Children’s Book Week Kid Lit Giveaway Hop…

Welcome and thank you for stopping by on your tour around the Children’s Book Week Kid Lit Giveaway Hop hosted by Mother-Daughter Book Reviews and Youth Literature Reviews.

What is Children’s Book Week?

Established in 1919, Children’s Book Week is the longest-running literacy initiative in the United States. Each year, books for young people and the joy of reading are feted for a full week with author and illustrator appearances, storytelling, parties, and other book-related events at schools, libraries, bookstores, museums, and homes from coast-to-coast.

For more information please visit: http://www.bookweekonline.com/

Babel Necklace

Now for the party part —I’m giving away a signed limited edition paperback of each of my novels The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis, the first book in my middle-grade/YA time travel series, and Legend of the Timekeepers, the prequel to the series. Also up for grabs are signed trading cards, rubber wrist bands, a custom-crafted Babel necklace and a ceramic Spiral pendant.

Spiral Pendant

 BTW – this Giveaway is opened internationally, so everyone is included in this hop! It’s just one of the ways I’m celebrating the 2^nd Anniversary Book Release of The Last Timekeepers series during the month of May!

Tagline and blurb from The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis:

Children are the keys to our future. And now, children are the only hope for our past.

When 13-year-old Amanda Sault and her annoying classmates are caught in a food fight at school, they're given a choice: suspension or yard duty. The decision is a no-brainer. Their two-week crash course in landscaping leads to the discovery of a weathered stone arch in the overgrown back yard. The arch isn't a forgotten lawn ornament but an ancient time portal from the lost continent of Atlantis.

Chosen by an Atlantean Magus to be Timekeepers--legendary time travelers sworn to keep history safe from the evil Belial--Amanda and her classmates are sent on an adventure of a lifetime. Can they find the young Robin Hood and his merry band of teens? If they don't, then history itself may be turned upside down.

Tagline and blurb from Legend of the Timekeepers:

There is no moving forward without first going back.

Lilith was a young girl with dreams and a family before the final destruction of Atlantis shattered those dreams and tore her family apart. Now refugees, Lilith and her father make their home in the Black Land. This strange, new country has no place in Lilith’s heart until a beloved high priestess introduces Lilith to her life purpose—to be a Timekeeper and keep time safe.

Summoned through the seventh arch of Atlantis by the Children of the Law of One, Lilith and her newfound friends are sent into Atlantis’s past, and given a task that will ultimately test their courage and try their faith in each other. Can the Timekeepers stop the dark magus Belial before he changes the seers’ prophecy? If they fail, then their future and the earth’s fate will be altered forever.

Good luck, and don’t forget to visit all the other blogs on the hop and enjoy more giveaway fun!

Terms & Conditions

§  This Blog Hop begins May 12^th and runs until midnight May 19^th, 2014. The winner will be announced on my blog the next day.

§  The winner will chosen by Rafflecopter

§  I will contact the winner via email and give the winner 72 hours to accept his/her prize.

§  Prizes as stated in—no alternatives will be offered.

ADDED BONUS: Since I’m celebrating the 2^nd Anniversary of my Book Release, I’m having a 2for1 book sale exclusively at my publisher Musa Publishing, so if you haven’t had a chance to read my series, this is a win-win deal! But act fast, the sale ends May 19^th!  I also have two Goodreads giveaways happening, so please go to this link and enter to win:

http://sharonledwith.blogspot.ca/2014/05/happy-2nd-anniversary-to-last.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway

13 Days of Free Short Reads for the Holidays…

On Monday, December 1^st, Musa Publishing started the holiday ball rolling by offering 13 days of free, short e-stories as a gift from Musa authors. A different short story will be released each day for 13 days. Some days have more than one release scheduled, so there will actually be 17 stories in total. That’s a whole lot of reading to cram in throughout the holiday season!

BTW: These are not books; they’re short, fast, fun–and free!–reads. Yup, I said FREE again!

Since I’m a published author with Musa, my middle grade/young adult short fantasy story, The Terrible, Mighty Crystal, is scheduled for gift release on Friday, December 6. This short read is actually a spin-off from Legend of the Timekeepers as it features the Atlantean cross-eyed seer Shu-Tu, and reveals a little background on how and why she became a seer. Have I piqued your interest? If so, check out the blurb and tagline for The Terrible, Mighty Crystal:

There is the known and the unknown. And then there is the unknowable.

