Sands Hetherington's Blog, page 6

2017 Book-Lover’s Holiday Gift Guide

We are midway through December, and that means the holiday season is officially upon us! Finding the perfect gifts for your loved ones can be a battle, so I wanted to make it a little easier on you. If you have any book lovers in your life, any of these gifts will be the perfect match:

Banned Books Heat Reactive Mug

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This mug features lines from books that were once banned or challenged; fill them up with your favorite hot beverage to reveal all the words! The best part about this gift is that for every mug sold, you’ll help fund literacy programs and book donations to communities in need.

The Wish Tree , by Kyo Maclear

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“Charles wants to find a wish tree. His brother and sister don’t believe there is such a thing, but his trusty companion Boggan is ready to join Charles on a journey to find out. And along the way, they discover that wishes can come true in the most unexpected ways.” This children’s book, which uses poetic verse to tell an inspiring holiday message, will be loved by kids and adults alike.

Book Cover Tote Bag

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Everybody needs a plethora of tote bags these days, whether to carry groceries or all the books you buy at your local bookstore. And every book lover would proudly carry a tote featuring their favorite book’s cover on the front. You can find dozens of varieties, from classics like Pride and Prejudice, to new favorites like children’s book, Wonder.

A trip for two to your local independent bookstore

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Nothing says bonding like browsing bookshelves together, and a promise to have a full day exploring and reading books together is the ultimate gift to give. Most independent bookstores also offer gift cards if you can’t find the time to go with your loved one yourself!

What are you most looking forward to this holiday season? Let me know in the comments!

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What Your Favorite Authors Have to Say About Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving is almost upon us, which means great food, time with family and friends, and reflecting on all we have to be thankful for this year. But sometimes it’s hard to get past the craziness of every day life to pause for gratitude, or sometimes it feels like there just isn’t a lot to be grateful for. That’s when I turn to my favorite authors…they always have just the right way of expressing how I want to feel during the holidays.

Maya Angelou

“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.”

Voltaire

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”

Alice Walker

“‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding.”

Thomas Fuller

“You may believe anything that is good of a grateful man.”

Samuel Johnson

“Gratitude is the fruit of cultivation.”

Epicurus

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”

 

What are you thankful for this year? Let me know in the comments!

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You’re Not In It Alone: A Message to Single Parents

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Regular readers of this blog may well know, I raised my son John as a single father. While the memories I have of our time together while he was growing up are special, I know there were as many difficult times as there were wonderful ones.

An article about Kate Middleton, British royalty and mother of (soon-to-be) three, came out on SimpleMost the other day, where she shares this thought on parenting.

“As a mother, just getting used to leaving my own child at the school gates, it is clear to me that it takes a whole community to help raise a child. Whether we are school leavers, teachers, support staff or parents we are all in this together.” 

When you are the only parent managing your home, your bills, and every aspect of your life, sometimes the task of raising a child becomes incredibly daunting. My son and I took road trips, we created stories together, and had the kind of relationship I hope every father and son might share, and yet even with so much joy I relied on the other adults in his life to help in raising my son.

His teachers reinforced in him lessons about respect and about finding his place in the world. Librarians shared with him books that shaped his outlook on the world. The parents of his friends, his coaches, his principals, the authors he read, and so many others made up the community of people raising my son. I am just one member of a community helping to raise others, whether through the words I write or the school visits I make.

Single parents, take heart. You alone are not the only one with the opportunity to make a difference in your child’s life. Insert yourself into a community, let the other adults around you and your children lift some of the burden you may feel. We are all in this together.

Who has been an influential adult in your children’s lives? Let us know in the comments below!

 

 

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4 Ways to Prepare for NaNoWriMo

Halloween is almost here, and while some get excited for costumes, trick-or-treating, and scary movie nights, most writers out there will tell you that the best part of Halloween is when the clock strikes midnight…and NaNoWriMo officially begins!

Every November thousands of writers come together with one common goal—to write a 50,000-word novel (or start of a novel) in one single month. It’s crazy. It’s audacious. There is more coffee consumed in one month than the rest of the year combined. But it’s also a time to start making your novel-writing dreams come true, no perfectionistic pressure allowed!

Jon Acuff recently released a new book called Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done. It’s all about how we can stop being people who start a million projects, or start working on our ultimate goals (say, writing a novel), but give up when perfectionism gets in the way. This is what those who started NaNoWriMo knew. Writers can get too caught up in making a first draft perfect, or being afraid that it’s not perfect, that they give up before they reach the end. NaNoWriMo tells us that we aren’t aiming for a perfect 50,000 words, our only job is to finish writing them.

If this all sounds great to you, and you want to write 50,000 words by December, here are my tips to help you prepare!

Make an outline. When you have to write close to 2,000 words every day, you don’t have the time to spend figuring out what should happen next in your novel. The more detailed a plan you have before you start, the better chances you have to not get stuck in the middle of writing.

