Category: School

Can You Find the Treasure?

1/16/2015

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What do pirates, explorers and children have in common? They all love treasure hunts!

THE ULTIMATE READING QUEST will end on Monday, January 19th, at midnight. This is your last chance to explore new books and authors, and to take home free prizes and books. Plus, one lucky winner, will get a

MYSTERY BONUS TREASURE!

To enter your name for this SPECIAL TREASURE you must prove yourself worthy by collecting the 49 letters of a secret message! Just by reading this post you already have two of the letters (A and B).

Find the rest within the Quest, writing them down as you go. When you have all 49, unscramble them to decode the secret message. Enter the exact words of the message in the Mystery Prize Rafflecopter right here: a Rafflecopter giveawayAs you're searching for the letters, be sure to leave a comment for each and every author. Not only will you get to chat with the amazing Quest authors, but each comment will earn you extra entries in the general Quest prize giveaway that includes an astonishing XX free prizes and gifts! a Rafflecopter giveaway

What are you waiting for? Click this button to start collecting the rest of the letters. Then return here and enter to

TAKE THE TREASURE!

CLICK ON THE BUTTON TO START THE QUEST

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Author Beware - Virtual Book Fair Scam

1/9/2015

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Well, the Interwebs have reminded me once again of the predators lurking in the shadows of even the friendliest places. The good news is that I already needed to deactivate my check card and start using a newer one, so at least there's that.

I figured I would post a beware for other authors out there since this opportunity is popping up literally everywhere, and will probably start again in a couple of months.

Indie authors like moi are literally starving for exposure, with bleeding hearts beating to reach and inspire all the doe-eyed children of the world. Think of the children!

A member of a Facebook group I'm in used my bleeding heart (and my frustration with book promotion) against me. This person's idea sounded great, and the pitch looked a bit (okay, a lot) like this:

Showcase your books at our January Virtual Book Fair!!! Elementary students will attend the morning session and part of the evening. College students will attend the evening and night session. Registration fee: $25.00. You will receive a webcam and 100 promotional flyers through the mail.

I won't bore you with all of the details, but there were details. And grand promises of connecting with ALLLLLL the doe-eyed children and their sweet little sponge-like brains. If we registered for the event by a certain date, our early registration fee was only $25. A bargain, since the registration fee doubled after that.

Once we registered, we received a questionnaire to set up our profile page. I'm not sure about the other authors, but I certainly wrote the most epic answers ever and then whisked that baby back in record time (okay, not record time. But the organizer said, "Sure, send it in," when I asked her if I was too late to participate. Hahaha. Oh, so ironic!). Then we waited with butterflies in our stomachs for the arrival of the doe-eyed children.

Except now it's January 9th and there are no doe-eyed children and no profile pages, webcams, or flyers. The organizer has abandoned our Facebook group and people have begun disputing credit card charges.

In other words, good times.

The moral of this story, doe-eyed authors, is this:

Research any opportunity requiring the forking over of dollar bills or precious contact info.

Research would have revealed this as a scam, at worst, or a very unorganized endeavor, at best. And not because there was evidence of such on the Googlebox. On the contrary, there was nothing where there should have been something (a prior Virtual Book Fair).

But I'm here to provide one piece of evidence where before there before there was none. If you learn nothing else from me--and I highly doubt you will--learn this:

Look before you leap.

*I've taken special care not share names and links above, even though I lost money and smarts. Karma, friend.

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Macaroni Monday

9/29/2014

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Sorry I've been so horrible about blogging lately. I'm participating in an anthology project, and one of our big deadlines was yesterday. Like any true writer, I waited until the last few days before the deadline to get crackin' on my work. The good news? I, indeed, made the deadline. The bad news? I've lost feeling in half of my hands. Haha.

Oh, and my goal deadline to finish Daniel 2 is tomorrow. If I'm being honest, the goal deadline to finish that sucker was back in July, but that's waaay before it morphed into this unrecognizable thing. Now that it's ballooning into this tome of WAR AND PEACE proportions, well, let's just say I've had to adjust that deadline a few times.

All of that to say, I've been concentrating my finger energies elsewhere. However, numb, useless hands or no, my blog silence must be broken. What better way to do that than sharing some fan art from kids who have read DANIEL THE DRAW-ER?

