Train of Clues

I'm almost ready to re-release "Train of Clues" (a mystery destination story, the predecessor to the JGDS series). We've had a few glitches since its original publication in 2010, but I think Heather has finally fixed everything (removed all the doubled paragraphs/pages) and we have moved things around so the book is longer page-wise but the story is the same length. I hope to re-release it this week or next. I'm even thinking this one may go up as an ebook just to test the waters with it, being that it is also illustrated and I'm not sure how it will work as an ebook. I will keep you all posted on this. Ma America (aka Ms. E)

State stories suspended until 2012

I will not be publishing any more state stories in 2011. I have been behind and have decided to catch up on some loose end projects (Finally Home, my YA paranormal mystery and fixing "Train of Clues" and republishing it as it has not been available pretty much since April of this year) before moving forward with more state stories. There will still be updates as to where the JGDS will be in the next five months. For now, the next book slated to come out will be State of Acceleration in January of 2012.

Hopefully my readers are following my website as well for updates, and will continue reading this blog for updates on events. Thanks for all your wonderful support - Ma America & the JGDS

Edible Train of Clues anyone?

So Heather was messing around making some cookies today and apparently she's been thinking of my covers because she came up with this: . Doesn't it just look delicious? All that's missing is the magnifying glasses and question marks and there we have an edible cover - lol.


She took this with her cell phone and posted on her facebook page. I got tagged and have been chatting with her about it. I can do wrapped train cookies at a book signing - That would be fun. Anyway - enjoy - Yum, Yum. - Mrs. E :)

Catching up/Revealing a cover

It's been a whirlwind of a two weeks or so. First as everyone knows, Reservations made it to the printers and finally arrived to me. Also, at the time of printing, Reservations is the last to be published by 4RV in the series. The series will continue though with me self-publishing the remaining books. I've hired an illustrator and she's been busy working behind the scenes lately. Not on the next book in the series but on the predecessor "Train of Clues". She has been busy working on the cover for the booklet with the illustrations and layout coming soon.

Aidana did the event in Memphis the weekend of the 11th-12th and sold one copy of Wilderness. Yay, her! I had an event in Sumter, South Carolina this past weekend and sold two copies of Quarries and one of Reservations, one was book alone and two with study guides to the homeschoolers. Yay, me!!! I talked with the person in charge of vendor workshops at the event and guess what, because I do a workshop geared for the kids, she told me that I would definitely be on the list to do a workshop next year. So I'm definitely going to be in Sumter next June (or possibly May, depending on how many folks want it changed; I totally forgot to fill out my questionnaire) for the SCHEA; I can't wait. I also made some wonderful contacts and got some great ideas for the study guides that will be more homeschool friendly and still maintain the school friendliness I'm going toward eventually. Teachers will like the new ideas as will homeschools, so be on the lookout for some changes with upcoming books.

On the way home from the event, something popped off the car or it sounded like I ran over something. Pulled over and called AAA. Had to be towed 97 miles to home to be safe rather than sorry. Took the car back to the tire place Monday morning and apparently part of the back tire blew off - like a chunk of about 6 inches from one area. Have a temporary, used tire replacing it until payday next week. Thank goodness for AAA 100 miles free towing with our package. This was the only downside to the trip - because the rest was awesome. Of course at the time of this posting, I can barely talk and I'm supposed to do a mini presentation/workshop Thursday. Hopefully my voice will be back then.

From my interviews and being on virtual blog tours, the word should be out that "Train of Clues" was my first ever writing project, submitted to a fan mystery contest and placed second. I've decided to turn that into a booklet - a kind of read the story that started it all thing. So without further ado, the cover for "Train of Clues":

- Drop me a line and let me know what you think. I think it's perfect, colorful, kid-friendly and definitely has a party feel to it.

I will post pictures from the SCHEA event when I get a chance. Enjoy. Mrs. E :) & the JGDS

Summer Reading Blog Talk Radio Show

JUST A REMINDER THAT ELYSABETH WILL BE ON THE BLOGTALKRADIO SHOW ON JUNE 24, 2009 AT 10 AM CDT (THAT IS 11 AM EST, 9 AM MOUNTAIN TIME AND 8 AM PST). HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL THERE

Tune in every Wednesday, starting June 24, for seven weeks of fun and getting to learn more about children's authors. The Red River Writers will present five authors each week as per the schedule below. This is a facebook event but the link on the title will take you to the blogtalkradio site where you can listen to the shows. All comments will be pulled from the facebook event wall (looking for kids to ask questions of the authors, which will be read on the air).