Tell your friends. Taking on NaNoWriMo is no small undertaking. The more people you tell, the less you have to explain why you’re choosing to stay at home writing instead of going out to dinner/drinks/movies with them. Plus having that extra accountability will keep you pushing toward your end goal.

Make a schedule. Most of us don’t just have extra time in our schedules to spend an hour (or a few hours) a day writing—you’re going to have to make that time. Plan writing into your schedule so that you never have to wonder if or when you’ll have time in a given day to write. Keep things like Thanksgiving, weekend trips you have planned, and any other commitments you can’t push around in mind. There will be a day you absolutely can’t squeeze writing time into, but that doesn’t mean you will fail. Look for less busy days to double up your word counts and keep on track.

Make it fun. If you love the story you’re writing, you are more likely to want to get back into it every day. Don’t write something you think would sell, you think your parents or friends would enjoy, or something you feel obligated to write about. Write for you. Write for fun. Make a cozy and enjoyable routine around writing, whether that means going to your favorite coffee shop for a holiday drink or lighting a candle and writing by your fireplace. When writing becomes your happy place, you’ll want to keep on going even after November is finished.

Are you signed up for NaNoWriMo 2017? Let me know in the comments below!

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How Reading Before Bed Will Improve Your Life

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Do you remember the days you were a kid, falling asleep to your parents reading you a bedtime story? Well, it turns out immersing yourself in a good book before falling asleep actually has benefits that can last you your entire life! As tempting as it is to get on your phone and scroll through social media until your eyes get heavy, or to turn on a TV show to play in the background while you nod off, here are four reasons you should abandon those habits and pick up a book when it gets dark out.

Whereas looking at a screen has been shown to disrupt sleep patterns, reading has been proven to reduce stress, which improves your quality of sleep. In fact, a study done by the National Sleep Foundation determined that a nighttime reading ritual can help relax your body and prepare your body for a restful night of sleep!

Reading is a beneficial mental exercise. People who spend more time with their nose in a book perform better in cognitive function tests, have higher-level vocabulary skills, and according to Northern Illinois University, test higher in generalized knowledge. Working your brain muscles through reading has also shown to be helpful in lowering your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, so the National Institute on Aging recommends adults read regularly!

Reading improves your ability to empathize. As our world becomes more divided, as tragedies become regular occurrences, and as people seem to need more than ever to listen to one another and come together, reading might just be what the doctor ordered. If you read literary fiction before bed, you’re more likely to understand others’ emotions and mental processes, improving the way you interact with others, and improving the quality of the relationships you develop.

Reading improves your ability to focus. Our smartphones are turning us into creatures who need everything done quickly, are easily distracted, and multitask five different things within five minutes. But when you take the time to read on a regular basis, you will gain practice in focusing on one story, doing one activity for an extended period of time, which can also carry over to other areas of your life!

Whether you’re reading your toddlers a bedtime story or keeping your own book on your bedside table, getting in 15 to 30 minutes of reading before you fall asleep for the night can make a marked difference in the life you lead.

What’s your favorite nighttime ritual? Let me know in the comments!

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Writers: Pay Attention to the Details

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Now that our kids have gone back to school, we writer-parents have a little more alone time on our hands to get back into a writing groove. Which is why I thought now would be a perfect time to share a few writing tips over the next few weeks with you!

I’ve given and been given a number of writing tips over the years—I think, as writers, we are always seeking the expertise of others to consistently improve our knowledge of the craft. But so much of the writing advice out there focuses on helping writers through big scenes. They focus on making big plot decisions, on structuring your novel, on getting your main character just right.

And while all of this stuff is MAJORLY important, I’d like to tell you all today that good writing pays attention to the small details every bit as much as it focuses on the big plot points. Don’t let any part of your book remain insignificant…even the smallest scene needs to count.

The scenes you might think need the most attention are the ones where a mystery is revealed, a character dies, an explosion happens, etc. etc. But what about the scene where your character is talking to his mother? What does that scene have to do with your story? What does it reveal about your characters or the way the view the world?

Small details, like the weather, or the time of day, or what the air smelled like, will also significantly improve your story once you really focus on them. Details ground us in stories, and they are every bit as important as the big plot point that drives the story forward.

The point I’m trying to make is that there are NO parts of your story that should slip by you as unimportant, or even as less important than something else. Make a decision to pay attention to every word you write down. Make everything count. And I promise, your story will be the better for it.

What small details do you like to pay attention to in your writing? Are you a fan of writing the details? Let me know in the comments!

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Fall Book Recommendations!

Fall 2017 has been, and will continue to be, a time for fantastic new children’s and YA book releases. Today I’m sharing with you some of the most anticipated yet!

It Takes A Village, by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

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Written by our own historic former presidential candidate, this picture book was written to inspire America to celebrate its differences by coming together. The Washington Post says, “It Takes a Village offers a universal, unifying message. It captures perfectly Clinton’s vision of a multicultural America working toward a constructive goal.”

