Karma Wilson's Blog

 

Okay, I had to join the meme-zy.   I created this for my writer friends. ha ha

©2012 Good Karma. All Rights Reserved.

.

Congrats! I should be getting these in the mail within the week! I use media mail so it may take awhile. I've sent you all requests for who to sign the book to. Keep in mind I mail using the USPS so make sure your address is recognized by the postal service. Thank you!

Diana Murray

Wendy  BooydeGraaff
Tia Svardahl
Julie Hedlund
Cheryl Mansfield
Sheila O Lindsay
Diandra Mae

Jbass

Kerry Aradhya
Corey Schwartz
Pascale Mackey

Holly from St. Cloud

Genevieve Ford
Liz Wagner
Wini Bell
Angela Moorad
Amy Kelly
Vera Smetzer
Kristen Dobler Stewart
Kelly schiavoni
Abigail LaLonde
Jesalyn Cole
Charity Cree
Jenn Geringer

©2011 Good Karma. All Rights Reserved.

.

NOTE: You can't enter the contest in comments here! You need to use the contest entry form: www.karmawilson.com/contest.php

Thank you all so much for liking my professional FB fan page! It's such a great honor to connect with my readers and I love social media for making that so much easier. We have reached 500 likes which means it is time for a HUGE giveaway that I promised.

To enter go to my contest page and read the rules. http://karmawilson.com/contest.php Then answer this question (information can be found here on my blog and also on my facebook fan page):

What two gorgeous cities did I recently visit during a whirlwind northwest book tour?

Two dozen lucky winners will be chosen via random number generator to receive a signed book. (Sorry, I can't honor special title requests as I give away what's on hand).  Thank you! Contest open for one week!

Up for grabs:

12 Signed board book editions of Bear Stays Up for Christmas

6 Signed hard cover copies of my poetry book, "What's the Weather Inside".

What's the Weather Inside

6 Signed copies of my newest release "Bear's Loose Tooth".

[image error]

Bear's Loose Tooth

 

©2011 Good Karma. All Rights Reserved.

.

NOTE: You can't enter the contest in comments here! You need to use the contest entry form: www.karmawilson.com/contest.php

Thank you all so much for liking my professional FB fan page! It's such a great honor to connect with my readers and I love social media for making that so much easier. We have reached 500 likes which means it is time for a HUGE giveaway that I promised.

To enter go to my contest page and read the rules. http://karmawilson.com/contest.php Then answer this question (information can be found here on my blog and also on my facebook fan page):

What two gorgeous cities did I recently visit during a whirlwind northwest book tour?

Two dozen lucky winners will be chosen via random number generator to receive a signed book. (Sorry, I can't honor special title requests as I give away what's on hand).  Thank you! Contest open for one week!

Up for grabs:

12 Signed board book editions of Bear Stays Up for Christmas

6 Signed hard cover copies of my poetry book, "What's the Weather Inside".

What's the Weather Inside

6 Signed copies of my newest release "Bear's Loose Tooth".

[image error]

Bear's Loose Tooth

 

©2011 Good Karma. All Rights Reserved.

.

Portland and Seattle were amazing! So many wonderful people. I want to thank the booksellers and educators who went out of their way to bring me to the schools. And I would also love to thank the children, who listened with such wide eyes and open ears. Hugs!

Now it is back to writing and reading and getting situated for winter. I want to fill the kitchen with good smells, fill my mind with new ideas, and fill my computer with new stories and poems.

Signing at Powells in Portland!

Signing at Barnes and Noble!

 

©2011 Good Karma. All Rights Reserved.

.

Seattle was amazing! So many wonderful people. I want to thank the booksellers and educators who went out of their way to bring me to the schools. And I would also love to thank the children, who listened with such wide eyes and open ears. Hugs!

Now it is back to writing and reading and getting situated for winter. I want to fill the kitchen with good smells, fill my mind with new ideas, and fill my computer with new stories and poems.

Signing at Powells in Portland!

Signing at Barnes and Noble!

 

©2011 Good Karma. All Rights Reserved.

.

JetBlue Airlines is sponsoring a contest that could land your local library $10,000 in cash for books!  You have exactly ONE day left to enter your local library in the JetBlue Soar With Reading contest!  Nominating your local library also enters you into a sweepstakes for a family vacation to Atlantis, and who doesn't want to go there?! I like seeing companies that support literacy and literature. Thanks JetBlue, for supporting libraries and books!

 

©2011 Good Karma. All Rights Reserved.

.

