Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love to introduce readers to people involved in children’s publishing. Today we have Stephanie Scott with us. She’s here to spread the news about a great contest. First, Stephanie, please share a little about yourself. I’m a pre-published author (don’t you love the positivity of that term?) with a few Young Adult Contemporary manuscripts under my belt. My agent Sarah LaPolla at Bradford Literary is working hard to find those manuscripts a home. Improving my writing craft is always high on my list. As is networking with writers on blogs and social media. One of my main sources of industry connections is through Romance Writers of America, a group I never imagined I would be a part of even just a few years ago. I attended a regional chapter’s conference, and a light bulb went off when I realized the driving factor of the manuscript I was writing was the romance. That realization actually helped me finish the book! Now I’m an active member of t...

I am preparing for the release of my young adult contemporary romance novella, WORTH THE EFFORT: ELLA'S STORY . *throws confetti* Through a set of silly circumstances that I'd rather not explain, I have two blurbs written and now I don't know which one to use! So I thought, Who knows better what piques a readers interest than the readers? Therefore, you are going to help me decide which of the two blurbs best captures your attention and makes you want to read the story. Don't worry, I'll make it WORTH THE EFFORT *snort - see what I did there* I'm giving away electronic copies of WORTH THE EFFORT: ELLA'S STORY to FIVE lucky winners! Yes, FIVE. Woo hoo. Here's what you have to do: Read the blurbs Vote (survey below) Comment Spread the word (rafflecopter below) That's all you have to do. But hurry. You only have through Sunday, April 20th to vote and earn your entries. Ready?  Here you go: ***********************************************...

Livejournal reader, Kelly Hashway won the pdf copy of ALEX from Dianne Hartsock! Congrats Kelly!!! Enjoy the book. Thanks everybody for sharing your favorite authors with us.

Springtime. Fresh sprigs of grass poke through last year’s thatch. The flapping of wings fills our ears as birds build nests. The first whiff of summer’s warmth on top of a cool spring breeze. These are familiar signs of spring to us. What if this was your first spring?   You’d wonder where the snow had disappeared and why you don’t have to bundle up in your winter jacket and mittens. You’d smell your first flower and it might make you sneeze. I love the fresh, new perspective of Margaret Rose’s picture book, First Spring. The rhyme and meter make the story a fun read aloud and the lovely pastel illustrations by Marina Movshina, will stoke a child’s imagination. Margaret, where did the inspiration for this point of view come from?      Thank you for having me, Kai! It's a pleasure to find a brand new blog to visit. As you so eloquently stated, springtime is for new discoveries. You never really know what lies buried under the snow when you're a young child. I'...

Be sure to come back again tomorrow. I’ll be debuting a new weekly feature, Three Times A Charm. I’m so excited about it. I’ve already learned some fabulous things about fellow children’s authors, and some busy bloggers that I get to share with you. In the future I hope to bring illustrators, agents, editors, promoters into the feature as well.   I’m so excited. Repeating myself, time to move on. I wanted to share this picture of little seed. Little seed is a character in one of the tales in The Weaver . There are many mini stories in The Weaver, but little seed’s story happens to be my favorite. It is a story about love, loss, renewal. It is a story that shows our parents aren’t always right, but it doesn’t mean they don’t love you well. It is a story that always chokes me up when I read it. I love little seed. Do you have a favorite mini story from the book? Spring break. Kids are home and for some reason I think they should be doing chores 24/7 and I’m trying not to ...

I’ve heralded my love for Goodreads all over the place. But now I have even more of a reason to give them a shout out!  Goodreads Book Giveaway CLICK HERE TO ENTER  That’s right, they are hosting a giveaway of The Weaver in the month of March. I figured this would be a perfect time for me to explain the benefits of Goodreads to those of you who are not familiar. 1.       Membership is free. 2.       You can make friends with people who have similar reading interests as you. 3.       You see what they are reading and what they think of the books. 4.       You can WIN FREE BOOKS in their constant giveaways.   Who on earth doesn’t want free books? 5.       You can even win Advanced Reader Copies and read books before they are even on bookstore shelves. 6.       You have a convenient place to keep a tidy “to-read” lis...

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.

What a difference a year makes.   At the close of 2009, I called out to all my online writer friends to suggest books for my to-be-read list for 2010. I got a LOT of great suggestions. Read many of them.   Yet this year, I didn’t need to raise my virtual hand and ask my question. Why? Because now I belong to Goodreads .   I love Goodreads!   I don’t even use all the awesomeness that it offers, but one feature I fully appreciate is the ability to easily add to my tbr list based on the books my friends are reading, have read or plan to read. It’s really a great way to find books you wouldn’t normally be exposed to.   If you are an avid reader, I suggest joining.   You’ll find plenty of people to befriend with similar reading habits or you can just follow people’s reviews if that is all you are interested in.   Speaking of great reading resources, I’m A Reader, Not A Writer is a fantastic book review and author interview blog.   I don’t know how t...