Giggly Gracie & Jammin’ Jane

My manuscript with the working title Giggly Gracie & Jammin’ Jane will be featured on the 10 day book club from 3/1/12 through 3/21/12.

Jan Tatarka/Zippy Applehead

10 Day Book Club

www.10daybookclub.com

Join FREE – participate in virtual book clubs as a reader or writer  and have fun connecting through social media

Take a minute today to sign up as a reader (free) and then for my event (also free). We will meet in the online chat forum from 3/22 – 3/24 where you can give me feedback and ask questions. This is a great opportunity to not only sign up for my manuscript but the other books that will be featured.

Stay tune as http://zippyappleheadbooks.com is coming to a computer near you!!!!

REMEMBER:

To Follow Your Dreams & Live Life to the Fullest

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming… suddenly you find – at the age of 50, say – that a whole new life has opened before you. — Agatha Christie

New Adventure…Zippy Applehead

A new adventure you might  say. What is it all about? Traveling the world? Moving to a new region?  Connecting with old friends? A new job? Following your dreams perhaps? Somehow it entails these things and more.  I have ventured into the wonderful world of writing children’ s books and excited to share this information with you all today.

I never was much of a reader so let me say first off I genuinely ENVY everyone and anyone who can pick up a novel and read for hours for true pleasure. It wasn’t that I didn’t like to read — I struggled with reading comprehension and although I had a successful career to this day my reading span is limited to short stores, magazine articles and children’s books (I do read to my granddaughters when we are together). In addition I was not much of writer either. Each year on my performance review I was gigged for my writing ability even though I was a top management employee. This harmful entry would always affect my yearly raise. That is until I began college classes in my forties to spruce up my writing skills. Imagine how I suffered through all that college reading material…

I am embarking on a new adventure and I am here to tell you I LOVE IT. Moving into the arena of writing for children has been a rich and rewarding experience. I have three manuscripts in the works. You Are Who You Be is now being published through Publish America. Lollipops and Gumdrops staring Lolly McGolly and Giggly Gracie & Jammin’ Jane are two manuscripts I am working on and shopping around for a literary agent. My voice is in rhyme and verse. I chose this direction due to the creativity it involves for a child and to help kids today who struggle with reading and comprehension of the words.

I will be utilizing a pen name Zippy Applehead and have a new website http://zippyappleheadbooks.com. This site should be up and running in just a few days. Once my website goes live I will begin blogging positive messages for kids of all ages. My books are targeted toward the 4-8 year old range.

I am a member of Chesapeake Bay Writers,  Society of Children Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and the 10 Day Book Club.  Giggly Gracie & Jammin’ Jane is to be featured on the 10 Day Book Club from 3/1/12 through 3/21/12. I am inviting you to sign up on 10daybookclub.com as a reader (it is free) and join me during this timeframe to read, review and critique my manuscript. After the 21st there will be an open forum feedback session with me.  I invite you now to join me in this new adventure. Thanks!

REMEMBER..

To Follow Your Dreams and Live Life To The Fullest!

ZippyAppleᾤHead

If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.  ~Toni Morrison

—just me, my honey and my puppy…

Yesterday was the epitome of FUN! My husband, puppy and I decided to jump in the van and take a day long road trip. Fourteen hours to be exact. We bought a new canon camera in March and are trying to get our photos noticed in the Canon sponsored Project Imagin8ion contest. So out for a photoshoot we went.

For almost twenty years my better half and I have had a variety of individual hobbies. We have each tried to get the other involved with those interests to no avail. My husband is into woodworking, guitars and music, and now enrolled through the University of Phoenix. I, however love dancing, writing, and reading celebrity gossip magazines. But now we have our new Canon T2i camera and a new hobby for two + puppy.

We left at 9:30AM and our first stop was graduation for 3 lovely young women at our church. Out came the T2i as Steve snapped several photos’ during the ceremony and reception. Then we picked up our Annie girl from my sisters and headed out across Interstate 64 in Virginia not knowing where we were going or what we would find to photograph along the way

We found plenty of dusty roads and the van is filthy. We found railroad tracks with a tiny old post office building, the Walton Mountain Museum, Afton Mountain Scenic overpass as well as brooks, streams, creeks, a log cabin building and several old barns.  

We stopped in Charlottesville at a Mexican restaurant with outdoor seating and puppy was able to sit with us. We met a great couple seated next to us and some adorable kids from Hampton who fell in love with Annie. We stopped for ice cream at Bruesters and they gave Annie a free puppy sundae with a dog biscuit on top.

Now let me tell you my puppy is pretty darn spoiled. She has a dog bed we carry on the lap so she can rest comfortably up front with the passenger. She gets to get out at each stop to stretch her legs, has plenty of drinking water and gets treats along the way. It is a great dogs life for Annie.

It was an old fashion quality day. No idea where the day would take us and what we would find. We left with a tank of gas, the camera and an idea. We found a genuine love along the way for a new hobby we can now both enjoy together.

Just me, my honey and my puppy!

Live Life to the Fullest and Follow Your Dreams

see you soon…

Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.~ Dale Carnegie