Even better, now that I'm no longer teaching and can clean and wash whenever the mood strikes me, I still look forward to Friday, but because the weekend schedule is a bit different. I give my stories and myself a break and usually work on queries or research or something different. Or I just read and do photo albums or genealogy.
Still no news to report. Maybe I was dreaming.
Have a fabulous weekend.
- Mood:
contemplative
Review
Lea Schizas has written another page turner. Once I started reading about Bubba and David, AKA Giganto, I couldn’t stop. Before I knew it I’d read the whole story. I’m so glad I did.
Bubba (yes, Bubba, not Bobby or Brendan) Jacobson, tough guy, smart mouth, sensitive heart, and David (Giganto) Montana, nice guy, picked on by bullies, big and clumsy, are the least likely of friends. But when they meet on the first day of ninth grade a remarkable friendship is formed.
This is Bubba’s first year at Pierson High, and he’s delighted to discover they have a soccer team. Questions arise, however, when Bubba and David try out for the team. Why does Mr. Ambrose, the gym teacher, tell Bubba not to push David (Giganto) into something he doesn’t want to do? What is the secret about the boy who died during a soccer scrimmage the previous year? Is David (Giganto) connected to the tragedy? And why is Jason, all-star athlete with an attitude, so determined David doesn’t make the team?
Ms. Schizas is a master at surprise endings. Just when you think you know all the answers, she changes the questions with an unexpected twist or two. I never saw this one coming.
Themes of bullies, soccer, friendship, and forgiveness are woven through this short story, making it one boys can relate to and will enjoy reading. I recommend it for reluctant readers, children who perhaps are facing their own bullies, and also for sports lovers and everyone who enjoys a fast-paced book with continuous action.
- Mood:
busy
Now, back to the world. Queries. Writing. Waiting. It isn't nearly as much fun as listening to three little ones seeing their personalities growing into distinct individuals. And my what appetites.
Writing news. "Mothers Hug, Mothers Kiss,my article for young readers, is Online at Stories for Children Magazine. Stop by and read it if you get a chance. This article was previously published in Focus on the Family Clubhouse Jr.
Have a great weekend. I'll catch up on reading blogs sometimes.
Happy reading and writing.
- Mood:
exhausted
It's almost Saturday. Yay! My grandkids are coming from California. They'll arrive on Sunday. Can't wait to see them. Tomorrow I'm baking brownies and cookies and we'll snack and play. What a wonderful week we'll have.
Have a great weekend, everyone. Enjoy your families.
- Mood:
ecstatic
A dog.
A winning combination.
Mayra Calvani’s latest picture book, CRASH, is the delightful story of a boy named Marcelo, whose mom and dad give him a golden retriever puppy for his fifth birthday. Marcelo says “this is the happiest day” of his life. The puppy loves Marcelo as much as Marcelo loves the puppy.
Marcelo bathes his puppy, brushes his puppy, and feeds his puppy. They play and go for walks. Marcelo teaches his puppy to obey him. They are best friends. But the puppy needs a name. And not just any name, but the perfect name for this special puppy. Marcelo thinks and thinks. Mom and Dad make suggestions. But none of the names are right. Then one day, when Marcelo and the puppy are playing, Marcelo discovers the name that fits the puppy perfectly.
Oh, no. I’m not saying. You have to read the book to see what it is.
CRASH will capture the attention of young puppy lovers who will read the story of Marcelo and his special puppy over and over, or have their parents read it to them. Watch out, Mom and Dad, because your child will be asking for a puppy just like Marcelo’s. The accompanying artwork adds to the story with priceless expressions on the characters’ faces, setting the mood and tone of the story. Give this book to all your little readers and pick up a copy for yourself. You’ll be glad you did.
• Paperback: 24 pages
• Publisher: Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc (March 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933090545
• ISBN-13: 978-1933090542
Mayra is giving away a $20 gift certificate from Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue and Santuary gift shop: http://www.almostheaven-golden-retrieve
Also, Mayra will be donating 50% of her royalties to Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue and Sanctuary, Inc., a non-profit organization:
Multi-genre author, reviewer, dog lover and animal advocate Mayra Calvani hails from San Juan, Puerto Rico. She's a regular contributor to Blogcritics Magazine and American Chronicle. When she is not writing, she enjoys reading, playing the violin, interviewing other authors for her blogs and newsletters, watching reruns of Gilmore Girls, and walking her golden retriever, Amigo. She’s the author of the picture book, The Magic Violin, also published by Guardian Angel Publishing.
