An insider tip on writing your novel.

Writing by the numbers

I recently finished my seventh novel and am currently revising that book while writing chapter 4 in my eighth. I'm thrilled about the new book. It's an adult adventure series I've been "walking around with" for a couple of years and am now excited to be actually working on it. I think the title and possibly the series title is "GreyGhost Island." 

But back on topic. People often ask, "how can you write a novel? It's a reasonable question and one I used to ask. The answer is: "One page at a time." 

Well Duh! But wait ... there's more. 

Can you write a page?

Can you? Can you sit down in the chair and squeeze out a page of typing? If you can, you're on your way to that first novel. If you can accomplish one page a day for 365 days, in a year you'll have a first draft of your whole novel. If you write two pages a day you can be finished in 6 months!

What if it's not very good.

Tell your story. Most first drafts aren't wonderful. At least not as wonderful as they will be after you polish on them. "What if you don't feel inspired?" No worries. Writing a novel is like any job with good days and bad days. After you've written awhile, the difference between a good day and bad day doesn't appear on the page. It's just how you feel. 

What if I'm old? Should I still write.

Maybe you should write faster? I don't know. I think you should write anyway. I'm old. I write as fast as I can but mostly because I'm excited to get the story out on the page and find out what happens next. However you write, if you've always wanted to try a novel, you should. As my annoying brother Joel often says: Do it! Do it now!

Remember, it's just one page at at time. You can do that. 

You can read thirty pages of any of my four published novels for free, at Amazon Kindle Books. Click this link: Jonathan Stratman's Books!

If you're on Facebook, please find and like my Jonathan Thomas Stratman, author page. It all helps.

Want to change a child's life? Read aloud together!

It's this simple. 

There are only benefits when you read aloud to a pre-schooler.

This is more than quality snuggling time together and the foundation for a lifetime bond you might miss otherwise. 

Early reading aloud can allow a child to arrive in kindergarten with a 30% larger vocabulary than those who've had no reading. 

The child with a larger vocabulary is ready to receive and understand more information from the kindergarten environment and get more from teacher instruction. Children with pre-reading experience OWN the head of the class. 

And keep reading!

Even after kindergarten, reading aloud continues to accrue benefits. A child receives and processes information at a higher level than most are able to read, up as far as about 8th grade. 

My youth novel, Cheechako, written for grade five up—middlegraders—is a read aloud in classrooms as low as grade 3. 

As a child, my mother read to my brothers and me as we did the dishes, to keep us from killing each other, and I heard, and was swept away by, the C.S. Lewis Narnia series long before I might have been ready to read to myself.  

As an added benefit, books like Cheechako and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and countless others, will be enjoyable and entertaining for you, too. 

Where to find children. 

If you don't have children at home or grandchildren handy, you can still change lives. Call the school or library near you and volunteer to read. You can also do a quick online search, like "volunteer to read to children," in your area, for more ideas. 

Seeking adventure? 

It's as near as my Alaska adventure three-book series, available as e-books or paperbacks through Amazon. Click this easy link to read up to 30 pages of each book for free. Remember, you can also read Kindle e-books on any regular computer. 

http://thebookspot.org/jonathanstratmanbooks

On Facebook? Please check out and like my Jonathan Thomas Stratman, Author page, and don't hesitate to write with questions and comments.