Half a Century celebration

I'm celebrating half a century, so what better way to celebrate than to do fifty giveaways in 50 days. Crocheted bookworms, ebooks, writing related giveaways, state related giveaways - all between now and the 2nd of August (no giveaways on Sundays or holidays, but may change my mind and do something for the 4th of July just because it ties in with my state series).

First giveaway today will be 10 red, white and blue crocheted bookworm bookmarks to the first 10 correct comments on this blog the answer to this question: Where does Ms. Elysabeth make her home? (hint - answer can be found somewhere here or here).

Happy hunting and when you comment, please leave your email (you can leave it in email addy (at) whatever server (dot) com format if you want to). I'll need to contact you to get mailing address so I can send out your bookworm.

This and That

This week is the start of my 50-day giveaway which will run through August 2. I've got a few postings up starting Tuesday. The giveaways will be from bookworms to crocheted kindle or nook covers, crocheted tablet covers, signed books, ebooks and many other items. So please tell everyone you know to keep checking back every day to see what I'll be giving away in celebration of my half century.

Sales this week have been slow but there have been a couple - 1 copy of "The Proposal" and 1 copy of "The Tulip Kiss", but there haven't been any online sales since the week ending the 12th of May so I'm happy with it.

I received a preview cover for "Butterfly Halves" yesterday and hopefully will be able to release it to the public soon. I can't share the cover yet because there were a couple of problems that I need fixed before accepting it as complete. Heather is doing an awesome job as usual.

I also need to review "Train of Clues" one last time before re-releasing it. I think we caught all the doubled pages/paragraphs this go round and we have made a few changes in the placement of the illustrations and made the book length a bit longer by putting more white space per page - the story is basically unchanged. So be on the look out for that to make its reappearance.

I've got all but one tablet cover completed and I'm not really liking the Old Glory yarn for the cases/covers because the yarn is softer than the Red Heart brand (I've only been able to find the red/white/blue varigated at Hobby Lobby and it's their brand "I Love This Yarn" which seems to be a very soft and not as stiff as the Red Heart brand). Once I finish the tablet cover, I'll post pictures of all the kindle/nook covers and the tablet covers. I hope to find some yarn at the "All About Fabric" plant this week to make more of the cases. I've got all summer to build up my supply until my next big event, Decatur Book Festival, Labor Day weekend. In October I have a librarian's conference and then a local event where I know my afghans will do well. The price of the kindle/nook covers is $8 and the tablet covers $10 (these are a bit bigger and take a little more time). Afghans are $75 in person and $85 shipped which includes shipping and tax.

Chances for the red/white/blue granny square afghan are still available either by purchasing from my website or the JGDS website under the gift tab or by purchasing any print book from me or from amazon.com or other place. If you make a purchase that isn't directly from me, all you need to do is email me (eeldering@gmail.com) with proof of purchase (attached receipt or electronic receipt) so I can send your chance to you. The more you enter, the better your chances. This drawing will be done December 1, so you have six months left to get all your chances in.

Come celebrate my birthday with me starting Tuesday and see you all in the postings

Crocheted bookworms pattern

I posted the pictures of the latest colors on my plurk network which also goes to my FB page and my twitter account. I've had two comments on my FB page requesting the pattern to make these. Although I cannot take credit for this pattern and for the life of me cannot find it online, I'll just give you the instructions that I've memorized (after doing well over 100 or more of these cuties, I definitely have no need to use a pattern). This is a very easy and quick to make up pattern. There are only two stitches used (if you don't count the slip knot to start and the finish off stitch) and can be done in solid colors and varigated yarns. I love doing the varigated colors because it pretty much guarantees that no two worms come out the same.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:
Scrap yarn or if you are making a bunch for gifts - a 5 ounce skein will yield about 15 worms and 7 ounce skein will probably yield about 20 worms.
Hook (sized to your yarn - I use a G hook for mine)
Wiggly eyes

STITCHES USED:
Slip stitch
Chain
Double crochet (DC)

WHAT TO DO:
Chain 20.
2 DC in the 4th chain from hook
3 DC in each chain to the end.
Chain as many as you want the marker part to be (sized to the books you are using them for) and add 15 more chains.
2 DC in the 4th chain from the hook
3 DC in the next 9 chains.
Finish off.

