local writers Archives - Sharon L. Clark

It’s fall y’all!

This is my favorite time of year for a slew of different reasons. I love the change in weather, the cool nights and comfortable days, the end of sweltering heat and oppressive humidity, and ‘sweatah weathah’. September also celebrates several of my favorite people: my oldest sister, my daughter-in-law, one of my best friends, my daughter, and my husband.

Now it’s October, and I love it even more.

October is my (and my younger sister’s) birthday month, the leaves are changing color, I can put up my silly Halloween decorations, it’s chilly enough to pull out soup and stew recipes, and it’s time for Preptober.

Never heard of it? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Next month is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and October is the time to start getting ready, to start plotting, and to reconnect with all the friends I’ve made through writing. I get to help organize events for November and to draw more authors into the fold of our local writing group.

The other day I held my first Preptober event of the season and even though I was awkward and weird, I think it went well. The goal of Preptober is to help authors gather the tools, community, and confidence for a successful and fun November. Don’t get me wrong, it is fully self-serving. I need the encouragement and the kick in the pants to get ready to write next month.

And cheering on other writers is the best way I know to cheerlead for myself.

This will be my seventh year participating in NaNoWriMo and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that it changed my life. Not only did I meet my best friends through the group, but I can now see a future in which I can have a career as an author, doing something I love for the rest of my life. Every year in the fall I get to meet new people, develop new skills, and draw ever closer to reaching my dreams.

What’s not to love?

Will you be participating in National Novel Writing Month? Do you use October to prepare? Leave a comment, ask me questions about NaNoWriMo, or send me an email and let me know!

Stephen King has said it time and time again: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

Finally, I took some time to read for fun! I started with a book I purchased six months ago at the DSM Book Festival in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. One of the books I purchased was Witches’ Quarters, the debut novel from Des Moines-based author Laura Snider.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read for me and I hope Laura can turn this into a series, somehow. She made it easy to become invested in the lives and troubles of the characters and I would love to see what happens next!

Siblings Charlotte, Ava, Nolan, and June exist under consistently unpredictable circumstances. They have a violent father who takes his anger out on their detached mother; June, the youngest, lives with epilepsy; and the relationships among the four are tenuous at best, resulting in frequent clashes and arguments.

Their mother’s sister, Aunt Stacie, had given the oldest sibling, Charlotte, a bizarre gift for her 16th birthday: a bag of state quarters and a coin bank in the shape of a creepy, bare tree. In an attempt to distract themselves from the sounds of yet another beating that they are powerless to stop, they decide to examine the bank and slip a quarter from the bag into the slot.

That’s when things get wild.

The siblings are transported to another world that looks much like their own, but things are slightly off. For instance, in Nova animals can talk – and they aren’t happy to see the four children. Before long, they find themselves caught up in a war they know nothing about, June’s seizures are starting up again without her medication, and despite fighting and being separated, they have only each other to rely on.

Laura Snider does an excellent job of establishing the unique personalities of the children and demonstrating how much they change and grow throughout their events of the story. With every chapter, new strengths are revealed for each of the siblings, and they are all forced to make choices and take action in a way none of them thought they ever could.

Witches’ Quarters is full of excitement and danger, laughter and tears. While it could be considered a Young Adult novel, I think it has enough thrills to entertain readers of all ages.

Sharon L. Clark, Author

Tag: local writers

October Means Prep Time