Reservations' first review

Cheryl Malandrinos from The Children's and Teens' Book Connection has posted the first review for State of Reservations. Overall, the review was good other than comments about the illustrations (Cheryl stated what I feel about them) and the back cover having Jolene's name misspelled twice and missing the word "Detective" from Junior Geography Squad. For the complete review, go here. Enjoy - Mrs. E :)

Special Deal - limited time only (correction) (email and blog campaign)

05/22/2010: It has been brought to my attention that ordering is not clear for the special deal, either from this blog posting or from an email campaign I'm running, so I am clarifying how to receive copies of State of Wilderness, State of Quarries and State of Reservatiosn with accompanying study guides on CDs. (Take advantage of receiving a $45 value for only $30 plus shipping and paypal fees (total $35).)

SPECIAL DEAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ORDERING BOOKS: If you are ordering for this special deal either directly from this blog posting or through an email to your homeschool group - this is what you should do:

1. Go to paypal
2. Send funds totalling $35 to eeldering@gmail.com
3. Indicate in notes who to make books to (individual child(ren) or to the family - To the Smith Family (ex.) and indicate that this is special deal from blog
4. Make sure address is correct to receive copies of books plus the CDs
5. Send money or complete transaction


If you are ordering from the email campaign sent to homeschool associations or groups, please do not order the books from the website as that price does not include the study guides and does not include State of Reservations. The deal is good for the first three books in the series. Remember that each book is one state and by the fall, hopefully three more books will be available to help you complete your series. It will take upwards of another 11 or so years to get the remaining books published. I can only write so many a year and my publisher can only publish so many a year (right now we are hoping to get 3 or 4 a year out), so please be patient to complete your series.


(Books coming out this year - State of Altitude, State of Secession, and State of Nature with #7, 8 and 9 slated to be published between February and October of 2011. Titles tentatively are State of Acceleration, State of Imagination, and unknown at this point as I haven't put the clues down to see what direction to go with a title). Updates will be posted here as I get them. So please be patient.

05/20/2010 UPDATE: I've decided to expand this out to June 5, 2010, as it looks like State of Reservations will not arrive until after this date - sometime hopefully by the 15th or so of June. With paypal fees and shipping costs, the amount to paypal will be $35 even. Reserve your copies now. This deal is only good until midnight June 5.

In celebration of State of Reservations getting published very soon, I'm going to offer a special on the first three books. Order a copy of State of Wilderness, State of Quarries and State of Reservations by Thursday, May 20, 2010, for only $10 each (this is discounted from the usual price of $11) and receive the accompanying study guide on CD for free (these are normally priced at $3 each for the PDF file to be emailed to you or with the CD PDF version priced at $4).

All orders should be done through Paypal at my email address - eeldering@gmail.com - please make sure to indicate who to sign the books to and if you want any special messages. State of Reservations should be available and ready to be mailed between June 3 and June 15.

Place your order today as this is only good until midnight Thursday, May 20, 2010.

See you all in the postings - Mrs. E :)

National Council for Geographic Education conference

(originally posted 05/12/2010): I have a goal. I would love nothing more than to see my books used in schools to supplement a social studies curriculum across the nation. I found the NCGE website through a local geographic alliance (South Carolina Geographic Alliance) website which will be a vendor at one of the homeschool conferences where I will also be a vendor in June.

After exploring the NCGE site and finding out the conference is in Savannah this year (a drive of about 5 hours from where I live), I thought that being an exhibitor would be an awesome thing for me. That is until I saw the postings for the exhibitor's fees today. As you can see, having a "premium" booth space at the conference is $1000 and the next level is $850 which is just a table top "booth" - you get a table and two chairs and a wastebasket and little else, no signage but do get listed in the program.

So, what, may you ask, is the goal?

My goal is to sell 200 copies of the first four books between now and the end of July in order to pay for the conference (booth space plus hotel and travel). That sounds like a lot but it really isn't. So won't all of you, my faithful readers help me achieve my goal?

