My Picture Book App is Available!

 

Hello, friends!
I am thrilled to announce that Meegenius has published my picture book app titled, BIG SISTER, BABY BROTHER. You can get the Meegenius app for free (it's the number one picture book app), and then you are able purchase my book for only $2.99! Go to Meegenius to check it out!

From Meegenius: Meegenius books are available as a website, an application created for the Apple iPhone, iPad or iTouch, as well as Google TV and the Google Chrome Web Store, MeeGenius offers a selection of classic children's stories - both old and new - and enhances them with technology, with features such as word highlighting, audio playback and personalization.


You can preview the book here!


A little background information about my picture book. This was the second picture book that I ever wrote. I met author (now author/agent) Tina P. Schwartz at a local SCBWI meeting. I then took an online writing class from her, and the assignment was to write a story about the first time of doing something. I first titled the book, "THE FIRST TIME I SAW MY BABY," and the story is about a little girl who holds her little baby brother for the first time in the hospital. Many revisions later, it is now available for all to read, and I couldn't be more excited!

Thank you for sharing in the excitement with me! Please spread the word about my picture book! It's a great idea to have a book on the go for busy parents and grandparents, and could also be a great baby shower gift!

Genre Favorites Blogfest

Cassastar Ninja Alex Cavanaugh is hosting today's spectacular GENRE FAVORITES BLOGFEST! Fun, right? I didn't plan on blogging here this week, but I had to join the partay!

MOVIE
My go-to movie is a comedy. I love to laugh. Some of my all-time favorites include Old School, Vacation, and Elf. Some of the more recent movies that made me giggle are Bridesmaids and The Change Up. I want to see Ted. I heard that was a funny one.

BOOKS
I am all over the place with books. I love picture books, middle grade, young adult, and adult novels in all different genres. The only genre I generally do not read is non-fiction. I love a great story! Some of my all time favorite books are The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Guess Again by Mac Barnett, The Hunger Games, The Outsiders, and A Time to Kill.

MUSIC
If you know me at all, you know that my favorite genre of music is ROCK! My last four concerts over the summer included

Daughtry and opener, new fave musician, Mike Sanchez

New Medicine (this is the bassist, Brady)

Buckcherry (for the sixth time!)

and Motley Crue (also for the sixth time!).

Rock 'n' Roll, baby!





GUILTY PLEASURE
I subscribe to Us Weekly and look forward to every issue. It's just my little slice of pure mindless entertainment. I sit outside on the patio or couch and zone out for an hour. I also read it to get celebrity book recommendations for my other site, Book Recs of the Rock & Famous, too!

Also, my guilty pleasure TV show is True Blood (Eric Northman, need I say more?)

How about you? What are your favorite genres?

CELEBRATE!

HURRAY! HURRAY! SHERI LARSON IS HERE TODAY WITH SOME
SUPERCOOL GIVEAWAYS!!

Take it away, Sheri...

Today, I invite you to celebrate with me!! I've signed with Literary Agent Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary! And because our literary community is so freaking fabulous and generous, I'm having a Bigger-Than-A-Shopping-Mall GIVEAWAY!! The giveaway consists of:

• two separate Rafflecopters with multiple giveaways
• and one grand prize Rafflecopter giveaway - to enter for the grand prize, you must enter either giveaway #1, #2, or both.

There's only one mandatory entry. Everything else is up to you!! I know Rafflecopters can be a pain, but it was the only way to organize such a huge giveaway. The giveaway is open until September 27th. WINNERS will be announced on September 28th. (Entrants may win more than one prize!)

Thank you so much for entering, spreading the word, and celebrating with me!!

List of Rocking Participants: Lenny Lee, Colene Murphy, LM Preston, Darby Karchut, Joanne Brothwell, Patti Larsen, Christine Fonseca, Catherine Stine, Jessica Bell, Kelly Hashway, Leigh Moore, Christine Danek, Alex Cavanaugh, Katie Mills, Matthew MacNish, Beverly McClure, Marcy Hatch, Jennifer Million, Nicole Zoltack, Christina Lee, Kris Yankee, JL Spelbring, Sharon Mayhew, Candice Granger, Dianne Salerni, Lisa & Laura Roecker, Elana Johnson, Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, Susan Kaye Quinn, Lydia Kang, Julie Musil, Natalie Agurrie, Talli Roland, Medeia Sharif, Kelly Polark, Angela Brown, Sarah Fine, Stina Lindenblatt, Lynda Young, Susan Fields, PK Hrezo, Shannon O'Donnell, Shelli Johannes-Wells, Theresa Brown Milstein.

Giveaway #1: a Rafflecopter giveaway Giveaway #2: a Rafflecopter giveaway Grand Giveaway: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats, Sheri! I'm proud of you, girl. I'm so happy to be part of your celebration! 

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And while we are talking about awesomeness in the literary world, I want to congratulate these wonderful people on their new releases!

The Storyqueen herself, Shelley Moore Thomas, released her TENTH book last week! Check out her new middle grade novel, THE SEVEN TALES OF TRINKET!

One of my favorite poets, Douglas Florian, recently released his pirate book of poems, SHIVER ME TIMBERS!

And also congrats to Leigh Talbert Moore! Her new young adult novel, THE TRUTH ABOUT FAKING, is available now!

So there you have it, something for everyone: a picture book, a middle grade, and a young adult novel to read! Check these reads out! :)

Hey Jenny Hey

Please help me welcome the very funny author and blogger, Jenny Baranick to my blog today. Jenny regularly blogs at "Missed Periods and Other Grammar Scares" and the book of the same name was recently released. Congrats Jenny! Her book is a great way to learn about the do's and don't's of grammar in a no snooze way!
Today Jenny is going to educate us on the correct usage of the word, "lay."
Have at it, Jenny!