Glue some wiggly eyes on the "head" part which is the bigger of the two twisty parts. Let dry and use to mark your place when reading.

Have fun with them - make them with whatever scrap yarn you have lying around or use varigated yarns to make some fun and unique worms.

E :)

New bookworm colors

As promised, here are the pictures of the new bookworm colors. They will go up on my websites soon but for now, the revealing of "Earthworm", "Cotton Candy" and Easter or spring bookworms:

The bookworms are $1.50 each plus shipping and if you order in bulk (20 or more, the cost is $1.25 each) - I'm trying to build up my cache so will be getting more yarn every trip to town, just to make sure I have a large collection of bookworms for in-person events and to sell on the websites. Thanks - E :)

Heather Paye

In case some of you aren't following my illustrator, Heather Paye, here is her newest posting and it's chock full of some great things going on. She is offering an e-course on creating in-depth characters for the low price of only $5. What's better than that low price is her "free" advantage. If you are one of the first ten persons to register for the course (using her code as specified in her post), you can get in for free. I hope you all take advantage of this and will support my illustrator, such an ambitious young person. - E :)

Happenings for October/November

During the next 4 to 6 weeks, there will be a lot occurring for both the JGDS series (see that blog) as well as for my other stories.

I will be participating in a sort of blog tour several times in October and November, hosting authors from the Honey Bee Authors blog as well as have some postings about my upcoming releases there; Geography Awareness week, the Sugarfoot festival (where I hope to announce that Finally Home is in proof copy order status), the SCISA teachers' conference in Columbia, SC; GIS Day in Charlotte, NC; the Savannah Children's book festival in Savannah, GA; and of course the release of four other short stories that had been previously published as ebooks. This is exciting because it means Heather will have four more covers for my stories in that time and I will be getting my name out there more and more.

I am still participating in the Writers on the Move monthly blog postings and this month's article is on revising/revisions (keeping in theme with my almost completed revisions of Finally Home. Check out that article on Wednesday on the Writers on the Move blog. Hopefully you all will gain some insight into the revision process.

Next month's posting will be tied in to Geography Awareness week which is November 13 through the 19.

Revisions are almost completed on Finally Home and I hope to have to Heather this weekend for formatting for both print and ebook. I hope to at least get the story ebook published by the 21st of October and print published shortly after that (at least proof copy ordered by then so that I can release it right before Halloween, since it is set around that time). I am trying to come up with a contest for the release of Finally Home to tie it in to Halloween, but am at a loss right now. I will continue working on a contest and make that announcement as soon as I can. Please just keep checking back to see what is going on with Finally Home and release contest. Spook you all in the postings - E :)

Banners

Vistaprint is running a freebie ad again (these come in my email about every other day - lol) and I was thinking last night I needed a banner for events now that I have some new/republished stories coming out. This is the design I came up with using their template, but I'm not really sure this is the one I'm going with. I tried keeping it fun and light even though I'm featuring my other stories and not just Finally Home. I'd love to hear from my readers as to what you think of my new banner. I'll be placing the order Friday morning so please comment by Thursday night.

I had originally designed this one but when I went to bed last night, the wheels wouldn't stop turning about adding other stories I'm about to republish so had to come up with the second one. After designing the plain one I'm definitely leaning more towards the dots. Let me know what you think.

(This one is no longer in my portfolio but could easily be added again if you all like this one - but then again, this just has Finally Home and the JGDS series featured on it, so probably not a good idea since I have one specifically for the JGDS series.)

