Write From the Soul

 A "Peach" of an Idea



             This week a wonderful book went on sale! It's The 12 Days of Christmas in Georgia by Susan R. Spain with illustrations by Elizabeth O. Dulemba. Both of these women live in our Southern Breeze region (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia) and are fabulous people!! For those of you love to share different versions of a story or song, this book is for you! Read it to your kids, your grand-kids, your nieces and nephews, your class, a neighbor's kid, or any other kid you find (just don't stalk them...it's kinda creepy).

For those of you who love to share nonfiction with kids, try   Rosa's Bus. The Ride to Civil Rights by Jo S. Kittinger and illustrations by Steven Walker, another wonderful person from our Southern Breeze region. She tells the story of the bus boycott of more than a year in Montgomery, AL and the resulting Civil Rights movement.  The best part of the book? It's about the bus and it's journey.


These are great books to buy..... and maybe next year (or the year after that)  one of my books will be available to buy as well. (fingers and toes crossed)

Write From the Soul

Today is my birthday! And of all days, your birth day should be one where you celebrate, connect with, and appreciate only things you love.


So, I want to spend time (or talk) with my family and friends, eat something sweet, write, and be around books!

Today has had many telephone and Facebook renditions of Happy Birthday,  even from former students- I love reconnecting with them and seeing the child I knew as an adult,

Lunch was spent with a wonderful friend who then gave me time to talk with a curious calico and a hungry horse nibbling my elbow.

 Something sweet came in the form of yummy homemade cookies from another friend with a mini banner on top and pop-up happy birthday letters- I love creative people!

And books... I'm going to reread some of my favorites. Have you ever read the Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence trilogy? Utterly fabulous!!!!! Nick Bantok, an illustrator in his own right, wrote and illustrated these marvelous books. The basic storyline is: Griffin, a postcard illustrator in London, receives a note from Sabine, an unknown, mysterious postage stamp designer living on a remote island in the South Pacific. She claims to know about him and his life, though they have never met. They begin an extraordinary correspondence, and courtship that the reader is privy to with actual letters in envelopes you can open within the books. Who wouldn't be tempted to read someone else's love letters??!! You begin to wonder, like Griffin and Sabine, whether they are soulmates or if it is all an illusion. I found it difficult to wait for each sequel when the trilogy first came out in the early 1990s. 

If you haven't read them, do it. It won't be wasted time. Any worries or troubles that are stressing you out, shoot, you'll forget all about them for a couple hours. It's worth it.

I'm off to enjoy the rest of my birthday!

Write From the Soul

Last 5 days of my giveaway! Ask a friend to become a follower  Have them mention you and it means more points and more chances to win! I'm so excited that I've passed the 50 followers mark! So I've added another book prize, Newbery Honor Book, Savvy by Ingrid Law, and a few "just chocolate" winners. The more followers I have, the more giveaways I do:-) Hitting 100 will be awesome!

Write From the Soul

Good news for all of us children's book writers! 

According to Publishers Weekly, the number of children's books produced in 2009 in the U.S. increased 8% after a 4% decrease in 2008! Woo hoo, go writers!!! Yeah, I hear you saying, "fool, that's only a 4% increase because you have to consider the 4% it had to replace from the previous year's loss!" Well, you can view the glass half empty, I choose the view it as half full. Not only did the children's book market regain it's loss, it increased it 4% more. Like I said, cheers for kid lit writers.  :-D

Unpublished writers need encouragement and inspiration and hope because we can't run around with our fingers crossed all the time....it's too hard to write checks that way and did you ever try typing on a computer like that?? I don't think so!

So keep writing and we'll be seeing the 2010 stats showing another increase! [If I had been a cheerleader in high school, this is where I would be doing jumps and cartwheels and shaking the pom-poms. Stop laughing and just pretend, ok?]

Speaking of inspiring....

I found a new blog I'm enjoying. It's written by Michael Larsen who has been in publishing for several decades. He and his wife started a literary agency in 1972 called  Larsen-Pomada Literary in Northern California. 

His post intrigued me because it acknowledged that getting a book published (not just children's books) is challenging if you only consider traditional publishing houses. Your chances are better if you become a wribrid. Here's a taste of the post, but I encourage you to go read it all for yourself.

Wribrid rhymes with hybrid and sounds like it should be sliced and wrapped in cellophane. But it’s really the new model for writers.......  to succeed, you have to be a wribrid. You have to strike the right balance between:
* Being online and off
* Writing for free and fees
* Writing short work and books