J is for Juvenile Fiction

Hello all I am still chugging along and planning to catch up on Sunday. Hopefully nothing too exciting will happen this weekend.

Blogging 

From A to Z

I wrote this Juvenile Fiction for my son because we were having a problem exactly like this and the fable flash fiction seemed to help get the point across to him the other day. I printed up the fable and asked him to help illustrate it for me. He had to read it and think about what it meant to be able to create an appropriate picture. I hope you enjoy it.


“Mom may I use my own money to buy some LEGO?” asked Levi.

“I thought you were saving up for the new Pokemon game coming out next month,” his mother said as she put new sheets in the cart.

“I am, but I really need new LEGO for the city I’m building,” Levi said as he followed his mother to the next aisle. He was beginning to feel impatient as they moved closer to the toy section because his mother had almost scratched everything off her list.

His mother stopped, bent down and looked at him. “Well, if you need them and you are willing to spend your money, I suppose we'd better go look at them,” she said.

“Yay,” he said bouncing up and down while his mom grabbed the last few items on her list and headed to the toy section.

Levi sped up and his mom let him lead the way to the LEGO aisle. Levi knew exactly what set he wanted and ran right to it. “Mom, this is the one I need,” he said stressing the last word.

“I see,” said his mother. “How much does that one cost?”

“It is twenty-nine dollars,” Levi said beaming at his mother.

His mother took a small manilla envelope out of her purse that had LEVI written on the front and handed it to him. “How much is left in the Levi envelope?” she asked.

“Levi quickly opened the envelope and pulled out a ten and six ones. He took a moment to count twice and looked up sadly. “Mom, there are only sixteen dollars here. I got forty for my birthday and it’s only been five days, what happened to it?” He asked.

“How much did you spend on games at the fair Sunday?” She asked.

“I only spent ten. I should still have thirty and that’s enough to buy the set I need, right mom?”

“You’re correct it would be, but how much did you spend on your extra books that came with a minifigure when you and daddy went to the bookstore?”

Levi scrunched his face up and said, “They were each seven dollars, so fourteen.” He looked down at the LEGO set in his hand and said, “I think I spent most of my money. How will I get this set?”

“I am sorry Levi, you can’t afford that LEGO set,” his mother said bending down again and hugging him.

“But mom I have to have it, I need it,” he said pouting and feeling really upset he wouldn’t be able to finish his city this weekend.

His mother pulled back a bit to look at his face and asked, “Need? Do you need or want this toy?”

“I need it,” Levi answered quickly. “Without it my city will never be built.”

“What will happen if you don’t build your city?” His mother asked with a kind smile.

His eyes widened and he leaned forward, “A whole world will never exist,” he said shaking the LEGO slightly with every word.

“No matter how badly you want that LEGO set it is still a want, not a need. Needs are food, shelter, clothing, love,” she said as she gave Levi another hug. “Needs are things people can’t function well without. If you want this toy, or anything else, badly enough you can choose to save your money instead of buying something every time you go out. It takes a lot of practice and self-control, but I know you can do it if you choose to.”

Levi looked down at the LEGO set one last time and placed it back on the shelf. He turned to his mom and said, "I guess I will have to save for it. Can I wash the dog when we get home?"


There seems to be some disagreement as to what is considered Juvenile Fiction. Some places were lumping it in with Young Adult and some saying it is a synonym for Middle Grade. While others are saying it is 2nd through 6th grades. Much confusion was caused, but this was written for my son who is in 2nd grade. I think that leaves it about as clear as mud.

Levi's story turned into another moral of the story flash, but I think most of Juvenile Fiction has a moral at the end of the story anyway. I was originally going to go with Jiangshi Fiction, which is about a Chinese hopping vampire/zombie hybrid thing. Unfortunately, I am not really feeling the horror at the moment. Though the comedic value of a hopping zombie thing might have been worth tapping into. I already had a vampire in G’s Gothic Romance. Then V and Z are earmarked for vampires and zombies respectively. Making Jiangshi feel repetitive and redundant.

                

Which author of Juvenile Fiction should I be sure to check out with my son? We are always looking for new books to read. Let me know in the comments.

ROW80 Rundown

Make the check-ins on Sundays and Wednesdays - So far so good, but I think I was a bit tardy last check-in.