Awesome, right? This picture's artist is a kid after my own heart. YAY HORSES!

By the way, your fan art could wind up on my blog, too! All you need to do is contact me for my e-mail address, then send me a scanned image of your art. I also love getting real, live mail (the old-timey kind in envelopes with stamps and everything!).

So let's hear it... Who's your favorite DANIEL character and why?

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Time Warp With S. J. Henderson

9/10/2014

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My friends still call me "Swirly" because of this outfit. It's awesome, right?

We had such a blast with Krysten Lindsay Hager's Middle School Time Warp (and her gorgeous orange-ish Sun-In hair) the other day, that we decided to keep it going. Today I'm on Krysten's blog, sharing some of my best and worst school memories... and some pretty horrendous photos. Stop by her blog and cringe along with me!

Then share with us in the comments (here, or on Krysten's blog) some of your funniest and humiliating stories!

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Middle School Time Warp With Krysten Lindsay Hager

9/8/2014

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In honor of kids everywhere returning to the hallowed halls of learning, or whatever, I've invited my homegirl Krysten Lindsay Hager over to play a game of Truth or Dare. Well, mostly it's a game of Truth, as she's taking us back to her middle school days with her rad answers.

If you haven't met Krysten before, she's the totally tubular author of TRUE COLORS. TRUE COLORS is about middle-schooler Landry and her group of friends, and the totally outrageous things that happen when Landry ends up on a modeling reality t.v. show. Let's just say, it's not pretty! Middle-schoolers and middle-schoolers at heart will relate to (and cringe along with) Landry and her frenemies.

You can find TRUE COLORS on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, and just about anywhere digital books are sold.

You should totally buy this book. Everyone's doing it, it's no big deal.

Now, for a little Truth or Dare...

Always on time or always late? Oh, I can’t lie. Late. I could have used a Harry Potter invisibility cloak to slip into class unnoticed. In my book, my character Landry always just slips in the door after the bell and that was totally me.

Teacher’s pet, worst nightmare, or fly beneath the radar? Tried to fly under the radar. I can’t say I was a nightmare or anything, but really tried to stay out of the line of vision.

Buy lunch or bring lunch? Bought my lunch. I don’t know if anyone else remembers this from my school, but the cookies always tasted like they weren’t really baked. They ruined chocolate chip cookies for me for years and I never cared for cookie dough ice cream because I didn’t get the appeal of cookie dough. I am pleased to report I never got salmonella and died from those.

Be honest--grafitti on the desk, on the notebook, or both? (Bonus points if also on the bathroom stall door. Bonus points if you don’t tell anyone I’m giving you bonus points for defacing school property.) I went to a strict private school and they would have removed my hands for defacing school property. I did write all over my Trapper Keeper (Mrs. Jon Knight, Mrs. Troy Aikman, Mrs. George Michael.) But in high school, I wrote all on my desk during a math test. We were supposed to do math in our heads, but that just wasn’t going to happen.

Favorite Spirit Week dress-up day? The school colors were blue and gold and the uniform colors were navy and white—I look awful in all of those colors, so really that did nothing for my school spirit. It might have even broken it a little. Landry says she looks like a dead goldfish in her school uniform colors and I second that for myself.

High school mascot? It was a bobcat. In middle school it was a panther. I think a panther could take a bobcat in a fight.

Most embarrassing school memory? I once walked into school with a Velcro roller still stuck in my hair. Not my finest hour.

Worst class ever? Anything with math.

Did you play any sports? If yes, what? Does shopping count? What about lip gloss applying?

Favorite after-school activity? (Bonus points if it involves “After School Special” and you can remember the specific name.) I took dance classes. There may or may not be a video somewhere of me in a and Minnie Mouse costume dancing to “Hey Mickey,” when I was twelve. I was tall and let’s just say I looked older than twelve and the costume looks positively obscene on me. I never thought anyone would see it, but one of the girls in the number went on to be a Rockette or something and they ran that performance of all things on the news because of her. I thought no one would recognize me with my mouse ears, but I got phone calls. I still cringe over that one.

