Author Interview: Fiona Ingram

Hop on over to my other blog today (The Motherhood Muse) for a chance to win a free book by Fiona Ingram and to read her interview!!

Author Interview: Fiona Ingram

My new venture, The Motherhood Muse, is quickly growing in size and I'm loving every moment of it! Unfortunately it is leaving me with little time to blog; however, I wanted to make an announcement on my blog about an upcoming post!

The Motherhood Muse blog will be hosting its first author interview on Monday November 9th! Fiona Ingram, author of The Secret of the Sacred Scarab, will be talking with us about her new book, which was just nominated as a Finalist in the Children's Fiction section of the USA National Best Books 2009 Awards! It also received the same award earlier this year in the New Generation 2009 Indie Book Awards!

Fiona will be giving away a free copy of her book on my blog on Monday, so I hope you will swing on by!

The Motherhood Muse

I'm excited to announce a new website I've created:

The Motherhood Muse

This new website offers a literary magazine on motherhood and nature (sign up for our free e-newsletter to receive the first issue free!), a blog, writing contests (with monetary prizes!), and more! We're also on Facebook and LinkedIn, so come join our community!

If you sign up for our free e-newsletter by November 1st, not only do you get the first issue of the e-Zine free but you'll also have a chance at winning a $15 starbucks gift card or a prize package of items from our boutique. *See our blog for hints at how to increase your chance of winning!

So please check out The Motherhood Muse website and blog today!!

I will still be writing here at my Zook Book Nook blog; however, during the next three months I will probably be spending more time writing on my new blog.

Thanks for checking out The Motherhood Muse today!

In & Out of the Nook

I haven't been writing on my blog recently, because I've been working on creating a new website and blog! I apologize to my readers for also writing fewer comments on your blogs in the past month, but starting this new site and blog are consuming all the free time I have with a toddler and baby making my days (and nights) crazy and fun.

On Monday I'll be announcing this new project I've been working on, so I hope you'll stop by Monday to read what it's all about!

Top Ten Teachings of Daughters

Although they may be three decades younger than me, weigh 7 x less than me, look up at me from their height 3 feet, and live in the small world immediately surrounding them, my daughters are my teachers.

How do they teach me, let me count the ways:

1. As a new mama with a screaming newborn, my Ayla taught me how to nurse by breastfeeding like a champ.
2. As a mama the 2nd time around, my Grace taught me to revel in the quiet peaceful moments with her.
3. My toddler's passion for dancing, sprinting, and dressing up has shown me it's okay to be silly and where a tutu on my head while singing the Hokey Pokey.
4. The need my girls have for closeness has taught me the importance of touch.
5. My toddler's shyness with speaking and concern for getting it right has shown me the value of looking in one's eyes when she is talking.
6. The soft smiles and gentle plumpness of my baby teach me it's okay to be round.
7. My Ayla's fascination with books tells me that perhaps my addiction to books isn't all that wrong.
8. The new things my daughters achieve daily teach me to treasure every moment I have with them, even the hard, tantrum-filled, I'm-gonna-lose-it moments.
9. My toddler's thirst for space to run and play has taught me to simplify my life and find beauty in less.
10. My daughters' unconditional love for me teaches me every day the true meaning of love and life.
    

A Super Hero With a Pen in Her Hand

Mama Kat's Writers Workshop Rocks! Thank you Mama Kat for helping so many of us writer-mamas find our muse every Thursday :)

4) If you were a super hero, what would your super power be and why?

My super hero power may not be all that super nor heroic, but it's one I would choose today for the sake of my 2 year old and 3 month old daughters: the ability to transport myself and anyone else into books, so we could experience the story as if living in it.

If my blog name doesn't give it away, I imagine my super hero power does: I'm addicted to books. I live and breathe books and writing. If I were a worm I know I would live inside a book.

But to inspire others, especially my children, to love books as deeply as I do, that's a challenge. It thrills me to see my toddler sitting by herself looking at books, studying the illustrations under her nose and mouthing certain words. But I have to remind myself to keep a steady hand on the reins, the day may come when she may not want to read a book (or books for hours on end like I did in my childhood).

So if I could be a super hero I would love to be able to take children (and adults) on journeys into books so they could experience the story with all five senses. Better than a movie, even a 3-d one at that. As characters in the story we could have all kinds of powers: flight, strength, speed, dragon-fighting kung foo...

It's good to dream. Maybe one day I'll publish a book that will inspire my girls to continue to read since their mommy is a writer. For now I just live in the moment of having my two little girls sit on my lap as I read a book to them, over and over again.