Visit Mayra at:
http://www.mayracalvani.com
http://www.mayrassecretbookcase.com
http://www.mayrassecretbookcase.blogspo
http://www.violinandbooks.wordpress.c
http://www.thefountainpennewsletter.blo
- Mood:
happy
So I got out a newspaper article I had saved from years ago about baby bird season to see if I should do anything. Since the bird had feathers and a tail, the article said to leave it alone even though it couldn't fly. The parents were probably somewhere nearby and would feed it. It said to keep dogs and cats and kids away and if the parents didn't show up later then it told how to care for the baby and who to contact.
This morning a pair of blue jays has scolded and screeched and kept us out of the yard. I did check the patio. The baby was gone. We saw a baby in the yard that was being fed. Mama or Daddy got in a fight with a mockingbird. The blue jays tried to get in a fight with the cat. Of course, I kept her inside. One of her favorite places is the window next to my computer desk. This morning she went to her usual perch there where she watches what's happening in the mulberry trees, and two blue jays started divebombing her. I put her out of the room so the birds wouldn't hurt themselves on the glass.
At noon I walked through the backyard, around the side, and to the front. No sign of a baby bird or big birds. Total quiet. I don't know what to make of it. Maybe the baby learned to fly and they took off. There should have been more than one baby. I can't locate the nest to see if more are in it.
Anyway, Patches is one unhappy cat because she loves the outdoors. I managed a little writing, but kept thinking about the birds.
That's been the beginning of my week.
Have a good one, everybody.
Happy reading and writing.
- Mood: hopeful
To promote the release of The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing, co-author Mayra Calvani will be interviewing 15+ reviewers and review editors during the month of June. Learn all about the business of book reviewing and what's in the mind of some of the most popular reviewers on the internet today. Some of the guests will include: Alex Moore from ForeWord Magazine, James Cox from Midwest Book Review, Irene Watson from Reader Views, Andrea Sisco from Armchair Interviews, Magdalena Ball from The Compulsive Reader, Sharyn McGinty from In The Library Reviews, Lea Schizas from Muse Book Reviews, Linda Baldwin from Road to Romance, Hilary Williamson from Book Loons, Judy Clark from Mostly Fiction, and many others!
To see the complete lineup, visit: The Slippery Book Review Blog.
Between June 1st and June 30th, stop by Blogcritics and leave a comment under the reviewer interviews for a chance to win a Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tour (coordinated by book marketing guru Dorothy Thompson), OR, as an alternative to a non-author winner, a $50 B&N gift certificate!
- Mood: busy
One meaning, though not the only one:
(1) a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something
(2) a revealing scene or moment
Okay, so that's two meanings. I can't count. In my story that I'm polishing to send out, my character says she has an epiphany. "Telling, telling, telling." What to do? I know I need to "show" her change, her moment of truth, her turning point.
And I found exactly what I needed in a super article I read about that very subject: Now she shows the change trhough action and dialogue. If I can fix the other problems in the story, too, she'll be on her way to a new home, maybe.
I hope everyone had a restful Memorial Day. Our son cooked hamburgers on the grill. They taste so much better than the ones fried in a skillet.
Happy reading and writing.
- Mood: happy
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
What were you doing ten years ago?
I don't remember?
What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
1. Answer these questions.
2. Go for my annual echogram.
3. Mail a synopsis and sample chapters query.
4. Change hummingbird feeders.
5. Work on my mg wip.
What are some snacks you enjoy?
Ice cream. Strawberries. Potato Chips.
What would you do if you were a billionaire?
Share most of it with my sons and their families. Donate to the Children's Aid Society. And provide money for the local animal shelters.
What are three of your bad habits?
Procrastinating. (Thanks for that one, Julie) Getting too upset over the bad things in the world. Haunting Amazon for sales ranks on my books.
What are five places where you have lived?
Wichita Falls
Iowa Park
That's it
What are five jobs you have had?
Clerk Typist at the local Air Force Base
Secretary at an insurance company
Secretary at an oil company
Teacher's aid and substitute teacher
Teacher
What six people do you want to tag?
Whoever would like to play.
- Location:Dest
- Mood:
curious
This week has started out of focus. I'm a very scheduled person, I guess because of all those years I was a teacher. When extra things come up now, it takes me awhile to get back in the normal routine. Monday, which is usually a writing day, was spent at our district retired teachers meeting. It was interesting, and the food was delicious, but now I must get back in the groove and write.
