My Christmas Wish...

Just in case I hadn't mentioned it before, I'm officially on vacation this week for a much needed rest from the every day stresses of trying to juggle two full time careers at the same time. It's been a hectic and extremely busy year. Some of the things on my plate were good, others bad, and all dealt with in a timely manner.

Now it's time to stop, take a breath, and look around at all the blessing showered on me this year: My family is still intact and reasonably healthy. My newly married son sports a lovely wife who makes him very happy which in turn makes ME happy for him. My sister and I have enjoyed some quality time together lately and God willing, for many more years to come. My friends are still by my side and I've even managed to connect with some new friends. I look forward to getting to know them better in the coming year.

I was blessed this year with another book release, the reality that my mortgage will be paid off this time next year, and the encouragement to return to my sketching which brings me much joy.

All that is left is my Christmas Wish for you, my readers:

May your blessing be many,

May your worries be few,

May the true meaning of the season stay with you 

long after the decorations are put away,

And may all your heart's desires come your way 

in the New Year!

Take care,

Donna

 

 

ARE YOU THE MISSING PIECE? is now available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble Bookstore, and other fine retailers. It was a #1 bestseller in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US earlier this month.

 

International best selling author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt Taekwondo Instructor by day and a 'ninja' writer of children’s picture books, chapter books and young adult novels by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host and book reviewer for Harper Collins, She is also a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators and Children's Book Insider. Donna is a lover of dark chocolate, time at the beach, and well written stories.

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A Time For Celebrating...

To all my current and future #DCSPeeps (DECIDE, COMMIT, SUCCEED), welcome to my new series in my continuing effort to inspire, amuse, and entertain you! Each Monday I will select a new word to analyze how it might apply to our writing lives and also give you a peek into my childhood growing up in the swamps of southern Louisiana, so kick back, put your feet up, and check out my story about TODAY'S WORD:

CELEBRATING

Growing up, there were some things I could always count on during Christmas. Traditions carried over from year to year...like strings of popcorn and hollyberry draped around the live Christmas tree. Or Mother's wintery scenes stuck into a styrofoam base. But what I remember the most is how we CELEBRATED the holiday season with the music from a family heirloom.

The wind up church would play Silent Night as the doors slowly opened to reveal the illuminated Virgin Mary and baby Jesus waiting inside. Every night I would beg my mother permission to wind up the church. Carefully I would set the church down on the floor and lie down in front of it...nearly holding my breath in anticipation of catching a glimpse of what lay in wait behind those doors.

Even though the doors no longer move on their own, I still CELEBRATE each holiday season by listening to the beautiful, tinkling sounds of that Christmas carol and I'm transported back to my childhood where, for a moment in time, all is right with the world.

As a writer, I'm CELEBRATING my seventh year blogging. Back in Decemberr 2010, I decided to start sharing a part of myself with the rest of the world, and THE STORY CATCHER blog was born. I've met many wonderful people over the years that I'm proud to call my friends and have CELEBRATED many writerly victories with different authors from all around the world.

I've written more than one thousand posts and almost three quarters of a million visitors have stopped by to say hello and stay a spell. I'm proud of what I have accomplished, with the help and loving support from this writer community, and can't wait to CELEBRATE another year of sharing some words with all of you!

ARE YOU THE MISSING PIECE? is now available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble Bookstore, and other fine retailers. It was a #1 bestseller in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US earlier this month.

 

International best selling author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt Taekwondo Instructor by day and a 'ninja' writer of children’s picture books, chapter books and young adult novels by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host and book reviewer for Harper Collins, She is also a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators and Children's Book Insider. Donna is a lover of dark chocolate, time at the beach, and well written stories.

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In The Eye Of The Beholder

To all my current and future #DCSPeeps (DECIDE, COMMIT, SUCCEED), welcome to my new series in my continuing effort to inspire, amuse, and entertain you! Each Monday I will select a new word to analyze how it might apply to our writing lives and also give you a peek into my childhood growing up in the swamps of southern Louisiana, so kick back, put your feet up, and check out my story about TODAY'S WORD:

CHANGE

Christmas time was always fun at my house growing up. After my father would take us out to the country to cut down our Christmas tree, Mother would go into high gear making our house very festive for the holidays.

She would also save back spare CHANGE all year long and then divide it amongst us four kids so we could do our Christmas shopping. Trying to buy for five other people when I only had a handful of CHANGE to begin with was challenging so I had to be really creative.  

I will never forget what I gave my mother one year. I liked the bowl of plastic vegetables which always sat on the dining room table, and the holiday dioramas my mother always created every Christmas, so I knew EXACTLY what to get her with my CHANGE.

My brother and sisters laughed when she opened her presents from me...one was a wax cucumber and the other one was a small velvet covered plastic reindeer...but Mother just acted like there were no better gifts to receive. She could have CHANGED them for something else but the cucumber was immediately placed on top of those plastic vegetables and that reindeer found its way into every Christmas diorama for many years to come.

Writers deal with CHANGE all the time.

Their ideas begin as a passing thought, sometimes CHANGING into a first draft, then CHANGING many more times into their latest revision, until finally CHANGING into the polished manuscript they send out into the world. If they are lucky, an agent or editor will ask them to CHANGE a story some more with the hope that one day a publisher will care enough for their submission to put a little CHANGE in their bank account...;~)

ARE YOU THE MISSING PIECE? is now available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble Bookstore, and other fine retailers. It was a #1 bestseller in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US earlier this month.

