Make Your Mondays Marvelous!

Who likes Mondays? Nobody. Poor Monday, always getting blamed for grumpy moods and work boredom. Poor Monday is the ultimate scapegoat for everything {blah} in our lives.

I am not saying I look forward to Mondays. Like everyone, I sometimes get the where-did-the-weekend-disappear-to? Sunday-evening blues. But the other day I realized something: if I spend every week dreading Monday and slugging through Monday just trying to get through the day, that means I'll be spending 1/7th of my life in a state of yucky, grumpy, get-me-out-of-here dread. And that's just not how I want to spend my time.

So I was thinking back to when I was in elementary school, and we had adjectives associated with all the days of the week, cute alliterative names like: Super Sunday, Stupendous Saturday, Fantastic Friday, Thrilling Thursday, Wonderful Wednesday, Terrific Tuesday, Marvelous Monday.

How does that sound? Marvelous Monday.

I kinda like it.

The thing is, back in elementary school, Mondays *were* marvelous. I don't remember dreading Mondays then. Weekends were great, of course, but school was fun, too. I think a large part of it was that even school had a sense of excitement and discovery about it. Every day, even Mondays, were filled with the possibility of surprises. Magic was around every corner. Back then, even the most everyday incidents would be cause for celebration: ice cream for someone's birthday, a trip to a new restaurant, a note from your best friend passed secretively during class, a new game on the playground, a gopher discovered behind the kickball backstop...

I think it's about time to bring some of that everyday magic back. Especially to poor Monday.

From now on, instead of moaning about Monday, I am going to try to make each Monday particularly marvelous. Maybe I'll try something new, do a random act of kindness or gratitude, act spontaneously, bring out my inner 12-year-old. Then, I'll go home and write about it, bringing that renewed energy and zest for life to all of my writing projects.

Will you join me? What is marvelous about your Monday?

Dallas Woodburn is the author of two award-winning collections of short stories and editor of Dancing With The Pen: a collection of today's best youth writing. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three years in a row and her nonfiction has appeared in a variety of national publications including Family Circle, Writer's Digest, The Writer, and The Los Angeles Times. She is the founder of Write On! For Literacy and Write On! Books Youth Publishing Company and is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Fiction Writing at Purdue University, where she teaches undergraduate writing courses and serves as Assistant Fiction Editor of Sycamore Review.

Walking Through Walls Honored with the Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval

As a 4RV Publishing author, I'm thrilled and honored to announce that Walking Through Walls has been awarded the Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval! But, this post will also talk a bit about contests.

Literary Classics is an organization dedicated to promoting excellence in literature. Through AWARDS, BOOK REVIEWS, and SEAL OF APPROVAL PROGRAM, the committee helps you sort through the many books in circulation today. It is the CLC’s goal to help you select the finest books available. Additionally, the programs offer opportunities for publishers, authors and illustrators to receive recognition for providing excellence in literature.


This is the second award for my fantasy adventure based on and set in ancient China.In January 2012, Walking Through Walls won 1st Place in the Editors and Predators Readers Poll, in the Children's Novel category!

Walking Through Walls is a middle grade fantasy adventure set in 16th century China. Wang longs to be rich…and powerful. At twelve-years-old, he already knows more about the Eternals and their way of life than many of the adults in his village. Learning about these mystics takes his thoughts away from the possibility of working in the wheat fields all his life, like his father. Wang has far grander goals.

To check out the amazing illustrations done by Aidana WillowRaven, reviews and more information on Walking Through Walls go to: http://walkingthroughwalls.blogspot.com

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If you'd like to get your own copy for home or in the classroom (ISBN: 978-0-9826594-7-2), click the link:

4RV Publishing Book Store
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

You can view the Children's Literary Classics Review of Walking Through Walls at:
http://clcreviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/walking-through-walls-by-karen-cioffi.html

Contests and Exposure

I recently had a guest post on my site by award-winning and multi-published (80+) author Nancy Sanders. Working with her publicists and publishers, she learned a thing or two about generating exposure for her books, and one great way to do this is through contests.

Obviously, each author will need to determine their individual marketing budget and see if contests can have an allotted amount, but even if you’re on a tight budget, there are things you can do to generate visibility.

Nancy suggests first making a list of those award sites you’d like to submit to, keeping the free ones up first. Then, follow the guidelines of each and enter you book.

Try to keep in mind that it’s not necessarily about winning. Nancy advises that just getting your book “in the hands of judges” is important in itself. Many of the judges are important people in their own literary circles.

To find out more of what Nancy has to say on entering contests go to:
http://www.karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com/2012/01/submitting-for-awards-by-nancy-sanders_25.html

You can also check out Nancy’s site for even more information:
http://nancyisanders.wordpress.com/awards/

Since, I think contests are an important promotional and visibility tool, I allotted as much as I could to enter those contests I thought would make a difference. Contests I entered the end of last year include:

Boston Globe Horn Books Award (No fee, 3 books)

SCBWI Golden Kite Awards (No fee, 4 books)

Newbery Medal (No fee, 2 books)

IRA Children’s and Young Adult’s Book Awards (No fee, 1 book)
International Reading Association

The Eric Hoffer Award ($50, 1 book)

USA 2012 Book Awards ($69, 1 book)

Children’s Literary Classics ($95, 3 books)

Notice that the first four award contests have NO fee. You can definitely be a cost-conscious marketer. And, again, whether you win no awards, one, two, or three awards, it’s the exposure and having the book seen by influential people that’s as important as winning.

Just a side note: I recently spoke with a librarian and she mentioned that the Newbery award is one of the ‘biggies.’ After that would come the state awards. So, take a bit of time and look into these awards . . . you never know.

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Additional Reading:

Writing Children’s Books – Genre Differences
Keep Your Writing Goals Front and Center 
Children’s Writing and Publishing: The Traditional Path PART 1
Writing a Fiction Story: Walking Through Walls Backstory

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Until next time,

Karen Cioffi
Award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Marketer

Check out Karen’s eBooks at:
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com

Karen Cioffi Writing and Marketing
http://WritersOnTheMove.com
DKV Writing 4 U
http://KarenCioffiFreelanceWriter.com
http://KarenCioffi.com (children’s author site)

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