As you all know, I am in Rachael Harrie's 3rd Platform Building Campaign. What fun! Meeting bloggers all across the cyber universe and learning from them too. They're very smart, these bloggers.
One of these smart (genius really) bloggers, Cat Gerlach from our MG/YA group (The amazingly creative group 3) organized this really, really, made of chocolately awesome blog circle/hop. Okay! It really isn't made of chocolate, it just has a sweet, silky goodness like chocolate. ;-)
I'm supposed to tell you which book, which author started my dream. Dum dum de dum! (And my blogging pals who have known me a while all ready know the answer to this question.) Black Beauty! Written by the remarkable Anna Sewell. This was the first novel I read as a child. I didn't have horses then, but wanted a palomino appaloosa and a black quarter horse in the worst way! Anna introduced me to that wonderful world and I read her beautiful story five times, one right after the other. I used to pretend I was her, sitting at my desk (which was really the kitchen table), writing my book, Black Beauty. I learned all I could about her and then started reading Walter Farley's books too. If I hadn't checked Black Beauty out of the library that day, I probably wouldn't be typing this post right now. Did you know she never meant for it to be a novel? She wrote it for vets and horse owners. It was meant to be a how to book for them. If she could only know what it meant to me to read her beautiful words. To live in Black Beauty's world and ride him in my mind's eye. I still read this book from time to time. It takes me back to a world I love. And it gave me my love of writing stories. I owe her a lot. I figure I can repay the debt by writing my own lovely stories and creating a world that might someday give another little girl a love for this craft. Thank you for reading. xoxo
Now here are the secret prizes that are no longer a secret after today:
Michele Helene (500 words)
Cat Gerlach(coupon code for an epic fantasy novel eBook by William
L. Hahn)
K.M. Walton(YA novel)
Stephanie(30 pg critique)
Rachele Alpine(25 pg critique)
Bonnie Rae (YA book)
And me (a query crit and a signed just for you copy of Across The Universe)
Here's the deal:
- Leave a comment here explaining the book that started your dream, or the book that you are reading right now, or just a comment on your flavor of chocolate. Yeah. That'll do!
- Hop to the next two blogs on the list below and leave a comment there too. The more comments you leave, the more you increase your chance of winning one of those most excellent prizes listed above.
- Every blog will tell you where to hop to next.
- The very last day to comment is Thursday, September 22nd.
- Winners will be selected through random.org
In Time The blog of Michael Di Gesu, for those of you who don't know.
A Wanderer In Paris Michele Helene's blog.
Hop away. And comment often! :-) Good luck.
Foot note: This was saved as a draft, not a scheduled post like I thought it was. Which is why it's late. Blogger's on my last nerve!
The Nancy Drew Mysteries began my reading road and crazy wild love of mysteries. Since my birthday number 12, a gift from my Papa. Being naturally curious (nosey), I love the hunt, the solving of the mystery.
ReplyDeletePart of me is a world famous detective. I long to solve mysteries. Mystery solving is treasure hunting.
Chocolate covered cherries and old fashioned Hershey bars. No nuts. ❤
Thanks for the heads up. I too loved Black Beauty and Wind in the Willows.
The Diary of Anne Frank and Little Women. The two books that put the writing bee in my bonnet!
ReplyDeleteI am a chocolate covered cherry fanatic as well added to anything in dark chocolate.
SUCH a great story. :o) I loved the Anne of Green Gables novels, and since she was a writer, it always fascinated me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Robyn!
What a wonderful classic ... I can see why you chose this beautiful story.
ReplyDeleteAnne of Green Gables was like that for me. I couldn't read enough from L.M. Montgomery. And since most of her characters wanted to be writers . . . well, the seed was sown. Great idea, by the way about the blog chain. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post and topic! As a child, I loved to read anything and everything...but I would have to say my favorite is the Little House on the Prairie series. I still have the set I received for my 8th birthday sitting next to my computer.
ReplyDeleteI've not read Black Beauty. I'm thinking that's a gross error on my part. It's a classic so I really should read it. The first books I ever read were my mum's copies of the Famous Five series. Lots of fun and adventure.
ReplyDelete"Number the Stars" ; )
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks for sharing your special memories about Black Beauty with us, Robyn. I love how it inspired you, and I hope you inspire many children with your stories, too.
ReplyDeleteOkay, well, I'm a late bloomer as far as writing. When my middle daughter was in third grade, i started reading to her each night to help her get her reading points (and improve her reading). We were in the middle of James and the Giant Peach when I decided I wanted to write for children, too. I had kind of planned to write when my kids were grown, but that book sealed the deal and I began studying the craft of writing and also wrote some pretty horrifically terrible schtuff that you couldn't pay me to show you how bad it was! Haha!
This one's easy- A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh"!! I would have to say they are some of the most perfect children's books ever written. I still enjoy them now, I love reading them to the children. Totally timeless.
ReplyDeleteWait! Chocolate has flavors? LOL. So many books started my dream that I couldn't possibly list them all here, but the very first book I remember reading was a Hello Kitty picture book only five pages long. :D
ReplyDeleteThe blog hop is a cute idea.
ReplyDeleteI never got into Black Beauty, but the Black Stallion? By Walter Farley? And the Island Stallion? And assorted other horse-related books by Farley? No. No, I know nothing of those... ;)
Seriously, though, although I have been writing forever, I don't believe I truly allowed myself to dream about publishing fiction as anything other than a hobby until after I had my first home birth. I guess I felt so empowered by having accomplished that, I felt like taking on the world. I wrote a book, I played roller derby, I had other adventures...it was a wonderful period of growth and flux.
And now I have married my dreams to my skills, and the future is wide open. <3
DARK chocolate, for me. :)
This blog hop is so fun.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started writing, I loved horses so much so that I woke up early just to prove to my parents that I could look after one. All of my early stories are filled with horses that all resemble those from my favourite stories.
Great idea for a blog hop!
ReplyDeleteI must confess that as a non-horsey girl, I never read Black Beauty, although I have been to Anna Sewell's house tea room in Gt Yarmouth :)
I also loved Little Women and that encouraged me to think about writing. My other great inspiration as a kid was France Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess. I liked The Secret Garden too, but A Little Princess was my favourite.
Hi, Robyn. Nice to meet you. I came across your blog through your comments to Eve.E about how to put a Google+ link on her blog. I'm going to borrow that information. So useful. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYour blog looks great, and I love the idea of sharing books that inspired us to write. I'm not YA. I'm fantasy/SFF. But I was inspired to write through reading books I loved in elementary school and junior high. Particularly The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and Anne McCaffrey's Pern books. I loved The Black Stallion too, which isn't SFF but is a great series of books. I watched horse racing a lot of years because of those books. LOL!
That's so adorable what you said about pretending to be Anna Sewell, sitting at your "desk" and writing your book. Gosh!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long long time since I read Black Beauty. Now you're making me want to read it again.
The book that made me want to be a writer was Home Place by Crescent Dragonwagon. I fell in love with it...she was the first author I met. I used it in my classroom for years.
ReplyDeleteI think the books that inspired me to write were Anne of Green Gables and Pippi. And for chocolate, I'm currently in love with Green and Black's dark chocolate with orange. Yum!
ReplyDeleteThat is a really hard question!! I think the book that solidified my dream--made it too real to ignore--is Patricia Polacco's PINK & SAY. A-MAZE-ING! :-)
ReplyDeleteLike Wild Magnolias Nancy Drew sucked me in when I was in about 5th grade---my friends and I were detectives every time we got together.
ReplyDelete