09/02/2014

Live and in Color! Preorder “Above the Stars” on KICKSTARTER, NOW!

Phillip took a deep breath, and rose to his feet. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and turned towards his companions. With a stern, and focused voice, he said,

“LIVE from KICKSTARTER, it’s “Above the Stars!”

Dear Friends,

Boots and britches! I am excited to announce that Book II of Phillip’s Quest: Above the Stars is available for pre-order on KICKSTARTER, today!

THANK YOU to everyone who has supported Phillip and myself on this journey to publication. Phillip’s Quest is a series of beautifully illustrated Middle Grade books of the tale of an ordinary garden gnome, Phillip Tuber, on an extraordinary quest and is the inspiration of Tolkien’s Middle Earth and Lewis’s Narnia.

You can preorder your copy of Above the Stars on the KICKSTARTER site, until September 30–but, if you want to give Phillip, the book, and me a SPECIAL boost, please consider buying your copy today, on launch day, and help build an early momentum. And remember, if I do not reach my goal, I do not get one dime! All you have to do, to get to my KICKSTARTER page is click on the picture or the links embedded at the end of each paragraph!

In addition to the books, there are all kinds of great perks available at the campaign. They range from the original artwork of Dean Kuhta and Louise Goodchild to my own jewelry and an Italian dinner for four! Please check out the campaign for more details.

Again, many thanks for your support. I will be back in touch with campaign updates throughout the month of September! Ciao, grazie.

Love,

Belinda

PS – In case you’ve never visited KICKSTARTER before, or you don’t even know what it is, I’ve attached a little example that shows how to order something there.

It’s a few easy steps. KICKSTARTER is the largest crowd funding platform in the world, having raised over $1Bn for creative projects like Above the Stars. They process payments through Amazon, the largest retailer in the world. So, preordering Above the Stars on KICKSTARTER is a snap!

And, just in case you missed the link, here it is: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1907899413/above-the-stars

08/12/2014

August is almost halfway gone…

“Good grief, Charlie Brown, it’s almost time for school!” Certainly, that phrase was said over and over again, by the wonderful Peanuts’ kids. And here we are again, almost mid August.

I don’t know about you, but my summer has definitely been eventful–in a good way. Every time I look at my blog page, I am more and more aware of how far the internet stretches. I see people from all over the world that have looked at my page. I wish I could meet them all. Regardless, thank you!

I think it takes a year for things to really start to percolate for a writer. As some of you know, my year–Phillip’s one year anniversary was July 7th. Since then, things just started to rock ‘n’ roll. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/061593739X" title=“Phillip’s Quest, Book I: Winterfrost”>Winterfrost” has received new energy and new followers. The Gnome Gnewsletter was published and accepted by most. Personally, I would recommend a newsletter for any author. It allows one to get the word out to those who are not a fan of social media–yes there are some “un-fans.”

It certainly takes a village to market a book. So, I was able to put together a team of unbelievably professional women to help me out. From one of the sweetest and most brilliant ladies I know–Ms. Katherine Gotthardt, who helped me when I was a floundering guppy (floundering flounder?), to the amazing Bethany Joy Carlson, of The Artists’ Partner (my personal cheerleader and marketing guru), to the wonderful Jessica Parker and her team, at BookLogix Publishing Services, I couldn’t be in better hands.

So, Phillip will be ready for his next adventure without the bumps and bruises he suffered before. Can I just tell you how important it is to find the right people!

Our next endeavor happens September 1, 2014. The Kickstarter Campaign begins for Phillip’s Quest, Book II: Above the Stars. Don’t let anybody kid you, it is definitely laborious. But, with the support of a great team, it can be done. We have put in many pledge rewards. There are different rewards listed for the level of pledge you make. When I say “pledge,” I mean MONEY! As I said, producing and marketing a book takes some outgo of cash to pay the team members and help defray other costs, so anything you can spare to keep Phillip’s Quest, on the shelves is very much appreciated.

September 18, 2014 will be the closing night for Virginia’s <a href="http://fallforthebook.org/2014/08/10/haute-cuisine-at-the-hylton/" title="Fall for the Book”>Fall for the Book festival. The event starts in Fairfax, Virginia on September 11th at George Mason University and ends at the Hylton Center for the Arts in Manassas, Virginia–you can follow all the activities on their app. The event is a Haute Cuisine event and will have food tastings, demonstrations and discussions by a variety of chefs, foodies, cookbook authors and Cluadia Lefeve, a fellow author and friend. Oh! And me! From the recipes of “Winterfrost”, and “Above the Stars”, to the recipes from my Mom’s table. I was and am honored to have been chosen to participate and will be serving; Ivy’s Tater Dumplings, Phillip’s Mater and Hazlenut Sauce and one of the recipes from the new book!

