Good to Be Back

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! 

I enjoyed every moment of my time with the three kiddos, but it's back to business here on the blog. Today, a reminder not to miss the incredible deals going on right now from HarperTeen:

EPIC DEALS: 10 EBOOKS FOR $10. 

 

From 12/20/11 to 1/30/12, 
10 incredible HarperTeen ebooks 

will be on sale for $0.99 each! 

* The titles, authors, and ISBNs are: *

 

~ Unearthly	Cynthia  Hand
~ Vesper	Jeff  Sampson
~ Hereafter	Tara  Hudson
~ Bumped	Megan McCafferty
~ Unidentified	Rae Mariz
~ Poison Diaries, The	Maryrose Wood
~ Entwined	Heather  Dixon
~ Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have)	Sarah  Mylkowski
~ Withering Tights	Louise Rennison
~ Lucky	Rachel Vail

You can visit either Amazon or Barnes and Noble to purchase these great deals! To find out more about hot Harper deals and titles, giveaways, and goodies, click HERE to visit the Epic Deals Facebook page!

 

Christmas Break

UPDATE:
If they get 100 new fans on the Bancroft Press Facebook page
(www.facebook.com/bancroft.press),
they’ll reveal the title of the second book of the
Atomic Weight of Secrets trilogy!!
Please go "like" them!

I'm taking the holiday off to spend quality time with my family.

Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone. I'll  be back on January 2nd.

HarperTeen Holiday Book Deal

EPIC DEALS: 10 EBOOKS FOR $10. 

 

 

From 12/20/11 to 1/30/12, 
10 incredible HarperTeen ebooks 

will be on sale for $0.99 each! 

* The titles, authors, and ISBNs are: *

 

 

~ Unearthly	Cynthia  Hand
~ Vesper	Jeff  Sampson
~ Hereafter	Tara  Hudson
~ Bumped	Megan McCafferty
~ Unidentified	Rae Mariz
~ Poison Diaries, The	Maryrose Wood
~ Entwined	Heather  Dixon
~ Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have)	Sarah  Mylkowski
~ Withering Tights	Louise Rennison
~ Lucky	Rachel Vail

 You can visit either Amazon or Barnes and Noble to purchase these great deals! To find out more about hot Harper deals and titles, giveaways, and goodies, click HERE to visit the Epic Deals Facebook page!

 

Happy Holidays!
Happy Reading!

Deja Vu Blogfest

DEJA VU BLOGFEST 

hosted by 

D.L. Hammons @ Cruising Altitude

Today is a day for Deja Vu, for re-living some of our favorite posts of the past. Choosing ONE post was not an easy task. In fact, it took me HOURS to narrow it down to five, and another hour from there. Ugh! Hopefully, I chose a post you'll think was worth it.

From February, 2010:

l

l

\/

RUNAWAY TREE

You all know by now how much I enjoy writing lessons by Barry Lane. I've realized I'm not alone in this - you seem to enjoy them as much as I do. So, here's one of my favorite Barry Lane lessons, taken from After The End:

"If I were to tell you that the maple tree outside there on the playground just said to itself, 'I'm sick of being a tree. I think I want to be a person now,' and if I told you that maple tree got up and is now sprinting down Interstate 89, what would you say?"

We would all say No Way! Not possible. Right? Barry Lane agrees that the initial response would be that trees don't run. So...

"OK, OK. But what if I said, 'The maple tree decided it didn't want to be a tree anymore and is running down Route 89 and there is a little boy named Seth chasing after it and a blue Chevy Cavalier wagon. And it just stepped on my 1979 Toyota Liftback, crushing the box of Twix candy bars I was saving to bring to class tomorrow.' What if I were to say, 'There is a cat up in the tree, and the fire department is chasing after it, and that cat is howling like a wolf on the highest branch, and the principal, Mrs. Stewart, has lassoed it with an orange extension cord and tied it to the bumper of bus number ten.' If I could tell you enough details, so that you begin to imagine something exact and real about this runaway tree, you might, you just might, go to the window and look. That's What writers do. They make you go to the window and look."

According to Barry Lane, we should think of the details of our writing as walls, not as wallpaper. Details are not decoration. They are part of a story's bones. 

Details are the best tools a writer has to bring writing into focus and find deeper meaning. Barry Lane says they should not be ends in themselves but should serve to bring to light the writer's larger vision.

 
How do you view the function of details?
 

Sail

"To reach a port, we must sail - 

sail, not tie at anchor - sail, not drift."

 

~ Franklin Roosevelt

To achieve OUR goals we must write. 

Not stare at the screen for hours "thinking" (please say I'm not the only one who does that). 

Not check Twitter and FB every 10 minutes for new messages. 

Not put it off until tomorrow . . .

WRITE.

Winners Are People Like You

Winners Are People Like You
Nancye Sims 
(inspirational poet)

Winners take chances Like everyone else, they fear failing,
but they refuse to let fear control them.

