Mini update

State of Quarries is now at the editors (my friends Lana and Batya) and should be completed when I return from my trip (see below). Once I get it back, I make my revisions and send it on to Vivian for her editing.

Class visit happened today after a long absence (a week). Mr. Hughes' class had "fall break" last weekend - Thursday and Friday and then his wife's grandmother passed away and they had to make a trip out of town to go to the funeral, so no class time Monday and Tuesday. It was a good visit. We are starting on dialogue and the kids seem to be picking it up for the most part.


The SCWW writer's conference is this weekend and I will have limited or no internet access so won't be able to do any updating until after the conference Sunday night.

Remember that Vivian's Midnight Hours tour starts Sunday. See my other blog for details on that.

You all have an enjoyable weekend. See you next week.

Where did the time go?

Ten days and I've not posted anything on this blog. I haven't even posted any more challenges from the class visit. I will post the rest of the Harris Burdick pictures shortly and let you readers write leads to them as we did in class. We have been moving on since the kids have another challenge from me to write a short story like a mini contest. Mr. Hughes is working on dialogue and a few other things to do with writing a story from start to finish. I won't be in class but one time this week due to a family emergency on Mr. Hughes' side and my going to the SCWW writer's conference at Myrtle Beach. I'm so looking forward to this. I get to have fun.

State of Quarries update: Six more clues and a few interactions to put in and the story will be finished. It will be with Lana and Batya before I leave for the beach and hopefully upon returning they will have sent me suggestions/corrections to make and then I can fix them and get it to Vivian. I probably won't have internet connection or if I do, won't be very much, so won't be able to do any updates during the time I am gone. I will, however, have all my research with me to start working on State #3 - so hopefully most of the clues will be decided upon by the end of the weekend.

Will get Harris Burdick pictures posted before I leave and then no updates until I return from the conference. See you all then - E :)

He's here, He's here - finally!!!!!

Trockle has been touring cyberspace again and has finally made it to my blog again. See I hosted him just a couple of weeks ago but this time, no interviews, no reviews, no articles. We are going to challenge you readers to something fun.



Holly Jahangiri created "Trockle", the little monster who lives under Stephen's bed. What about you? Do you have a monster aching to get out? Let's go trick-or-treating with Trockle and see what other kind of ghouls and monsters live in this world.

My friend Batya at UPositive Creative and Life Coaching has put out a challenge in her newsletter. So here it is to you all: Halloween is just around the calendar corner. The first challenge issued is to invent a new monster. You might want to drag one out from your own stash of "goblins" who inhabit and inhibit your mind, or conjure one from thin or thick air.

Post your created monsters in the comments and see how many of them can befriend Trockle.



Remember there are prizes on this tour too. Here are the rules for Holly's contest. You must do both steps in order to be eligible for the prize (purchase a copy of the book and answer the question).

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Grand Prize: A customized Halloween short story featuring your child (or grandchild, niece, nephew, or friend) with Trockle - written by Holly Jahangiri and illustrated by Jordan Vinyard.

Second Prize: A $20 gift certificate to Amazon.com.


To enter, complete the following steps:

(1) Purchase a copy of Trockle directly from 4RV Publishing (4RV Store) between 12:00 AM October 5 and 11:59 PM October 13, and

(2) Send an email to president@4rvpublishingllc.com with your answer to the question posted at Trockle promo question.


You may enter as often as you like, but all completed entries must be received before midnight on October 13!

Winners will be announced at Holly's blog and at Vivian's website.

The winners will be chosen randomly from all correctly completed entries (see "To enter" above) and winners will be notified by email. IMPORTANT NOTE: The Grand Prize winner will need to work directly with the author and illustrator to create a memorable gift for that special child. To include the child's likeness in the illustration, you will need to provide a digital photo upon notification that you have won. Every effort will be made to deliver the prize prior to Halloween, but circumstances beyond our control may prevent that and we do not guarantee that it will arrive by October 31.

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The schedule is below: (you can still check the previous postings to see what Trockle was up to, even though it's been a bit scary this week what with computer gremlins attacking several of the blocks and some possible alien abudctions, too).

