Krista Michelle Breen's Blog

Boo and The Brampton Canadettes

Boo just finished her first year as a Brampton Canadette.

Not every Canadian kid plays hockey, but hockey does manage to dangle and snipe its way into their lives somehow. Businesses shut down for Olympic gold medal games, kids take days off school to attend tournaments and local rinks are always jammed with new Canadians learning to skate.

Boo began playing hockey when she was 9. She fell a lot, routinely skated out of control, and crashed into others until many were afraid to go on the ice with her. Girls hockey is supposed to be non-contact.

By the time she was 13, we needed to find an upper level organization that would be interested in her as a player. In boys hockey, your local organization holds your child’s rights. Imagine being 6 years old and being told where you can play. It was a strange concept for me, but it does prevent coaches from making super teams. Girls hockey has “free movement.” A player can play for any team they are willing to drive to. We drive 45 minutes, 3 days a week through a very long, icy winter to play for the Brampton Canadettes.

Moving from a small town, rural team, to play among girls who had only played at the top level was tough. Boo had to work hard to prove herself, but still wore her purple and black Grand River Mustangs hockey socks in every practice to honour the team she had come from. She still falls a lot, dances on the edge of control, and crashes through kids that dare skate with their heads down.

The Brampton Canadettes are the oldest women’s hockey organization in Canada, and have produced more gold medal winning female hockey players than any organization in the world.

Tryouts for next years team begin on Wednesday.

Animating My Own Movie One Illustration at a Time.

I’m trying to get good at drawing something other than horses.

Horses are actually pretty easy for me now. I know little things like how the forearm turns into the knee and can rotate them around in my head.

Drawing is a lot about practice.

 

I erase a lot too. Sketch, erase, sketch, erase, blow the eraser pieces away, sketch…

It’s a bit like molding something really.

 

I’m beginning to understand how people shapes work.  Hands are really tricky. Adrienne’s left hand here is particularly lovely, but the truth is I probably erased it, bit by bit, about 17 times and spent more time on that one hand than the entire rest of the sketch.

 

Mickey’s right hand in the illustration above is kinda weird. I don’t know why the braid is on this side of his watch either.

 

Recipe for this drawing…

2B pencil
dollar store eraser
sketchbook pad
scanner
ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5 (old, free with scanner)
Added watercolour effect.

Super cute.

My birthday is coming up pretty soon, just imagine what I could do with Poser

Under Cover

 

I have a lot to learn.

That’s what folks told me the one and only time I attended a CanSCAIP meeting 10 years ago. You see, they were all published sour Canadian children’s authors, and I made the mistake of being excited about writing a book.

One thing I did learn was that authors, who chose to be traditionally published, traditionally have no control over the cover of their book. It’s supposed to be a wonderful surprise the first time you see the magnificent cover especially chosen for your labour of love. Step aside kiddo, and we’ll show you how to sell horse books…

I like this one a lot.

Bloomsbury publishes the “A Circut” series for Georgina Bloomberg and Catherine Hapka. Georgina’s father is the Mayor of New York.

I’m not really certain which mistake in this picture is really her favourite. It’s kinda like one of those Pony Club, spot the danger pictures. Hint, it’s not just sitting trot in a tube top.

 

Jessica Burkhart’s Canterwood Crest series is really hot. She has ravenous, Justin Bieber-like fans who may now say horrible things about me all over the Internet. I’d like to beliebe that once your books are doing well, you’d eventually get some say in the cover.

Again, spot the danger folks. In this case it’s acutally much worse. Wearing a long dangly scarf, wrapping the lead around your hand and holding the horse on the other side of a stone wall, could get you killed.

The thing that bothers me the most about the Canterwood Crest covers is that all the girls are made out to look like evil, stuck up, witches. There are like 19 books, all with scarf wearing, duck faced, eleven year olds.

This one is heart-wrenching. Why on earth would the publisher pick a picture of this kid being whispered about behind her back?  This elite private equestrian school has a problem Aladdin.

 

I feel saddest of all for Suzanne Weyn, who was probably over the moon when Scholastic offered to publish her Wildwood Stables series.

Now, thousands of copies of these books exist all over the world. Agents and editors are soooooo concerned about a book not going out into the world until it is perfect, and then they let someone do something like this…

Take a look at this grey horse’s hips.

 

This one is even thinner. It makes me want to cry.

I’ve never seen horses working this thin in my whole life. Did they photoshop the grass in? I hope the money this horrible riding school made from hosting the photo shoot actually went towards buying these lovely old souls a bale of hay.

