When news of an imminent snowstorm hits, ordinary people prepare. Some anxious awaiters visit the home & garden store to buy calcium chloride for the sidewalk. They gas up the snow blower and place the shovel within reach of the front door. Others head for the grocery store to stock their shelves with bread, bottled water, heat-and-serve soup, hot chocolate, and perhaps a little something to spike it with.

But we writers are not ordinary people. Rather than waste our time gathering sidewalk treatments and rushing for staples, we do something that feels perfectly natural to us. We rush TO Staples. Or Office Max or even Target -- whichever is nearest -- for all we need is a couple of packs of printer paper, some fresh ink cartridges, and maybe a new pen.

What is Book Boot Camp? It is an intensive six-week workshop designed to take your work in progress from mediocre to marketable!

To quote yesterday's Publisher's Lunch, the newsletter of www.PublishersMarketplace.com, it read, "Even in the digital age, the power of meeting face-to-face cannot be underestimated."

While this quote was in reference to attending the London Book Fair, the writer was correct. Face-to-face meetings can be a powerful way to impact your writing.

Book Boot Camp's small group sessions offer writers targeted feedback specific to individual writing projects with a focus on improving the manuscript, taking it to the next level. Constructive, targeted suggestions cover content, editing, and marketing concerns.

While I chatted with one of the delivery men about the broken oven being a great excuse for going out to dinner instead of having to cook tonight, the other man fell silent. He was reading something hanging on my kitchen wall. He chuckled and said, "I like Dad's number three the best." It was then I realized just what he had read.

A little too early on January first, my teenaged daughter pulled out a piece of bright yellow poster board and a big pack of Sharpies(TM). At the top of the poster, she wrote in jaggedy, angularly artistic letters: Unbreakable Resolutions. She proceeded to create a bulleted list of five points for each family member and then added a column for the family as a whole, titled "Everyone." Under this category, she listed chores and responsibilities that generally fall on me, so I was quite happy to see that list evolve.

Once the poster was fully and colorfully decorated, we each had five "unbreakable" blanks to fill. "My first one is easy," I told my daughter. "Write 'EXERCISE'." She laughed and scribbled it in beside the number one.

I'd like to share with you today an essay I wrote about the first time my husband and I took on the challenge of preparing Thanksgiving dinner. The piece originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review several years ago (but don't worry because all publication rights have reverted back to me). This is one of my favorite stories to tell.

The Turkey's Wingless Flight
by Judith Burnett Schneider

A few problems arose with our decision to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at Mom's vacation condo in Florida. My husband and I would miss the family, for certain. But they could use the extra elbow room at the table. More critically, we'd miss our mothers. Without them, who would cook the Thanksgiving turkey?

This upcoming November 1st will be my fifth NaNoWriMo kick-off day when I stuff my laptop into my bag and head to the nearest Panera Bread to write. I stay as long as it takes to get in my required 1667 words that will serve as the day's quota.

"Not writing fiction," you say?

I say, "Who Cares?" Join NaNoWriMo today and make some serious headway on your nonfiction book, articles, essays, memoir, or even your outline.

Nancy Martin is an inspiring speaker and author of over 50 books including the Blackbird Sisters Mystery Series. She is teaching an online course through Pennwriters that begins on July 1, 2009 and runs through July 22 (with 3 sessions per week). The course is called HOW TO WRITE A CHARACTER-DRIVEN PLOT. You can register using PayPal or a credit card at this address: http://tinyurl.com/PennwritersCourse200907
The fee is $25 for Pennwriters members and $30 for nonmembers.

I have seen Nancy speak on several occasions and can't get my pen to write fast enough in her presence. She is informative and encouraging with a there's-room-for-all-of-us-to-succeed attitude. I'm sure the notes on Day One will be worth the entire course fee!

See you in class!

Judy

If you choose to read only one of Picoult's titles, I recommend you reach for My Sister's Keeper (2004). Why? Because, among other features, the author leaves you with no choice but to read to the end. Because you have to know what happens.

It belongs to a middle-aged woman who either had a couple of doses of Red Bull before she arrived or only has one hearing friend, the nodding woman sitting across from her who forgivingly keeps checking her cell phone.