Lie Dylan Lie

In Bob Dylan’s autobiography Chronicles, Vol. 1 he wrote, “All I'd ever done was sing songs that were dead straight and expressed powerful new realities, I had very little in common with and knew even less about a generation that I was supposed to be the voice of."

Basically, Dylan just wanted to sing folk music; he never wanted to be heralded as the voice of his generation. So, in order to dispel his reputation as a guru, he confessed to doing things like pouring whiskey on his head (what a waste of whiskey!) and walking into department stores and acting drunk.

But I think Dylan went beyond trying to negate his guru status; I think he did something very subtle to get revenge on the citizens who made his life a living hell by stalking him in hopes that he’d bestow upon them the meaning of life. And I think the revenge was grammatical. 

You may have heard of the song “Lay Lady Lay.” The first line says, “Lay Lady Lay. Lay across my big brass bed.”

Thanks to the fact that many considered Dylan the trusted voice of their generation, they must have trusted he used “lay” correctly in his song. Well, he didn’t. And I believe he did this on purpose to mislead the generation. I bet he laughs himself to sleep every night when he thinks about how he tricked an entire nation into misusing the word “lay.”

In hopes of being the grammatical voice of this generation, I am here to tell you when to use “lay” and when to use “lie.”

On second thought, buy my newly released grammar guide Missed Periods and Other Grammar Scares. You can find the answer on page 7!     

 

You can purchase Jenny's book HERE!! Thank you for gracing my blog with your grammatically correct presence today, Jenny! You rock!           

Fifty

I've now published fifty posts on my celebrity book recommendation site, BOOK RECS OF THE ROCK AND FAMOUS! Woot! If you aren't familiar with it, I compile book recommendations from magazines and post what musicians, actors, or athletes are reading so fans might read what their favorite stars read. I am also pleasantly thrilled and surprised when celebs tweet or email me their favorite reads. Just promoting literacy in a unique way!

I looked at my stats, and I found out which celebrities got the most web hits in the past year.
Here are my top five most visited posts (click the name to read the post):

1. ANGIE HARMON - actress on Rizzoli and Isles (on TNT)

2. TYSON RITTER - lead singer of All American Rejects

3. NIKKI SIXX - bassist of Motley Crue and Sixx:A.M. (plus author and radio show host)

4. JOSHUA MORROW - actor on The Young and the Restless

5. DUFF MCKAGAN - bassist of Velvet Revolver, Loaded, and formerly of Guns 'n Roses

A beautiful actress/mom, three rockers, and a handsome soap star!

Who would you like to see on my site? I can't guarantee anyone (and not everyone is an avid reader), but I will do my darnedest to try and find out their book recommendation for you. Today's celebrity post is the incredibly hot Joe Manganiello from True Blood and Magic Mike. Thanks for checking out my other site!

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On a writer's note, how awesome was WriteOnCon last week?! Thank you to the authors, agents, editors, and writers who participated! I received great feedback on a new picture book in the message boards, and the events were amazing!

Have a great week, everyone! Back to school for the kiddos and me tomorrow!

Find me

over at The Writing Nut site today. Nutschell Windsor is interviewing me about my writing and workspace. She's even sharing a photo of lil miss Kelly at age four. (Awwwww.) Please stop on by! I'll be answering questions and comments there today! Click HERE to visit us.

Also, today's reading rocker is one of my fave musicians, Nikki Sixx. He's featured at Book Recs of the Rock and Famous today with a photo of him and a pregnant me from a concert eight years ago! What book is he reading this week?

Thanks! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Never Surrender

I'm a pretty lucky gal. I'm participating in Elana Johnson's SURRENDER Blogfest that entails writing about a time that you never surrendered. Click HERE to get the deets and see who else is participating (and there is still time to participate, too! Win great prizes, get some Surrender swag, and Elana is awesome so give that lovely author a shout out!).

I thought back on times that I never surrendered, and I first thought, "Dang. I'm pretty lucky. I haven't really been through terribly difficult times. I've had a pretty great life." As I said, I'm a lucky girl. But then I did some more thinking. Yeah, I guess I have had some hard times, but.... I stayed positive. I moved on. I fought on.

Even as a youth, I tried to make good choices. I worked hard in school and sports. I didn't do drugs. I was competitive in everything I did. I do believe that many times luck is the result of hard work plus good timing. But you can't control everything.
As an adult I realize I was faced with hard times (but thankfully more good times) as many of you did. My parents divorced. But I did see that it was best for them and moved on and got over it. I married young and have been with the same man for twenty years - through good times and bad. But we are still together. I've witnessed my child lose a kidney, have multiple convulsions from epilepsy, and  watched our children cry and laugh over small and big losses and gains. But I became my children's advocate, researched medical problems, talked with their teachers, stayed ever present in their education and their lives. In these awful economic times, my hubby and my careers have been compromised, we almost moved to another state, lived apart due to a job, but yet we are still hanging on. Times are tough for everyone. But you can't dwell, you just do what you gotta do.

My point in all of this ramble? Stay positive. Don't give up.

When life gives you lemons, throw that lemon in a tall glass of ice water. Honey, you are going to need it, because sometimes you have to work that much harder. Make some pink lemonade cupcakes to celebrate life's little joys. Mix some lemonade with a splash of vodka to deal with a bump in the road. Heck, make an Arnold Palmer, because it tastes so darn good!
Do stay positive. Don't give up. Smile more. Frown less.

Congrats to Elana on her second novel, SURRENDER.
And since I love me some tunes. Listen to some Corey Hart. And never surrender.