Falklore: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is past and I have a lot to be thankful for. I hope you do too. My life has been full; a great mother who alone during the Great Depression raised seven kids that taught me the true facts of life, having been a Marine of which I'll always be proud, excellent education--not easily achieved, athletic, successful marriage, a beautiful wife, six sons and ten grandchildren, and now, as a senior, reaching another goal in life -- that of writing successfully.

A most important thing in writing, especially as a senior citizen, is learning from others. To augment what you have achieved by writing every day, take advantage of what many others can offer.

Read - - not just anything, but read everything you can about writing, especially about the genre (which simply means the area in which you are interested).

Following are several excellent sources:
Handbook of Novel Writing (Writers Digest); Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing, by David Morrell, author of "First Blood"; Writing Aerobics I (excellent exercises for the beginning novels) by Sterling & Davidson; A Writers Reference, by Diana Hacker. It's got an answer for everything.

If you are interested in writing in the first person, read my novel, Sitting Duck, that will be out sometime in December. A fellow author thought "it was phenomenal. (I like her). Get a hold of a good Grammar text for reference since one of the most important requisites in submitting manuscripts is good grammar. Whatever you do, don't put off reading. Any, or all of the above, along with reading (make it bedtime) published novels will certainly get you onto the right path to success.

Questions/Comments? Contact Jim at james@jamesfalk.net, or visit www.jamesfalk.net.

James Falk, as a teen-ager, used to dream of being a big-time racketeer. Fortunately, his dream didn't come true. A 10th grade dropout, he finished highschool after four years in the Marines and went on to earn a B.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in Communications.