Three Reads and a Contest-Saturday

Some good writing advice in here.

Middle Grade Ninja: 7 Questions For: John Claude Bemis


Great, great advice on how to comment!

Nathan Bransford - Blog: How to Write a Good Blog Comment

An older post (from November) but one well worth reading (more than once)

S©ott Treimel NY: Manuscript Makeovers by Claudia Mills

And a contest...

See above link, Middle Grade Ninja!

Three Reads and a Contest-Friday

On Blog Reading and following...

QueryTracker.net: Blog Avalanche: Knowing Which Ones Are Worth Your Time

A good post for re-reading. Although I am not doing my site for my books right now-it’s mostly about my LOVE of Reading-it still applies. Need to know your audience.

Notes from the Slushpile: Build Your Own Website: Who is Your Audience?

Beautiful artwork...

Alice Pope's SCBWI Children's Market Blog: 2011 Tomie dePaola Award Winner Announced!

CONTEST!

First Page and GIVEAWAY: Dogsled Dreams « First Page Panda (ends Jan 19)

Three Reads and a Contest-Tuesday

Adventures in children’s publishing lists the new releases for this week. Includes an interview with Cynthia Hand author of UNEARTHLY. A great book to recommend to teens who enjoy paranormal and/or urban fantasy romance. And for writers, a _great_ book to read to see how a great page turner with back story through out can be done and be done really really well.

In Stores This Week (with Interviews & Giveaways)

For me, just an all around timely post. I am still figuring out the whole blogging thing. Right now trying to take the pressure off and just learn about it all. That’s how I figure things out, by doing them. The focus I seem to be leaning towards is reading/reviewing. But, I am not a book reviewer. There are many out there who already do this and do it well. So. If I do end up learning and taking that path, I need to give it my own spin. A book talker is what I am. Years ago when prepping for presentations to schools I read books with a book talkers eyes. How would I talk about this book, what passages would I read to hook kids in and make them want to come to the library to sign it out. So, I think that will be where I head with the blogging/talking about the books I’m reading this year.

Elle Strauss: What Kind of Blogger Are You? (And My Own Identity Crisis)

A read and a CONTEST with a twist that I love.

Just Your Typical Book Blog: The Contemps Challenge - Part Deux!

Three Reads and a Contest-Monday

Scott Tracey is gearing up to read over and critique queries on his blog next week. If you are willing to have it posted, he will read and comment. He LOVES doing them. His book, WITCH EYES, comes out this year. It’s one I will for sure be reading for the 2011 Debut Challenge.

New Year, New Digs, New Plans | Scott Tracey – Young Adult Writer

A great “If You Like” list. One of the most important parts of my job is asking kids and teens looking for a book reccomendation is “What have your read and liked.” This one is for ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS.

If You Like Anna and the French Kiss « Reclusive Bibliophile

A writing resolution round-up from some of the Class of 2K10. Loved it. Especially Leah Cypess’s--turning off the computer to write in a notebook, or just have a writing space away from Cyber!

Writer Resolutions | Judith Graves

CONTEST! From Marvelous Middle Grade Monday! (you have until Saturday, Jan 8--it’s a Gail Carson Levine book)

Shannon Whitney Messenger: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday--Fairies and the Quest for Neverland (plus a SIGNED giveaway!)

Three Reads and a Contest-Sunday

Writing Resolutions (looks like it’s been done for me!)

Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors: 10 Writing Resolutions You Can Fulfill

Oh my WOW on the photos that Maripat @ Secret Parchment links to. Looking for setting, urban fantasy--haunting and sad is right. Makes your imagination run wild.

the secret parchment: Oops

And a round up from SurLaLune for Fairytales on the Cybils short lists.

SurLaLune Fairy Tales Blog: Fairy Tales on the Cybils Awards Short Lists


Contest (Giveaway) for LOSER/QUEEN! (Have until Jan. 27 to enter)

Loser/Queen Giveaway | The Bookologist

Three Reads and a Contest-HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Seems a good idea to bring in the New Year with some top ten reads of the book review bloggers I follow.

From Allison of The Allure of Books :

My Top 10 Reads of 2010

From Nicole of WORD for Teens :

Favorite Books of 2010


From Kristi of The Story Siren :

2010 Wrap Up

Contest :

Um, mentioning mine again! It’s right here!**

Three Reads and a Contest Friday

Just a FANTASTIC round up of all Adventures in Children’s Publishing’s posts on writing in 2010. Have I mentioned lately how much I love that blog?