Tell us about your first middle-school boyfriend. (Bonus points if he pegged his pants or had a rat tail.) I think I can accept those bonus points for the pants. He was at least a foot shorter than me and he went to a different school so I felt so cosmopolitan.

Favorite band? The Bangles were my fave in sixth grade and their Everything cover inspired the characters: Landry, Peyton, Devon, and India.

Compare your middle-school hairstyle to an animal. Be creative. (For example, if you sported a mohawk, you could say “skunk” or “porcupine” or something else mohawk-y because that’s all my brain is coming up with right now. Bonus points for a photo of said hairdo.) Probably skunky because there was an unfortunate moment with Sun-In in the 7th grade. However, if you keep up with the Sun-In and the excessive blow drying it will turn dark brown hair from orange to gold to a sickly wheat color.

Krysten then. I love the Glamour Shots pose.

Celebrity crush? Oh wow, how much time do you have? I liked George Michael for years, Jon Knight, Troy Aikman, Grant Hill, Jalen Rose…those are the ones I remember and am willing to own up to.

Fashion must-have? In middle school we were limited to what we could wear, so bracelets were my go-to for my school uniform (particularly friendship bracelets and bangles), but in high school I was obsessed with Versace jeans. In middle school I owned that Esprit purse that every single girl in my zip code had. I think at one point is was illegal not to own it. I didn’t even like it because I thought it was boring and I wrote a short story about that stupid bag.

About Krysten

Krysten now, no Sun-In

Krysten Lindsay Hager is an author and book addict. She is originally from Michigan and has lived in South Dakota, Portugal, and currently resides in Southern Ohio where you can find her reading and writing when she’s not catching up on her favorite shows (like Hart of Dixie, The Goldbergs, Dallas, and Devious Maids.) She’s worked as a journalist and humor writer, and also writes middle grade, YA, and adult fiction. You can find her work in the Patchwork Path anthologies: Friendship Star, and also Grandma's Choice and in several of the Country Comfort Cookbooks as well as many humor essays and news articles. Her debut novel, TRUE COLORS, was released by Astraea Press this summer. You can see what she’s reading and reviewing at the Book Foodies blog

Connect With Krysten

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

And don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway to win a copy of Mindy Mymudes' GEORGE KNOWS or my DANIEL THE DRAW-ER! Only a few more days to share and enter!

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Daniel Comes To Your School

7/22/2014

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A big box of DANIEL getting ready for school visits!

Here in Michigan, the new school year is just over a month away. In other parts of the country and world, school's already begun or never ended. I can't keep it straight, but all I know is that it's prime time for me to get out the word about DANIEL THE DRAW-ER and the upcoming, currently untitled sequel.

HOW IT WORKS:

Before our school year ended last month, I was invited to visit with four classrooms in my local district. Most of the kids had read a good portion, if not all, of DANIEL THE DRAW-ER and were excited to ask questions about how I came up with my ideas, my writing process, and what was next for Daniel and his friends. When time allowed, I read a favorite section of the book out loud (almost always it was the part where Whiskers gets stuck in the tree. Really fun for me to read!).

At least one of the classes drew pictures about their favorite DANIEL THE DRAW-ER character or what they would draw if they had a magic pencil. One of the teachers made copies of the students' work for me, and I'll share some of those with you soon.

Each of the teachers sent home order forms so the kids could buy a paperback copy of the book, which I signed and personalized while visiting the class. I tried to keep the cost of the books down because I know what it's like to be the parent of multiple school-aged kids, always overwhelmed with requests for fundraisers and field trip money. For those children who were unable to purchase a book at my visit, I also brought signed bookmarks for each child. I also am happy to donate a copy of DANIEL THE DRAW-ER to the school or community library.

As an independent author, my most difficult battle is marketing my book. Children who read this level of story don't typically own eReaders and don't usually shop on Amazon or scan through Twitter. They rely on parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians to introduce them to fun, worthwhile books. That's why your word-of-mouth is so, so, so important. Without it, the kids don't even know I, or Daniel, exist!

If you are a teacher or a librarian, or someone who works with a group of kids who might enjoy an author visit, please let me know. You can reply below, or contact me through the contact form on my site. Obviously, at this time I need to limit in-person visits to locations in the SE Michigan area, but I'm also available for Skype or Google+ virtual visits, if your school or library has that capability. If you have other ideas, let me know, too! I'm eager to share this story with as many kids (and adults) as possible!

