The Winner's Circle

I was watching a documentary recently on the story of the legendary race horse, Seabiscuit, and his jockey.  Both man and beast overcame many obstacles during their lifetime to finally make it to the winner's circle.  While I personally think the greatest racehorse to have ever lived is Man O War,  I certainly admire Seabiscuit's heart and unshakable determination to give his all to every race he entered.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

There are even some times when people make it to the winner's circle and they don't even know it yet.  I had a contest in March to try and get the word out about my booth at the Children's Festival of Reading.  Some of you were kind enough to help spread the word about this great event for children's book authors ( http://donasdays.blogspot.com/2012/03/calling-all-authors.html ) and I now get to reveal the fabulous people who made it into MY winner's circle:

SUSANNE DRAZIC wins Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul.  

PATRICIA TILTON wins You Can Write Children's Books by Tracey E Dils.  

I need Susanne and Patricia to send me their mailing addresses to my email...tkd2lady (at) yahoo (dot) com so I can get their books in the mail.  My winners of either a creative blog post, interview, or critique on a manuscript up to 1000 words (their choice) include the following lovely people:

BETH STILBORN

CHERYL VELASQUEZ

ERIK (THIS KID REVIEWS BOOKS)

DIANE TULLOCH

S J NIJA

VIVIAN KIRKFIELD

TERESA CYPHER

I need all these winners to send an email to tkd2lady (at) yahoo (dot) com and let me know which of the three prizes you would like from me.

Thanks to everyone who gave a shout-out about this upcoming event.  The response to my requests for autographed items from children's book authors has been astounding and it couldn't have happened without you guys helping me to spread the word about this fun event coming up in May!

NEWS FLASH!  NEWS FLASH! NEWS FLASH!

Speaking about the Children's Festival of Reading, I wanted to give everyone an update on the numbers regarding participants, autographed items, and other news surrounding this event.  I'm still receiving packages almost daily from wonderful authors around the country who heard about my FREE promotion of their books and wanted to get in on the fun!  As of today there is 24 authors participating, with a total of 337 autographed books and swag items to give away! THAT is incredible to me and I am overwhelmed with the generosity of this wonderful writing community.  Here is the latest list of participating authors, illustrators, and book reviewers:

Susanna Leonard Hill

Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

Salina Yoon

Tammi Sauer

Keiko Kasza

Heather Newman (Illustrator)

Debbie Bernstein LaCroix

Alayne Kay Christian

Genevieve Petrillo

Nancy Smiler Levinson

Diane Dawson Hearn

Sarah Frances Hardy

Vivian Kirkland

Lisa M Cottrill-Bentley

Teagan Bentley

Jan Wade

Lori Degman

Doreen Mcgettigan

Erik (This Kid Reviews Books)

Betthany Telles

Jennifer Madison

Ann Haywood Lean

Doreen Mcgettigan

Jennifer Young

That's a lot of FREE stuff for the kiddies, but I still have room at my booth for more!  If there is any other author...or if you KNOW of any other author of picture books, middle grade, or young adult who would like to donate autographed items please, please, PLEASE tell them to email me IMMEDIATELY so they can get their items to me in time for the festival.  I will be taking pictures and blogging about the event so everyone can see the results of their participation!

I just have one last question.  What can YOU do today to bring you one step closer to that winner's circle?

Tennis Anyone?

When I was a teenager, my friends and I attempted to play tennis.  Honestly, we were pathetic.  We didn't know how to hold the racket properly, and we couldn't hit the ball to save our lives, but if enthusiasm counted for anything, then we were winners!  It would have been better for us if we would have taken the time to hone up on our skills and become more serious about what we were attempting to do whenever we walked around calling ourselves champions.

Writers should do the same thing.  It's easy enough to surround ourselves with the tools of the trade, but if we don't actually learn how to use them, then not only do we fail our readers, we fail ourselves.  The game of writing great stories is not won by the occasional contest where we dress to impress and "talk" about the craft of writing.  The writing game is won by doing one simple thing...writing.  Daily.  About anything.  Everything.  Until we have sharpened our skills to a razor's edge.  Until our characters are as sharp as the sword we use to cut through the meaningless words which prevent our stories from reaching the winner's circle.

Only then do we have the power to do exceptional things.  Only then can we create rich stories which inspire and impress our readers.  And if we are truly lucky and have practiced writing daily until we are the best we can be, then maybe one day we will even get to take home the prize...