It's me again, the horrible blogger that never remembers to post...

Hi guys. I hope everyone is doing well. I am so sorry that I haven't posted in so long. We have been working really hard to get Adventures of Bear B & Stone: Bully Troubles ready for release. Things are going pretty well, although we are a bit behind our schedule. We are hoping that we will be able to schedule the release date for the first week of August.

In the meantime, I wanted to discuss the epidemic of bullying. Many people young and old do not realize just how often bullying happens. We are led to believe that bullying is what happens when one kid hits another kid over and over again or shoves them in a locker. Maybe even the stereotypical bully who hangs a kid (much smaller than them) by their ankles and "shakes them down" for their lunch money.

Bullying goes much deeper than that. Did you know that when you call someone a name, that too is bullying? Do you realize that every unkind word you've spoken has left a scar on someone's heart? Bullying is any form of abuse or intimidation. Many times, bullies aren't looking to hurt the other person as much as they are attempting to build themselves up. Many bullies were (or are) bullied themselves by someone else.

Your first instinct when someone is hurting you is to fight back. You want to fight for yourself. You want to make them feel as bad as you do. This is not the best way to handle bullying. I know it seems hard, it seems unlikely to work, but the best response is no response at all. Sure, if someone comes at you swinging, get your arms up to protect yourself. However, if the assault is verbal, do nothing. That's right, ignore them. OR (and I know this will shock many of you) say something kind back. Sometimes all a bully needs is to know that they can find a friend in you.

This is true in any situation. Not just for kids. But I think it is important for kids to know that they aren't alone and they are not out of options. Of course, I also encourage any child to seek adult assistance if they find themselves in a situation that makes them scared, uncomfortable or they just don't know what to do. Also, children need to know that if they ever see anyone hurting another person, they should get help immediately. They should be reminded to consider what they would want someone to do if they were in the person's shoes.

I hope that this article has helped some of you to understand how to talk about and handle bullying. We will be announcing the details of our release very soon. (Also, we may soon include an excerpt here on the blog for your reading enjoyment).

We're Getting Closer

Editing and Rewriting

Wow! Who knew that the editing and rewriting part of my job could be made so easy. I have heard from various fellow authors that editing can be done on your kindle. So, I decided what the heck. I gave it a try. It only takes a moment to turn the file into a Kindle compatible "book".

So, I sent it to my Kindle and began the reading, editing and rewriting process around lunch time today. I am already at 26% and, to be honest, I didn't work on it constantly throughout the course of the day. It seems to be going really fast and easy. I highlight a section, I make a note on what changes I need to make, and continue on.

Now, I am passing this little bit of knowledge on to my other fellow authors. I strongly suggest that you give it a try. Perhaps it won't work for everyone. Maybe it is one of those things. But, if you edit and rewrite like I always have, you are probably wasting stacks and stacks of paper. (which then has to be burned in the bonfire to protect my original works from being stolen). This way, when the editing and rewriting is finished, I simply delete this file from my Kindle cloud and create a new one and do it all over again. Paper saving, time saving and I think I am catching more this way than I would have working through page after page of hard copy.

We don't have a release date set. Clark is still working on the illustrations for the chapters, and I am working on editing and rewrites, but stay tuned because there will be many announcements during the course of the next couple of weeks.

Back on Track

As we wrap up our semester at school, we look forward to the weeks ahead. We have started to plan what comes next.

For Clark, this means getting back to work on the illustrations for Bully Troubles. He already has the rough draft ideas together, and I am hopeful that it won't take him long to finish up. When those are finished, he will start illustrations for Witches Three.

For me, I will be working on the next book in the Adventures of Bear B & Stone series. I have a few ideas that I am going to toss around, but mostly we will see where Bear B & Stone decide to take me. I also need to start working on some new picture books. For these, I may be changing my approach a little. If possible, I will continue to follow the rhyming that is prevalent in previous books. However, I am looking into something new and different as well.

Yesterday, I was talking to a mother of a kindergartener who is struggling to learn how to read. She said that she is always on the search for "popcorn words" books. She said that there doesn't seem to be any. She knows that her and the other parents at her child's school would jump on books that help children to learn their "popcorn words" as well as their Dolch sight words.

Since having this conversation, I have done some research online. I, too, have been unable to locate any books that expressly say they are chocked full of popcorn or Dolch words. So, I am going to do a little more research (because I don't want to step on any copyrighted toes) and if it is acceptable for me to put together stories using these words (in bold print of course) then that will be the focus of future books.

We will be looking for reviewers (those with blogs and the ability to share their reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, and B&N) to receive and review ARC copies of Bully Troubles and offer honest reviews that we can then use as part of the release. If you would be interested, please contact me at Tiffany@WeveSeenSanta.com. We will announce more details when we are ready to start selecting reviewers.

Don't forget to enter to win Monster Beneath my Bed, I Love the Changing Seasons, and We've Seen Santa in our Goodreads giveaway. Details are in a previous post.

SUMMER READING GIVEAWAY!!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Monster Beneath my Bed

by Tiffany A. Higgins

Giveaway ends June 10, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win


Just in time for summer vacation! You could win one of each of the Higgins' 3 children's books, "Monster Beneath my Bed", "I Love the Changing Seasons", and "We've Seen Santa". All of these books are here on Goodreads for look up. 

2 winners will be selected. Good luck!!