Emerging from depths of silence, I am, to announce two pieces of good news:
Needless to say, I am feeling excited, thankful and extremely blessed.
AND
On the New York Public Library’s 2013 list of 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing!I’m feeling so neon orange right about now. 😀
…is the reason I write.
…an online book tour for my new book, MY COLD PLUM LEMON PIE BLUESY MOOD! No matter where you are in the world, you can join me:
1. Monday, March 4: Laurie J. Edwards, Author Blog
2. Tuesday March 5: Keyboard & Camera
3. Wednesday March 6: Ann Eisenstein, Author Blog
4. Thursday March 7: CYNSATIONS
5. Friday March 8: Kristi’s Book Nook & Word Wrangler
6. Monday March 11: The Brown Bookshelf
7. Tuesday March 12: Carol Baldwin, Author Blog
8. Wednesday March 13: The Neophyte Writer
9. Thursday, March 14: Of Thoughts & Words
There will be a few book giveaways along the way, but you have to visit each stop to find out when and where.
Happy reading…and see you out on the tour!
Writer Danette Vigilante, thinks I’m the Next Big Thing!
(Woo-hoo! Happy Dancing! Woo-hoo! Happy Dancing!)
The Next Big Thing Hop: the traveling blog that asks authors whom they consider the NEXT BIG THING, and then has them pass along the questions for those authors to answer in their blogs.
These are the rules: Answer ten questions about your current [book or] Work in Progress on your blog. Tag five writers/bloggers and add links to their pages so we can hop along to them next. Here are my answers…
What is the title of your book?
My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood
Where did the idea come from for the book?
From me thinking to myself one day, “Boy, am I in a mood.”
What genre does your book fall under?
Picture Book
Which actors would you choose to play your character in a movie rendition?
Hmmm…I have no clue. They’re all younguns, so I’m sure they’d be up-and-comers. The dad looks like the book’s illustrator, Shane Evans to me. Maybe he’d be up for the gig.
What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
It’s a journey through the multi-colored moods of Jamie, and his attempt to get back to the happy-colored mood his brothers are trying to keep him from. (If the grammar police are reading, yes I did end this sentence with a preposition. Creative license.)
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It will published (very soon) by Viking Children’s, a Penguin imprint.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The very first draft only took a couple of days.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I’ve heard Dr. Seuss’s My Many Colored Moods mentioned.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
This one just came from a random thought that sounded like it would make a good title or first line. However, I hope it inspires readers to embrace the full emotional range that lies within each of us–the good feelings and the not-so-good ones, too.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It is illustrated by 2012’s Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner, Shane Evans; the artwork is absolutely amazing!
Below are my tags of other authors:
The Brown Bookshelf has announced this year’s list of 28 Days Later honorees! 28 Days Later is an annual campaign that seeks to increase public awareness of African-American authors and illustrators who create literature for children.
This year’s schedule of features is as follows (Vanguard authors in bold; Illustrators in italics):
Feb. 1 – Malaika Rose Stanley (MG)
Feb. 2 – Christian Robinson– (Illustrator)
Feb. 3 – Alaya Dawn Johnson – (YA)
Feb. 4 – Glenda Armand – (PB)
Feb. 5 – Glennette Tilley Turner – (MG)
Feb. 6 – Traci L. Jones – (YA)
Feb. 7 – Brynne Barnes – (PB)
Feb. 8 – Brian F. Walker – (YA)
Feb. 9 – Veronica Chambers – (MG)
Feb. 10 – B.A. Binns (YA)
Feb. 11 – Donna Washington – (PB)
Feb. 12 – Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams – (MG)
Feb. 13 – Octavia Butler – (YA )
Feb. 14 – Ann Tanksley – (Illustrator)
Feb. 15 – Lyah Beth LeFlore – (YA)
Feb. 16 – Tololwa M. Mollel – (PB)
Feb. 17 – Arna Bontemps – (MG)
Feb. 18 – Jasmine Richards – (MG)
Feb. 19 – James Ransome – (PB)
Feb. 20 – Ashley Bryan – (Illustrator)
Feb. 21 – Nalo Hopkinson – (YA)
Feb. 22- Daniel Minter – (Illustrator)
Feb. 23 – Angela Shelf Medearis – (PB)
Feb. 24 – Linda Tarrant-Reid – (MG)
Feb. 25 – Willie Perdomo – (PB)
Feb. 26 – Chudney Ross – (MG)
Feb. 27 – Becky Birtha – (PB)
Feb. 28 – Jaime Reed – (YA)
Click here and enter to win an autographed F&G of
MY COLD PLUM LEMON PIE BLUESY MOOD!
Contest ends January 31, 2012. Good luck!
WOTD: SILLY
Posting a fun poem I wrote a long while back. I still really like it. Hmmm–maybe it will turn out to be the first piece for a future book of kid’s poetry….
Anyway, here’s hoping it gives you a little chuckle…and full permission to be as silly as you want to be!
Agape
P.S. Hi, Jean!
THINK
by Tameka Fryer Brown
I’m mad at Mom. I’m mad at Dad.
They took out every toy I had
and left me in here
all alone
to “think” they said.
I should have known
that when they huddled up
and talked
my goose was cooked.
I should’ve walked—
no ran outside and down the street
to A.J.’s house.
We’d hide and eat
up in his room.
We both like cheese
so we’d eat that
and play with Weeze,
‘cept he’s
a dog that likes to drool
and when you’re eating, that’s not cool.
So nix the dog.
A.J. and me,
we’d eat and then we’d try to see
Trey’s house
(which sits on Main and Pope)
through A.J.’s brother’s telescope.
But as we did,
we just might spy
his grouchy neighbor, Mrs. Blye,
do something that is really gross—
like pluck her chin or
pick her toes
or worse…
hock in her witches brew
and pour it in a bowl marked “STEW”
that looked just like the stew she’d brought
to cure the cold AJ had caught
last week.
He’d scream
and then we’d duck
too late.
She’d see us—
More good luck!
Then she’d come over, ring the bell
looking mad and
quick to tell
his mom
that we were peeping through
her window—
which would not be true—
but even still, she’d call MY mom,
who’d tell my dad,
who’d seem real calm…
but then, they’d huddle—
and today,
I’d still be in here anyway!
So while I’m “thinking”, guess I ought
to think about
not getting caught!
I love picture books…which I’m pretty sure comes as no surprise, seeing that I write them.
But since I’m only a wannabe visual artist, it’s the illustrations that I find myself in awe of most often. Soaking up page after page of the most gorgeous, colorful, imaginative artwork fills me with a certain soda pop-bubbly feeling I just don’t get from anything else.
These are a few of the artists whose work never fails to touch me:
A Vanessa Brantley-Newton Illustration
Frank Morrison's THE QUEEN ON THE SCENE
Kadir Nelson from HENRY'S FREEDOM BOX
I really do love picture books.
Who are some of your favorite illustrators? Treat yourself to some of their work today!
Agape. 🙂
