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In organizing the Kidlitosphere Conference, the one aspect that I really enjoyed working on was the charity raffle. In our previous two conferences, we had a charity component and I was excited to continue that tradition. As I talked to my teen daughter about the concept, we came up with the idea of gift baskets made up of donations from our attendees to put up for raffle. During the week, I pulled together baskets, bags, and boxes along with little "extras" for the prizes - pens, journals, candles, etc. My teen daughter crocheted decorative scarves and tiny book pillows to contribute.

On the afternoon of the conference, my husband brought in my daughters and two friends to pull the donations of the attendees into fun packages. I missed big parts of the last two sessions of the day to help, because it was a bit overwhelming. While we expected to make about ten baskets, we ended up with enough donations to make twice that much! It was tons of fun to put things together though, and we got to exercise our creative juices in the process.

Before and during the cocktail hour, attendees looked over the prizes, bought raffle tickets, and put their tickets in bags for the ones they wanted to win. This picture is a pretty good summary showing the tickets in one corner, the party bags to collect the tickets, the array of prizes, and the happy shoppers.

TeenReader was particularly fond of the Black & White Package, which featured a scarf she made, one of my homemade necklaces, bead jewelry made and donated by Maureen, and some super cool books. Her best friend and helper put her raffle tickets in this package and won, quite gleefully I might add.

I loved the Read to Me Package (even if the kid's shirt appears to say Ead to Me in the photo), which included a shirt donated by Terry, book pillows crocheted by my daughter, a tin of hot chocolate I bought at Ross, and numerous books to share with a child. I'm trying desperately to remember who won that, so please let me know. You can also see a bit of the Halloween Basket, which featured a painted basket, a stuffed black cat, a box, and Halloween picture books.

My fifth grader worked very hard on the Holiday Package, which included books from Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It also had snowman soap, candles, and a wooden candlestick (Liz, this would be some of the "stuff from my home," as opposed to the stray socks you supposed I threw in the mix.) My daughter convinced Jen to put her raffle tickets for this prize and she did in fact win it.

With all this talk of winning, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself because before the winning there was the dinner. It was a lovely chance to celebrate the day of fun and relax with friends. My husband took pictures of every table, and I'll post them to Facebook later if anyone wants to grab them. (Unfortunately, my camera isn't great in dim light so they aren't stellar.) I will share one representative picture of lovely ladies Laura Lutz, Caroline Hickey, and Sara Lewis Holmes. Don't they look happy?

After dessert, my husband and the girls drew raffle tickets and gave away the prizes. I'd love to know more of the winners, if you'd care to leave your name in the comments. I do remember Tricia winning the Bearport Bear donated by Bearport Publishing and Greg winning the Electric Company bag donated by PBS. Many of our attendees donated books and journals and jewelry and more, which gave us an amazing raffle! We ended up collecting $550 for our two selected projects at Donors Choose! They haven't reached their goals yet, so you can still contribute to Literary is Fun-damental and It All Starts with Reading. Tell them that KidlitCon sent you!

After everything was done, we stopped for a group photo. Again, not the best camera for the job but a fun reminder of a wonderful day.

The conference weekend continued for some with an evening at the hotel bar, a Twitter-talk/post-game breakfast, or a stop at Hooray for Books! for an author signing party. For some of us, it included all three. Overall, I was glad I got to spend so much time with so many amazing people over the weekend. It was an awesome event and I'm honored to have played a part in it.

So much so, that I've signed on for another year. Not organizing in entirety this time, but as consultant, promoter, and registrar for KidlitCon10 which will be in Minneapolis and will be headed by Brian Farrey of Flux and Andrew Karre of Carolrhoda Books! Welcome to the team!

Thanks to everyone for helping, speaking, donating, supporting, and most of all coming to KidlitCon09!

(Oh, I'm still collecting posts for a Round-Up tomorrow and I'd love to know more of our raffle prize winners. Cheers!)

