Here is a great post from Jerry Jenkins for any writer. There is also a pdf with the words for future reference.
Thanks Christopher!
The Story Reading Ape (Link)
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E-Books Decline 16.4% and Audiobooks Increase By 29.2%
Midwest Book Award Winner – 2017!
I don’t feel comfortable tooting my own horn too much, but I did let you all know Intrigue in Istanbul: An Agnes Kelly Mystery Adventure was a Midwest Book Award finalist in the children’s book category, so I thought I should share that it WON!
How exciting is that. It was kind of funny. I didn’t actually expect it to win (not that I think it’s a bad story or anything – it did win a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award last year) but I had been a finalist before for Will the Real Carolyn Keene Please Stand Up, which did not win, so I guess I expected the same.
For an FYI Intrigue in Istanbul is what I call a family story – it’s written for middle grade readers and up. I’ve had many adults who have enjoyed it, which is what I was going for, so I…
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Midwest Book Award – finalist!
Wanted to share with all my blog friends that Intrigue in Istanbul: An Agnes Kelly Mystery Adventure is a finalist for a Midwest Book Award!
As I probably already told you, it received a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, so a Midwest Book Award would be icing on the cake, as they say.
The “Gala” – aka the event where they announce the awards – is set for Friday, May 12th, in St. Paul, so I’ll keep you posted how it does.
Keep you fingers crossed for me 🙂
New Glarus School Author Visit
I recently visited three 5th grader classes at the New Glarus Middle School after they read my book: Intrigue in Istanbul: An Agnes Kelly Mystery Adventure.
I showed them some pictures of the places in Istanbul where the story takes place, explained a bit about my writing process (and how those pictures help me in that process), then answered some of their questions.
It was a very attentive and polite group and they came up with some really good questions. They even wrote up some ideas they had where the story might go next, so I’ll be interested to read those ideas! Book II of the Agnes Kelly Series is currently in the hands of my competent beta readers and I’m working on the chapter illustrations, so I hope to have it out in a couple months. I have yet to come up with a title, though. I know it will come to me, but it’s getting down to the wire. I need to get the cover done soon!
Ah, the joys of being a self-published author!
Donate a Book to a Worthwhile Cause #MARCHingBookstoKids #PBPiO
This is a wonderful idea. I’m in! Thanks Millie and Michelle!
We are delighted to be donating a book to the Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa Storybook Project. This March, a signed copy of ‘The Slapstyx’ will be winging its way across the pond for parents (and grandparents) in prison to read to their children.
Want to join in? You don’t need to have written a book – all children’s books are welcome as long as they’re in good condition.
Visit author Michelle Eastman’s page for details – and while you’re there, you might like to check out her tales of the Dust Fairies. We suspect they could be distant relatives of the Slapstyx dirt-goblins!
Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Promotion
For authors out there who have an ebook(s) and you would like to promote it, every year Smashwords does a big ebook promotion week. This year it is March 5th – 11th.
If you’d like to participate, you can go here to easily add your books to this promotion. If you’re not on Smashwords, there is also a link on this page to set your book(s) on Smashwords. I’ve been on Smashwords for years and think they are a very good company that really looks out for author’s interest. Mark Coker – the owner of Smashwords – has also given you different ideas on how to use this promotion.
I’m discounting all my books – why not, it’s only for a week!
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Free Speech Tested by Simon and Schuster
What do you think – authors out there?!
Drew Angerer/Getty Images from npr website
Did anyone hear this piece on NPR recently about a book by social media provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos?: https://www.npr.org/player/embed/509497010/509542890
It’s an interesting topic of conversation, in particular for all writers and readers out there. Does anyone have the right to promote hate speech? Is it right for Simon and Schuster to promote it by publishing this book (and profit from it)?
Ah…the democratic process in motion.
In Praise of the Vilified Prologue: Top 10 Novels with Prologues
I actually haven’t read or heard that a prologue is frowned upon. Maybe because someone in the book world thinks a writer should be able to catch a reader’s attention in the beginning of the book without such a device, which is why most writers use a prologue, is it not? I don’t have any problem with prologues and I don’t mind going against what something thinks a book is supposed to be like, if it works for the story. That is the most important thing, as the noted books in this blog illustrate.
“Loving Frank” by Nancy Horan is a great example of a book with an effective prologue.
In Elmore Leonard’s famous 10 rules for writing, the second rule is: Avoid prologues. “They can be annoying,” he wrote. “A prologue in a novel is back story, and you can drop it in anywhere you want.”
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What does a new work and Italian boy have in common?
Little Bit About Words
When I get the chance, I listen to NPR while I do work at my desk that doesn’t require my undivided attention. This morning I heard this piece about an Italian schoolboy who invented a word on some homework he handed in recently. His teacher marked it as incorrect, as teachers are apt to do, but she wrote him a little message telling him she liked his new word. She also wrote the powers that be in her country and is trying to get his new word put in the dictionary.
Kudos to the teacher!
This is a great illustration of how our language is always changing – etymologist at it’s finest. Besides words that are created for things that didn’t exist 5, 10, 15 years ago such as emoticon or ipad, it shows us that language is anything but stagnant, which can be a challenge to someone like me…
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