Friday

FOOTLOOSE

Has anyone else seen the new Footloose movie? I wanted to wait until it had been out a few weeks so it would be less crowded, but of course I couldn’t take it and went last weekend. The theater wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be so that was fine. And the movie? I enjoyed it. But there was not near the amount of dancing that was in the first version. I really expected them to really focus on Julianne Hough’s dancing skills but they really didn’t. She did a great job of acting though, in my opinion, especially since she is really known more as a dancer/singer than an actress.
I’m totally jealous of her now though. She really looked as though she were only 17 at the oldest. That just isn’t fair! The movie seemed to focus more on her good looks than her dancing. Same with Kevin Bacons old character. He was very cute and did a good job of acting as well but he just didn’t play as dynamic of a character as Kevin did in the first version.
Does everyone remember in the old version, Kevin Bacon’s character teaching Christopher Penn how to dance? Remember how huge and clunky Christopher Penn’s character was? And how you felt in the scene where he actually dances well at the end. You felt like getting up and cheering for him!! Well in this new version they had the same type of character, and he was cute and comical, but definitely not as fun as in the first Footloose. I was a bit disappointed in that.
I really don’t quite understand why the movie industry INSISTS on remaking all the good movies. Why? The 2nd version is NEVER as good as the first. If you want to remake one of the BAD old movies, then yes… definitely take a stab at it. But why the good ones? There is a reason the movie was so popular so why not just leave it alone. Why not use your imagination for a change and actually come up with a brand spankin’ new idea for a movie!! I’m so tired of everything being a remake.
But then when you really think about it, it’s kind of the same in book writing. Every subject, every moral, every type of character has already been written about at least once. It’s virtually impossible to come up with a totally original idea for a book. Something about every story has already been done. However, in writing, you can definitely change the entire story around and make it unique. Why not do that in movies? Instead, they just remake it almost identical to another version. I don’t understand that.
All in all, I really enjoyed Footloose and it was worth the money for the ticket and of course, popcorn. However, I still don’t get why Hollywood even made the remake. In my opinion, I would have enjoyed them bringing the old one back to the big screen. Why don’t they just do that?

Thursday

GOOD NEWS AND THE ADVANTAGES OF
BOOK GIVEAWAYS

First off I just have to start with my good news! When I got my book The Pea In Peanut Butter published, I was definitely on cloud nine. Absolutely ecstatic and feeling a little bit like I had just entered a new world. Was this really happening to ME!!?? Well it was and it did.
But now I am sitting on cloud 500! Why? Because my 84 (in a couple of wks) year old mother, who has maculate degeneration and can barely see, along with my oh so talented free-lance editor sister, have written a romance/mystery novel together and just signed on the dotted line to be published! Being a published author has been a life-long dream of both my mother and my sister and now after much hard work, they’re on their way to reaching that wonderful feeling of being published. I couldn’t be happier for them both. Of course, of course, of course I will be sharing the ‘where can I buy the book’ news as soon as it comes out. So be on the lookout!
Also, in the last few months, I have received good news of my own which is four publications in magazines. I have listed them all on my ‘other publications’ tab on this blog.
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Lately I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed and for a better term, SICK of giving away free books. I feel like that’s all I’ve done lately. Then I came across this great article written by Laura Backes, Publisher of Children’s Book Insider, The Newsletter for Children’s Writers in their February 2011 issue. I wanted to share this article with all of you for a better understanding as to why authors really do need to giveaway as many free books as it takes. It kind of put a new perspective about that issue in my mind and I hope it does you as well.
Also, if you aren’t a member of the CBI Clubhouse www.CBIClubhouse.com or their blog www.Write4Kids.com/blog you may want to think about it. They are both filled with lots of useful tips and even have writing exercises you can practice on.
Below is the article:
Are you one of those people who exercises iron-willed self-control passing the Cinnabon counter at the mall or airport? Maybe you're immune to the scent of warm cinnamon and brown sugar pumped into the air. Perhaps you've trained yourself to look away when confronted with a gooey, buttery roll drizzled with frosting. You're confident that you can walk briskly by, without a chance of caving in.
But what if they're giving away free samples?

A free sample changes the picture entirely. One little bite, what can it hurt? But once you've tried that tasty morsel, you'll know forever after what you've been missing. And it will be much, much harder to walk by the next time you're at the mall.

Businesses of all kinds have long known the wisdom of the free sample. Customers can't yearn for something they've never had, right? So why have writers always been coached to carefully guard their work and never, ever give anything away for free?

I'm not advocating giving away everything. Of course you want to make money at your writing, maybe even make a career out of it. But if you're an unknown author, what makes you think people are going to walk into a bookstore, pluck your book at random off the shelf, and plunk down $15 or $20? Chances are, your future fans are first going to want a free taste.


Story #2 published for the week!

Well folks, I got another story published today in the KnoWonder ezine, see link below. This was actually the story I came up with for my first class assignment from the Institute of Children's Literature. For those of you who didn't attend that class, I had to look at a picture of some Bears in a bathtub and come up with a story. This is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it! And if you do, I would really appreciate you voting for it on the site. I could win some money, woo hoo!! That would be wonderful because as many of you writers know, we don't get paid for most of our magazine stories.

Anyway, thanks for tuning in! I've been so busy lately I haven't been doing a very good job of updating my blog so I'll try to be better soon!

Here is the link to my story Magic Wrinkles. http://www.knowonder.com/2011/10/13/magic-wrinkles/

Monday

MY LATEST PUBLICATION

Check out Raphaels Village for my latest children's ezine publication The Not So Ladylike Lady Bug. It was a really fun story to write. Hope you all like it!
http://www.raphaelsvillage.com/article.php?story=20110825063038901