All’s Faire In Middle School, by Victoria Jamieson.

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After winning the Newbery Honor in  2015, we have been eagerly awaiting Jamieson’s new book—this one about a girl named Imogen who is going to public school for the first time after growing up homeschooled. It’s already a bestseller on Amazon after releasing just this month!

Robinson, by Peter Sis.

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Based on a real story from his childhood, Sis blends fantasy with reality in this dreamy Robinson Crusoe-inspired tale. Kirkus Reviews calls this, “an enchanting love letter to the magic of childhood.” The perfect book to curl up with on a cool fall evening!

What are you looking forward to reading this fall? Let me know in the comments!

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How To Let Your Purpose Find You

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Often, career advice, love advice, and advice on how to be your happiest self is rooted in the idea of finding your “purpose.” Authors, counselors, and religious leaders express to us that we are here to do something, and staying focused on our “why” for being on this planet will result in us living our best lives.

But more often than not, I encounter people who have no clue what their “purpose” is supposed to be. They spend so much time trying to figure out how to discover their purpose that they are missing out on living the life they are in, and so concerned that they can’t be happy without a purpose that they don’t enjoy the happiness in front of them.

If you’re trying to figure out what your purpose is, I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to keep looking for it—it’s possible that in living your life, your purpose is going to find you.

For most of my life, I did not know that I was supposed to become a children’s author. I always enjoyed books and reading, and dabbled in writing short stories for adults, but I was focused on living the life I had in front of me. I was a single father living out the purpose life handed to me when it brought me my son.

In living my purpose of being a father, I would read my son bedtime stories, and eventually we started making up our own stories about a red crocodile named Crosley. Slowly, and over the course of many years, it dawned on me that Crosley could become more than a bedtime story kept as a secret between me and my son. When my son was grown, my new purpose had spent time building itself up inside me—I was supposed to write the Night Buddies books.

I’m not saying that it will be easy, or that you should put no thought into what you are supposed to do with your life. But if you do these three things, your purpose might just find you:

1. Follow your curiosity.

2. Make connections between your responsibilities and your passions/hobbies.

3. Be open to allowing your “purpose” to change over time.

Do you think having purpose is important to your life? Let me know in the comments!

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The Changing Role of Fatherhood

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Regular readers of this blog might be aware that I raised my son John as a single father. I’ve written about the challenges of single parenthood, about asking for help as a single parent, and about the importance of being an active father in your child’s life. But when I came across this article, everything I believed about being an active father in my son’s life felt validated.

Titled, “Embrace Fatherhood and Your Child Will Reap the Rewards,” author Wanda Wyont explores the changing role of fathers in the home, and uses scientific research and facts to back up the idea I’ve always known to be true—children benefit from a father’s involvement in their lives. Weaving statistics together with her own relationship with her father, and exploring the changes that relationship went through during her childhood and adult life, Wyont really captures the what it means for a child to have an active, involved father, rather than just the traditional breadwinner.

If you’re a father, in a single parent family or otherwise, or a mother who wants to better understand how she can work together with her partner to keep him as involved in your home life as possible, this article is a good place to turn to. She even includes quotes from children about their fathers! It is an encouraging, heartwarming read that gives me hope.

Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments below!

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4 Ways to Find Inspiration as a Writer

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One of the most fun and most difficult parts of being a writer is finding your next story. Sometimes a bestselling idea will hit you out of nowhere, but more often than not you have to go out into the world and seek inspiration. But where do you go? And how do you do it?

These are some of my tried and true ways for finding inspiration as a writer that’ll help you discover your next great story!

Travel. I know this sounds like the most luxurious way to spend your time as a writer (don’t we all secretly want to go on a trip to Tuscany to find inspiration for a book?) but travelling doesn’t always have to mean going on a big vacation. Spend a Saturday taking a day trip to drive around as much of your state as you can see, or even just spend a day in a city nearby that you’ve never explored. When you take the time to consider where you can go, you’ll probably be shocked to realize how much of your own backyard you’ve yet to encounter, and new experiences are great creativity starters!

Talk to strangers. If you’re looking for a story, think about how many live inside of the people we mindlessly walk by or stand in elevators with. When you reach out and ask something as simple as, “How are you?” you have the potential to unlock dozens of stories you didn’t know existed.

Read books. Reading a well-executed book, or a poorly written book, can give you so much inspiration as a writer. You’ll learn what works, what doesn’t work, how someone else pulled off something you want to do. Just be sure you’re not plagiarizing anything a fellow writer has written.

Spend time alone. Whether you’re going on a walk or taking a bubble bath, spending time alone with your own thoughts will give you time to think and create. They say one of the best places to brainstorm is the shower! When there are no distractions, including your phone or other people, you can spend time thinking, brainstorming, and reflecting on all the things you’re interested in and curious about that you could form a story around.

How do you like to find inspiration? Let me know in the comments!

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