I will be making the first appearance on Wednesday, June 24, at 10 a.m. central time (11 a.m. eastern, 9 a.m. mountain, and 8 a.m. Pacific time). I am scheduled to do a reading but my presentation will be more of how the JGDS series came about fromthe original story, Train of Clues. Hope to see you all there - E :)


All references are to the facebook event page. To leave comments on the event's wall, you must have a facebook account. The call-in number and the blogtalkradio site are not part of facebook.

BLOG TALK RADIO SHOW EVENT

Host: Red River Writers - Works of Writers & Artists Worldwide
Type: Music/Arts - Exhibit
Network: Global
Start Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 10:00am
End Time: Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 10:00am
Location: Central Time at Online link or by phone number provided in event

Description

The Wall (on the event page on facebook) is reserved for comments from kids ages 2 to 18. All comments left on The Wall will be read over the air at one of the shows. These comments should be either a statement or question. If possible, it needs to be directed to a particular guest. We need only the following information: first name (this can be a nickname), age, and State. Example of a comment: April Robins, is the deer a girl or a boy? (OR) April Robins, I like the picture on your book cover. My name is Austin. I am eight years old. I live in Texas.

Any adult with a question or comment that they would like to ask, can do so at:
Robin Falls Kids Story Time Questions


*******************************
WIN 20+ free Children's or Young Adult book! Go find the following book covers in the “Photo” section and leave a comment:

I'LL TUCK YOU IN, DEER by April Robins
THE MOONQUEST by Mark David Gerson
JANOOSE THE GOOSE by J.D. Holiday
REBEL IN BLUE JEANS by Beverly Stowe McClure
BERTHA SPEAKS OUT by Fran Lewis
WHERE IS GOD, GRANDFATHER? by Candy O'Donnell
SILLY KITTY by Irene Brodsky
THE GREAT DOG WASH by Shellie Braeuner
GONE FROM THESE WOODS by Donny Bailey Seagraves
DOGGIE DAY CAMP: Verb and Adverb Adventures by Cynthia Gagnon Reeg
SUMMER LOVIN' by Laurie J. Edwards
THE CURSE OF ADDY MCMAHON by Katie Davis
MYTHIKAS ISLAND by Diana Hurwitz
ROAR OF A SNORE by Marsha Diane Arnold
DAY'S END LULLABY by Karen Cioffi-Ventrice
ACROSS THE POND by Barry Eva
HOORAY FOR THE CIRCUS by Ginger Devine

Margot Finke intends to give all who call in a FREE Audio of her reading one of her stories + illustrations.

April Robins will give away 3 copies of "Keeper of Happy Faces" in a drawing taken from comments on "The Wall."

*******************************

GOOD MORNING ROBIN FALLS KIDS!

I want to welcome you into our Summer Reading Program for school age kids. We have a wonderful line up of Children’s and Young Adult Authors who will read from their books to you. Many will even tell you how their story came to life. Some will read a story to you that has not been published. We will call those are “Unread” stories. This means that you are one of the first to hear them. The book covers of their books they are reading from are posted under“Photos.” You can learn more about each author at their website or blog list under “Links.”

Robin Falls Kids Story Time Host are April Robins, Barbara M. Hodges, Dellani Oakes, J.D. Holiday, and Laurie Zieber.

======================
June 24 - Children's Book Authors, and their books they are reading from, at 10 am Central
======================
Elysabeth Eldering - "Train of Clues" (JGDS), 50-state, mystery, trivia series
Barbara Ehrentreu - "The Trouble with Follow the Leader"
Ginger DeVine - "Hooray for the Circus"
Dawn Stephens - "The Little Pot"
Margot Finke - "Rattlesnake Jam"
Jay A. Miller - "Bingo the Banjo Picking Bear"

======================
July 8 - Children's Book & Young Adult Authors, and their books they are reading from, at 10 am Central
======================
Edna Cabcabin Moran - "THE SLEEPING GIANT: A Tale From Kaua'i"
Karen Cioffi-Ventrice - "Day's End Lullaby"
Jan D. Holiday - "Janoose the Goose"
Sue Dent - "Forever Richard"
Mj Gillot - "Zola Yearned for an eXcellent Waffle: A Backwards Alphabet Story"
Laurie J. Edwards - “Summer Lovin”

======================
July 15 - Children's Books & Young Adult Authors, and their books they are reading from, at 10 am Central
======================
Linda Bryan - "The Sound Snatcher, How the vacuum got its Noise."
Candy O'Donnell - "Where is God, Grandfather?"
Laurie Zieber - "Do You Know what I Know?"
Cynthia Gagnon Reeg - "Doggie Day Camp: Verb and Adverb Adventures"
Scott Heydt - Mice Don't Taste Like Chicken (Due out Spring 2010)
Judy Cox - "Mrs. Millie Goes to Philly!"

