Kid Book Tuesday on Wednesday

I didn't get to post yesterday because we were playing at Lagoon all day (more on that in a later post).  So I'm putting in a quick post for yesterday and then I'll do a longer one later for Writerly Wednesday.

This is my youngest son using his fingers as a book mark.  He's also asleep.  The book is the first of the Warriors series. (Into the Wild)  It's a bit above his reading level but he's determined to read it.  My two older kids have read the series and loved it.  My youngest hates being left out.  The books are about cats who live in Warrior clans. 

Monday Mania What I read over the weekend

Divergent by Veronica Roth
Yay! I found a book that didn't bore me to tears.  In fact this book was really good. I loved the main character.  She was tiny but strong and brave.  She also wasn't perfect, which makes her the perfect character in a book.  Divergent is a dystopian novel that takes place in a future Chicago.  There are signs of a huge war around.  Roth describes burnt out buildings and crumbling roads.  Society has been split into factions.  There's Amity - the hard workers/farmers, Candor - the honest, Eurdite - intellegence, Dauntless - the brave, and Abnegation - the selfless.  Beatrice is from Abnegation.  She isn't allowed to think of herself, talk at dinner, or even look in a mirror.  She wants out.  I'd want out too.  Roth does a great job of showing how positive aspects can become negative.  I am looking forward to the next book.

****Spoiler Alert**** Things that I think we'll see in the next book
I'll try to keep out details on the next part but I'd recommend not reading until after you've read the book.
1- The dried up rivers.  Roth touched on food issues.  I'm guessing their will be more on the war that brought them to this point and what their future will look like.
2- The lock on the city gate
3- Kissing (duh)
4-Caleb.  We saw some of him in the first book, but not a lot.  I think he'll play a larger role in the next book.
5- The Dauntless buddies.  Christina - and the death of Will will be adressed. Uriah and Zeke.  I'm hoping that Edward will return with an eyepatch and beat the crap out of Peter.
6-The bad guys. Peter, Marcus, Eric, Janean, Molly...so many villains.
7-We'll see how the other factions have turned positive into negative.  They were headed to Amity - which make me think of Jaws.  Just what is hiding in those fields of tomatoes?

Random Thought Thursday:Go Dog Go

This has nothing to do with the classic book, Go Dog Go.  Don't get me wrong.  We quote from that book all the time. We love it.  My kids love to put random things on their heads and ask if I like their hat.  And thanks to Go Dog Go, I can honestly answer. No. I do not like that hat. But I digress.

A few nights ago we were all tucked in bed, turned the lights out, and were ready for a good nights rest.  Then we heard someone yelling.

"Is that a domestic dispute?" My husband asked.

"Sounds like it," I said.

"Which house is it?"

"I don't know." This is the part where I pulled the pillow over my head and wished we had the nice field of weeds behind our house again.  Sure it was home to the largest gopher population in the state and one or two gophers might have been killed in the process of building the new homes and the gophers eat all my plants - but at least they did it quietly. (I think in run-on sentences when I'm sleepy.)

My husband gets out of bed and puts one contact in his eye, turns off the security alarm and opens the sliding glass door a crack.  He stood in the shadowy silence of our darkened home, listening.  He came back laughing.

"It's some guy telling his dog to poop."

"What?"

"The guy is out there yelling at his dog to poop.  He told the dog that it couldn't crap in his house and his wife was standing in the doorway giving pointers."

I couldn't hear the yelling anymore.  "It must be done."

"Can you imagine if someone tried to call the police?" He went in the bathroom and removed his contact before coming back to bed. (He forgot to turn the security alarm back on.)

"My neighbor is yelling at his dog to poop and it's really loud." Then so as to no confuse the dispatcher.  "The yelling, not the poop."

We are giggling so hard my husband can't speak.

"The whole thing stinks," I add.

So there you have it.  Go Dog Go.  We haven't heard the yelling for a few nights so I guess it did come out all right in the end.

Writerly Wednesday: The Pitch

I've been reading Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies.  I must be a dummy because I am learning so much.  A lot is review, but there is so much to learn. I've been planning to submit my completed Novel - So You Don't Want to be an Evil Sorceress to agents.  But now I think I'll have to go over the entire manuscript again.  Sigh.  Anyway, I have a couple pitches ready and I think once I've gone over the MS again, I'll be ready to lob them at the agent world.

Pitch#1 Mysty Perilous learns she is an evil sorceress after she turns the guy of her dreams into a frog - but she can't kiss away his amphibious problem because happily ever after is not for the villain.

