Tag Archives: Tara Lazar

Save the Bookstores 2012 (And Maybe a Lot Longer)

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I am a BIG fan of books, and naturally, bookstores and libraries as well. And so this delightful post over at Tara Lazar’s blog about Save the Bookstore 2012 caught my eye. And immediately, I knew two things.

Thing One, I needed to dash over to the Facebook page so that I could join with Kelly Sonnack and nearly 2,000 other folks in this noble cause. So I clicked on the Join button, and now I just need to decide which bookstore I shall take my business to on June 16th. I’d like to save an indie bookstore in my own little corner of the world, but I’m afraid that ship has sailed. (Or the indie bookstores have all closed their doors, to skip the metaphor.)

I live in a HUGE county in the metro Atlanta area, and though we have a ton of brick and mortar bookstores, they are all of the chain variety. Nothing wrong with that. Except chain bookstores tend to be too big to support your medium-to-small author events.  I suppose a chain bookstore might throw a big booksigning party or two–but I’ve yet to see one.

And the chain bookstores are a tad impersonal. I go to the same insert-chain-bookstore-name-here about twice a month, and rarely see the same people working there. So there are no customer relationships beyond, “Have a nice day.”

But there are a couple swell indie bookstores in counties on either side of me–and I desperately want them to not just stay open, but to thrive! So I’m thinking a drive to one of them on Save the Bookstore Day, June 16th, might be the perfect way to celebrate.

So…hold on a sec. I had two things, didn’t I? Oh! And Thing Two, I needed to spread the word about Save the Bookstore Day.

And I just did.

Finding Motivation for The Picture Book Writer with PiBoIdMo

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Oh, my Seussical stars! I am SO excited that I came across Picture Book Idea Month (beginning October 30th)over at Tara Lazar’s very clever blog!

See, I’ve done NaNoWriMo a couple times. Okay, I haven’t exactly completed the 50,000 words at NaNoWriMo, but I did get most of my YA book down, and from that NaNo starting point, I completed the book. I know that external motivation gives me the push to finish projects. And I’ve had a few inspirational nudges towards picture books in the last year. So, I’m ready for PiBoIdMo to give me the swift kick I need to produce picture book ideas.

On the other hand, I am right in the middle of writing a Middle Grade novel and I need to finish that project. So, here’s my plan: One hour per day on PiBoIdMo. I mean, all I have to do is come up with ideas, right? I can come up with an idea in an hour. Heck, I can come up with ten ideas in an hour.

They might be really stinky ideas. But I’ll worry about that little glitch later.

(P.S. Let me know if you’re participating and we’ll motivate each other as well, and I’ll be posting updates throughout November. Remember, you must SIGN UP by November 3 at Tara’s blog to be eligible for the prizes. And of course, all that motivation, too!)