State of Wilderness, now available
State of Quarries, now available
State of Reservations, coming May 2010 - I've been told by the end of this month for sure
State of Altitude, coming June 2010 - I've also been told this should be out almost immediately after State of Reservations is released

If you are interested in signed copies, please email me at eeldering@gmail.com for instructions on where to send funds. Mrs. E & the JGDS :)



Update 05/16/2010: I had an event at the Fairplay Welcome Center yesterday and have made my first sale toward this challenge. Only 799 to go. I have decided that I may just go static table top (not be there physically and save towards next year's conference in Oregon. So, whatever I need to just cover the table top display and have them monitor my info, may work this year since I'll be in Savannah in November and it would be a rather expensive fall for me to make two trips to Savannah that close together. I've also added a freebie for any orders placed between now and the middle of July (all info has to be sent to them by the end of July so allowing myself a couple of weeks to make sure that I have everything together and ready to go). Your choice of a flag pin kit or a basket weaving kit (which is one of the activities that will be in the #5's study guide). For the basket kit, please indicate color - blue, orange (dark or light), yellow, pink, or green. Remember when placing your order to indicate who to make the books out to so I can sign and send them on. Thanks for your support to this endeavor. Mrs. E :)

Year round book fairs?

Yes, Big Noodle Books has them. I searched and both State of Wilderness and State of Quarries are available. The best part of it is you can sign up with your school and earn money for them. If you purchase certain titles during "book fair weeks," more funds go to the school. I can't think of a better way to have a book fair with very minimal work on the school's part. Everything is online and they boast over 300,000 titles and growing and not all books are for kids. Parents can shop for themselves as well. They have categories like crafts & hobbies, adventure, juvenile fiction, sports & recreation. There are plenty of books to browse through.

If your school isn't aware of this site, check it out and recommend that your school be involved as well. Everyone wins - kids, parents, schools. Hope to see you all there. Thanks to Elizabeth Dulemba for the heads up. Mrs. E :)


UPDATE (04/24/2010): This morning I decided to check out all of 4RV's books on the site and all but about five or so are listed with Big Noodle Books. How cool is that? I'm not sure how to get those that aren't listed there but I may have to contact them and find out so that everyone in the company is represented. (Books not found on the site include Just Breeze, Trockle, Bubba and Giganto, Case of the Missing Coach, The Base Stealers Club and of course Midnight Hours and Confessions of a Former Rock Queen.) It's awesome to have almost every book in the company on this website. Thanks Big Noodle Books for carrying the 4RV books. - E :)

State of Quarries Review (and 200th post)

If you all have been following Lori Calabrese's blog, you will have seen her review of State of Quarries today. If not, I encourage you all to stop by her blog and read her fun review of the second book in the series. One of these days, I would like to meet her in person as she really seems to have a handle on how to market herself. I'm looking forward to her book, The Bug that Plaqued the Entire Third Grade, comes out. She comes across as a very phenomenal woman. Praise to you, Lori.


This is my 200th blog posting since starting this blog. How fun for it to be a review of my second book. I should run a small contest but not sure what to do, so if anyone has any ideas of something to do in celebration of the 200th blog posting, let me know.

Lemonade anyone? National lemonade day coming

I subscribe to a newsletter geared for homeschoolers called "clickschooling" but some of the sites she sends us to are pretty cool. I had to share this with you all since it sounds like a fun and interesting way to get your kids involved in the community and make a little bit of money.


Now, you may ask, "What's Lemonade Day?"

It's a real nation-wide event that trains the next generation of entrepreneurs through a fun and experiential activity that teaches kids skills such as:

- Goal Setting
- Developing a Business Plan
- Establishing a Budget
- Seeking Investors
- Providing Customer Service
- Giving Back to the Community

On May 2nd, 2010 in a handful of cities across America (with the exception of the festivities in Durham, North Carolina on May 1st, and the celebration in the San Francisco Bay Area on May 15th), young entrepreneurs of all ages can participate by setting up a lemonade stand and selling lemonade in their community.

Kids pick the time and location of their choice to set up and run their lemonade stand - and they keep what they earn!

And in the spirit of a true business, they are encouraged to open a savings account, pay back investors, and make a further investment in their community by donating a portion of their profits to a charity of their choice.

Of course, kids will need adult supervision, sponsors, investors, employees, and customers!

