Aaron Shepard's Writing For Children Book

Ok, here's a shameless plug for a FANTASTIC book. It's Aaron Shepard's The Business of Writing For Children book.



This book is vital to any author contemplating writing a children's book. It speaks the blunt truth...the writing part is only a tiny piece of the pie. It's also a business and a very difficult one, to put it mildly.

When you buy it, read it from beginning to end. It's an easy read, about 100 pages, and a nice, large font.

Aaron Shepard also has a fantastic web site for authors, please take time to visit it here. I've been reading a lot lately, trying to develop my writing style, and I know a great book when I read one. This is a great book.

Take care.

Goosebumps or Grossbumps?

I'm on Chapter 5 of the sequel to my first book, Adirondack Nightmare: A Spooky Tale in the North Country. This sequel is much longer and won't leave readers hanging as much as the first one did. My apologies for that, I rushed and was psyched to get it to print. A common mistake for first-time authors. So, I learned a valuable lesson. Quality!

I will write a very nice prologue in this second book to get readers up to speed as time has moved very quickly for William Durant. Here's his daughter, Reggie, the protagonist in my second book.



Well, Reggie has a step-brother who likes to read the "Goosebumps" series of books. I'd like to put this in the book but a question has come up. Do I need to get permission to use that word? If so, it might take forever and a day so, instead, should I use "Grossbumps" with the implication of, well, you know.

I kind of like the idea of Grossbumps because it cracks me up. We'll see what happens when I call the R.L. Stine folks. I'll let ya know.

Take care.

Writing With Depression

I have so much I could blog, post, write, contribute and just can't get myself to do it. I'm suffering from depression. Like a dummy, I let my anti-depression medication expire. I felt I could keep it under control with vitamins and the like. I've tried it before, without success. Why would I try it again? That's part of the cycle of depression. I should have known better but I wanted to be strong without the medicine. Duh.



My husband's been wonderfully supportive and I'm now back on the meds. In a few days I'll be my old self, catch up on some work and have fun writing again. I'll probably even smile, be goofy and such.

Take care. I know I will :-)

Author's Access Web Site

Here's a great web site:

Author's Access

They boast "Visit Authors Access podcasts: www.authorsaccess.com where authors get published and published authors get successful."

I've listened to many of the podcasts and they are so helpful and interesting.
I just listened to one about the importance of book covers featuring Patrick Snow who has "spent over ten years of his life developing this unique system that is designed to save you both time in money in your quest to achieve your publishing and book promotion goals". His web site is here and I strongly urge any author or author-wanna be to check it out.

Take care.

The Chronicle (Glens Falls NY) Book Fair

The Chronicle Book Fair In Glens Falls, NY will be held at the Queensbury Hotel on the corner of Ridge and Maple Streets in downtown Glens Falls. It is on Sunday, October 14, from 11a.m. until 4p.m. Almost 120 authors will be there, including yours truly!



Come early for "coffee with the authors". Their restaurant will be open and they'll also have a "grab and go" self-serve soup and sandwich vendor on site.

I hope to meet you there! Take care. PS I'm nervous!

Win a Publishing Contract With Court TV

I'm busy writing my second children's ghost story but thought some of you might be into this.

Court TV is looking for the next big crime writer. If anyone is interested
here's the link:

http://courttv.gather.com/



Good luck! By the way, the second book is coming along great. If anyone would like a peak at the first chapter, let me know. I'd love your comments/suggestions.

Take care.

Author's Den is No Nightmare!

I've found this great site for authors. It's called Author's Den.

It's a great FREE marketing tool and I just love it! Here's
a link to
my entry. The site boasts "Home to 50,000+ authors. Visited by
1,000,000 people monthly." I don't know if that's true or not but
did I mention that it's free?
LOL

You can upload photos, have url links and more.

Take care.

Adirondack Nightmare $100 Cash Winner!

Our winner is....(how do I put a drumroll on a blog?)...



Sally Sears-Mack! Congratulations, Sally, and thanks to everyone who purchased a book and sent in a ticket.

We've now sold over 500 copies of our book on its first-run. We're so thankful to everyone who has supported us. It's been quite a ride, that's fer sure!

Take care