A COLLABORATION OF WRITERS

Last year, the Adventures in Writing Club, in which I am a member, decided it would be fun to write a cozy mystery novel. The members, five writers--two poets, Annette Larkin, John Stickney; two historical fiction writers Sandra Warren, E.Jax Willoughby; and a sci-fi writer, James Salkeld; gathered to do what some thought impossible. Yes, that's correct. All five were attempting to write a novel. 

Everyone else seemed to think that a collaboration of this type would be challenging, but not one of the writers voiced any doubts. It's safe to say, however, a collaboration of this kind could only happen with respect, something these writers had in spades. They respected each other's imagination, creativity and writing skills. And, even though not everyone had publishing credits, no one writer had more control than the other. 

From week to week, the writers, now known as the Lake Norman Writers Guild, developed interesting characters, created a setting ripe for mischief, produced a crime with many suspects and dropped a few red herrings. 

Inspired by the community in which they all live, the writers gleaned and tweaked their experiences to form a tapestry of guilt and intrigue that you could, but hopefully won't, find in any active adult community. 

The result: Auras of Deceit: A Trivolity Cozy Mystery! 

This cozy mystery marries a lighthearted look at life in an active adult community with daring and intrigue when a "game of murder" goes horribly wrong. 

Auras of Deceit debuted shortly before the Christmas holidays and is available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle ebook. 

Curl up with your favorite drink and Auras of Deceit for a delicious, funny-fun read! 

The Lake Norman Writers Guild is available for Book Talks and Presentations locally near Charlotte, NC or via Zoom. Recommend it to your Book Club and receive one FREE Autographed Copy and a FREE Zoom meeting with one or all of the writers. 

Contact: Sandra Warren                     www.sandrawarren.com 

TO AI OR NOT TO AI: THAT IS THE QUESTION?

 To AI or not to AI? That is the question I, like other writers, are facing. When my work-in-progress is finished, I want to be able to honestly say that artificial intelligence was not used to create the story. That is a question some publishers are asking with submissions. 

So what's a writer to do? 

It's tempting to allow the latest AI version to partially or completely do the work. But if you do, the finished product isn't really yours, is it? I think not. Others may argue that although AI will never be able to compete with the creativity and emotionalism needed in a good story, it can come pretty darn close.  

Personally, I'm against using AI to create a story, but I can see value in using AI to analyze the final product, as long as you take what is written with a grain of salt. Recently, while involved with a collaboration of writers creating a cozy mystery novel, one of the writers plugged the final manuscript into AI for an analysis. What came back was an amazing look at story arc, character development with percentages of time each character appeared in the story, plot development, chapter strengths and weak spots, etc. In short, I'd never seen a critique so thorough yet specific. It gave enough information to allow us to make some changes and beef up parts we felt needed it. It helped us look at the manuscript from a different lense. 

AI can also be helpful to research clothing or setting or products for a period piece. For example, What kinds of things might you find in a 1950's grocery store? Or what would a gravel pit look like? Or what kind of equipment would a blacksmith use? Or what kinds of jobs and equipment are needed to build a skyscraper? Anything you might need to make your characters, your setting, your story more authentic. 

I think it's safe to say artificial intelligence can be used by you in the same way you'd use any other resource. 

Condensing a complete manuscript into a synopsis is another way AI might be of help. It's always a challenge to write a synopsis, especially if only one paragraph is requested.  AI could give you ideas for a long and a short one. 

Any good submission letter includes or should include recent work comparable to your submission. AI might be able to help with that, too. 

It goes without saying that any help received should be put in your own words. 

How do you feel about AI? Are you using it? I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

************                                                                                                                                              Recommend one of Sandra's books for your next Book Club read and receive one FREE autographed copy and a FREE Zoom talk!                                                                            

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New Year! New Goal!

 If you've been one of my faithful followers, you know that I've not been consistent in blogging over the years. In this NEW YEAR, 2026, my goal is to share more of what I'm up to on a regular basis. But, since January is already half over and I'm just getting started, I've already earned a C-minus or worse! I vow to be better! 