Well I got up this morning thinking it was Wednesday, all set to post my Of Dogs and Writing Post, and then I realized it was Thursday. I lost a day this week.

But I have much to be thankful for:

1. A strong and loving marriage
2. Good friends
3. Relatively good heath
4. Cassie
5. A home of my own
6. A job I love

liz_scanlon

I'm thankful for little things today. After last week's Coke spilled on the keyboard fiasco I had to go back to using the old HP laptop with the fan that never shuts up. I'm very thankful I had it to fall back on while I wait for my new computer to arrive. (Yes, they can clean and probably keep the old laptop running but I will not trust that it won't burn something out after the episode so hubby is taking my old one and I'm getting a new one.)

But laptops are still heavy to haul around, especially when traveling, and I get nervous taking all my data away from home so I also bought a littlle netbook. I'm thankful for it today and I know I will grow more thankful for it over time.

From LJ

From LJ

Special shout out to all my FOLLOWERS!

I was looking through all my follower's blogs this week and catching up on their lives before I dive back into edits this weekend.

I wanted to do something special for my FOLLOWERS to show how much I adore you for signing up and listening to me ramble.

So today, I have a small present. It's not much but it's something a lot of people want/need and something I can give.

At midnight (I'll even do WEST COAST time so everyone gets a shot!) tonight, I am going to draw a name of a follower .

The only rule is that you must comment on this post AND you must be an official "FOLLOWER" of my BLOG (This prize is for my followers. It's OK if you sign up today. I just want a Follower to win.)

The follower/name I draw will get a free one hour marketing consulting session with me over the phone to brainstorm anything from marketing your book to agents and editors (query letter review) or getting ready to launch a book, or those who want to come up with a creative way to market their book already on the market. (Good for up to 6 months). In addition, I will summarize what we discuss and give you a one or two page summary with suggestion and ideas on how to move forward (this is about a 500$ value to my business clients)

PS: If you are an editor or agent, you can win this for one of your authors!

Depending on where you are in the process, this prize can benefit you.

All you have to do is follow and hello today. Then I can shout back a, "Thank you for coming to visit me and taking time out of your precious day to listen to me rant and rave." I also hope to find more bloggy friends this way :)

I appreciate all of you more than you know!!!!! Because I never feel alone. (aw! *sniff* Kum Bah Yah right?)

Marketing Round up

Now for my favorite posts of the week:

Author/Publisher gives new meaning to handselling - Christopher Herz quit his advertising job to walk the streets of Manhattan literally selling copies of his first novel, The Last Block in Harlem.

This week Pub Rants had a great posts about marketing. Why we have a Marketing Director? which talks about the newest marketing addition to their team.

I found a blog that did a great round up of some marketing posts. Of course, my interview with Molly was one of them. Am I biased? Maybe :) Book Trailers and More.

For those of you who make up excuses as to why you do not have time to focus on marketing, Jane over at Writers Digest has a few questions for you.

Greg Pincus over at the Happy Accident pointed me to this great Social Media Guide outlining tons of great Twitter Tips.

Learn how to promote your blog like the Big Boys do.

Do you know who is on Twitter? Do more men tweet than women or vice versa? Find out!

Have a great week!

Don't forget to say hello! :)

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I thought I would try a themed Thankful Thursday today....one around my office. (Been in here for over 3 hours so far today.)

I am thankful for this wonderful job I have, playing and working with words, a job that allows me to work from home in a beautiful office filled with books and paper and all the touchy feely things I love best.

I am thankful for the new roof we put on. A stone coated steel roof. My office has a high beam ceiling and the old shingles were just piled on top of that. No insulation. In the summer the room was an over and in the winter you could feel the columns of cold air drifting down. But since they put the new roof on it is pleasant. The AC is running on the house but even then I used to sweat in the office. Not now.

