Friday Five

1. Going to leave little teasers on my NaNowrimo project:

My story is set in a small town in Italy. Here's my Grandpa Console who's father fled the Black Shirts(Mafia) and immigrated to the states where he ended up opening a very successful ranch where Grandpa would escort silent movie stars. His Mexican mother made authentic Mexican and Italian dishes.  I remember some of Grandpa's Sicilian dishes which he almost always put tons of red wine in.

**Guess what I'll be mentioning in this novel?

2. Been practicing yoga which has been helping with my anxiety attacks.

3. Still working on this revision. For sure, will query again in January.

4. Some more teasers of Cybils' nominated books I've been reading. But first an observation. I've been noticing more 18 year old protagonists in the books I've been reading.  Hmm, wonder if this is a new trend?

THE ART OF STARVING by Sam Miller

Kuddos to Miller for addressing the topic of food disorders for boys. As a mother of a teen son, I didn't know that boys also have this disorder. Miller shows a protagonist who uses not eating to get some super powers to find out who hurt his sister. This is a dark at times, but very realistic portrayal of a gay teen trying to find his place, while coming to grips with what happened to his sister.

5.  LUCKY IN LOVE by Kasie West

This is a fun, sweet tale of a teen(she's 18) who wins the lottery and what happens after that. It's filled with humor, heart, and love.

** ALEX, APPROXIMATELY

This is a sweet tale of a girl who ends up moving to a California surf town  where her online friend Alex lives without telling him. In the meantime her job at a quirky museum has her working with a cute but annoying boy named Porter. I really loved the movie references throughout. A light, fun romantic tale.

**Guilty Pleasure:

My one yoga teacher Savita is starting a mediation class every Friday at 9am. Going to start going. I need to do this as it helps me be centered and is calming.

**Saturday will be attending the November OCCRWA meeting which will have a speaker go over story beats. Love this group!

Ara Grigorian

Story Beats

This highly interactive session examines the core beats all great stories share and shows you how to apply them to your own work. These internal patterns are story beats—the pulse of story—the events, the decisions, or discoveries that alter the way our protagonist pursues her goal. By decomposing and analyzing  favorite works (books, movies, etc.) like a surgeon, Ara shows us how to find the inherent patterns that makes all stories flow.