This blog is being retired as of today. I thank all of you who have taken an interest in viewing this blog, and I hope that you have enjoyed your visit here. I will now be writing on matters of health and safety. However, I will also continue to write children's literature, and will be writing motivating literature for adults as well. Please visit me at my new blog: carolyn-sands.blogspot.com Looking forward for your visit.

Prevention of Childhood obesity

Just wrote an article on hub pages.com on 'Preventing Childhood Obesity'. Childhood obesity is a very serious issue here in the USA and leads to significant health issues. Read the entire article at: http://.www.carol3san/hubpages.com Thanks for stopping by.

Poetic Insanity

Poetic Insanity , a fitting name for the tone of these poems presented. In total, a collection of 18 poems mostly noted in Rhyme form. I do like the fact that the author gives a wonderful summary of her life as a young teenager while struggling with bipolar disease prior to the actual poetry presentation. There is no doubt that you can hear the author's confusion and anguish she experienced through her poems. The poems all have thought provocking names that are certain to grab your attention. The best example of this is found in the poem: 'Simplify or Pacify'. In this poem, the author rattled off comments on the subjects of manic, irritability, anger, anxiety, depression, and hatred, then asked the question weather or not to simplify or pacify.
I also like the fact that the poems are all written in very short sentences, and most of them with very short stanzas as well which leads to better reading. In the poem: 'Temporary Breakdown', the author writes: "It comes and goes so quickly, but stings me to the core. Try to tell myself it's nothing, but I always end up worse than before. To you, it's just a simple routine, an act in a play of insanity. But every time it's just as real to me."
Perhaps the use of the word it's in this passage, instead of using the word its (no apostophe), would have been a better choice of grammer. However, I'm impressed with the the overall collection and expect that the author will do well with her poems. I advise the poems in 'Poetic Insanity' to be read by everyone who loves poetry.

Book Review: "Go the F**k to Sleep"

Adam Mansbach’s new book: ”Go the F**K to Sleep”, is a nonconventional bed time story and is a huge hit among adults. A few verses of the book went viral on the internet before it was even published. It is so well received that it is number one on Amazon.com, and also number one on the New York Times best seller list. “Go the F**k to Sleep” was undoubtedly written to help the author cope with the tricky job of getting his young child to go to sleep at bedtime. But I warn you however, although the colorful illustrations are very nice and the rhythmic verses are funny, in no way is this new book meant to be read to children. This one is fun and is for adults only.
An excerpt from the book reads: “The windows are dark in the town child. The whales huddle down in the deep. I’ll read you one very last book if you swear you’ll go the f**k to sleep.” Profane words are scattered about on every page. “Go the F**k to Sleep” is funny and if you are a parent, it will bring to mind the many times you’ve tried to put an unwilling child to sleep when there are still things left to be done before you can finally get some rest for yourself. I believe that’s why this book throws a great punch. It hits the exact cord that gets you to laugh and reminisce on some of the aspects that goes with parenting. Just make sure you keep“Go to F**k to Sleep out the hands of your little ones.
I would have loved for this book to have been around during my years of stressing over getting my kids to sleep peacefully. It is humorous and will give a big boost in your mood.
You can learn more about the author, Adam Mansbach and some of his other works by visiting his face book fan page or following him on twitter.

Hot Issues Cool Choices

'Hot Issues Cool choices’ is an award winning book written by author Sandra McLeod Humphrey. The book speaks on issues which negatively impacts school age children. In particular, it is a collection of short stories that speaks on bullying and other stressful situations which unfavorably affects the experiences of children throughout their school age years. I believe that children of all ages will find the contents of this book to enhance their daily lives. In addition, both parents and teachers will also benefit from the collection of short stories this book entails. It should encourage them to have frank conversations about the subjects that children perceive to be offensive to them.
‘Hot Issues Cool Choices’ has been selected for the Young Voices Foundation Award, Mom’s Choice Award Honoring Excellence, and USA Book News, best book award winner. Sandra McLeod Humphrey is also the author of another wonderful book ‘If You Had to Choose, What Would You Do?’

Hub Article About Writer's Block

Just wrote an article on hub pages explaining a little more abour my love for writing and how to prevent writers block. Go take a look at:

Enjoy!

Free Download

I entered one of my short stories in a writing contest recently. The name of the story is called; "The Young Witnesses". I intend to include it in a collection of short stories that is scheduled for publishing later in the year. For a free download click on the link at the right hand top of this blog (authorstand.com) When you get to the website simply enter my name, carolyn sands, into its search browser in order to get my short story to pop up. Then you can have a free download of the story. It is a little bit of a thriller. Thanks and Enjoy!