To help kids get started, Lemonade Day provides registered participants (in the sponsoring cities) with a free how-to "Entrepreneur's Workbook" containing instructions and lesson plans that combine academics and life skills to help students accomplish their goal. Details on how to register are at LemonadeDay.org.

Now, while "Lemonade Day" may not be "officially" celebrated in your city, you can still play the free online games and put what you learn into practice by setting up your own independent lemonade stand on May 2nd - or any time of year!

Check out the Lemonade day link for more information on how to register as well as "official cities" but some fun games as well.






If you homeschool, you may want to subscribe to Diane's Clickschooling newsletter and get daily curriculum ideas. She has it set up so that Monday is math, Tuesday is science, Wednesday is language arts, Thursday is social sciences, Friday is virtual field trip day (I think these are pretty cool), and Saturday is music/art/foreign language day. She had an interesting site for one of the Thursdays and I'm still trying to figure out how to turn one of my clues in book #5 into a historical investigator type activity. I'm working on it but if interested in the "cases" they have available right now, you can check out this website and maybe do some historical invesstigating of your own.

Hope you all participate and that your lemonade is not too sour nor too sweet, but just right - Let's make some lemonade - Mrs. E :)

It's blog tour time

I'm featured on Martha Swirzinski's blog today with an interview by her daughter and a review of State of Wilderness and State of Quarries. Come on over and leave a comment - see you in the postings - E :)

Basket making? State #5 has it

I finally finished writing state #5 (yay me and I'm sure Vivian is happy about it). So it's off to my editor friend before I can send to Vivian for the 4RV editors to work on. I have to sort of print out a version to decide which clues to use as discussion questions in the back of the book and which to use for the study guide. I was marking which would make quick discussion questions and forgot about the basket making clue. So I decided to use that as an extra activity in the study guide. I have had fun making my two different sized baskets thanks to a pattern from MakingFriends. The pattern is actually for a Girl Scout Thinking Day swap. I've enlarged the basic pattern to use with a large foam circle that I had purchased from Walmart. The circles came like 40 in a pack and were all colors. All I have left are a couple of pink ones and one orange one. So I took the smaller pattern and cut a small circle from the orange large circle to make the original sized basket.

The directions call for raffia which I don't have any on hand, so I found some ribbon (like the ribbon that is not cloth) and tried it first on the larger basket but it wasn't working too well. So I picked up a yellow plastic grocery bag and cut a couple of strips off the sides where the handles were and used that for my weaving material. Turned out pretty good on both the small and large one.

If you want to know how to make baskets, you'll have to wait until the fall of this year to get State #5 and the accompanying study guide. Pictures below.






From this large circle (as you can see that is on a standard piece of paper, so the circle is pretty large).












To this. (Notice the first top view is not as neat as the second top view because I decided the first time doing this was sloppy. I undid the basket and decded to start twisting the strips of plastic bag to make it tighter so it was a bit easier to work around. It took me the original two strips and two more to do the final version. The strips were cut from the sides where the handles are and cutting open the handle once the strips were cut, so I actually had a pretty long strip and as I ended with one strip, I tied another to it and trimmed the ends so it doesn't look too bad. This is a good recycled project. I'm also going to pick up some raffia from Dollar Tree and/or Walmart (because I know they have it in different colors and then I'll pick up some foam packs with multicolors and perhaps make the baskets in varying colors. I think the raffia should work like the bags did in that I can make it tight and there will be more layers of weaving. When I accomplish this, I'll post the finished projects.)












From the large circle and the small basket pattern, I cut the circle and this is what we ended up with.










Comparison views of the baskets side by side (as best as I could put them and take the picture since I seem to move slightly and cause blurry pictures).




Hope you all enjoy the baskets and come back in the summer when state #5 will be released.


I'm also hoping that now that the book is finished I'll have a cover soon, and that #6 will not take me as long to write as this one did and I'll get it submitted and ready to go with a cover for that one. When I have covers for the next two books, I get a new bookmark with #4, 5 and 6 on it. Looking forward to sharing new covers with you all too.

We've been reviewed!

