Daily Positive Thought #43

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The sun is still shining behind the clouds.

Hard to believe, I know. But it's up there. :)
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My Son's Eagle Project

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I'm still trying to figure out how my little baby boy grew up so fast and is now taller than I am. And when he started in scouts and told me he wanted to be an eagle scout before he turned 14, I thought "no way."


Turns out he's a highly motivated guy. Tomorrow is his 13th birthday and all he has to do to get his eagle is finish his Fitness marit badge, do his eagle project, and put in the last of the required time as a Life Scout.

Since his mother is an author, he came up with a great idea dealing with books for his eagle project. Here's my son, Matthew, to explain.

My name is Matthew Shelley. I was born with a hole in my diaphragm. My stomach and intestines were up in my chest cavity, so my lungs could not inflate. I was flown immediately to Primary Children's Hospital. The doctors said I needed surgery and only had a 50 percent chance of surviving.

The great news is I lived, and now thirteen years later, I'm working on my eagle rank advancement. Because of my time at Primary Children's Hospital, I'm doing an Eagle Project that would benefit other children that may be staying at the hospital over the holidays.

I'm gathering donations of new children's books to wrap and take as Christmas presents to the children at the hospital. Check out my blog for more details and a link to donate.

http://www.matthewseagleproject.blogspot.com/

Thanks,

Matthew Shelley

Bees in My Butt Links

Okay, I promised I'd post the links for where Bees in My Butt is for sale. Great news, it's up at the special promotional price of 99¢ for a limited time.




Here it is on Smashwords.



Here it is on Amazon Kindle store.



Here it is on Barnes & Noble.



Bees in My Butt: The Smartboys Club Book 1



Take Monkey, a literary genius with flatulence; Bean, a science and math guru; Vinny, a computer whiz who can’t keep her mouth shut; and Art, an artist who can shoot a basketball like a pro, confront them with a mess of fourth grade trouble, and watch the fun explode.



In Bees in My Butt, the first book of the Smartboys Club series, the members of the Smartboys Club use their skills to fight a group of crazed Ninjas that take over the school. And it happens on a day when Monkey has the worst case of flatulence imaginable.

Daily Positive Thought #42

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Believe in yourself.

It's easy to question if your vision for your writing and your life is what it should or could be. Writers can't just attend a specific college, take a test, and get their published author certificate. Everyone has to find their own way into print. No two paths are the same. When we first start out we spend a lot of time asking other authors how they broke into the business. We try one idea than another. Since we refuse to give up, we keep trying and trying. I think that's the only consistent aspect--constantly trying something and never giving up. How do we do that through the months and years it takes to see something into print? We have to believe in ourselves. If you don't believe in your own writing, possibly no one else will. So go ahead. Be Brave. Believe.

Daily Positive Thought #41

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Tell the people you care about that you love them. Do it now.

Big snowstorm here tonight. As I was driving home, the thought crossed my mind, what if I didn't make it home? What if my husband didn't get home safely? Truth is, we never know when might be the last time we see those we love. There's no better time than now to tell someone you love them.
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My New Ebook is Out

Whooohoooo, my new ebook will be out tomorrow. Book 1 of the Smartboys Club.


Take Monkey, a literary genius with flatulence; Bean, a science and math guru; Vinny, a computer whiz who can’t keep her mouth shut; and Art, an artist who can shoot a basketball like a pro, confront them with a mess of fourth grade trouble, and watch the fun explode.

In Bees in My Butt, the first book of the Smartboys Club series, the members of the Smartboys Club use their skills to defeat a group of crazed Ninjas that take over the school. And it happens on a day when Monkey has the worst case of flatulence imaginable.

Tomorrow I’ll post the links. I’m super excited about this series.

In the Smartboys Club series, a group of fourth grade geniuses use their skills in outrageous ways to defeat the challenges that confront them. Many people mistakenly assume that only people good at math and science are smart. The Smartboys Club proves differently. There are many kind of geniuses, and working together they can solve a slew of problems.

Monkey leads the Smartboys, and his special genius is reading and history. Bean is the math and science guy. Art is the sports star and artistic genius. Vinny is the spelling queen and computer aficionado. Together they defeat a band of crazed ninjas that take over their school in the first book, and a bully who won’t leave Vinny alone in the second book. In the third book the Smartboys learn about musical genius and welcome Sandra to the club after solving the mystery of her strange disappearance.

The Smartboys Club books provide children with a fun read, great adventure, and characters they can identify with and love. It also gives children a boost to their self-esteem no matter what their personal genius is. The Smartboys Club shows that there are a lot of ways to be smart, and everyone is smart in their own way.

Parents will find that the Smartboys Club books will get their children wanting to read and learn, and will instill in them the notion that it’s cool to be smart.

The Smartboys Club series is great for teachers because the books will grab their student’s attention and in a fun way introduce a broad range of topics that are studied in school: science, reading, history, geography, social skills, math, spelling, culture, music, sports, art. As a special bonus, the secret notebooks included at the end of each book give teachers a chance to expand on the kernel of knowledge planted in the story and springboard into class discussion and learning.

Daily Positive Thought #40

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Love your enemies.

LOL. Yes, it's been that kind of a day. Since my mother taught me that if I can't think of anything nice to say, not to say anything at all, I guess I should leave it at that. I've never had too much trouble forgiving people who have hurt me. But people who hurt my kids . . . Love your children's enemies too. I'm going to have to work on that one.
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Daily Positive Thought #39

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The neighbors down the street have their Christmas lights up. I love the holidays.
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I know some people get mad when I start listening to Christmas songs before Thanksgiving. Believe me, I'm not skipping Thanksgiving; I'm enhancing it. I hate how dark it gets this time of year. The holidays baring light and decorations and music and all the wonderful things that make the long winter months bearable. Besides, Christmas lights are beautiful.
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Daily Positive Thought #38

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Peer pressure can be a good thing.