October 5: Joyce Anthony @ Books and Authors http://joyceanthony.tripod.com/blog/

October 6: Joyce Anthony @ Books and Authors http://joyceanthony.tripod.com/blog/

October 7: Janet @ Janet’s Book Nook http://www.sheneedstoknow.com/booknook

October 8: Kimberly @ All About Kimberly http://www.allaboutkimberly.com

October 8: Jen (Pantheistic Mom) @ My Terrene Reality http://terrenereality.blogspot.com

October 10: Elysabeth Eldering @ the Junior Geography Detective Squad http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com/

October 11: Ron Berry @ The Surreal Writer http://unwriter1.wordpress.com/

October 12: Lynne Thompson @ La Vida Es Un Sueno http://suenogrande.blogspot.com/

October 13: Wrap-up by Holly Jahangiri and Jordan M. Vinyard http://blog.jahangiri.us

Three more days until Trockle Trick-or-Treat tour

We are having fun right? Trockle will be visiting us again in three days and the challenge will be on. We want you all to be creative for this Halloween season. Don't worry, there are prizes and everything. In case you missed the posting about the contest Ms. Holly is running, here it is again:

Grand Prize: A customized Halloween short story featuring your child (or grandchild, niece, nephew, or friend) with Trockle - written by Holly Jahangiri and illustrated by Jordan Vinyard.

Second Prize: A $20 gift certificate to Amazon.com.


To enter, complete the following steps:

(1) Purchase a copy of Trockle directly from 4RV Publishing (http://www.4rvpublishingllc.com/Store) between 12:00 AM October 5 and 11:59 PM October 13, and

(2) Send an email to president@4rvpublishingllc.com with your answer to the question posted at http://jahangiri.us/trockle-promo.html.

You may enter as often as you like, but all completed entries must be received before midnight on October 13!

Winners will be announced at http://blog.jahangiri.us and at http://www.4rvpublishingllc.com.

The winners will be chosen randomly from all correctly completed entries (see "To enter" above) and winners will be notified by email. IMPORTANT NOTE: The Grand Prize winner will need to work directly with the author and illustrator to create a memorable gift for that special child. To include the child's likeness in the illustration, you will need to provide a digital photo upon notification that you have won. Every effort will be made to deliver the prize prior to Halloween, but circumstances beyond our control may prevent that and we do not guarantee that it will arrive by October 31.

And if you haven't seen what Trockle looks like, we thought we'd help you out here.

Second week - virtual class visit

Second week, same as the first only a little bit faster now (sorry couldn't resist that Henry VIII song running through my head - had an image of Mr. Hughes singing it only substituting our situation for the words). In reality, I think the visits are fun and the kids are still doing their writing challenges and I'm giving them some feedback (we have a private spot where we can communicate outside of class time and I asked them to post their story leads so I can read and give some advice on how to make it stronger or more along the lines of the lead. I've read four students' postings today so I've commented on eight postings.

The leads to start a story are, in the order they are studying them and doing the writing exercises to the Harris Burdick pictures: 1) Action - the lead starts immediately with something happening and pulls the reader in from the beginning; 2) Dialogue - the lead starts with someone speaking immediately, which means even if there are no characters in the story, you have to create at least two characters in order to have a conversation going (this is one of my favorite ways to start stories but I've also noticed that mine are dialogue/action started because my first dialogue tag usually is an action to lead in to the story); 3) traditional - setting and time are what brings you in to the story (It was a dark and stormy night - very basic example but you get a feel for the setting and time of when the story starts); 4) one sentence wonder - speaks for itself - draws the reader in because it is profound and leaves a lot of questions unanswered; and 5) reflective - the narrator describes feelings and thoughts (to me this is kind of a backstory lead; you are reflecting on something that occurred that leads you to the main part of the story - what happened).

So today we got to do three pictures. The first one we did we knew which lead we were doing - Reflective. This was the last of the five to write about. So here is the picture and my lead. Take the challenge and using reflective lead in (the caption for the picture doesn't have to be used; it is basically to give you an idea what the picture is about) and write for three (3) minutes. Set your timer and see what you come up with.

MR. LINDEN'S LIBRARY

___________________

He had warned her about the book.

Now it was too late.


My attempt at this: Reflective:
If I had only listened to Mr. Linden. He made his point over and over, trying to persuade me not to buy this particular book. Mr. Linden could have used more forceful words. I was only looking at the cover and was entranced by its beautiful cover and the magical vine swirling around the words. Jack and the Beanstalk had nothing on Mr. Linden's book.

He knew I would be taken to a place I could never return from and that the book would overtake me. I should have listened. Why am I so stubborn? All I want to do is get back to where I was before. Home. No place like it.


Okay for the next two pictures, before scrolling down and seeing what they are, you have to pick one of the five leads, make note of it and then look at the picture and write for 3 minutes the lead to the story in what you decided to do. Once you pick a lead, you cannot use the same one for the next picture. You have to go with a different one. Of course after a couple of the kids read aloud to the class, the rest of them were guessing which lead they had used. Mine should be pretty obvious, but have fun. Write for 3 minutes and see what you come up with.


