April is national poetry month, so it seemed appropriate to write a post about poems. In line with the general theme of my blog, I’m focusing on what writing poetry can teach us about writing novels. Having studied poetry as part of my university course, these are the three important things I found: Creative metaphor […]

3 important things writing poetry teaches us about writing novels — Uninspired Writers

From Amazon:

Suitable for boys and girls aged 7 to 9-years-old.

Keeping secrets safe can be a burden for a child. Children need to be able to confide in a responsible adult. Help your child understand the impact that keeping secrets can have on all those involved.

Billy Field and Ant Turner are asked to keep a secret from Max Turner, Ant’s sister, about her upcoming birthday present. What starts off as innocent fun, ends up being nasty when Ant uses the secret to ‘get his own back’. When Billy accidently damages his dad’s new car he makes a pact with Ant about keeping it a secret. This puts a burden on them both, and nearly gets Eddy Jost into a lot of trouble.

Does Max find out what her surprise birthday present is? Did Eddy get into more trouble? Will Billy own up? How does Ant cope with keeping secrets?

Billy Knows A Secret is the eighth title in the Billy Growing Up series. Each book addresses a unique topic–bullying, arrogant pride, jealousy, lying, stealing, lack of self-belief, understanding money, and secrets. Written to help parents, guardians and teachers deal with the issues that challenge pre-teen children; each topic is presented in a gentle way through storytelling. Setting the issues in a meaningful context helps children to understand the challenges, and to see things from a different perspective. The books act as icebreakers allowing for discussions of difficult subjects. Additionally, each title is supported by a free activity book to reinforce the learning, while having fun.

Buying this book today will guide your child in dealing with this destructive behaviour.

My Review: Secrets – the good and the bad. Secrets can be good or bad. If a child knows about a special birthday present for another child, keeping that a secret is a good thing. If a child steals a toy, tells a big lie, damages something that doesn’t belong to him, etcetera then it’s best to own up to that secret right away. The lesson here is that a bad secret can grow to become so big with others involved and potentially hurt. Children need to learn to difference.

“Shadow and Friends Costume Party” hit number one on Amazon early this morning! Michael and I are both deeply humbled that our book was such a hit around the world. Literacy is truly everything and to have so many children love reading our books, as we have seen on social media, is awesome. Mike loved one little girl’s accent down in Trinidad as he listened. We both wore smiles in knowing that we are helping with free books to help with literacy around the world.

From Amazon: Dawn, a woman unfulfilled and living her life vicariously through her sister, has found a way to come to terms with her lot, investing all her energy into maintaining the close family ties – strong bonds that are complex and not how they appear to others. When faced with the shock of betrayal, threatening to derail all she holds precious, Dawn commits an unspeakable act – one that goes undetected but, later, comes back to haunt her. A tragic accident brings an unexpected turn in her life and, in its aftermath, an opportunity for Dawn to realise her dreams. But fate has other things in store and she is unprepared for the arrival of a stranger, whose untimely intrusion wreaks havoc with her plans. Can Dawn dispose of the problem as she’s done in the past, or are the obstacles too great? A family drama, steeped in suspense, that delves into the mind of a woman obsessed and the lengths she will go to when her life starts to unravel.

My Review: Beneath the Poison Tree was not what I expected. Wow. Just wow. This book is tightly woven with drama and suspense aplenty. The author definitely got into the sick psychology of the antagonist in this five star read! Dawn, the antagonist, is truly obsessed, and the more I read, the more I wondered about life and realized this novel has the makings for a great movie!

Mary L. Schmidt, S. Jackson and A. Raymond I was gifted Shadow and Friends’ Costume Party by the author, Mary L. Schmidt in exchange for an honest review. Although I’m an adult and this is a children’s book, I ended up buying it because I loved the illustrations so much. They’re quirky and the scrapbook style reminds me […]

Shadow and Friends’ Costume Party — F H Denny

Enjoy my chosen works for today. As always, my gallery can be found here.

Thank you for looking. All art works can be seen at this link.

on Just Publishing Advice: It’s easy for a new writer to believe many of the writing myths you read about online. However, most of them are untrue or are at least stretching the truth. If you are a new writer, a lot of the advice you read can affect your confidence. Writing and publishing might […]

10 Common Writing Myths Every New Writer Should Ignore – by Derek Haines… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog

by Elethwyn   Salutations, fellow elves and writers! Elethwyn is here today to share her thoughts, ideas, and tips for overcoming writing slumps. Writing slumps – also known as writer’s block, also known as writing depression, also known as the-reason-future-Newberry-winners-gave-up-writing – is something all writers face. It’s when we lose that spark to write and find […]

Surviving Writing Slumps – Everything You Need to Know — A Writer’s Path

All gallery works can be found here.

I hope you have enjoyed these renderings I have created. My favorite if the one above – Old Barn in Winter with Snow and Weeping Willow Tree.