Best of the Best: Character, Plot, Dialogue and Structure


And the reading list grows :

Mock Newbery « ShelfTalker

And grows :

Mock Caldecotts « ShelfTalker


Contest/s (really giveaways)

Really like this one. A great give away for writers of kidlit :

Last giveaway of the year | The Spectacle

Enter to win a copy of HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT right here!**

Three Reads and a Contest Thursday

**REMINDER** Hosting my own contest right here!**

And now on to my reads for today.


This looks like a good read for my book club kids :

Book Review- Quest For Merlin's Map (The Jumper Chronicles)


A twitter chat I want to check in on. It is taking the place of #scribechat.

The Writer's Road

Agent spotlight on Susan Cohen of Writers House. Another one to add to my research list!

Agent Spotlight: Susan Cohen

And...a contest!

Tis the Season for a Giveaway!

Three Reads and a Contest Wednesday

Some great advice to keep the writing going.

Tip Tuesday #69 | Literary Rambles

Another round up of great 2010 YA reads! Read most and well worth a re-read.

Top Ten Books Read in 2010 « Reclusive Bibliophile

I LOVE this...Adventures in Children’s Publishing always knocks it out of the park! (There’s also a contest for U.S. residents)

A Writer's Toolbox: Prepping for 2011


Contest!

Hosting my own right here!**

Three Reads and a Contest Tuesday/Win HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT

A round up of new releases I know a few teens and adults have been waiting for. YAY!

In Stores This Week (with Interviews & Giveaways)

Editor (St. Martins Press) Interview.

YA Highway: Publishing Interviews: Vicki Lame, Editor for St. Martin's Press

I have a Tale Dark and Grimm on my Kindle. Cannot wait to read it. And, it’s a book club pick for the SurLaLune Book Club!

Mundie Kids: Book Review - A Tale Dark and Grimm

Contest

I didn’t find out today--so, I will host one!

It will be for HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT by Natalie Standiford. Open to Canadian and U.S. residents. Just leave a comment to let me know you would like to be entered and make sure you include an email for me to contact you if you win. I will find that random generator “thingy” I see others use and will use that to pick the winner. Contest will be open until January 15, 2011.

Three Reads and a Contest/s-Monday

Still evolving this idea, so in the meantime, here is the same old (but with some GREAT reading and a giveaway at the Story Siren)

One is a fantastic round up for reads for writers from Adventures in Children’s Publishing.

Best Articles This Week for Writers 12/24/2010

Two is an If You Like set of recommends from Melanie @ Reclusive Bibliophile. I know a question I ask either patrons or customers is, what have you read and enjoyed? Helps put something else they might like into their hands.

If You Like 24 « Reclusive Bibliophile

Three is a round up of Shannon Whitney Messenger’s 5 favorite middle grades of 2010 (and a contest)

Shannon Whitney Messenger: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday--5 Favorites of the Year (plus a giveaway and a winner!)

Contest :

The Story Siren: Giveaway: Loser/Queen

Okay--one more contest (it ends Dec 31!)

Awakened Book & Swag Giveaway ~ ends December 31, 2010

Three Reads and a Contest-Friday

Looking for a reading challenge, want to stretch into a genre you don’t typically read or have always wanted to but never do? A NOVEL CHALLENGE rounds them all up for you! Love it.

A Novel Challenge

This one was fun to think about. What would you give a book character for Christmas...and to take it further, I thought what would you give your own character creations for Christmas?

YA Highway: Road Trip Wednesday #59: Give a Book Character a Christmas Present!

Working on hosting my own Canadian Reading Challenge (YA and MG) in 2011~! In the meantime, here’s one that covers all genres! Some good reading and I love his background!


The Book Mine Set

CONTEST!

The Story Siren: Giveaway: The Ivy

Happy Christmas Eve!! 2011 is almost upon us.

Three Reads and a Contest

Taking a break over the holidays to carry on with figuring out the blogging. Three reads and a contest will morph into something related to my Canadian Reading Challenge (run by me I think, or maybe a group blog if I can round up a few other interested in doing/hosting this) and my Debut Reading Challenge (hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren).

Speaking of Three Reads and a Contest (and some reading Challenges!)

Looking for a reading challenge, want to stretch into a genre you don’t typically read or have always wanted to but never do? A NOVEL CHALLENGE rounds them all up for you! Love it.

A Novel Challenge

This one was fun to think about. What would you give a book character for Christmas...and to take it further, I thought what would you give you own character creations for Christmas?

YA Highway: Road Trip Wednesday #59: Give a Book Character a Christmas Present!

Here's a Canadian Reading Challenge that covers all genres. Some good reading and I love his background!

The Book Mine Set

CONTEST!

The Story Siren: Giveaway: The Ivy

HAPPY HOLIDAYS and 2011!

