FREE BOOKS!

The Dog Days of Summer are upon us.

 

The heat makes us lethargic, stuck inside the house to keep cool. You've already seen all the summer movies. You've been to the mall more times this last month than you did while shopping for Christmas presents.

 

And last but not least, the kids are driving you bonkers. School is just around the corner and it can't get here quick enough to save your sanity.

 

*drumroll*

 

Which makes it time for some free books!

 

During the week of August 4-8, 2014, I am offering all my Goblin Apprentice books for FREE!

 

The books are for ages 7-15. Yes, I've had readers as young as seven and as old as fifteen read these stories. If your kids are on the younger end of the range, then you might want to start with the books on the bottom as they lean more toward the chapter book length and style.

 

The book covers will take you to my Amazon page, where you can individually download each book, or you can click the books on the right side of my blog.

 

Be sure to check that the Kindle book is free, and not just the Kindle unlimited notation.

 

Please feel free to spread the word, share the link on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ as I will be out of pocket this week.

 

 

May the stories keep the little monsters occupied until it's time to buy school supplies!

 

Later, Peeps!

Books for Boys

Ever since I started writing children's books and joined SCBWI in 2008, I've been hearing/reading the editors and agents lament that they want boy books.

Well, here's the interesting part--so do teachers and librarians. This last week I talked to my sister, who has a double Master's degree and works as a teacher and librarian at a military base in Germany, about this issue. She gave me an earful about the topic.

But, you wonder, aren't there a ton of boy-centric children's books out there?

For example: Mary Pope Osborn (Magic Treehouse), Henry and Mudge books, J. K. Rowling, Rick Riordan, R. L. Stine, Lemony Snicket, Eoin Coulter, Dav Pilkey (Captain Underpants), Jeff Kinney (Wimpy Kid) etc.

Yes, but we have some problems with these books. 

1. Many of these are middle grade books (Rowling, Riordan, Snicket, Kinney, Coulter), which means there are no pictures, text heavy, longer chapters, etc. This book is aimed at the confident reader, who could be 8-14 years old
2. The younger crowd (5-7 years)might read Henry and Mudge, but aren't ready to read the middle grade books.
3. Captain Underpants might be big with boys, but not with teachers. They aren't fond of the overly illustrated pages and 'potty' language in which giggling ensues from reading about noises that come out of various orifices.
4. If the kid doesn't read or like horror, R. L. Stine is out.

So here's the thing as this writer sees it--

When young children start to read, they will read the picture books their parents read to them. Then they advance to early readers like Henry and Mudge.

The next step is chapter books, which are around 4,000-6,000 words, short chapters, some illustrations, lots of white space. This level of reading is targeted to the 5-8 year old--Magic Treehouse fills this gap nicely. But Magic Treehouse is only one series of books that boys would read. There are co-protagonists, brother and sister, who take the kids on an adventure.

Girls have a variety of books in this level of reading, Junie B and Fancy Nancy are the first to leap to mind without even thinking about it. Though I must admit that my daughter wasn't interested in either of these books. She liked the Magic Treehouse books, especially the fact-tracking ones, where she learned about the ocean, earthquakes, etc.

So if a boy can't get into the Magic Treehouse books, then there is no "bridge" book for them to become readers able to attack the longer and more intense middle grade books.

Then there becomes an issue of virtually zero YA books for boys, but at this age and reading level, many boys will start reading Sci-Fi, mysteries, thrillers, etc. as they are to the level of handling adult genre novels, and many of the YA books are thinly veiled romances.

After putting all these facts together, plus my interpretation, the "boy" books editors, agents, and teachers are wanting are 'bridging' chapter books.