Especially if your friends are pressuring you and each other to do good stuff. In this case write. It feels like all my friends are doing National Novel in Month this month. They're doing sprints together and reporting all their wordage, and I'm feeling highly pressured to come along for the ride. Like, I'm totally missing all the fun. Thanks everyone for working so hard and reporting all that work. You are the greatest. I may have to give up doing book polishing and editing, and jump in and write. Writing is tones more fun that line editing. :)
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Daily Positive Thought #37

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Be true to your creative voice.

That is sometimes hard to do. Every once in a while I start to doubt if what I'm writing is any good, or will have a positive effect in the world. That's when I have to remind myself of my purpose. I have it written on a sticky note attached to my computer.

The purpose of my writing is to create joy in my life and in the lives of others.

Well, I hope my writing creates joy in the life of others, but I can't really know or tell that until long after a book is written and published. While I'm producing something new, I have to ask if it is bringing me joy. Perhaps that's the only real measure a writer has. Does the writing bring the writer joy? I believe that when we stay tuned to what we love, we will write books that others will love as well. That's being true to your creative voice.
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Daily Positive Thought #36

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The more we try, the better we get.
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Daily Positive Thought #35

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You're good enough. You're smart enough. And doggonit people like you (Stuart Smalley, Saturday Night Live).

Hey, we writers need to hear this once in a while, what with all the rejections and alone-time writing and worrying if we're good enough. Guess what. We are!
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Daily Positive Thought #34

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Go all NaNo writers. You're doing a great job!
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Daily Postitive Thought #33

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Gravity keeps us on our feet.

Sometimes I'm not too happy with gravity--when I drop a glass and it shatters all over my kitchen floor, or when I've been hiking up a mountain all day long and the gravity seems to drag my backpack down until it feels like it weighs a hundred pounds.

Gravity is, however, an important part of life. I've never been to the International Space Station, but I've watched clips of the astronauts up there and how hard it is for them to move around in a zero-g environment. It's gravity that makes it possible for us to stand easily, and sit and sleep and eat and do all the common stuff we don't usually think about. Though gravity seems like a drag sometimes, it is an important positive in our lives.

Sometimes hard things happen to us in life that seem to drag us down or shatter our world. A while ago when my husband got laid off, I thought my entire life was ruined. Looking back now I see that he'd been at a dead-end job at low pay for a long time. His lay-off turned out to be a great thing. Now he has a job doing what he really wants, making more money, working with an organization that appreciates him and gets along with each other very well. Like gravity, sometimes it is the hard things that make our lives better in the long run.

Daily Positive Thought #32

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Whohooo! I just finished with the Galleys for Heroin Guns.
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Daily Positive Thought #31

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Every day is a day closer to perfection.

While none of us are likely to reach perfection in this lifetime, we can still try each day to get a little better at something. A little better at writing. A little better at expressing love for our family. A little better at recognizing beauty in the world around us.
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What is the Audiance?

I've had a number of people ask me about the intended audience for Heroin Guns. Since both my previous books, Red Dragon Codex and Brass Dragon Codex, were middle-grade books I know that could be the first assumption for Heroin Guns.

I guess I had better clarify. The publisher, Wonder Realms Books, will be publishing all of the books for adult audiences under the R. L. Tyler name and all of the Children's books under the Rebecca Shelley name. This was decided so that it might minimize confusion about intended audiences for my books.

Heroin Guns is definitely a PG13 book. Though I have picked up many YA books that have more swearing, more sex, and as much violence as Heroin Guns, I did intend the book for an adult audience. There are detailed depictions of knife fights, shootings, and the use of heroin; as well as explosions, car chases, and a faint innuendo once or twice.

So, to avoid confusion:

the Rebecca Shelley name will be on all the children's books

the R. L. Tyler name will be on all the adult books.

The YA books are a tough call. What do you think? Should I put them under the children's name, the adult name or under a separate third name?

Daily Positive Thought #30

My new book is out!

Heroin Guns
Years after the US liberation of Afghanistan, war still rages in the tribal areas of the mountains. From the midst of the turmoil, powerful drug lords flood the world with heroin. World leaders scream for the US to act.

The president orders his two best agents, Vince and Cat, into Afghanistan to stop the flow of heroin from Kabul. They unwittingly expose a file that could destroy the Afghan government, topple the American president, and endanger millions of lives. Vince and Cat race into explosive danger in order to uncover the truth behind the file before it's too late.



Heroin Guns is available as an e-book now and will be out in print in a few months. Here's a special deal for all my friends and family.

The book is priced at $3.99 and I've got a coupon code from Smashwords that will make the book half price.

Heroin Guns half price on Smashwords
Promotional price: $1.99
Coupon Code: DS97Z
Expires: December 25, 2010
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/28854

I just had to share the good news. :)
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Daily Positive Thought #29

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Diversity is a great thing. It makes the world more interesting.
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Okay, it's election day. I suppose that it is almost mandatory to blog about that. But I'm going to keep this short. I think it's wonderful that I live in a country where everyone can have their say and vote according to the things they believe in. Everyone sees the world in a different way based on their own experiences. I believe that diversity is a blessing. So go ahead and fight, people. Have at it. It's all fodder for my next book. :)

Daily Positive Thought #28

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Modern technology is amazing.

I could write a very long post about this. Since it's late, I'll just say I love the whole e-book revolution.