MORNING WALKS

    Good morning! These are two of the pictures I have taken on my morning walks. You can see more on my Facebook page. After being diagnosed with breast cancer last year, I started taking a hormone blocker. One of the side effects from the medicine is osteoporosis. I asked the doctor how I could prevent or reduce the those chances. She recommended walking at least 30 minutes a day. 

    I started by walking 15 minutes from my home and back for the minimum of 30 minutes. I gradually increased my distance and now I am walking 4 miles a day. And I love it! I snap pictures of my encounters and share them on Facebook. 

Here are a few more.

 

 

It has been five years since I last posted. We have moved once again, hopefully for the last time. When we were moving in, we were welcomed by this family of four Sand Cranes. They come by every day usually in the early morning. They make a loud racket like a turkey, but much harsher. The adult Sand Cranes will run their babies off around the end of the year. They will be as big as their parents in just a few months. They will learn to forage for food, fly and how to avoid predators. We live in a park-like setting with dear, Ibis and Egrets. We enjoy the pontoon boat, bike riding the Withlacoochee Trail, walks, and kayaking. And to top it all off, I retired from my clinical scientist job of 43 years. I am learning to slow down and take it easy. I am reading and writing and have joined a fabulous online critique group. 

April 2019 Kidlitsoshpere Progressive Poem

This years Kidlitsosphere Progressive Poem is based off song lyrics.
I chose Pointer Sister's song, "We Are Family" because I just returned from my sisters trip. Think of it: Five sisters and this year we invited our two aunts. Needless to say it was a blast. We went to Edisto Beach, SC.

Endless summer; I can see for miles…
Fun, fun, fun – and the whole world smiles.
No time for school- just time to play,
we swim the laughin’ sea each and every day.

You had only to rise, lean from your window,
the curtain opens on a portrait of today.
Kodachrome greens, dazzling blue,
it’s the chance of a lifetime,

make it last forever–ready? Set? Let’s Go!
Come, we’ll take a walk, the sun is shining down
Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eyes
Tomorrow’s here. It’s called today.

Gonna get me a piece o’ the sky.
I wanna fly like an eagle, to the sea
and there’s a tiger in my veins Oh,
won’t you come with me waltzing the waves, diving the deep?

It’s not easy to know
less than one minute old
we’re closer now than light years to go
To the land where the honey runs

…we can be anyone we want to be…
There’s no stopping curiosity.
What’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing
Looking for a sign of life

You’re simply the best
Hold my hand and we’ll be free

Have faith in you and the things you do




Up next,  our poem moves on to Liz @ Elizabeth Steinglass
Here is a list of line sources:

L1 The Who, 'I Can See for Miles'/The Beach Boys, 'Endless Summer'
L2 The Beach Boys, 'Fun, Fun, Fun'/Dean Martin, 'When You're Smiling'
L3 The Jamies, 'Summertime, Summertime'
L4 The Doors, Summer's Almost Gone'/Led Zeppelin 'Good Times, Bad Times'
L5 Ray Bradbury, "Dandelion Wine"
L6 Joni Mitchell, "Chelsea Morning"
L7 Paul Simon, "Kodachrome," "Dazzling Blue"
L8 Dan Fogelberg, "Run for the Roses"
L9 Spice Girls, "Wannabe"/Will Smith, "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It"
L10 The Beatles, "Good Day Sunshine"
L11 The Carpenters, "Top of the World"
L12 Lin-Manuel Miranda, "Underneath the Lovely London Sky" from Mary Poppins Returns
L13 Carole King, "Hi-de-ho (That Old Sweet Roll)"
L14 Steve Miller, "Fly Like An Eagle"
L15 Don Felder, "Wild Life"L16 Nowleen Leeroy, "Song of the Sea" (lullaby)
L 16 Nowleen Leeroy, "Song of the Sea" (lullaby)
L17 Sara Bareilles, "She Used to Be Mine" from WAITRESS
L18 Stevie Wonder, "Isn't She Lovely"
L19 R.E.M., "Find the River"
L20 Carole King, "Way Over Yonder"
L21 Mint Juleps, "Groovin" by the Young Rascals
L22 Jack Johnson, "Upside Down"
L23 Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson) "Rainbow Connection" from the Muppet Movie
L24 The Foo Fighters, "Learning to Fly"
L25 Tina Turner, "The Best"
L26 The Partridge Family "Summer Days"
L27 The Pointer Sister's, "We Are Family"

2018 Siesta Key Crystal Classic

2018 Siesta Key Crystal Classic

International Sand Sculpting Festival

There were 8 teams of 2 and 8 solo sculptors.

