prowess; a courageousness of spirit encompassing both pride and humility, honor and compassion, a willingness to do what is right at personal expense. A soldier who takes a bullet to save a buddy, a policewoman …
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Apr 24
U is for Unicorns
Wow. I can’t believe I’m already at letter U in the A to Z Challenge. And I am so grateful to have made it thus far, especially given the last year (or two) (which I will not recap here, focused as I am on what I can make of the present, and future, rather than …
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Apr 24
T is for Trends and Target Market
A to Z Challenge letter T… Vampires. Cowboys. Shape shifters. Shape-shifting cowboys and vampires. Sweet. Sexy. Erotic. Down-home and jet-setting; traditional, e-pub, and Indie. The latest trend in Romance novels is…everything, and anything. Traditional publishing rules—whereby editors and Houses decide what readers want and then publish accordingly—no longer apply, not in a tech-savvy world where …
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Apr 23
S is for Sensory Experience
Wow. Beginning of week 4 of A to Z Challenge and already we’re at letter S. And I’m borrowing from an old post again, as this traveling thing has my schedule on the rails. From 2011… Toast. This is one of my favorite smells, not for its odor, but for the memory it provokes of …
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Apr 20
R is for Rating Rejection
End of week three of the A to Z Challenge and we’re on letter R, for Rating Rejection. Because I’m traveling, and access to wi-fi spotty, I decided to reissue an old post, which adds to yesterday’s discussion on reentering the query gauntlet…There is such a thing as rejection excellence. Or an excellent rejection. What makes …
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Apr 19
Q is for Queries and Queens
Q-day in the A to Z Challenge and today, the theme is Queries and Queens. Yesterday I mentioned the complexities of human behavior and emotions, how motivation is different for different people, how different people cope with similar situations, how novelists strive to write engaging—saleable—books. Today I share how one woman helped me cope when …
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