 

International best selling author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt Taekwondo Instructor by day and a 'ninja' writer of children’s picture books, chapter books and young adult novels by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host and book reviewer for Harper Collins, She is also a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators and Children's Book Insider. Donna is a lover of dark chocolate, time at the beach, and well written stories.

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Twas An Eve Before Publishing...

(I first posted this silly poem on December 24th, 2012. I hope you enjoy my sharing this with my readers again...)

 

 

 

Twas An Eve Before Publishing

By Donna L Martin

Twas an eve before publishing,

And when all throughout my house,

I’d just finished a story

About a cat and a mouse.

 

Next year would be busy

With many stories to write,

But what if I’m not published,

Tho I try hard as I might?

 

I shut down my old laptop

And turned off the light,

When suddenly a noise

Rang out in the night.

 

I rushed to my door

To sneak a peek outside;

There stood an old wizard

With a donkey named Clyde.

 

He said he was Berlin

And came bearing a gift

Of a new Mac computer

And a bag he could scarcely lift.

 

He asked could he come inside,

And get out of the harsh cold?

Well, I gladly let him in

After the story he told.

 

He was going to Vegas

To try his luck with the dice,

But got lost near the North Pole

And met a dude who was nice.

 

“I’ll help you get to Vegas,
If you stop along the way.

I don’t have time to visit

The Martins by Christmas Day!”

 

Then Berlin opened his sack

While books spilled to the floor.

Lots of writer references,

Author stories I adore.

 

“Here's all the magic you need

To make the right dreams come true.

It takes belief in yourself.

Hard work. It's all up to you!”

 

The wizard smiled, then turned to go

Out into the winter night.

But I heard words softly said

As I turned off the porch light.

 

“Good luck in the coming year,

With a book contract or two.

But should you run into that dude,

Clyde wants a blanket in blue!”

 **MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE**

TIS THE SEASON TO BE SNEAKY...

To all my current and future #DCSPeeps (DECIDE, COMMIT, SUCCEED), welcome to my new series in my continuing effort to inspire, amuse, and entertain you! Each Monday I will select a new word to analyze how it might apply to our writing lives and also give you a peek into my childhood growing up in the swamps of southern Louisiana. So kick back, put your feet up, and check out my story about TODAY'S WORD:

 

SNEAKY

I grew up in a very small town to a very poor family with six mouths to feed. Things may have been very rough any other time of the year, but during the holidays my mother made sure there were plenty of surprises under the tree to be opened on Christmas morning.

Only thing is, it was never a surprise what was in those gifts so colorfully wrapped. You see, I’m the youngest of four siblings and my brother learned how to be SNEAKY at a very early age.

As the baby of the group, I was the lookout while my parents slept, and my brother would very carefully unwrap each gift and tell the recipient what they were going to get the next day! Then he would just as carefully rewrap the present and return it to its rightful place under the tree. For years this was a Christmas Eve ritual with us kids.

And my mother never found out.

I know this because she had a very strict moral code when it came to things like that and let’s just say our backsides would have been redder than a baboon’s if we would have been caught.

Sometimes you have to SNEAKY. Take this writing journey we are all on. We all began this journey for various reasons. You know the ones I mean…

“My kids love when I tell them stories.”

“I want to see my name in print.”

        “I've read several books and I can do better.”

        “There's something I want to share with the world.”

But there are times when negative self-talk and doubters all around you try to sabotage your writing efforts. And if you truly want to be a writer, you have to be SNEAKY to trick your mind into doing what’s best to stay on this publishing path…not what’s comfortable!

My own SNEAKY examples:

1) Make it a priority to write every day, no matter what!

2) Participate in writing groups, whether in person or online to connect with other writers.

3) Take a writing course...or two...or three...to continue to improve your writing skills.

4) Don't be afraid to put your writing out there and get others to critique your efforts. Seek out the wisdom of those who came before you and learn from them.

Writing for me is not a hobby; not something I can simply set aside when something better comes along. For me, there is NOTHING better than writing and I intend to SNEAK in writing every chance I get for the rest of my life.

How about YOU?

I hope you have an awesome day today, DCSPeeps, because you deserve it!

 

 

Children's book author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a 'ninja' writer of children’s picture books, middle grade chapter books and young adult novels by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books. She is also a book reviewer for Harper Collins, and a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. Donna is a lover of dark chocolate, good stories, and an adoptive mom to 20-pound guard kitty in Knoxville, Tennesse

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Author Email: www.donasdays@gmail.com
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No Matter How You Say It...

***I'm on vacation right now, but wanted to share a Christmas post I first put on my blog back in December of 2011. It's as true today as it was back then!***

No matter how you say it...I wish peace, health, and happiness to all my friends and family.  May you never go hungry, may you enjoy all the wonder each day holds and to all my writer friends...may we ALL get published in the new year...;0)

 

 

A VERY MERRY & HAPPY TO All...

I have many friends from all over the world. They come in all shapes, sizes, religions, political views, etc. During this special time of year I wish each and every one of them the most joyous season no matter which one they celebrate...and even those who likes celebrating them all!