Harriet Beecher Stowe,
born on June 14, 1911 in Connecticut and lived
much of her life in Cincinnati. Her
best-seller, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, helped galvanized the abolitionist
movement, leading to the Civil War.
Harriet saw the value in being surrounded by books. Does the presence of books impact your writing?
Gabrielle V. Brown writes all manner of fiction and nonfiction. Find her on Facebook, and instagram ; contact her at gvbrownwriter@gmail.com. For more about today’s birthday author, visit her website.
Novelist and photojournalist Nayantara Sahgal celebrates her birthday today, May 10th. Her novel Rich Like Us won the Sinclair prize for fiction.
Have you ever encountered bewildered looks when explaining your
yawns were the result of getting up at 3:00 am for that idea that couldn’t
wait? Or found yourself trying to explain why your antagonist has their own
playlist?
Some may consider we writers just a bit quirky. Acknowledge them politely. Then get back to following your passion and write those words.
Gabrielle V. Brown, Contributing Editor with Writing From the Peak, writes all manner of fiction and nonfiction. Visit her website, find her on Facebook, and instagram orcontact her at gvbrownwriter@gmail.com.
Photo of bronze of Marcus Aurelius courtesy of the Louvre.
Today’s
writing advice is nearly two thousand years old. Roman Emperor and Philosopher
Marcus Aurelius would be celebrating his 1898th birthday today*. His core work, Meditations, originally
entitled “To Himself”, may be one of the earliest self-help books.
Aurelius’ advice is 65 generations old, yet still valuable. You’ll not get that next project finished until you start!
*appropriate calendar adujustment
Lit-Quote provided by, Gabrielle V. Brown who writes all manner of fiction and nonfiction. Find her on Facebook, and instagram ; contact her at gvbrownwriter@gmail.com. For more about today’s birthday author, visit her website.
Today, April 12th, is the birth
anniversary of Tom Clancy.
Tom Clancy was once a Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history. Then he wrote The Hunt for Red October, which catapulted onto the New York Times bestseller list after President Reagan pronounced it “the perfect yarn”. Clancy was known for weaving realism and intricate plotting into can’t-put-it-down suspense novels.
Photo taken by Gary Wayne Gilbert, 20Nov1989 at Burns Library, Boston College and is used under Creative Commons License..
Have you ever written real life situations that were just too unbelievable to be included in your work?
Lit-Quote is provided by, Gabrielle V. Brown, Contributing Editor with Writing From the Peak. Gabrielle writes all manner of fiction and nonfiction. Find her on Facebook, and instagram ; contact her at gvbrownwriter@gmail.com. For more about today’s birthday author, visit her website.
Born today in 1965, Robert Sabuda is
best known for his enormously successful popup books. Robert was brought
up in rural Michigan with few resources. He followed his passion and taught
himself now to create three dimensional books. He reminds us that the most
important tool in our craft can’t be bought. Some authors prefer to work the
old fashioned way. Do you find that pen
and paper change your creative flow?
Gabrielle V. Brown, Contributing Editor with Writing From the Peak, writes all manner of fiction and nonfiction. Find her on Facebook, and instagram ; contact her at gvbrownwriter@gmail.com. For more about today’s birthday author, visit her website.
Today marks the birth anniversary of Ted Geisel, known to most as Dr. Seuss. He offered timeless advice to authors of every generation.
Photo: Al Ravenna, New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer [Public domain]
Gabrielle V. Brown, Contributing Editor with Writing From the Peak, writes all manner of fiction and nonfiction. Find her on Facebook, and instagram ; contact her at gvbrownwriter@gmail.com. For more about today’s birthday author, visit her website.
Danilo Kiš’ ; (22 Feb 1935 – 15 Oct 1989) novels and short stories are influenced by the death of his father in a Nazi concentration camp and his family. Danilo, who’s image appears here on a postage stamp from Montenegro, is best known for his Family Cycle trilogy and was intended to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature before his untimely death. His short stories, novels, and poetry earned him international awards. This quote was part of an address to aspiring writers. Our characters become interesting as they gain scars.