How to prevent a writer's block

Have you ever had a writer's block that may have lasted for a few painful weeks before you were finally able to work your way back into the swing of things? This type of situation happens all too often to many writers from time to time. A writer's block can be very stressful and may even last a few weeks or more. It can be very discouraging too, and can cause a writer's career to plummet into a long slump.

I have a plan to help prevent writer's block, or at least a plan to successfully fight against it. The next time any of you should get a writer's block, here are some good suggestions for you to do. Of course there is the obvious, as many have said before; exercise, and start in the middle of your work or work backwards. My suggestions are:
1- Make an outline of your writing project before you get started on it. I know that you've probably heard this before also, but I am convienced that the outline is essential. It will help you get from point a to point b. and should keep the flow of your work progressing nicely. You can always change the outline as it suits you.
2- Do a decent amount of research before you start your writing project. Make sure you have all the facts. A good writer will do this automatically. These days it is very easy to do via google...it will give you the answers to everything you want.
3-Are you passionate about what you are writing? Without the passion, sometimes your writing efforts will be fruitless. When you are passionate about what you are writing, your work will show it.
4-your writing time should be uninterrupted and should be without distractions. This will lead to less mistakes and a far better finished product.

I hope these few suggestions will help you the next time you are faced with a writer's block. Actually, being passionate about what you are writing about is the answer to preventing a writer's block from ever coming to the surface in the first place.
Enjoy.

Six Ways to Manage Time More Effectively

Are you sometimes so overwhelmed with things you need to do that you find yourself a little too stressed out sometimes? No matter what your situation is, getting too stressed out is never a good thing. What would happen to that wonderful project you have in your head when you get too stressed out? You may continue to work on it when you get the time, but with a mountain of things you need to do, you may find yourself putting your project on the back burner. Or even worse, the job you do on it will probably not reach your maximum potential. I've been there. Perhaps we've all been there at some point. A lot of you may still be struggeling with this. So I would like to share with you my 5 ways to manage time more effectively which should prevent a lot of stress from mounting.
1) Keep a daily log of your "to do list".
2) Make the most difficult task on the list your number one thing to do,the second most difficult thing, your number two, and preceed accordingly.
3) When you check your emails, highlight the ones you may want to take a closser look at, and delete the others. Don't spend too much time with the emails because it can get you sidetracked.
4)Answer the important emails right away in addition to answering all of your import phone calls.
5) Multitask when possible. For example, you may be able to make copies of somethings you need, and clear off your desk while the printer is making your copies.
6) Make the last thing you were working on at the end of the day, your first thing on your to do list for the next day unless something comes up more important.

Well those are the tactics I use to manage time effectively, and cut down on stress. I hope I've been of some help to you.

End of National Poetry Month

Well the month is at an end today and unfortunately I was only able to read my poetry at 5 different locations around my home town area. I have to admit I had a lot of fun and am looking forward to my next reading.

Anyone else attended poetry readings this month?

Poetry Readings

I was happy to take part in several poetry readings lately. Of course I happen to love poetry, and would be happy to read my poems at any given time, but I've been having a lot of fun with my poetry reading this month especially, probably due to National Poetry Month. I hosted an event last Saturday, and another one yesterday that were both very gratifying. Thankfully there were several poetry lovers that showed up who all seemed to be appreciative of the motivating poems I selected to read.

I have other poetry readings scheduled this month and expect to have a lot of fun doing poetry readings before this month has ended.
You too can participate in National Poetry Month by reading your favorite poem at your neighborhood poetry reading club, the library, or anywhere else poetry lovers are gathered to exchange poetry.
And of course you can always visit my website and take a look at a couple of my poems from my book:Motivating Poems for Spiritual Growth, Weight Loss and Everyday Use Go to: www.motivationalpoetry.webs.com
Enjoy

Poetry Readings

In celebration of National Poetry Month, Caroline Kennedy will be giving readings from her new book, She Walks In Beauty: A Woman's Journey Through Poems. Readings will be held at selected Barnes and Noble book stores through out major cities.

I will be giving reading from my new book,Motivational Poetry for Weight Loss, Spiritual Growth and Everyday Use Readings will take place at several of the libraries around the South Florida area, in addition to a few colleges and universities.
If anyone would like to read a few poems that are in the book, you can do so by visiting my website: motivationalpoetry.webs.com
Enjoy>

Richard Peck's Ten Rules of Writing

Just watched Richard Peck on youtube give his ten rules of writing while he appeared to be in an informal setting with other writers.