Rather than pick up my laptop and move, however, I tune in. I listen to her run-on stories about continuing to pay her 25-year old daughter's credit card and about a college coed who got pregnant by a janitor. The woman dips her bread and fills her spoon and still the bowl remains mostly full. I want her to leave, but I don't.

For this woman has presented me with a gift: Clarity of Character.

I won't continue on the subject, here, because I feel enough has been said. When I had something specific to offer in the way of advice or opinion, I posted in the comment sections of the corresponding blog entries. If you'd like to catch up on any of the goings on, click on some of the blogs listed to the right of this posting.

If there's enough talk about the above-mentioned controversy, why then did I bring it up here? For two reasons:

1. To inform you of its existence, in case you didn't already know.

2. To NOT hop on the bandwagon and, instead, to help you use this fodder as fuel to propel you into writing/editing/submitting action.

How? By doing what every good writer should do in the spring/summer seasons: Attend a writers' conference.

My colleague and friend Mary Patouillet and I founded an exciting, information-packed WRITING CAMP INTENSIVE for students entering grades 4th - 8th. Borders Books and Music in the Shops at Northway on McKnight Road in Pittsburgh has offered us our premium venue for the past five years. Borders employees are extremely accommodating. In fact, their Regional Vice President and other regional managers have visited the camp and commented on what a unique offering WRITE NOW Writing Camp is! It's a warm and encouraging, positive experience that both parents and students truly enjoy.

This year, WRITE NOW Writing Camp will be held the week of June 22 – 26, 2009. Due to demand over the past three years, we host two sessions. Choose either the 9:00 AM – noon OR 1:30 – 4:30 PM session. Space is limited, so reserve your spot today!

The camp features Brainstretch Exercises and Round-robin Breakout sessions in fiction, nonfiction (including essays), and poetry. We also focus on various skills and techniques that help students learn to edit and improve their writing projects. At the end of the week, the students take home a bound book of their camp creations. It is a keepsake that is both a reference guide and a memory book.

As a unique feature, WRITE NOW's curriculum changes every year due to the high number of returning campers.

This year we're hosting our fifth annual WRITE NOW Writing Camp. We've attracted campers from 33 different schools and homeschoolers, as well. Kids come together from as far north as Evans City and as far south as Upper St. Clair to enjoy this event. We provide a unique, comfortable environment that encourages self-expression and interaction. What better way to release your child's creativity?

WRITE NOW Writing Camp is designed for students who love to write and for those whose parents wish they did! Click below to find out how to register and for more details.

Why blog about Super Senior on my writing space? There's a lesson for us all in what lies ahead. Keep reading.

As colleges passed out their decisions over the past few days, this ultimate applicant, however, received the following news.

Harvard: Rejection
Princeton: Rejection
Yale: Rejection
Penn: Wait-listed

Along with round-the-middle weight gain and rapid vision loss which requires one to stock up on over-the-counter eye glasses purchased in bulk at Costco, turning 50 brings with it the gift of intrusion in the form of a colonoscopy.

When my husband decided to succumb to the procedure, friends sent him the link to Dave Barry's column called A Journey into my Colon -- And Yours . Dave writes in full detail about the purging process and the exploration afterwards, so I need not delve into those previously charted waters. But I must warn you: Read Barry's essay in private to avoid being viewed as a hopeless geek who laughs at his own computer screen.

Don't pass up this opportunity to be a part of history. Experience democracy at work, firsthand. If you have no patience for standing in a long line, do what I did. Pack a paperback novel and a couple of snacks, stop for your favorite brew (it'll help the economy) and grab a spot in line. It's your civic duty, your right--an American privilege.

This moment in history can be yours to share for years to come.

Vote today! Vote now! You might be surprised at how great it makes you feel!

P.S. Have an interesting voting story? Why not share it below? (Caution: Candidate-bashing comments will not be approved.) Thanks!

This is our fourth annual WRITE NOW Writing Camp. We've attracted campers from 27 different schools and homeschoolers, as well. Kids come together from as far north as Evans City and as far south as Upper St. Clair to enjoy this event. We provide a unique, comfortable environment that encourages self-expression and interaction. What better way to release your child's creativity?

WRITE NOW Writing Camp is designed for students who love to write and for those whose parents wish they did! Cost is $130 and includes a t-shirt, notebook, binder, writing supplies, and a bound book of camp creations. Space is limited. Email me for details and availability.