For banners related to the JGDS series, please visit my JGDS blog and vote on your favorite banner. See you all in the postings - E :)

kindlegraph

I mentioned earlier about the kindlegraph and anxiously awaiting the publication of my YA paranormal mystery so I can start doing kindlegraphs. Well, I didn't read the whole way through on the author sign up page - kindlegraphs are not just for ebooks but for all paperback and hardback and ebooks - so I've added my books and now anyone can receive an electronic signature for any title available, just pop over to my author page on the kindlegraph site and request your signature. You can have the kindlegraphs sent to your kindle even though the books are not available as ebooks or your email. They come as a PDF file with a personalized message from me and a signature. So anyone who has purchased a copy of any of my titles from other venues (not direct sales) and would like to have a signature, please request your kindlegraph. Thanks - see you all in the postings - E :)

Finally Home, a YA paranormal mystery

I've not talked much about this story but I think it's time to bring it out of the closet and get it published. This is the story I wrote for NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) in 2008, although I didn't really write it during the month of November (I started late, about the middle of November and wrote through the middle of December, so it was still in that 30-day period that I wrote over 50,000 words on a novel; Finally Home came in at about 56,000 words.). I've already done some behind the scenes things like sending it out to several readers to get some feedback, and supplying Heather with info for cover and layout (although the ms is not in final draft yet). I also sent a copy of the document to my kindle to make notes and do some basic editing as well. So far I've received one person's comments back. Jess, who helps me sometimes during the summer with events, is reading but with her starting school this coming week, I'm afraid she won't have time to finish editing it. She did verbally give me some feedback this weekend, so I hope to at least get a partial back from her so that I can use the info to edit the story. Heather is working on a cover for Finally Home as we speak, but she too will be starting college soon and so I know her time will be limited as far as being able to work on my stories and all. I'm anxiously awaiting the cover so I can share with all of you. For more info on other stories previously published or in the works, please visit my website. I will be self-publishing and the book will be available in print via amazon, createspace and directly from me, as well as an ebook through smashwords, Kindle and Nook. I'm looking for a publication date of about the middle of October so that I will have copies on hand for events in November, namely the Savannah Children's book festival.

Stay tuned for some upcoming contests and giveaways with the release of Finally Home.

too amazing for words

Flottille (detail) from Etienne Cliquet on Vimeo.

This is some special paper or something but it's pretty cool because if you watch the shadows as it's unfolding, you will see scenes or more detail on some of them - Very interesting - I'm amazed - lol. (Okay I had a few words to say about it - lol)

Crocheting instead of Writing

I had purchased these skeins of red, white and blue yarn some time ago along with some silver coated, and other color coated paper clips (I think the box of 150 large clips was $2, had reddish, blue, silver, green and purple in the box), thinking I was going to make wacky bookmarks with the paper clips and yarn to either sell or give away at events. I made four of the bookmarks, putting the eyes on only one, and decided to abandon that project.



So I've been trying to come up with something to do with the red, white and blue yarn. I decided last week I'd make an afghan to put in a drawing and by the end of this year, from all the entries from every event through November, I would give the afghan away. I'm using a "mile-a-minute" pattern for the afghan and to date, have not been able to find anything remotely close to what I'm using. I believe my grandmother, my dad's mom, taught me this pattern when I was about 10 or 12. My mother knows how to do it as well, but her stuff doesn't always turn out looking all that good.

I did a search today for some mile-a-minute patterns and found one website that has a few patterns on it and posted a comment on one of posting about the different patterns she has used with the pattern on it. I did say I would post a picture of a partial strip so that one could understand the counting of the "circles".

The pattern is super quick to work - the hardest/longest part is sewing the strips together but other than that, it's a quick and easy pattern to do.

Here is the pattern:

(starts out like a granny square pattern but then ends up like half circles joined up the strip).

