The Bouncy Castle in Space

Smish said:

Kitty, you're an awesome person, and you deserve to be Charlie's successor of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. (I'd recommend adding Pink Marshmallow Power to all the candy.) Surely, Charlie's getting old? He needs to retire.

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LOL! He is getting old, I saw him on Top Chef Just Desserts a few months ago. I'm on the case. The chocolate chip caramel chai cookies were well received. She said the smell of them was soothing her spirit. She is the type of person who says things like that Anyway, I said little mouths had been talking about trouble at home, so I had been thinking of her and all, and we had a little chat. She seemed as okay as a person might be in such a situation.

I gave my student a little fairy i made out of felt (in exchange for good behavior, a deal we made), and she immediately put it in her hat to take a nap under a kleenex, and whispered soothing words to it. It was too cute, so while she was coloring, I wrote her a story about how she found a little fairy and took it home and what they did together. Then when she read it she VERY NEARLY LOST HER MIND. And I was highly amused

Awww... poor kids. And their poor mom. When something sucks that much, it's hard to know what to do, but I think your cookie instinct was right on the button... Got a call today re: a kiddo who was in in my elementary sp ed class for 4 years, then moved away for a couple of years, and now is back in the district--but in middle school now (so he can't come back to my class), and he's been through a lot of trauma, and ... yeah, you don't want to hear details. It just really does break your heart.

On a brighter note, I can just imagine those little stressed-out little seamstresses. And what an adorable shepherd--quite stylish, he is. And I love the story of Sissy's little granddaughter talking to the Santa card after refusing to interact with the guy in the red suit!

Good to see you mware, and best of luck with your book promo!

Sheesh, Joy... 3 in one day?!! No wonder you're not feeling bouncy. Hope you get a "yes" soon.

Sheila, I love tvtropes. It's been a help with some of my weirder novel research. (And btw, tried to pm you back a few days ago, but it said your box was full.)

Phew! Now to go write 2200 words and win NaNo. I've never waited 'til this late before, but it's been a very weird month.

Only 2200 words to go?! You're almost finished. You can do it, Ruth!

Smish said:

Only 2200 words to go?! You're almost finished. You can do it, Ruth!

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I ... did ... it ... with, like, 15 minutes to spare. I've never cut it this close before!

*pants*

WOOOHOOOO! Congrats!

Yay Ruth! Congratulations!

Congrats on finishing NaNo Ruth!!

My daughter went through the "terrified of Santa thing" We have one picture (I think she was two?)of her brother sitting beside Santa and this indistinct blur on Santa's lap. She was trying really hard to get away from him Anyway, this year it was a REALLY BIG DEAL to go and see Santa. She insisted on wearing her Christmas dress, and doing her hair all fancy. I was at work, but she made my husband re-do her hair about every two minutes in line. "But I want to look perfect Daddy!"

Why do we torture our children by making them sit on a fat man's lap, while he's dressed in a weird outfit and feeding them candy canes? Then turn around and try to teach them stranger danger? Doesn't make sense, but those blurry pictures of terrified toddlers that we pay way too much for are priceless.

AND WAY TO GO, RUTH!!!! I attempted nano once, and failed miserably. Finishing it at all earns you major kudos from me, so I'm sending everyone cookies! I'm doing German this week, so how about some Zucker Hutchen?

File under Only In LA: my charter school is partly housed in a public elementary school just a block away from the Hollywood walk of fame. Their principal just had to negotiate with a film crew shooting a "gangster period film" on our block during dark hours---she had to insist they not shoot off their fake gunfire while the children are in or near the school. Sigh. At least they agreed to it.

There was a little girl yesterday that came running out (our high end mall has a very elaborate polar bear, snowglobe set up with fake snow (styrofoam). Hey, it's Florida, the kids don't know the difference. The little one took off and started running around the snowglobe shouting, "no mama, I told you no." Mama scooped her up, trapped her in her stroller and park her right next to the big guy. She screamed her head off. No means no, mama.

Congrats Ruth! I've never even tried NaNo... I'm always too busy with an ongoing project already, and I like to focus on one manuscript at a time.

