Writer Mama Riffs on Raising A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids

The public is invited to support Willamette Writers Books for Kids program just in time for the holidays. By shopping at Barnes & Noble, Clackamas Town Center on Sunday, December 9th from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. and using a special Books for Kids Bookfair Voucher they can help raise funds to purchase more new books for the Willamette Writers Books for Kids Program. The store will donate a percentage of every sale made with the voucher to the Books for Kids program. Vouchers are available online at www.willamettewriters.com, by calling the Willamette Writers office @ 503-452-1592, or at the store on December 9th.

Willamette Writers will present these special events at the Bookfair from 1 to 5 p.m.:

·    1 - 3 PM - Readings by award winning local writers and poets, including Susan Fletcher, Kristina McMorris, Christine Fletcher, Samantha Waltz, Steve Perry, Sage Cohen, Pat Cason and others.

·    3-4 PM - Yes, You Too Can Write A Screenplay - A workshop and panel discussion on screenwriting opportunities with Cynthia Whitcomb, who has sold over 50 scripts to movie studios and television networks, and Bill Johnson, author of A Story is a Promise and several award-winning plays.

4-5 PM Writing in the Dark, in the Basement, in the Bathroom, or at the Park - A workshop and panel discussion of Mom Authors with Chelsea Cain, Heather Sharfeddin, Elizabeth Rusch and Christina Katz, moderated by Diana Page Jordan.

About Books for Kids

Willamette Writers, Inc.’s Books for Kids program collects and distributes new and good quality used books for less fortunate children and teens in the Portland Metro, Eugene, Medford and Newport areas. The program distributes over 25,000 books every year through over 50 agencies, and organizations, and has distributed over 150,000 books since its inception in 1994. It operated on grants from such foundations as The Rose Tucker Foundation, The Autzen Foundation, and the Jackson Foundation , and from donations from writers and readers throughout the state. All grants and donation and go directly to purchase new books; Willamette Writers, Inc., a 501(c)(3), pays for storage and distribution. Donations to the program are tax- deductible.

About Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble supports Willamette Writers Books for Kids and Young Willamette Writers through sales of its books at the annual Willamette Writers’ Conference each year. It also helps sponsor the Barnes & Noble / Willamette Writers Kate Herzog Scholarship for students graduation from high school or who are freshmen or sophomores in college. The store at Clackamas Town Center, is located at 12000 SE 82nd Ave, Portland.

Remember the Books for Kids Mottos are “A Book May be a Lonely Child’s Only Friend” and “Every Child Needs a Book to Call Their Very Own”.

So, I thought, What can I do? Don’t you just wish you could DO something?

So I found this information at www.redcross.org and I’m sharing it here, for anyone who feels the same way today:

All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the California wildfires, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.

If you are snug and cozy and unthreatened in your home right now, please reach for your wallet and make even a modest donation (the minimum is $5.00). If everyone with a secure home gave a little, it would truly help a lot!

I just gave and I feel better already.

Okay, you guys. We are SOOOOO close to making Writer Mama the WDB bestseller of the week. It’s currently in second place just after Plot and Structure, a book for fiction writers, which is currently holding the number one spot.

You can check out the announcement at the WD Editors blog. (!!!)

What I would really like to see is for Writer Mama to get in the bestseller-of-the-week spot and hold it until after Mother’s Day. I think that’s a reasonable goal, don’t you?

But I can’t accomplish this alone. I need your help. So, please, if you have purchased and read Writer Mama, and you find it helpful and/or inspiring, I’d like to ask you to do any or all of the following:

Tell everyone you know about Writer Mama and how much you appreciate the ideas and insights about how busy moms can launch or relaunch a writing career. You can e-mail moms, call them, make an announcement at storytime, whatever! Just help spread the word!

Post your Writer Mama review at Amazon.com or other online sites that post book reviews (one review, just posted on Amazon, is amazing. Yahoo!). Other moms will read the reviews and decide to buy Writer Mama too.

Start a Writer Mama writing-for-publication or accountability circle. Dare each other to set higher goals and reach them. Keep each other accountable using “Wendy Burt’s Accountability Sheet” (p. 199). Help each other prepare a book concept pitch for an upcoming writer’s conference (chapter 23). Why write a whole book

Do the exercises at the end of each chapter of Writer Mama with the book or writing group you already have. They work for every writer!

If you are a writing instructor, make Writer Mama required reading in your writing-for-publication classes. Your students will thank you (and get published more often)!

