It's An Extreme Father's Day!

Just a quick post today to wish all fathers out there a happy and relaxing day! Today is expected to be a very extreme Father's Day. No one can say for sure, but it is looking like my friend's neighbor is going to be the next family to be on Extreme Home Makeover. This side of the state is buzzing with excitement; newspapers running stories and people lining the roadways with signs welcoming the show producers and waiting eagerly for a glimpse at Ty Penington. I am hoping to get some great pictures and stories to share with everyone.

Ty is expected to make the announcement to the family this morning and my kids are excited to be going. As fun as it will be for us, we get to leave. I am feeling sympathy for my friends. This is going to be a huge undertaking. Not only will they be listening to construction sounds night and day but they are also bracing for the media and onlooker frenzy. The producers said that there will be roped off walk ways, bleachers, and a shuttle bus bringing droves of people through. They are looking forward to seeing how the house turns out, but a little nervous of the week to come. I will keep everyone posted.

Hope all you dads and grandfathers have a...

!!!!HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

Thanks,

Kristin : )

Back to Writing About Writing

As you may have noticed I have been reviewing children's books and posting them here. Now it's time to get back to what I originally started this blog for; writing about my struggles to find a balance between being an author and busy parent. Although I have loved the books so far, and look forward to reading the rest of my review stack, I don't want to become solely a review blog. I will continue to post more of my Children's Book Review Series, but they will now be posted only on the weekends. If you are a children's author and want me to review your book(s) contact me. You will be added to my review list and contacted when it is posted. I am hoping to keep this going all summer. I love being a part of bringing great new books to children and feel it is important to encourage them to continue reading through the summer. Reading is a way to exercise the mind and the best cure when they suffer from the "I'm bored" syndrome.

For all of you who are curious what I have been up to besides reviewing children's books; where do I begin?

I am still waiting for the film producer to pitch my book to the Lifetime Movie Network. It will happen some time this summer. In the mean time I am making a press packet to send to Beth, and doing everything possible to get more sales and attention for The Truth Lies in the Dark. The better my book is doing, the better the chance that the network executives will agree to sponsor the movie. If anyone has any ideas or advice on this please let me know. Having no agent to help me navigate this process, I could use all of the help and luck you can offer.

Speaking of agents, I am researching literary agents now. I am realizing that this is a lengthy venture. I had hoped to find one that could help me with the movie rights and increasing visibility for The Truth Lies in the Dark. This is most likely not going to happen. Today's agents are so inundated with queries, it would take something short of a miracle to find one willing to take on such an extensive project in such a limited amount of time. So, for now I will keep going unagented on this and continue seeking representation for my next book.

My current WIP (work in progress) is my contemporary romance, which I thought was finished. I had it under consideration at Avalon, a Christian publisher in New York City. They ultimately sent it back with some great advice. They also wanted some parts omitted and devoid of all hints of sex or foul language. I thought it was a very tame novel to start with, but took their advice to heart and starting rewriting. As my rewrites progressed, the story moved further from Avalon's standards.

This brought on a dilemma. Do I rewrite again, making sure to stay within their guidelines of absolutely no sex or curses? Do I continue following this new path and letting the character, and my own intuition lead the story? I chose the second; this means it's back to the drawing board for me as far as finding a new publisher. This was not an easy decision to make. I know, it sounds like it should be. Writers are always being told to write from the heart and be true to themselves, but there's always that insecure inner thought saying jump at any chance to publish. I am fighting that inner imp by reminding myself that this is not a race; not a competition to simply be published. (Although it feels like that at times.) This is the beginning of a long, and hopefully productive career. If I go into it not completely believing in what I put out there how am I going to promote it, or for that matter defend it when people hate it? And believe me, people will hate it. You just can't please everyone. If you're happy with your work that will help you deal with rejection and negative comments. It will also make those glowing reviews and positive comments all that much better.

Not to say that years from now I won't look back and say things like; wow I've learned so much since those first books, I can't believe I wrote that, or where were the punctuation police. Well, I better say things like that. Because if I ever get cocky enough to think there is no more to learn or no room for improvement I will be very disappointed in myself. I think everyone should know their faults. You don't have to point them out to the world; just know them and do what you can to make changes in yourself as you go. When you're done learning...you're dead!