E-mailed one magazine submission this morning. Then worked on my mg wip. I'm stuck on this chapter. Will get it though. I'm still working on a synopsis for my YA story that I hope to mail later this month or in June. Why is the synopsis so hard to write? At least for me it is. Remind self: never give up.
I'm reading some awesome books. Will talk about them later.
Have a great week everyone.
Happy reading and writing.
- Location:Desk
- Mood: relieved
My self-addressed envelope came home yesterday. I opened it up, as usual. And got quite a shock. The synopsis and sample chapters were for a manuscript I mailed in July of 2006. I had written it off months ago. In fact, I think I've made several changes to the story since then. I wonder what it is about me that makes my stories float around in that space of nothingness for months and months when everyone else hears about their work in a reasonable time. Another one I've given up on has been somewhere, probably lost in someone's desk drawer since November 2005. Not to worry. They're both visiting other houses, in search of the right home. One day, they'll find their proper places. I'm just curious.
Donna McDine did an awesome interview with me this week. You can take a look at http://www.writingforchildrencenter.com.
Have a great weekend, everyone. I'll be sniffling and scratching itchy eyes from my allergies and hoping the wind stops blowing pollen and dust around soon.
Happy reading and writing.
- Mood: tired
1. She chases moths and bugs and eats them.
Good, because she helps keep our patio free of bothersome insects.
2. She sharpens her claws on the furniture.
Bad, I've had to cover the sofas and chairs with throws to keep her from destroying them.
3. She rolls the toilet paper off the roll.
Bad, because she shreds the paper in the process until all that's left are scraps.
4. Before the sun comes up, she pounces on my chest to wake me.
Bad, I prefer to wake slowly, savoring my dreams, instead of being jarred awake by a feline staring me in the eyes, saying "Breakfast time, get up you lazy girl."
5. And lately she's discovered the hummingbird feeders attached to the dining room windows.
Bad, though she can't reach the birds from inside the house, she may remember them when she's outside and try to catch them.
Good, her antics make for some great photos.
So if four out of five of the above are"bad" things, why do I keep Patches?
I have little choice. She tilts her head and talks to me in cat talk. The language may be different, but I know what she's saying. Even though I'm not perfect she loves me. Even though she's not perfect I love her.
And that's enough.
(Thanks to Sylvester and Tweedy Bird for letting me borrow your words.)
I Taut I Taw a Puddy Tat
I Did Taw a Puddy Tat.
- Mood: amused
Have a great weekend.
Happy reading and writing.
- Mood: hopeful
The nearby fields are looking great. The wheat grows taller every day. Which reminds me: How many times have you seen the heroine described with lovely wheat-colored hair? When I read this description I have to laugh. Take a look at a wheat field this time of year. It's green, yes. A character with green hair must be from Mars. Or else she dyed her hair and it turned out green. Yep. That can happen. I'm proof. When I was still teaching, I colored my hair one weekend. And it turned green. Not a bright green but a dark green. So when I went to school on Monday, my sweet fifth-graders kept looking at me rather oddly. But the sweet little guys said nothing. I finally brought up the subject by having fun with it. Since our school colors were green and white, I said I wanted my hair to show my support of our football team. Kids painted their faces and streaked their hair. Why not the teacher? They probably thought I'd lost it, but were too polite to say so.
(I never used the ash tint coloring again.) But I digress.
Anyhow, as the wheat matures it does turn golden and by harvest time is a lighter beige. So a heroine with hair the color of ripe wheat would paint a beautiful description.
Have a great week.
Happy reading and writing.
- Mood: amused
- Music:Birds chirping, Wind humming
When I was in high school I learned to type on a manual typewriter. Pretty cool, I thought, though my fingers had a bad habit of hitting the wrong keys and my work often came out looking something like this:
Erwey hoof not sirs fome.
( Every good boy does fine - with my fingers one key or more off - if you can't intrepret the sentence.)
Poor teacher. Imagine trying to make sense of that. And the print got kind of messy sometimes from all that Wite-out used to make corrections.
Then along came electric typewriters. Whoa baby! Fancy, fancy. When I worked as a secretary for an oil company I barely had to touch the keys and words printed. Changing the ribbon was a mess though, and I ended up with purple fingers that proceeded to smear my nicely typed business letters. Still, it was better than the manual type. Also, unless I wanted to type the whole letter or story over again, I had to use carbon paper to make copies. You've heard of green thumbs for people who grow beautiful flowers. I was the purple fingers girl. Also, one tiny mistake, a misspelled word or punctuation error, and the whole letter had to be retyped. Not fun.
