THE ABC'S OF READING & 'RITING: LETTER G

The letter G for me this week is going to be easy. It stands for GIVING BACK and it's something I try to do every day. It doesn't matter whether you are a READER or a 'RITER or both...here are some things I've done over the years to give back to the wonderful reading and 'riting community. What are some of the things YOU have done? Tell us in the comments section and keep up the great GIVING BACK work!

1. DONATE BOOKS...if you were on Facebook yesterday you might have seen my post about my latest book drive results. Every summer I host my annual book drive for local elementary school libraries. I've been doing this for eight years now and due to the generosity of too many people to include in this post, I have been able to donate literally THOUSANDS of books to my local schools. In just a couple of weeks I will be delivering over $5.000 worth of books for this year's donations. This will bring my total donations to over $165,000 to date!!

2. FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION...before I became a published author with my picture book, THE STORY CATCHER, I did everything I could think of to help promote my fellow writers by sharing THEIR books with other readers through my FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION events. The last year I did it I had close to 2000 autographed books and swag items to hand out at my booth for the Children's Festival of Reading.

3. WRITERLY WISDOM SERIES...if you click on the "For Writers" link to the right of this post, you will discover an entire year's worth of posts dedicated to helping beginner and established writers improve their own writing skills. Many wonderful authors, agents, and publishers generously provided guest blog posts every week for an entire year covering everything from deciding what kind of writer do you want to be to overcoming writer's block to school visits and marketing your books. 

4. STORY CATCHER FAN CLUB...this is for the readers out there who like receiving a FREE bimonthly newsletter filled with games, puzzles, coloring sheets, mazes, and the latest STORY CATCHER news as well as fun nature and animal facts. Teachers use parts of the newsletter in their classrooms and even homeschoolers share it with their kids as part of their reading activity. I love doing them and my readers seem to enjoy them so it's a win-win for everyone!

5. STORY TIME AT THE MALL...for the past couple of years I've been going to the local mall and reading to the children who visit the play area there. The kids love being read to and get excited if I read a book they are already familiar with and the parents thank me for the unexpected surprise reading for their children.

6. READ TO ME VOLUNTEER...I am an approved READ TO ME volunteer and have worked with my local elementary schools to visit select classrooms where I read to the children or even help tutor children who have difficulty learning to read. My picture book, THE STORY CATCHER, about a little girl struggling to learn how to read, is based on a very real girl and my working with her for the entire school year before she finally began to read on her own.

7. GIFT BASKET DONATIONS...there are many festivals, school carnivals, and local events where I am invited to provide a crafts booth and share my love of reading with people. I always provide door prizes and baskets at my own booth where people have a chance to win a basket of free books. I even decorated my car one year for a church TRUNK OR TREAT and gave away hundreds of FREE books as well as candy to the children who stopped by to visit with me.

As you see there are many different ways to GIVE BACK as both a reader or a 'riter. There's nothing more powerful as a gift than instilling in children the love of reading. To open their minds to the magic to be found within the pages of a good book. And if I'm lucky enough, I will have many more years to keep paying it forward every way I can. What are YOU doing to GIVE BACK??

Blurb: Addie comes from a long line of readers or "story catchers" as her family likes to call themselves. Every time Addie tries to catch a story on her own the wiggly words play tricks on her. She tries different ways to make those words sit still but it will take a little faith for Addie to become the next STORY CATCHER.

Buy Links:Amazon Kindle ¦ Paperback ¦ B&N ¦ Smashwords


JOIN THE STORY CATCHER FAN CLUB!Membership includes:
 
Membership Certificate
Bi-montly Newsletter full of mazes, puzzles, games, news, and other goodies
Reading Log for earning STORY CATCHER AWARD

       

FESTIVAL WEEKEND UPDATE!

 

It was a wild and wonderful time this past Saturday at the 10th annual Children's Festival of Reading. This was my third year of offering my FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION booth at the festival and the crowds were as big as ever. Even the weather was in my favor. Since I'm allergic to the sun, I know working this festival is always a bit hard on me but this past weekend Mother Nature was kind to me...cloudy and a high of 60 was right up my alley!