And, as always, thank you for your support!

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The Icing on the Cake

6/10/2014

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Today I visited my boys' school. Two classes and a writing club, to which both of my boys belong. The woman who runs the writing club began the visit by giving me a plant. A pineapple lilac or something. It's purple. And it looks like a pineapple. It's a clever name, really.

"I asked your boys if you were a plant person," she said. "They said no." My boys don't lie. I used to have plants... until the cats chewed every last one of them to bits. There's not a sprig of color in my landscaping, either, because DOGS. And now we have horses in our backyard. So, yeah, maybe someday I'll try to cultivate life again. Today is not that day. Well, except for the really pretty flower thing named after fruit.

The writer's group was great, of course. There was so much enthusiasm in that small group. Each of them had written questions on index cards and took turns reading them out loud. I made my boys blush by sharing the bits of "Daniel" based on them, which may be my favorite part of being invited to the school (but don't tell the boys). The teacher spun my answers so that they related to concepts she's been teaching the kids. She left out the part about drinking too much caffeine and popping Cinnamon Fire Jolly Ranchers like they're going out of style.

The writing group teacher bought copies for each of the kids who weren't able to buy a copy for themselves, so that was really sweet. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say that out loud, but she did it. I liked it. I'm telling you about it.

Then we had cake. Really, really good cake. Chocolate with that whipped cream frosting.

I may just sign books for her class, like, every day.

Next I spoke with my 10-year-old's class. They read the whole book, but they asked me to read a section out loud for them anyway. We agreed that the part about Whiskers in the tree was the perfect section. I got to talk like a robot and, for a few seconds, a cat spinning on a ceiling fan. My life is weird.

One of the kids asked how I came up with the character "Annie", Daniel's best friend. For several years, my son had only one very good friend, a girl who is still in his class. When I told the kids that I had based Annie on a girl they knew, I had to quickly make sure they knew she probably didn't eat worms.

I've said my life is weird, haven't I? Just checking.

My next stop was my eight-year-old's Second Grade class. They had only made it through eight pages of the book because their teacher hadn't been able to do more than that due to multiple family emergencies the month before. As expected, the kids weren't very excited about me being there. One girl, who spoke in a cute little whisper kept mentioning something about her mom writing a book about ninja ballerinas? At least, I think that's what she said. It was hard to hear over the class next door's Kidz Bop version of "Fireworks".

The teacher gave me her microphone thing and let me read a couple chapters of the book. Once I did that, the kids were much more excited about me and "Daniel the Draw-er". I got to use my acting skills to read as Daniel, Annie, Whiskers, Pi-zzabot, Tommy, Lila, Ms. Konkle, and Mr. & Mrs. A. It made me miss drama class.

One of the boys from the writing group was there for the reading, too, and he was actually finishing my sentences as I was reading. Like, from memory.

Wait. Do I have a fanboy? Because I really want some fanpeople. That's awesome.

All in all, 19 books found their new homes, and that makes me happy. I'm pretty sure it would have been more with more notice (or with more reading), but it was a good--and long--visit anyway.

And I got cake. Thumbs up, friends. Thumbs up.

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Good Book Day

6/1/2014

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A local fourth-grade teacher read Daniel the Draw-er to her class recently, and invited me in to talk with her kids. I had no idea what I was doing going into this thing, but my friend Courtney helped me make bookmarks and I ordered extra copies of my book. Just. In. Case.

Last night I went to Kohl's to pick out a new shirt to wear. It took me an hour. How come the size I need in the shirt I like is always gone? Like, always. So annoying. And then I wake up and my friend texts me to ask if I want to wear my pajamas into the elementary school for my talk because it's pajama day at the school.

Well, okay. I'll wear the cat pants... If you insist.

So I squeeze myself into my cat pants. The picture isn't so great, but they are basically the best pants ever. What's not to love about space cats? On your legs!! The lady in the office pauses a few seconds before deciding we probably aren't as shady as we appear in my cat pants and Courtney's owl jammies. Muahahahaha! My plan, she works!

