A Giveaway and A Working Break

Last week, I asked you if you had a plan and I told you mine.  Saturday, I began on my health plan.  By going six days a week at an extreme fitness gym and following their nutrition plan, I can already see a visible difference in me. (I'm not talking about the fact that I'm limping today, LOL.)  I am being really focused.  (Everyone claps...)  

I realized I need to be like this with my writing too. 

Lenny and I working on a picture book.  We chatted about it for quite a while today.  I'm not sure if this is how you partner up to write a book, but this is how we are doing it.  He's writing the first draft and I'm consulting.  Then he'll send it to me.  Then I'll send it back to him and we'll chat.  We'll keep doing that until it is perfect and then we'll send it to some of our great bloggy friends for a critique and more revisions until it's polished and ready to submit.

I read YELLOW STAR by Jennifer Roy.  If you get my Goodreads updates or my tweets you'll know I was blown over by the story and the writing.  It made me waver a bit about the importance of my hf story compared to something so compelling, but thanks to some supportive friends (waves Theresa and Len) I'm back on track and want to finish my hf mg novel, NOT A HOLIDAY.  Lenny has promised to be (on my case) super supportive over the next month so I can get close to having the first draft done.

Soooooo, I'm going to take a working break from blog posting until Valentine's Day.  Then I will give you a full report (accountability is so important) on my progress.  Until then I am giving away three books.  All you have to do is be a follower and leave a comment.

 (Published by Guardian Angel a small press based in St. Louis.)

(a personal favorite )

(a writing craft book)

I hope you are having an amazing month!

Hugs to all... (Be safe if you are driving on icy roads.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LENNY!!!!!!

Today a special friend of mine (and probably yours) turns eleven... If  Lenny brightens your day when you read his lovely words, please hop over and wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY.    When I read his posts or comments on my blog and your blogs they always make me smile.  He may be turning eleven, but he is one wise young man...

I am truly blessed to have found Lenny's World!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BLOGGY FRIEND...

Quirkiness In Your Characters

I'm a good dog.  I only sit on Dad's chair when invited (or no one is home).  I know how to lay down, how to go to sleep, how to beg, how to roll over, how to get my belly rubbed, and how to sit on my pillow.  I even know what toy to get when Mom says, "Where's rope? or "Where's ball?"  I always bring the right toy...even if I have to look for it all over the house.  I don't go upstairs...EVER!  Ginger lives up there and she doesn't really like me.  Sometimes she will let me lick her if Mom's holding her in the family room, but she doesn't like it.

I have a confession...I have a problem and I don't know how to stop doing it.

You probably can't tell by looking at me that I even have this habit, but it drives everyone in my house crazy.  I don't think it's such a bad habit.  I've seen some of the things people do.  Throw litter on the ground, spit in public, not cover their mouth's when they cough and worse...much worse.  Mom's writing about a girl who cuts herself.  Why would anyone do that?

  I'll bet you can't even tell what my quirky habit is?

I don't really care if my right ear is shorter than my left ear...I'm not looking for a husband...

Your characters must have real flaws in them...They must have highs...They must have lows...or they're going to be boring..

I'd like to thank everyone for stopping in and reading my post about my new critique partner.  You put a smile on his face...If you haven't checked out Lenny's blog hop over and I'm sure you'll leave with a smile and a friend...

Surprises Come In All Shapes, Sizes and Ages...

I can’t tell you the exact date that I met Lenny, but I can tell you it was around the time Stripes died. I stayed in bed with my computer and my remote for about two weeks. Sounds silly, but I was sad…really sad.

I think it went something like this: I was on Susan’s blog and I saw Old Kitty’s picture and name, click… saw Brian’s picture, click…saw Lenny’s comment and click I had a new friend.

About a month later I got an email from Lenny…He had gone out of his way to find out what S.M.A.R.T. goals were because of a comment I had left somewhere in blog land. AND then he had taken the time to figure out my email address (which wasn’t so easy because I didn’t have it showing on Blogger) and sent me an email.

Lenny is a writer. Lenny makes me smile. I know when I see his name in my comment section I’m going to have one of those feel good moments. I know when I see his name on your blog you’re going to have one of those moments too.

Lenny is almost ELEVEN and likes cake a lot. I like cake a lot. In fact, I like it so much I wrote a picture book (manuscript) about baking a cake. I DVR three cake baking shows! Back in June, I joined the Next Top Title Blogfest and lots of you guys (including Lenny) liked my title A CAKE I WILL BAKE. Lenny mentioned my title in a comment recently…it made me think. He remembered my title! I was super surprised! I asked him if he would like to critique my picture book and he said yes. I was thrilled!

Lenny did a great job critiquing A CAKE I WILL BAKE! He wrote almost a whole page of comments for me.

He told me things he likes:

-i like the title cause its real catchy

-its real easy to read and that riming makes it fun

-its got cool fun words. i love the word dump. ha ha. and i like the word yummy

-its a happy story and could have lots of happy pictures with it

-being an i poem is cool for when a kid reads it cause it makes him feel like its about him

-its got a good message for sharing with someone and with dad.

And things he thought I could do better:

-i read it out loud and some parts of it got a little slower or got me stopped for a minute cause it lost its beat.

-i didnt like sticking that teddy bear on the top. i could like it better if it was a chocolate teddy bear and not the favorite for real one. yikes it could get all sticky and messy and maybe get ate up.

And then his brother Sebi threw in his ten cents too. I have to say with their help A CAKE I WILL BAKE made some big improvements and I can’t wait to present it at an agent lead critique group at SCBWI –KC in a couple weeks….

If that weren’t enough…I came home from running errands (yesterday) and found a package on my front porch. I was a bit confused because I wasn’t expecting anything. When I opened the package this is what I found.

TWO HUGE VOTES OF CONFIDENCE!!!

Thank you so much, Lenny and Sebi! I’m so glad we're friends…Your encouragement means so much. (You two will be the first people I email when I sell A CAKE I WILL BAKE!)

I truly hope every one of you has someone in your life that surprises you with encouragement…Please feel free to share!

PS...Have a safe and Happy Labor Day Weekend!