Double Giveaway -- The Truth of Me and Kicking In the Wall

Thought for the Day:

Writing is like giving yourself homework, really hard homework, every day for the rest of your life. You want glamorous? Throw glitter at the computer screen.
~Ketrina Monroe~

A Gift for My Writer Friends:

For a real horror storyabout agents and self-publishing, click HERE.

Click HERE for a terrific post on Chapters.

You can read a really fun article on getting rid of writer's block if you click HERE.

I know I have been absent for a week. Sometimes life gets in the way and sometimes we need a little break. Anyway, I'M BACK!!! But just a head's up -- I might disappear again for a week in June. Family reunion and travel plans might get in the way of blogging.

When I was last here, I offered a copy of the sweet Ivy in the Shadows by Chris Woodworth. And the winner is (drumroll, please) Barbara Watson!! Congratulations, Barbara. I will be sending the book along to you this week. For those of you who don't know Barbara, she is a teacher, writing, and freelance editor who does great editing work. You can find out more about her and her work by clicking HERE.

I reviewed a new book by Patricia MacLachlan recently for a review in the Sacramento Book Review. She is a prolific writer and probably most famous for her Newbery-winning Sarah, Plain and Tall. The book I reviewed is called The Truth of Me, and it is simply a lovely book.

Robbie is an only child. He has longed for a sibling, but it's clear that won't happen. His rather self-absorbed musician parents travel too much and have made it clear they don't need or want another child in their lives. Robbie often thinks they'd rather have one less child in their lives. They did get him a dog, however, a sweet hound named Eleanor, but Robbie calls her Ellie, and Ellie is his best friend. Well, he has another best friend. His grandmother Maddy is also his best friend. Not many kids have a grandmother for a best friend, but Maddy is pretty special.

When Robbie's parents go off to play concerts in Europe for the summer, Robbie is able to spend that time with Maddy, and he is able to take Ellie with him. It turns out to be a very memorable visit. Spending time with his grandmother allows Robbie to learn some truths about his mother that helps him understand a lot of things.

Maddy isn't much of a cook, but her neighbor, Henry, the local doctor, loves to cook and spends nearly every evening with Maddy and Robbie, cooking up wonderful things. But Maddy, who communes with nature as few others can, wants to take Robbie camping in the nearby woods. Henry has no interest in camping, so it is just Robbie, Maddy, and Ellie. While camping, Maddy shows Robbie how to relate to wild animals in a magical way she has. But while some of those animals are in camp, Maddy suffers a bad injury just as a large bear comes on the scene. Maddy can't be moved. It is up to Robbie and Ellie to take care of Maddy and get help, all while making sure she is safe.

Patricia MacLachlan

"It is beautiful at the top of the hill. The sun is setting, leaving a rose sky. We set up the tent together in a clearing. Maddy builds a small campfire in a stone pit, and we eat our food. There are two logs to sit on. I stare at the logs, remembering Maddy's story about eating corn bread with a bear, both of them sitting on a log."

I love The Truth of Me and think most kids fourth through sixth grade will as well. It's a little book, but has so much depth and so much truth in it. The writing is beautiful and the story is one to which many of us and of the kids out there can relate. You can win my ARC of this sweet book by being a follower (please help me reach 100!!) and leaving a comment. As a bonus, I am also giving away a copy of Kicking In the Wall: A Year of Writing Exercises, Prompts, and Quotes to Help You Break Through your Blocks and Reach Your Writing Goals by Barbara Abercrombie. This is another book I reviewed recently and, honestly, I have way too many writing books already, so you can win them both. Just be a follower and leave that comment. If you want more chances, post the link to this post on Facebook or Tweet it and let me know. I'll put your name in an extra time.

Don't forget to check in with Shannon Messenger for more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday book reviews. Just click HERE to get to her wonderful blog.

For the giveaway, it is for U.S. only. Sorry, but I just can't afford to send books out of the country. Hope you understand. But do leave a comment please. I love to hear from my readers.

Ivy in the Shadows by Chris Woodworth -- A Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist.”
~ Isaac Asimov~

Ah, there’s one more link on dialogue from the series on dialogue I referenced last week. That and a couple more to help you be productive.

Part III in the dialogue series of posts for which I posted I and II last time can be found by clicking HERE.  

Click HERE to see Neil Gaiman’s 8 Rules for writing. 

Pixar’s 22 Rules for Storytelling can be found by clicking HERE.  

The lucky winner of this week’s double giveaway drawing for Gingersnap and Road Trip is Helen!! (How about a round of applause?) Helen, I will get the books out to you this week.  

If you didn’t win, read on. I have another fabulous giveaway this week.

I, like many of you, sign up for drawings on blogs for book giveaways.  I was lucky enough a few weeks ago to have my name drawn on Carol Baldwin’s blog (cleverly entitled Carol Baldwin’s Blog) which you can find by clicking HERE. Carol teaches writing and has written a book about teaching writing for kids. Anyway, I received a hardcover copy of Ivy in the Shadows by Chris Woodworth, a middle-grade contemporary. I loved it and want to tell you about it.