Let me explain to you who Richard Peck is just in case some of you may not know. Richard Peck is an award winning author who writes for middle school age children and young adult readers. He writes mostly mysteries and coming of age stories. He is very knowledgable with a vast of helpful information for inspiring authors. Here is the link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XREqT69hvDc&feature=related

You can see a sample of my writing if you visit my page on the author's den at: www.authorsden.com/carolysands
To read my motivational poetry please visit my website at:
www.motivationalpoetry.webs.com

Enjoy.

Non fiction writing

I am writing a non fiction book for 10 to 12 year olds. This is the first time I've undertaken such a project. Mostly I write cute short stories for 10 to 14 year olds. To my surprise, this non fiction project has given me much more material than what I realized. I am forced to take this project into a different direction. I will combine all of the information I've collected into several nice books, instead of trying to jam it all in one big book. From the one topic I am writing about, I have at least five different related subjects to explore. Hence, five new book posibilities which I will be following up on.

I happen to love the creative/fictional writing I do for my niche group but I feel just as good about the non fiction writing. The non fictional writing will make my work more diverse of course, and will give it a broader subject selection. I know I've blogged about non fiction writing in the past, as it was always an interest to me. But now I am finally officially doing the work needed to add a non fiction book to offer my niche group.

National Poetry Month

I am amazed at all of the different types of days, weeks, and months our government acknowledges every year. Last week, March 6-12th was read an e-book week, and National Read Day was on March 2nd. This month (has nothing to do with reading or writing) is National woman's month. All of us women should congratulate ourselves for the progress we've made in our society over the years, especially since we won the right to vote.

Now putting all of that aside, I want to talk a little about National Poetry Month, which is next month. I plan to give several readings from my new bookMotiovational Poems for Weight Loss, Spiritual Growth and Everyday Use. I have three readings scheduled so far...two at different libraries, and one at a college campous in my area. Since I live a large metropolitan area, there are several towns with libraries and colleges where I hope to be able to do poetry readings. Hopefully this will be another great opportunity for people to get to know me, in addition for me to get to sell a few more books.

Hope all of you poetry lovers out there also have plans to read your poetry to appreciative audiances. What better time to do this than National Poetry Month?

Help Stay on Task With A Writing challenge

So today is March 4th...almost a week is gone into this month already. Where does the time go? Since it goes by much faster than what we realize sometimes, I help myself to stay on track with my writing projects by using the old and faithful tool... goal setting.

To help me to keep my eyes on the prize and make even more progress with my projects, I am now giving myself writing challenges. Let's say my goal may be to complete a writing project this month. But the challenge itself is to commit to working on my writing project every day for a certain length of time. This will prevent me from getting side tracked, delaying my work, and falling behind.

Why don't you join me in my writing challenge? Simply commit to working on your writing project for a certain amount of time per day (In my case, it is for at least 3 hours) but blogging, time spent on face book, twitter, and etc obviously will not count.

I believe this challenge will truly help you to move further along with your writing aspirations and will help to keep you on top of your game plan.

Join me?

How You Can Use National Read Day to Get More Publicity

Since yesterday was national read day, I spent a couple of hours at my local library reading to a small group of children that frequent the library after school. I admit it; I had a lot of fun doing so. The interaction I had with them after each reading was especially enjoyable. As I looked into the faces of the young children during the reading and the discussion afterwards, I could not have been happier. They were engaged in the stories I read them and responded appropriately.

I wish I could say that I've done this sort of thing many times in the past, but unfortunately no, I can't. However, I'm not going to cry over spilled milk. I've made a decision to visit the libraty at least once a month or so, and not wait until national read day before I take a young group of children under my wing (as long as I am given permission to do so of course) Doing this, I will be giving a service to my neighbood and will get better known in my community. Hopefully they (both children and pareents) will look forward to my new books when published.

In case some of you did not know it, March 2nd is National Read Day. It is a time to spotlite the impotance of reading to children all across the USA. March 2nd was chosen because it is the birthday of Dr. Suess, who is the author of such popular books as The Cat in the Hat, and Green Eggs and Ham.

This is also a time you can introduce yourself to your community as well. Go to your library and get permission to read to a group of children (I'm asuming that you are writing for children) I found it to be fun and rewarding. And for your information, the month of April, is National Poetry Month. I already have poetry readings scheduled at four different libraries in near by communities. Perhaps you can make time to read some poetry during National Poetry Month also.

If you are interested, you can visit my website at, www.motivationalpoetry.webs.com and read excerpts from my new book Motivational Poetry Just copy and past the web address in your browser. Also you can read my short story of Cindy the Story Teller on my page at the author's den at; www.authorsden.com/carolynsands

How Do You FindYour Muse?