I am thankful for all the fun pieces of old office furniture and accessories I have been able to gather here to give it warmth...the old oak teacher's desk, the antique library table, the ancient file cabinet that matches the desk. The old botanical prints that are waiting for me to hang them on the wall. The old oak recipe box that holds my plotting index cards and all the little knick knack dust catchers that make me smile.

I am thankful for the ergonomic setup that helps me hurt less - (though today something is funky and my neck hurts) the chair that adjusts a gazillion different ways. The roller mouse keyboard that is no strain on my arm and should. The keyboard tray that lets me use a negative tile which reduces the strain on my wrists.

But I think today I am most thankful for the view outside my window. From the computer desk I can't quite see the bird bath or the bubbling rock (which means there is another water feature in our future) but I can see the birds swooping down as they race the length of the yard and come in for a landing. I can see them up in the Japanese Maple tree flitting from branch to branch, looking for bugs. I see the mourning doves, three of them, who have decided under the young Ironwoods is a nice place to take a nap and a fourth one wandering the path like an old man in search of his lost glasses. There's a cabbage white butterfly that us hovering over the monkey flower just at the edge of my view and an orange skipper resting on the coffee berry. The carpenter bees are working the tall yarrow at the back fence and the hummingbird is darting from the fuchsias to the twinberry and back again.

Life is good.

Ahhhhhhhh. So much better now. How couldn’t I be when this is my beach? Though that picture was taken Thursday morning, and not on the actual holiday weekend, it’s still pretty rare to get a beachfront as quiet as that in the summer, no? We always go to a beach separate from the downtown strip, and because parking is so limited, we don’t have a lot of company. Except for the dolphins, who love to troll along the shoreline just out of swimming reach. I know, I’m rubbing it in.

I swam in the ocean, flipped through magazines, and played with my three-year-old niece. I went to the aquarium, saw the fireworks, and ate at IHOP. I watched DVDs, took naps, and ate doughnuts. I bought a new bathing suit that I like, and the experience wasn’t even that painful.

I didn’t read a book while on vacation, though the ridiculously long return drive gave me the chance to read two of them. I didn’t spend any time worrying, or for that matter thinking too much at all. I read email via Bill’s iPhone, but didn’t try to write back with my terrible texting skills.

But now I can respond by telling you how much those comments and emails meant to me. Your supportive words and sympathetic sentiments gave me strength and energy from this community that I love.

The first night back in my home, my head felt clearer than it has in a while. The suggestions for conference sessions began to gel, including a fresh new idea of my own. I put out some thoughts to the listserv. I updated the page on KidLitosphere Central. I wrote to some contacts.

Unfortunately, I chose to get inspired as everyone is either on vacation for the holiday week or heading to the ALA conference. Bad timing. But you’ll be hearing more about the KidLitosphere Conference in the next few weeks, and I hope you make plans to attend. I mean, c’mon — the registration fee is low, the hotel rate is good, Washington, DC, is lovely, and the company is amazing. You can’t go wrong.

I am thankful for all the people who read my blog, whether they comment or not, I appreciate you spending a little time with me.

I am thankful for people who take the time from tto interview me and help spread the word about me and my books. This week I was interviewed by Carma Dutra, of Carma's Window. Thanks, Carma! 

I am thankful for the many people who have come together at Shelter Covenant Church in Concord to support my son Ryan. Ryan was baptized on Easter Sunday. He shared a little bit of his story, of his depression and fight with Muscular Dystrophy, in a video on his blog. Ryan doesn't realize how strong he is or how many people love and support him, but I think that day he got a bit of an idea. To the folks at Shelter, I haven't met any of you but I love you all for loving my son as much as you do.

Thanks so much to Summer Best and Shanna Bellingham at Horse Capital Digest for running an article about Canterwood Crest. I appreciate it! :) If you live in Ocala, the article is the February 27th issue.

