Mindy Hardwick's Blog, page 26

Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Inside Out

The other night, I had the great opportunity to hear the Scriber Lake High School students read from their new book of personal narratives called, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: STORIES FROM THE INSIDE OUT.

You can purchase BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: STORIES FROM THE INSIDE OUT in ebook or print. All of the buy links can be found  here.

One of the questions asked of the students after the reading was:

Is it harder to write the story or to read it?

Read it, the students all chorused.

The students spoke of the power of writing their stories, often painful and always real. By writing these personal narratives, each of them found their stories transformed. The teens spoke of how it was painful to relive the experiences to write them, but how after the writing, an enormous weight was lifted from them. This is something I related to as I’ve been working on my own memoir, KIDS IN ORANGE: VOICES FROM JUVENILE DETENTION in the past year in a half.  Hearing the teen’s stories and the courage it takes to tell those stories, renewed my faith and passion in my own writing personal memoir.

Scriber Lake is an alternative high school of choice in the Edmonds School District. In the writing program, Write to Right: Transforming Lives Through Personal Storytelling, the students work with author, Ingrid Ricks on writing their personal stories. Ingrid is the author of Hippie Boy: A Girl’s Story about her childhood struggles to escape an abusive stepfather and the extreme religion and poverty at home.

The program consists of three goals:

We use narrative writing to help youth bring their stories to life while learning the fundamental elements of strong storytelling,
We help interested youth publish their stories in group anthologies that are distributed internationally via both eBook and paperback.
We facilitate readings, presentations and stage performances that enable youth to share their stories in different mediums—strengthening their voice while connecting with others and initiating dialogue that fosters understanding and change.

The Scriber Lake High School students have published two other books of their work, all of them available in both ebook and print. You can find all the links to purchase the books here.

 

You can learn more about the program, Write to Right: Transforming Lives Through Storytelling here.

And you can find the links to purchase copies of the books here.

There is also a curriculum guide for educators to use here.

And there will be a book about how to self-publish anthologies of personal writing here.

Sweet Romance Opportunties for Readers and Writers

This past weekend, I won an Evaluation of a Sweet Romance Partial from Harlequin Heartwarming editorial assistant, Dana Grimaldi in the Brenda Novak auction. Harlequin Heartwarming is the sweet romance category line of Harlequin. The books are described as

Clean, emotional, satisfying romances that readers can feel comfortable sharing with their mothers, daughters or granddaughters
Romance, family and community are strong features of these stories

This month Harlequin Heartwarming is offering a contest as they seek new authors for their line. You can find all the details of the contest here.

More information about Harlequin Heartwarming and their books can be found here.

Writing guidelines for Harlequin Heartwarming can be found here.

If you love to read sweet romance, Sweet Romance Reads Blog is looking for readers to join their team. From the Sweet Romance Reads blog: From time to time, you’ll get an email directly from an author with a description of a book. If it sounds like something you’d be interested in reading, reply back to the author and she’ll send you an ecopy. If you start to read the book and decide you’re not the right reader for it (and wouldn’t enjoy finishing it), just drop the author a note. We request all readers post a review on Amazon (and anywhere else you enjoy posting to, like Goodreads, B&N, etc.) within 6 weeks of receipt. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, we’d love to have you as part of our Sweet Team.

You can sign up for the Sweet Team here.

 

 

Is It Summer Yet Blog Hop Winner

Congratulations to Alisha Sienkiel  who is the winner at my blog for the Is It Summer Yet Blog Hop.

Alisha is the winner of a signed PRINT copy of ROMANCE FOR ALL THE SEASONS.

Kids Summer Art Camp

I’m teaching, MYSTERIOUS, STRANGE & UNUSUAL: A Creative Writing Workshop (Ages 10-17) at the Hoffman Center Kids Art Camp in August. The Hoffman Center is located in Manzanita, Oregon. This is the North Coast of Oregon, about 90 minutes from Portland. Camp runs August 4-8 and my session runs from 10 AM-Noon.

Haunted castles, ghostly sightings and things that go bump in the night all spark great stories. But how do we craft our tales so they are believable to readers? In this hands-on writing workshop, we’ll explore how to build suspense and tension in plot, craft compelling characters and design a mysterious setting. Writers will try some flash fiction, short stories and even a few poems. We’ll share our writing with each other in a workshop setting. Bring those stories which haunt you and let’s turn them into mysterious tales which can be told around beach bonfires.

You can find all the details and register here.

Come play with us at the beach this August in Manzanita, Oregon. It’s gorgeous on the Northern Oregon Coast in August!

 

Is It Summer Yet Blog Hop

Welcome to the Is It Summer Yet Blog Hop! sponsored by Julie’s Book Reviews.

We’ve been lucky in the Pacific Northwest and it’s been a beautiful spring and start to the summer! A couple days in May, I was out on the Oregon Coast and it was almost 90 degrees! We don’t see those kind of days on the Northern Oregon Coast very often! It felt very much like summer!

To celebrate the Is It Summer Yet Blog Hop, I’m giving away a signed print copy of my sweet contemporary romance, ROMANCE FOR ALL THE SEASONS. This is a collection of sweet, contemporary romance novellas which are all linked through the setting location of Western New York and an old hotel, the Elmheart Hotel. You can find out about the Elmheart Hotel at my website here.

Three of the stories are about characters who serve on a Sailing Club board together and two of those stories, LOVE’S STORM and LOVE’S BID take place in the summer. The third in that series, LOVE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT is a holiday story. There is another holiday story in the collection as well, NEW YEAR HEART SONG. The collection makes a great gift for a teen, too!