A rumor around Atlantis whispers that the mighty crystal has the power of resurrection. Fourteen-year-old Shu-Tu believes this to be true and will do whatever it takes to bring her father back from the dead. Recruiting two trustworthy classmates, and with the help of her beloved teacher Thoth, Shu-Tu sets out to change her father’s fate, and right a wrong.

Instructed to meet Thoth at his grotto, Shu-Tu and her friends are forced to flee underground, and must follow the maze of passages to find another way out. There, they come across a baboon-headed human hybrid possessing a rare firestone—one of six harvested from the mighty crystal—which has the power to restore life. Shu-Tu agrees to play the hybrid’s bizarre game to win the firestone, knowing that if she loses, she loses her father forever.

Hooked you yet? If so, I’ve got another gem of a free short story written by my YA author peeps HL Carpenter, who wrote SkyHorse. HL is Florida-based a mother/daughter duo who love writing about magical places and practice the fine art of curiosity. Their upcoming free read called Dream Stealer is due out on Monday, December 9^th. Here’s the tagline and blurb:

Ever wonder what became of the dreams you once had? Fancy Moonstruck can tell you. She steals dreams for a living. Close your eyes. Fancy’s on the job.

Fancy Moonstruck is supposed to steal dreams. It’s what her family does for a living, and now that she’s fifteen, the job is hers.

It’s a job she’d rather not have. She knows first-hand what dreams mean to the dreamer because she has a dream of her own. She dreams of her mom, who died five years ago. Losing her dream would be like losing her mom all over again. That’s a pain Fancy doesn’t want to cause anyone.

But the rules are clear: Steal a dream—or lose her own.

Sound intriguing? I know, right? Another featured free YA short story is by Kaitlin Bevis who loves to write about Greek myths and classical heroes. Her free read called Medusa is due for release on Thursday December 5^th. Holy Hades, that’s today folks! Here’s the tagline and blurb:

The gods turned her into a weapon, but weapons can turn against their makers.

The gods have not been kind to Medusa. They have turned every piece of her to poison, and no one can look at her without turning to stone. But she soon finds an unlikely friend in Hades, The Lord of the Underworld, and settles in to her new life.

Until the heroes arrive.

Convinced that she is a monster that needs to be slain, hero after hero ventures to Medusa's cave, never to be seen again. But there's something different about the latest hero, Perseus. Something tragic. Will Medusa be able to stop Perseus and save herself? Will she even want to?

So, are you ready to load up your ereaders (or even the ereaders you’re giving as gifts) with fun, fantastic short stories this holiday season? Awesome-sauce! Then head over to Musa Publishing, start downloading, and enjoy. Happy Holidays and may the spirit of giving infect you in ways you never could have imagined! Ho, ho, ho!

Middle Grade and Young Adult Happy Holidays Book Blog Hop…

A bunch of us awesome MG Authors from our We Love Middle Grade group decided to get together and have a Happy Holidays Blog Hop just in time for the festive season for our readers and followers. The Hop will run from December 1^st to the 15^th, so there’s plenty of time to check out the participating authors, and maybe find a gem of a read for you and your tween in time for the holidays.

So what do the holidays mean to you? Great food? Giving gifts? Getting gifts? Family get-togethers?  Parties? Supporting your favorite charities? Honestly, the list can go on, but for me, it’s all about the process of preparation for the holiday season. You know. The decorating, baking, shopping, planning meals and all the other fun stuff that leads up to your special holiday. I would be remiss in sharing the one thing I LOVE to do during the month of December: watch one or two movie versions of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. I have two favorite versions — the original with Alastair Sim playing Ebenezer Scrooge, and the hilarious 1980s version with Bill Murray who played the Scrooge-ish Frank Cross in Scrooged. Both have a different flavor, yet carry the same message: Don’t mess with the past and make wise choices in the present else you can royally screw up your future. Love Dickens take on time travel!

Since I’m in a giving, non-Scrooge mood, I’m pulling out the reindeers and giving away both ebooks in The Last Timekeepers time travel series, The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis, and Legend of the Timekeepers, in the format of your choice. Plus, I’m giving away some swag: a Babel necklace, a ceramic Spiral pendant, a rubber wrist band, and signed trading cards of both my books!  Oh, and as an added bonus I’m throwing in a PDF copy of Cooking with Musa to make your holidays in the kitchen as easy-peasy as possible.

