Virtual Book Tour-Margaret Fieland

This month, our Virtual Book Tour Guest is Margaret Fieland.

Born and raised in New York City, Margaret Fieland has been around art and music all her life. Daughter of a painter, she is the mother of three grown sons and an accomplished flute and piccolo player. She is an avid science fiction fan, and selected Robert A. Heinlein's “Farmer in the Sky” for her tenth birthday, now long past. She lives in the suburbs west of Boston, MA with her partner and seven dogs. Her poems, articles and stories have appeared in journals and anthologies such as Main Channel Voices, Echolocation, and Twisted Tongue. In spite of making her living as a computer software engineer, she turned to one of her sons to format the initial version of her website, a clear illustration of the computer generation gap. You may visit her website at, http://www.margaretfieland.com.

Q: Tell us about what you write:

A: I'm a professional Computer Software engineer – BA in mathematics, MS in computer science, but I've written poetry as far back as I can remember, though not with publication in mind and not with any level of dedication.

Q: What got you writing for publication?

A: What really propelled me into writing for publication was organizing my poetry. I used to keep the poems, when I kept them, in notebooks. They were totally unorganized, and I could never find anything. Then I wrote a poem I wanted to keep, so I got off the stick and put them up, first on my computer, and after that online, originally in Yahoo briefcase, and later in Google Documents.

Q: Why was the organization such a key factor in moving your writing forward?

A: Once I had the poems organized and findable, I could finally submit, and I could look them over and gain perspective on how I was doing. What ended up happening was that I submitted a poem to a contest on a whim and ended up a finalist. This was so encouraging that I started writing more, working more seriously on growing as a writer, joined critique groups, etc.

Q: What are you working on now?
A:Well, there's my chapter book, “The Ugly Little Boy,” that will be published by 4RV publishing in early 2012. I'm working on another novel, a middle grade this time, and of course, poetry.


Q: Almost every writer is inspired by someone else. Does anyone inspire you?
A: Lewis Carroll. My all time favorite book is “Alice in Wonderland,” which I reread every exam time when I was in college, as I made it a habit to avoid the library during exams. I'm also very fond of Carroll's poetry. I've got several stanzas of Jabberwocky and You Are Old, Father William memorized.

Q:How long have you been writing?
A: I've been writing poetry since my teens, but only with publication in mind for the past three or four years. As a story writer I'm pretty much of a novice, as I only started writing stories after I hooked up with Linda Barnett Johnson after the first Muse online writer's conference several years ago and joined her writing forums.

I'm 63 now, so that's a lot of years of writing.

Q: What made you want to start writing?

A: Good question – I started and became addicted. I really love writing -- and I just plain enjoy writing poetry, rhymed and unrhymed. I've developed my own algorithm for generating rhymes, which means that I often don't have to use a rhyming dictionary at all.

Besides, if I don't write it down it stays stuck in my head.

Q: When did you start writing?

A: Like many teens, I started writing (bad) poetry in my teens as an outlet for my teenage angst. Then later on I started writing poetry for the people I was dating, and after that for family birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, -- basically everything.

Q: What's the strangest thing you've ever written? Why?

A: I don't think anything I write is strange {looks innocently up at ceiling}. I have written several surreal poems, and I have one I really like called “Machine A Ecrire” (French for typewriter), unpublished, in the shape of a typewriter. The sentences are “variations” on the stuff they had us all typing when we were in school.

Q: Who proofreads and critiques your work?

I belong to a couple of (online) critique groups and I also exchange manuscripts with other writers. I have a writing buddy with whom I'm exchanging chapters of my current novel-in-progress.

Q: Where do you get your ideas?

A: Darned if I know. Some of the poetry is “inspired,” some is in response to exercises or prompts I dig up, some is from lines that come to me as I'm falling asleep, some from events in my life. Lots of places. One poem I wrote this week was inspired by some words in the comments in the "spam" folder on my website {grin}. I keep paper and pen handy to write down ideas as they strike me.

Q: Where do you write?

A: Wherever I happen to be. I have pads and pens everywhere. I even write in the car. At home, my two favorite spots are the dining room table and my bed.