MATERIALS NEEDED:
4 ply worsted yarn (any color or even can use varigated yarn - whatever you like - can be one color or several= mine will be three - Red, white and blue)
Size G/6 hook
Plastic needlepoint needle to sew strips together

Gauge 4 circles from bottom tip to center is about 6 inches

PATTERN:
Stitches used: ch = chain stitch; DC = double crochet; slst = slip stitch

Ch 4, slst together, ch 3, 3 DC in center of joined circle; ch 3; 3 DC in center of joined circle; ch 3; 3 DC in center of joined circle; ch 3. Turn

3 DC in ch space; ch 3; 3 DC in chain space; ch 3. Turn. - this basically completes your first "circle" as 2 half circles.

Repeat for desired length. The length I decided on for this afghan is 30 circles (60 half circles). Here is the picture of how to count the circles so you know how long you want it. I don't have a gauge on how long this is but for a lap throw, 30 circles is about 45 inches long.

I'll post later on connecting the strips (possibly in a video so that you can see how it all comes together - E :)

HOW TO COUNT YOUR CIRCLES:




As you can see where I have marked my numbers - at the chain space on the sides - this is how you count - hope you all enjoy - E :)

The Almost Ides of March Educational Buzz

It's almost the Ides of March (okay it's only the beginning of the month) but let's see what's buzzing around so far:



MacKenna Stevens presents Our Kids, Our Future: Top 50 NonProfit blogs that Benefit Children posted at Masters in Social Work

Pat presents Children with Autism in the Classroom posted at Successful Teaching.

Marino Dixon presents The History of Online Education in America: The Ultimate Web Guide posted at Sir Learnalot's Knowledge Blog.

Sage presents The Next Big Thing in Digital Education posted at Free the Sage.

Susan Riley presents Why I Can?t Keep Up ? And My Students Can posted at Education Closet.

dragana presents Pictures with straws posted at Every Child is an Artist.

Denise presents Math Teachers at Play #35 posted at Let's Play Math!.

London Jenks presents The Search for Student Feedback in a Paperless Classroom posted at digitalteach.

Liam Goldrick presents The Tide Will Rise posted at The Education Optimists.

Mathew Needleman presents Close the Computer Lab posted at Creating Lifelong Learners.



The next Education Buzz will be back at Carol's blog on March 16. To submit an article for the education buzz carnival, please click here. If you would like to host an edition of the education buzz, please contact Carol at her email - mybellringers@gmail.com. If you find any broken links, please let Carol know also.

Unanswered Questions, part 2 - Saturday Centus

It's Saturday again and we are visiting with Ms. Jenny Matlock for the Saturday Centus meme. The rules are simply: pen a short story, 100 words or less excluding the prompt and post to your blog; link back to Ms. Jenny's blog for the Saturday Centus and post your blog posting's link on the McLinky portion of her blog. Don't forget to visit the others who have posted and leave comments. Oh yeah, keep it PG or lower rating, no pictures. Happy writing - E :)


Today I decided to take the prompt, which is provided by Ms. Ames of Girl Raised in the South. I wasn't really sure I was going to participate this week as I have a lot to do on the JGDS series and need to do my taxes and all kinds of other things. After reading the already posted writings, I came up with a continuation of the first part I started last week. This story will fully develop (I hope) and take me in a new direction. For the first part of the story, click here. My total word count for part 1 was 100 (including the prompt of She lifted the letters from the ancient chest). I hope this story develops deeper but only when I can really let the character develop in my mind and the story really get a footing. I know it is a past life story but not sure where it is leading me.


Unanswered Questions, Part 2

The letters had transported Geri to another time. As she peered in the newly acquired chest, it grew bigger by the minute. She rubbed her eyes. She wasn't believing what she saw. The stark emptiness of the chest. No letters filling the chest. But then she remembered, she had to put the letters in before the emptiness would shrink. She started penning the first of many letters that would fill the void. (total word count 72)

Unanswered Questions - Saturday Centus

I found Jenny Matlock's blog from another blogger who commented on a teacher's blog I'm following and Jenny is doing a weekly writing prompt - called Saturday Centus - the object is to write 100 words, excluding the prompt, of a story, poem, or whatever inspires you. Link back to Jenny's blog and post your story on her Mr. Linky area so that visitors can read all the stories, and then post your story.

