My "Christmas Jones" book: #1 New Release on Amazon!

[Cudedog]

You could do a sequel of Tad's son or daughter.

Or a prequel of Christmas Jones' life as a boy--still all children's lit.

Hrm. I really like the idea of a prequel. I must give that further thought. Thank you!

really like series because they simplify choosing. Once you find a book you like, you are much more likely to buy the next one because you know you are likely to like it also. Easy for parents and grandparents, also.

All kinds of possibilities. I will end being your critic!

Oh no! Please continue to be my "critic"! I am finding your comments VERY helpful!! And motivating!

Thanks!

Anne

[Cudedog]

That is so exciting, congratulations!

Thank you, Rosemary! Thanks for joining in the discussion.

Anne

[Cudedog]

Changed my mind about being a critic.

Good!

How about a sequel about Tad's daughters?? So many "western" books are about boys, while the girls get the romance novels. Maybe two daughters???

I like that a lot. A female protagonist in a western novel. I don't remember if any of the Zane Grey or Max Brand western novels I read as a child ever had a female protagonist, but I don't think so.

It used to drive me crazy when I taught high school many decades ago when kids would ask if something was a girl-book or a boy-book!! Like does Steinbeck write books for girls or boys?? I used to tell them that books have no gender, or some other smart-alack response.

Doesn't sound smart-alack to me!

And there is certainly a story or two about Christmas Jones' past. Maybe he is like Nanny McFee and goes from home to home making memories for kids?

LOL. Perhaps.

Where was he the past year?

Hrm. There was that visit from the sheriff . . .

[Cudedog]

When I was in the 6th grade we moved to a subdivision that had a strip mall at the center with a library. They had books for my age arranged by subject. I read all the horse books, then the science fiction, then mysteries. For a long time I read mysteries as an adult. I had a subscription for a magazine that I think was called Ellery Queen. My son called it elderly queen. Now reading puts me right to sleep. I had a book in the old camper that I carried in case I was desperate for something to do. I don't remember how many times I started that book. I should move it to the new camper. Maybe I'll finish it sometime. lol

Martha

Martha, I would have been lost without a library. When we moved when I was about ten, there was no library anywhere around. A year later, a brand new library was built within walking distance from me. I was always walking there!

These days I read a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. As a child I also loved science-fiction. Still do!

My current bedside book (reading it for the third time, it is that good): "In the Path of Destruction: Eyewitness Chronicles of Mount St. Helens". (non-fiction)

http://www.amzn.com/0874223237

A volcano book? Natch!

Anne

[Cudedog]

My favorite book of all time was Robinson Crusoe--the 1719 version by Daniel Defoe! I read it many, many times, even though the language was extremely difficult for me.

As a teen, I mostly remember two favorite books (in no particular order) (Shhh! Don't tell anyone about the first one!)

1. Dracula, by Bram Stoker (Fiction - of course! - the original novel - it was mighty scary!!)

2. Seven Pillars of Wisdom, by T. E. Lawrence (Non-fiction - a memoir written by a famous-ish person who fought in the first World War)

Anne

[Cudedog]

Then there was a point that because my Dad did business with Bantam books, they decided to put us on their monthly mailing and we received a box of new releases every month! You never knew what it included, but I read most everything it included.

Wow! Beth! I would have been in heaven!!

And, Anne, my mother didn't believe in censoring anything I read. But I had to be willing to discuss it.

LOL. My parents didn't censor anything I ever read, either. They just never paid any attention to what I was reading, at all, so I could - and did - read just about anything I could get my hands on.

My parents, themselves, did not read for pleasure.

I think one time they asked me what I was reading, and after heming and hawing a bit I replied "Dr. No" (couldn't deny it, it was on my bedside table). I guess they thought this was some kid's story, maybe akin to "Dr. Doolittle", (which I also read), the charming children's book where the protagonist has the ability to talk to animals.

LOL. Little did they guess. "Dr. No" was one of Ian Fleming's famous "James Bond" novels. Lots of implied sex, and lots of pretty straightforward violence. I guess I was kind of subversive as a kid. I loved the Ian Fleming books.

[ps. The "Bond" films are all pretty much cartoons. The books themselves had a very gritty realism to them.]

Anne

[BirdbyBird]

Okay, I down loaded the book the other day.....all this discussion means I better hurry up and read it!

I think that my first chapter books were the Black Stallion and Island Stallion series......and there were books about kids on ranches out west but I don't even remember the names or authors only that the books took me to places I had never been.....

And reading Russian novels in high school for fun and because I could. My Junior High I got to work in the Junior High library and the librarian would make recommendations of books. She continued to contribute to my reading options on through high school then one of my professors from college started encouraging me.

I especially owe Faye Marshall for introducing me to The Little Prince......

[JudyJB]

Beth, I should have lived next door to you as a child!! I also read all of the horse books, including all of the black stallion books.

I never went to Junior High School. K-4 in one elementary school, then 5th and 6th in another slightly larger elementary school. In the meantime, they added four more rooms to the elementary school I went to for K-4, so they put us 7th graders there. Still no library and no cafeteria, obviously, so we always ate in our classrooms. They made us 7th graders have our own recess, which is still one of the best memories I have from school. The 25 of us either played jump rope or softball every day--boys and girls together. For 8th grade, we were put in the high school. The next year they built a real junior high, so my cousins and younger brother got to go to junior high with a real library!

