Broken Hearts Need Healing

Sometimes we just can not find the words to tell someone how we care.  Or to give them solace from the harm that is there.  A child's mind can understand but still questions what he hears.  So with this we can try and help begin the repair.

Daddy's Not Coming Home by Jeremy LeBon and Illustrated by Morgan Griffin is a book that we wish was not needed.  Sadly it is.  With kindness, gentle words and soft paintings a story unfolds to explain what has been told.  Though this is not a story for many, it is a story that many need to hear.  And with great forethought it may be just what starts the conversation that helps.

This is published by Diamond DMT Publishing.  They are an independently owned, Christian-based Publishing Company whose main purpose is to seek out exceptional talent in the Arts, especially in writing, music, art and photography. And their goal is to assist worthy individuals with a chance to be published, when they may not otherwise have the opportunity to share their works with the world.   I wish to thank them for this book to review.  Now that I am done with it I want to send it to TAPS so that it may be able to help families there.

I felt that this video was a great attribution to this book.  May you be blessed today and remember to always reach out and try to help those around you every day.  You may never know that your the kindness they just needed in that moment.

 

Up Close and Personal with Nicole

I do quite a few book reviews here.  And often I have them from Tribute Books.  Nicole Langan is the founder/owner/operator there.  As a matter of fact she is the go to everything needs to be done and keep it all up and running gal.  You know the head honcho and gofer all in one.  I have loved working with her especially this last year.  She makes it so easy to have all the information I need to tell you about the book I am reading, information sheets, photos, dead lines...the works.  And Nicole also is supportive and shares a great sense of humor too.  So when I heard she was working on a new area for Tribute Books, I was happy to find out more.  Lucky me, I was able to get in a few questions with Nicole and can now share with you a lil about Nicole, Tribute Books and how they are moving into the young adult ebook area.

1. Since you are looking to work with established authors in the young adult ebook area, how would a new author go about catching your attention?

The first thing that I look for is if they have a well-followed, frequently updated blog, Facebook page and Twitter account. The second factor concerns the quality of the manuscript. Has it been professionally edited? Is it well-written? Is it free of typos and grammatical errors? Is the story engaging? Is it fast moving? Are the characters realistic and three-dimensional? 

2. I see that you and hoping to have 12 new authors this year (a new one each month).  Are  you looking to have a different genre of young adult book each month?  If so what is your favorite areas to promote.  What is most successful?

I am pretty wide open when it comes to the specific categories of the young adult genre. But I do have a slight preference for paranormal romances due to their popularity. Personally, I love historical fiction as a break from the modern high school narrative. 

3. It has been wonderful to meet some amazing writers while doing blog reviews for Tribute Books.  How has it changed the direction of Tribute Books in the last few years to have so many new authors writing about local history and events?

Since 2004, we have worked with historians in publishing non-fiction works about the Scranton, Pennsylvania area where we are based. Unfortunately, the market for these titles is limited. In order to compete in the marketplace, the transition needed to be made in order to broaden our overall readership. 

4. Nicole, you and your mother work side by side daily running Tribute Books.  What helped you start this business together?

My mom, Mary Ann, is retired. She is an avid book reader so she decided to start her blog, Tribute Books Mama (http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com) about a year ago to help spread the word about the titles we have for sale and the publishing opportunities we have to offer. 

5. And when shall we see a book from your own writings?  (I have often heard that there was a book in every publisher too!)

I hope someday before I die that I will find the courage to write a book, and that when it comes time I will have something meaningful to say. The idea is always in the back of my mind, but for the time being I thoroughly enjoy working with authors and providing them with the support and encouragement they need to succeed. 

I encourage young adult writers to visit (http://www.tribute-books.com/publish.html) for more information about our submission process. We also offer blog tours for those wishing to promote their published work (http://www.tribute-books.com/blog_tours.html).

We try to keep an active online presence with our web site (http://www.tribute-books.com/), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Archbald-PA/Tribute-Books/171628704176), Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/TributeBooks)  and blog (http://tributebooks.blogspot.com/). In 2012, we'd love to have anyone who loves young adult literature to join us for the ride. 