This blog has been reviewed by the "Kindle Blog Report" blog. Click the title of this posting and head over to see what is said about the blog. The comments for the website have been heeded and Aidana has been working on the website to get it more friendly and has peppered the cover pics throughout the website. If you feel like taking a gander at the website, head over here and leave a comment if you feel moved to do so. I'm working on adding a guest book so comments will be seen, whereas the contact page will be for just contacting me in private. Mrs. E and the JGDS

Buttons, buttons - who wants a button?

I found a place to order buttons very inexpensively, Busy Beaver Buttons, from a Sisters in Crime associate who had shared her buttons. So I ordered some. I'm happy with the round ones but not the square ones (partly my fault and partly the company's, so most of those will be going back). So here I am going to do something special for my readers and fans.

For every order of State of Wilderness or State of Quarries from my website, I'll send you a button for free. Your choice of the heart or logo button, so please indicate which you would like with your order. This offer is good while supplies last (about 25 of the logo buttons and about 50 of the heart buttons).

SC Book Festival Day 1

I'd like to say we sold out - lol but of course that would be pipe dreams. Realistically, I sold three books (one Trockle, one Lemur Troops and one of State of Quarries with an accompanying study guide to a homeschooler - that because of the make your own chalk eperiment). Shelley, author of Radium Halos, who is splitting a booth with me, had a pretty decent day. If she does this well tomorrow, her costs are almost fully covered - boothwise (she sold seven copies of her book today).

Here are a couple of pictures of the setup of the two tables:





I will try to post more tomorrow of other people I know there - and hopefully will report a better day - until then - see you all in the postings - Mrs. E & the JGDS :)

Book festival bound

If any of you have followed my other blog - http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com over the past few years, you will know that I have been a volunteer at the SC Book Festival for several years. I've also had several wacky experiences with hotels over the years. This year I'm going in the capacity of an author representing 4RV as an exhibitor. All of 4RV books published to date will be available for purchase, including the newly released "Guardian" by Katie Hines (who will be making her first appearance for book signings tomorrow afternoon about 1 p.m.) and State of Wilderness and State of Quarries. I'm anxiously awaiting State of Reservations to be added to the list of books available, but am trying to be patient.

I'll try to post some updates over the weekend (pictures will be taken and hopefully posted at some point). Have a great one and see you all in the postings - Mrs. E :)

JGDS newsletter January-February 2010

Wow. I just looked at my previous updates for newsletters and have not done any since the first part of August 2009. Updates are definitely needed.

I found a cool site that lists homeschool conferences for Canada, Guam, and every state in the United States. I found four more in the four states closest to me, within a five-hour driving distance of me, in addition to the Love 2 Learn one in Charlotte. I will be an exhibitor at four, maybe a fifth (still awaiting updates as to when it actually will take place, where and an exhibitor application) this summer with a presenting workshop at each one ("Writing Roads" a combination of writing and geography games for the kids). See my Blog Tour page on the sidebar for the listed events.

If anyone is interested in finding homeschool conferences in their area to either attend or exhibit at, here is the link for you to check out. Eventually, I'd like to attend conferences in every state but until I have some funding (either a sponsor or the books are supporting me), then traveling to more than a few states on the east coast is going to have to wait a while. I think these will be a good thing this year. Will definitely keep you posted how things go this summer.

JGDS SERIES NEWS: State of Reservations is slated to be released February or March 2010; since Aidana has had the flu and her son has the piggy flu, I hope by the end of March this will be released. State of Altitude is slated to be released in April or May of this year; again, hopefully by the 1st week of June so I can have four titles to carry with me to the homeschool conferences. And we have a title for #5 - State of Secession which is about halfway completed (struggling to get it done due to work situations that have taken over me but I do promise to have it done soon). It is slated to be released August (if I remember correctly), which would be nice to have that book available for the conference in August. Book #6 is titled State of Nature and my son has picked the items to be on the cover which will be pretty cool looking (I think and if Aidana and Vivian agree). Book #7 is pending approval for a title, so will wait to let you all know what the title will be with that.

In December I wrote to the Jeopardy!(R) folks asking them to sponsor my series. So far I haven't heard anything back yet, so I can only hope that the old adage "No news is good news" is true for this. As soon as I know something on this end, I will update my fans and readers.

