When I visit schools and talk with children, I find that some students love to read, but about half tell me they read seldom, if at all.

Parents tell me they find it difficult to locate books their children like. Beyond suggesting lists of popular books that are good adventure stories, which keep kids engaged because of their action, I haven't had many other good ideas.

Yesterday, Ellen Buikema, an author friend, mentioned she had written a blog about ways to help children enjoy reading. I asked if she would be willing to share that blog here. She agreed. 

​BY ELLEN BUIKEMA     JANUARY 8, 2016

You are your children’s first teacher. Reading to them is a great start in preparation for life in school and beyond.

You can learn more about Ellen Buikema and read her other posts at www.ellenbuikema.com.

Happy 2016! I hope you're looking forward to the unfolding of this new year as much as I am. 

     2015 was a year of doing. Not as much writing as I'd have liked, but many events. For those who might have missed some of them on Facebook or my blog posts over the year, here's a recap of what took place.

     In February, I was the first guest interviewed by Chris Allen, founder of a new online podcast called "The Pickleball Show." I felt honored that he selected me, and I enjoyed being part of this new format. The show has grown to over 40 episodes containing great information about all aspects of the sport. Click here if you'd like to listen to my podcast. Sales of The Art of Pickleball continue to be good—for a while, it jumped up in rank on Amazon.com and was a bestseller! I owe some of that success to things like this podcast, but most of it is due to you, my readers, who tell others about the book.

     In March, Richard and I headed south with our animals (two dogs and three cats) so I could sell books at the Tucson Book Festival with YA author Ann I. Goldfarb and kids' author M.J. Evans. The festival was marred by gale-force winds that made it difficult to display anything (books kept blowing open or away), and I came down with the flu. My partners carried on without me (thanks again, friends) who sold books for me while I was gone.

     In April, a revised Bruce and the Road to Courage received the OneBookAZ Award for Children's Books. Winning this award has opened doors in ways I'd never imagined. Thanks to the Arizona State Library and ONEBOOKAZ.org for all they do to help encourage reading within the state. Part of the award was the opportunity to travel to libraries and schools throughout Arizona (Yuma, Prescott Valley, Sedona, Cottonwood, Morenci, Chandler, and Red Mountain Community College), where I spoke to kids and adults about writing, my books, and what it's like to be an author and self-publisher. It was a busy couple of months! You can read my full post about receiving the award here.

     June brought me to Berkeley, California, to the first annual Bay Area Book Festival. Located on and around the site of the old "People's Park," I was reminded of my days there as an undergrad in the early '70s (after the unrest was more-or-less over). Book sales were good and I got to see my two grandsons and other family members still in the Bay Area and enjoyed a bit of a vacation when the festival was finished.

     Throughout the year, I also helped others with their books, doing editing, typesetting, and/or publishing for author friends with deserving books. 

     August brought an interview for the magazine Story Monsters Ink--a fine and free magazine for kids and parents published here in Arizona by Five Star Publications. I was so pleased they chose to chat with me about my Bruce and Friends series of books. I enjoyed the interview and talking about how I came up with ideas, my writing process, and more. (Authors like to talk. :-) ) You can read the interview here.

     October brought more book sales at Sun City Grand's Oktoberfest, an annual event held at the community where I used to live (and a hop and skip from where I am now). It's always great to get back there and see my friends.

     Later in October, Richard and I again packed up the animals into the RV and headed to Glendora, California. It was there, several years ago, that a wonderful teacher asked me to visit her classroom and speak with the students who were reading Courage. I jumped at the chance—my first time talking with students—and enjoyed each minute. It's hard to describe the joy of having children tell you they love you and your books, or that you're their favorite author. 

     This year, the visit expanded to four schools and nineteen classrooms over a week and a half. I loved every moment, and I look forward to doing it again in 2016!

     I was also pleased to again visit Glen L. Downs school in Phoenix. Librarian and author Constance Escobar gave me space in the library and nearly all grades from 2 through 8 visited during the day so we could chat about writing and publishing. I was surprised how many of the students expressed an interest in writing (no doubt thanks to Connie's encouragement).

