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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Winners and Such

How did it get to be Tuesday?  How? How?????

Anyway the winner of my book club give away is:

Faith E. Hough!

Faith, you can email me at storyqueen@gmail.com and I'll ship them out to you ASAP.


Boy, time is really moving fast right now.  I am only working on two things right now in terms of writing, but I am having such a difficult time talking about them--and not because they are SEKRIT.  (I never write things that are sekrit because that particular spelling of the word secret really, really bugs me.  It just screams, "I know something that you don't know! Nanny, nanny boo boo!")    I have a difficult time talking about stuff I am working on because often when I say the words aloud, they sound stupid and then I lose faith in my project and have no desire to work on it anymore.  I usually just hem and haw around, trying to avoid the topic all together.  A few years ago (seems like yesterday!!) I would make myself write tag-lines and synopses for everything I was working on....I need to get back into that habit.  Badly.  It really helps me focus on the heart of the story.

Soooooo.....here we go

1.  A half-dog, half-dragon breathes fire into the life of a little girl who wants a cat.

2.    Some people do some stuff.....


Okay, well, one out of two isn't bad.  

Even though the first one isn't really specific enough, either.  It's not that it's sekrit....just that I haven't figured out what happens after the set up.  And I need to before I get much further, or it will stall out on its own.  I hate it when writing stalls out. It's an ugly and boring thing.

My next few weeks are jammed packed with stuff, mostly not writing, but I will be here:

Barnes and Noble
Tuesday, December 4th
4:30-8
Jefferson Bookfair
I have been promised lots of copies of lots of my books, so hopefully we won't run out this time!

Yes, Oreo will be there.  With oreos.  And maybe some door prizes of the holiday variety.....

xo-

hrh




Monday, November 19, 2012

I am Thankful for Readers--Book Club Giveaway

I am so grateful for my readers that I decided to have a little early Christmas give-away.  Here's the deal:  I am going to give SIX copies of THE SEVEN TALES OF TRINKET to one lucky person. AND THAT'S NOT ALL!  I am including a special Discussion Guide especially designed for my book. YAY!  And probably some bookmarks, too!  YAY!!!

Now, what is ONE person going to do with SIX books?

Here are some options:

1.  Give them to your book club!! (It' like I'm an elf...doing your shopping for you!)

2.  If you don't belong to a book club, start one and then GIVE THE BOOKS TO YOUR NEW BOOK CLUB!

3.  Start a book club for your daughter or son and their friends and GIVE THEM  A BOOK!

4.  Give them to a teacher who can use them for an IN CLASS BOOK CLUB! (The teacher in me LOVES this idea!)

5.  Give them to family members near or far and start a FAMILY BOOK CLUB!!

6.  Give them as gifts to your friends, then TALK ABOUT BOOKS AND READING!!

My main purpose in giving a chunk of books away like this is to foster those special discussions that come from sharing the same book with friends.

I will personalize the books for your group---and even stick a big fat bow on them.  The only thing I won't do it read it for you....since I already read it myself.


All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what book your are most grateful to have read this year and you will be entered.  I think I will include international entries...just in case Santa and his reindeer want to start a book club during their off season.
Imagine this...multiplied by six!!!  WOW!!  

Entries open until 12:00 noon, Pacific time on Saturday, November 24

I have so much to be grateful for...family, friends, health, pets,students, colleagues.....and this.  More yay!

hrh

Friday, November 9, 2012

NaChoCheeseMo

No.  The title doesn't have any real significance.

Except that, oh did I tell you?  I challenged my third-graders to do NaNoWriMo.

Seriously. (Except that NaCho cheese-mo sounds funnier so we like it better because third grade is all about the funny)

We are all (we as in me, too) going to write our books in November, then spiff them up in December. (Theirs will spiff into little hard cover books we will "publish" in class. Who knows what will happen with mine.)

Our plan is a little modified.  There is no word minimum that needs to be reached, thank goodness! (50 k is a LOT.)  I am working on a chapterbook, around 10,000 words so I think I can make it.  It's about a fire-breathing dog, in case you were wondering.  I have wanted to write about a fire-breathing dog for MONTHS but every time I started to do it, the story couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to be a novel or a picturebook.  I am forcing it to compromise, because that's what an author can do, you know?

This is my classroom after school.  You can see my head peeking over the desks.  I am busy painting a sign or dinosaur footprints or somesuch.  Photo take with my new phone that does far too much.
But before I can really work on my NaCho, I have to  finish a book I've been working on for MONTHS!!  And IT ENDS NOW!  This weekend.  It. Will. Be. Finished.

There.  I've put in in print.  I am committed.  I shall begin finishing.

Tomorrow, of course.

hrh