 

 

 

Authors like Michael Buckley, Chris Grabenstein, Andrea & Brian Pinkney, Laura Veccaro Seeger, Carmen Agra Deedy, and Toni Buzzeo were on hand to chat with the kids and autograph books. There was six performance stages, a Science Village, a Kids in the Kitchen area, 50 community booths, food, music, storytelling and there I was, smack dab in the middle of all the action.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

My booth was like a three ring circus and here are pictures to prove it! At one table kids could decorate silly bookmarks on their own and register for the free book giveaway. At another table kids could see all the wonderful books that were donated by generous authors all over the world. The third table had all the free bookmarks, posters, postcards, magnets, stickers and other swag items I had been sent. I had teachers coming up to me and asking if they could take enough bookmarks for all their students and of course, I said yes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Susanna's board books were the winners again this year with the younger kids and the parents loved all the adventure or mystery novels I had on hand, but the number one attraction on Saturday seemed to be Penny Lockwood's book BOO'S BAD DAY.  More often than not anyone walking up to the table would pick up that book first and thumb through it before grabbing a bookmark or registering for the drawing.

 



 

 

 

 

My booth sat across from delicious food tents like hot dogs, pizza, smoked sausages, popcorn, funnel cakes...you name it and I could smell it! Funny thing about it though is the fact I never had a chance to even try any of it because I stayed busy talking to people from about 9:30 that morning until the festival ended at 3 pm. I left my sister in charge only long enough to LITERALLY run a circle around World's Fair Park so I could take some pictures and have a bathroom break.

 

 

 

 

This is what one aisle of tents looked like from my booth just minutes before the festival opened for the crowds. I haven't read the numbers yet, but I'm pretty sure despite the chilly weather there were still 12-15,000 people attending the weekend festivities.

 
 

 

 

Look who led the Parade of Books this year...Llama Llama! To the left of him was the mascot chicken from the Tennessee Valley Fair...another event drawing thousands of people to my city each year in September.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one of my students and the daughter of a local author as she carries a placard advertising THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON in the Parade of Books.

 

 



 

 

 

 

Of course I HAD to take a picture of Sudipta's cute book CHICKS RUN WILD!

 

 



 

 

 

 

Not too far from my booth and certainly within listening distance was one of the author performance stages. While I didn't get a chance to actually attend one of these talks, I could hear the wonderful chats and story performances going on...even got to see one of the illustrators show off their talent...all from a distance but the crowds sure looked like they were enjoying it!



 





 

 

 

 

This is probably one of my favorite booths at the festival. Every year there is a company who brings in their inflatable "pets" for the children to buy. I saw chickens, ladybugs, dogs, cats, dinosaurs, pigs...you name it and they probably had them. The pets were helium balloons but had those crinkly feet so the animals could bounce along the ground after it's "owner".

 

 



 

 

 

 

Here authors are getting ready to sign their books. There would be six authors at these tables at one time and you could get in line and go from one to another...taking pictures, having your books autographed, chatting with them. It was so cool to see the kids get so excited when they realized they were seeing a real, live AUTHOR sitting in front of them!

 

 



 

 

 

 

Every year I promise myself I will make time to visit THIS booth and every year I don't make it. This is the new and used book tent which supports our local library.  They sell those books for between 50 cents up to about 3 dollars. With a limited budget like I have I could make a killing buying tons of books there but I never have the time...lol...



 
Well, there you have it...another successful festival weekend and all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you to all my author friends who were so generous with their autographed books and other swag items.  I honestly don't know if my FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION helps increase sales of the donated books but what I DO know is thousands of people got a chance to see those books at my booth on Saturday. All day long parents kept telling me how their children love to read books and I saw the excitement on the children's faces when they would pick up one of those books and thumb through them like they had discovered some magical treasure.  THAT is why I am a writer and I hope one day a child will have that same look on their face when they hold one of MY books in their hands.



 

 

 

Books, Books, And More Books...

Next week I will be back to my BOOK NOOK REVIEWS, but I wanted to give one last update of the generous donations so many of you have sent my way for my FREE AUTHOR'S PROMOTION booth at the Children's Festival of Reading I will be attending on Saturday, May 17th. For the past few years I've felt like I could celebrate two Christmases per year as the packages roll in throughout the months of March and April. 

My mailman now knows me by name which isn't the easiest thing to do with so many businesses on his route but after he kept seeing my name on so many packages large and small, he actually began making special trips back to the school just in case he missed me during his regular run. He must have realized how special these packages were and wanted to make sure I received them as quickly as possible

If I could reach out and hug everyone who participated I would, but instead I will give a shout out to many of the wonderful authors who sent the books shown above:

Christy Condoleo

Susanna Leonard Hill

Kimberely Dana

S Willett

Saoirse O'Mara

Erik Weibel

Jennifer Carson

Nicole Zoltack

Patricia Cruzan

Barbara H Holland

Stanley & Katrina

Theresa Berg

Jennifer Madison

J P Rambling

Michael Bailey

Yolanda Renee

Dawn Brazil

Alex J Cavanaugh

Penny Lockwood

Clara Bowman-Jahn

Alinka Rutkowska

Catherine Johnson

Genevieve Petrillo

Salina Yoon

Belinda Brock

Wendi Silvano

Elizabeth Rose Stanton

The first year I offered to do my FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION, I receive 350 items to give away. Last year I received 1000 items. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and couldn't imagine things getting any better.