Thank goodness the Canterwood Crest horses all wear blankets.

Publishers, maybe consult with an expert or two to see if the picture is actually  safe, humane, or appropriate.

You know who would probably be a good expert to ask?

The author.

 

 

Love Middle Grade Actually

It’s February, or the 4th month of pre-Pevensieal Narnia as I like to call it. The water in our bathroom actually froze 2 times last week and my truck slid out of the driveway and smashed itself into a tree. The tree is fine

So what’s good about February? Watch the awesomeness of the trailer below and you will see…

Did you see it? Did you see Knockout?

Did you notice that you could win a Kindle Fire!

I’m super excited to be part of this really special project. 14 authors representing 5 different countries and 3 different species have been gathered together under the brilliant leadership of Sally Harris!

Love Middle Grade Actually is an ebook sampler of 14 first chapters for kids, parents and educators to discover. I think it’s especially cool that these stories come, not only from different voices around the world, but from different planets and places in time. It’s a snapshot of what’s fresh and new and funny and exciting in Middle Grade fiction.

So how do you win the Kindle Fire and loads of other awesomesauce book prizes?

Download a free copy of

here from February 7th until February 11th.

Read the wonderful collection of 14 book bits and search for a hidden letter in each delicious sample.

Enter the mystery phrase in our Raffle Copter draw by February 14th!

I’ll let everybody know how the downloads are going. With 14 authors tweeting, blogging and facebooking about the project, thousands of new readers will be introduced to Phillip, T.J. and Adrienne this week. I picked Knockout because it has the most horse-loose-galloping action of all my first chapters, and lots of Phillip which is always good Share the love for 5 free days here in frozen Narnia if you can. There’s a big snowstorm forecast for tonight!

Love Midde Grade Actually

It’s February, or the 4th month of pre-Pevensieal Narnia as I like to call it. The water in our bathroom actually froze 2 times last week and my truck slid out of the driveway and smashed itself into a tree. The tree is fine

So what’s good about February? Watch the awesomeness of the trailer below and you will see…

Did you see it? Did you see Knockout?

Did you notice that you could win a Kindle Fire!

I’m super excited to be part of this really special project. 14 authors representing 5 different countries and 3 different species have been gathered together under the brilliant leadership of Sally Harris!

Love Middle Grade Actually is an ebook sampler of 14 first chapters for kids, parents and educators to discover. I think it’s especially cool that these stories come, not only from different voices around the world, but from different planets and places in time. It’s a snapshot of what’s fresh and new and funny and exciting in Middle Grade fiction.

So how do you win the Kindle Fire and loads of other awesomesauce book prizes?

Download a free copy of

here from February 7th until February 11th.

Read the wonderful collection of 14 book bits and search for a hidden letter in each delicious sample.

Enter the mystery phrase in our Raffle Copter draw by February 14th!

I’ll let everybody know how the downloads are going. With 14 authors tweeting, blogging and facebooking about the project, thousands of new readers will be introduced to Phillip, T.J. and Adrienne this week. I picked Knockout because it has the most horse-loose-galloping action of all my first chapters, and lots of Phillip which is always good Share the love for 5 free days here in frozen Narnia if you can. There’s a big snowstorm forecast for tonight!

Bliss

 

I’m trying balance my reading of new fiction, for all the review requests I get from indy authors, with enough classic fiction to keep my perspective crisp.

Although I had tried in High School to work through Delany’s  door stopper Dhalgren a few times, it never really seemed worth the effort to me. It would have made an excellent weapon should the aliens from “Project Blue Book” really have invaded through our Bramalea bedroom window as my sister was certain they would.

I picked up Nova at a cottage we rented last summer and was instantly hooked.

Mouse is an 18 year old Gypsy from the planet Earth in the year 3172. He’s sweet, talented, has travelled the world, and just finished training as a spaceship pilot. It’s hard to find work though, when you have never actually piloted a spaceship before.

Captain Lorq Von Ray is the son of one of the most wealthy families in the universe. Lorq has had his face torn in two in a fight with the horribly spoiled son of the family that controls the Earth and most of space, Prince Red.

Captain Von Ray owns a spaceship and needs a crew to fly into the center of a dying sun. He’s racing against Prince Red, for love, for honour, and for his life.

Lucky Mouse found himself a job on Von Ray’s ship.

I get super attached to characters in any book and absolutely adored the crew Delany creates here. Good people who are good to each other, fighting against super rich evil peeps.