That is basically what I've been up to with my writing life; my family life is another blog post entirely. I will keep everyone up to date on how the movie deal is going, my agent search, and my writing progress. Let me know what you've been up to.

Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to hearing from you.

Kristin : )

My First Blog Challenge Begins! Bloggiesta! OLE!

This is PEDRO, the official mascot of the Bloggiesta. His name is an acronym that means

Plan Edit Develop Review Organize

It's Friday and the first day of my first blog challenge. When I heard about the Bloggiesta, I thought it was only for bloggers that review books. The idea Natasha from MawBooks had was to challenge bloggers to not only catch up with reviews and posts they had fallen behind on but also get ahead by having new posts ready to go when needed in the future. The more I heard about it the more I realized that this could work for any blogger.



Summer vacation has officially started here and what better time to get ahead on my own blog. I will still be adding new posts as the summer rolls on, but for those times when we get busy or just want to enjoy sitting by the pool with the kids I'll have posts all set and ready to go. This will be especially helpful for my Children's Book Review Series. I have decided to start running my CBRS reviews on the weekends only; leaving the weekdays for writing and family related posts. If you are a children's author and would like me to review your book(s) you can contact me for a mailing address. I have really enjoyed the books I have read so far and hope that this helps each author find more readers.



I am still figuring out the details of this challenge, so if you have questions or would like to jump in and join yourself go over to Natasha's blog.



http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/06/19/bloggiesta-lets-begin-the-festivities/



Part of the Bloggiesta Challenge is to set a goal of how many hours you plan to allot to working on your blog. That is up to each blogger. I have set my goal fairly low (10 hours) for two reasons.



1. This is my first challenge and I want to start with a realistic goal. If I reach this goal it's a victory; if I exceed it I will be encouraged to join other challenges.



2. I don't know how or why, but every time I sit down in front of a computer and look like I am concentrating something strange happens. My mind gives off some kind of tractor beam or a large magnet is activated and all of a sudden my children are stuck to me. I've looked at this scientifically and have found the opposite occurs when I do other things; say dishes or any kind of cleaning. This is when they disappear, quickly.



To me the 10 hours seems a little daunting. I have come up with some ways to reach my goal before I reach the limits of my sanity. First, I will try to get in most of the time before my children wake up or after they have gone to bed. If that fails, as the best laid plans often do. I will use my scientific theory and place the vacuum next to the computer. Each time the kids are drawn to me I will counter the magnetic pull by switching it on and pretending to clean. According to my scientific discovery, they should disappear.



I have a goal, a plan of action, and best of all I have the fixings for tacos, nacho dips, and margaritas to get me through the weekend. Maybe I should hold off on the margaritas until I have reached my goal (no one wants to see my margarita mingled thoughts posted. Correction: I don't want to see them posted).



Wish me luck and let me know if you plan to join the challenge, officially or not.



!!BLOGGIESTA!! OLE!!



Kristin :D

Children's Book Review Series: Molly Monkey by John Rosano

Molly Monkey:Farmward Bound written by John Rosano and illustrated by Nathan Smith is a cute story about a monkey who is ready for a change.


Molly has lived in the jungle for three years and now is ready to move. But where does she want to go? Molly is farmward bound. This resourceful monkey calls a taxi and books her own airplane flight. On the farm, she meets her new family and animal friends.


John Rosano has created a lovable character that children and parents will love. Molly's story is told in rhyme, making it fun to read and to listen to and Molly helps the American Forests Organization. A tree will be planted in America everytime a Molly Monkey book is purchased. It looks like we will be seeing more of Molly and enjoying many new adventures.


More information about John Rosano and Molly can be found at on the Three in a Tree Publications website:

http://www.3inatree.net/


More information about American Forests Organization can be found on:

http://www.americanforests.org/


Molly Monkey was a fun book to read with my kids and fit right in with my daughter's love for everything monkey. We can't wait to see what's next.

Thanks for stopping by and, as always feel free to leave a message about what you and your children are reading.

Thanks,
Kristin : )