Happy Earth Day

 

As we mark the 52nd year celebrating Earth Day, resolve to do your part in preventing harm to our planet, wildlife and humans. Pick up trash, reduce waste, recycle and reuse. We all need to be better about doing so each and every day, but, today, do so and make the commitment to be better going forward. I will do the same!

Happy Easter

 

Wishing you all a blessed Easter! May your celebrations and gatherings be happy and safe.

God Bless you and yours.

Mission Complete

 

March was a busy month full of amazing daily posts and so many mentor text suggestions. Thank you to Rate Your Story and all of the wonderful authors who provided daily inspiration and knowledge to aid all children's authors in their writing journeys. I learned so much and will continue to do so as I read through my list of all the mentor texts. 

I highly encourage you to check it out and take the pledge yourself in March 2023. 

Learn more at https://www.rateyourstory.org/

World Book Day

Today is another day to celebrate reading. What a great week! World Book Day was created on April 23, 1995, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 

World Book Day is an event celebrated annually in the UK and Ireland on the first Thursday in March. Every child is given tokens or a voucher to be spent on books. How awesome! This is a terrific way to incite excitement and interest in books and reading for children. Oh, the fun it would be to peruse a bunch of books and decide which to take home.

For us here in America, there are oodles and oodles of wonderful books from which to choose. I encourage you to go peruse many of them on the 4RV Publishing website at https://www.4rvpublishing.com/ (you will notice one of mine there as well!) and support small publishers and the great books offered. 

Happy reading!

National Read Across America Day

A day to celebrate reading. What more could we want?

This day, National Read Across America Day, is celebrated every year on March 2nd, the birthday of Dr. Seuss. While I will read at least one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books today, I will also be celebrating by reading my own books, BEDTIME KISSES and LITTLE BUG, to a very special group of young kids at John Paul II Elementary, the school in which I serve as Speech/Language Pathologist and the school all of my own kids attended from preschool through 6th grade.

What a privilege! Thank you to Mrs. Morgan for inviting me to visit. I can think of no better way to celebrate the joy of reading than by sharing my own books with children. I love to engage with kids and share my love of reading and books. I strongly believe it is imperative to encourage kids to read and foster a love of books, especially in the face of the technologically driven world in which we live today. It is so important for kids to learn that books are exciting and fun. The stories contained within the pages can transport us to completely different worlds and places as well as allow us to meet new characters and have new life experiences. In addition, reading is relaxing and helps us learn about many things. For, in the words of a very wise Dr. Seuss,

"The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

So, today, as Read Across America Day kicks off the National Reading Month of March, pick up your favorite picture book, novel, biography, etc., and lose yourself in the pages of a great story. And, please, help me spread the word to all those young minds eager to learn and explore. Reading is the very best way to do so!

Be a Wordsmith

 

Some very dear friends gave me this sign as a gift this past Christmas. I thought many of you would enjoy it and relate. Truer words have never been written, for an author anyway. 

The idea that the act of writing is to "share part of your soul with the world" really resonated with me. This is, ultimately, what we all try to do as writers. This is the heart of any story. Our hearts speaking to our readers' hearts and inciting some type of response. But, it is so scary! There is so much emotion wrapped up in this thought. Fear of the unknown. Fear of not being good enough. Fear a reader may hate what you write and say so publicly.  Writing is scary. Or, rather, putting yourself "out there" as a published author is scary. But I liked what this sign said about comparing yourself only to the writer you were yesterday. Be you, whomever that may be. I am working hard on this and seem to be in a bit of a dry spell, but I will press on. Butt in chair as, "first drafts don't have to be perfect, they just have to be written."

I would love to hear what drives your need to write and how you conquer the scary moments and create magic with your words.

Mission Complete

 

30 ideas in 30 days...check! Thank you, Tara Lazar, for the month of inspiration and growth. I am looking forward to exploring my ideas and seeing where they lead.