My lead in:
"My Lord, will you look at Sister Kathleen," Father Dominique looked towards the ceiling of the cathedral. "I think she is trying to impress us with her newfound learnt magic tricks."

"I don't think so. She seems to be too high for us to know it is magic." Father Henri replied.

"Well, I know she's been practicing her magic and the other chairs ended up out of country. She has been trying to get them to disappear and reappear but she sent one to Italy and one to Germany."

"Maybe. I don't see how she does it though

And the picture:
THE SEVEN CHAIRS

_________________

The fifth one ended up in France.



Last one, same as the one above: You pick a lead and write for 3 minutes and see what you come up with.

My lead: I knew that the balmy weather would be enticing. I just wanted to see if the folktales were true. Listening is the key. I had heard the birds tweet at various times in my life but could never see them move or flap their wings. But I learned rather quickly in that cool blissful evening. The birds came to life one at a time, flying out the window. I should have never allowed them to escape. The wall is so bare now.

And the picture:
THE THIRD-FLOOR BEDROOM

_____________________

It all began when someone left

the window open.



Have fun and post your lead-ins in the comments section. I know I have some writers out here. Even you go over 3 minutes, take the challenge and share; I'll post in the class private forum so they can see what my friends come up with. I dare you to share. Be creative and have fun - see you in the postings - E :)

PS: Since I put the wrong picture up for the third one, I'm going to leave it here and if you want to write something for it, then that's okay. This was the first one they did with action - but you are free to write whichever lead you want.

Stories for Children Magazine review is up

in th
If you click on the title of this posting, it will take you directly to the review. This is one of the first 5 star reviews I received. I'm very pleased on the write up from this magazine. If you look to the right of the postings and scroll down some, you will see the banner that will take you to their website directly. This is an online magazine for kids and it is done very well. A little bit of everything. Poetry, coloring pages, puzzles and games, stories, illustrations. I think any child would like having these well done ezines as their very own. So stop on by and check them out. Sign up to receive your copies in email. Enjoy. - E :)

Virtual Classroom visit Day 3

Yep, I was in class again today. We got two pictures done and two more leads for stories done. I found the second one much harder to do. So if you would like to take the challenge (3 minutes writing time on the first one and 1 minute writing on the second), then please share with us what you come up with. The first picture is a bit freaky but it does have a lot of possibilities. The kids had some humerous things and some not so humerous but I think they are doing well considering they are learning about writing stories.

Lead #3 (I didn't get to participate in Lead #1, which is action and the one yesterday was starting with dialogue that we did yesterday) Setting and Time - this is the more traditional way to start stories and might be the easier for a good many writers. For me, it was a tough challenge because I tend to lean toward action and dialogue for starting off my stories (or so it seems). Here is the caption from the picture:

JUST DESERT

______________

She lowered the knife and

it grew even brighter.





REMEMBER YOU ONLY ARE GIVEN 3 MINUTES TO WRITE A START TO THE STORY: Here is my start:


Jennifer's knife glowed brightly on that eerie Halloween night. She needed to get the pumpkin pie made but the lights had gone out and the only glow was from her knife. She will never forget the feel of the knife in her hand as it glowed hotter and brighter.

The closer to the pumpkin the knife came the brighter it glowed. The blackout allowed the glow to be the only light seen for many blocks.

How had she gotten this magical knife?



Lead #4: The one sentence wonder. This takes longer and more thought to come up with a sentence to start a story. The caption above the picture was as follows:

CAPTAIN TORY

_______________

He swung his lantern three times and slowly the schooner appeared.





My starter: Not very good by any means but this was tougher (1 minute to come up with this)

Jason looked out in the fog and jumped when he saw what appeared out of nowhere only to be stopped by the firm grip of the old man.



Share what you come up with. Keep checking back for the classroom visits and what we are doing. Don't forget next Friday is the Trockle Trick-or-Treat tour stop on this blog. We have been preparing for your creativity by giving you a few simple challenges here but next one will be a fun writing exercise for you - E :) and the JGD Squad

Virtual classroom visit day 2

Today I was a student and got to write with the class. This was fun and challenging to me since I have never written anything from a picture prompt before. Backing up, Mr. Hughes teaches the five ways to start a story (action, dialogue, setting, one sentence wonders - the opening paragraph is only one sentence long and it is provocative, and reflection); today's lesson was on starting with dialogue. He uses the Harris Burdick Mystery pictures. They have captions or descriptions and then you formulate a way to take the picture. Anyway, this is the caption that accompanied the picture today with the picture below:

OSCAR AND ALPHONSE

_____________________

She knew it was time to send them back.

