THE ROCK MAIDEN LAUNCH DAY!

   I am thrilled to be announcing the launch of my new picture book, The Rock Maiden, a re-envisioned folk tale from Hong Kong. 

When her husband is lost at sea, Ling Yee climbs every morning to the top of a cliff to watch for signs of his return. Tin Hau, the Goddess of the Heavens, takes pity and turns Ling Yee and her child into stone so that they would mourn no more. Only then does the fisherman husband find his way home. Will the family forever be kept apart? Or will devotion and faithfulness ultimately be rewarded?

Check out The Rock Maiden blog tour, and a chance to win a free book:

MARCH 1: Mia Wenjen, Pragmatic Mom - free book or free Skype visit

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MARCH 3: Jeff Barger, NC Teacher Stuff

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MARCH 7: Sheryl Hagan-Booth, Booth Talks Books

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MARCH 10: Susanna Hill, Susanna Leonard Hill's Blog

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MARCH 14: ReaderKidZ, reviewer Nancy Bo Flood

MARCH 20: MaryAnn Scheuer, Great Kid Books

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MARCH 22: Pam Margolis, An Unconventional Librarian

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MARCH 28: Stephanie Kammeraad, Mama-Lady-Books

The Rock Maiden can be purchased at one of these locations:

Wisdom Tales Press
BarnesandNoble.com (and any of their brick and mortar stores)
Amazon.com
Natasha Yim's website

SUBMISSIONS OPEN — REDWOOD WRITERS' FAN FICTION CONTEST

In addition to being a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), I am also a member of the Redwood Writers Club, the largest chapter of the California Writers Club. Since June of last year, I have taken over as the General Contest Chair for the club, overseeing all our contests. In 2017, our contests include Fan Fiction, Screenwriting, and Historical Fiction.

The Fan Fiction contest launched on Jan. 8, and is open for submissions until Feb. 19. Here is contest chair Margie Yee Webb with the details:

Permission to post this video was granted by Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan who says: "Redwood Writers are truly awesome!"

More details can also be accessed at the Redwood Writers Fan Fiction contest page.

Please check back here or at Redwood Writers for upcoming details on the Screenwriting and Historical Fiction contests. 

Happy writing and submitting. We look forward to reading your work!

NEW YEAR — NEW VISIONS

Happy New Year! Another year, another series of goals—writing or otherwise. Some people like plunging ahead without a specific plan and see where Life takes them. I admire that spontaneity. But for me, I prefer to have a road map. It keeps me organized and it provides a vision of where I want to go and how to get there. Sounds like outlining a novel, right?

For those of you who like road maps and setting your writing goals for the year, try creating a Vision Board. Check out these tips on how to create one: Make a Vision Board, Epreneur, and Pinterest Samples. You can use very simple tools such as a white board or cork board or large poster paper with markers. You can also create them with your normal desktop publishing programs or word processing programs such as Word or Pages then print out and post on your wall.

If you're like me, and love online tools, try creating a Pinterest Vision Board or use Canva. Don't want to create from scratch? Check out Foto Talisman and Betty Vision for vision board templates.
Here's one I created 3 years ago.

However, annual goals, I found out, didn't work that well for me. I have to break them down into daily or even monthly or quarterly tasks. So, I've been using Week Plan to create my goals. What I like about Week Plan is that I can list some longer term goals as well as create daily tasks. I can also assign different roles (which I do with a different color) for writing, personal, Mom tasks etc. so I can keep track of the different goals for different aspects of my life.

The key though, as with writing or anything else, is do what works for you. Most New Year resolutions fail because people create resolutions or try to meet their goals using approaches that simply aren't productive or doable for them.

So, try kicking off your writing with new goals and new visions, but if goal-setting isn't your cup of tea or hampers your writing style or creativity, then by all means, plunge ahead and see where your writing takes you this year!

What goals/visions/plans have worked for you?