WHEN IS A CLUB NOT A WEAPON?

 

When it's a FAN club!

Look, I made a funny!

I also wanted to share with everyone the fact I'm now also offering FREE memberships into my STORY CATCHER FAN CLUB. My book, THE STORY CATCHER, is all about one little girl's dream of 'catching' her own story one day. Well, one of MY dreams is to have a place where children (and the young at heart) can go to receive some free goodies just for joining.

Here is what membership in the STORY CATCHER FAN CLUB includes:

1. A printable STORY CATCHER membership certificate suitable for framing.

2. A STORY CATCHER Reading Log. Once you either read or listen to 20 books, you are eligible to receive the official STORY CATCHER Reading Award.

3. A bi-monthly newsletter which includes puzzles, mazes, games, fun facts covering subjects like science, history, etc. as well as the latest STORY CATCHER news.

4. A short story starring YOU!

And now through the end of the month, for every membership into the STORY CATCHER FAN CLUB received, that person's name will also be included in the drawing for a number of prizes to be given away as part of my celebration of Anaiah Press' release of my debut picture book, THE STORY CATCHER.

All you need to do to join the fun is to send an email request to storycatcherfanclub@gmail.com. Be sure to include the name and age of the new member as well as which prize drawing you would like to enter. If you missed out on the list of prizes I'm giving away at the end of the month just click here.

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You can order my book, THE STORY CATCHER, through the following buy links. It is available in both ebook and print copies. Here is the book blurb and book trailer.

 

Amazon Kindle: http://amzn.com/B00PHJRVG0

Amazon Paperback: http://amzn.com/0990908542

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-story-catcher-donna-l-martin/1120753878?ean=9780990908548

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/492614

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23584993-the-story-catcher

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, though, the words play tricks on her. Addie tries everything she can think of to corral those wiggly letters, but it will take a little faith to become the next STORY CATCHER.
 

Trailer:

 

 

IT'S TIME FOR THE CATCH A PRIZE CONTEST!

All right, boys and girls! Here is the contest you have all been waiting for! To help celebrate the release of my debut picture book, THE STORY CATCHER, by Anaiah Press yesterday, I'm going to have a contest where a number of prizes will be given away.

First...the rules:

1. Select a way to 'follow me' by either signing up for my blog posts by entering your email address in the subscribe link on the top right side of this screen, liking my Facebook Author page at www.facebook.com/donasdays, or joining me on Twitter @donasdays.

2. Leave a comment on this post telling me which prize you would like your name to be entered in the drawing for.

3. Sharing the good news of this contest with your friends and followers is always welcome!

The contest will run from today until 12:59 p.m. on Saturday, January 31st. There will be two more ways to enter my CATCH A PRIZE contest that I will reveal on Wednesday, January 22nd, and Saturday, January 24th so be sure and come back for those reveals!

Now for the good stuff...the prizes:

The first prize I'm giving away is a cool butterfly sticker album with with 50 butterfly stickers. The logo for THE STORY CATCHER is butterflies so I thought these would be cool to decorate with!

Next is a large butterfly journal for storing great story ideas you've caught. It's about 5 1/2" by 7 1/2" and the cover says 'Let Your Dreams Take Flight'.

Here is a cute book I found at the bookstore entitled THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF IMMATURITY: HOW TO NEVER GROW UP. It's full of really cool things to do and if you are a kid or write for kids, this would be a great reference book!

 

There will be three winners of these beautiful hand crafted butterfly wall hangings. They are lightweight, are probably about 8"-10" across, and delicate. If I had the room on my walls to hang them, I would keep them for myself...lol...

 

I'm also going to be giving away a signed copy of my picture book to one lucky winner! 

You can order my book, THE STORY CATCHER, through the following buy links. It is available in both ebook and print copies. Here is the book blurb and book trailer.