My kids love to see Santa. Even my teenagers still love him! But my four-year-old likes to ask for strange things, like a bloody sword and skull necklaces. She's a girl who likes to dress in pink and bows, so Santa's usually pretty confused.

I just got some horrible news... my ex husband was fired today. Not only does that mean complete uncertainty over the child support (which I rely on a lot while in school full time), but it also means he won't have the money to bring my thirteen-year-old home for Christmas... I don't know what I'll tell her siblings; they were so excited to see her.

... so was I.

Oh MorganMarshall, I'm so sorry to hear that. It's not much, but can I offer you a hug? Where do your ex and daughter live? Is it very far from you?

oh, Morgan. i'm so sorry! just an idea that totally might not work, but is there any chance someone in the family might have frequent flier miles they would like to gift to you for Christmas/birthday/etc? my sister and i hadn't seen each other in four years and last month our grandmother gave us ff miles so my sister could come out and visit.

my daughter (almost six) has been uninterested in Santa except from a distance - and we certainly didn't care or push it. then suddenly this year, she was WAY into it, got all dressed up, and asked Santa for a typewriter. made this writer-mama proud.

They live in South Dakota and I'm in Washington. Not terribly far, but far enough to matter. She's only there for the year. Usually the kids are all with me for the school year and with him in the summer but he asked to have her this year for some one-on-one time. Still, I miss her terribly. I'd love the FF idea, Joy, but then he wouldn't have her for Christmas, and since I have the other four, I'd feel horribly selfish. They were all supposed to come (he and his girlfriend and our daughter), so we could spend the holiday together, but now it's looking very grim.

Thank-you for the hugs, starbeam. I needed that!

(((Morgan)))

My son is 12 and still wholeheartedly believes. I just can't bring myself to tell him even though everyone tells me that a. either he knows, or b. I should tell him. He is so enthralled with the whole idea of the North Pole, the elves, the magic. He is homeschooled, so a lot of the kids still believe there. He also thinks that dragons are probably real, they just hide and that some people can do magic. Okay, I do, or did, help with the whole fantasy thing. I had him 'enrolled' in a Hogwarts Correspondence class. He really believed that it existed. I told him that JKR wrote the history of Hogwarts. So, maybe it is me... But, it is getting to be a lot of work pretending. He saw Santa when we saw the terrified kid.

Oh, Morgan. That's so hard. But may i say, so refreshing that you're on good enough terms with your ex to want to spend Christmas with him and his girlfriend.

Laura, wow, that sounds tricky. I'm shocked other kids haven't clued him in already - even homeschooled. We're homeschoolers, but my daughter's around plenty of neighbor kids, church kids, etc. But what a magical household you must have that he still believes!

My day of three rejections yesterday was followed by a partial request a few minutes ago!

Laura, if it helps, my kids' paternal grandfather told me the other day that they don't know the difference between fantasy and reality. I told him, "it depends on your version of reality".

Your son sounds like he would make a perfect friend for my fifteen-year-old daughter. She still believes in many things including faeries, ghosts, and guardian angels. She's well aware that she's not normal to believe them, and even that she probably shouldn't believe them, but she doesn't want to give them up. And you know what? She doesn't have to.

After all, a lot of adults believe in God and angels. Who's to say anything is impossible?

MorganMarshall said:

Thanks for all your congrats! I have a pic of him in his costume:

mware01... that might be true, but I'd still kill for the chance! Have a blast!

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Being a guy, I wouldn't go as far as calling him cute, but I will say he seems to be avoiding the awkward phase that most boys hit. I think I've burned all the photos of me from age 9-12 =-)

My book is self-published--so it's not quote the same; but still your point is taken!

MsJudy said:

Hi, mware. Hope all that promoting is paying off!

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I imagine at least of few of you are wondering about my sales. I'm closing in on 300 total (probably 275ish). That's everything except November's Apple sales which I hope are around 20 more.

However, my sales have slowed down the last few days, and I had to give the book away for free for 1 week to get my title into Amazon's algorithms (I gave thousands of copies away).

I think the challenge will be to get into kids hands. I have a few kids readers, but most are adults. I think I'm going to start targeting school librarians.

One really cool thing is kids as young as 8 are reading it!

