Natasha Wing's Blog, page 20

It’s here!!!

New ebook!

I’m so excited! One of my out-of-print books is now available as an ebook. It’s the story about a boy who sends his mom’s grocery list to Santa instead of his Christmas list. When a snowstorm keeps mom from getting to the store to buy food for Thanksgiving dinner, Santa comes to the rescue!

It’s only $3.99 and you can purchase and download it here.

 

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: Merry Thanksgiving, Santa, snowstorm, Thanksgiving

It’s coming!

Celebrate Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is next week! And you know what that means – the night before Thanksgiving is next week, too. November 21st to be exact.

Time to dig out your copy of The Night Before Thanksgiving and read it to your children. What? You don’t have a copy? You silly turkey!

Thanks to speedy delivery service you can have yours in time for the holiday. Just order here.

Filed under: Natasha Wing, Tamie Lyon, Thanksgiving Tagged: Tamie Lyon

Get a Signed Book for Donating

A sample of my rainproof bike seat covers.

I have two businesses – one, writing children’s books and the other making whimsical bike seat covers. bumcicles™ keeps me busy between book projects – and it’s a way to express an artistic side not using words.

So here’s the thing. I signed up for Community Funded to raise capital to expand my bike seat cover line into rainproof covers. I am also looking to assemble a table and tent so I can sell my bumcicles™ at events and promote biking and Fort Collins as a biking city.

If you are so inclined to help an entrepreneur, the way the program works is you’ll get a gift back for donating. Two of my gift backs are signed books. So check it out. I only have until November 13th.

FUND MY PROJECT

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: bikes, bumcicles, Community Funded

Good-bye Blog

As I sit at my desk, the Rocky Mountain foothills burn to the west of me, the worst fire in Colorado history. My cousin lost his property, moose are showing up in Fort Collins, and more people are being evacuated. Knowing someone who has lost almost everything sure makes one rethink life a bit.

After the death of my unconditional love, my cat Jemima, followed six days later by the fire, I have no inclination to write. I sit at my laptop, stare at the screen, and feel the energy drain from my body. That’s not a good state to be in when writing children’s books. So I am taking time off from writing. I’ve been at it for 20 years, and lately it has been an energy drag. It’s not so much the writing – it’s everything else that is piled on top of it. The marketing. Setting up book signings and only two people show up. The layers of social media that require time away from writing in the name of building fans. The new social media that comes along just when you thought having 50 friends on Facebook was a good thing. The missed opportunities. The creating of opportunities that don’t pan out. The waiting to get paid for work completed months or a year ago while quarterly tax deadlines loom. The constant pressure to do my own publicity for negligible return when I should be writing – creatively – instead of being a publicist. The look on people’s faces when they tell you they have so many books already they haven’t read which means they don’t want to buy mine. The de-valuation of the book and diminishing respect for the skills and time it takes to create a story. Suffice it to say, I’ve had enough.

There are a few projects partially completed that I want to finish, but I’ve decided to get back to them when I’m re-energized and excited about writing again. Now’s not the time. I need to occupy myself with something that brings joy, playfulness, lightness in these times of heaviness. So instead of writing I’m making bike seat covers. Yep, bumcicles bike seat covers. Cloth, thread, elastic, and a label. That’s is. There’s something about playing with colorful fabrics that appeals to me now.  I design them out of fun mix-and-match fabrics and local seamstresses sew them. Then I post them on my Etsy shop. I don’t have anyone telling me that my choice of fabrics is wrong. Or wanting me to change my pattern. Or grimacing when they feel obligated to buy it. Instead people see my bumcicles and smile. But better yet, they make me smile. And that’s what I need right now more than trying to analyze how to get more school visits or sell more books at signings. Or chasing elusive opportunities. Or wasting writing time writing posts for this blog instead of stories that matter.

So I say good-bye blog. It’s time for me to try something new.

I’m excited to see what rises from the ashes.

 

Filed under: Natasha Wing

Farewell my Feline Friend

Strawberry moon

Sometime during the night, on the eve of the full Strawberry moon, my kitty cat, Jemima, passed away.

As a couple without children, Jemima was our furry family member. We got her as a kitten when we lived in California – the cutest little calico in the litter – and she drove across the West with us when we moved to Colorado two years ago.

She was “mamma’s girl”, always following me around, the two of us talking back and forth. She loved to take naps with me, or lay by my feet when I was working on my computer creating stories. Jemima was the inspiration for cat character Mittens Abercrombie, curator and famous catologist for the Museum of Modern Animals, in an adventure book I co-wrote with two other cat-loving writer friends. Although that story has yet to be published, it was fun to channel Jemima into a talking character who was full of spunk and intellect.

And now she’s gone.

The house is quiet. I don’t feel like writing.

You know what it’s like when you finish a really good book and you don’t want it to end?  But I must close the cover, and let her live in my imagination.

Farewell, my feline friend. I loved you so.

One of her favorite places, the deck.

Filed under: Natasha Wing

Review for New Book

Tis June, the time for kids getting out of school, bbqs, and Father’s Day!

This sweet review came in for my new book and I wanted to share it with you. http://bradyslady55.blogspot.com/ Autumn wrote me an email and said, “I really enjoyed it and the best part is how excited it has made my three year old to do something special for Father’s Day.” Maybe the book will inspire your children to do something helpful and free for Father’s Day.

The newest book by Natasha Wing.

And talking about fathers, here’s a photo of my dad. He’s 75 years old and still doing home repair projects!

The author’s father.

Filed under: Amy Wummer, Natasha Wing Tagged: Family, Fathers, Fathers Day, For Every Season, Holidays, Parenting

Where the Wild Thing Went

Maurice Sendak died today at 83. Maybe the Long Island Medium knows where his soul rested, but I’ll bet wherever he is, he’s being rascally. If you haven’t seen the Steven Colbert skit with Sendak, it’s a treat to watch. Here’s a short clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mPEZj21NmE

 

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: Colbert, Sendak

3 Authors, 3 Questions

Check out Patricia’s blog where she interviews three authors about writing and marketing including guess who?

Filed under: Natasha Wing

Interactive Pigeon app

Kids get a kick out of Mo Willems’s books. I was at a bookstore once when there was a reading going on of Don’t Throw the Pigeon from the Bus and kids were eager to shout along. His books are wonderfully simple in text and drawing style, yet full of clever humor that appeals to young ones. Now there’s an app called Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App in which the child can insert his own thing he doesn’t want the pigeon to do.

You can purchase it here.

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: iTune apps, Mo Willems, pigeon

Need new apps for the kids?

Traveling and need to entertain the kids? Here’s are some apps by ocean house media that have gotten top ratings. You can link to them here and purchase them from iTunes. Easy peasy!

Planes

Cat in the Hat

The Lorax

Little Critters Collection

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: Dr. Seuss, iTune apps, Mercer Mayer, ocean house media