 

Amazon Kindle: http://amzn.com/B00PHJRVG0

Amazon Paperback: http://amzn.com/0990908542

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-story-catcher-donna-l-martin/1120753878?ean=9780990908548

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/492614

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23584993-the-story-catcher

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, though, the words play tricks on her. Addie tries everything she can think of to corral those wiggly letters, but it will take a little faith to become the next STORY CATCHER.
 

Trailer:

Flash Fiction Friday

 

 

The Book Fairie

By Donna L Martin

 

 

If twasn't for bad luck, I would have no luck at all.  But everyone has the luck of the Irish on St Paddy's Day I am told, so I went in search of my good luck one bright spring afternoon and you'll never guess what I found.

 

Why, it was the Book Fairie himself!  Truth be told, he was more leprechaun than fairie and everyone knows how sneaky leprechauns can be.  But I was sneakier and stumbled upon the brightly dressed fellow as he lay sleeping under a tree with his pot of magical books scattered all about him.

 

Quickly I tied a bit of twine around one green-shoed foot and the other end around the tree. Everyone knows a leprechaun yearns to be free and once tied up, they can not get away until one wish be granted.

 

"Hi, ho, Book Fairie, wake up!  I have caught you fair and square so you must grant me my one wish!"  I call out to my resting captive.

 

Emerald eyes open to stare at me in sleepy-eyed confusion until he realizes I have tethered him to his tree.  But instead of angry shouting, it is tinkling laughter I hear as the leprechaun slowly grins and says, "Ahhh, you have caught me true enough, but the question is what would you do with me now?  One wish granted is indeed what you may have but be careful what you wish for, as all magic comes with a price!"

 

I should have listened to the Book Fairie but I was so proud of the fact I had tricked him, I never stopped to think he might trick me in return.  Boldly pointed to his treasure of books, I replied, "That is the book I want.  Now grant me my wish and be gone with you!"

 

His smile grew wider as he placed the book in my hands and said, "As you wish, but remember...I warned you!"  And with a flash of pale green smoke, my leprechaun disappeared.  Taking his place at the foot of the tree, I sat down and eagerly opened my prize...

 

 

***Okay, it's your turn.  What happens next?  And to help celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, for every person who leaves a comment, adds a sentence, or finishes the story, their name will go in the hat to win a St Paddy's Day prize pack!  So come on, join the fun and see where this picture prompt takes us!***

 

 

 

 



Happy Anniversary To Me!

I had a dream of starting a little blog a year ago in response to a challenge from Tara Lazar to write a post describing what last year's PiBoIdMo experience was like for me.  I barely even knew what a blog was and spent many a frustrating hour trying to create a blog platform for myself.  With a whole lot of luck and some help from my new friends in the writing community (thanks Beth Stilborn and Denise Mclennan Bruce), I managed to create my blog, ON THE WRITE TRACK, and posted my very first post.  You can read it by going here... http://donasdays.blogspot.com/2011/12/piboidmo-was-piece-of-cake.html

I had read somewhere the way to become known in the writing community is to blog often so I decided to create a goal for myself that I would post every single day for an entire year.  365 posts and I didn't even know what I was going to write about.  I felt in my heart that I had something to give back to a community of people who had welcomed me into their ranks and treated me like family.  So I wrote for them and for the other newbie writers like myself who were struggling to figure this whole "writing thing" out...;~)
 

Somehow along the way I found my voice and began getting new followers.  The first time I saw 5O little face icons peeking in on my blog I did a happy dance.  When those numbers bumped up to 100, I did another happy dance.  But when my numbers crept past 200 and kept going I teared up.  Why?  Because it amazed me people chose to stop by daily to read my posts and so I tried my hardest to infuse inspiration and motivation into every sentence I wrote.  A lot of readers (over 1300 of them) read a post I published in October entitled Helping Hands (
http://donasdays.blogspot.com/2012/10/helping-hands.html) and it aptly described how I envision my blog...as a source for others to feel a little bit better after having read one of my posts.  Now here it is, a year later, and I am absolutely blown away by the stats I just pulled for this post.  As of Monday, here are what my numbers look like:

Followers:  302 and growing

Published Comments: 4855

Posts: 332 with 307 published and 25 in drafts (I had to pull some of my published posts back into drafts because of possible future publication issues of my stories)

Visiting Countries: 24

Monthly Hits: 18,109

Total Pageviews: 149,692

I know my blog is a mere pebble in an ocean of blogs but to me, these numbers represent the acknowledgment of a year's worth of effort to inspire, entertain, and inform through my writing.  My readers feel like family and you are the measure of my worth as a writer.  In honor of my one year blog anniversary, I would like to say thanks for believing in me and this blog by giving away some prizes. 
 