     Attending the Phoenix Comicon Fanfest for the first time in December was a highlight of the year. Ann Goldfarb and I again shared a booth and we had good book sales—but we would go back again just to see the wonderful costumes and the great stuff they had for sale. We now have our names on the waiting list for a table at the summer Comicon, which is even bigger and better.

     Beyond that, two of my short stories were published in the annual anthology of work from the West Valley Writers Workshop (called Inkslingers 2015: Doorway to Discovery), and Two Cats Press published that anthology when it was complete. I also moderated a critique group with ten other writers that met bi-monthly throughout the year.

​​​     2015 was busy, indeed. Despite that, I managed to amass 130,000 words so far in the first draft of my new epic fantasy novel for young adults called The Rift. A few more chapters and that draft should be complete—then on to editing and polishing. While I'd hoped book one of The Rift would be finished sooner, I vow you'll see it this year. I've also promised the students that I'll complete book five in the Bruce and Friends series (Bruce and the Road to Freedom).

     I hope you had a great 2015 and that 2016 will bring more joys and successes to all of us. Thanks for taking this journey with me!

I know I'm getting older when I hear myself saying things my mother and grandmother said years ago. One of them was that time goes faster the older you get. (They also said that getting older wasn't for sissies, but that's a whole 'nother subject.) It's not true—time passes at the same rate—but with the expectation of many years ahead, getting things done quickly isn't a priority. Now that "the days fly by like wild horses over the hills" (in the words of Charles Bukowski, one of my favorite poets), I'm sometimes struck by how little I seem to have written, despite the fact that it's September. 

Last year at this time, I began telling people about the new book I was working on. "A young adult fantasy novel," I said, "which is going very well so far." I'm still writing that book, and it's still going well—just more slowly than I expected. In part, that's because I chose to take on other projects. Between last September and this, I've published two other authors' novels and an new anthology of stories (you can learn about these at www.TwoCatsPress.com), traveled to numerous Arizona libraries as the ONEBOOKAZ kids' book winner, talked with students at schools in Arizona and California, attended several book fairs, spoke to pickleball clubs, and got settled in the new house. That doesn't cover visits to family in California, getting back into pickleball (finally), and—well, the list goes on. 

When I wasn't doing all that, though, the writing continued. Book one of The Rift has grown into a true epic fantasy. I've written over a hundred thousand words, and I'm not done with the first draft. (The book will have to be published in two parts to afford the printing). I've diligently brought chapters to my Sunday critique group, and they tell me they love it, so hopefully you will, too—if we all live long enough. :-)

My editor wrote me a message the other day that read, "Okay, I'm hanging.  Able to pick up my editing pencil anytime if you still want me to." He's very patient. I hope you are, too. 

Before I go, I need to say I'm looking forward to this year's trip to Glendora, California, where I will be visiting at least three schools and meeting new students and their teachers! Many of the classes are reading Bruce and the Road to Courage now, so they should be finished, or nearly so, by the time I arrive at the end of October and the first week of November. It's always an exciting time, and one I love dearly. I can't wait. 

Those who follow me on Facebook or Twitter have heard this news, but I'm still flying high with the most recent award for Bruce and the Road to Courage: it won the ONEBOOKAZ Award for 2015 in the kid's category. This award is presented by the Arizona State Library to one children's book judged best of all those submitted by Arizona authors. Awards are also given for the best young adult and adult books. 

Last night at the Civic Center Library in Scottsdale, AZ, Joan Clark (pictured with me, top right), Director of the Arizona State Library, presented all three authors with certificates. We also took part in a panel discussion about how we create our books, our general writing process, and the difficulties and rewards of being self-published.

While Bruce and the Road to Courage received other awards in the past, I prize this one more than the rest. The judges reviewed all eligible submissions based on quality, creativity, originality, style, grammar, and whether they felt the content would be enjoyed by a wide range of Arizona readers. Winning authors must reside in Arizona.

The goals of the ONEBOOKAZ program are to encourage writing, reading and thoughtful interaction with literature in digital formats. To this end, they are providing copies of our books free of charge to all Arizona residents via their website (www.onebookas.org)  through the month of April. Books may be read on the computer or downloaded to digital e-reading devices.