To be perfectly honest, I've always struggled with what to share. In my mind, posts needed to be meaningful, and to me, meaningful mean't something that teaches or inspires; something that will resonate with you, my readers and encourage you to make a comment, share with your social media friends or talk about it to others. Just writing this make me see my thinking is over-the-top. What others think about what I write is not my responsibility. What I write might be meaningful to some but it's impossible to inspire everyone. And to think I can is not realistic. 

So, scratch the meaningful idea. I'm just going to post whatever I'm mentally processing at the moment. 

If you have ideas or information you'd like me to write about, please share them them in a comment section. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR and Thanks for following me! 

REVISITING PATRIOTIC RENDERINGS

 With our country's 250th Anniversary right around the corner, it's time to revisit the patriotic offerings I was proud to pen for adults and middle-school students. 

We Bought A WWII Bomber: The Untold Story of a Michigan High School, a B-17 Bomber and The Blue Ridge Parkway, is the incredible true story of what students from a high school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, did in 1943, during WWII. They participated in the "Buy a Bomber" campaign and within eight weeks time, they instigated War Bond & Defense Stamp sales of over $375,000 which enabled them to buy, name and christen a B-17 Bomber and send it off to war. 

I became interested in this story because it happened at the high school I attended many years later. There was a huge poster of the bomber on the wall in the school bookstore where I worked during school breaks. I knew something about the story, all of us did, but as a teen, I really didn't care about it. Jump ahead fifty-years to a presentation given at the reunion where the bomber story was mentioned. It peaked the interest of one of my classmates to find the bomber that was purchased. You see, on April 6, 1943, students had gathered at the local airport to dedicate the plane. It flew off with all their hopes and dreams that it would fight the definitive battle and bring their fathers, uncles, and brothers home and they never knew what happened to it! My classmate found that it had crashed in Meadows of Dan, Virginia, less than three hours from where I live. 

My classmate called me and asked me to find out the whole story. I was able to verify that it was our school's bomber which opened up a whole new side of the story. 

She Started It All, is an historical fiction version of the nonfiction bomber story as told above, written for middle-school students. Even though the true bomber story is about what school-aged students did, I thought it would be fun to change it all into fiction. Set in a middle-school in the city near where the real B-17 bomber crashed, the WWII history reports of two students, one male and one female, collide in a surprising way when they discover they were reporting on the exact same airplane. 

When both books are used together in a classroom, they provide students with an excellent example how an author turns nonfiction into fiction. 

When Duty Called Even Grandma Had To Go, tells 2nd Lt. Dianah Kwiatkowski's story of  enlisting in the Army Reserves as a nurse, at forty-seven years of age and within two months of enlisting, being sent off to serve in The Persian Gulf War. This decision turned into a life-altering experience. 

Hidden Casualties: Battles On The Home Front, shares Sgt. Sara Raye's experience serving her country as an Army Reserves Nurse in The Persian Gulf War and coming home to discover her ex-husband had stolen custody of their three children while she was gone. Her battle to get them back would involve the military in two unprecendented moves and ultimately result in a change in enlistment requirements for single parents. 

These two memoirs came about in a strange way. In November of 1991, a few days after voting, I received a telephone call from 2nd Lt. Kwiatkowski telling me that someone in line in front of her waiting to vote, overheard her saying she was a veteran of the Persian Gulf War and couldn't find someone to write her memoirs.  That stranger turned around and said, "Excuse me. You need to call Sandra Warren, she lives in Strongsville. Look her up in the book."  

When the call came from 2nd Lt. Kwiatkowski, my immediate reaction was, "I don't write memoirs! I write children's books!" The lieutenant then begged me to let her come talk to me. She said that "God told her to call me!" Now how could I turn down a request like that?  We met and the rest is history. 