Pitch#2 When Mysty Perilous accidently turns the guy of her daydreams into a frog, she has to find someone else to kiss away his amphibious problem because happily ever after is not for evil sorceresses.

I'm not sure which one I like better but I'm sure it'll change.  I have plenty of time since I'm going to edit the entire manuscript again.

Kids Book Tuesday

I have come up with a plan for my blog! I will write on a certain subject Monday - Thursday.  So today is Kid Book Tuesday where I discuss the books my children are reading.  I kinda started this back when I guest blogged on my sister's short-lived blog (http://shermereem94.blogspot.com/) so I'm going to cheat this week and copy one of my favorites here. This was from two years ago and Fly Guy is still loved in my house.

Kids are so excited when they first learn to read. I love watching that light bulb go off in their eyes when they figure out that all this alphabet stuff you've been shoving in their face has a purpose. I love sharing in their pride as they polish off those photocopied books they bring home from school with fascinating titles like "Nan and the Pan" and "Lill on the Hill". Then along came my youngest child. He hasn't started kindergarten yet so I got the books from the library.

"Those are boring," he said laying sideways on the chair in typical 5-year-old style.

"It could be fun," I said. "Look! This is Nan. She has a pan."

He spins around on the chair. "It's not funny. I won't read it."

So I tried picture books.

"That's too hard," he said. "I don't know all the words."

"It would be easier if you weren't turning somersaults and looked at the book."

"You read it to me."

I love reading to him so I read the book. "Do you want to read it now?"

"No. You can read it."

Sometimes he'd agree to read one page if I read one page but he won't read anything that doesn't fit his standards. It has to be funny. Easy readers aren't really known for their humor.

So on one of our rushed trips to the library I was zipping past the JE shelf when something sparkling caught my eye. It was a shining book. I skidded to a stop and snatched the book off the shelf. It was called "Hi Fly Guy". I thought the title was cute so I shoved it in the library bag, pulled some other random titles off the shelf and continued on my way. We could still enjoy looking at the cover if it wasn't funny.

Well, Fly Guy was funny. I read it to him. He read it to me. Then he took it with him to bed. We brought it with us everywhere we went. We read it at the school while we waited for his sister to come out of a practice.

"We're reading Fly Guy," he informed the principal.

She smiled (my kids have an awesome principal.) and said, "Wow, you're really lucky."

"Yep," he agreed. Then he buried his nose in the book and continued to read.

"I have Fly Guy," he informed the office staff.

"I've never heard of Fly Guy," the secretary said.

He was happy to take it out of his backpack to show her. He then gave her his review. "It's funny."

Then we had to return it to the library. Bye bye Fly Guy. It was a sad day. So Santa got it for him along with "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed Fly Guy" and "I Spy Fly Guy". Then for Valentines day he got "Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl". There are others too. You can find them at your library. I highly recommend them for preschoolers, kindergartners, first graders, and children who are struggling to read.

Come back tomorrow for Writerly Wednesday.

This is me entering another contest

LDSWriterMom is becoming one of my new favorite blogs. She has First Page friday where a real editor critiques the first page of someones work.  I've enjoyed reading through and seeing how my opinion matches matches Ms. Shreditor.  I've submitted a page but alas it hasn't been done yet. (Patience)

Anyway, she has a new contest where if I blog about her new deal (which is awesome) I can be entered for a chance to get an entire chapter critiqued.  (Which is even more awesome.)

New novel Ribbon of Darkness is a gripping romantic suspense that will keep you turning pages all night long. Kindle edition on sale this week for $8.88 Read more at http://bit.ly/nQUGIU

book slump

Lately I've been in a book slump. I can't find a book I'm excited about. Have I read so many books that they all sound the same? I tried to start a book the other day. The beginning was all telling. There wasn't any action. Ugh. And this is a writer I've enjoyed in the past. I picked up another book. Kid being chased by a bully. Ugh again. I've read that so many times. When we went to the library I told the kids it was their turn to pick out a book for me since I've picked out so many for them. Daughter grabbed the thickest book she could find. I told her to go thinner. I don't have that kind of time. Oldest Son found a book that looked interesting but was a companion book to a book that wasn't at the library. Youngest Son found a book I'd already read. Finally Daughter came up with one that looked feasable. I read about half of it on Sunday. I realized on Monday I'd forgotten I was reading a book. This isn't like me. I usually devour books. The good news is that there are some books on hold for me at the library and Emma Clayton's new book The Whisper is coming out. I've been waiting for a long time for The Whisper. Maybe that's what I need to get over this slump.