Also, thanks to Jeff Hardison for writing an article about my visit to LCCC in today's Lake City Reporter. Thanks to Jason Matthew Walker for coming to take photos.

Today I am thankful for peanut butter.

Now this might seem like a silly thing to be thankful for but if you knew my dog Cassie better, you would understand.

Cassie is still a puppy which means she's like having a 70pound toddler running around the house. When she's awake, it's all about play, all the time. She doesn't play fetch so I can't tire her out that way. Sometimes I have to find a way to get her to give me a little quiet time so I can work. If she was a baby, I'd put her in a playpen. If she was a toddler I'd open the Tupperware drawer and the pots and pans cabinet and let her have a field day.

But she's a dog. A very smart dog who needs to be constantly challenged.

She is also a very spoiled dog. She has a lot of bones. As in, oh, 20 or so. She gets a new one once a week and the old ones stick around until they crack from playing bone hockey (she bats them around to slide on the tile floor.) Every so often I gather them up and boil them in hot water to make sure nothing icky is growing in them.

When I need to get some work done I gather up all her bones and put a dab of peanut butter inside each one. Then I take her into the hall bathroom and put her into a stay while I run all over the house and hide the bones. I release her and she spends the next hour looking for bones and licking out the peanut.

Yes, peanut butter is my friend.
 

Today I am thankful for my garden.

I am thankful that I have some dirt to call my own, a place to dig, to water, to watch life renew itself. It doesn't take much time, 5 minutes of pulling weeds, gathering seeds, and I am more at peace with my place in the giant world.

Things that make me smile in my garden:

• Flowers still in bloom - Flax, Yarrow, Chinese Houses, Lupines and Monkey Flower.
• The wildflower seeds are popping up all over the place even though they were just sown in the mulch and not dirt.
• It looks like the Carex Pansa lawn is starting to take.
• The ribes are full of buds waiting to burst into bloom.
• The Sambucus Mexicana that had broken broken branches might have new life. I stuck the branches in a pot and forgot about them. No special treatment. Now they are all rooting.
• Last night I heard a frog next door.

I first began blogging here on the 23rd December 2006. I can barely believe that it's been two years. And so much has happened since then that I would never have imagined or envisioned. If anyone had told me that in a couple of years I would be drawing and living in French countryside I'd have laughed. Loud and long. But here I am ...

I need to thank everyone who has encouraged and inspired me, taken the time to drop by to comment, chat, motivate, and turn into amazing friends whom I hugely admire both personally and artistically. I live a blessed life and appreciate it, and all of you, daily. Hourly. By the second!

Cheers and a Happy New Year to every one of you wonderful, talented, inspiring artists/friends out there! May 2009 bring even more creative sunshine into our lives.

P.S.: My Thank You Blue mug design won me a "Today's Best" Award over at Zazzle :)

I first began blogging here on the 23rd December 2006. I can barely believe that it's been two years. And so much has happened since then that I would never have imagined or envisioned. If anyone had told me that in a couple of years I would be drawing and living in French countryside I'd have laughed. Loud and long. But here I am ...

I need to thank everyone who has encouraged and inspired me, taken the time to drop by to comment, chat, motivate, and turn into amazing friends whom I hugely admire both personally and artistically. I live a blessed life and appreciate it, and all of you, daily. Hourly. By the second!

Cheers and a Happy New Year to every one of you wonderful, talented, inspiring artists/friends out there! May 2009 bring even more creative sunshine into our lives.

P.S.: My Thank You Blue mug design won me a "Today's Best" Award over at Zazzle :)

Thank you ALL so much for your comments about my new deal! I'm still replying to e-mails, MySpace messages and Facebook notes. It means so much that I have friends who are excited about Canterwood Crest. :) Yay!


One of the most...erm..."interesting" comments I got about my deal was, "Yeah, but more horse books? There are just horses? And girls? Do the girls ever have any life changing experiences?"

Well, um, I guess you'll find out when you read them!