Joy, so many congrats! YAYYYYY! I can't wait to be out there again, waiting for query replies. But for now I'm in revision hell. Yay for me?

As for my ex and I, we're still pretty good friends (as long as we don't talk about certain subjects like religion or politics). To us, it has always been about the kids, and if we're happy, they're happy. He was actually here last Christmas when my fiance popped the question. My ex's reaction? "Wait! I don't have the camera out yet!"

mware01 said:

Being a guy, I wouldn't go as far as calling him cute, but I will say he seems to be avoiding the awkward phase that most boys hit. I think I've burned all the photos of me from age 9-12 =-)

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Well, he just hit 8 last month, so I guess we'll see.

My book is self-published--so it's not quote the same; but still your point is taken!

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Mine too! What are you doing to promote it? I'm currently undergoing a rewrite, but when I'm done I want to perfect the e-book and give away a LOT of copies. Best way to get people reading it without spending tons of cash I don't have!

I'd like to do that before Christmas... but probably won't have the time. Pfft.

I imagine at least of few of you are wondering about my sales. I'm closing in on 300 total (probably 275ish). That's everything except November's Apple sales which I hope are around 20 more.

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I've sold... ten copies. *Head hung in shame* Like I said... whatcha doin' for promotion? Huh? Huh?

I think the challenge will be to get into kids hands. I have a few kids readers, but most are adults. I think I'm going to start targeting school librarians.

One really cool thing is kids as young as 8 are reading it!

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What's the price? I have some voracious readers who might be interested for Christmas!

Morgan - so sorry about your daughter. But how awesome that you guys have such a supportive relationship! That's a huge blessing.

Joy -

mware - that's great about the 8 year olds. Keep it up!

Laura - it bums me out no end that my 9 year-old had the whole Santa thing spoiled for him last year at school. Kids, jeesh.

Is it me, or is this site really slow to load?

MorganMarshall said:

Mine too! What are you doing to promote it? I'm currently undergoing a rewrite

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I don't understand ... you're rewriting something you've already published and sold copies of?

ETA: Oh, and I'm so sorry about the ex's job/Christmas snafu, Morgan. Hope everything will work out somehow.

SheilaJG said:

Is it me, or is this site really slow to load?

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It's been slow for me since cyber-Monday, and it sometimes kicks me off. Think all that electronic purchasing broke something in the interwebz?

Joy, congrats on the partial request!

Yes. I've halted sales for now in order to bring out a second edition. Long story.

MorganMarshall said:

Well, he just hit 8 last month, so I guess we'll see.

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Not to worry, if he gets bit with the awkward bug, we do grow out of it!

MorganMarshall said:

Mine too! What are you doing to promote it? I'm currently undergoing a rewrite, but when I'm done I want to perfect the e-book and give away a LOT of copies. Best way to get people reading it without spending tons of cash I don't have!

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I did a blog tour. It was sooo much work and not a lot of return, except for the bigger sites. Next time, I'll limit it to sites with 1,000 followers or more (or friends/other writer's blogs).

I gave it out free, which helped it get into Amazon's recommendation system. This is what has really been driving sales--if Amazon recommends your book it will sell (even if it stinks)--if they don't it won't (but if it's good enough it will find it's way into the recommendations eventually).

My advice is to focus on bigger bloggers, especially ones who will post their reviews on Amazon. The trouble is a lot are getting inundated with indie books and only take reviews from the Big 5 or only take print books. I'm basically throwing all the profits back into buying more copies.

MorganMarshall said:

What's the price? I have some voracious readers who might be interested for Christmas!

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It's $8.98 on Amazon (free shipping if you are a prime member). However, I'd be glad to e-mail you a free ebook copy (e-mail me at: mikejware [at] gmail.com).

If you prefer print, I'd be glad to sell a copy at my cost, $7 or if you want a free copy and you or your kids are willing to write a review, I'm currently sending out free paperbacks to Amazon reviewers (you just put a note at the bottom of your review saying something like, "I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.")

That goes for any kidlit members. I can't say I'll do it forever, but if you want to read it, I'll provide an ebook copy free--no strings attached--or a print copy if you'll consider leaving a Amazon review (you have to have purchased at least one thing from Amazon in the past), but if you hate it, the review isn't mandatory =-)