WRITING TIP: Alliteration is the Jalapeno of writing. A little bit can add spice and interest to your story, but too much can overwhelm the reader and give them indigestion. Sprinkle a few sentences of alliteration in, only when it feels natural and doesn't stop flow. If you find yourself thumbing through the thesaurus looking for a Z word you may be pushing the limits. Example from Bear Snores On, "Mouse squeaks, "Too damp, too dank, too dark!" Also "pitter-pat", "tip-toe" and "creep-crawl". Alliteration is a marvelous phonetic addition to your story. So, as aptly as able, alliterate!

©2011 Good Karma. All Rights Reserved.

.

Storytelling/Writing Tip

I am a firm believer that storytelling in the early developmental years is one of the keys to literacy and literacy efforts. I am not just talking about reading a story to a group of kids, I am referring instead to the art of storytelling, which is more of a performance and less of a recitation. I will share storytelling tips here which are great for writers too, because tips for good storytelling often can directly correlate to tips for good story writing. First tip: Helping kids make predictions while story telling.

Don't you just love feeling smart? Kids aren't any different, and storytelling is a great opportunity to make kids feel like little budding Einstiens. Remember, when children feel clever while listening to stories they feel less intimidated by "literature" which makes them more receptive to books and reading. And books and reading make kids smart, which in turn begins the circle anew.

With the right kind of book and the right kind of body language, you can help kids predict lines, story developments, upcoming rhymes, etc… As my example, I will use one of my stories that I regularly perform, Frog in the Bog–rhyming books. In that story I have a repeating, but unrhymed line, "And the frog grows a little bit bigger." My aim with any repeating line in a story is to get the kids to anticipate the upcoming line and say it, in rhythm, with me.

To help kids anticipate the line I need to firmly set the pattern the first time I say the line, and cue the listener in to what they need to listen for to join in. This means that there is a definite dramatic pause before I say the line, then I scan the audience making eye contact as I sweep my eyes from one side of the room to the other. This lets them know, "Oh, something interesting is going to happen." Then as I say the line I emphasize the most important word (bigger) by saying it louder. For Frog in the Bog the cadence is almost like a scale, going higher and louder as the sentence flows: And the frog grows a little big BIGGER!

(Writers tip: Include font cues in your manuscript to indicate when there should be a change in flow, inflection, etc…: In Bear Snores On my font size changes and formatting were written by me into the manuscript.)

The vocal qualities are important, but so is body language. As I say the line I use one of my hands to demonstrate the frog's growth (palm flat, outstretched, and I raise it up as I speak).

Usually by the second line the audience has come to recognize what to look for (I pause, look across the room, and widen my eyes). They often hesitantly join in. If that happens it is my job to reward their participation with a head nod and a smile signaling approval (kids aren't always encouraged to speak out during stories–so they need to know in this case it's okay).

But if they didn't quite get it, I have to cue them in that I want them to join. I do this by holding my hand up to my ear as I say the word "bigger". I have never read the story in a school and had them not join in by the third time I say the line.

But later in the story the line changes to the "And the frog grows a whole lot smaller". This gives us another opportunity to make children feel ahead of the story. Since I want my reader to be able predict that the line changes, I wrote it so that this time the reating line DID rhyme with the preceding line (holy tongue twister Batman!). In this case:

And right in the middle of his holler,

That frog grows a whole lot smaller!

To further emphasize the change from "bigger" to "smaller" I hush my voice a bit, and bring my hand lower to indicate shrinking. Most audiences guess the word smaller with these cues.

Rhyming books are great for helping children predict, but there are other types of story patterns that also work. Circular stories, unrhymed stories with repeating lines, etc. And of course, when reading picture books you can always point out clues in the art to help clue in your reader, or dramatically pause when you read a line that offers a plot clue.

I'm sure many of you are much better story tellers than I, but breaking down the process can help us understand what makes a great read aloud so successful and hopefully nail it in our own writing endeavors. And there is a special thrill in hearing an auditorium full of eager, bright-eyed little learners yelling your story at the top of their lungs!

©2011 Good Karma. All Rights Reserved.

.

I am so amazed and honored that my book The Cow Loves Cookies has been chosen as a 2010 Cybil Book Award Finalist! I am always a little awed when I see one of my books mentioned in a blog. It's this reminder that people are out in the world, reading my books and taking time to comment about them—either positively or negatively.

It makes me so grateful for the people in the world still taking time to value books for children. Ultimately they are the people responsible for making sure good literature keeps getting published. So to win an award created by bloggers really is an honor! Thanks so much!

©2011 Good Karma. All Rights Reserved.

.