4RV PUBLISHING NEWS: Lots of new titles have been published since August. Check out the latest on the website. 4RV will be represented at the SC Book Festival this weekend (February 27-28) with all present titles available. 4RV was invited to participate at a 12-state library conference in Oklahoma in April and we gathered enough funds to participate there; this is very exciting for us as all books published up to this time will be available to the librarians attending. We will also be at the Heartland New Day Bookfest in April and then at the the OWFI conference the last part of April/first of May. Poor Vivian will be worn out by the end of the first week of May.

That is about all I have to cover for now. Looking forward to some new adventures this year.

Remember that the JGDS, 50-state, mystery, trivia series is an adventure that you never know where you will end up. Keep reading. See you all in the postings - Mrs. E & the JGDS :)

Last day to vote in the P&E polls

We need all the help we can get for all of 4RV nominated books. Here are the current standings of those nominated. If you click the title, you will be taken directly to the voting pages.

We need to find some more votes for our Preditors & Editors nominations. However, even if we don't do any better than the current rankings, we can be proud.

Thursday is the final day to vote in the Predidors & Editors Readers Poll. To vote click on the title of the award, scroll down the page to the nomination wanted, and click on the circle beside the nomination. At the bottom of the page add your name and your email. Be sure to check your email to confirm your vote.

The ratings for nominations connected to 4RV Publishing as of January 13, 8:00 PM CST are as follows:


Best Publisher - 4RV Publishing - 2nd


Children's Books - books from 4RV include the following:
1. Tilly's Tale, Harry Porter, 4RV Publishing
2. Would a Kangaraffe Make You Laffe?, Rich Aaron, 4RV Publishing
3. A New Job for Dilly, Rena Jones, 4RV Publishing
4. Tommy Turtle: Exercise Is Fun, Eric Mathe, 4RV Publishing
7. A Puppy, Not a Guppy, Holly Jahangiri, 4RV Publishing
8. Bait for Lunch, K.A. Okagaki, 4RV Publishing
11. Lemur Troops & Critter Groups, Rena Jones, 4RV Publishing
13. Being Jacob: First Day of School, Suzy Stevenson Koch, 4RV Publishing
18. State of Quarries, Elysabeth Eldering, 4RV Publishing
19. Priscilla Holmes, Ace Detective, John Lance, 4RV Publishing
21. The First Miracle, LA Willis, 4RV Publishing



Young Adult Books -
3. Just Breeze, Beverly Stowe McClure, 4RV Publishing
5. The Art of Science, Ransom Noble, 4RV Publishing
16. Second Chance, Galand Nuchols, 4RV Publishing

All Other Novels -
1. Confessions of a Former Rock Queen, Kirk Bjornsgaard, 4RV Publishing
This will be the only nomination, besides the one for Best Publisher, that I will personally promote. Kirk passed away this year, about two months after his book was released. He cannot promote for himself. This opportunity will be the only one for him.

Artwork -
1. Tilly's Tale, Harry Porter/Mandy Hedrick
2. Would a Kangaraffe Make You Laffe? Rich Aaron / Stephen Macquignon
9. A Puppy, Not a Guppy, Holly Jahangiri / Ryan Shaw
9. Just Breeze, Beverly Stowe McClure / Aidana WillowRaven
10. Being Jacob: First Day of School, Suzy Koch /Aidana WillowRaven
10. Priscilla Holmes, Ace Detective, John Lance /Diana Navarro
10. A New Job for Dilly, Rena Jones / Lisa Oakman
11. Lemur Groups & Critter Troops, Jones/Shoemaker
11. The First Miracle, Lisa Willis /Aidana WillowRaven
12. Tommy Turtle: Exercise Is Fun, Eric Mathe / Rey Marz

Book/e-book Cover Artwork -
8. Just Breeze, Beverly Stowe McClure / Aidana WillowRaven
14. A Puppy, Not a Guppy, Holly Jahangiri / Ryan Shaw
21. Priscilla Holmes, Ace Detective, John Lance/Diana Navarro
22. Tommy Turtle: Exercise Is Fun, Eric Mathe /Rey Marz