If you will soon be speaking at a writers conference, request that they include Writer Mama in the conference “bookstore” (unless, of course, outside authors are not included). If Writer Mama can’t be included unless I present at the conference, e-mail me and tell me about the conference and I will do my best to become a presenter next time around.

Sign up for The Writer Mama newsletter (coming soon in html format to your inbox). You may sign up at www.thewritermama.com.

Thank you! Your support means so much!

I dig Ali Edwards because she epitomizes the phrase “do what you love,” for me.

Look at all the good she is doing for a nonprofit organizing by galvanizing her scrapbooking readers for a great cause: Autism Speaks.

Here’s a video clip of Ali being interviewed by her local news station for you to check out. I think it will inspire you.

http://www.kval.com/news/6345527.html

I love libraries. And I’m always sorry when any library, especially ours here in Wilsonville, has to face budget cuts. The Wilsonville Library is a dream-brary for those who live here. They offer several storytimes a week for young children, a used bookstore, cheap magazines for resale (awesome for writer mamas!), art displays, a geneology research center, and so much more. Three cheers for the Wilsonville Library!

On Friday, March 2nd, from 5-7 p.m. the Wilsonville Library will celebrate 25 years of service to the community. I’ll try to be there before my husband’s Grease show that night, and if you live nearby, I hope you can make it too.

Coming soon, you’ll be able to show your support for the library by purchasing copies of Writer Mama there. True, you’ll have to pay the cover price with no discount. BUT, you’ll be supporting a great cause and you won’t have to wait for your “order” to be shipped. You can just swing by and pick one up.

They will be arriving soon. I’ll let you know when they get there.

In the meantime, lets all empty our penny jars into library donation collectors. Libraries may be free to local citizens but it takes dough to pay staff salaries, keep the lights on and, most importantly, add books to collections.

I just finished watching An Incovenient Truth with Al Gore. And I have to say, if A.G. was a student in one of my classes, I’d have to give him an A+ (I actually don’t give grades, I just nag students to write, write, write and then write some more but I would give him an A+ if I did).

Point is, and despite whatever your politics may be, Gore communicates an incredibly complex issue simply, economically, and powerfully, using reason, not emotion, to compell the listener/viewer.

Furthermore, he makes his appeal humane by weaving in relevant stories from his personal life, and he makes it more than political, by pointing out the significance of the story to every person on planet earth.

The viewer cannot help but feel compelled to take action based on the sheer force of reasonable and deliberate calm conveyed by Gore in this remarkably poetic film (when you consider that it’s actually the story of a man and his slideshow!).

So, what I am trying to communicate, perhaps not nearly as poetically (because it is late and I have go change the remainder of my lightbulbs that I’ve been too lazy to switch up until now) is that all professional communicators could learn a thing or two by watching this film.

As a professional communicator myself, I feel inspired to clean up my own act thanks to An Inconvenint Truth. And I don’t just mean my carbon emissions. I mean

Because, in a way, this is not just about a message, it’s about how to master any medium. It’s an persuasive example of the power of multiple drafts. If Gore has given the slideshow 1,000 times, then we all possess the capacity for such clarity, no matter how complicated the topic, as long as we stay in our process.

Perhaps, all we need are the connections of a former vice president, a heavy dose of insider information, and about 999 drafts, and we too could uncover powerful truths in our own lives that are not only universal but also extremely timely.

An Inconvenient Truth is available on DVD. You don’t want to miss it. I’d love to hear what you think.

Today is the day to order Writer Mama from Amazon as the final day of our big pre-order push and earn your chance to win a free one-hour writing career consult with me, Christina Katz! Click here and here for all the details.

Well, I must say that this first push to get Writer Mama out into the world has been so gratifying. Uh-oh, I’m getting misty. (But just so you know, I was up several times last night with the puppies and it is Valentine’s Day, after all, so I may wax a little mushy.)

Writer Mama is still doing great in the Amazon ranks and it has been doing great for days, ever since I started asking for support. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to know that as soon as copies are available for shipping, some will be zipping right out of the warehouse and into the hands of writer mamas and otherwise. It’s a really good feeling. Just trust me on this one.

Just look at these demonstrations of support:

Writing Thoughts Blog

A Mama’s Rant

Elemental Musings

Lauri’s Reflections

The Writing Mother

Shanghai Adventures of a Trailing Spouse

Okay, very misty now. Gotta go. I’ll be back later!

Writer Mama has been selling gangbusters since I requested help in creating a little ol’ Amazon spike on or before February 14th. (!!!)

Thank you all so much! I am touched by your support! (Insert weepy smily face here.)

