IlluStory

My niece Bailey is turning 9. This weekend is her birthday party, and I won't be there to celebrate. I won't be able to watch her open gifts or blow out the candles on her cake. Instead I will mail her a card, ship some gifts and call her afterward to find out how it all went. Birthdays aren't an easy time to be a long-distance aunt.

I've been searching for the right gift for her birthday. BarnesandNoble.com has a nice feature that allows you to search for toys, games and books by age. As I was searching for gifts online I stumbled upon Illustory -its a way for kids to write and illustrate their own story. It comes with the pages to write the story with room to draw the photos, markers for the artwork and a postage paid envelope to mail the manuscript.

The bound and finished book is returned within a few weeks, a professionally published version of your child's story! What a great way to express creativity and have a memorable gift. Bailey loves to tell stories, I think this is a great way to preserve one of them in a nicely bound book! I thought this was a nice gift idea and wanted to share. 

I hope she likes it!

Back to School

It's that time of year, back to school. Both my nieces are going to new schools this year, my eldest nice will be in middle school! I can't believe it...

I sent both the girls an email wishing them luck on their first day and reminding them not to be afraid to say "hi" to someone they don't know and try to make new friends.

My sister sent me photos of the girls leaving for their first day - they're so grown up! I spoke with Hannah tonight to find out how her first day of middle school went. She told me all about finding her classes in a much bigger school than she's used to, what her schedule is like and that she's taking Spanish for the first half of the year, then she'll be taking French.

I remember middle school as game changing. Suddenly there were cliques and the desire to fit in - making that adjustment isn't easy. I look back at my own junior high experience and hope that Hannah's is better than mine was. I know its all part of growing up, I just hope she will be strong and confident and that she'll remember: no matter what, remember who you are!

If you're far away from your niece or nephew on their first day, have mom or dad send you a picture as they leave for school in the morning! Send them a care package for back to school! It doesn't have to be packaged in a nice gift basket, just pick up a flat rate box from your local post office and fill it with the school supplies they'll need and a note for your favorite niece/nephew!

Here's to Tenacity, Resolve or just plain Stubbornness

Talk about a woman who never gives up. I recently read the novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett. The novel, which became a bestseller was also made into a movie, which did a great job of representing the book.

I was shocked when a friend shared with me this article in which Stockett herself writes about how her novel was rejected sixty times before finally getting published - sixty! Can you imagine getting sixty rejection letters stating that your book - that you poured your heart into - isn't good enough to be published. And can you imagine each time deciding not to give up, editing the manuscript yet again determined to make it better and sending it back to yet another literary agent only to face more rejections.

Kathryn writes: "In the end, I received 60 rejections for The Help. But letter number 61 was the one that accepted me. After my five years of writing and three and a half years of rejection, an agent named Susan Ramer took pity on me. What if I had given up at 15? Or 40? Or even 60? Three weeks later, Susan sold The Help to Amy Einhorn Books."

I'm always encouraged by people who try and try, even when the odds seem to be against them. This just shows that it pays to never give up on what you believe in!

As a reader, I'm so glad Kathryn Stockett didn't give up!

 

The Help, Movie Trailer