BTW – this Giveaway is opened internationally, so everyone is included in this hop!

Here’s the blurb from The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis:

When 13-year-old Amanda Sault and her annoying classmates are caught in a food fight at school, they're given a choice: suspension or yard duty. The decision is a no-brainer. Their two-week crash course in landscaping leads to the discovery of a weathered stone arch in the overgrown back yard. The arch isn't a forgotten lawn ornament but an ancient time portal from the lost continent of Atlantis.

Chosen by an Atlantean Magus to be Timekeepers--legendary time travelers sworn to keep history safe from the evil Belial--Amanda and her classmates are sent on an adventure of a lifetime. Can they find the young Robin Hood and his merry band of teens? If they don't, then history itself may be turned upside down.

Here’s the blurb from the prequel, Legend of the Timekeepers:

Lilith was a young girl with dreams and a family before the final destruction of Atlantis shattered those dreams and tore her family apart. Now refugees, Lilith and her father make their home in the Black Land. This strange, new country has no place in Lilith’s heart until a beloved high priestess introduces Lilith to her life purpose—to be a Timekeeper and keep time safe.

Summoned through the seventh arch of Atlantis by the Children of the Law of One, Lilith and her newfound friends are sent into Atlantis’s past, and given a task that will ultimately test their courage and try their faith in each other. Can the Timekeepers stop the dark magus Belial before he changes the seers’ prophecy? If they fail, then their future and the earth’s fate will be altered forever.

Good luck, and don’t forget to visit all the other author blogs on our Happy Holidays Hop to enjoy more giveaway fun! Cheers and have a happy and safe holiday season!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms & Conditions:

This Blog Hop begins midnight on December 1^st and runs until midnight December 15^th, 2013. The draw will take place December 16^th, 2013.

The winner will chosen by Rafflecopter

I will contact the winner via email and give the winner 72 hours to accept his/her prize.
Prize as stated—no alternatives will be offered.

If you have a problem with the linky-link above, please click here: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=334406

Tween the Weekends: Creating the Perfect Author Presentation

I’ve been blessed with an abundance of retired teachers as neighbors on the lake where I live. Their brains are fresh for the picking. Yeah, I know, sounds like something out of a Zombie novel, but the fact is that teachers can be an author’s best friend. I recently corralled two friends —a hubby and wife team—one is a retired elementary principal and the other taught teachers to give presentations. My mind went to mush. It needed to in order to be sculpted into the perfect author presenter. So what did I learn?

First—engage the class—draw them into your presentation. Bait the kids—in my case, upper middle grade and lower YA is my target audience. Then I hook them into thinking that it’s all about THEM. Actually, it is all about them, they just don’t need to know that! So I dusted off my fishing rod and began to create an author presentation that would lure them in by asking these specifically designed questions:

“What’s your favorite video game or game App?”

“What happens in the game?”

“Who are the characters in the game?”

“What makes this game interesting to you?”

Then once I get enough responses, I reel them in with:

“What’s your favorite book?”

“What do books have in common with video games?”

Do you see what I did? Hook, line, and sinker! Engagement first, then I went into the actual presentation. From there, I ask the class:

“When a teacher gives you a writing assignment, how do you come up with ideas for your stories?”

“What’s the hardest part of it?”

“What do you think about before you write your story?”

More engagement ensues before I get to share my writing process with the class, which I start by telling the class to remember that the heart of storytelling is to write what you know or like. For me, I love all things time travel, paranormal, and the mysterious, so that’s where my imagination goes. My writing process is always the same for every book…

First, an idea for a story can come to me through a dream (like The Last Timekeepers), or something as simple as a ‘what if’ question. Asking ‘what if’ is a very powerful question for a storyteller. What if a teen with a psychic ability was sent to a small, rural tourist town? What if a group of adolescents found an ancient time portal buried in an overgrown backyard? Once I’ve got the seed idea, I’ll write notes in point form until I have the bones of the story.

Second, I create a cast of characters and build the story around them. I begin by writing out character tracking sheets (stats on characters appearances, clothing, likes and dislikes, etc.) which helps keep the characters organized. I do this even when I’m writing a short story. Once I’ve accomplished this, I add the sheets to a binder that I use as a guidebook for my entire series, where each book has its own section. BTW – I make sure I have a character tracking sheet handy to show the class.