They are also providing an honorarium allowing me to travel to nine different Arizona cities during the months of April and early May. The goal is to have communities across the State of Arizona read the same books at the same time and participate in discussions and programs centered around those books.

Beyond that, they created a wonderful teacher’s guide for Courage that will make it easier for teachers to incorporate it into their curriculum. I had begun work on such a project myself a few months before, but their help turned my guide into something extraordinary—truly a great tool and a wonderful gift for me as I strive to reach out to more schools and students.

Finally, they are in process of creating an audio version of Courage for the visually or physically impaired to enjoy as well. I’m excited to hear what a professional reader will make of the voices of Bruce and his friends.

My first stop on the tour will be Yuma on April 15, followed by Prescott, Sedona, and Cottonwood from the 16th through 18th. If you have friends or relatives in those areas who might wish to attend, the details can be found on my website calendar.

By the way – I’m still writing while all of this is transpiring. Don’t give up hope that I’ll turn out another book one of these days. I was very busy for a number of months working on the novels of others (see the Two Cats Press website to learn more about these great books), but I’m back to working on The Rift, my Young Adult book series, which is going very well! (Bruce and the Road to Freedom is on hold until I can get book one of The Rift finished.)

Mom's Choice, one of the groups that gave my books an award, is a great organization because they help parents select toys, books, and other products that meet their criteria of excellence. The group is also good to their awardees because they help with marketing in various ways. Yesterday, they posted a topic on their blog asking, "What do you love most about marketing?" 

"Ha," I said, with a wry smile. (I'm very good at smiling wryly.) "Is that a trick question?" Nevertheless, I wrote a reply, which I thought I'd share with you.

"What do I love about marketing? Besides being an author, I'm also a decent salesperson, so I don't hate marketing—but I do hate having to do it. Like most aspiring authors, I hoped to live the dream of having people flock to my book signings and clamoring for my next novel to come out. Sadly, that dream rarely materializes.

"Sometimes, marketing seems like trying to put together a puzzle without all the pieces. With the advent of affordable and easy self-publishing, the market is now quite saturated with books of all kinds, and it's hard for one novel to rise above the rest. I'd much rather be writing than selling, creating press releases, posting blogs, or sending email newsletters, but I keep doing it, because every person's name added to my mailing list is potentially many more contacts who will not only buy this book but perhaps all my others, past and future.

"You never know where the best contact will be found. My greatest one came when I sent a book to a friend, who shared it with her friend, who gave it to a teacher who was currently unemployed, who sent it to another teacher who loved it so much she now starts her school year language arts program by reading it aloud to her class—and she shared the book with teachers in other schools, all of whom invite me to come and speak to their classes and sign books. You just have to keep plugging. 

"I don't love marketing, but I love my books, and I know children do, too. If I want the books to become known and loved by more children and their parents, I have to keep selling."

It is a lot of work, all this marketing stuff. I'm not one who would just keep pouring the words onto the screen if I thought no one would ever read them. I don't write out of a compulsion to bare my soul, and I don't want to be recognized posthumously for works I never published. I'm a storyteller, and I write for you. Without you, the stories have no life. When you (or the child for whom you chose my book) read my words and communion occurs—along with the joy of discovery and of sharing in the lives of the heroes they care about—then the words come to life. That's why I write and, therefore, why I market. 

And since it's been a while without an update: I was away from active writing while I took on two editing and typesetting projects for author friends. One of those projects is now complete, and the other is nearly so. Meanwhile, I've still been working on The Rift, and the readers in my critique group tell me they still like it. I've also come back to work on Bruce and the Road to Freedom, which is turning out to be more challenging than I anticipated. Freedom is not an easy concept, and it has different meanings for different people and depending on context. I think it will be an interesting and fun story, and I'm happy to say that some of the earlier characters who haven't been seen in a while will reappear.

I hope those of you in the southwest are enjoying this great "winter" weather. To those in the east: remember, spring is coming soon, and shortly thereafter, you can all point at us in Arizona with our 110° heat and put on a wry smile.