Happy Book Birthday to Roller Boy

A new book just rolled out today… Roller Boy (Fitzroy Books) by Marcia Strykowski!

Here’s the back cover blurb for Roller Boy:

Mateo always assumed he’d make the baseball team with his buddy Jason, but when only Jason makes the team, his mood sinks low. So low, he knows he has to do something about it. But what? What can he be good at? When Mateo wins free lessons, he discovers he’s pretty good at roller-skating. And it doesn’t hurt that the most beautiful girl he’s ever laid eyes on happens to be Roller City’s star skater. But still, roller skating? No way can Jason find out Mateo is whirling around in girly skates—anybody halfway to cool would be hanging at a skate park, on boards or blades. Other issues stacked against him are the strong reservations of his mother, who feels he should be spending his time studying, not skating, and his inability to eat gluten—no more grabbing a pizza with the guys. Despite these conflicts, Mateo keeps his sense of humor and channels his innermost strength into an incredible ride on roller skates that just might take him all the way to regionals.

A fast, fun read recommended for ages 8 and up!

About the Author

Marcia Strykowski works at a public library and is a member of SCBWI. She is also the author of Call Me Amy, chosen for Bank Street College of Education’s Best Books of 2013 and shortlisted for the Crystal Kite Award, and its sequel Amy’s Choice. Follow Marcia on her blog and on Twitter.

Catching Up

January 2018 releases

I apologize because it’s been ages since I’ve blogged, but that’s because I’ve been under contract for quite a few books. In 2016, I wrote 8 books. In 2017, that jumped to 12 books in one year. Of course, that meant I also had that many book launches. Since the beginning of 2018, I’ve written 7 books and had 8 books releases.

Many of the book launches over the past two years included book tours, school and library visits, blog tours, magazine interviews, TV and radio appearances, book festival visits, and conferences. So blogging end up getting pushed aside.

Oh, and I write under 4 different names, which meant adopting different personas for the various book tours and signings. Not to mention all the social media platforms and websites I need to maintain for each pen name. It’s not always easy to keep all the names straight when I autograph books, so if you ever come across one of my books with a flower in front of my name, it means I started writing the wrong name.

Here’s a list of the books I’ve written since 2016:

Picture Books

Mystery of the Missing Parathas (2017)

MG books

Second Chance Ranch series (written as Kelsey Abrams; North Star):

Taking Chances (2018)

Wild Midnight (2018)

Bunny Buddies (2019)

Llama Drama (2019)

Exploring Ancient Rome (12-Story Library, 2018)

YA Nonfiction (Cengage, 2016)

Imperial China, 

West African Kingdoms

Ancient Egypt

Anthologies

Love & Profanity (Capstone, 2016)

Strange Magic (2016)

Amish Novels (written as Rachel J. Good)

Love & Promises series (Hachette/Grand Central)

Amish Teacher’s Gift (2018)

Amish Midwife’s Secret (2018)

Amish Widow’s Rescue (2019)

Sisters & Friends series

Change of Heart (Charisma House, 2016)

Buried Secrets (Charisma House, 2017)

Gift from Above (Harlequin, 2019)

Big-City Amish (Harlequin, 2019)

Amish Queen (2019)

Hearts of Amish Country series

Secret Identity (2018)

Hearts Reunited (2018)

Anthologies

Springs of Love (2017)

Love’s Thankful Heart (2017)

Plain Everyday Heroes (2018)

Plain Christmas (2018)

Nonficition

Amish Quilts Coloring Book (Book 1 in the Amish Quilts & Proverbs series; 2016)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

And that doesn’t count the books I’m working on now, works I’m hoping to sell, or the proposals my agent is working out contract details on. So 2018 and 2019 are shaping up to be equally as busy, but I’m going to try to blog once in a while.

Overcoming Depression

As the days get shorter and colder , many people find themselves getting depressed. Marshall Rosenberg explains some causes and cures for the blues. Well worth the 7 minutes it takes to listen:

When Politics Goes Low, Children’s Books Go High — Lee & Low Blog

Well, we have finally reached the day after the last presidential debate. It’s a slow crawl to the finish line after the longest election cycle in the history of election cycles. Just a few more weeks, friends! No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, you probably feel a little (or a lot) disappointed with how…

via When Politics Goes Low, Children’s Books Go High — Lee & Low Blog

Losing an Agent

Photo Credit: Zsolt Zatrok

Losing an agent hurts. Sometimes agents can’t sell your books, sometimes you’re not a good match, and sometimes they leave the business. But the most painful way to lose an agent is to death.

Earlier this week, I lost an agent I loved. Mary Sue Seymour lost her long and hard-fought battle against cancer. I still can’t believe she’s gone. Even last week, she was still posting her usual upbeats messages. She saw beauty and goodness everywhere she went. And she had the gift of spreading the gifts of kindness and encouragement wherever she went.

I admired her as a person, and as an agent, she was awesome. I’ve never known an agent to respond to every email within 5-10 minutes. Soon after I signed on with her, I sent the final manuscript revisions to her after midnight. The following morning at 7 am, she emailed with a list of 10 publishers who had the manuscript.

A few months later, she completed all the back-and-forth contract negotiations until we had everything we both wanted on a 3-book deal. I didn’t discover until later that she’d been undergoing twice-weekly chemo sessions the whole time. She never once mentioned her health. And she must have been doing the same for her other clients, because a month later, she was named Agent of the Year by the American Christian Fiction Writers.

