SCHEDULE A TIME TO WRITE:

I just filled in my calendar for January and February. I wrote down the times I would be writing each day of the week. That is my New Year's Resolution for 2014. Keeping my fingers crossed. 

Read any good books lately? For Christmas my daughter gave me THE LONG OVERDUE LIBRARY BOOK! It is awesome. I just read Patricia MacLachlan's WHITE FUR FLYING. A heart warming story about a family and their rescue dogs.

Half Price Book signing with friends Jody Stout and Johanna Nystrom

Texas Book Festival signing with friends Vicki Raney and Debbie Cox

RESOURCE FOR WRITERS

A great resource for writers and illustrators is the Society of Children's Book Author's and Illustrators. Join a group. Their resources are invaluable.

http://www.scbwi.org/login/

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb

Hello All of you Readers, it's time to check out the 2013 Notable Children's books at the ALSC website.

BOOK OF WORDS

I first began collecting words several years ago after attending a creative workshop in Florence. While reading a book, listening to someone speak, or reading a billboard, I may find just the perfect  word I just love. I enter it into my personal BOOK OF WORDS. Later, when I am working on a story, I may draw a blank searching for the right word for a sentence or a character in my story. When that happens,  I thumb through my BOOK OF WORDS and almost always come up with the perfect fit. Amazing how many perfect words there are.

Take a look at TCU Press webpage. Information about TEXAS CHILI? OH MY!

http://www.prs.tcu.edu/book-pages/vermillion_texas_chili.asp

Patricia Published? Oh My!

Posted 10/22/2013 01:00 pm The Lamplighter School

 

Texas Chili? Oh My! is a retelling of the beloved fairy tale The Three Little Pigs -Texas style. The book was written by The Lamplighter School’s long-time Media Center Coordinator, Patricia Vermillion, and was published in September. There is also a Spanish version of the book, translated by Lamplighter Spanish teacher, Jezabel Guadalupe.

According to Amazon, kids and adults alike will be entertained and educated on Texas symbols in this “beautiful book.” Texas Chili? Oh My! also includes a glossary and learning objectives to aid elementary teachers in making Texas history a fun, engaging experience for students. Aided by “adorable and colorful illustrations that depict Texas characters, settings, plants, and natural resources, Patricia Vermillion also gets the Texas vernacular just right!” states the website for the nation’s top online seller of books.

The Three Little Pigs is one of Vermillion’s “all-time favorite” fairy tales. There have been many retellings of this story: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf, just to name a few. Vermillion came up with the idea of writing a story for children using the facts and symbols of Texas. Applying The Three Little Pigs as the backdrop for her idea, she developed a similar version of the fairytale, adding a Texas twist. “Researching information about our great state, I sprinkled Texas facts throughout the tale. After a year of rewriting, and rewriting, AND rewriting! I submitted Texas Chili to a Louisiana publishing company. They held on to the story for about three months and decided it did not meet their needs at that particular time. As a result, I received my first rejection letter…Ugh!” she described.

Several months later, Vermillion submitted her story to TCU Press “and the editor liked it!” she laughed. He sent it to three outside readers for positive reviews before presenting it to the TCU Press Board for approval. Many, many months later, Texas Chili Oh My! was approved for publication.

To celebrate, several teachers gathered in Vermillion’s office for a cup of Starbucks coffee and book discussion when the School’s music teacher Claude White asked if she had thought about a Spanish version of Texas Chili, Oh My? Vermillion jumped at the suggestion and immediately called the editor at TCU Press who agreed “this was a “spectacular idea!” Lamplighter’s Spanish teacher Jezabel Guadalupe, ‘of course,’ would be the perfect Spanish translator,” she grinned.

The Spanish and English versions of Texas Chili Oh My! became available for purchase from TCU Press at the end of September. Barnes and Noble and Amazon received their editions on October 4. So feel free to try some Texas Chili, Oh My! As an added bonus, the book includes Chris Ward’s Texas chili recipe. Ward is the executive chef for Dallas' award-winning restaurant, The Mercury.

The Texas Book festival in Austin, Texas was wonderful. I saw so many talented authors such as Sophie Blackall, R L Stein, Chris Raschka. I was honored to sign my book, Texas Chili Oh My! in the A & M tent with other TCU authors.  My friends were such a support!

Reading children's books for a book talk is a great way to get ideas moving in the right direction. I just finished DAISY'S PERFECT WORD. I was drawn to the title because I am always searching for the perfect word for my stories. I have several Word Books that contain words that I gather from reading or hearing. My words are unorganized so I have to search through both books to try and locate that perfect word to finish my sentence. DAISY makes word lists such as QUIET WORDS, SWEETEST WORDS, RAINBOW WORDS. Hence, I have begun to put my words in a list such as SOUTHERN WORDS, HAPPY WORDS, etc. You get the picture! And I got the picture from Daisy. I learn something new every time I reach for a book!

I just finished reading the short sequel to THE LEMONADE WAR, which is THE LEMONADE CRIME by Jacqueline Davies. The story speaks to fourth grade students about how the justice system works. Each chapter began with a definition of a word connecting to a crime. 

For example:
ACCUSED: (A person who has been charged with a crime or who is on trial fro a crime).
I can't wait to share this book-talk with the fourth grade students.

TEXAS CHILI? OH MY!

           TEXAS CHILI? OH MY! is published and available at TCU Press. 
 Texas Chili? Oh My! is a retelling of the beloved fairy tale  

                  The Three Little Pigs—Texas style! Meet Bluebonnet,Mockingbird 
                            and Sweet Olive, three little armadillos, as they leave Mamadillo and

              strike out to build dens of their own out of native Texas materials.   
                Watch out for Trickster Coyote, cause he's always looking for armadillos
 to make into Texas Chili!