I wasn't going to participate because I was having so much fun reading the other people's postings but this just came to me and something said this was the one, so I am sharing this and this may turn into a longer story - something about past lives so maybe in a year or two, you may see this story published or heading for publication. I'm not too big on the title right now as it is really just a thought of a story that may develop later. If you all have any ideas for a title, please feel free to post them here. - see you in the postings - E :)




Unanswered Questions

Geri loved auctions. She never knew what the find of the day was going to be. She enjoyed delving into the past lives of people she could only imagine who had long since passed this way. She had many questions about her past and kept hoping that one day she would find the answers. Today's auction brought many treasures including the chest that seemed older than anything she had ever seen before. She lifted the stack of letters from the ancient chest and started reading. The words came so easily putting her in another world with many more unanswered questions. (total word count, including the prompt 100 words)

Book Tours continue

Tomorrow, I'll be posting a review for Cheryl Malandrinos' book, Little Shepherd, as part of her virtual book tour. Don't forget about her giveaways as outlined here.







Remember to check out the VBT Writers on the Move ongoing book tour (see schedule on side bar). We have many new authors and some great information to pass on to you all.







Donna McDine is winding her tour down this week for her book The Golden Pathway, so don't forget to catch up with her.









Lori Calabrese's tour starts next week and here is the schedule. Stop the many stops and see what Lori has to offer us. I'll be hosting Lori on the 16th with a review of her book The Bug That Plagued the Entire Third Grade, and Lori will be stopping by throughout the day to answer any questios you may have.

LORI'S BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE:
November 2 - Mayra's Secret Bookcase

November 3 - Ingrid's Notes

November 4 - Penny Lockwood Ehrenkranz's One Writer's Journey

November 5 - Book Dads

November 8 - Brimful Curiosities and The Children's Book Review

November 9 - Mrs. Hill's Book Blog

November 10 - Miss O's Library Land

November 11 - Tara Lazar's Writing for Children (While Raising Them/PiBoIdMo

November 12 - N.A. Sharpe's Realms of Thought

November 15 - Beverly S. McClure's The Story of a Writer

November 16 - Elysabeth's Stories

November 17 - Raising Itty Bitty Bookworms

November 18 - There's a Book

November 19 - The Iron Bodkin

November 30 - Into the Wardrobe





I hope to do a tour the first of the year showcasing the five new books in the state series that will be available. It is a busy time, so just bear with me on working up some new information for a short tour - may only be about a week or so long. See you all in the postings - E :)

"Killer Recipes" now available

Print ISBN 978-1-60318-350-5 Suggested Retail $13.95
Ebook ISBN 978-1-60318-351-2 Suggested Retail $5.99 (my only problem about the cover is that it really should say Susan Whitfield, et al since there are many contributors to the cookbook, but other than that, the cover is killer- pun intended)


My online friend, author of the Logan Hunter mystery series, Susan Whitfield has composed a recipe book. She asked other mystery writers to contribute recipes that would be "killer" for the cookbook. "Killer Recipes" is now available. For more information, you can order directly from the publisher's website, L&L Dreamspell or several other outlets. All proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society. So pop on over and check out some killer recipes to try out on your unsuspecting victims, um, I mean family - lol. I've contributed a recipe for no-bake fudge which I borrowed from the Boy Scouts. This is really a no-bake, no-cook anything fudge recipe and it is to die for - so delicious - hope you all enjoy.

I will try to get copies later (after my events) to have on hand but right now there is too much else going on with the JGDS series to worry about adding another non-series book to my list. See you all in the postings - Mrs. E :)

Fantasy Book Team?