This week, I was able to start scheduling my signings for the Christmas season and was thrilled when the owner of <a href="http://www.thethingsilovemanassas.com" title=“The Things I Love”>The Things I Love, an exquisite shop in Old Towne Manassas, allowed me to do that on December 5, 2014, during the Tree Lighting Festival. This store and the downtown area comes alive and turns into a Winter Wonderland. I am thrilled, to say the least. Then, on Sunday, December 7th, I have another signing at <a href="http://www.flowergallerymanassas.com" title=“The Flower Gallery”>The Flower Gallery. Another magical shop where I will be part of their Holiday Open House. Such a special opportunity and I am grateful.

Not to leave out one of my favorite events for November! I will again be reading to the children at Mayfield Elementary School–as I did last year.

So, this summer has flown by, but what a great summer it has been. Thank you to all my gnomes, fairies and angels! I’ve loved every minute.

03/29/2014

“In the right corner we have Reddy Right Brain, his opponent, on the left is Creative Carl.”

Ugh! There is truth to the matter that some people are both right and left brained, but those of us that are, are often asked, “What would you rather be?” Immediately, I would answer “left brained” so I could be left alone to dally in my own creations. My world of gnomes and wizards and dragons. My world of making jewelry and collecting art and cooking and fun, pretty stuff. But no-o-o-o, not me, just as soon as I get in the groove, I’m yanked out to, (cue in music here) da-duh-duh…REALITY! And, my husband wonders why I’m so nutsoid! Go figure!

I guess, it’s a wonderful thing that I am able to escape to my “wonderland” but I do turn into the Red Witch–would spell it another way but do not want to be censored, or have a contract terminated,– when I am yanked out because of someone else’s incompetence that I am left having to fix. Boy, does it get ugly when the Sicilian rears its ugly head! Not saying that Sicilian’s are ugly, of course. They are beautiful, but highly emotional people who are fantastic cooks!

I actually don’t mind putting on my red shirt, I rather love the color, if I can be of help, but don’t make me do a job for which I get no payment of any kind! Give me a chocolate bar and I’m thrilled, but don’t spit on it first! You know what I mean? I think that’s why I write children’s books. They’re so gratifying!

03/07/2014

You meet the best people…

When you are doing something that you’re passionate about. I have met the most wonderful people since I have embarked on my writing experience.

I already have a group of the best friends, ever. BFF’s for sure! But, through Phillip and his friends, I have come to know and consider as friends, a group of artists that bring their passion on board and are willing to share! I think, the biggest component is the sharing! The sharing of experience and expertise. For every story shared, their creativity is put out there and all you have to do is be in their presence to suck it up!

I belong to a wonderful writer’s club, Write by the Rails. I cannot tell you how much I have learned from the people in the group and how much I enjoy being with these creative, intelligent and loving people. Everyone brings something different to the table. Writers of every genre. Writers who are as eclectic as this blog site. That they are willing to get out there, is what makes this group work.

I am doubly blessed though because of my jewelry artist experience. This, too has allowed me to meet wonderful artists from all over the globe.

Thank you, to all of you! You have added to my growth as a writer, artist and human being!

02/18/2014

A Boomer’s Writer’s Lament

It’s bad enough to be typing along an inadvertently delete, instead of save a word, sentence, paragraph or, god forbid. a page, but when you cannot retrieve…oy! Okay, okay, so if a lesser part of what you wrote gets lost, you can recreate. But, when you lose a page, or pages, recreation? Not so easy. And then the unprintable words come out! I’m sure, like me, most writers know many. So, the search begins because we all KNOW that our machine has backed them up, NOT, because we didn’t tell it to, when we set our wp program up! Drat it! But, certainly it’s in “the cloud.” Huh? No, goofus, because you, in trying to retrieve it, have managed to delete the copy of the copy’s copy! So, you walk away. Just walk away and it will magically reappear when you open up your computer, the next day; so will your fairy godmother!!!! Did it ever occur to you – me, that you could have retyped that passage in the time it took you to search for it. Well, yeah! But… It will never be the same! Right, it won’t, but when you start to retype the passage, you think of other, better things to add. Ahhh! Cool, that sounds better. I can do this. Now, if it’s more than, let’s say, 5 pages, and you’ve spent three days trying to find it, unsuccessfully, and now, because you are 50 something, you’ve forgotten what you wrote, just shut down the computer, pour yourself a glass of whine, oops! wine, moan a bit and don’t worry, you’ve probably forgotten you lost it, to begin with!

Winterfrost Publishing

Author, Belinda Miller

writer