• between 4,000-6,000 words--Magic Treehouse book, Dinosaurs Before Dark was right around 5,000 words
• short chapters 400-600 words--at this age, kids are exited to tell mom that, "I read three chapters today!" Encourage this.
• protagonist must be male, but co-protagonists are fine as long as the girl is more gender neutral.
• lots of white space--don't make it paragraph heavy
• every chapter MUST have a cliffhanger to encourage advancing to the next chapter
• Do NOT have a cliffhanger ending. Each book must have a final resolution.
• targeting a slightly younger crowd, 6-8 years old

So with this in mind, I thought I'd give a try to writing a boy chapter book, using Rory Leafhopper from my Goblin's Apprentice series. I just started it. I know how it starts and how it ends, but I have no idea of the adventures in between.

Actually writing this length won't be that tough as A MAZE OF MONSTER MIX-UPS, LOST LEPRECHAUN LOOT, and SUGAR PLUM DISASTER are all around this length, even though each chapter slightly longer, coming in around 800 words.

I just have to figure out what kind of messes Rory will be getting into!

Later, Peeps!

Crisis of Faith

Last week I had one good writing day and then pffffttt! Nothing.

I was in the "why bother" mode? No one buys my books. No one reviews my books. I can't get industry professionals to read beyond my query letter. What's the point?

Why bother to write the next story? 

Therefore, I started making candy. I love making candy. It soothes my soul.

Back to my story-- Hubs has been seriously stressing over the move his office is doing. It's a big move with lots of little plates to juggle on two sticks and he's the juggler. And the kidlet has been working hard to keep A's in all her classes.

So I decided we needed a break from 'stuff', and we took a day trip to Silver Dollar City. I've written about this SDC a few times. We mostly go there to ride the rides. This time it was an off weekend and we pretty much walked onto most of the rides--especially the roller coasters.

The drive is quite long for a day trip (3.5 hours one way), and we planned to leave the house at 6 AM. Of course, we didn't pull out of the driveway to gas up the car until 6:40.

The kidlet had stuff to keep her occupied: games, books, her phone and the Kindle Fire she won in a drawing contest.

--Yes, she has a nicer Kindle than I do!

Hubs and I were talking while she was playing Temple Run and it wasn't until she blurted out, "Heebie-jeebie dance? Mom, really?" did I realize she was actually reading GNOME, book one of The Goblin's Apprentice.

Rewind here--when I celebrated my birthday, I gave away ALL of my books for free on Amazon. At the same time I loaded my Kindle (to check for boo-boos, etc) I also loaded her Kindle.

I had given up on her ever reading my stories months ago.

By the time we reached SDC, she had finished 65% of the story. And she told me she was sorry she hadn't read it before now. It was way better than she expected (high praise indeed from one's child!) She also mentioned that it didn't sound like me, though some of the phrases were definitely mine.

Sunday morning she woke up and finished reading the story . . . she also started reading FAERIE.

Huh?

This is why I write.

Not to sell stories--though it would be nice to make money at this--but to get kids reading. My daughter reads when she has to read, but she'd rather play video games or go on the computer. This was the first time she willingly read a book . . . and it happened to be mine!

It makes all the frustrations of writing worthwhile. Forget the professionals. Forget having the validation from the publishing industry. Forget not making any money at it.

I just received something far more important from one of the toughest critics in my target audience--my daughter's praise.

Maybe I should sit down to write book 4.

Later, Peeps.

Oldies, but Goodies

I'm talking middle-grade books here.

About six months ago, I bought THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE by Beverly Cleary for my kidlet. She wasn't quite ready to read it yet and so it gathered dust on her bookshelf next to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books (which BTW she says she doesn't need to read because the movie will be out next summer. Mom's response: "nah-uh, youse reading it, kidlet, or no movie!").

On a side note: Of course, I've read all the Percy Jackson books except THE LAST OLYMPIAN--so I bought it for ME for Christmas. Yes, you heard me--I bought it for myself. I want to know how the 'series' ends. Well, I haven't read it yet, but I cheated and read the last two pages. . . there's a lead-in for another set of stories. SURPRISE!!