I was wrong.

This year I was speechless once I added up all the lovely autographed books and swag items I will be able to give away at the festival. One thousand nine hundred thirty-four. That's how many items the children will be able to choose from when they visit my booth!

And one of my FAVORITE packages I opened? The one from Christy Condoleo where she put together five thoughtful and adorable gift bags which included her books, coloring books, crayons, toys, candy, and other goodies for some lucky winners.

I don't know what next year will hold for me and my FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION, but for now I feel pretty special to be a part of a writing community where my author friends trust me with some of their most precious possessions...they wonderful books!

Life, Writing, And FREE Author Promotion Updates

If it seems like I've been hiding from you this past week, I apologize. It wasn't my intention but my plate is loaded down and attempting to spill over from all the activities I'm currently involved in.

I have potentially 100 students at my TaeKwonDo school getting ready to test for their belt advancements at the end of this week. That means 100 directions my head is spinning in as I fine tune everyone's performance techniques so they have the best chance of passing their belt exams.  I think sometimes I am more nervous than my students when it comes to these tests but not nearly as nervous as their parents!

I also had the insane notion around the middle of March to participate in the A to Z Challenge again this year. I've been busy working on my 26 different posts...writing, scheduling, making sure everything is ready to drop starting Tuesday. My theme this year is wonderful picture books as part of my BOOK NOOK REVIEWS series so if you get a chance, stop by every day in April to check out the coolest picture book I've spotlighted...and believe me, some of the letters of the alphabet for the beginning of those titles were darn hard to find! My normal Monday inspirational posts and Friday's TALES FROM THE BAYOU posts will resume in May.

Then came the wonderful news that I won a scholarship to participate in Mira Reisberg's Chapter Book Alchemist course and I've been bouncing off the walls in anticipation. I plan to work really hard on a non-fiction chapter book idea I've researched for the past year and will probably be even busier than usual for the month of April. The facilitators will be the amazing Mira,  award-winning children's book author Hillary Homzie, and the equally fabulous Mandy Yates. You can find out more about this fantastic 5-week online writing course by clicking on the following link...

http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/the-chapter-book-alchemist.html

I also do some behind the scenes research for the Rate Your Story newsletter that goes out each month and it takes a good bit of my time to uncover the best information I can find to send to Miranda. Everyone by now should know what a fabulous service I think Miranda and her team of expert judges provide for  the writing community. If you've just gotten back from outer space and don't know what Rate Your Story is, just check out their blog at http://www.rateyourstory.blogspot.com.

But I guess the biggest part of my time right now is gearing up for the Children's Festival of Reading and my FREE Author Promotion booth. Here is a link to the artists attending this year's festival...http://www.knoxlib.org/calendar-programs/programs-and-partnerships/childrens-festival-reading/meet-artists-childrens. The Children's Festival of Reading is celebrating it's ten year anniversary and this is my third year participating. Between 12-15,000 people attend every year and I will have a booth smack dab in the middle of all the festivities.

You have helped me in the past to get the word out about my FREE Author promotion and I can't thank you enough! Authors from all over the country have contacted me and the packages have been flowing fast and furious all month long. My mailman knows me by my first name by now and looks at me like he can't figure out just what the heck am I doing with all those packages!  I'd like to thank all the authors who have already sent lovely things my way to give out at my booth. There are more authors telling me they will also be sending me packages and there is still time to be able to participate by sending me your autographed items as soon as possible. Any author or illustrator wanting more info about how I promote your work for FREE just needs to comment on this post or send me an email to donasdays (at) gmail (dot) com.

Oh yeah...the number of items I've received so far to give away at my booth on Saturday, May 17th?

BOOK NOOK REVIEWS: Salina Yoon

**This week's BOOK NOOK REVIEWS shines a spotlight on great books provided by some of the authors participating in my annual FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION event held each May in my city. Help support these new and established authors by checking out their books!***

Title: Penguin In Love

Author: Salina Yoon

Publisher: Walker Books For Young Readers

Ages 4-8

"One day, Penguin was looking for love. Instead, he found...a mitten. It was a mystery."