Visit 5 fellow ROW80 bloggers each check-in - I only hit 3, but I am not ready to reel the number back yet. I really want to see what you all are up to and love the supportive feel of the ROW80 community.

Write 667 words every day to keep up with my Camp NaNo goal - Sunday - 633 Monday - 873 Tuesday - 634 So I missed my goal more days than I hit it. Must work on that.

Post every day in April for ROW80, A to Z or both - Still a letter behind, but haven’t missed one since the last check-in. (PSA: Unless you are looking for photos of butts don't search behind on Pixabay. Late is a much better choice. Yes, go ahead and laugh that butt off.)

I can't find the Linky code this check-in again. Maybe she stopped making the code available. If you want to see what the other ROW80 Bloggers are up to check them out here.

Camp Nano Update

I am at 7,345 and should be at 8,666. My average words per day are going down which is making me feel a bit panicky. I guess I need to have a bit of a sprint. Camp NaNo is doing sprints on Twitter at @NaNoWordSprints I am following, but haven't sprinted yet. I am adding this to my catch up plan.

Photos by Pixabay.

And That's A Wrap Plus Flashing

So this is the end of the 2nd ROW80 round for this year. I had a ton of trouble meeting my goals as the round started. I didn't get my crap together for the first 38 days because I have always loved snails and making slow progress. (Where is that sarcasm font people are always taking about?) However, I seem to be on track now. I am sad to see this round end. I don't get nearly as many visitors or have fresh posts when I hop around to say hello, but we will be starting up again on July 6th. Of course that is a Monday and we usually check in on Sunday and Wednesday so I am mildly confused, but that is what it says on the ROW80 site. I think this may have happened to me at the beginning of this round as well.

Still working out exactly what goals I will be pursuing for round 3. Like I mentioned on Sunday in July I am participating in Camp NaNo at 25,00 words. So that's 834 words a day. I will admit I am worried about finding the time to sit down, but that always seems to be my problem so I probably sound like a broken record. As it stands now I do a lot of my writing things late at night and that whole getting up in the morning thing is much harder when I have been up late.

A cool thing that was posted in one of the writing groups on The Facebook is that Saturday June 27th is National Flash Fiction Day! I am planning to flash that day and share the results. Anyone interested in joining me? I love flashing as a group. Yea, I meant that exactly the way it sounded.

ROW80 Rundown:

1. Spend 2 poms on plotting using Hiveword.
Sunday and Monday I spent at least 2 poms plotting. I wanted to look something up so I hopped over to TV Tropes and I got distracted and lost about 6 hours of my life. It was after 4:30 before I put the phone down and tried to sleep.

2. Spend 2 poms on posts for this blog.
I am honestly not sure. The post is going out late again and I can't remember working on these poms like I wanted to the past few days.

3. Spend 1 pom on social media for blog posts.
Mostly no, I want to get better at this and stop having to say that I didn't make it. I think I need to set an alarm on my phone reminding me to search Twitter and see what I can retweet when I don't have anything cool of my own to post.

4. Spend 1 pom on visiting other ROW80 bloggers.

I don't remember how many blogs I hopped to, but did visit every day and spent at least a poms worth. My ROW80 friends are really up to some interesting stuff.

Pics by Pixabay.

Why I Should Kill Someone

Yesterday I realized, in the shower, I was to become a murder. So now that I have your attention and probably the NSAs. What I really meant is I was thinking through my plot and I saw that a character I am attached to will have to die. It makes me sad and I was not sure if it was really necessary or exactly how to bring about the characters death.

I have been reading a lot about making the decision to kill off an important character. It seems that there is some agreement on what the best and worst reasons are. Most of the things I read suggested you be sure the death furthers the plot, emphasizes the theme, develops another character or creates realism in your story world. I have also seen several suggestions that you avoid killing characters just for shock value, just to make readers sad or to remove an unnecessary character. If you have a character that seems unnecessary you should consider if they really have a place in the story. Could their influence be added to another character or removed all together? I know many authors break these "rules" and get away with it, but they seem logical to me. Plus this particular death will hit all 4 of the reasons I mentioned. As for how, I am still working on that and must do more research, thinking and plotting.

How do you choose to kill off a character? How do you feel about characters dying?

