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Cat's Corner

Blogging About Books, Kids, Travel, Film & More

How to Get Off to a Good Start Co-Writing a Children’s Book

8/27/2020

2 Comments

 
​I thought I knew about co-authoring a children’s book when I started writing Just Between Sam and Me with Rosie Russell 17 months ago.

Hah! 


I learned a ton since we began collaborating on our tale for tweens. Co-authoring can be an exciting adventure. It can also be a nightmare if you don’t find the perfect writing partner as I was lucky to do with Rosie.
How to Get Off to a Good Start Co-Writing a Children’s Book ~ catmichaelswriter.com
​
Join Rosie and me as we kick off a four-part series about cowriting in conversation with my fellow Tar Heel author, Carol Baldwin. This week, Carol talks with us in a video segment  about how we entered into our partnership ... a task more challenging because Rosie and I live 1,500 miles apart and met in person only once. 


We also share tips o Carol's blog after the video to ensure your writing collaboration succeeds before you write a sentence. 
​
How to Get Off to a Good Start Co-Writing a Children’s Book ~ catmichaelswriter.com
Carol Baldwin in Conversation with Cat Michaels & Rosie Russell

​Hey, if you post a comment and drop your email on Carol’s blog, Rosie and I will send you a link to a free download of the first chapter of our new tale for tweens, Just Between Sam and Me. How cool is that! (offer ends 9 September 2020)
​

 
Ready to join us? 

Click below to Carol’s blog
for our convo about starting a co-authoring project.  
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P. S. Come back 17 September to explore more in part 2 of this conversation.

​Rosie and I discuss how we manage nitty-gritty details of our collaboration 

– from collecting royalty taxes from authors living in different states
to file-sharing and writing roles

– and navigating bumps on the co-authoring road.  

Yep.
Another giveaway for one lucky winner, too.

See you in September!



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Harmony lake photo credit: Ignacio Ferre Harmony via photopin (license)
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Lift Your Bibliophile Heart During COVID with a RAP, Really Awful Poem, to Celebrate Book Lovers’ Day

8/6/2020

24 Comments

 
Book nerd here. Freely admitting that books are my best friend, especially in a pandemic. Now more than ever, they help me cope and escape the headlines. To celebrate Book Lovers’ Day on 9 August in Coronaville, I channeled my covid-fueled frustration into a cringe-worthy new RAP – Really Awful Poem – about how books have been my lifeline in 2020.

Have a read, maybe a giggle or two, but only if you dare. It's really awful!


Hey, please be sure to scroll to the end for more bookish fun:
  • watch this RAP in my first narrated YouTube video 
  • find more ways to love books, from California to New Zealand and everywhere in between, with my awesome #Gr8Blog pals, who are also celebrating Book Lovers' Day
Lift Your Bibliophile Heart During Covid with a RAP, Really Awful Poem, to Celebrate Book Lovers’ Day ~ catmichaelswriter.com
Photo: Chaithanya Krishnan on Flickr


A Bibliophile's RAP (Really Awful Poem)
to Celebrate Book Lovers' Day
Covid 2020 Edition


by Cat Michaels
with deepest apologies to true poets everywhere




Covid’s got my head in a spin.
Makes me feel our world cannot win.
 
Everywhere I look –
Fright, anger and despair.
So I turn to books to escape outta there.

Nothing fancy.
Nothing deep.
Only pure escape is what I keep

​

Chick lit ...
   Beach reads ...
      Or light fantasy.
​Anything to make my heart
do a little dance-asy

 
Maybe even some happy-ending science-fiction!
Truly, anything gentle 
to take my mind off our global affliction.
Lift Your Bibliophile Heart During Covid with a RAP, Really Awful Poem, to Celebrate Book Lovers’ Day ~ catmichaelswriter.com




Photo: Cat Michaels
​
Sometimes I download digital
on my tablet to read.
But mostly its audiobooks
that fill my need,
So I turn up my buds
and
I’m spinning away.
Off to faraway places I'll play.

​I might be on a sunny beach in Nantucket.
Or roaming English countryside, 
picking wildflowers with a bucket.
 
Doesn’t matter where.
just places Covid-free, please
for breaths of sweet germ-free air!
​
Lift Your Bibliophile Heart During Covid with a RAP, Really Awful Poem, to Celebrate Book Lovers’ Day ~ catmichaelswriter.com

How I yearn to stand close,

with ease and no resistance.

And
​no more
virtual chats
or
bloody
social-distance!

Photo by Kamille Sampaio from Pexels


​Out of time.
Can’t think of more to rhyme.
​

So I’ll close and just say,

"Wretched Corona Virus, 

​you 
GO AWAY!”



Lift Your Bibliophile Heart During Covid with a RAP, Really Awful Poem, to Celebrate Book Lovers’ Day ~ catmichaelswriter.com
But lastly, the most important part.
It comes with passion 
and straight from my heart.
​

To everyone, I plea:
Let's stick together 
and make this

wretched pandemic flee.

​
* Stay well 

* Spread kindness

​* Wear the mask

Masked Cat Michaels - Covid Summer, 2020


​For more Book Love RAP,
check out my YouTube channel below
to hear me narrate my Really Awful Poem.

(Please be kind.
It's my first RAP recording,
but you already know it's really awful, right [wink])


​


Even more book love for you ...
​
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Click on the names of my #Gr8Blogs pals below, and whisk away to their blogs, From California and New York, to New Zealand, Australia and places in between, they bring more bookish delights your way. -:D. 

​
Carmela Dutra
How a chance encounter with a mystery novel
turns a book-hating teen into a bookworm

Julie Schooler
Three paradoxical takeaways
from Brene Brown’s self-help books​

Sandra Bennett
Characters in a book are like friends

Auden Johnson
Best horror tropes in books and movies

Rosie Russell
Fun facts, quiz and book giveaway

​

Your Turn
It's hard to stay upbeat in this marathon pandemic that's been going on for far to long.

​How are you staying positive during Covid?
Are you reading more or less these days? What genre/kind of books do you prefer?  How might books help you cope? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.

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24 Comments

    Cat Michaels

    Writing about family, books, authoring, life, movies,  travel and more.


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  • Welcome!
  • Cat's Books
    • Just Between Sam and Me
    • Sweet T and the Turtle Team
    • Finding Fuzzy: A You-Decide Tale of a Lost Friend
    • Sweet T and the North Wind
    • The Magical Aquarium
  • Cat's Corner: Blogging About Books, Writing, and More
  • Author 101: Tips & Tricks for a Writer's Journey
  • Meet Cat
  • Author Visits
  • FREE STUFF in the Kids' Zone
  • Book Review Guidelines
  • KidLit Book Reviews
  • Contact Cat