Synopsis: All Penguin wants is someone to love.  What he finds instead is a mitten and soon Penguin is on an adventure of a lifetime. Only Penguin's dedication to finding the missing mitten's owner will help him find true love as well

Why you should read it: I first fell in love with Penguin when he was on vacation. In her latest book, Ms Yoon uses beautiful illustrations and a heart touching story to introduce young readers to love with all it's ups and downs. 

Like-O-Meter Rating: 5 out of 5...Grab it!

Paying It Forward

I'm pretty sure most of us remember this scene from the Pay It Forward movie where actor Haley Joel Osment plays a young boy who creates the concept of a world of expanding good deeds done for one another by "paying it forward".

I loved this movie when it first came out and love it as much, if not more, today because I have seen this concept work again and again within this writing community. I remember how it felt to be brand new at this writing stuff...trying to believe in my ability to become a published author and yet afraid to imagine others would believe in me as well.

I thought to myself I would try to figure all this stuff out on my own and maybe one day when I begin to think I actually know what I'm doing, I would be able to become one of those "pay it forward" people and do what I could to help others achieve their writing dreams as well.

But one day an amazing thing happened. I was on the internet, just fumbling around, and came across Karen R Sanderson's wonderful blog THE WORD SHARK. You click on this link to find all kinds of fabulous writing advice...http://karenrsanderson.wordpress.com. Just looking around her blog made me realize I was not alone. That there were others out there paying it forward every day by sharing their knowledge, love and support of ALL writers, great and small.

That was when I realized I didn't have to wait until I was published myself to be able to pass along MY good deeds to help other writers fulfill their own writing destinies.  I created my FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION event and began sending out emails to every author I knew...and many I didn't...explaining what I wanted to do for them. Some of them were thrilled and some were sceptical.

"You want to help me promote my book? FOR FREE??"

The first year I tried it I managed to convince 30 authors to take a chance on me. To trust that I truly wanted to simply help them by paying it forward in the best way I knew how. I learned a few things from that first year:

1. Writers have very generous spirits.
2. There will always be people who doubt FREE doesn't actually come at a price.
3. Kids (and many adults) think having an autographed book in their hand is like winning the lottery.
4. No matter how many things I give away at my booth, I'm always saddened I didn't have more to give.
5. The hours are long and the pain is real (I'm allergic to the sun) but I know in a heartbeat I will do it again each May during the Children's Festival of Reading because it give me untold JOY to be able to share so many lovely books with the world! 

Now that a book of my own is in the process of being published I am sure some of my friends will help celebrate the moment with me and who knows? Maybe around this time next year there will be one or two people willing to "pay it forward" and help me share MY story with the world. Until then I will keep loving that movie and doing MY part to keep the love going...

CALLING ALL AUTHORS: FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION!

It's time to start getting ready for my annual FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION booth at my city's Children's Festival of Reading.

WHAT??

You say you don't know what I'm talking about?

Well, this festival is only the biggest book event in the southeast with over 15,000 people attending every year and I'M a part of it! The Children's Festival of Reading happens in my city every May and you can read more about  here... 

http://www.cityofknoxville.org/Press_Releases/Content/2012/0426e.asp

Three years ago I decided to help give back to this wonderful writing community by offering a FREE PROMOTION event to any author...traditional, self, indie, digital...who wanted to send me autographed books and swag items (bookmarks, tshirts, hats, posters, etc) to be included in my FREE giveaways. Last year my event became an international one when authors from as far away as England and Australia wanted to be included.

Two years ago I received 350 autographed items to give away. Last year I had 1000 autographed items to give away. I can't wait to see what happens THIS year! I know there are many of you who have books coming out this year. There are others who already have numerous published books. Who in their right mind would pass up the chance for FREE PROMOTIONS of their books?

NOT YOU!!

My booth sits in the middle of all that traffic you see above where THOUSANDS of potential readers can learn about your books. I also put out flyers, send articles to the local papers, create posters, post on all my platforms, and generally let the world know about your wonderful books. Participating authors will also get the chance to be spotlighted on my blog's weekly BOOK NOOK REVIEWS where my readers from over 20 countries will learn about your work!

Any author interested in donating an autographed item or finding out more about the Children's Festival of Reading, promoting Children's Literacy and Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, can drop me a line at donasdays (at) gmail (dot) com or leave me a comment  here and I'll get in touch.

People have thanked me over the years for hosting this FREE PROMOTION event but it is I who need to thank YOU for all the wonderful stories you tell. YOU are the true heros who help children every day to realize MAGIC still lives within the pages of a good book...