Aside from that, I'm so excited and am working through the weekend to stay on schedule. People seemed to enjoy my PR Ninja post, so I'll try to do another one next week.

Happy weekend!

Okay, almost always willing to follow the crowd, here's my version of 20 Things That Make Me Happy Today in no particular order except for the way I think of them.

1.   Chai. Specifically chai from Sun Chai in Santa Cruz that you can only get on that side of the hill.
2.   Wonderful husband who indulges and spoils me.
3.   Cassie, my beautiful, exuberant dog.
4.   Growing friendships with Eileen, Becky and Debbi.
5.   The fact that we can afford to keep the house as warm or as cool as we like.
6.   Doves coming back to the yard now that there are plants.
7.   Things blooming the yard today - lupines and chinese houses.
8.   Seeing all the cool rocks we got yesterday just waiting for me to move them around the yard.
9.   Digital cameras.
10. Shopping online.
11. Writing friends who are willing to brainstorm and/or read for me.
12. Books.
13. The new tree bench my husband is putting together.
14. The wine barrels I scored on craigslist for dirt cheap so I can do pot ponds.
15. The new bright red computer that is sitting over there waiting for me to install my programs and transfer things.
16. Memory foam mattress pads.
17. Opportunities that have come my way allowing me to make money by writing more than just my own novels.
18. The dog crate
19. Being laid off.
20. All the seeds for native wildflowers waiting to be planted.

I never got around to soliciting stories of thanks, as I did last year. (I'd love to read yours; please put them in Comments.)

Here's what I'm thankful for:

1. President Obama.
2. That I live in the USA, where we can count on a peaceful transfer of power after an election, and (usually) the rule of law.
3. That I don't live in Congo, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Afghanistan, Haiti, Cuba, Russia, Mumbai...the list gets longer every day.
4. That I have a safe house to live in and enough food to eat.
5. My wonderful husband.
6. My son, the light of my life.
7. My parents.
   
8. My friends far and wide.
9. My clever and generous business associates.
10. The kindness of strangers.
    

Supportive husband who cooks and gives foot massages and spoils me rotten.
Puppy kisses.
A home of my own.
Words and the ability to use them.
Friends and family.

This is a random edition of thankfulness.

I am thankful I had dental insurance in order to have the dental surgery earlier this week.
(I hate hate hate that I needed it but glad I was able to do so.)

I am thankful for my wonderful husband who is excellent at taking care of me when I am under the weather.
(I wish everyone had someone like him in their lives because he is so very nurturing.)

I am REALLY thankful that I only have 5 working days left in a cubicle.
(I can't believe that they are dropping Microsoft Outlook and going backward to Lotus Notes for email.)

I am thankful to smokingtoaster</lj> because she is arranging a goodbye lunch for me at work. It's one of those awkward things because of course my big fear is what if no one wants to come? But if not, smokingtoaster and DB and I will just have a nice lunch on our own.
(The ONLY thing I am going to miss about this job are a few really great people.)

I am thankful that we have had the money to put in our native garden. It's not done and the plants are still small but seeing green stuff beginning to grow is so exciting.

I am thankful that I will be home and be able to tend the garden by hand, water by hand for a while, weed, and just bask in the wonderfulness that is nature.

I won't be going to Yom Kippur services again this year; I still can't sit long enough. Tomorrow I plan to keep the computer off and spend the day in the garden, making the weeds atone for invading my flower beds.

I love the Kol Nidre service, performed this evening, more than any other. Here's an exquisite rendition:



Peace and good health to all.

I am sososososososo thankful that I only have 24 working days left at the day job. Today was goofy, crazy, insane with the stuff they expect to have done by the time I am gone. I am doing my job. I am being professional. But I am not going to give 150% to a place that doesn't want me anymore. Sheesh.