ROW80 Rundown:

1. Write 500 words per day on any project.
There has been some yes and some no. I made a lot of progress in the plotting department, but have not actually added it to the story document. I made an effort to spend time and energy working on writing every day except Saturday. On Saturday I was at a dear family friend's daughter's 6th birthday.

2. Blog at least every Wednesday and Sunday.
So last Wednesday I needed a break. I was stressing over getting a post out and wasted time trying to put it together. Then I realized the reason I couldn't concentrate on the blogging thing is because my brain was still working on The Most Magical Place. So I moved back to the story and was able to make some head way. Here it is Sunday night and I am still trying to get the post out. I am cutting it down to the wire and in my head I hear the Jeopardy song.

3. Check out at least 10 posts from each new ROW80 linky before the next one comes out.
I was successful with this from last Sunday, but did not make it happen for the Wednesday's check-in.

4. Use Twitter at least once per day.
On this front I was successful. I was a little put off by all the dress drama, but then I read an awesome post about it and I had to retweet it.

The dress is red because I set it on fire
— flora ivezaj (@floraivezaj) February 27, 2015

Oh and then there was this one.

I have no idea what color it is. I'm fucking colorblind.
— Anne Wheaton (@AnneWheaton) February 27, 2015

5. Post on my author Facebook page at least 3 times per week.
This did not happen on Wednesday or another time last week. I really need to work harder to make the posting happen.

6. Read 1 book per week.

Finally finished A Study in Scarlet. I can honestly say that I can now see what all the love for the Sherlock Holmes books are about. I loved the way the book was written, with the exception of the huge and unexpected jump in the middle of the book. Everything did tie in nicely and I understand, looking back, why we made the jump to another continent. I am looking forward to reading another of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books, but that will have to wait.

photo credit: via photopin (license)

Games, Nostalgia and Goals

What's Been Going On:

The Royal Game of Goose

The theme for the last few days has been board games. We, and by we I mean my husband mostly, are working on making period (1066-1603) game boards for an upcoming Renaissance Faire. He made 9 Men's Morris, Fox and Geese and The Royal Game of Goose. They are interesting to me and mostly easy to learn to play, but the research and creation of these games has taken over. Then yesterday I was reading The Bloggess, because who doesn't (If you don't you should because she is beyond hilarious) and she was talking about a game her family developed or at least improved. It is called CrapScrabble and I just had to play it. Go read the rules, I'll wait right here till you get back. Ok glad you came back, because that other guy said he would and left me sitting here. My daughter and I wanted to play, but we don't have a cat, ferret or an angry bird (I told you to go read the rules.) so I Tweeted to The Bloggess to see if using a calm chicken every 15 minutes as a substitute would be acceptable and I was so excited to see that she responded.

@InkDippedMoon Only if you sprinkle birdseed on the table first.
— TheBloggess (@TheBloggess) January 21, 2015

Of course my phone didn't go off so I missed the opportunity to have a conversation with her, but it was still pretty awesome.

Another exciting thing that has been going on for the last few days is that I have been getting to bed at a reasonable time and consequently getting up at a decent time for me. Ok, most people may not think that 9:30 is a decent time to get up on a week day, but since we homeschool we don't have the same pressures that force us to get up at the crack of dawn. Consequently, I have molded and sculpted my children into late sleepers.

I also discovered that making coleslaw makes me miss my mommy and I'm not afraid to admit it. So I called her and my phone refused to cooperate. I am pretty sure it is possessed. Well, that or you shouldn't drop a tiny computer pretending to be a phone repeatedly. Though I am putting my money on the former.

ROW80 Goals:

1. Write 500 words per day on any project. - By any project  of course I meant specific things...
Sun - Last blog post - 743 words
Mon - Yea, no
Tues - Lotsa more no
Wed - This post - 917 words

2. Blog at least every Wednesday and Sunday. - Getting this one out makes for a check. Yay!

3. Check out at least 20 posts from each new ROW80 linky before the next one comes out. - Another yes! I didn't put that I would leave a comment in the goal, but I felt compelled to in most cases because I know how much comments mean to the authors. Most of the posts were so engaging that I wanted to put in my two cents or ask a question and am hoping to hear back from some people. I forgot what a pleasure it is to interact with my fellow ROW80 participants. I can't call them ROWers because in my world that just means something else.

