Three Times A Charm with Hélène Boudreau & a Bonus Giveaway!


Three Times a Charm is a weekly feature that spotlights authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from the publishing industry.

This week author, Hélène Boudreau, is visiting with us and offering a book giveaway. See, you already know how awesome she is. Hélène, can you please tell us a little about you? 

I write fiction and non-fiction for children and young adults. I am also a compulsive walker, a bacon lover, and have a bit of a smilie addiction. J

Bacon! 

Sorry, dozed off. *slurp* Tell us about your work.

My books include the REAL MERMAIDS tween series (Sourcebooks) about an aquaphobic teenage mergirl, the RED DUNE ADVENTURES chapter book series (Nimbus Publishing) about amateur sleuths solving eco-mysteries and my upcoming anti-bedtime story called I DARE YOU NOT TO YAWN (Candlewick 2013).

I yawned already! I’m hopeless.  How fun. You really write it all, don’t you?

Now, for the Threes. Share with us your top 3’s to help us know you a little better.

  • Top 3 tools of the trade you couldn’t live without.

1. My purple sparkly gel pen for revising.
2. My multicolored post-it notes for revising.
3. Old donated letterhead to print out manuscripts for revising.

I do a lot of revising! My latest manuscript, REAL MERMAIDS DON’T NEED HIGH HEELS (Feb 2013) took about seven drafts before I could bear to show it to my critique partner. She gave me amazing feedback, which I incorporated into another draft before showing it to my agent. In turn, my agent helped me really hone into a few problem areas, which I worked on before submitting it to my editor.

My editor and I did one major revision, one medium revision, one copy-edit revision (which I just submitted yesterday) and there will be one more pass at the manuscript just before it goes to press.

So, yeah…that’s a lot of purple sparkly gel pen ink, post-it notes, and paper. I always feel a pang of sympathy for the poor trees that have sacrificed themselves in the name of my manuscript revisions!

  • Top 3 leisure activities.

1. Walking: There’s nothing better for me than starting my day with a nice, long walk. A lot of people like to listen to music when they exercise but I much prefer audiobooks. I could walk for miles and miles (and have) while listening to someone tell me a story. My longest walk was a 2-day / 50 km (31 miles) distance and I also love competing in walking half-marathons. I’m training for one right now, as a matter of fact. 

2. Mindless TV and movie watching: This is my guilty pleasure. I’m a hopeless romantic so shows like The Bachelorette or cheesy Romantic Comedies are my favourite. And of course, I could watch The Princess Bride a kajillion times, though my husband doesn’t mind—we quote that movie over and over again! ‘Anybody want a peanut?’

3. Reading: I love paperbacks, hardcovers, e-books, audiobooks, books made into movies, movies made into books—you get the picture.


  • Top 3 pieces of advice for kids these days.

  1. Listen to what your parents have to say but think for yourself.
  2. Listen to what your teachers have to say but think for yourself.
  3. Listen to what your friends have to say BUT THINK FOR YOURSELF!


Hélène, where can our tech-savvy readers go to keep up with you and your work?

You can find Hélène on Twitter, Facebook , Goodreads, and on her Website.
Now for the giveaway. Hélène has offered to give one lucky reader their choice of one of the Mermaid books! Isn’t that awesome? What are you waiting for? Enter for your chance to win. You have less than a week! Hurry!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks Hélène for the awesome giveaway and for joining us today on Strands of Thought. I feel a bit guilty that I haven’t invited you sooner! I hope to have you back to visit again soon!

THANKS!

Comments

  1. Sarah ButlandAugust 22, 2012 at 4:04 PM

    I very much want to read one of these books. I've been hearing so much about Helene's amazing stories, I want to dive into one myself.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kai Strand, AuthorAugust 22, 2012 at 4:32 PM

    Thanks for entering, Sarah! Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Deniz BevanAugust 22, 2012 at 4:54 PM

    Yay for Helene! I've gotta get me a sparkly pen...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kai Strand, AuthorAugust 22, 2012 at 10:08 PM

      She is as adorable as those sparkly pens, isn't she?!

      Delete
  4. Sherry EllisAugust 24, 2012 at 5:17 PM

    Sparkly pens are cool! I like your advice for kids, too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. PK HREZOAugust 26, 2012 at 6:33 AM

    Great contest! Heard of these books and they sound super cute.
    Nice to meet you Kai! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. penelope anne coleAugust 29, 2012 at 3:46 PM

    Another great review, Kai. Helene's books sound wonderful.

    ReplyDelete

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