Last night we went to go look at a second German Shepherd dog to possibly add to our family. His name is Cullen and he was pulled from the pound after being picked up running on the street. He had tags and the owner was contacted. The owner said no, I don't want him anymore. Just put him to sleep. This guy was just a big old teddy bear who wanted nothing more than to snuggle up next to a human.

Today I am giving thanks to the great many dog rescue groups and their volunteers that go into the shelters and pull good dogs like Cullen from the shelter and try to find them a new home with loving owners. If you want to add a dog to your family, please consider going to a rescue group or check out petfinder.com You can go to the pound too but here's the advantage of the rescue groups - most of them place the dogs in foster homes with experienced dog handlers. The foster parent can give you a lot of insight into the dog before you bring it home. Yes, rescue dogs are often older and a lot of people think that means they won't bond with their new owners but that's not the case. And while puppies are cute and cuddly they are a lot of work. There's a lot to be said for adopting a slightly older dog from 9 - 18 months.

If you want a specific breed, as we did, you can go to a breed specific rescue group. The AKC maintains a list of breed rescue groups around the country. Sure, it might take a little while to find the perfect dog (or not) but it is worth it. 

So thank you dog lovers and rescue groups everywhere.

In my typical random order - 

I am thankful that we found a dog trainer that I think is a great match for helping us work with Cassie.

I am thankful that the company we are merging with is doing it all very quickly. There will be a HUGE layoff when the deal closes, which will be painful no matter where I land, but it will be done quickly. Those that are still employed will know the layoff is done and shouldn't have to have the threat of more layoffs hanging over their head month after month after month. Those that lose their jobs (or have delayed departures) will at least know where they stand. I won't know what happens to me for another month but in another month, it will all be over. Considering that for the last 2 years we have lived in constant fear - this will be an improvement.

I am thankful that the blasted water pipe is finally fixed which means the pavers can finally be put back in place.

I am thankful for puppy kisses because they are so good for everything that is not right in my word.

I am thankful that for now, at least, Thursday is my Friday and I have three days off.

I am thankful that the cement demo crew is starting today, two days early, because I am at work and won't have to listen to the bulk of the noise. But more than that, I am thankful that soon, very soon, all the cement around our place will be gone and we will have a little bit more dirt for planting. Our yard is teeny tiny so I rejoice in any dirt that will let me garden a bit more.

I am thankful that a crew of 4 will show up on Friday to take out as much of the Bermuda grass that they can from the back yard. 

I am thankful for our local water district that is offering a nice rebate for people who take out thirsty lawns and replace them with drought-tolerant alternatives. (Ours will be, of course, 100% California native plants and no, that does not mean cactus.)

I am thankful that tomorrow starts the first day of my vacation/shut-down. Our company is shutting down next week so I will have 10 days at home to write and work on the garden and sleep in past 5am.

But most of all today I am thankful for my husband. Last night I was watering a patch of Bermuda (to make it easier to extract) and I pulled the hose a bit closer and managed to snap the water pipe. He was just getting ready to start cooking dinner but instead had to spend an hour or so running to the store for parts and fixing the broken pipe. Never once did he get upset with me. After that he had to help me move the close to 100 pots on the courtyard plus all the other assorted pieces of junk that live there. And then we had to move all the stuff on the sideyard since that is being removed too. And through it all he kept on smiling that smile of his, the one that made my heart go flip-flop when I first met him. The one that all these years later, still makes my own heart skip a beat.

May you all have a day filled with gratefulness.

Today's random thankfulness:

I am thankful that I finished my work-for-hire projects and got them turned in this afternoon, leaving me three days off from the day job to work with Plant Kid.

I am thankful to my super brainstorming buddy who stirred up lots of gray matter for me today.

I am thankful in today's record heat that we have air conditioning.

I am thankful that since we have a two story house we have a split AC system.

I am thankful we can afford to run the AC.

I am thankful for my husband who does all the shopping and cooking around here.

I am thankful to anyone who reads my blog, whether you comment or not.