Thanks for stopping by Margaret and giving us a chance to get to know you.

Compared to a Classic

I’ve been very busy the past few weeks. I’ve been working on some bug related poems for a new project and I’ve been working the bugs out of some press kits I’ve been developing. The program I’m using shrinks the font every time I try to convert the file into a pdf, so I’ve been very buggy too (bad pun-insert groan here). But I digress (I’m good at that).

I really wanted to talk about a new review for The Soggy Town of Hilltop. I’m starting to get some reviews on The Soggy Town of Hilltop and there’s one in particular that I find very intriguing. In the review by The Home School Book Review, my book is reminiscent of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Emperor’s New Clothes. You can read the full review by clicking on the link below.

http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolbookreview/783549/

One thing I love about getting reviews is seeing my work from a fresh point of view. All through the writing and publication phases, I never once thought about either Hans Christian Anderson or The Emperors New Clothes. But I do like the fact that my book can be compared to a classic such as that, and can still stand on it’s own as an original work. Also, I loved Hans Christian Anderson’s books when I was a kid. I never expected my name to be same paragraph as his, so I guess I must be doing something right. Hey, who knows? Maybe one day another author will be told that his/her book is reminiscent of Kevin McNamee’s The Soggy Town of Hilltop … a guy can dream, can’t he?

Virtual Book Tour - Martha Swirzinski

This month for the Virtual Book Tour, I am pleased to be hosting Martha Swirzinski. Martha is here to tell us about her Movement and More Children's Book Series.


Martha, please tell us about your books.


1.) Leap...Laugh...Plop

This book introduces children to locomotor movement skills. It keeps children laughing and learning on each wonderful page.



2.) Guess... Giggle...Wiggle

Guess… Giggle… Wiggle… challenges children to identify the animals based on clues. The book keeps children moving alongside the locomotor skills. As with the first in the series Leap… Laugh… Plop, each page of this second book is filled with wonderful suggestions that incorporate the social, emotional and mental aspects of childhood development.





3.) Kick...Catch...Buzzz

The third book In the series, Kick… Catch… Buzzz introduces children to the manipulative movement skills. Each page offers kids the opportunity to participate in fun movement and lively discussion.






Tell me about the title of the series and what that means to readers?

The title Movement and More suggests that within the pages of our books I offer not just fantastic rhymes and great pictures but moving, interacting, thinking and socializing. Our books engage the whole child, all of the domains of child development.

You mention “our” books. Who is the other author?

I co-wrote these with Dr. Anita Tieman, a psychologist, who has spent many years working with children. She brings her expertise into the social and emotional aspect of these books.

You have three books. Leap…Laugh…Plop, Guess…Giggle…Wiggle and Kick… Catch…Buzzz. Can you tell me a bit about them?

These three books offer the ultimate mind/body connection. When children move both their bodies and minds are strengthened. Using entertaining rhymes and charming pictures, these fun and creative books offer multiple ways for your child to move. They also provide mind stimulating activities on each page. Each book brings the joy of movement together with the joy of reading. The pages of these books are filled with laughter, learning, movement and more.
More specifically: Leap…Laugh…Plop works on all of the locomotor skills
Guess…Giggle…Wiggle… has the children doing creative movement
Kick…Catch…Buzzzz.. addresses the manipulative skills

Will there be any more in the series?

Yes, as a matter of fact we are working on the fourth now, which will be specifically on the non locomotor skills.

How did you come up with this idea for a series of books?

I teach in a preschool and have my Master’s degree in Kinesiology, so I’ve been involved with children and movement for over 15 years now. I wanted to come up with a way that parents, and teachers could incorporate the specific movement skills necessary for motor and brain development in an easy and fun way. Doing an activity isn’t always easy. Sometimes space, equipment or time may not be available. However, reading a book is fun, easy and doesn’t require much planning.

Where can readers find your books?

Our website is http://www.wholechildpublishing.com/


Thanks for stopping by today Martha and letting us know more about you and your books.

Nice Review for The Soggy Town of Hilltop

I received my first review for The Soggy Town of Hilltop from The Children’s and Teens’ Book Connection and it’s a really nice one. I was excited to see what kind of reception this book would get, and I have to say, it’s a great start. An excerpt of the review is below.

