It's your chance to win!

Who doesn't love a give-away?!

Click here to enter the Goodreads giveaway of my new picture book, Mikey and the Swamp Monster, fully illustrated by graphic designer Michael Rausch. Five print copies are up for grabs in the US.

I can personalize the inscription for the lucky winners.

The little monsters in your life will love this "read-it-again!" favorite, so enter today!

Free for Kindle!

Through Friday only, Mikey and the Swamp Monster is FREE for Kindle!

This humorous picture book has garnered 5-star reviews and parents tell me it has become a "read it again!" favorite with the 3-6 year olds.

The talents of graphic designer Michael Rausch are there to enjoy. And yours for free. What more could you want?

One graphic designer is part of the solution

When graphic designer Katherine Young saw this cover on Girls Life Magazine, she was disturbed. Obviously the image and the headlines perpetuate the stereotype that girls are defined by beauty and fashion. When that cover was contrasted with the September issue of Boys Life, the conflicting messages horrified Young. She decided to do something about it.



She used her skills as a graphic designer to create an alternate cover and posted the comparisons on her blog. The image went viral. 

Young's cover empowers girls to be their best selves, to define themselves as healthy individuals, full of potential to mold their community and shape their future. I say Amen to that. 

The media needs to listen. 

New connections and a new book

One perk of our move to a new area is the chance to make new connections with people and organizations that matter to us. For me, that includes a finding a church home and a community of writers. We seem to have found a church home, which is awesome, and the library system led me to a terrific, established writers group. Unfortunately for me and my ongoing need for writer-ish infusions, they only meet once a month. Through my membership in SCBWI, I connected with two other fledgling writers' groups which have great potential. I located a member who I'll meet for coffee next weekend, and already met with fellow author Corinne Smith. Corinne and I chatted over breakfast about our books and the trials and tribulations of publishing. That single meeting lifted a veil from my eyes - uncovering the marketing angle.

What Corinne has done is create a uniform approach to her online persona. Her website clearly shows the coordination between her presentations, her publications, and her activities among Henry David Thoreau scholars and fans. Quite impressive.

Corinne is a generous guru who, by her example and her willingness to share links and info, has started me on the road to understanding how best to present my work and myself in the marketplace. I'm so grateful!

All that marketing info got my wheels turning. With the upcoming release of my first picture book Mikey and the Swamp Monster created with illustrator/graphic designer extraordinaire Michael Rausch, we're developing ideas about how best to handle the marketing. We have to 1) engage kids in the idea behind the story with activities and manipulatives, 2) allow parents to see that the book encourages imagination and imaginative play, and finally 3) get the book into kids' hands. The ideas are flying fast and furious - and fun!

Hopefully, all will be in place for an early August book launch. I'll keep you posted!