A few weeks after starting the Lieutenant's book, she came to me and said, "There's a Sergeant in my troop who served with me in the Persian Gulf, who has a story that needs to be told. Can I tell her to call you?" I said, "yes," and once again, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Both books were completed using interviews with each military nurse, their bosses and colleagues in uniform. Meeting both brave nurses and writing their memoirs opened my eyes to life in the military, the challenges and the joys, and increased my admiration for all who serve, ten-fold. Those memoirs, along with the story of the patriotism shown during WWII, made me more proud to be an American than ever before. 

Thank the brave men and women who give their ALL in defense of our freedom! Always remember, FREEDOM ISN'T FREE!

Sandra Warren

Thank you for reading my blog. Comments are always appreciated. 

The books mentioned above are available on Amazon. If you should read one of them, please share your honest likes and/or dislikes on Goodreads and Amazon. Thanks again! 

www.sandrawarren.com    or   www.arliebooks.com  

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COULD YOU FORGIVE?

Some of the biggest challenges in life are not physical, but rather mental ones that cut you to the core and challenge your faith, your morality, your integrity, sense of fairness and your very being. Just about one year ago today, on a bright sunny June morning, one such challenge broadsided me.           

      It came from one of my three brothers, in a telephone call, telling me that our youngest brother, was in a bike accident and things didn’t look good.

     My 59-year-old brother was the picture of health. He ate well, exercised and maintained a healthy lifestyle. He was married, with three grown children and three new grandbabies. Biking with his Christian Bicycle Club was one of his great pleasures in life. In this group of sixty bike enthusiasts, he was known as “Mr. Cautious” because of his strict adherence to safety off and on the bike.

     On this fateful day he was checking out a new ride for the club. He was riding in the bike lane on a country road with rolling hills and gentle curves, when a car rounded the bend, came across into the oncoming lane and hit him head on sending him one hundred and two feet down the road. The car continued onto the shoulder, then ran between two telephone poles, crossed the street twice more and landed in a deep gully in someone’s front yard. There were three witnesses to the accident, homeowners who happened to be working on their lawns at the time.

     The thirty-nine-year-old woman behind the wheel had just been granted early release from prison having been sentenced to ten years for drug possession; had no driver’s license; and was high on Meth, Fentanyl and one other illegal drug. She didn’t even know she’d hit someone.

     It was six months before she came to trial and another five months before she was sentenced. The verdict was guilty on three counts. She was sentenced to 15-years with no chance of parole-to life in prison. Before the sentence was announced, the family was allowed to address the woman.   

     Take a moment and think, what would you say to this woman? If you were writing a story, what would you have your characters say or do? Could you forgive?

     Only one of my two remaining brothers was able to attend the trials. I was unable to attend. My Texas brother sent a statement that was read to the woman at the sentencing hearing.

     The letter talked of my younger brother’s strong faith and how, had he met the woman, he would have loved to talk to her. It spoke of the family and how they were all Christians and how they know she didn’t do this on purpose. To paraphrase the last paragraph, 

          “Please know that I don’t hate you. My prayer for you is that you will come to know                     peace in understanding that your remaining years are nothing in terms of eternity. You still have choices. Please choose to find the faith my brother had and become a light in a dark place.”

     The judge commented that in all her years of serving on the bench, she’d never witnessed such loving forgiveness.

     Could you forgive?

     To read another extraordinary story of forgiveness in the face of tragedy, check out the novel, by Australian author, Dr. Bob Rich, titled, Hit and Run!  Read my review of Hit and Run along with an interview with Dr. Rich, in my February, 2021 blogpost!

 

Contact: sandra@arliebooks.com

https://sandrawarrenwrites.blogspot.com/

https://www.sandrawarren.com     or     https://www.arliebooks.com

I BINGE READ A "WRITING BOOK!"

I binge read a book about writing! Seriously, I did. Who does that? What could be more unexciting than the verbiage in a writing book, especially when a stack of highly recommended novels sit on my bedside table waiting to be read? 