Anyhoo, back to the kidlet and the mouse book, she started reading it in November and finished it in about ten days. So I bought the next one . . . and the third one. She's disappointed that there will be no more Ralph books (shoot, they were written before I was even born! Hey, no jokes about the stone age. . .). But to get past her disappointment, she's had me reading a chapter to her every night before bed. I know it won't last forever since she's nine and will soon enter the "I hate you" stage, but for right now I enjoy our togetherness time.

The one thing that surprised me about the mouse story was how selfish Ralph was. I didn't remember that as a kid, and I don't think the kidlet even noticed it, but of course, Ralph grew as a little mouse when he realized his human friend was really sick and needed medicine {Aspirin--which opened up a HUGE discussion with the kidlet, since children are NOT allowed to take aspirin now days due to Reyes syndrome!}, but the medicine could kill Ralph if he touched it.

We finished the book last night and she wants me to start on Runaway Ralph next. I don't know if I want to read that one or another book, 'cause the kidlet raked in the books for Christmas, too! No surprise considering I'm her mother! I chose a variety of stories, plus a few she requested, THE WIMPY KID DIARIES, so I think she'll have enough to read in the coming year.

And if she doesn't read them, I will. As a middle-grade writer it's smart to keep up with what is out there, old and new.

It's kinda like shoes. My kidlet's feet are almost as big as mine (size 7) so I won't let her buy ugly shoes, 'cause when she outgrows them guess who inherits them?? :-) And no, I won't let her wear my stilettos (yes, when I wear heels, I wear 4-5 inch high ones)--she's too young, and when she's old enough, her feet will be too big. WooHoo! *high fives myself*

Time for me to get down to writing FF again. I'd like to have the first draft finished by the end of this month. Why? I don't know. I don't think I'll query any story this year. I'm just tired of receiving Rejections. I know it's a part of this biz, but it gets me down and I want to enjoy writing again.

Anyhoo, Write on!

The Kidlet Surprises Me Once Again

My kid's a typical third grader: know-it-all, selfish, into lip gloss (for a tomboy, that's down right scary!) and she's discovered the phone. Right now, she's into Littlest Petshop online. She'll call her friend G, or G will call her and they play on the computer with the phone on speaker. . . for at least an hour or longer. Yeah, we had to teach her all about call waiting.

Anyway, she surprised me the other day when she came home from school. It wasn't a big surprise, but touching nonetheless. When we walked to school that morning, we were talking about the book her teacher was reading to the class. The book was called Hank Zipzer and the kidlet kept telling me how funny the book was and that I needed to read it.

Well, she checked it out of the school library for me. I was touched. . . until the next day she asked whether or not I had finished reading it. Uh, I'm a fast reader, but no, sweetie, I haven't even started it!

The kidlet has been supportive of my writing. She and the hubster helped me brainstorm all my Peter the fly easy readers, nine of them--I couldn't even generate the tiniest bit of interest with those queries. She read and loved my FAERIE story--a long picture book or beginning chapter book. I never queried this one. Oh, I think it has potential, but I need to rework it again. And finally, my gnome story. She's upset that I can't get anyone in the biz to show any interest in this story. Oh, I had a couple of agents request it, but overall they didn't like the character--trust me, I asked. Heck, I'm upset, too! But knowing that she and my hubster are behind me with my writing makes it easier to swallow those rejections.

So what's a writer to do?

Well, write, of course. But I'll wait until after the holidays and the house is quiet again before I tackle #2 middle grade story.

Until then, I'll be reading;
Soul Magic by Jen Lyon
Hank Zipzer--The Tale of Two Tails by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
Timeline by Michael Crichton (again, because he's a damn good writer!)
Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine (a Tinkerbelle story)
Fasten Your Seatbelt by Brian Skotko and Susan P Levine (research about Down Syndrome sibs for FF my #2 MG story)
and two historical Christmas romance anthologies

Oh, and I know someone who is getting A LOT of books for Christmas and I just might read them, too!

So, for now, I'll sign off with. . .

Read On! :-)