Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

March According to dictionary.com march means: §          to walk with regular measured tread §          or a tract of land along a border of a country §          or the third month of the year §          or a sir name Oh my goodness, no wonder English is offered as a major in college. How random is that list of meanings? For this blog post, we will focus on the definition, “the third month of the year.”   31 days long and many of them ‘noteable.’ In 1995 Congress designated March National Irish American Heritage month. Very fitting since the 17 th is St. Patrick’s Day. March is National Peanut Month, which is sad for my sister and the bazillions of people in this country allergic to nuts. The 2 nd week of the month is National Bubble Week. I didn’t know that, but no that I do I’m making big plans. Who doesn’t love b...

Recent Reads Torment by Lauren Kate– humble rating: Golf Clap+ – Enjoyed the new location, the new characters. Only thing that was frustrating was Luce’s extreme ignorance. I’m sorry I have to wait for the next book, though. Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl– humble rating: Motivational Speaker –I’m going to have to give this one a MS rating. I considered the Golf Clap with some plus marks because I wasn’t super crazy about how much help ‘conveniently’ showed up for Ethan along the way. But when I thought about the overall book, I admit, I was smitten. And it is a big ole book to be smitten with. For that reason, I’ll accept that poor mortal Ethan needed all of these more talented people to suddenly be involved in one way or another to help him. Plus, I was glad to see Macon again. Smitten. Switched by Amanda Hocking - humble rating: Golf Clap- – Hmmm. The story is good but the large amount of errors caused me to check on the publisher and I dis...

Make a list; Top three things important to you now. Top three things plaguing you now. Top three things impeding your progress now. Top three people that tick you off today. Imagine you learn that you are very sick, now. Imagine you fight, but in 8 weeks from now, you lose that battle. Go back to that list. What’s important now? Many, many prayers of love and healing are being sent out to the family and friends of Lisa Wolfson (writer L.K. Madigan) today. May the loss of this beautiful person be a reminder of what our priorities should be and where our goals truly belong within those priorities.

The Writer’s Prayer On this, another day of writing, please inspire my word choices and guide my grammar. On this, another day of promotion, please help me to whisper promoting thoughts into the ears of media specialists, classroom teachers, book store owners, parents and grandparents alike. On this, another day of manuscript submissions, please spit polish the query so that the sparkle attracts the attention of the right editor or agent. On this, another day of social media, please limit me to productive online time only. On this, another day of email obsessing, please distract me with my first request. With this prayer, I remain ever-so-faithfully a writer. Amen.

Must share my recent review of The Weaver by All Consuming Books . Feel free to share reviews with friends, teachers, grandparents. I have a four day weekend and plan to READ a lot. Maybe write some.  I've got a beautiful, heartfelt new idea forming inside my small mind for middle grade readers who want a story of depth and love and friendship and pain and...did I mention love?  Never know when the idea will be ready to come out. Recent Reads The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z by Kate Messner– humble rating: Golf Clap+ – Really enjoyed the story arc. Loved the leaves. I was far into the book before I figured out the title, duh! Great middle grade. And I’m a Red Oak. XVI by Julia Karr– humble rating: Golf Clap – Really enjoyed the dystopian aspect of this story. The world was well built and Julia does a good job working in futuristic elements like trannies and PAV’s without losing the reader or without overloading on explanation. Also loved the main ch...

I really can’t explain what it is about this show that makes me so mad.   Might be the host’s contrived hair.   Might be the over-the-top drama. Might be the token “accented” sidekick (in this case – the blueprint explainer). Don’t even make me think about the fact that the contestants spend loads of time at home practicing these games. If you do, I’m sorry. Really, I am. For some reason, my husband and kids like this show.   So it is on.   I guess now is a good time for a blog post.   I’ve been lax with my posts lately.   I wonder, does anyone miss me when I’m not posting? Or do you only notice me when I do?   My guess is the latter.   I really love browsing through my friends’ posts on livejournal. I’m kinda obsessed with scrolling through my reader in blogger. Then there are a few I have added to my favorites.   Do I notice when one out of the dozens of blogs I follow skipped a day or two? Um…no. However, I do enjoy a well thought out b...

Literature For Kids is a new online children’s magazine. The creator and editor is Linda Jo Martin. Linda, herself, is a children’s author, but she works hard each month to put together a quality product for children, their teachers and caregivers. This magazine is a good addition to a homeschool’s toolbox.   Let’s get to know a little more about Linda and Literature For Kids. Linda, what inspired you to take on such a huge monthly project? Linda: I wanted to develop my website, Literature For Kids, and decided this was the best way to get steady content there. I work well with deadlines. The monthly schedule forces me to get new pages on the web regularly. Literature For Kids is a long-time project for me because I love children, and love children's literature. The idea of having a website called Literature For Kids first came in 1996. I had a site by that name back then, on a third-party website provider's domain. Later I purchased my domain name and started a blog ther...

Beverly Stowe McClure has posted a wonderful review of The Weaver on her blog The Story of A Writer .   I hope you share it with all your friends. Congratulations to the winner of The Weaver from the book giveaway over on I’m A Reader’s site.   Rose Red. I will send your book out next week. Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway and, “Welcome,” to my new followers. Happy birthday to my buddy, Jen!   Have a fabulous weekend, everybody.

I have a lot of goals as a writer.   Some of them are simple; like word count or face time with child readers. Some of them are lofty; like selling one manuscript per year or hosting SNL w/Josh Groban as the musical talent. (I had a dream once that was, frankly, awesome !) But there is one goal that I’d love, love, love to achieve.   Writerly independence. Currently I work. Which isn’t the end of the world by any means. Many writers work outside the home and write in their spare time.   But I’d love for my writing career to advance enough that I’d be able to write full time. Mostly, so that I could travel. I have this dream of being able to spend time in obscure locations for long enough to really get a feel for them in order to make them a setting in a novel.   I’d love to be steeped in the feel of isolation and utter creepiness of a real live ghost town.   I’d love to spend some time in a town that is truly and utterly on its last breath having been beaten a...