Happy Anniversary To Me!

Sometimes in the rush to balance everything on my plate, I forget just how far I have come with this blog. I realized last night that today, December 6, 2013, is my official TWO YEAR BLOG ANNIVERSARY. Time to do the happy dance!

Then I had to stop and catch my breath for a second. Two years. Two wonderfully, turbulent, mesmerizing, overwhelming years where i worked hard to take this blog from an audience of one...thank you, Janet...to something much, much bigger. I looked over this blog's current stats and thought I would share just how far I have come in twenty-four little months:

Number of posts written or hosted...500

Number of pageviews...253,721 (That's a QUARTER OF A MILLION VIEWS PEOPLE!)

Number of followers...2525 (People who follow me or this blog through Blogger, Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Tumbler, and Quora.)

Number of countries visiting...19 (This little blog is read in the United States as well as Ireland, England, Scotland, Canada, Russia, Germany, Australia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, China, France, New Zealand, Spain, South Korea, Bahamas, Bangladesh, and the Ukraine.)

Excuse me while I take a moment to put my head between my knees. My world is spinning with the possibility there are actually that many people who freely choose to stop by this blog. I am honored and humbled by such kindness and will strive to keep my posts worthy of such expectations.

These past two years have been a series of ups and downs. Some of the downsides included my Yahoo account being hacked and some people were worried I was stuck in some third world country without enough money to get home. Fortunately my friends were intelligent enough to know I never left Tennessee, so a simple change of passwords and creation of a different email account resolved that problem. Another downside was more insidious and ongoing. An ex-student of mine chose to stalk this blog and attempt to post comments which just meant I had to block the multiple accounts as they were set up, tag them as spam, and delete the comments. Small price to pay to keep my readers safe. The stalking continues but as long as that student chooses to refrain from posting comments, who am I to prevent them from enjoying my posts? Maybe they will learn something along the way...

The ups have been far greater in number. I have participated in three of Tara Lazar's PiBoIdMo challenges and came out a winner with 98 PB ideas to show for it. I have participated in Julie Hedlund's 12 X 12 forum where I now have 10 completed manuscripts and 19 works in progress under my belt. My FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION grew from 31 authors participating the first year with 350 autographed items to 43 authors this past year and 1000 autographed items! I've submitted some of my stories to 53 agents, received 2 requests for additional submissions, and managed to get one of my stories published in January of this year through Chicken Soup For The Soul: Angels Among Us edition. My WRITERLY WISDOM series (which is sadly coming to a close at the end of December) has been a joy to host where all kinds of lovely authors, agents, and illustrators have taken the time to share their own wisdom with my readers. And then there was my RAYS OF SUNSHINE blog post which has received over 15,000 page views to date! You can check it out if you'd like by clicking on the link...http://donasdays.blogspot.com/2012/05/rays-of-sunshine.html. I'm not sure why that particular post connected with so many people but it sure makes me giddy inside to realize it has!

So what's in store for the new year? 

You know me. Forever changing, forever evolving. I gave it a lot of thought and have decided to make a few changes with my readers in mind and to continue my mission to support this wonderful writing community as much as I can. With that in mind, here is my new blogging schedule beginning in January:

Monday...my readers will still receive inspirational posts but I might expand it a bit more instead of just focussing on writing analogies.

Wednesday...as an extension of my FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION, I will create my BOOK NOOK REVIEWS in which I will shine the spotlight on various authors who have kindly provided autographed books as part of my giveaways during my city's Children's Festival of Reading every May. This way, not only do I get the chance to show off their books to the over 15,000 people who walk by my booth each year, but I will now expand that FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION to my over 2500 followers...and maybe THEIR followers as well as I help spread the word about great books!

Fridays...I'm trying something new. I'm calling it my TALES FROM THE BAYOU. Whenever I tell stories about some of the things that have happened to me both as a child  growing up in the swamps of Louisiana and as a young woman trying to find her way in the world, people have said, "you aught to write a book!" So I figure, why not just tell you about the wild and crazy things that helped me become the person I am today?  Some of my tales will be good for a chuckle, some might bring tears to your eyes, and some might even touch your heart. At least that is what I will set out to attempt and you, my dear readers, will let me know if I succeed or not.

Well, there you have it! A look back at the past two years of this blog and my life as a writer. What will the next two years hold? Maybe an agent offering representation? Maybe a book deal? Maybe another Chicken Soup story to add to my collection?

I can only hope...