Winners don’t give up. When life gets rough, they hang in
until the going gets better.

Winners are flexible. They realize there is more than one
way and are willing to try others.

Winners know they are not perfect. They respect their
weaknesses while making the most of their strengths.

Winners fall but they don’t stay down. They stubbornly refuse
to let a fall keep them from climbing.

Winners don’t blame fate for their failures, nor luck for their successes.

Winners accept responsibility for their lives.

Winners are positive thinkers who see good in all things.
From the ordinary, they make the extraordinary.

Winners believe in the path they have chosen even when it
is hard, even when others can’t see where they are going.

Winners are patient. They know a goal is only worthy
as the effort that is required to achieve it.

Winners are people who believe in themselves.
They make this world a better place to be.

 Be a winner!!

I Am Me

"I am somebody. I am me. I like being me. And I need nobody to make me somebody."

~ Louis L'Amour

 (source)

In the crazy world of publishing, it's easy to fall into the mindset that we NEED an agent to validate who we are as writers. Then we NEED a publisher to validate our stories. Then we NEED sales to validate our publishing success. Then we NEED a second book to validate that the first book wasn't a fluke. And so on and so on . . .

THAT'S NOT TRUE. Those things are all wonderful and are all part of the journey we are trying to take, but they do not make us somebodies.

I am a somebody every time my husband tells me he loves me. I am a somebody when I hug my kids and tuck them in at night and watch their Christmas programs or athletic activities. I am a somebody when I help my students become better readers and writers. I am a somebody in a hundred different ways each day. Because I AM ME.

When your heart starts to doubt, 

what makes you feel like a somebody?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday - Tales of a Sugar Hero

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Shannon Whitney Messenger decided it was time to give middle grade stories the attention they deserve, and "Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays" was born.  

Tales of a Sugar Hero

 by Michael Dahl

  

Goodreads Blurb:

On her eleventh birthday, Halo Nightly receives a mysterious collection of candy jars from her Aunt Pandora. The sweet treats inside fuel her with the powers of fire, water, earth, and air! As the worlds newest sugar hero, Halo must defeat the evil sour-villains who threaten to rid the world of fun and flavor!

This is a darling book, and it definitely hits the mark with its intended audience. My daughter absolutely loves it! She reads it over and over. In fact, whenever we go out and she gets bored, she asks for my kindle so she can read it some more. The illustrations are fantastic, the story is fun, and the message is a good one. I highly recommend this for young readers everywhere. 

*** ALSO . . . I'm making my debut over at PROJECT MIDDLE GRADE MAYHEM today. Please stop by and say hello. 
 

** Others who can be counted on for MMGM: **

• Joanne Fritz @ My Brain on Books 
• Ben Langhinrchs @ My Comfy Chair
• Sherrie Petersen @ Write About Now  
• Brooke Favero @ Somewhere in the Middle
• Myrna Foster @ Night Writer   
• Ally Beecher @ Kid Lit Frenzy
• Barbara Watson @ Novel and Nouveau
• Deb Marshall @ Just Deb!
• Anita Laydon Miller's Middle Grade Blog
• Michael G-G  @ Middle Grade Mafioso 
• Natalie Aguirre @ Literary Rambles
• Ms. Yingling @ Ms. Yingling Reads 
• Jennifer Rumberger 
• Pam Torres @ So I'm Fifty 
• Mary @ Writer's Butt Does Not Apply to Me 
• The Accidental Novelist 
• G.S. Prendergast @ Angelhorn

 Happy Monday!

Persistence in Practice

"Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice."

~Octavia Butler

I am working to embrace this philosophy right now. My re-writes were flowing freely, my CP and agent were loving them, and then . . . nothing. I hit a wall. And my CP was on vacation when I hit it. I just kind of shut down, ya know? Two weeks and not ONE new word.

So, it's time to just write. Period. I can't give myself permission to live in this bubble of denial any longer. Waiting for inspiration has not moved me forward. Maybe getting back in the habit of punching the keys will. 

How do you break through those brick walls when you write? 

 

The Kindle Fire

 I'm in love with my Kindle Fire, 

and here's why . . .

Thanks to the combination of  landing an agent and the upcoming Christmas season, I was able to sweet-talk my hubby into getting me a Kindle Fire. And I love it! I know not everyone has an eReader and many are still apprehensive about them (it took me a long time to cross that line, too), but the Fire is really something fun.

Aside from the amazingly inexpensive $199 price, I love that it's in color.We are all pretty addicted to book covers, and seeing my favorites in color is awesome! Also, I no longer need a portable reading light at night because I can switch to a black background with white font. Then, voila! No problem.

My kids love playing Android Apps like Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies on it. My 9 yo even uses it to practice his math facts--I downloaded some free math games and flash card apps, and now he loves to practice.

I use my Fire to check my email, Twitter, and FB accounts. I use it as a family planner/calendar. I watch Dr. Who and Lost on it. I can use it as a GPS, a calculator, a travel planner, an alarm clock, an MP3 player, a movie player, and a gaming device. AND MORE.

