Fiona Ingram's Blog, page 63

Book Review: Elisa Lorello's Ordinary World

I'd like to welcome Elisa Lorello as my first book review for 2010. Elisa Lorello is as interesting as her heroine Andi. Elisa was born in Queens, NY. The youngest of seven, she grew up on the North Shore of Long Island in a musical family, surrounded by cars, guitars, cats, and a dead hamster every now and then. She explored many passions, including drawing, tennis, and music, but even though her interests changed over the years, writing was her constant companion. In 1995, Elisa attended UM...

Creative Writing for Kids: Easy Classroom Tips for Teachers

Creative writing for kids is one of the most challenging and fulfilling aspects of the classroom. Many teachers who are not writers may struggle to explain the nuts and bolts of writing in relation to the imaginative and creative process involved in making a story. Children may also not grasp the solid hard work involved in creating the structure and plot of a good story. Here are some easy classroom tips to make the creative writing process both successful and fun.

Writing can be one of the m...

Writer's Block: Imagined or Real?

Writers block: does it exist? Anyone who has ever experienced it will nod their head vigorously and say yes, of course it does. Other writers will smugly say they have never experienced it. There are differing viewpoints on exactly what one should call the phenomenon of when ideas grind to a halt, plots get stuck, and why one just can't seem to move the action or the characters forward. Advice to Writers offers some interesting viewpoints of writers from Toni Morrison to H.G. Wells to Irving ...

Why Children Don't Enjoy Reading

Living in South Africa where many children are still struggling with reading and a poor level of education, the problem of literacy in my home country affects me deeply as an author. Around one fifth of the population of 48-million people are still illiterate.

As all parents know, books, reading, and comprehension skills are paramount in the development of their child's learning abilities and imagination, and indeed to life learning and understanding of the world. But you know all that … so, ...

The ABC of Agents

Rick Frishman always has a clear, concise way of explaining things and when I read this information in his newsletter, I thought, "What better way to explain agents?" The role of the agent seems to be a complex one and many authors are not quite sure exactly what their role is. Some authors even end up being ripped off by unscrupulous individuals. Read on and be advised.

How Agents Work:
Literary agents fill two primary, and often overlapping, roles. They serve as both their clients' Sales repr...

Better Book Readings For Kids

I recently gave a book reading at a local Montessori school here in Johannesburg for a middle-grade audience eager to find out more about my book. My previous reading at a literacy centre had been great because the teacher organized a fancy dress parade and the kids had worked on some creative writing to read to me. All the children arrived in Egyptian costume with poems and prose for me to hear. There was such fun and excitement that much time was taken up with the judging of the writing and...

The Benefits of Book Awards

This is an unexpected blog because I was actually going to talk about something else. However, I just received news that my book The Secret of the Sacred Scarab was a winner in the 2009 Readers' Favorites Book Awards. My book has received two finalist nominations and a winner slot for 2009. I believe in the value of book awards when marketing your book/s so I thought a good topic would be to highlight the benefits of entering book awards and competitions.


• When thinking about marketing your ...

Kids' Book Series: Good Idea or Think Again?

Developing a children's series is both rewarding and taxing for the author, and possibly gratefully welcomed by parents whose children suddenly discover a hero they can relate to and whose actions keep them riveted. Isn't it wonderful when your child begs, nay, commands you to go out and buy the next in a favorite series because they 'absolutely have to know' what is going to happen next. There are many children's series on the market currently and perhaps many adults are reading them as well...

Blog Tours: Do They Work?

When I began marketing my book, one of the first things I read about was having a blog. I confess it has been the last on my list of marketing musts, simply because I didn't understand blogging, couldn't understand how it would help me as an author, and hey, it looked so complicated. Then in October 2009 I read a rave review about a blog tour organized by Women on Writing. I contacted them and was given a comprehensive outline of how the tour works, what was expected of me, and what results I...

Get Your Game Plan Going

Top marketer Dana Lynn Smith has some good advice for writers embarking on their writing goals for 2010 in her Top Three New Year's Resolutions for Writers. If you're still dithering around (a bit like me) without a clear schedule in sight, she has three solid tips to offer (yes, just three) that will help you streamline and organize your writing schedule and ultimate goals.
Develop a solid book marketing plan. Don't just do a bit of this and that every now and again. You'll get results when...