Anne, I am going to buy you a couple of books when I get a chance. I keep seeing books in national park stores about women and girls of the west. That might give you some ideas. I really think girls who were tomboys as kids really deserve something adventurous. I was the oldest in my neighborhood and the rest were boys, except my girl cousin who was a year younger than me. So we built forts, climbed trees, picked strawberries in a field with a bull, dug pits, etc. Our parents knew none of this, of course. There was a big empty field behind us that had been victory gardens during the war. We used to dig under the chain link fence and learned how to take the barbed wire down so we could climb over it and start campfires. My mother would send me out in pretty clothes, and I would come home extremely dirty. And this was long before girls ever wore jeans, at least in our neighborhood.

[snowball]

I had a couple of my children that read above grade it sometimes was hard for them to find books that they could understand because even though they were whatever age or grade but they were reading high school level it was hard for them to find books that interested them not sure that I am explaining this correctly... but it can be an issue.
I am sure that you will realize as you ponder what you need to do to take this where it needs to go
sheila

[JudyJB]

Anne, the reason why this discussion is so much fun is that we can vicariously help you write books without actually having to write books ourselves! A lot of work, obviously, so much easier to give advice.

[Redetotry]

I am also enjoying this discussion! It is hard even for me to believe when I was little I was a like lot you Judy, always outside building forts, digging in the dirt and coming home mud covered. I vividly remember my fastidious brother, who was two years older, dragging me out of my favorite mud hole all the way home and leaving my red boots still stuck in the mud. When he got me home he called Mom and said wash her!! That was one of the few times I didn’t win a fight with him. One time when we were fighting in the living room, my Mom said to my Dad, “make her leave him alone” and Daddy saying no, he is bigger than she is. One of my other favorite places to spend time was playing in the ditch behind our house. This ditch was behind all the outhouses along the street and we were always warned not to get in it but of course at lease once a week one of us would fall in as we jumped back and fort across it. I also dug up the sassafras roots that were near by and was always chewing on one. Now I am totally opposite and avoid dirt and the outdoors! We played with little to no supervision until dinner then played until dark and had a wonderful time. I feel sorry for today’s kids who not only don’t go outside much but when they do are under constant supervision.
We also had a library in each room with just a few books in grade school but the kids in JR High had a big library. I still remember the first day of JR High walking into that library and just stopping and staring around, I was so happy. I particularly loved all the Ticktock and Jim books by Keith Robertson. Some of those children's books like Beautiful Jo were pretty grim. I can’t watch a movie where a dog is hurt in any way and I think it’s because of that book. For someone who was terrified of dogs I read a lot of books about then. It wasn't until after I was married I finally was able to get over the fear. I've come a long way with that phobia!! I spent as much time as possible escaping into books all through school and still read a big part of most days.
Thank you Anne I'm so glad you accomplished your dream of writing a book and are sharing the experience!!

[Cudedog]

Okay, I down loaded the book the other day.....all this discussion means I better hurry up and read it!

Thank you very much for the download, Tina! Much appreciated. I, too, read the Black Stallion series. There was also a series of Young Adult novels (LOL - that I read in my 30's, about ranch life. I think they were called "Little Britches", or something like that.

Anyone know?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts, Tina.

Thanks!

Anne

[Cudedog]

Anne, I am going to buy you a couple of books when I get a chance. I keep seeing books in national park stores about women and girls of the west. That might give you some ideas. I really think girls who were tomboys as kids really deserve something adventurous.

Thanks, Judy. I ordered from Amazon today a book about gold-rush area towns here in the Sierra. Looks like it has lots of photos; hoping for some ideas!

LOL. Years ago I attended a lecture by the Science Fiction author Harlan Ellison. In the question-and-answer session, someone raised their hand and asked him where he got all of his unusual and amazing ideas.

His reply? "Schenectady." I think he had probably been asked that question many times before, and was a bit tired of answering it.

But the same guy, sounding excited, asked a second question: "Schenectady? Where in Schenectady?"

Ellison gave him a withering look. "From the Idea Store, of course. I just phone them up, and they send me one. Anybody else have a question?"

Anne

[Cudedog]

I had a couple of my children that read above grade it sometimes was hard for them to find books that they could understand because even though they were whatever age or grade but they were reading high school level it was hard for them to find books that interested them not sure that I am explaining this correctly... but it can be an issue.
I am sure that you will realize as you ponder what you need to do to take this where it needs to go
sheila

Sheila, thank you for your post.

I think the problem for many young readers (and their parents) is (just as you say) that it is sometimes difficult to find material that interests a particular reader, because there is such a wide range of genres available.

I agree with you that on top of the difficulty in finding an interesting book, is the further problem of finding the subject matter the young reader is interested in at the reading level most suitable.

A young reader might find subject matter of interest, but it might be below, or above, their current reading level. Even though the subject might interest them, below reading level might be "boring". Above reading level might be "too hard".

Difficult to find that fit that is "just right"!

Fortunately, as time goes by and young readers gain more reading skill, their choices (and interests!) continue to broaden.

Thank you!

Anne

[Cudedog]

Anne, the reason why this discussion is so much fun is that we can vicariously help you write books without actually having to write books ourselves! A lot of work, obviously, so much easier to give advice.

LOL. I need all of the help I can get.

I generally write for about three to four hours in the morning, about five days a week, when I am working on a "project". I start in as I sit down with my first cup of coffee.

When I am nearing the "Finish Line" with a project, I can keep pounding away for seven or even eight hours, but this is the exception.

Mostly about four hours - if I am lucky, maybe seven or eight pages, typed double-spaced - after about four hours my brain is fried, and I need to get up and do something else.

Anything else!!!

Anne