Author -
1. Brian L. Porter
9. Holly Jahangiri
29. Lea Schizas

Artist -
1. Stephen Macquignon
5. Aidana WillowRaven
7. Ryan Shaw
11. Rey Marz
13. Nikki Shoemaker
18. Diana Navarro
19. Lisa Oakman


Book Editor -
18. Lea Schizas
21. Chris Speakman
22. Crystalwizard


As you can see State of Quarries is down in the second half of the top 20. I wouldn't mind being in the top 10, but I need everyone's votes today- Mrs. E & the JGDS - :)

Children's and Teens Book Connection names top 10

Click on the title of this post and see who is listed in the top 10 favorite books from the Book Connection. Maybe you have read a few of these books and agree with the selections or maybe you haven't read them yet and would like to. Thanks, Cheryl for posting this. Mrs. E & the JGDS

Interview with Mayra Calvani

Interview with Mayra Calvani
Interview by Kit Grady

When working on a story, what steps or process do you use?
For a picture book, what usually happens is I get an idea and then let it simmer in my mind for weeks, sometimes even months or years. Then one day I just feel the need to write it down and the whole thing pours out of me in a sitting. When this happens, I stay working on the story a whole morning or a whole day. I then take a break from it for maybe a day or two before going back and polishing it. Then I send it to my critique group for feedback. This is very helpful. I may or may not take on their suggestions, but their advice is always good. I save each version of the story, so if I edit the story 5 times, I’ll save those 5 files of each version under a folder named after the book’s title.

What sparks your ideas for stories?
Real life, newspaper articles, TV shows, family stories, memories, photos, beautiful scenery. Everything around me may spark an idea in me. The Muse is a very curious thing.

What is your strongest personal trait that make you a better writer?
I would say persistence. I never give up, no matter how many rejection letters I get or the competitive state of the children's book market.

Where did your last story idea come from? Where were you when you began working on it?
For a long time I wanted to write a picture book story about a little mouse or hamster who loved books so much, he didn’t have time for friends. That’s how Humberto the Bookworm Hamster came about. As usual, I let the idea simmer for some time, then, one morning, I got up from bed and had to sit down and write it. So that’s what I did, and the story poured out of me in one sitting.

Humberto loves books so much, he reads at all times of the day; even while he sleeps he reads—audio books. The other animals want to become his friends, but he doesn’t have time for them. He’s too busy reading! Then one day a flood comes and he must decide whether to salvage the rest of his books before they sink in the rising water or helping the animals. Humberto’s story is a tale about books and the true meaning of friendship: how good are books really if you can’t share them with people who care about?

I can sympathize with my character because many times I see myself in him. As a writer and reviewer, I’m so involved with books I tend to become a hermit. Socializing is important too.

What advice would you give a new writer?
My first advice would be, of course, to read a lot. If you want to write picture books, read dozen of picture books a month. Especially read award winners and when you read these books, study them and what made them so successful. If you’re new to the craft of picture book writing, read nonfiction books on the subject, take a course or a workshop. Join a good critique group, one that focuses on picture books. A writer who’s not familiar with this genre won’t be able to help you, no matter how good they are at writing, let’s say, chick-lit novels. Last but not least, WRITE. I try to write one picture book story a week, or at least two a month. You get better the more you write and, most importantly, the writing will come easier.

Peek inside Humberto, the Bookworm Hamster at Guardian Angel Publishing.

Where to find Mayra:
Mayra's website
Mayra's book website and blog
Mayra's articles

THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING
ForeWord Best Book of the Year Award Winner

Preditors and Editors voting now open

It seems State of Quarries has been nominated for the Preditors & Editors voting process. There are many 4RV nominations in the children's category. If you feel my book is worth voting for, go here and cast your vote. Also, there are other categories to check out as well. You can vote many times but whichever you pick as your last casted vote will be the one that gets the vote; any votes cast before your final vote do not count for anyone. Hope you all will vote - E ;)

Thank you Mr. Hughes

We now have a book trailer and Mr. Hughes created it instead of working on his homework. Thank you very much. Hope you all like it. Please comment and let me know what you think. Mrs. E :)

Meeting Katie Hines' character Drew from Guardian

Imagine you have made a secret promise that can lead you to an incredible treasure and an ancient power. But in order to fulfill that promise, you must defeat an age-old sect determined to claim the treasure and power themselves.