I was able to meet Peter Vogelaar (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) and Delayne Corbett (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) and take a picture of them with their work of art.

There were also sculptures of BOOKS!

Here is Alice in Wonderland.

I like what Delayne said about his ability to sculpt. He had mentors that encouraged him and he honed his skills by attending workshops  and participating in competitions.

Writers are not that much different. We too must "hone" our craft and there are many workshops we can attend either in person or online and also many contests!

What are you doing to hone your craft?

Market Research

Have you ever written a story and sent it off either to a magazine or agent only to hear something like, "I'm sorry, but we have a work like that already?"

Market research is one of my least favorite things to do, but a necessary task that should be done if you are writing to be published.


Some of the ways that I have been able to research the market is to check with the library. What are some of the new releases?


I receive an email newsletter from the Sarasota County library that posts new arrivals. I can choose from several filters.
Another tool used frequently is the library online search for books. I can log in from home and search for books by subject. If the book is not at my home library I can request a hold and they will send it to my home library for easy pickup.


Horn Book Review, Kirkus review, Publisher's Weekly are a few that offer best books for the year and you can filter to children's books.




Of course we all know Amazon is a great tool for researching subjects and can also read excerpts  of the book to give you an idea of the slant the author has taken.


Another helpful tool to use is Renaissance Readers, this site tells you published date, number of pages and much more.




But why do a market research?
You don't want to spend volumes of time and effort on a topic that has been recently published unless you can slant it differently. You will need to be able to show how your book is different and why it should be published.
In my recent market research I have been looking at picture book biographies. I'm amazed at how focused they are, but still contain other information not known before or not highlighted before.




Some things to note in your Market research:
Title
Target age group
Publisher
Fiction or Nonfiction
Total pages
Chapters: How many pages to a chapter?
Who is the main character?
What POV is used?
Prose or Poetry?




What are some of you market research techniques?

I'm Back!

I'm Back! Where have I been you ask? Well, let me tell you a story.
I took a two year hiatus while I worked on my MBA. Yep that's right. I now have my Master of Business Administration. I learned so much and wrote so many papers I thought my fingers would never straighten out. Many early mornings and late nights. I still snuck in some reading though. Audio books on the way to work and back and reading a page or two to wind down before I closed my eyes for the night. Graduation will be December 15th, 2018. I am looking forward to meeting the women that were in our group project. We were scattered across the south and different time zones but we worked like a well oiled machine.


Some things I learned about myself was that I still loved to learn and could learn. I can do research and write exceptional research papers. I can get in the habit of getting up early to study or write and stay up late if needed.
I can and will set aside time to write, research and edit.

Some other things that happened to me in the past two years was that I moved to Venice, FL and work at Sarasota. We have a swimming pool! and a place on the water.


But most important, I have a new granddaughter, my first grandchild, so I'm definitely over the moon.

I have updated and cleaned up my blog page and will post more often.


I have also signed up for another ICL Class and will be blogging about my experience with this. If you're looking for a good online writing class I highly recommend them.

Congratulations to the Winners!

Congratulations to the winners of the August Book giveaway:
Rick Starkey has the After-Room by Maile Meloy and Jennifer Williamsfield has won the book Writer With a Day job.
Please send me the addresses you would the book mailed to.
Due to my day job and going back for my MBA I will not blogging regularly. I will try to squeeze in some blogs when I can because I still have lots of books to giveaway.


I'm thinking about asking for volunteers to review the books I have and they keep them for themselves.
Leave a comment with your thoughts on this.


Thank you so much for following my blogs and hope to back soon!


Stay tuned:
Sheila