Giveaway #4; We have a winner!

Thank you to the two people who entered my April giveaway contest!

We have a winner!

The prize is this pretty keepsake photo pen:

I used Random.org name picker and found out that the winner …

with this comment:

I agree with you that finding a pen is a problem at times. … I am using jack Miner pot(cup size broken) to keep at my desk. Also I have one note books which has a place for a pen on one side as long as it is not too fat.

JANE!

I will get this into the mail to you soon, Jane.

To everyone who is interested in my giveaways, I’ve been watching for and setting aside fun things that have to do with reading and/or writing. The May giveaway will be posted in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!

Local library love; giveaway reminder

I just found THIS VIDEO on my local library’s Twitter feed. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

My library is still bringing books in for me for ReFoReMo, and I’m analyzing the few I have to take back soon. The challenge was a great learning experience for me; I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My fourth giveaway draw is tonight, but it seems I have to change the stipulation that I’ll send only to Canada or US for this one. This nice little photo pen is great as a Mother’s Day gift, or a gift to a grandparent – with the children’s photo in it.

If you aren’t interested in this item perhaps you know someone to pass it on to, or you can send someone here to enter the draw for themselves?

Are you a lover of your local library?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

About my giveaways – I’ve been thinking …

Hello, everyone!

My apologies for not posting for almost two weeks. I’ve been working on the Reading For Research Month challenge – and still reading books on the list as our local library brings them in for me, handling my week at Dad’s, and sick with bronchitis since the last week of March. Because of the latter, during my week of caregiving I’ve not hung around Dad as much and when my respite arrives I go home and usually nap – whether the nap was intended or not. I’m very grateful for the help I have.

Now I have a pondering to share with you.

I’ve observed that very few of my readers are entering the monthly draw for my giveaways. I hope more of you will leave comments to have your name in the draw as I’m planning to have larger items when I can, and I would like to know that you are interested. It would be wonderful if you’d pass the word along, too, on Twitter or Facebook, or wherever you socialize online. Thank you. 🙂

Please check my post about the giveaway for this month, and put your name in by leaving a comment. The day is coming up this week for someone to win! Comment by April 13.

This week I’ll be writing more – or, that is the plan. I have a lot of catching up to do for 12×12, the online critique group I’m in, and final details in the newsletter (Valley Sunshine) I am closing down after many years of publishing. Plus, I have updates to do here on my blog, especially with regards to all the books I’ve read lately. (note my Books I Read widgets and my “Books I read this year” link –> “books I read in 2016” page.)

Thank you for being part of my life. I appreciate you!

What projects or plans do you want to work on most right now? Are you feeling sidetracked?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Another pile of books for ReFoReMo

The challenge has ended, sort of. ReFoReMo may be over in one way, but I have a lot of work to do yet. On our own we were to read through each book and then analyze it – study how each was written, observe the POV and universal theme, choose our favourite line, write a little about the story’s main character, and more. It’s been educational for me to find out what is popular now, the many different types and themes of picture books, and the variety of ways to present stories. I’ve learned what type of book I’m not interested in writing and what style I’d like to try. A few I didn’t enjoy reading, a couple brought tears to my eyes, a few were educational and I learned fascinating things I didn’t know before; some stories were funny, a couple were hilarious (to me), and many were sweet stories in a variety of ways. This has been a great experience. (Thanks Carrie Charley Brown!)

I got more books from the library on Saturday and I’ve also started returning books. That’s the sad part.

Here are some of the latest ones I borrowed, I have a few others to photograph, and there are more on hold for me.

Have you read any of the above? They are:

Gravity by Jason Chin
One Day, The End by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
~~Birthday~~ Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka
Lenny & Lucy by Philip C. Stead
How Hybrid Cars Work by Jennifer Swanson
Sparky! by Jenny Offill
A Dance Like Starlight by Kristy Dempsey
Wolfie the Bunny by Amy Dyckman
if you want to see a whale by Julia Fogliano
When Marian Sang by Pam Munoz Ryan
Locomotive by Brian Floca

I’ve read over eighty picture books through March because of Reading For Research Month, and I’m not done yet. That’s more books than I would normally read in a year! Some people have read many more than the 100 suggested, in only this month.