Third, it’s on to research, research, and more research! I find this process is the biggest investment of my time, but it’s a necessary evil. When you’re writing time travel, you’ve got to know your facts to create the fiction.

Fourth, only when I have enough facts, and I feel my characters are sufficiently fleshed out, then I begin to write the first draft. Sometimes I’m a panser (writing by the seat of my pants), sometimes a plotter (outline entire storyline or chapters)—it all depends on the tone of the book and where my muse directs me.

Then it’s on to the best part of an author presentation—the reading. I set up what has happened in my book so far before I read the selected chapter, and ask the students to imagine my story as if they were playing a movie in their head. My teacher friends suggest that the whole presentation should be no more than half an hour (unless you’ve prepared a workshop), and to make sure you have enough time to take questions from the students. When the presentation is over, I have signed trading cards and rubber wrist bands available to giveaway, and leave my book order forms with the teacher.

That’s it! A made-to-order Author Presentation created with the help of two wonderful people who have shaped the minds of both children and adults. Now that’s what I call passing the baton!

Tween the Weekend: Recharging your Child’s Battery…

Yay summer! School’s out. Vacation is in. Or is it? Summer can be just as crazy and crammed full of activities as the school year, and sometimes parents tend to over-schedule their kids throughout the course of the summer. Baseball, day camps, swimming lessons, and golf lessons are all part of the summer experience, but these activities can also suck precious energy levels from your kids and leave them feeling drained. Let’s face it the small child doesn’t know when he is excessively tired. But he surely shows it in his behavior and actions. And the adolescent may realize she is over-fatigued, but refuses to admit it—even to herself.

If your kids are normally well-balanced, their batteries may need recharging when they act and feel:

·         Unduly sleepy or tired

·         Tactless, unfriendly, suspicious

·         Querulous, insulting, hostile

·         Irritable, sarcastic, mean

·         Nervous, excitable, hysterical

·         Worrisome, fearful, jealous

·         Rash, ruthless, excessively selfish

·         Excessively emotional, depressed, or frustrated

When YOU are fatigued your usually positive, desirable feelings, emotions, thoughts, and actions have a tendency to turn negative. It’s the same with kids. And when you are rested and in good health, the direction is changed back to positive. Fatigue often brings out the worst in people. So how do you go about recharging your child’s battery (or your own for that matter) when his or her energy level is zero?

Relax: Going for a nice long walk is a wonderful way to relax emotionally and mentally. As you put your physical body into motion, your thoughts and feelings seem to relax all by themselves. Even something as simple as watching a TV show or a movie allows you to unwind and have some time to chill with the children.  

Play: Instead of an organized activity (baseball, tennis, soccer, etc.), do something fun, and that has no structure. Throw a Frisbee around the park or beach, go for a bike ride, fly a kite, or get the family together around the table for a board or card game. The possibilities are endless. 

Rest: Have some down time by reading a good book in a hammock or a favorite comfy chair. Pick an activity that’s not too taxing. Even a short nap can help rejuvenate the body and mind.

Sleep: Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night. I know this is a no-brainer when it comes to recharging your battery, but this is so important for a growing body and mind.

Can you add anything to the list above? Remember, EVERYONE needs a period of renewal to calm

your mind and rejuvenate your body, including our kids! Please click HERE or on the EMBLAZON icon on the right sidebar to go and meet other awesome TWEEN authors today…

Calling all MG and YA Book Bloggers…

Emblazon is a blog written by a collection of indie and traditionally published authors who care about producing high quality stories for kids. We have a particular focus on ages 11 to 14. We call them Tweens. The purpose of Emblazon is to celebrate tween literature. We want to draw attention to this fabulous genre, interact with other enthusiasts whether child or adult, and encourage new writers.

Emblazon launches its first post on July 10. Please consider helping us spread the word by mentioning us on your blog that day. You may cut and paste from this email or the website and use our attached logo if you wish. All bloggers who participate are eligible to enter our $100 Amazon gift card drawing that will be held the following day. You can also treat your readers to our upcoming Sizzling Freebies bash that will be hosted on Emblazon on August 1 during which a great selection of ebooks will be free for one day only.

We hope you’ll join us in kick-starting this fabulous new adventure!