*****

For anyone who has a Fire (or gets one), the KINDLE FIRE DEPARTMENT BLOG is a gold mine of information. I think it's a DAILY must-read. The Fire Department provides links to Amazon's daily FREE kindle books and daily FREE Android Apps. 

Even better, the Fire Department Blog provides tips and tricks to help make your Kindle run better: How to set up an external speaker system; How to use the Cloud Drive memory to maximum effect; How to sync your fire with your desktop apps . . . Plus, if you have a question, they will try to find the answer for you. I am addicted to the info on this blog!!

A recent tidbit from the Fire Dept. was a link to this article, which you might find interesting:

* An awesome article called The Goldilocks tablet: Why Amazon’s 7-inch Kindle Fire is ‘just right’

If you are considering whether or not to purchase the Kindle Fire, 

I say go for it! 

I really LOVE mine!

Gateways

"Nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings."

~ Ralph Blum

If there is one thing we learn as writers, it's that nothing is guaranteed in the book world. More than anything else, we have to hold onto hope with both hands. Never let it go. A setback today may be the stepping stone that leads us forward tomorrow. 

So many writers have shared stories of heartbreak and success with us over the years. SO MANY: Elana Johnson's 180+ rejections before finding an agent smart enough to sign her; Beth Revis wrote TEN novels over TEN years before her ACROSS THE UNIVERSE success. It goes on and on . . .

If you want to be inspired, to feel hopeful, to believe in the impossible, read the following stories.

* Caroline Starr Rose's joy...then disappointment...then joy again story HERE and HERE and HERE 

* Natalie Whipple wrote this post HERE and now has a novel being published by HARPER TEEN in 2013!!

* Katie Ganshert's long wait HERE

* Karen Amanda Hooper's story, HERE 

* Shelli Johannes-Wells's story HERE

These are only a few of the many stories out there, but they never fail to make my heart smile and soar with new hope.

What helps keep your hope alive?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday - Cabin Fever + Giveaway

***UPDATE***

WINNER:  Brenda Demko!!

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Shannon Whitney Messenger decided it was time to give middle grade stories the attention they deserve, and "Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays" was born.  

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever

 by Jeff Kinney

Blurb:

Greg Heffley is in big trouble. School property has been damaged, and Greg is the prime suspect. But the crazy thing is, he’s innocent. Or at least sort of.

The authorities are closing in, but when a surprise blizzard hits, the Heffley family is trapped indoors. Greg knows that when the snow melts he’s going to have to face the music, but could any punishment be worse than being stuck inside with your family for the holidays?

My 4th grade son read the entire book the night I brought it home, and my 2nd grade daughter devoured it the next day. We all know these books sell themselves, so I don't need to convince you of their greatness. I would like to give away a copy to one lucky commenter, though. But NOT my copy! He he.

Simply follow my blog and leave a comment by the end of the day Wednesday. I'll announce the winner on Thursday's post.

** Others who can be counted on for MMGM: **

• Joanne Fritz @ My Brain on Books 
• Ben Langhinrchs @ My Comfy Chair
• Sherrie Petersen @ Write About Now  
• Brooke Favero @ Somewhere in the Middle
• Myrna Foster @ Night Writer   
• Ally Beecher @ Kid Lit Frenzy
• Barbara Watson @ Novel and Nouveau
• Deb Marshall @ Just Deb!
• Anita Laydon Miller's Middle Grade Blog
• Michael G-G  @ Middle Grade Mafioso 
• Natalie Aguirre @ Literary Rambles
• Ms. Yingling @ Ms. Yingling Reads 
• Jennifer Rumberger 
• Pam Torres @ So I'm Fifty 
• Mary @ Writer's Butt Does Not Apply to Me 
• The Accidental Novelist 
• G.S. Prendergast @ Angelhorn

 Happy Monday!

Book Lover's Holiday Giveaway Hop

***UPDATE***

WINNER:  CD MEETENS!!

 

Hosted by: I Am a Reader Not a Writer 

and Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy

Like all of I Am A Reader's hops, this one is HUGE, which means an amazing number of opportunities to win--again. Participating blogs are all featuring book related giveaways. 

The window of time to enter is from December 2nd - December 6th. You can find the linky at either of the hosting blogs. It is too long to post here.

MY GIVEAWAY:

  

One winner will get to choose an ebook or print copy 

of the brand new release, 

  

TANGLED TIDES. 

Trust me: you REALLY want this book!!

  

Because I don't like it when contests take forever to enter, just . .  follow me

leave a comment 

and if you want to hit the tweet button below, that's good too (but not required)!

A Taste

Here are some of Amazon's December sale titles for Kindle. 

All are $3.99 or less!

Also, one of my favorite writing gurus, Ralph Fletcher, 

is doing a holiday promotion of

SIGNED BOOKS

on his website (www.ralphfletcher.com)