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#SpringFlingKidLit contest entry: THE CANDY TREE

Thank you for this delightful Spring Fling Kid Lit contest opportunity hosted by  Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez and Ciara O’Neal. There are also some fantastic prize donors! You can shower our hosts and prize donors with love by visiting their blogs, following them on social media, and showing book love.

I’m a second-year Spring Fling Kid Lit participant and the super talented Allison Strick created a custom GIF for my story. Aren’t those dangling delicacies adorable?

I now present my tiny tale introducing Nora, her Baba, and their unique family bond. I had the privilege of interviewing family members for this story and incorporating bits and pieces of actual events and catchphrases!

GIF created by Allison Strick
GIF created by Allison Strick

THE CANDY TREE

By

Christine Alemshah

[WC: 150]

Spit spot.  Sweep!

“After spring cleaning’s finished, the candy tree will bloom,”  Nora said.

But her family cooked instead.

Colorful tomato salad,

bountiful trays of manti,

and a mountain of dirty dishes.

“Baba, how will we keep up?”

Baba smiled. “Perseverance, isn’t it?”

Whatever did he mean?

Spit spot.  Sploosh!

Broken pipe! Water everywhere!

“How can we finish now?”

Again, Baba smiled. “Perseverance, isn’t it?”

Whatever did he mean?

Spit spot. Sopped.             

Furniture all outside.

“Empty rooms make perfect dance floors,” Baba said.

Relatives twirled and clapped, 

sang and ate.

Nobody cleaned at all.

“The candy tree,” Nora whispered at bedtime.

“Perseverance, isn’t it?” Baba whispered back.

Yawn. Whatever did he mean?

A new day.

Spit spot.  Sloppy.

Nora slumped, but her heart tugged. “Keep going!”

Everyone did until…

Spit … Spotless!

Nora’s eyes sparkled. “Perseverance — is never giving up?”

Baba nodded.

 “Hooray! The candy tree’s in bloom!”

  Spit spot! Scrumptious!

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#50 Precious Words | Flash!

Have your children ever run around snapping photos of you and your family giggling up a storm at the pictures they’ve captured? It feels a bit like being followed around by the toddler paparazzi catching you in less than your best moments. My four-year-old calls these snapshots her treasures. Her precious memories are priceless moments frozen in time, viewed through her lens of the world. Her treasures inspired my piece for Vivian Kirkfkield’s #50 Precious Words Writing Contest.

What is 50 Precious Words?

#50preciouswords is one of my favorite writing contests of the year! Last year there were so many entries and comments it about broke the internet with the outpouring of positivity and creativity!

Did I mention there are prizes? Fabulous prizes! The challenge — write a children’s story for ages 12 and younger in 50 words or less with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Please find details about the contest and its fabulous host, Vivian Kirkfield, by clicking this link  [HERE] The contest is open March 4th-6th. Do you have an entry in mind? Head on over and submit those 50 precious words!

Without further ado, here is my entry, followed by a few treasured “photos” from my daughter’s album.

FLASH!

By 

Christine Alemshah

[WC: 48 words]

FLASH — Mommy’s face…

Baba’s fingers…

Sissy’s elbow…

“NO MORE PHOTOS!!”

“But, I love them.”

A closer look reveals…

a secret smile,

interlocked hands,

a warm embrace.

FLASH — “Our family, see?”

A mind wrapped in a riddle,

Sleepy eyes captured in a dream,

When imagination soars, 

photographs sing.

FLASH!

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#FallWritingFrenzy Contest Entry: SEA IN THE SKY

Fall- Credit: Vino Li / Unsplash

SEA IN THE SKY

By

Christine Alemshah

[WC: 196]

The stormy sea sky mocked me. Could Daddy and I see the same sinister moon?  Hopefully, he’s tucked safely inside his ship, not in danger of falling overboard as the swirling clouds suggested.

“No costume, Beatrice? It’s almost time for trick-or-treating,” called Mom.

I kicked the screen door. It squeaked. I hoped it might break.

“You don’t want to go?”

“I can’t, Mom. The sea is in the sky tonight.”

“I think it’s lovely with that crescent moon up there.”

“You mean the frowning crescent face staring at me?  It’s creepy — and Daddy…”

“Was supposed to go trick-or-treating with us?,” Mom finished.