The Soggy Town of Hilltop is a funny, rhyming story by Kevin McNamee. Having read McNamee’s The Sister Exchange and If I Could Be Anything, I was eager to read his latest book. The author has a great knack for turning something seemingly ridiculous into an engaging story for youngsters. In The Sister Exchange it was a young girl who wanted to trade her sister in at The Sister Exchange. In this latest book, the rulers of Hilltop are bored and decide to make up a silly new rule for the people to follow.

To see the full review, please click the link below.

http://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/the-soggy-town-of-hilltop-by-kevin%c2%a0mcnamee/

Not bad, huh?

The Soggy Town of Hilltop

Whoo Hoo!!! My first accepted picture book manuscript has finally been released! I have two other picture books that came out before this, namely, If I Could Be Anything and The Sister Exchange. However, this manuscript was the icebreaker that got the ball rolling for my writing career. I’m excited to see its release.

It’s titled The Soggy Town of Hilltop and is illustrated by Eugene Ruble. Eugene is the illustrator of several picture books and was an illustrator for the Voltron cartoon series.

The book info is below. (Woot!)

“You want us to do what?!!!”
This fun, rhyming picture book teaches more than just a new way to drink water.

The High Council of Hilltop wants the people to learn a new way to drink. But when the people find out why, everyone has something new to learn.


This book is available as a print book, a downloadable e-book, and a book on CD from guardianangelpublishing.com.

Books are also available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, or ask your local bookstore.

Autographed copies of this book are available at http://www.kevinmcnamee.com/

:-)

Virtual Book Tour-Author Lea Schizas

For this month's Virtual Book Tour, I am happy to be hosting the talented, and very, very busy Lea Schizas. Lea is the author of Bubba & Giganto: Odds Against Them

Lea Schizas is an award-winning author and editor, a short story competition winner, living in Montreal with her husband Jimmy and five children. She describes herself as “finally woke up after a 23-year self-induced coma taking care of the family, and rediscovered my passion for writing.”

She is the Founder and Editor in Chief of two Writer’s Digest 101 Top Writing Sites since 2004 and recipients of several Preditors and Editors Awards: Apollo’s Lyre, an online writer’s Zine: http://www.apollos-lyre.com/; the online writing critique community The MuseItUp Club, http://museitupclub.tripod.com/;
-Founder of The Muse Online Writers Conference, http://www.freewebs.com/themuseonlinewritersconference/
-Founder of The Muse Marquee, http://themusemarquee.tripod.com/
-Founder of The Muse Book Reviews, http://themusebookreviews.tripod.com/
-Reviewer for the award-winning site AllBooksReviews.com
-Editor for Double Dragon Publishing
-Submissions Editor for Red Rose Publishing.

She is the author of the Young Adult paranormal suspense/thriller “Doorman’s Creek”, co-author and editor of the nonfiction writing reference book “The Muse On Writing” (http://www.freewebs.com/themuseonwriting ) and the fantasy “Aleatory’s Junction” (http://aleatorysjunction.tripod.com/ ), and author of “The Librarian Who Wasn’t”, a short story appearing in the EPPIE award-winning Anthology “Twisted Tails II”, and an article published in the book, “Hollywood Experts” a Silver Foreword award winner.

In 2009, she has been offered three new contracts:

Libby the Odd Squirrel and Robbie and Katie Get A Hairy Scare
both contracted by Guardian Angel Publishing and 4RV Publishing has offered her a contract for I Don’t Want A Haircut

You can read more of Lea’s bio and accomplishments at:
http://leaschizaseditor.com/


Lea, tell us a little bit about Bubba & Giganto.

Bubba hates it when his dad gets a contract for a new project. That means uprooting the family from one city and moving to another. Attending a new school is a major pet peeve of his. His smart alecky nature attracts the bullies in every school he’s attended.

On the first day of school, Bubba bumps into this rather large student. Fearing a confrontation, he wears his tough guy attitude and waits for the punches to begin. Remarkably, the new student apologizes, and Bubba and David (aka Giganto as Bubba eventually nicknames him) become best friends.