“This is a story about a real-life treasure story. It is about a boy who struggles with guilt and a personal destiny, and it is a story about family, love and making commitments beyond yourself. The cast is replete with four teens, a professorial grandfather, a wacky grandmother and a mysterious knight, whose very life is dedicated to ensuring the safety of not just one, but two treasures.”


Today, we meet Katie Hines' character, Drew. The young man who makes a promise to his dying mother.

Guardian is Katie's first published novel. It is due to be released very soon (a little birdie told me it might be a nice little Christmas present for Katie). I had the chance to catch up with Drew, the main character in Katie's novel and ask him a few questions. So without further ado, let's get some info from Drew about the debuting book, which happens to be about him and his fight with evil.

Mrs. E: First, let's meet Drew. Tell us a little bit about yourself (age, what you look like, where you live, and anything you might thing the readers would like to know about you).
Drew: Hey, my name is Drew and I’m 14 years old. I have longish blond hair, and green eyes that the girls tell me are to die for. It’s kinda embarrassing, you know? Right now, I live in Maine, but I’ll be visiting my Grandpa Ian and Grandma Linzi in Nova Scotia, Canada, soon.

Mrs. E: How fun, heading to Canada. You know I've visited quite a few places but I've never been to Canada. It's funny that my grandparents lived in Maine all their lives and I visited them several times but never made it to Canada. You sound excited to go.

Mrs. E: Drew, when we look at your picture, we see a young man who looks angry. What, in your opinion, is the first impression people get when they first meet you?
Drew: Of course, my picture looks like that, but I didn’t have a choice as to which picture was used. Actually, the first impression is that of a guy who has a secret, because after all that’s what my story is about.

Mrs. E: Who are your best friends? How long have you been friends and what does it take to be a best friend for you?
Drew: My very best friends are Javon Manson and Mattie Royze. I’ve known them like forever. Even though they argue a lot, they’re pretty good about rallying around me during my adventures. A sense of humor always helps, too.

Mrs. E: Do you have any enemies?
Drew: I do! You wouldn’t think that at the age of 14 that would be the case, but it is. The very worst enemies are the Brotherhood of the Holy Chalice.

Mrs. E: What is the most traumatic thing that has happened to you?
Drew: Being with my mom when she died of anaphalytic shock.

Mrs. E: That must have been very terrible. But you are here now and that is a good thing.

Mrs. E: What is the best thing that has happened in your life?
Drew: Ending my adventure that my book tells about all in one piece.

Mrs. E: What is one wish you have for readers?
Drew: That they have a good time with us as we end up in Nova Scotia on Oak Island.

Mrs. E: Is Ms. Katie difficult or easy to work with?
Drew: I’ve heard she uses commas a lot in writing my story. We’ve had a few arguments along the way but everything works out in the end.

And one final question for Ms. Katie:
Mrs. E: Katie, do you have any last minute thoughts on your book, your characters, the inspiration for your book, that you would like readers to know?
Ms. Katie: I am of course, thrilled to have my book almost out. I hope that everyone who reads it will be entertained and feel like they’ve gone on a great journey. There were times when my characters wanted to go in a different direction than I wanted them to go, but we worked it out in the end.


Guardian can be ordered from 4RV Publishing LLC or any oneline store or bookstore.

Check out Katie Hines' blog or her website for more writing tips and interviews with some up and coming authors.

A semi-landmark number

Today my counter shows 3500 even. That is pretty impressive but not quite where I really need to be. I've had this blog almost two years now and should have seen closer to 7500 views in the two years or over 10,000 would be nice. But seeing a number ending in a 500 is nice. I also had 25 hits on my blog on the 18th (just two days ago) as well as some pretty high hits on my website that same day - so not sure if those were from this weekend (hoping it means we will be seeing some orders from that for the first two books at least). I would love to see all that hard work, albeit fun, from Savannah pay off. I am so looking forward to next year's children's book festival. I hope I can find someone to take me with me to afford me some breaks to walk around and visit with folks and eat lunch, et cetera. But that is a year away and anything can happen before then. See you all in the postings - E :)