The caterpillars softly wiggled in her hand,

spelling out "goodbye"





The assignment was to start with dialogue and we only had three (3) minutes to write something. I came up with the following off the top of my head. The class really liked it but it was strange for me to do this since I had never really used a picture prompt before.



"Why do I have to send them back?" She looked down at her hand. "Why, Mother?"

"They have to go back to where they came from."

Susie's tears fell down her cheeks. "Goodbye, my friends. I will miss you. Grow into your beautiful selves." She placed the caterpillars on the flower next to her.

"Come now, dear. They will come back some day." Mother said.

So let me know how you would have started this story with some dialogue - post your comments, be creative and have fun. - E :)

Virtual Classroom tour

When I first contacted John Hughes via his blog and asked him to host me on his blog during my blog tour for State of Wilderness, never did I think at the time I would be doing a 2-month long classroom tour to be a pre-blog tour test. So yesterday, Monday, I had my first visit with Mr. Hughes' 6th grade class in Utah. It was very surreal. I hooked up my microphone and John and I had done a testing the night before just to make sure everything was good on my end. So I did my thing all day and then at about 3 pm, I got an email asking if I was about ready. His class was in computer lab and so he couldn't access Google talk but could send an email. I waited for them to get back to class and for him to "call" me via Google Talk. Now for the surreal part - I was talking to the class and they could hear me and Mr. Hughes was typing questions and other things in the chat box. I had no way of gaging the response on the other end because I couldn't hear them.

Last night Mr. Hughes found a microphone at home and we were up late chatting and discussing things for the tour and his writing workshop and all. So he took his microphone to school today and we tested it out after school - Everything works. So tomorrow when I am visiting the class, I will be able to hear them and vice versa. It will make the experience so much better.

We are going to do some writing challenges for the kids to tie in with his writing workshop curriculum that he teaches. I am looking forward to being a part of this classroom visit and working with the kids on developing their writing skills.

Honestly, my publisher wanted me to do school visits, and I was preparing myself to do them starting in the spring of 2010 but I think if this works out I may try to do more virtual class visits - lol (of course there is nothing like going into a classroom and really seeing the kids faces), but who knows - authors may now have another venue to explore to get into classrooms now. The downside is that if you are paid for school visits, that you could never be compensated for this. If I develop my platform and start doing real school visits, I would expect at least compensation of some sort for travel and maybe a bit of my time. We have had this discussion before on one of the forums I am a member of and it seems the longer you do school visits, the more you can make. I know schools aren't rich but they should pay their guest speakers accordingly.

On to finish work and to bed - will keep you updated on the virtual tour. See you all in the postings - E :)

Trockle Trick-or Treat tour

Don't forget to follow the Trockle Trick-or-Treat tour and see what each host has in story for us. Remember there is a grand prize of a story featuring your child (or a child in your life) with Trockle for Halloween. Here is the schedule again so you all can start on the trek with Trockle: (Friday's stop with us seems Ms. Elysabeth is going to challenge your creativity and it's going to be fun. Ms. Holly and Ms. Jordan should get tons of new books from the challenge - lol)

October 5: Joyce Anthony @ Books and Authors http://joyceanthony.tripod.com/blog/

October 6: Joyce Anthony @ Books and Authors http://joyceanthony.tripod.com/blog/

October 7: Janet @ Janet’s Book Nook http://www.sheneedstoknow.com/booknook

October 8: Kimberly @ All About Kimberly http://www.allaboutkimberly.com

October 8: Jen (Pantheistic Mom) @ My Terrene Reality http://terrenereality.blogspot.com

October 10: Elysabeth Eldering @ the Junior Geography Detective Squad http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com/

October 11: Ron Berry @ The Surreal Writer http://unwriter1.wordpress.com/

October 12: Lynne Thompson @ La Vida Es Un Sueno http://suenogrande.blogspot.com/

October 13: Wrap-up by Holly Jahangiri and Jordan M. Vinyard http://blog.jahangiri.us

Need opinions on cover

I've printed them out side by side and still am in favor of the original one posted here but my illustrator and now publisher are saying otherwise. So I post it to you all - Which of the two Quarries covers when put out there next to Wilderness do you like better? I can see the reasons both of them gave and all but I still like the first one. So be objective, please - let me know - E :)