To be entered to win a signed print copy of ROMANCE FOR ALL THE SEASONS (or ebook copy for International addresses), please leave a comment telling me your favorite thing to do in the summer. Be sure to include your email address in the comment so I can contact you if you win.  I will draw a winner and announce on the blog on June 2. One comment per person please.

You can find the list of participating blogs in the Is It Summer Yet Blog Hop here.

Happy Summer!

 

 

 

Markets Seeking Children’s Books

A few market notes for writers…..

If you’re on Twitter and looking for current wish lists and needs of editors and agents check out the hashtag #MSWL. Another way to find this information is this link which provides a listing of all the #MSWL requests.

 

Dial Books for Young Readers: Picture book, middle grade and young adult. Mail complete manuscripts for picture books, with a cover letter describing plot, age targeted, and your publishing credits, if any. Longer works submit no more than 10 pages. Responds only if interested.Submission guidelines and information here.

 

Flashlight Press: Flashlight Press publishes fiction picture books for ages four to eight, and is open to submissions. Manuscripts should deal with family, social situations, and have a universal theme. They must be between 500 and 1,000 words.

Query Editor Shari Dash Greenspan at submissions @ flashlightpress.com, describing your story’s plot, word count, target audience, what makes your story unique, and relevant information about yourself. If your query is of interest, a full manuscript will be requested. No hard copy submissions by regular mail; no attachments to emails. Submission information here.

 

Calkins Creek Books

Calkins Creek is the American history imprint of Boyds Mills Press, the book division of Highlights, Inc. It publishes picture books, chapter books, and middle-grade fiction and nonfiction. Boyds Mills is open to unsolicited submissions. Send complete manuscript, for picture books, or first three chapters for longer works. Include a cover letter, detailed plot summary for fiction, and and detailed bibliography for historical fiction and nonfiction. Accepts hard copy. SASE. Responds in 3 months. Publication period varies. Royalty. Submission information here.

Winner of Children’s Week Blog Hop

The winner of the Celebrate Children’s Week Blog Hop is…

Donna Marie aka…writersideup! Donna Marie– a signed print copy of STAINED GLASS SUMMER is yours!

 

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Winners

 

The winner of the drawstring bag and the note cards for Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day is…

DEBRA KAY NEIMAN

Thanks to everyone for participating! It was so much fun to read the favorite children’s story comments!

 

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

I’m really excited to be participating in Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! Actually…it’s more a Giveaway Week as the giveaway period runs from May 12-May 16 until 5 p.m. (PST). You can find giveaways for patterns, fabric and supplies here. 

And you can find homemade giveaway items here.

One of the things I like to do when I’m not writing children’s and romance stories is sew and craft. It’s a great creative outlet for those times when stories are brewing!

I first discovered Sew Mama Sew’s blog when I took one of the Craftsy Bag Making Basics Workshops. Craftsy is a great platform for learning new techniques in sewing. The classes are all on-line and you can watch them at anytime. The bag making basics class was a free class and it introduced me to Kristin Link and her Sew Mama Sew Blog. I had such a good time with the bag classes that I whipped up a handful to giveaway!

So…without further ado….

I’m giving away this cute drawstring bag made out of cotton fabric. It has an owl lining that matches the owl border on the outside. And, inside the bag, I will tuck this set of handmade spring note cards with envelopes.

In order to enter the giveaway all you have to do is tell me a name of your favorite children’s story or storybook character.  (U.S. mailing addresses only). Please leave your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner. I will draw one name and announce the winner on May 18, 2014!

Good luck!

And again, you can find a list of all the blogs participating in the Giveaway Day here.

 

Celebrate Children’s Book Week

It’s Celebrate Children’s Book Week sponsored by the Mother Daughter Book Reviews and The Youth Literature Reviews. All week, you can enter to win children’s books by stopping by the blogs participating in the celebration.

You can find the whole list of participating blogs here.

In a few weeks, kids will be done with school for the year, and what better time than to pick up a children’s story–especially those set in the summer!

The first story I sold, “Hurricanes” was published in this collection of short stories called SUMMER SHORTS. The story is about a twelve-year-old girl who goes to visit her dad the first summer her parents are divorced. During that visit, there is a hurricane and Jen learns a few things about herself and her Dad. (The collection has since gone out of print)

 

My next story, STAINED GLASS SUMMER, is about twelve-year-old Jasmine who moves to a Pacific Northwest Island for the summer and learns stained glass as well as what it means to be an artist. STAINED GLASS SUMMER is available as an ebook (all formats), print and audio book. There is also a study guide at my website here.

My second novel, WEAVING MAGIC, is a YA romance and yes…takes place in the summer! The story opens with Shantel and Christopher meeting in a summer street fair mosaic booth. WEAVING MAGIC is available in print and all ebook formats. There is a free study guide available at my website here.

And then, I broke the summer form and my most recent story, FINDERS KEEPERS, published as a picture book app with MeeGenius publishing is set during the fall! FINDERS KEEPERS is available through MeeGenius and you can see real pictures of glass floats and read about the event in Lincoln City at my website here.

Giveaway: As a part of the Celebrate Children’s Book Week Blog Hop, I’m offering one signed PRINT book of either STAINED GLASS SUMMER, SUMMER SHORTS, or WEAVING MAGIC. (Winners choice). US entries only for the print giveaway. (International entries may choice either WEAVING MAGIC or STAINED GLASS SUMMER in ebook.)

To be entered to win, please leave your name, email address and the title of one of your favorite summer children’s books!

And then, click on the image below to be taken to the list of other blogs participating in the Children’s Book Week Kid Lit Giveaway Hop!