From Odds and Ends...

A Poem


This year my parents celebrated 32 years of marriage.  I wrote a simple, short poem in honor of those two beautiful people.  I hope that you enjoy the poem as much as they did.

Love


is passionate and much more than romance,


it is a treasure when you stick loyally together,


surrounded by your loving family,


that will never forget your importance.


Love repairs you when you break down,


and makes your heart whole.


It will be especially beautiful when blessings overtake you,


and your love lasts forever.

Balancing Fiction With Non-Fiction

There's nothing like a good fiction story to stir a child's imagination.  When a child discovers the joy of reading, it's often by way of a story that is introduced by the words, "once upon a time..." or another clever hook.  I still remember with great fondness one of the first stories that I read as a child - The Little Engine That Could.  Today's list of famous fiction for kids (and us adults too) seems endless, from The 39 Clues, to Harry Potter, to the Diary of a Whimpy Kid.

However, in all of the excitement to expose our kids to the wonder of fairy tales and myths, we sometimes forget just how wonderful well written non-fiction can be for our children.  Since they get plenty of non-fiction in school, we might be inclined to neglect that part of our children's reading repertoire.  I believe that if we leave all of the discussions of science, biology, and the like, solely to those times when a child is in school, they may associate such learning only with the challenge of making a grade, instead of appreciating the beauty of such information in of itself.

Therefore, I suggest that we commit to exposing our kids to more animals, oceans, stars, planets, math, art, music, and creativity.  This will help them to contemplate the wonders of what they can see and accomplish in the real world.  Next month I'll review a few such recommended books for children.

Coming in 2011...A New Young Adult Novel by C. T. Martin

No One Said Anything is a story about seventeen year old Jonathan who is trying to make sense of all the advice he’s been getting from adults during his senior year in high school. He struggles with the conflicting messages of kindness, giving, and helping others, while at the same time observing hypocrisy and an epidemic of indifference plaguing the attitudes of his community.

While dealing with these issues, Jonathan and other students at Covina High School observes how deeply depressed their Math Instructor Bill Lopardo, has become since his divorce. The students express their concerns to parents and counselors at the school, but everyone keeps using the excuse that Mr. Lopardo’s family problems was none of their business. Although Mr. Lopardo has many friends, most of them do not put enough effort into preventing a tragedy that will shatter the lives of many others on that fateful Christmas day. The lessons that the community learns come at a high price, but are not fully realized until Jonathan comes to grips with his own journey into adulthood and responsibility.

A New Book for Young Readers!

Why The Mouse Chose The House by C. T. Martin

Mike's parents don't know about his new little friend - a mouse named Seb! Read their hilarious story of how mice came to choose people's homes as a place to live.

Children's fiction. Ages 7 and older. 36 pages. Full color glossy softcover, with black and white original illustrations inside.

To purchase Why The Mouse Chose The House click here!

Host Your Own Writing Contest

A friend of mine who works in marketing for a bookstore in Katy, Texas (Katy Budget Books - great place to visit if you're in the Houston area) approached me the other day, asking for advice on how to get more participation in the monthly poetry reading night held at the store. Immediately I suggested a poetry or short story writing contest, as this is a fun, easy way to get people excited about writing as well as reading.

If you attend groups like this, try organizing one yourself and let us know how things went!

Here are a few suggestions:

1) Focus attention on local talent and reward top participants. You could have a first, second, third place prize and two honorable mentions. The authors should be invited to read their winning entries. Parents are more apt to support and promote participation in things like this if they know that their child will have some kind of official recognition for their efforts.

2) Advertise on your web site, to patrons at the store with flyers, and through email. In addition to the prizes and honorable mentions, you could host a store raffle for the same night, where an additional coupon is available, along with signed copies of books by local authors.

3) The contest should be held in conjunction with a specially advertised store sale for the same day. That way you'd attract more patrons, and they would find out about the poetry or short story night and be more interested with its focus on charity and a contest.

4) All the entry fees from the contest should go to a well known charity such as the March of Dimes (https://www.marchofdimes.com/howtohelp/donate_online.asp) or UNICEF (see http://www.unicefusa.org/donate/). Be sure to appoint a responsible person to care for this and follow up with them to ensure all donations are promptly submitted.

5) The entry fee for the writing contest could be something reasonable like $10. The store would put up the prize money itself for the poems, which should be minimal ($35 cash prize for 1st, $25 gift card to the store for 2nd, and 50% discount off book purchases for 3rd; and of course the two honorable mentions cost you nothing; the raffle costs only the cost of the tickets, which can be printed on a computer with colored paper).

6) Definitely have clearly spelled out contest rules, such as what kind of content is prohibited and have a specific theme for the contest.

7) Also, to really get more attention and participation approach local schools. In fact, the entry fees could be donated to a local school in lieu of a charity. Ask some of the school staff to be judges. Make sure that the deadline for entries is at least a week before the award ceremony to allow enough time for the judges to get together and decide which entries will be awarded.

8) The raffle should be after the award ceremony to make sure that people get a chance to see what is going on with the contest. People will not leave if they know they might have a chance at winning something later on.

If you have other ideas, please post them here on the blog!

CT