So, here’s what I am going to do. I’m going to give away three one-hour sessions of writing career coaching for three lucky Writer Mama purchasers! All you have to do is send me a copy of your Writer Mama amazon receipt dated on or before February 14th and I will draw three of those on February 15th for one hour of writing careeer coaching each. We’ll set up those winning sessions some time in the next month.

How does that sound? You may send your e-receipts to:

writermama@earthlink.net

But I think we need a goal for Writer Mama to reach on February 14th. Let’s make it something within reason like…making Writer Mama the number one bestselling “New & Future Release” in the “Writing Reference” Category.

That’s sounds uber-qualified, but I think we can do it! (I think we can, I think we can…)

Thank you so much for spreading the word!

I belive you can track how we’re doing, here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/new-releases/books/12015/ref=pd_nr_b_nav/002-1321344-5019226

Last I checked, we were number eleven!

A lot of folks have already shown their support for Writer Mama, my forthcoming book, by purchasing it, and I am so appreciative.

For folks who haven’t made a purchase yet, but wish to, might I be so bold as to invite you to make a purchase on (or before) Valentine’s Day?

This quirky strategy, aka “the Amazon sales spike,” could possibly drive Writer Mama to the top of the Amazon bestseller list on February 14th as the bestselling writing reference book.

This little request may not seem very romantic, but for me, it’s sheer poetry! Especially when you keep in mind that about 400-500 books are released in the US every day — that’s huge competition for WM on March first!

Your purchase from Amazon.com on February 14th helps me show my publisher, Writer’s Digest Books, as well as the folks who place orders at Amazon.com that Writer Mama is going to fly off the (warehouse) shelves and this alone may cause them to increase the size of their initial order.

So thank you in advance for helping me spread the word to order Writer Mama from Amazon.com on (or by) February 14th.

http://www.amazon.com/Writer-Mama-Writing-Career-Alongside/dp/1582974411

After seven years of hard work as a writer and writing instructor, three and half years publishing and editing writersontherise.com, and a year and a half of concentrated effort on the book itself, I can’t make an impact without your help.

Here’s wishing you chocolate, romance, champagne, roses and Writer Mama on February 14th! (You will receive it after the publication date, March first.)

I truly, madly, deeply appreciate your support. Happy Valentine’s Day!

In the writer mama spirit,

Christina Katz

I have a lot of respect for Ali Edwards and always appreciate the daily inspiration she shares in her blog. Ali is a scrapbooking expert, and if you think about it, writers are really scrapbookers too. We just do it with words pretty much exclusively.

I met Ali’s husband Chris Edwards at the Willamette Writers Conference in 2005. He was one of those people I kept bumping into over and over between workshops and events. He said his wife was an author and we chatted about her and her career briefly. Then the parking shuttle came and off to the conference we both went.

It was about a year after the conference that I finally made the connection between the nice man I’d met at the conference, Chris Edwards, and the neat woman online whose blog I admired, his wife, Ali Edwards.

I only figured it out because Chris contacted me over the summer of 2006 to say he was running for office. A couple months later, when Ali mentioned in her blog that her husband Chris was running for state representative, I finally put the two of them together!

I thought that was a funny coincidence at the time. Chris had asked me to get involved in his campaign, and although I meant to take action on it, that sticky note finally came unglued from my computer and floated into the dead post-it note pile.

I felt bad about that, but I was in the throes of I’m-writing-my-first-book tunnel. It was what I needed to focus on at the time.

As it turns out, however, Chris and Ali’s son, Simon, has autism and Ali often talks about it in her blog. As a result she raises awareness and money for autism research. I am always quick to share her link with any mom I “meet” whose child had been diagnosed with Autism.

Today, I checked Ali’s blog and noticed that she has discovered an organization that will match the money she raises and then some. Now this is a campaign I can jump right in on! Thankfully, the organization hosting the fund drive, Six Degrees of Separation, has made this easy for bloggers to do.

Finally, a campaign of the Edwards family that I can support right this minute! Yay!

I encourage you, if you have a blog or website, to do the same. For more information on how to spread the love and raise money for Ali’s cause, simply click here or here. You can even get a copy of the badge that you can post it too. (I’m still trying to figuere out how to do that but hopefully I’ll get it eventually.)

In the meantime, go Ali. Go Simon. Go autism research. Go all the kids and moms and dads impacted by this baffling illness. I hope that Ali’s fund hits the mark she wants it to hit.

And, by the way, Chris Edwards won the seat in the legislature. And it’s an inspiring story if you ever have some time to while away.