Later, for personal use, I bought a word processor. Neat. Even though the tiny screen showed only a few lines at a time, I could save my work on disk and do away with carbon paper for keeping copies.
And now ...drum roll please ... computers changed the world. I've owned my share. Each one got better and better. You can store pictures, music, make videos, birthday cards, and do almost anything your heart desires with a computer. (Except make it clean house. I'm waiting for that one.)
But ... sometimes a computer has a mind of its own and takes control. Take my laptop for instance. For the past several weeks, without warning, vertical lines or horizontal lines would appear on the screen. Pictures flashed annoyingly behind the lines. I could do nothing with it, except shut the thing down. So I went to the manufacturer's Web site, read the Troubleshooting questions, chose the one that closest fit my problem, and followed the steps it suggested. Thirty minutes later, the reply told me every thing worked right. Well ... what about the lines that weren't supposed to be there?
Next, I contacted a technician, and we had a pleasant Online conversation about my trouble.The tech said it was an easy fix. We just needed to download a new driver. (A month earlier I had talked to a tech on the phone and he said he couldn't fix it unless it was doing its weird thing. Huh?)
Anyhow, I told the Online tech I had never downloaded a new driver. The tech said no problem. He'd do it for me. And lo and behold, he did. All I had to do was sit and watch as the mouse pointer moved here, moved there, and did its thing. Every now and then I had to click OK or yes, for him to continue, but I ended up with a new driver (I suppose) and so far, the laptop works fine. Spooky, huh?
My question is, what next?
- Mood:
weird
The past two weeks have been good and bad.
My brother passed on to his heavenly home. Though he will be missed, he's at peace. And I will remember him as my big brother. In fact, the mc in my mg story that's under contract is like him in some ways. My brother (12years older) used to tell me the story of when he was a kid, I loved for him to take me for rides in the carriage. He was embarrassed because he was afraid the girls would see him. My mc has to take his little sister for rides, and he's afraid his friends will see him. Dedicated to you, my brother. Our families are great sources for ideas.
Other news: I did corrections for Rebel in Blue Jeans, scheduled for release in paperback late June or July.
My ya work in progress is almost finished, except for final polishing of punctuation and spelling. The ending is my major concern after comments from my critique group. I'm playing around with changing it, or not. Still debating.
My mg work in progress is taking shape, slowly.
The Children's Blogfest was lots of fun and I learned some good stuff.
A lovely rain fell, adding water to our stock pond. We no longer have horses, but some fish do call the pond home, so they're happy.
The severe weather--hail and tornadoes--were a few miles away from us, and as far as I know no one was seriously injured.
Have a good weekend everyone.
Happy reading and writing.
- Mood: calm
Happy reading and writing.
- Mood: thankful
Well! Dreams are free.
Oh, how sweet. Two birds outside my writing room window are "twitterpated" to use a term from BAMBI. Life goes on.
On a happier note, REBEL IN BLUE JEANS is listed for preorder at Barnes and Noble online. It's due out in late June. Yay!
Also, I'd like to invite everyone to visit the "Writing for Children Blogfest" from March 31 to April 5. http://thewritingjungle.blogspot.co
Meet writers and read reviews. Leave a comment and be entered to win a free e-book. We'll have a great time, so join us. (Actually it's already started.)
Have a good weekend. Happy reading and writing.
- Mood:
blah
When others talk about the books they loved as a child, I'm blank. I have none. Fairy tales fascinated me though. Every Saturday morning I'd listen on the radio (we had no TV until I was in high school) to a program called "Let's Pretend". There I met Cinderella, Snow White, and other fantasy characters.The first novel I remember enjoying and not reading to write a book report on is Gone With the Wind. It's still my favorite.
Fast forward a few years. Today, a stack of books at least a foot high sit on my bedside table, waiting their turn for me to devour their contents. Another stack of magazines patiently wait in the den. The carpet waits to be vacuumed. The kitchen waits to be mopped. The furniture waits to be dusted and clothes wait to be washed. As for cooking--maybe I'll get around to it, after I've finished that book.
Thanks for strolling down memory lane with me today.
Happy reading to you all.
- Mood: working
Have a good week, everyone.
Happy reading and writing.
- Mood:
lazy
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