Gabrielle V. Brown, Contributing Editor with Writing From the Peak, writes all manner of fiction and nonfiction. Find her on Facebook, and instagram ; contact her at gvbrownwriter@gmail.com. For more about today’s birthday author, visit her website.
Gloria Naylor (5 Jan 1950 – 28 Sep
2016) saw her debut novel, The Women of Brewster Place, (1982) win
critical acclaim and become an Emmy-nominated miniseries starring Oprah
Winfrey. Gloria’s work includes several more novels and inclusion in anthologies.
She taught at Cornell, George Washington University, and Boston University.
How long does it take you to get that
first sentence just right?
Gabrielle V. Brown, Contributing Editor with Writing From the Peak, writes all manner of fiction and nonfiction. Find her on Facebook, and instagram ; contact her at gvbrownwriter@gmail.com. For more about today’s birthday author, visit her website.
Photo by Frankie Fouganthin [CC BY-SA 4.0] from Wikimedia Commons
Nobel Prize winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro was born November 8,1954. He’s the author of six novels and has been awarded the Booker Prize, an OBE for Service to Literature, and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
In his latest novel, Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro creates an environment that is at once both familiar and unique. How do your memories impact the scenes and characters in your stories?
Gabrielle V. Brown, Contributing Editor with Writing From the Peak, writes literary and speculative fiction, nonfiction and the occasional poem. Gabrielle’s published works include technical and academic nonfiction, poetry, memoir (as a ghostwriter) and a cookbook. Find her on Facebook, her website, or contact her at gvbrownwriter@gmail.com.
Welcome to November and the first day of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Are you participating? Last month Writing from the Peak covered many ways to prepare yourself for NaNo, and today is your day to fly. I wish all of you luck and perseverance as you dive head first into what might be one of the most grueling writing months of the year. Some will cross the finish line in twenty days, while others will crash and burn in two. No matter when you cross the line, just remember, success is not finishing first, but starting in the first place.
Writing from the Peak, will spend November helping you keep writing. Deb Buckingham will help you find ways to Generate Ideas. DeAnna Knippling will set the pace for you with Pacing Primer. Lit-Quotes by Gabrielle Brown, are always inspirational and a visit with the Grammar Police by Robin LaBorde will keep your writing free of comma comas. In addition to PPW’s blog, Pikes Peak Writers will also be hosting monthly events that will certainly add to your writing arsenal.
Open Critique
This FREE program provides a critique experience for a small number of PPW members who seek feedback on manuscript pages and who want to learn how to have positive critique group experiences.
Write Brains
Write Brain Sessions are free mini-workshops on the craft of writing, business of writing, and the writer’s life. Watch for them in Colorado Springs on the third Tuesday of most months. Pikes Peak Writers began offering monthly Write Brain workshops in 2004.
Write Drunk, Edit Sober
Come and enjoy some wonderful, guided improv writing prompts and a discussion about what those prompts produce.
Writers’ Night
Writers’ Night is two full hours of discussion, laughter, and fun with other local members of Pikes Peak Writers.
I wish everyone writing success in NaNoWriMo as well as anything you are doing this month. May you find the courage to sit at your writing table each day to conquer whatever writing beast you are facing.
Managing Editor, Kathie “KJ” Scrim, is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her inspiration for blogging, flash fiction, short stories, and the long haul of novel writing comes from her many life experiences. When she’s not writing you can find her somewhere in Colorado walking, hiking, or rock climbing at the local gym.
Lit-Quote is provided by, Gabrielle V. Brown, Contributing Editor with Writing From the Peak. Gabrielle writes all manner of fiction and nonfiction. Find her on 
Managing Editor, Kathie “KJ” Scrim, is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her inspiration for blogging, flash fiction, short stories, and the long haul of novel writing comes from her many life experiences. When she’s not writing you can find her somewhere in Colorado walking, hiking, or rock climbing at the local gym.