======================
July 22 - Young Adult Authors, and their books they are reading from at 10 am Central
======================
Donny Bailey Seagraves - "Gone From These Woods"
Barry Eva - "Across the Pond"
Mark David Gerson - "The MoonQuest"
L. Diane Wolfe - "Circle of Friends, Book III...James"
Dellani Oakes - "Indian Summer"
Vonda Skinner Skelton - "Bitsy & The Mystery" series for kids

======================
July 29 - Children's Books & Young Adult Authors, and their books they are reading from at 10 am Central
======================
Shellie Braeuner - "The Great Dog Wash"
Beverly Stowe McClure - "Rebel in Blue Jeans"
Fran Lewis - "Bertha Speaks Out"
Irene Brodsky - "Silly Kitty"
Diana Hurwitz - "Mythikas Island"
Katie Davis - "The Curse of Addy McMahon"
Barbara M. Hodges - Wynd Stallion (Work in Progress)

======================
Aug 5 - Children's Books & Young Adult Authors, and their books they are reading from at 10 am Central
======================
Lisa Cottrell-Bentley - "Wright on Time"
Marsha Diane Arnold - “Roar of a Snore” & “Prancing, Dancing Lily”
Crystalee Calderwood - "Angeline Jellybean"
Deb Lund - "Monsters on Machines"
Virginia S Grenier - "Babysitting SugarPaw"
April Robins - "I'll Tuck You in, Deer"
Michelle Buckman - "My Beautiful Disaster"

******************************
To attend and participate in the shows dial the
Call-in Number: (646) 649-1005
To view or hear the shows online, go here

******************************

What started it all?

Several of you have asked where I got the idea to do all 50 states as mystery stories for the kids. Here is the short answer: The very first contest I entered was a mystery fan contest for the coming out of "Silence of the Loons". I won a shared second place and that spurred the idea to go forward with all 50 states being used as the mystery "destination".

The long of it is this: The orginal piece written for the contest was "Train of Clues". We were given eight unrelated items and had to incorporate at least four of the eight into the story as random clues throughout the mystery. (This was the same list the authors who were all in Silence of the Loons had and we mystery fans had to write a story that would use the same premise as the authors did.) So when I got the information for the contest, I thought about it and wasn't even sure I would write a story for the contest. I was just starting out in my writing career and so really was very unsure about everything. The girls in the church group went on a mother-daughter trip to Stone Mountain one weekend and I was talking up the contest up to one of the other mothers on the trip and the girls were kind of listening and piped up with the idea to make it a children's mystery, on a train, like a scavenger hunt and the items were the clues leading to the mystery destination. Thus, "Train of Clues" was born. (The items listed were: the sound of a train whistle, footprints in the snow (this didn't work for me), the scent of Obsession (again this didn't work for me at all because I don't know anything about perfume), a page from a dictionary, a headless Barbie, a wig, a tattoo, and a soiled ballet slipper.) I wrote a birthday party on a train using four of the items as clues to a mystery destination. Each group of kids were self-contained in one car with all the clues there. They had to figure out where they would end up before they reached the destination. My characters were Matt Patterson, the birthday boy (loves trains and is just a general good boy next door kind of kid), his kid sister Mary Beth (who had to be there because it was her brother's birthday), Guy Landrum (the kind of laid-back, standoffish, best friend of Matt), Jolene (have yet to give her a last name, best looking girl in 7th grade, who Guy likes but apparently as I've developed a few other things she likes Matt and she and Matt have been a thing for a while), Len (or Leonard, the geeky, computer/inventor of sorts guy). There were other characters because Matt originally was on a different team than Mary Beth, Jolene and Guy (all were on the same team with Len) and each team had four kids. So, originally there was Matt's team (birthday boy and three other kids who are no longer part of the JGDS), Guy's team (which is now minus Len because I think only four characters will be enough to carry the stories through), and the third team (which actually won in the original story but they weren't important enough to carry through to the series).

After winning the shared second place, I sent the story to an editor through SCBWI (The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators), paid her to give me some pointers on how to expand the story out to a series, resources, et cetera. It was well worth the money spent for her input. The information she gave me was so wonderful, that I let it brew around my head for a while, kept tossing out different ways to either do one story or several stories or an individual series of each of the states (which is where I am now).

So basically Matt, Jolene and Guy are and have been best friends since grade school. Mary Beth has to hang around them because Matt is kind of stuck on watching his "bratty, whiny, younger sister, all the time" (even though shee seems to be pretty smart and knows a good bit). So now you know how the idea started.

Next time, I will post a character sketch, since these kids have been wandering around in my head for over two years. See you all in the postings - E :)