Related articles

• An Interview with Nicole Langan, Founder of Tribute Books (susanheim.blogspot.com)

College Girl Snatches Gift

College Girl stealing mom's blog again to tell y'all about a book that, in exchange for this review, became my early birthday present. : ) As soon as I heard about it, I knew this was the book for me. Of course, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. I haven't even told you the title yet, have I? Whoops. Let me try this again. ;)

How to Write and Publish a Successful Children's Book: Everything You Needed to Know Explained Simply - sure, the title's a little long, but Cynthia Reeser has done most of the heavy lifting for any authors hoping to break into the young writer's market. As promised in the forward written by Lisa J. Michaels, an author and illustrator in her own right, ""Reeser has done your homework for you...[this] book gives back years that you otherwise would've spent researching, questioning, and floundering through the process..." Beginning with a history of children's books in the forward, the book delivers what it promises.

Reeser's book goes through the entire process, beginning with an explanation of the children's book market. From picture books to educational texts to juvenile fiction, it all has its own little subdivision, each with its own rules and dos and don'ts. Chapter 2,
which focuses on writing for children, walks the prospective author through the process of developing an idea. One recommended and easy exercise is to return to your own childhood and examine your own memories to help with story development or ideas. In addition to discussing the needs of a younger audience, sources are scattered throughout the book. From publishing houses to resource mailing lists to personal experiences re-told by other children's authors, the various sources give multiple starting points. Two appendices that include sample manuscripts, cover letters, and press releases as well as lists of organizations for writers and illustrators give this book
even more resources to assist the hopeful or already published author
at every stage of the game. There is even a chapter dedicated to e-publishing and another for self-publishing.

For all the information and spectacular resources in this book, How to Write and Publish a Successful Children's Book is, perhaps, most successful in its simple language and thorough explanations of each aspect of the process, from publishing to agents to authors that are their own illustrators. I didn't grow bored while reading it & loved the ease with which the information flowed, smoothly from one chapter to the next. Another big selling point, for me, was when I opened the front cover and saw the small paragraph dedicated to Bear, the rescue dog owned by a family at the publishing company. Having recently lost Bear, his owners decided that a portion of the profits from Reeser's book would go towards the Humane Society of the United States. As an animal lover myself, one who has owned a few rescue pets through the years, I loved seeing the dedication in the front of this book. It was the icing on the cake!

We wish to thank Cynthia Reeser, Atlantic Publishing and Meredith Wynn for sending this book on to us. As College Girl stated, this became her early birthday present. And was quite well received.

Traveling in Life

What happened in your life yesterday? The day before? How about last week? Well, since we blog I bet we have a decent idea of the highlights. Now tell me about last year? How about 10 years ago? When you was seven? Can't be too sure can we. Our lives are made up of millions of events, billions of little things and an unknown number of who knows what. Right!
Donald Miller wrote a book titled "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years". It is a great lil ride as one man tries to catch up with all those lil memories. Finding out it is not what we remember but what we make of our lives. I had such fun reading this and thought you may want to share in some of this story. Pop over here and you will see the book cover and start reading the story for yourself.
Meanwhile let me fill you in without giving away an ounce of this tale. Here is what another description of "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" says:

Full of beautiful, heart-wrenching, and hilarious stories, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years details one man's opportunity to edit his life as if he were a character in a movie.

Years after writing a best-selling memoir, Donald Miller went into a funk and spent months sleeping in and avoiding his publisher. One story had ended, and Don was unsure how to start another.

But he gets rescued by two movie producers who want to make a movie based on his memoir. When they start fictionalizing Don's life for film--changing a meandering memoir into a structured narrative--the real-life Don starts a journey to edit his actual life into a better story. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years details that journey and challenges readers to reconsider what they strive for in life. It shows how to get a second chance at life the first time around.

Now I could not start to think of how I would actually edit my life. I mean we all take time to look at our lives and see what we have done. Plan on where we wish to be and think of how we are going to get there. But how often do we actually get out there and make those active changes. Okay, I am currently doing that in "reinventing" myself with better habits and weight loss. And it feels great but is lots of active work. Maybe that is what scares us the most. Actively working to change or become more? But we do not have to be scared. As Don reminds us, this is not a journey we do on our own. We have help. God is always with us. Walking in our steps, guiding us when we remember to follow and giving us encouragement. Sometimes we have to stop and plan, but when we do we can always focus on what changes we need and wish to make. And know we will have a great partner in that change.