I nodded.

“I miss Daddy, too.  It stinks he got deployed at Halloween. Ok, no trick-or-treating. Something else in mind?”

I squeezed my eyes shut as Daddy’s smiling face painted my mind. His tummy rumbled with a quirky chuckle while dolloping dots of frosting on our noses. Frosting — that’s it!

“Can we make graveyard cake with cookie headstones?”

Mom’s chin crumbled, her voice hitched. “Daddy’s favorite. I’d like that.”

The screen door whooshed as we left the stormy sea sky behind us. It could mock me no more.

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How to use twitter lists and bookmarks

Hello everyone! Are you on Twitter? Have you heard of bookmarks? Or lists? I’ve received questions about these tools lately, and I wanted to share a how-to guide and why you might want to utilize bookmarks and lists on Twitter. I’m an organization queen, so they help me feel better about my twitter navigation experience, and I hope you enjoy using these helpful tools as well!

Twitter lists:
Why might you use a Twitter list? My top reason for using creating one is to organize relevant groups of people based on events or topics. I also use lists during pitch events to find other writers in my genre. Using a list, rather than the general Twitter feed at large will filter irrelevant content. This is beneficial during large-scale events like #pitmad or #pbpitch.

Here’s a quick how to guide to set up a list and get started.

To create a list go into your profile and click on lists to create a new one:

Once you have made your list, you can click on the three little dots at the top right of someone’s tweet… And add them to your list.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks are another genius tool to stay organized and keep posts you treasure readily accessible when you want to reference them again in a sea of twitter posts. To create a bookmark choose the arrow up symbol at the bottom of the post and choose bookmark. For reference later, go into your profile and you will see all your saved bookmarks and lists.

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    #SpringFlingKidLit contest entry: FLORY’S FAIRY WINGS

    Thank you for this delightful Spring Fling Kid Lit contest opportunity hosted by Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez and Ciara O’Neal. There are also some amazing prize donors! You can shower our hosts and prize donors with love by visiting their blogs, following on social media, and viewing their amazing books.

    I found my gif HERE.

    I now present my tiny tale introducing Flory, The Garden Fairy.

    FLORY’S FAIRY WINGS

    By

    Christine Alemshah

    WC: 149

    At graduation, Flory and her fairy friends debuted wings displaying their true power. 

    Willow’s green wings cascaded a flowering arch. 

    Phoenix’s fiery wings transformed her into a bird.

    Amaya’s silver wings showered everyone in light rain.

    Flory touched her back. Nothing. Her smile quivered at her turn. She ran to the ice cream shop instead.

    “I’ll never be a real fairy without wings.”

    A boy in front of her pulled at empty pockets.

    Flory handed him a coin.

    “My treat,” she said.

    “Thank you,” the boy replied.

    Prr-ing! Golden wings sprouted on Flory’s back.

    Flory puzzled.

    The boy ran to help an old fairy tie shoes he couldn’t reach.

    I get it now, thought Flory.

    She ran back to graduation.

    “Oh, Flory,” said Amaya.

    “They’re beautiful,” said Phoenix.

    “What’s your power?,” asked Willow.

    Flory smiled. “Something measured, yet unseen. I spread kindness forward one fairy at a time.”

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    My #50Preciouswords entry – The Kindergarten Train

    There’s a lovely little contest hosted by children’s author, Vivian Kirkland, going on right now for children’s writers, and there’s still time to enter through 3/7/21 if you’d like to join! The rules are quite simple to follow. Write a story with a beginning, middle, and end appropriate for children 12 and younger in 50 words or less. That’s it! And did I mention there’s prizes? You can find information and read everyone’s entries by following this —> here!

    And here is my entry called The Kindergarten Train. The first lines came to me years ago — left in a notes file incomplete. I’d imagined what the first day of school for my nervous new students would be like and how there might be a story that would help with that transition. The visual imagery of a train that all the kids climb aboard while their parents waved goodbye came to mind as an analogy about the new journey they were embarking upon —an adventure and their opening to the wide world of school. Vivian’s contest provided the perfect opportunity to complete this story idea!


    The Kindergarten Train
    By
    Christine Marie Alemshah


    When the kindergarten train whistle sounds — Choo! Choo!
    Will you be ready?

    “All aboard!” 