If you feel like leaving a comment on this post, I will add your name to the hat for one lucky follower to win a children's book, or novel of your choice up to a retail value of $15 dollars.  Or if you prefer, you may choose from my vast resource library of writer reference books and we will figure out at a later date which one you would like to have.  

But if you get the urge to tell others about my WRITERLY WISDOM coming in January or encourage others to join my FLASH FICTION FRIDAY fun,  just let me know in the comments of this post, and your name will be added to the hat a second time!  The winning name will be announced Monday, December 17th and I will try my best to get the prize to you in time for Christmas!

For anyone else who wants to take advantage of my other anniversary prizes, I will do a general critique of any story you have up to 2000 words.  Depending on how many people might take me up on my offer, I will schedule a time that is convenient for both of us to make good on that promise.

There you have it.  I didn't quite reach my goal of posting every day this past year but that's okay.  I made new friends, added a credit to my "published" list and had the chance to learn from some of the world's best writing talent.  What more could I possibly wish for?

Time For Another Giveaway!

Okay everybody, are you ready for Spring? I am and you know why?  Because it's time for another giveaway on my blog!  That's right...I had so much fun with the last giveaway during the Winter that I just might make this a seasonal event!  I'm rolling up my sleeves and getting ready to have some more fun.  Are you with me?

Let's get down to business about the giveway...what it is, what you have to do to enter, what you are going to get when you win...and YOU WILL WIN!!  A lot of you know by now that my city is hosting a Children's Festival of Reading on Saturday, May 19th.  And you also may know that I was invited to have a booth there, so I came up with a creative way to help out all my lovely new friends in this writing community.  Traditional, Indie, and E-book authors are sending me their autographed books and autographed swag items so that I may showcase them at my booth for my giveaway items.  So far 12 lovely authors have agreed to send me 30 of their books but I'm greedy...I want to help even MORE authors get the word out about their wonderful stories!

That is where YOU come in!  From now until April 15th, anyone who would like to show their support for all the wonderful authors out there by helping me get the word out about my booth will get the chance to win one of four prizes.  Here is what you do:

Give a shout-out about this event and encourage authors or illustrators to get in contact with me so I can help promote their book(s).  Tie this link http://donasdays.blogspot.com/2012/03/calling-all-authors.html to a blog post, Twitter tweet, Facebook status update...however you would like to do it...and then leave a comment here or send me an email to tkd2lady (at) yahoo (dot) com letting me know you did so I can put your name in the hat for the drawings.

Anyone willing to help me get the word out will get to pick from the following prizes:

1.  Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul.  If more than one person would like this book, then I will put all names in a hat and draw the winner.

2.  You Can Write Children's Books by Tracey E. Dils.  If more than one person would like this book, then I will put all names in a hat and draw the winner.

3.  A creative blog post or interview by me.  I know I'm not famous but maybe you need a filler for your blog and I could help you out.

4.  A critique on a manuscript up to 1000 words.  Again, I must confess it would not be a "professional" critique but I have been writing for over 40 years and have been reading for longer than that and the one thing I DO know...I have an opinion of what is good writing...;0)

There you have it.  My Springtime giveaway and just maybe a way to draw more authors works to a fabulous event.  I am willing to do all the hard work promoting because it's the only way I can think of to express my gratitude for the friendship and loving support I have received from this wonderful writing community.  So, all I need to know is...who will help me shine the spotlight on some terrific children's book authors out there?