Scribblings from a twenty-year homeschool veteran about homeschooling, life after homeschooling, occasional peeks into the world of writing for children, and the ups and downs of life in general.
This year's street fair was really nice! The Salt Shaker bookstore asked me to come on down and sign books, and boy, did they ever give me a "red carpet."
Check out the left sidebar, which has my Circle C Fan Page on Facebook displaying recent posts. I'm pretty sure you can click any of the pictures, etc. and see the fun we had for 2 days. You don't have to be on FACEBOOK to look at my Fan page. Pictures are SO much easier to upload on Facebook
Join Mary for more Show and Tells!
I know I've PRE-posted this a whole week early, but I'm off to a writers conference on Monday and will be in no condition to immediately post something when I come home next Thursday afternoon.
My new writing workbook, Reach for the Stars, is finally available. In addition to having the book published, the publisher started a Reach for the Stars Writing Club for anyone--even if you don't have the book. ANYBODY can sign up! We're putting out a monthly (well, l hope monthly) E-zine with story starters, a Parent's Corner, Grammar Gremlins, Photo Fun, and more (even contests eventually). We'll also share readers' stories in the E-zine.
To sign up for the FREE Writing Club and to download the June 2009 launch E-zine, go here:
Today I want to share a link with you of one of my first article-writing attempts. It's for the Christian Writing Examiner, and talks about the trends in the "tween" (aka middle-grade, ages 8-10) market. The good and the bad.
If you're interested, hop over here and leave a comment for the Christian Writing Examiner!
It's Show and Tell with Mary on this lovely first day of May! Click the graphic.
I'm back in the "saddle" (but who knows for how long?). I'm a "widow-woman" for a while, while DH is building the pole barn over on the homestead. He's been gone the month of April and into . . . ?
But I've not been slacking. Media Angels, a publisher of great Creation studies and other materials for homeschooling families, is publishing my Reach for the Stars writing workbook for young authors. It comes out this month! In addition to just slapping a book out there, Felice, a homeschool mom and the publisher, plans all kinds of fun writing things. If you think your kids would enjoy being part of a writing club, sign up right here:
Or you can go to my website SUSANKMARLOW.COM to read about the book and download sample pages. You can sign up for the writing club there, as well! Tell your friends! And if you want to buy the 144-page writing book, it's on a "pre-order" special for $14.95, instead of the retail $18.95. (This feels weird, pitching this). Go here if interested: www.mediaangels.com/reachforthestars/
Here are the front and back covers:
And that's my show and tell! Spread the word!
There's a lot of great theology in this simple song. There are ten things over which none of us has control:
1) Our unique make-up
2) Who our parents are
3) Our siblings
4) Where we were born
5) Our inherent mental capacity
6) The time in history when we were born
7) Our gender
8) Our birth order
9) The fact that we age
10) Our time of death
I’m excited to Show and Tell about a great new series for learning about our 50 states.
State of Wilderness, by Elysabeth Eldering, is the launch book for the Junior Geography Detective Squad 50-state mystery trivia series. No more pages and pages of boring facts that make our kids’ eyes glaze over. Instead, the reader does not even know the state he/she is studying until most of the way through the book (no fair peeking ahead!). The goal is to see if the reader can guess which state is being studied by the clues given throughout the text. Sound like fun? It is!
However, before I continue with my review, I want to tell you what Elysabeth is giving away to celebrate the first two books: A USA map puzzle and a few state related itemsTo win these prizes, just leave a comment here with your e-mail address (so the author can contact the winner). Now, on to my thoughts about book 1, State of Wilderness. . .
Note: If you want to win anything, you have to leave your e-mail address for the author. I know how to contact you, but the author doesn't. So . . . better leave your e-mail!
Matt and Guy, two likeable young characters, find a hand-held game that looks a bit like a PDA. To their delight, they discover the game can talk, and it challenges them to listen to clues and guess the state. Matt and Guy take the challenge and bet one boy can figure out the state before the other.
This narrative story frames 27 unusual and interesting trivia clues about the mystery state, written in a fun font and accompanied by black-line illustrations. Readers are challenged to write down their guesses as the clues unfold. When the state is finally revealed, readers can see how close they are to the correct answer.
For example: Clue #24—“This National Monument, Craters of the Moon Volcanoes, is so lunar-like that American astronauts actually trained there.”
Or Clue #6—“In this state there is a law that forbids a citizen from giving another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than fifty pounds.” (For real!)
Can you guess the state? I’m not telling. You’ll have to buy the book to discover more clues and also to reap the pages at the end of the book of maps, questions, and traditional facts about the state.
Elysabeth Eldering, a 46-year-old mother of three, lives in a small town near Greenville, South Carolina, where she is an active member of Sisters in Crime and the South Carolina Writer’s Workshop.
Her first story was written on a dare and she self-published a small collection of short stories. Her series, the Junior Geography Detective Squad, is loosely based on the original "Train of Clues" story, following four friends in their game-playing adventure while learning facts about the states.
When Elysabeth isn't busy with writing-related activities, she is a proud band parent and attends marching band competitions to see her kids perform.
Click the graphic for Mary's first Show and Tell of 2009!
OK, I'm going to do it. I'm going to put myself on the "Accountability Block." On January 1, I started to read the Bible through in 2009. But oh, dear! To keep this up will take some doing. Does anyone want to do this with me? If so, come back tomorrow (Saturday) and sign the Mr. Linky and become accountable. Then, once a week (I'm going to post on Saturdays, the end of the week), post your progress, insights or thoughts, link back, and we'll keep each other going. You can use any read-through-the-year system you choose. I'm using the fine print in my little Daily Bread. Yesterday, January 1, was Genesis 1-3 and Matthew 1. Today's is: Genesis 4-6 and Matthew 2. Here is the list for the rest of the week, if you want to do it, but don't have a system:
(I'll post the following weeks' verses each Saturday. Please pray that I can follow through with this!)
Jan. 3: Genesis 7-9 & Matthew 3
Jan. 4: Gen. 10-12 & Matt. 4
Jan. 5: Gen. 13-15 & Matt. 5: 1-26
Jan. 6: Gen. 16-17 & Matt. 5: 27-48
Jan. 7: Gen. 18-19 & Matt. 6:1-18
Jan. 8: Gen. 20-22 & Matt. 6:19-34
Jan. 9: Gen. 23-24 & Matt. 7
Jan. 10 (Saturday): Gen. 25-26 & Matt. 8: 1-17
If you would like to do this, here is the graphic you can post on your blog.