    Along the way, you’ll pick up new friends. They’ll have lunch boxes, backpacks, and smiles – just like you.

    Finally, you reach your destination.

    “Choo-Choo!” your teacher will say. “Your kindergarten adventure is about to begin.”

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    12 x 12 in 2021 – Back after a long break!

    It’s official! I’ve signed up for the 12 x 12 Challenge hosted by Julie Hedlund! My first time doing so since 2013. I had started participating the previous year, in fact here is my original badge from 2012. I can hardly believe it’s been that long! So far I have 1 full draft, 2 partials & 2 revisions under my belt for 2021. 12×12 will be the extra boost needed to stay motivated this year! There’s still time to sign up if you’d like to join in on this fun picture book writing journey. Now-Feb. 28, 2021.

    My original badge from 2012!

    What is this challenge all about?
    The premise is simple. Write 12 full picture books (with a beginning, middle, and end) in 2021. It’s ok if they’re not submission-ready. The idea is just to put pen to page, while motivating yourself and other writers in the process.  You can even earn prizes!! How about that?

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    Epic! App for Kids: The netflix for children’s books and research gold for writers

    appstore_audio_480x360Raise your hand if you have young children? Now keep your hand raised if you also like to write books for children? Still have your hand in the air? Then you NEED to try Epic! An amazing app available on apple and android smart devices.

    They have thousands of children’s ebook titles available, and are adding more each day including huge, mega popular titles and characters such as “Ramona”, “Peter Rabbit” and “Where the Wild Things Are.”

    Here’s what my evenings look like now that we have Epic in our home. First, I set up a profile for my daughter and I to read together. Her current favorite books include “Old MacDonald’s Letter Farm”, “Duck Goes Potty”, and “Hello, How are You?” to name a few. That last one has taught her how to engage in a conversation with others. It’s very sweet!

    Kids Profile_300x250After, my daughter is asleep for the evening, I switch to a second “research” profile and devour as many picture books, chapter books, and middle grade titles that I can before going to bed myself. If I find stories with structure or prose I admire, I can add those to my favorites to come back to and observe again later. I do this because, as a writer, it is difficult to write in your genre of choice without first taking the time to read many, many books in that genre! This is certainly helping me to shine up my very rusty writing skills.

    lifestyle_fourkids_thousands_300x250You can try out Epic for yourself for 30 days for FREE!! Thereafter it is 4.99 a month to keep your subscription. That’s the cost of 1 board book per month, which I would likely easily be doing. (Or making special trips to the library to check out books, but who am I kidding? I’m a busy mom of a toddler … How often do I reliably make it to the library? In a perfect world we’d attend twice a week and engage in 20 minutes of uninterrupted storytime, but I digress.) Epic! makes life so much easier. We are building up a list of favorites and introducing new books here and there as well. She just loves the Beth and Bert stories from Highlights! Yup, Highlights! One of my favorite children’s literary magazines. Did I mention they have stories from Highlights?

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    I’m appearing at a local author’s book fair!

    localauthorsbookfairI’m so lucky to be participating in the Local Author’s Fair in Costa Mesa on March 26th. Writers from all genres will be there promoting their respective publications. I plan to bring stickers and coloring pages for the kiddos! I’m looking forward to meeting other authors and book lovers. Thank you Orange County Writers for hosting this event!

    Find out more about it at: www.ocwriters.org

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    Picture Book research at Barnes and Noble

    This past sunday, I was able to get out and do something I haven’t done in quite awhile! I walked into a yummy book-scented Barnes and Noble complete with a cd section ala Blockbuster Music, and headed to read some popular picture books! Of course, whenever I pass anything that might of interest to my little one, I get distracted.

    babytoysblog

    I mean, come on, what 22 month old wouldn’t enjoy a soft barnyard full of chickens, ducks, cows, and pigs? Then again, maybe it delighted me just as much!

    barnyard

    I finally made my way to the picture book section, and pulled out these five fun stories — and devoured them! A new Enya song I’d never heard came on for my listening pleasure making the experience even more pleasurable!

    booksblog

    This little book, “Shh… we have a plan!” by Chris Haughton made me laugh out loud. The tiniest character on the left — That’s my daughter to a “t.”

    shhblog

    I left feeling refreshed, inspired and ready to write my own manuscripts. Being a children’s author certainly has its perks!