Bubba and Giganto try out for the high school soccer team, and that’s when trouble begins. Bubba knew eventually he’d meet the bullies of the school, and he was right.

In the first initial weeks, Bubba learns about a death that occurred the previous year; faces the bullies on several occasions; helps Giganto practice soccer before tryouts; and challenges the bullies to a scrimmage.

Little does Bubba know Giganto holds a secret - one that will place Giganto in a deadly situation.


Readers can find Lea's book at the following:

Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Bubba-Giganto-Odds-Against-Us/dp/0979751365/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219156292&sr=1-1

4RV Publishing
http://4rvpublishingllc.com/Store.html

Barnes & Noble
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Bubba-and-Giganto/Lea-Schizas/e/9780979751363/?itm=1

The Reading Warehouse
http://www.thereadingwarehouse.com/book.php?ISBN=9780979751363



Lea, a few questions if you don't mind. What or whom inspires you to write?

I’ve joked on several interviews that I mistook my umbilical cord as a cool writing implement and that’s how my writing career began. In all honesty, it was my dad’s love for the penned word that set me on my path. As a young girl I remember hearing dad’s speeches at weddings, meetings, get-togethers, and how he captivated the audience with his words.

Along with dad’s talent, it was my collection of comic books that really moved me to write. I loved the cliff-hanging endings, pushing me to buy the next comic book to find out what was going to happen. And that is exactly how I set up each of my chapter endings, thanks to comic books.

Where do you work? What is your ideal writing environment?

I’ve worked wherever I can get peace and quiet, alone time with my laptop. Right now I’m in a corner in my living room. The ideal writing environment would be my own office, where I can close the door to the yapping of my five kids and friends, to have my own shelves in front of me with my stack of writing books instead of having them spread throughout the house. But, this is one lesson writers need to adapt to – writing whenever and wherever you can, regardless of your surroundings. So, I’ve adapted quite nicely.

How many hours do you devote to writing and how long does it take you to write a book?

I am involved with many writing commitments so I work looonnng hours on my laptop. My day usually starts at 6:30am and doesn’t finish until midnight strikes. Now, I do clean, cook, and all the other motherly things so my time isn’t spent leaning over my laptop constantly.

Each day I devote to moving my own writing and editing forward, and then give one or two other writing aspects (updating sites/blogs, preparing zines/newsletters/reviews) my devotion as well. This slows down the time to complete my own work but I can safely say that I can finish three books in a year.

What do you most enjoy about the creative process? Are your characters based on people in your life?

I enjoy the freedom of no fear. What do I mean by that? I don’t fear being locked up in a nuthouse for stepping into my characters shoes while penning their stories. I become a teen with visions of past murders; an alien who finds himself tried for treason; a girl who discovers she is a princess to this whole new world she never knew existed. Writing allows you an escape, along with your reader, to leave your own safe domain and live another person’s life. This exhilaration can’t be felt in another profession as it is felt by those who write.

My characters are not based per say on anyone in my life but each do possess characteristics of family members. By keeping it ‘in the family’ it’s easier for me to flesh out their personalities, reactions and actions, to their fullest potential. And it doesn’t matter if my characters are human or animals; characters need to ‘feel’ real.


Thanks for stopping by Lea. Best of luck with Bubba & Giganto and congratulations on all your publishing successes.

An Eyeball in my Garden-Update

I mentioned in a previous post that I was involved in a poetry anthology being published by Marshall Cavendish titled, An Eyeball in my Garden and other Spine-tingling Poems. This anthology was created by my poetry critique group. The Poet’s Garage. Well, I finally got to see the cover and the interior, and it’s really a fine piece of work. Johan Olander is the illustrator, and the illustrations he came up with are terrific. I’m particularly fond of the illustration he came up with for Winking Wot Warning by Debra Leith. I have two poems in there titled, Our Neighborhood and The Gargoyle. There’s already a link for it on Amazon. It’s officially due out in July, but you can pre-order it at http://www.amazon.com/Eyeball-My-Garden-Other-Spine-tingling/dp/0761456554/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270138057&sr=8-2