Three Reads and a Contest-Thursday

Ooo yeah...love seeing all the new books coming out! Fuse # 8 gathers them up and tells us about them. And there’s more to come!

2011 librarian previews « A Fuse #8 Production

And another look forward with Kirkus Reviews :

Children's Books | Kirkus Book Reviews

From the Daily Beast--A look back at Young Adult in 2010

Best Young Adult Novels of 2010 - The Daily Beast

So _many_ books and lots of time. Kind of love my job, ya know?

CONTEST! Win a full manuscript critique! Just retweet her tweet Happy Holidays YA & MG writers. Tweet!

sachaw (sachaw) on Twitter

Three Reads and a Contest-Wednesday

A Mini Writing Conference :

WILD ABOUT WORDS: Mini Writing Conference -- 6-1/2 Lists of Advice from Editors, Agents, Authors and a Really Cool Kid

And more writing tips (and a contest!) from Adventures In Children’s Publishing. Great talk on adding more depth to your writing :

It's All in the Details: Writing with RENNS

Wednesday has become all about the writing. The final read is all about finding your voice. This one hit the mark for me.

Shannon Whitney Messenger: Author Voice--Shannon Style

CONTEST! (Make that CONTESTS!

First Page and GIVEAWAY: Bamboo People « First Page Panda

First Page and GIVEAWAY: Elliot and the Goblin War « First Page Panda

Three Reads and a Contest-Tuesday

Some more good, quick advice for your Writer Sock :

The Bookshelf Muse: Stocking Stuffers for Writers: Description

Must catch up on my reading of these. Plus a good point on the gender divide in fiction for kids :

Mouse-traps and the Moon: December 15th: Canadian History

This totally makes sense :

Book Publishers Expect E-Readers to Create a Christmas Spree - NYTimes.com

Plus, I think it will be interesting to see what happens with book sales on that day, I’m sure they will be “up there.” I wonder if there will be some good sales.

CONTEST!

Chatting with Cynthia Leitich Smith | The Spectacle

Three Reads and a Contest-Monday

It’s all about Monday today...literally!

Mundie Moms: Our Favorite 2010 Reads- Our Top 10 Reads From 2010

Mundie Kids

My library boss and I are going to attend North American Publishing Event - Conference - Authors - BEA - BookExpo America one day. Appreciated this post from Kristi at STORY SIREN. Just gives a great sense of what to expect.

The Story Siren: BEA: Q & A

This hit the mark for me, how writing and life interact :

Jennifer R. Hubbard: Writing and life

CONTEST!

The Butler Gets a Break (A Bellweather Tale): Giveaway and Interview! | From the Mixed-Up Files...





P.S

I think this needs to be on my Santa list. Hmmm, my husband? He is a master carpenter. Oh yeah baby.

WORD for Teens: Feature Friday: Bookcases (20)

Three (Four) Reads and CONTESTS-Sunday

Another great list, read some, missed some!

Kidlit.com · Holiday Gift Guide 2010


Too fun (if there even is such a thing as too fun!)

A Holiday Mad Lib | Class of 2K11

Love Query Tracker’s Round Ups.

QueryTracker.net: Publishing Pulse: 12/17/2010

Just have to add in one more-this happened all last week, worth re-reading, checking out links to bloggers and writers who participated. What an amazing community of passionate, readers, writers, reviewers. Love. it.

The Story Siren Appreciation Week


CONTESTS!

This times it’s a link to another favourite blog to follow....Adventures in Children's Publishing They have a whole contest section and to that I say...woot!


Best Articles This Week for Writers 12/17/2010

Three Reads and a Contest-Saturday

Some great folktales remembered. All about gift giving.

Snipp Snapp Snute

This is a gooder. I have a few adult patrons who read YA-and it’s a good list for those who think they might not like it!

LJ Best YA Lit for Adults 2010, Pt. 1

Taking a field trip with YA Highway is fun! Grab the car munchies and off we go......

YA Highway: Field Trip Friday: December 17

CONTEST-the wrap up to the STORY SIREN APPRECIATION WEEK. It ROCKED let me tell you.

The Story Siren Appreciation Week: Firelight Giveaway + A Few Words to All the Authors!

Three Reads and a Contest-Friday

On some of my characters I could answer the question Elle poses about Felt Need, on others not so much (going to dig deep on those guys-well, except for the three pigs, I know what their felt need is ) :

Elle Strauss: Wednesday How To Write: Felt Need

Lots of good stuff here :

Archetype Writing Blog

And yes...my to read list grows. Here is Horn Books best of 2010 :

Notes from the Horn Book | December, 2010

CONTEST!

The Allure of Books: Holiday Giveaway!