The book arrived on my doorstep after agreeing to write a review for an author I had not previously known. The title and sub-title intriqued me; TIME TO WRITE: Inspiring Lessons and Practical Skills for Writing The Novel You've Always Wanted, by Emily Winslow. My husband retrieved it when the mail came, opened the package and left it on the counter. Later that evening, I picked it up, just to get a feel for what I was up against and thumbed through it. My eyes lit on the first page of chapter one, and I was hooked. 

Unlike most "how to" books that concentrate on the discipline of writing everyday and completeing X number of words per day, this author emphasized the importance of rest and daydreaming.  

            "This is because there are lots of steps to writing a book and writing is only one of them. Daydreaming, brainstorming, and what-iffing are parts of an essential foundation that count as a form of progress."                                                                                 A Time To Write, Chapter 1, Page 1.

The book is divided into eight parts: Getting Started, Writing Skills, Storytelling Skills, Technical Skills, Facing The Middle, Being Understood By Others, The Professional Life, and Your Future, with multiple chapters in each part. Intriqing chapter titles like Day Dreaming and Discipline, Grocery Bags and Maypoles, Wonder and Worry, and Tasting The Ginger, give you a flavor of her sense of humor and creative ways of sharing the information. Writing skills are masterfully separated from storytelling skills as are all skills, in short chapters using clear-cut examples and analogies. This is just a small part of what drew me into binging this book. Oh, and I might add, I highlighted something on almost every page! 

You don't have to be writing a novel to learn from this book. There is something, many things, inside for every writer no matter where they/you are in their/your writing, publishing journey. 

           If you can only buy one book on writing, make it "TIME TO WRITE: Inspiring Lessons and Practical Skills for Writing the Novel You've Always Wanted, by Emily Winslow. Here is the link to Emily Winslow's website and books:  bit.ly/48t8uqP

I'd love to hear from you if you find this book as useful as I did. Well, not just if you read the book. I'd love to hear from you anyway. 

Happy Writing! 

Sandra Warren is the author of books in several genres.                                      https://www/sandrawarren.com                                                                                      https://www.arliebooks.com

Contact:                                                                                                                                                      Email: sandra@arliebooks.com  

                 

 

Prejudice Begins In The Home

 Note: Can it really be a year since I blogged? My goodness! As the world shut-down for COVID in 2020, many writer's were inspired to write with their new found time at home. I, on the other hand, was among those who shut-down mentally. Now, as we begin our third year of concern and semi-isolation with this horrible virus, I'm happy to say my creative juices are finally getting back on track. And although I'm not a prolific blogger, I vow to be better in 2022. 

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This week, as we celebrate the legacy and historical contribution of Martin Luther King Jr., I'm reminded of my youth growing up and attending an integrated school in Michigan. That remarkable school, South High School, functioned, for the most part, like society should function; accepting and respecting the differences of others no matter their ethnic background, religion or color. It was a school in a factory neighborhood that was a melting pot of multiple nationalities including Dutch, Latvian, African American, Irish and German, to name a few. There were athletes and scholars and artists and musicians of all colors and creeds. It wasn't a perfect place by any means. There was prejudice, but it wasn't rampant. There was no them and us. Most grew up going to school with each other so attitudes were formed while very young. I was one of them. 

My earliest recollection of racial differences that I can remember came about in first grade surrounding a birthday party for my friend, Edna Mae. She had a birthday party and I was the only one who showed up.

I was thrilled to have the story selected for inclusion in the first Chicken Soup For The Kid's Soul book. You can read all about it in the book, on page 46. "Edna Mae, First Lesson In Prejudice" has provoked interesting discussions among groups where children and adults gather; in classrooms, churches and recreational programs, to name a few.

Like most things, our attitudes are shaped by our environment and our earliest environment is the home. As parents, the first teachers our children know, we need to be mindful of the thoughts and ideas they 
are picking up from our behaviors. Like the old saying, "manners are caught, not taught," so too is prejudice.  

Do you remember your first encounter with prejudice?  

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Contact Sandra Warren at  www.sandrawarren.com