Are you pasionate about your writing career and the work you are doing? Having passion when developing your work means the difference in putting out mediorce work and excellent work. So obviously we will all work in matters that we care deeply about right? Or will we?

Al Yankovic. 'Weird Al' as he is fondly called, (I think because he is a master of parity) is most famous for doing a parity of Michael Jackson's Beat It along with other songs, tv shows, and movies. I heard his interview this past week end. Yankovic is very funny and is well respected in his field, and won serval Grammies for his work. However, he did a U turn in establishing his career.

While in college 'Weitd Al' started working on the college radio station and discoved he loved working for the radio station far better than his actual major. So he followed his passion and swiched his career. He said he took the advice of his father who who told him "The only true signs of success is being able to make a living at doing the things that make you truly happy" Hence, he followed his passion, AND is making a nice living for himself.

I loved hearing him talk about his new children's book called,When I Grow Up He wrote it in funny rhymes which worked out very well. The lesson he left me with, is one I want to convey to you. How do you find your muse? To do this, first we need to know what our passion is, and simply (or not) follow our passion. I believe if your passion is writing (which I strongly suspect it is) you will be very successful because your passion will lead you to learn and then act on the things necessary in order for you to make a living from it. As 'Weird Al' Yanckovic put it,"Follow your muse".

Please feel free to visit my website so you can read excepts from my new book Motivational Poems at www.motivationalpoetry.webs.com Also you may read my short story Cindy the Story Teller on my page at the author's den at www.authorsden.com/carolynsands

Four Tips For Writing Children's Educational Stories

I am writing a book about a character I previously introduced in another of my short stories, Cindy the Story Teller I suppose I enjoyed the character so much I decided to use her again in another short story. It also helped that I received a lot of positive fed back about the character of Cindy. Hopefully if this works out, I will continue to use her character in a series of short stories. Instead of telling fairy tails however, this time I am giving her stories of educational value. Hopefully younger children will learn something from Cindy's stories.

Since today is Saturday, I did a lot of my research. I have this routine I do on the week ends and research is one of them. This is not the first day I've done research for this project, but today I spent a lot of time on it. I dare not get anything wrong in writing this story. I'm pretty sure I now have enough research completed on my topic to be well on my way.

Helpful tips for writing an educational story for children.
1) Know your niche. Make sure the story is approprote for the age group you plan to write for. The niche I write for are children between the ages of 10 to 14. Therefore I am constantly looking at subjects that are of interest to them. I am also a poet and I use the same principle when I am writing poetry.
2) KISS..... Keep the facts straight and simple. Don't give too much information about the subject because you wouldn't want to lose your audience. Just make sure to write about all the important things concerning it in a simple lighthearted, yet factual way.
3) Research, research, and research some more....that goes with keeping your facts simple and straight. Good research helps you to keep your credibility and respect as an author.
4) Use illustrations as necessary. When writing an educational story for children, the illustrations are what helps to tell the story (as in other types of stories as well) They are colorful and draws more attention to the subject. So it is important to have good illustrations to go along with your important book.

Those are the important tips for writing an educational story for children. I hope I've been of some assistance to you.

If anyone is interested in reading Cindy the Story Teller, please visit my page on the author's den at: www.authorsden.com/carolynsands Also if you like poetry, go take a look at some of my work at: www.motivationalpoetry.webs.com

Thanks for your interest.

Allison Pearson's NPR Interview

I happened to have been listening to Fresh Air, on the national public radio station this afternoon when I was pleasantly surprised to hear Allison Person being interviewed. Just in case some of you don't know who Allison Pearson is, allow me the opportunity to introduce her to you. Allison Pearson is a British journalist who has received multiple awards in her field. She is also noted for her best selling book, I Don't Know How She Does it. The book was written in 2002, became a best seller, and was later made into a movie staring Sarah Jessica Parker. The story is about the everyday concerns of a working mother who is doing a balancing act between her work and her home life with her family.

She has a second book, I think I love you, which was written in 2010 and has gotten rave reviews. It tells a heart warming story of a teenage girl who is in love with David Cassity in the 1970s. Twenty years later she meets the man who was responsible for answering the letters for David Cassity.

I am impressed with Allison Pearson's creativity and writing skills. She is funny and believable. I am especially impressed after learning in the interview that she herself is a mother of two and wrote a lot of her material at 4 am while her children were safely sleeping in their beds. That takes sheer determination and dedication.

I don't believe you can have that kind of dedication without passion. In this case Passion is the difference between putting out great work, and just doing ok work. The lesson here is to stay passionate about your work. Take the extra steps to do what's required to put out that next great book.