SARAH GAGNON'S GOOD NEWS

A couple of wonderful and amazing things have happened. I finished my revision. YAY!

I'm very happy with how it turned out. I did have a surprising moral dilemma with regards to the story, but I'll talk about it at another time. I need to think about what it means first.

The second exciting thing that happened is my amazing critique partner, Sarah Gagnon, has some wonderful news to share with everyone. Since it's her news and I don't want to spoil it for her, I'm going to ask everyone to pop on over to Sarah's blog so she can spill the details herself.

I will say how proud and thrilled I am for her.

Sarah, Carla Rehse, Don McFatridge, and I have been critique partners since we participated in the Agent Query Connect, Speculative Fiction annual Marathon in 2010. We posted a chapter a week of our manuscripts to get critiques for  12 weeks. After the marathon we stayed together. Fast forward two and a half years and we're still partners. (I also have to give a shout out to: Masako, Joyce Alton, Jordan, Kate Evangelista, Cheree Larkins, Michelle Hauk, Jason, and Bessie my other critique partners/beta readers. Love you guys)

Oops, sorry about the critter love. It's early in the morning and I feel wonderful today. *sips coffee*

Back to Sarah's good news.

Sarah is a talented woman with an amazing story to share. I predict you'll be hearing even more exciting news from her in the near future. I'm hoping I'll be able to convince her to come on the blog with a Sharing Our Voices post so you can learn her source of inspiration. 

Speaking of SOV's, I have one for you on Monday from the original gunslinger, Peter Burton. So I hope you stop by for that to show him some love. Only watch out. He's armed, although he seems to think it's for defensive measures.

Okay, enough of my ramblings. Please, pop over to wish Sarah congrats. Here's the link.

Cherie Larkins' BIG NEWS

Many of you already know the treasure that is Cherie Larkins @writercherie from her SHARING OUR VOICES post, but if you've just happened to stumble across this blog you may be a bit intrigued.

Who is Cherie Larkins? What is her BIG NEWS? Why are you so excited?

Well, I’ll let her fill you in on all the wonderful details .

I’m so thrilled for her I had to share. So, please pop over to Cherie's Blog and offer her your warmest congratulations and good wishes on her future endeavors. I know she would appreciate it. 

SHARING OUR VOICES- CHERIE LARKINS

I'd like to welcome Cherie Larkins to Sharing our Voices. I met Cherie a couple of years ago on Agent Query Connect. She is a wonderful mother, writer, and friend.

For more information on this amazing woman, please check out her blog, Cherie Writes... and twitter, @writercherie

Take it away, Cherie:)


Thanks, Angie, for letting me hijack babble post on your blog. It’s truly an honor to be here.

When Angie asked me to share about cultural or environmental influences affecting my writing, I immediately thought of FOOD. Must have something to do with being pregnant—I’m always hungry nowadays. J

But this topic actually has more merit than just an expectant mama’s cravings for Doritos and ice cream at 2 in the morning. Food, whether it has a subtle or more prominent presence in our writing, does exist in our stories.

Take my Middle Grade Fantasy WIP, for example. Food is a huge part of my worldbuilding. My protagonist is a twelve-year-old orphan seeking for his sister, who has been taken away by the Slave Traders. He comes from a farming village, so his memories of home include the sweet aroma of fresh-baked bread and pumpkin soup, and the herbs growing freely in his mother’s garden. But when his adventure leads him to a fishing village, the pungent odor of fish entrails permeating the very air he breathes in makes him sick. And he refuses to scavenge for leftover food, even while he’s slowly dying from starvation.  So when a peddler appears with a basket of pan de sal (salted bread), my protagonist immediately concocts a scheme to steal a roll.


Now this is where the fun begins…for me, anyway. I grew up in the Philippines, a country comprised of many islands. The nearest beach was about 5 minutes away from our house. Weekends would mean a day of swimming until our skin’s so burnt from the sun, we’d be ten shades darker by the time we go home than when we first set out in the morning. Then there was the food. Fish was a staple, of course. Fried, poached, grilled, baked, or sushi-style minus the seaweed and rice wrap. My mother would cut up raw fish into bite-sized cubes and marinate them in a vinegar-ginger-herb mixture. Yum!

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Once, I even saw my grandmother pick up sea urchins and bash them open with a rock. Inside was this gooey orange fleshy thing, and she would eat them raw. Grandma claimed it was really good, but I declined her offer politely. :-S

A lot of the food from my culture ended up in my WIP. It was a blast to create a world so familiar to me. It was even cooler to realize how reminiscent it was of my childhood. I even had my orphan boy visit a “wet” market, similar to the one we used to frequent in those days. No sterile packaging and white aisles here. Just a lot of stalls bursting with crawling crabs, glassy-eyed fish, and a variety of sea weeds, bundled up like bouquets of flowers. Fishmongers and vendors join in a singsong voice to lure customers their way so they can haggle and bid for the most reasonable price.



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Wherever we come from, or whatever experiences we may have had in our life, there’s always something we can take from our personal adventures and use it to inspire our writing. Or the worlds we’re creating. As a writer, it’s the best—and easiest—way to make our stories come alive.

Happy writing!