When I was in elementary school, all the 4th-6th graders took part in a musical extravaganza called The Legend Train, where different narrators would ride around on this wooden train, pulled by the…
Source: Don’t Be Afraid to Be Embarrassed by Jo Whittemore
Use your embarrassing moments as humor in your writing. Great post!
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Colors from our garden |
By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell
Go on vacation, buy an RV trailer.
Go to see my friends, the hubby sells the house.
What next?
The rest of the story . . .
When we sold our first home, I was at a conference in New Mexico with some wonderful ladies. Kevin repeatedly called me, updating the news and asking questions. Finally, his calls took on a list-like look.
“Honey, I sold the fridge.”
“Honey, I sold the boat.”
“Honey, I sold the . . .”
In desperation, I turned to my ladies, who were totally tuned in to the situation. “I’ve got to get home before he sells the kids!”
Many, many years later, the story is similar.
Last week was vacation. We enjoyed a few days with my cousin. We shopped for RVs but didn’t find one we could live in for any length of time. We discussed in great detail EVERY single option of selling our home and finally beginning our bucket list plan to build a small home. And I mean EVERY detail.
After returning home, we made an appointment with our realtor to ask questions and prepare to sell. That was Thursday.
The following Monday we met again and listed the house. The signs went up and photos were taken.
Tuesday was the realtor walk through day, so I loaded up the cats and headed to the other Quantrell’s for most of the day. Not only did several realtors visit our home, we had a showing with a different realtor. Just as I was putting quiche in the oven, we received a text for another showing. We quickly ate, grabbed the cats, and vacated the premises.
On Wednesday, I headed to visit college friends, leaving Kevin in charge of the home selling adventure. Kevin was texted for yet another showing. This one lasted almost 2 hours.
On Thursday morning, we received an offer! After another already scheduled showing later that day, paperwork was completed, and we accepted the offer for our home.
Guess where I was? Not at home. I was with friends on the other side of the mountains. Texts flew back and forth.
“We got an offer.”
“We are meeting to discuss the deal.”
“You need to sign these papers.”
I really need to not leave my husband at home alone! There’s no telling what he is planning on selling next . . .
Providing all goes well with the various sale-of-home proceedings, we will soon be living the RV life.
I guess that means we really are old Nana and Papa grandparents. (And we love it!)
Recently, I saw Penn & Teller live. It was a riveting show filled with mystical “ooohs,” enlightened “aaaahs,” and of course, plenty of laughs. The magician-entertainers are dubbed as a comedy …
Source: Tipping The Scales Between Heart And Humor by @leezaworks and GIVEAWAY
Do I have a secret for pulling on heartstrings? You bet. It’s furry, or feathery, or scaly, and it’s often my favorite character in my story. I give my child hero a pet. First, a disclaimer—I’m a f…
Excellent post about including pets as sidekicks. This post made me realize that I have a LIST. On that list are those books and movies in which a beloved pet (Hedwig, Old Yeller, etc.) or main character (almost any of the YA titles or the newest Star Wars – grrrr) die or are killed off. WHY?????? It’s like losing a family member!
But that is beside the point. Pets are perfect companions in almost any story. Great post!
Have you ever heard the piece of writing advice that goes, “readers come for the plot, but stay for the characters?” This means that often times readers are drawn to a story by a cool premise or pr…
Source: Crafting Characters We Can’t Help But Root For by @megan_shepherd
Great insights into creating memorable characters! Thanks, Megan!
I’ve often described heart as the thing that gives the reader a reason to care about the character and the story. But caring – or, at least, admitting that we care – can sometimes be uncomfortable,…
Source: A Spoonful of Sugar by @SudiptaBQ and GIVEAWAY
How to infuse humor into books for children! Great information and examples.
My co-conspirator, Cece Bell, summed up the way we worked on our Inspector Flytrap series like this: I wrote it to make her laugh. She drew it to make me laugh. That’s really where a LOT of …
Source: Pressing Jokes Between the Pages with Tom
Kids love humor! KidLitSummerSchool strikes again! Yay!
Humor sells. We’ve all heard that before. But how do we write something funny? As authors, making people laugh can be challenging. We can’t use physical humor and pratfall our way into chuckles lik…
Source: 1-2-3…Hehehe: Using the Rule of Three by @kamikinard plus a #Giveaway!
by Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell
The Perfect Dog
By Kevin O’Malley
(Crown Books for Young Readers, 2016)
Her parents have finally said she could get a dog. The perfect dog.
But what makes a perfect dog? Big, bigger, biggest? Maybe or maybe not.
Humorously written and brightly illustrated, The Perfect Dog shares the tale of a young girl who is searching for the perfect dog companion. All goes well, until a dog chooses her.
I enjoyed this funny book and the comparative language used to tell the tale. Readers will laugh and begin to predict before the story is told.
KID KANDY:
Compare Your Toys
Materials: variety of toys, at least 3 different sizes of each type (3 dogs, 3 cars, 3 blocks, and so on)
Can you line up your toys by comparing them to each other?
Get 3 dogs. Put them in order of big, bigger, and biggest. Or maybe they are small, smaller, and smallest!
How about 3 blocks? Tall, taller, tallest? Or long, longer, longest?
Do you have 3 dolls? Tiny, tinier, tiniest?
3 instruments? Loud, louder, loudest? Quiet, quieter, quietest?
There are all sorts of ways to compare objects! See how many different words you can use to show comparisons. I’d love to hear your favorite!
by Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell
Agatha
By Anna Pignataro
(Little Bee Books, 2015)
Agatha did not fit it.
With a bear and a pig for parents, Agatha did not look like her parents. Other kids resembled their parents. But not Agatha. When the family got together, both sides of the family looked like each other, but Agatha didn’t quite match anybody.
When it was time for kindergarten, Agatha felt out of place. Until one day, her teacher said that everyone was special in their own way.
Agatha’s classmates told why they were special. But when it was Agatha’s turn to share, she had disappeared! The subsequent Agatha-hunt led Agatha to see her specialness through the eyes of her friends. Agatha was special at being Agatha.
I love this book! Agatha would be perfect for anyone who feels different from others or for a child who is going to kindergarten.
Everyone is special!
KID KANDY:
Specialness Survey
Materials: toy microphone (or something you can pretend to use as a microphone)
Think for a minute. How are you special? Maybe you can list several things that make you special.
1. Hold a specialness survey. A survey is when you ask questions for others to answer. Use the microphone as you interview your family. Go to each member and ask them to tell how he or she is special. Tell why you are special.
2. Ask neighbors, friends, or classmates to tell why they are special.
3. Think again. Are all of the people you interviewed the same? Do each of them have something special that makes them unique?
I enjoy making greeting cards with rubber stamps. That makes me special. I’d love to hear what makes you special!
Love, Laughter, and Life 