An Author/ Illustrator blog hop with give away.

Hi Friends!

This is not a normal post but a blog hop and giveaway. The giveaway is my invention as giving more fun to this blog hop. 

I was tagged by my true friend and author, Vivian Kirkfield, who had alerted me on Facebook about how this might happen. http://viviankirkfield.com/2013/10/26/hip-hop-hooray-an-authorillustrator-blog-hop/

The way this works is for me to answer the following Three Questions then pass on three other author / illustrators. The questions are easy and two authors were from my publishing house eTreasurespublishing.com and the other is from my critique group. It was some time before I could get them all to agree that this was not as painful as a root canal and I thank them all for letting me feature them here.

Then I wanted to give away a prize. Anyone who follows me and leaves me a comment will be put in a hat and drawn out sometime next week. To find out who the winner is, come see me on November 26^th 2013. On the Tuesday post. It will be either a copy of  “Annie’s Special Day,” by yours truly or a copy of “Henry on Fire.” By Stuart Stadt. So stay tuned and leave a comment and win.

MY BOOK!! *Yay!*

Stuart Stadt’s book: HENRY ON FIRE

Here are the three questions and my answers.

What are you working on right now?

I guess that means my writing but I am in a dry period not having any ideas fleshed out or working on fleshing ideas. I could say I was in revision for a picture book I had written during the summer and I would not be lying. I could say I am deep in collaboration of the illustrations of my next book coming out this summer, EDMUND PICKLE CHIN, A DONKEY RESCUE STORY. And they look terrific. Suffice it to say I am just recovering from a two week intensive class on scenes and from a sciatica attack That was severe enough to bring me to the ER.

How does it differ from other works in the genre?

Well the illustrations for Edmund are just that. They will be different for me because the only other illustrations I have had anything to do with was for my first book, ANNIE’S SPECIAL DAY.

And the manuscript I am revising is different in that it is a bit of memoir in a picture book. About  a sad time in my life so I had to do a bit of reorganizing to make it more suitable for kids. I’m not going to say more than that because I don’t want to jinx it.

Why do you write what you do?

I write for myself. It sounds selfish I know. But if I write a book I want to read then others will want to read it also. My dream is to make other children want to read. And write. In my talks to kids, I always tell them it takes a lot of rewriting for a book to become a book. And I stress reading importance. I really want kids to love reading and writing and I try to emphasis this. How much fun they can be.

What is the hardest part about writing?

A regular writing schedule. Yes, you heard right. Don’t let Vivian fool you.  I love getting up at four or five to write. But I can’t sustain it. After two or three mornings like this I sleep in till eight thirty or nine and flamosh, there go my best intentions. Another hard thing about writing is thinking and double-crossing my inner critic who says I am a failure at writing (and everything that goes with it.) My inner critic gets so loud I am amazed it doesn’t wake my husband.

So those are my four questions and now for the four author/illustrators to tag.

Cher Green

Pembrooke

Ron Rauss

Sue Walls

Cher Green

 

I met Cher as a fellow author of eTreasurespublishing. She was known with writing books in other genres than children’s so when her children’s book came out, I was pleasantly surprised.

Bio:

Cher Green writes in many genres, spanning from horror to romance. Her work has appeared in various magazines and anthologies. She has also authored two paranormal romance novellas, Escape to Love and Seduced by Darkness, and a children’s book, The Sacrifice. For more information on this author visit: www.chergreen.com

The Sacrifice–Book Cover

Do you see? The children’s book? She does write for children and you can support her with a sale.

Wouldn’t that be nice? http://www.etreasurespublishing.com/categories/Children%27s-Titles/

Jessica Robinson aka Pembroke or J. D. Pooker

I also met Pembroke on eTreasurespublishing and she also was an author with other genres than children’s books especially zombie books.

Here is Pembroke’s bio: Pembroke also writes by her name of J.D. Pooker and I think that is her preferred  name for her children’s books.

J.D. Pooker lives in wonderful Wyoming with her husband and two sons, along with a black lab named Ryder and a sweet kitty named Alia. J.D. likes to spend time with her family and go camping, fishing, and snowmobiling. She writes:

My sons are the inspiration for writing children’s stories. I want to encourage them to be readers and show them how powerful and exciting the imagination can be.  I want them to see that countless worlds exist, and all it takes to get there is a good book.

MR. Chocolate!!

There is a Monster in Mommy’s Tummy

Ron

I met Ron Rauss in my picture book critique group after 2010’s Mid Atlantic SCBWI conference and the opportunity to meet up with people in my area wanting to get critiques on manuscripts. Here he is

 

Bio: Ron Rauss is the winner of the 2010 Cheerios New Author Contest. His début picture book Can I Just Take A Nap? will be released in hardcover June 5, 2012. Ron lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and son.

For more on Ron and Can I Just Take A Nap? visit ronrauss.com or follow Ron on Twitter@rdrauss. Find Ron on Facebook at Can I Just Take A Nap? By Ron Rauss.

Can I Just Take a Nap

Author Sue Walls

I met Sue Walls in my Round Hill Writing Group. She was instrumental in getting “Annie’s Special Day” off to it’s start on the print edition and helped getting on Kindle and Nook. She is a natural children’s author with non fiction works featuring birds and insects. Her bird book is sitting next to my sofa so I can use it to identify some of the birds that come to my feeder this winter.

Here is her bio

Suzanne Walls is a freelance writer who spent the majority of her career helping people understand and effectively use computer technology to make their jobs and their lives easier. Today, Suzanne works with her sons at Walls Lithographs, their family owned printing company. In her spare time, she focuses on writing and pursuing her passion … genealogy.

Suzanne self-published her first technology book, Managing Photographs in the Digital Age, in 2008. As a departure from technology, in 2009, Suzanne published A Soldier’s Request, a middle-grade chapter book involving a girl living in today’s panhandle of West Virginia with a Civil War ghost. In 2011 she joined with her brother, D. W. Maiden, to produce Backyard Birds of the Piedmont incorporating high-quality photographs of wildlife in their natural habitat. A second book in this series, Insects and Spiders, was published in mid-2013 with two more in the works.

Spiders and Insects

So there you have it. My completed blog hop and give away of “Annie’s Special Day” or “Henry on Fire.” I hope to see your comment below to give you a chance for this fun prize. I hope you liked my blog hop with all these talented authors.

I want to apologize for the way the text intertwines with the photos. I don’t like it but can’t seem to fix it either. WordPress has its own way of fixing it and there is nothing I can do. It doesn’t make for easy reading and  I am sorry.

Thanks for reading

XXOO

See you Friday!

© Clara Bowman-Jahn aka Clarike Bowman-Jahn

 

Related articles

• Clarbojahn Presents! An Interview with eTreasurespublishing author Cher Green! (clarbojahn.wordpress.com)
• Missing in Action: Annie’s Special Day and Purple Day. (clarbojahn.wordpress.com)
• Hip Hop Hooray – An Author/Illustrator Blog Hop (viviankirkfield.com)