Now we’re learning from the special posts written for our further insight and inspiration. I’m so glad I did this, although now I’m behind in some other things I was doing – blogging and 12×12, to name only two. What I’ve gleaned through ReFoReMo should help in my writing though, so it’s all good. 🙂

On Sunday eleven of us shared Easter dinner at my dad’s, then I came home for my week off. I have a lot of reading, writing, revising to do and also publishing to finish! I am a writer and lovin’ it!

When is the last time you read a picture book to a child or for your own enjoyment?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

My 4th giveaway of 2016; your chance to win!

Are you ready for another giveaway?

In keeping with writing and reading, this month I am offering something handy and a little different.

I thought you might like to have this lovely blue ink pen – blue pen with blue ink. The unique thing about this keepsake pen is that you can insert a small photo in the top of it. Cool, huh? You twist the writing point out because of that feature.

This pen also has a clip back so you can clip it onto a page of stationery or a shirt pocket to make it harder to lose.

If you want to enter the draw for a chance to win this keepsake photo pen, leave a comment telling me if you devised a clever way to not lose your pens, or if you are like me and often have to search whenever you need one.

Draw date for this giveaway is at 10 PM AST, that’s 9 PM Eastern, on Wednesday, April 13. This gives you lots of time to pass the word on to others, too.

I will use Random.org name picker to find out which of you is the winner. Watch here the next morning for the announcement, and don’t forget to check your email. These could be yours!

Remember, you have until April 13 to get your name into the draw, but don’t put it off!

PS: I have been trying to find things easy to mail so that I can send them anywhere. I was told at the post office that to mail overseas it’s much easier to send something that is paper, otherwise postage leaps in price – as in doubles! – even if it’s the same weight. Seems a little ridiculous to me, but that’s their rule – not mine. Because of that, ~~I am very sorry that I can offer this item only to my readers in Canada and the United States~~.

I AM WILLING AND ABLE TO SEND THIS ITEM ANYWHERE. (CHECKED AT POST OFFICE AND FOUND AN ACCEPTABLE RATE FOR THIS.)

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

A fourth pile of books for ReFoReMo!

For a week I haven’t posted the newest books I’ve received from the library for Reading for Research Month! The librarian has been faithfully bringing them in for me and the notifications have been popping up in my email. (I currently have 64 out on loan.) Even though today’s mail brought another notice, I am posting a photo of the nineteen books I haven’t shown you yet. The others can wait – I’ll show them to you later since I haven’t been able to get them today anyway.

They are:

Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow
This is Sadie by Sara O’Leary
Fox and Squirrel by Ruth Ohi
Cock-a-Doodle Oops! by Lori Degman
The Snatchabook by Helen Doherty
Max the Brave by Ed Vere
Home by Carson Ellis
Swan by Laurel Snyder
Boats for Papa by Jessixa Bagley
No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
Won Ton: a Cat Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw
Waiting by Kevin Henkes
One Word From Sophia by Jim Averbeck
Be a Friend by Salina Yoon
I Dare You Not to Yawn by Helen Boudreau [let me know if you keep from yawning when reading this one]
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdös by Deborah Heiligman
No Nap! Yes Nap! by Margie Palatini
The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt [hilarious!]

Aren’t they beautiful? 🙂 Some I enjoy more than others and for different reasons. I’m impressed by every one … and for different reasons.

Have you read any of the above books?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Spring forward; did you change your clocks?

This is the time of year I find to be hard on my inner clock. I don’t much like losing an hour’s sleep. It takes me awhile to adjust.

Tonight – actually at 2:00 AM Sunday morning, March 13 – we set our clocks ahead one hour. If you are in Saskatchewan, Canada – or in the USA in Hawaii or somewhere in “most of” Arizona – your clock goes along as usual; no time change for you. And it seems that in Europe it doesn’t happen until March 27.