As a member of the SCBWI-Carolinas group, I'm still lurking but occasionally will see a post I respond to. We have some pretty cool authors in the group and hopefully I get to meet a good many of them at the conference in September. I already know Carol so that will be one person I know for sure. On our little yahoo forum yesterday, Beth Revis posted her "fantasy book team" from a cover of fellow author Alan Gratz who just shared his Fantasy Baseball cover with the group (click on Alan's name for his fun elevator pitch/blurb about the book). Click on Beth's name and read her "fantasy book team" posting and post your own fantasy book team either in her comments section or on your own blog and post your link in the comments for everyone to read. She will feature the best one on her blog in the near future. I might think about posting a "fantasy book team" here but at the moment I can't even think of any characters I'd want for heros, heroines, villians, let alone a plot and setting - have fun with it - see you all in the postings - E :)

"Zombies Amuck" second place

I posted previously about all the winnings and good things going on. This evening I had to pick up son from girlfriend's house and then bring him to the house to pick up a few things so I could turn around and take him to his friend's house to spend the night. On the way home, I stopped at the post office since I've not checked it in a couple of days. It was full of fun envelopes and not so fun ones (those are the pesky bills). One of the fun ones was my second place story, "Zombies Amuck," with the judge's comments and my check for winning ($20 for second place; first place person received $30). It's fun trying to decipher the comments made but for the most part they pertained to expanding more, describing more, give more detail, et cetera.

Two of my favorite comments were here: (this is right after George, the main character tries to keep Amy and William, his two best friends, away from the family plot so they don't discover he's a zombie)

"Well, I've seen plenty of graves and there's nothing special about that little plot back there. Figured we should just move on and go find some more interesting ones."

Amy finally caught up to us, her face ashen like she had seen a ghost, or a zombie. (Judge's comment - Good image)

He did say a little further on that I had use of dialog (whew - because that's what I use most in my stories - lol).

And his final comment: Very interesting story. You develop interesting characters and an element of mystery & surprise in the story. I enjoyed it!


I think if we had a another thousand words I could have developed and expanded the areas that he felt needed more description. As is, the story limit was 2000 words and I came in at 1793 words (so guess I did have a bit more to play with but I don't like really cutting right up the max limit). So now I have a certificate and a story with comments for my entry and who knows, next year I may do it again.

I like getting packages like this in the mail - see you all in the postings - E :)

Support your local library update #5

Finihsed Death at Devil's Bridge by Cynthia DeFelice, I think Sunday night. Returned those four libary books and checked out The Day the Music Died A Mystery by Ed Gorman. Started reading it last night but the writing seems very passive. (Yes my publisher will get me on that for my passive writing - lol). Of course the book was published in 1999 and a lot has changed in those 11 years. Maybe the further I read, the more I can connect with the characters and get into the mystery (we have a dead body, an apparent admission to killing her and a suicide so far - these incidents coincide to the timing of the news that Buddy Holly and Richie Valenz were killed in a plane crash but are totally unrelated incidents).

I hope the 6th graders are keeping up with their reading info and logging in books so they can get their prizes. More updates later - E :)

Support your local library update #4

First some sad news - J. D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye passed away today. Apparently his death has made all the headlines and there is speculation as to whether or not a vault with unpublished manuscripts will be found (he liked his privacy and felt that publishing was an invasion of his privacy per a quote by him (can find the full quote on Carol Baldwin's blog). Thanks for passing this on Carol.

Now for the library update. I finished Princess, for a Week Wednesday night and am still deciding if it is a recommended read. I think for the grade level it is targeted to it would be a recommended read; of course reading it as an adult, I felt that it was a bit unbelievable in parts. It's hard to read children's books with the same mindset that they would read because I've been through my childhood and the books I vaguely remember reading at this age group (the review says it is geared for 3rd through 5th grade, but I'd read it more like it was geared towards 1st and 2nd graders. The writing seemed simplistic and like an early reader, learning to read type book) were nothing like this (of course I was that young about 40 years ago).

The book was enjoyable but just a little basic for me. I guess it's time to start reading some more adult books to shake my mind up a bit - lol. Started Death at Devil's Bridge and apparently there is a book prior to this but I couldn't find it in the library system or didn't look to see that there was one before. I don't think I'll really have trouble catching up with the characters though (so far not). Will keep you all posted - E :)