There is a fair bit of space politics and history explained. If you don’t really like that kinda stuff, it’s probably not your kinda book. Written in the hippie years of 1966 and 1967, there is some drug use by the characters. The violence is pretty tame and the technology exists to heal everyone up after a battle if they chose so. Although written before the actual moon landing, the science in this novel has weathered remarkably well. It’s a nice future, where people value machienes and music and family and friendship. Yes, I really liked this book!

When I really like a book I feel like I need to grab a pencil and draw all the characters in it. To let them out. To give the pictures in my head some kind of permanance I can share. To honour these friends with shape and form and kickass clothes. Nova made me want to draw, and drawing is always good.

Currently casting my film adaption of Nova…(Ooooo, fun this is!)

Bwahahaha! Edward Elric as Prince Red

And of course L as the Mouse.

Ichigo Kurosaki as Katin Crawford

Christmas ride into Rockwood

Calypso wore his Santa hat all day!

Boo announced early in December that her plan for Christmas break involved riding her pony into the Village. It’s not far, but would involve riding for about 2 kilometers on a very busy provincial highway, with lots of transport trucks. We rode our ponies everywhere as kids. We’d leave afterschool, without cell phones, not tell anyone where we were going or when we planned to be back, and jumped every jump-able object along the way. It’s different now. That was me, and this is my kid.

“If you’re going to do it,” I caved, “you need to do it on Christmas Day.”

The kids had a blast. Rode past the house, through the Conservation Area, up to the school, down Main Street and over the river on the bridge. Merry Christmas Rockwood!

Norman

Super nice Children’s book author Heather Young, just sent me her brand new book about Norman. Athletic and talented, Norman suffers a major setback in his jumping confidence after losing his eye to a horrible infection. Prudence his people partner never gives up, and soon they are flying over fences again.

I just love how proud of himself Norman looks in Ramir Quintana’s lovely illustrations.

Norman – Based on a True Story Is a great read for horse crazy little ones, but would also suit children who are working to manage a disability themselves. I like that Norman is given time to work through things himself. Magical people training doesn’t teach him to jump with one eye. Norman falls over logs until he figures out how to do it. Prudence is there to remind him to believe in himself, Norman has a great team of friends helping him through this change in his life and in the end, his best friends really don’t think of him as disabled at all. He’s just Norman.

It's the real Norman!

Norman’s book is available on his website. A portion of the proceeds from each book sold will go to Heaven Can Wait Equine Rescue and LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society

Yikes! I’m trying to make a banner add.

This is my first test run…

You click it, and it takes you back here. Exactly where it is supposed to take you if you clicked on it on another website. (If it works )

Kid’s Books Holiday Blog Hop

Grand Prize Giveaway!

As part of the Kid’s Books Holiday Blog Hop we are giving away a $30 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky winner. To enter, just leave a comment on this blog along with your email address and you will be in the running to win. You can enter on all of the blogs – that will give you multiple chances to win!

The Giveaway starts 12/7/12 and ends 12/10/12 at midnight. I will notify the winner on 12/11/12 after noon. Good luck!

Saddle up your Tauntaun, it’s getting snowy out there!

I have loved Star Wars since I was a kid. At Christmas time, the Force permeates our house with movie nights, Lego creations and action figures. The Nativity set that adorns the mantle in the Breen house somehow always includes a Tusken Raider, C-3P0 and a Wookiee among the visitors to Bethlehem. I’m not certain how the tradition started, but now that the kids are teenagers, the action figures have actually been converted to live, year round, with the Nativity peeps.

This Christmas I’ve been super excited to find these…

Dad and graphic designer Anthony Herrera has created these awesome Star Wars snowflakes and provides download-able templates for over 20 designs free on his website www.anthonyherreradesigns.com

The Force is strong in this one. Anthony’s designs are stunningly beautiful.

The patterns print off on regular computer paper, but are quite intricate and do require the use of scissors and a sharp x-acto knife. Kids could easily help with the folding, scissor cutting and delicate unfolding parts of snowflake manufacture. I’m going to leave some folded up inside my Christmas cards as treasure to be discovered by all my Star Wars loving friends.

May the Force be with you!

Now quick, leave a comment for a chance to win one of 2 free copies of “Quicksand – The Mysterious Disappearance of Dakotaroo”. Remember to leave your e-mail address so Krista can contact you! Everyone who comments will also be entered in the Grand Prize draw for a $30 Amazon gift certificate.