4. Use Twitter at least once per day. - This is a big yes. I have actually spent a lot of time, maybe too much, on Twitter and researching it. Things that happened or I learned - First, don't say thank you on Twitter a lot, instead add to the conversation. There were a lot of posts about this, but I think this one was the best. Second, I found this list funny enough to share on Twitter and here again. Lastly, oh my gosh, did I mention that The Bloggess responded to me? I did, well I am just so freaking excited! Have you ever had a response from a public figure that made you really excited?

5. Post on my author Facebook page at least 3 times per week. - Um, I posted on Sunday and I will be cross posting this today so to stay on target I should probably post something else on my page in the next few days. I would like to find something helpful to post. I must look into this. Do you guys have any ideas?

6. Read 1 book per week. - More yes! I have completed 4 books and we are just now ending week 3. Being ahead of the game is nice for a change because I always seem to be playing catch up. I just finished A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I was surprised how close The Muppets version, which is my favorite, was to the book. I really enjoyed it, but my kids found out I was consuming something Christmas related not during specified times and they were a little upset. In our house we save all Christmas songs, movies and stuff for the time from the end of Thanksgiving till January first. The only exception is a two week stent in July, thanks to Crazy Eddie and my husband's faulty childhood memory. Mostly, it keeps the kids from playing the Christmas music constantly throughout the year.

What are your tips to reaching your word count goals?

Check out other ROW80 participants below.


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Jumping In Late and Running Like Hell!

Yea, so hi. It's been a long time. How long has it been? Well, I was wondering that same thing and would you believe it has been 514 days? That is a really long time. Well, it is for a blog. In my personal life there have been so many changes it's like riding the freaking Kingda Ka! Though I really hate roller coasters, (Don't judge me!) so yea, that would NEVER happen.

As far as writing I have basically skipped ahead to this time without doing much. I am still working on the same stories, none of them are remotely close to being finished. I even skipped NaNoWriMo last year because of health problems and other commitments. Which I realized a few days into November that I was really pissed with myself for not participating. It isn't that I get so much done with that challenge or that I have ever won, but the NaNo community is just so helpful and I didn't even try to pursue writing until I heard of NaNoWriMo.

The past is in the past and there isn't anything I can do about it. So now it's time to focus on the future and setting my goals for ROW80. If you don't know what ROW80 is, I am honestly wondering how you got here, it's the writing challenge that knows you have a life.

1. Write 500 words per day on any project.

I am including this blogs posts, flash fiction and going back to my work in progress. I am not including words written while on social media or leaving and responding to comments.

2. Blog at least every Wednesday and Sunday.

I am sure you all know why I chose those days, yay check-in days. I would love to post 3 or more times a week, but that commitment will have to wait until I am steadily posting 2 times a week for an extended period of time.

3. Check out at least 20 posts from each new ROW80 linky before the next one comes out.

The ROW80 community is a very supportive one. I want to make sure I am an active part of that community and that means visiting other blogs not just putting mine out there. I have learned so much from hopping from you guys and I am excited to get back to cheering you on as we all strive to meet our goals.

4. Use Twitter at least once per day.

I am sure in this day and age you will be shocked to find a relatively young person (The fact that I had to use that kind of modifier for the word young makes me mournful.) who doesn't know more than the very basics of Twitter, but yes that is me. I have an account and have posted before, but have never used this "HASHTAG" thingy to join a conversation. Though I have read several posts recently assuring me this thing I seek can happen.

5. Post on my author Facebook page at least 3 times per week.

I have been just as neglectful of my Facebook page as my poor blog and I plan to rectify these grievous oversights. I will post when I publish a blog post, but I don't want it to just be a look at my blog thing. So part of this goal is to post helpful and entertaining links and hopefully a few contests on my Facebook page as well.

6. Read 1 book per week.

I am not just reading random books. I have joined the 2015 Reading Challenge. It is simple, kind of, there are 50 categories and you read a book that fits each category. One of the categories is read a trilogy so you end up with 52 books, which breaks down to 1 book per week. This is a lot for me because I don't read fast and have a tendency to reread the same books repeatedly. I was drawn to the 2015 Reading Challenge because it is supposed to help you move out of your comfort zone and discover books that you may not have ever found. There are also people who are using one book to cover several categories, but I feel it would be more of a challenge to read 1 per requirement.

What steps have you taken to reach your goals? Do you have any tips to help me reach my goals for this round?

photo credit: sean dreilinger via photopin cc