While the teacher brings the kids back to the classroom, we admire the projects on the classroom walls. "Who is your favorite character in DANIEL THE DRAW-ER? And why?" and " What would you draw if you had a magic pencil?" Courtney's especially happy with these projects because one kid gave Octobear purple tentacles (which is totally crazy, because everyone knows they're green!). I just think it's awesome because the kids had projects. About MY book.

I begin by telling the kids that I had, once upon a time, been a student in their elementary school; and when I wrote the playground scene from the book, I'd pictured their playground. None of the play structures from my era remain on their current playground. That's a little sad, but the kids think it's cool that their playground is famous. And, of course, I tell them about the earthquake that cracked the sidewalk behind the school. I forget to tell them about the petrified green been that's been clinging to the cafeteria ceiling for the past forty years, though. Next time...

The teacher asks me about my writing process. I'll have to work on my answer for next time, because I don't think mine is currently all that great. She uses my answer to emphasize the importance of revising and having friends look over your work. Then she lets the kids ask questions.

How did you come up with Whiskers?
Was Annie based on someone?
How do you make your characters sound different?
How do you think up these characters?
When did you publish your book?

And, most importantly, will there be another book?

Yes, there will be another book. <cheers>. And when I hint about what Daniel's up to next, their hands shoot up with all of their ideas. So many ideas, and several of them fall very close to what I have in mind. That's pretty impressive.

Then the kids--nearly 2/3 of the class--buy their books and I sign them. Heck, Courtney even signs a few because the kids know she must be awesome, too (Duh! Owl jammies!). Each of the kids receive a cool autographed bookmark because I wanted them to have something, even if they couldn't get a book.

You know you want one.

After that, the kids start bringing me random things to sign. I sign crumpled scraps of paper, a notebook cover, a pencil case, and I'm pretty sure a contract of some kind, but I'm not 100% on that last one. A few kids ask me to write notes to their siblings. One wants me to draw Octobear; another, Whiskers. That's a newbie mistake because then ALLLLLLL of the kids want me to draw something, and there just isn't enough time. I would've done it if there had been time.

Before the kids run off to lunch, one boy drops a note in front of me. On his note, he thanks me for coming, then there's a sketch of the pencil from my book cover. I flip the paper over (as instructed), and he's given me his phone number so I can call him when book #2 is finished.

"Look! I scored some digits!" I shout to Courtney and the teacher. That's so awesome.

One of the girls tells me she's going to frame my autograph. "You're her favorite author," the teacher says. Another boy agrees. I'm someone's favorite author? Someone who doesn't know me? Really? Is that possible?

I ask the teacher if I can donate a copy of "Daniel the Draw-er" to the school library, and she says sure, and she'll introduce me to the school librarian. On the way to the library (and then the office, because the librarian isn't in the library), we pass a neatly-dressed woman exiting the school through the main doors. I mean, this chick's in a dress, pearls, and heels--the whole nine. She obviously didn't get the pajama memo.

The teacher whispers, "that's the head of the township children's library. Want me to introduce you?"

Uh, yeah. I wanna meet ALLLLLL the book people.

The poor prim and proper librarian looks confused by the lady in the totally awesome cat pants (me) handing her an unknown but equally awesome book. It makes me smile just remembering it. Oh, cat pants. Making friends and influencing people, as always.

So, I'm going to go ahead and call that a huge success.

In other news, today I decided to celebrate my first author event by offering the Kindle version of "Daniel the Draw-er" for free for one day only. So far, 544 people have downloaded it.

Resulting in this.

While I wish that meant royalties for me (on 544 copies! Sweet), what it really means is more exposure for this fun story... maybe a few reviews. But, really, the sharing is all I'm hoping for. The more people who read Daniel's story, the more chances I have to make someone smile or prove that someone else can do what I've done.

My sixth-grade self wouldn't have believed that one day I'd walk into my old elementary school wearing cat pants with my published book tucked under my arm.

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Can You Find the Treasure?

Author Beware - Virtual Book Fair Scam

Macaroni Monday

Time Warp With S. J. Henderson

Middle School Time Warp With Krysten Lindsay Hager

About Krysten

Connect With Krysten

Daniel Comes To Your School

The Icing on the Cake

Good Book Day

S. J.

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