Ivy’s stepfather, a musician, leaves.  Ivy’s mother, with two kids to raise, has to find a way to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. She sure isn’t getting any help from her husband, even though he is the real father to JJ, Ivy’s little brother. To Ivy’s complete embarrassment, her mother stands up in church and asks for help. Help comes in an odd way. A couple says they need to leave their son with someone while they go to find a house where they will be moving. Caleb, their son, is the same age as Ivy and, at least in Ivy’s eyes, something of an odd duck, and Ivy is not happy. But JJ is crazy about him. Having Caleb staying isn’t enough, even though they are getting a break on their rent, also due to Mama asking in church. Ivy’s mother stands up in church again and asks for a job. She gets one, but that means Ivy will have to take on watching JJ to help out. All this is going on while Ivy’s best friend, Ellen, seems to be pulling away and changing in many ways.

This story is very real in so many ways: the breaking family, the changing of friendships, the love and loyalty that can be found in the oddest of circumstances and relationships. Ivy’s voice, in this first-person account, is absolutely authentic. Not once did I doubt this was the story of a young girl and the telling of it her own.

Chris Woodworth

I love this book and think everyone who discovers it will completely enjoy every word. I’m going to offer here today my own gently-read hardcover copy of Ivy in the Shadows to one of you.

For a chance to win this charming book, please be a follower of this blog and leave a comment. If you are not yet a follower, it’s easy to become one. (I’m trying to get to triple digits on my followers, so…) Just go to the right hand side of my blog, find where it says Followers, and click the Join This Site icon. I’d appreciate it. Also, if you tweet my link or link it on your blog or share it on Facebook, let me know and I will put your name in the drawing an extra time for each one.

Don’t forget to stop by Shannon Messenger’s wonderful blog for more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday links. Click HERE to find it.

On the book giveaway, this is for U.S. only. Sorry, but it would be too expensive for me to send books out of the country. But please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. Remember, if you have trouble leaving a comment, click on the title of the post and it will give you just this post with a comments section on the bottom. Also, if you haven’t signed up by email, please do. Just look in the upper right-hand corner of this page, pop your email address in, and you will receive an email each time I put up a new post. Your information will not be shared with anyone.      

DOUBLE Giveaway -- Gingersnap and Road Trip

Thought for the Day:

“In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” ~Albert Schweitzer~

This week I have four links for you that all have to do with dialogue. If writing good dialogue is important to you, and if you’re writing, it should be, it will be well worth your time to read all four of these:

For a great post on writing dialogue, click HERE. 

For another great post on writing dialogue, click HERE. 

This is probably the best example of subtext in dialogue I’ve ever seen. Don’t miss this! Click HERE.

And the icing on the cake is a wonderful post on writing dialect. Click HERE for that one.

The lucky winner of this week’s drawing for an ARC of The Fourth Stall Part III, (Spin the disco ball!) is Meradeth Houston!! Meradeth is a writer, blogger, and has a new ebook out called The Chemistry of Fate. You can find out more about her and her book by clicking HERE. I LOVE the name of her blog. Check it out and you will see why. Meradeth, I will get the book out to you this week.  

If you didn’t win, read on. There will be a DOUBLE giveaway this week.

This weekend our SCBWI regional conference, Spring Spirit, took place and it was FABULOUS!! We had wonderful speakers and workshops and critiques and food and fun. Kelly Milner Halls was one of the speakers, and

Kelly Milner Halls on the left

if you EVER have a chance to see her, do it. Uh-Maze-Ing! And she is an absolute hoot. Her books are just as amazing as she is. Click on her name and check out her site.

I did a little work on the conference and also made some airport runs to pick up and drop off editors and an agent. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much sleep and I think I’m fighting s bug of some sort. Anyway, I’m not feeling up to snuff today, so I’m going to be a little lazy and post two reviews that I wrote for the Sacramento and San Francisco Book Reviews. The good news for you is, first, they are both terrific books, and second, I am giving both away. So some lucky winner is going to win hardcover copies of BOTH Gingersnap by Patricia Reilly Giff, a really sweet book, and Road Trip by Gary Paulsen and his son Jim, a terrifically funny book.  

To read the review of Gingersnap, click HERE. Don't you just love that cover? It really suits the book.

To read the review of Road Trip, click HERE. 

I’ll bet you’ll all be wishing I would get sick more often! For a chance to win these two terrific books, please be a follower and leave a comment below. If you are not yet a follower, it’s easy to become one. (I’m trying to get to triple digits on my followers, so…) Just go to the right hand side of my blog, find where it says Followers, and click the Join This Site icon. I’d appreciate it. Also, if you tweet my link or link it on your blog or share it on Facebook, let me know, and I will put your name in the drawing an extra time for each one.

Don’t forget to stop by Shannon Messenger’s wonderful blog for more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday links. Click HERE to find it.

On the book giveaway, this is for U.S. only. Sorry, but it would be too expensive for me to send books out of the country. But please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. Remember, if you have trouble leaving a comment, click on the title of the post and it will give you just this post with a comments section on the bottom. Also, if you haven’t signed up by email, please do. Just look in the upper right-hand corner of this page, pop your email address in, and you will receive an email each time I put up a new post. Your information will not be shared with anyone.