I’m grateful that I signed with her. I only wish she could be here to see the first book in the Sisters & Friends Amish series, Change of Heart, release on May 3. I wrote this book at her request, and she offered to review it as I went along. She shepherded it through the synopsis and early draft stages, even though I never sent it as official submission. When it was completed, I was thrilled when she offered to represent me. The book had been her baby all along. Although she can’t be at my book launch in person, I know she’ll be there in spirit. And at all my signings, I’ll be wearing the lovely bracelet she sent me at Christmas to celebrate my first book contract as Rachel J. Good.

To honor her life and generous, caring nature, I’m dedicating my Rachel J. Good Twitter feed to celebrating Random Acts of Kindness. Feel free to share any acts you do  for others or those you hear about. Let’s flood social media with positive messages.

#100kRAOK #randomactsofkindness

 

 

Honoring Your Journey

I usually set goals and make resolutions this time of year. I like the thought of a shiny new year with all those beautiful blank days ready to fill like journal pages. As I look back over last year’s journal and accomplishments, it’s easy to see how I spent most of my time. Writing and illustrating took up a lot of it.

I had 6 books come out and signed with an agent, who sold my Amish novel in a 3-book deal. I traveled to quite a few speaking engagements and finished my classes for my MFA in Children’s Writing and Illustrating at Hollins University.

Those were all tangible results, but I remember many years when my only progress consisted of stacks of rejection letters, half-finished manuscripts, and a brain full of ideas. Although I put in a lot of work, I didn’t feel a real sense of accomplishment. Now I wish I could go back and celebrate those achievements, because if it weren’t for those years of drudgery and disappointment, I wouldn’t be published today.

So wherever you are on your journey (whether in writing or other pursuits), honor the hard work you’ve put in — even if it didn’t bring the rewards you hoped. Find a way to keep track of what you’ve done and celebrate the small milestones along the way. Rejection letters indicate you’ve been submitting, partially finished manuscripts prove you’ve been writing, doodles in your sketchbook show you’ve been drawing. Yes, you may not have gotten as far as you’d hoped, but rather than looking at where you expected to be, rejoice in how far you’ve come. You’ve made progress, and that’s the most important thing.

What small strides did you make toward your goals this year that you haven’t given yourself enough credit for?

 

Celebrating 2015

A year often passes so swiftly that you barely have time to breathe before it’s over. So it’s always good to look back over the highlights of the past 12 months. Sometimes it seems you haven’t accomplished much, but when you take time to appreciate how you spent your time, you realize that you did much more than you thought you did.

Often we focus only on external achievements, but forget to count the time we spent helping others, building relationships, and making deep, inner changes in our personal lives. Those should be the cause for the greatest celebration.

Perhaps you didn’t reach your goals or complete last year’s New Year’s resolutions, but did you make any progress? Even if you lost 10 pounds twice (the same ones, and regained them), give yourself credit for losing 20 pounds. You did do that, even if no one can see it now.

Did you set a goal to send your manuscript out to 20 agents, but only sent to 5? That’s still progress.

Maybe you decided to be a kinder, nicer person, but found yourself losing your temper more than you’d like. Count up the days that you did manage to hold your tongue, days when you said the right thing, days when you encouraged someone or did a kind deed for a friend or stranger. Did you like someone’s Facebook post or compliment someone? Those count too. You might be surprised to find that you did a lot more good than you realized.

What big goals did you reach this year? And what thing — small or large — did you do this year that you haven’t appreciated yourself for?

 

Cover Reveal: Change of Heart

I’m excited to reveal the cover for the first novel in the Sisters & Friends series. Change of Heart will be released May 3, 2016, by Charisma House/Realms. I think the cover is beautiful!

Change of Heart, stars Lydia, the oldest of the Esh sisters. Concerned about her sixteen-year-old sister Emma’s rebellion during Rumschpringe, the teen “running-around time,” Lydia teams up with Caleb, the brother of Emma’s Englisch boyfriend. Their goal is to separate the two teens, but instead Lydia ends up falling for Caleb. Now her heart is torn: how can she choose between Caleb and her faith?

Change of Heart can now be pre-ordered at Christianbooks.com and Amazon.

The Joys and Perils of a 3-Book Contract

Many writers dream of the day they can sign a contract. And a multi-book contract is even better. Or is it?

Having recently signed a 3-book contract for an Amish series, SISTERS & FRIENDS, with only 1 book written and a paragraph blurb for the other two books, I’m thrilled to have another multi-book contract, but…

With Books 2 and 3 only a gleam in my eye when I signed the contract, I’m now struggling to come up with fleshed-out plot lines for two more novels and get both written before my early 2016 deadlines. The stories that seemed so vivid when I wrote my brief descriptions translated well into basic outline form, giving me false hope that they’d flow smoothly onto the page.

Not so.

The romances I envisioned need more ups and downs, the characters aren’t as well-rounded on the page as they were in my imagination, and the exciting emotional and climactic scenes need to be linked together. I have several touching scenes with lots of dead space between that needs to be filled, but with what?

The outline that seemed so promising a few days before NaNo now looks like a skeleton of a tree at the end of winter, devoid of leaves. A few buds have popped up here and there, promising some growth at a later date, but it seems almost impossible that this tree will blossom with spring greenery, let alone lovely ripe fruit.

I keep reminding myself that spring always comes, and those dead-looking trees do burst into new life. Sap rises, buds unfurl, and the starkness is soon only a memory. Here’s hoping the same thing will happen with my bare NaNo branches.
What does your NaNo tree look like?

This?

Or this?

Inspiration and Genius…

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eye off the goal.”  ~ Henry Ford