Mommy's Pen

A writer's notes on family

Season 8, Episode 1: Valerie Francis, Author of Crossing the Rubicon

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In this episode, we launch our author interview series! And we’re starting with Canadian Author and Story Grid Editor, Valerie Francis.

You can also listen using any number of podcast platforms and apps including Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Show Notes:

Season 8, Episode 1: Valerie Francis, Author of Nature Knights: Crossing the Rubicon

This season we’re launching a series of interviews with authors of middle grade fiction. First up, Valerie Francis, author of Nature Knights, Crossing the Rubicon, a middle grade fantasy.

Valerie Francis is both author and Certified Story Grid Editor. She has published fiction for both women (love stories for busy women) and children (middle grade fantasy), and is currently working on her first thriller.

As a bona fide story nerd, her passion for the craft of storytelling led her to become a Certified Story Grid Editor in 2017. Her non-fiction credits include a Story Grid Guide to Bram Stoker’s Dracula (publication TBA) and regular articles for the Fundamental Fridays column on Shawn Coyne’s Story Grid website.

Valerie co-hosts two podcasts for writers. The first, The Story Grid Editor Roundtable, is focused on the craft of writing. Each week Valerie, along with four fellow Certified Story Grid Editors, analyze a film according to the editing method developed by Shawn Coyne. The second is focused entirely on book marketing. On The Book Launch Show, Valerie learns how to develop a relationship with her readers from book marketing expert, Tim Grahl.

Things we mention (or forget to mention) that you should check out:

  • Valerie’s middle grade fantasy novel Nature Knights: Crossing the Rubicon.
  • Valerie’s website! Hop on her excellent mailing list to get the first part in her Masquerade series (for adults) and to get great book recommendations for books by women, for women and about women.
  • Our mailing list! Sign up today and you’ll get cool subscriber only perks like bonus material.

Disclosure: By the way, all of these links are affiliate links, so if you buy something, you pay the same, but Nora gets a few pennies for her big 8th grade trip fund.

Season 7, Episode 6: School Visit Recap

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In this episode, we recap a school visit we did—in matching outfits—to a fourth grade class.

You can also listen using any number of podcast platforms and apps including Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Show Notes:

Season 7, Episode 6: School Visit Recap

Things we mention (or forget to mention) that you should check out:

And, don’t forget, you can now, buy, read and enjoy my book: The Cat, the Cash, the Leap & the List. (And leave a review when you’re done, pretty please.)

Disclosure: By the way, all of these links are affiliate links, so if you buy something, you pay the same, but Nora gets a few pennies for her big 8th grade trip fund.

A New YA Release We’ve Been Waiting For! And Alma Gets Her Moment in the Spotlight.

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Alma thinks it’s her podcast now…

Resistance has its grip on Nora; she’s not made progress on her story. Hey, happens to the best of us. Plus, she’s busy with homework and middle school dances and such. But that left us with nothing to talk about on the podcast.

So, I decided to bring in Alma, my four-year-old, to guest host for a week. She chose to talk about Moana, and I discovered she has a pretty tenuous grasp of its plot. You can listen here. But she had a great time recording, and now she’s trying to edge Nora out, “The podcast and just you and me now, right?” It’s pretty hilarious.

Since finishing the young adult novel Carry On, Nora and I have been impatiently awaiting the publication of its sequel, Wayward Son. Our dreams finally came true on September 24 and we both already finished it. I liked it just as much as Carry On. And now we hunker down to wait for book 3. Listen to us gush here.

If you’re enjoying the podcast, you can support the show by mentioning it to a like-minded friend, or leaving a review on iTunes. And thanks SO much to those of you who’ve already done so! Warms our hearts and keeps us going.

xo
—Sue

P.S. Your kids can hang on to summer by reading my summer adventure story, The Cat, the Cash, the Leap, and the List.

P.P.S. If you were an early reader of the book, thank you! And I’d love if you take a minute to leave an honest review on Amazon! Reviews are critical for a book’s success! Thanks in advance. 

P.P.P.S. All product links are affiliate links, so if you buy something, you pay the same, but Nora gets a few pennies for her big 8th grade trip fund.

Back To School Jedi Mind Tricks

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One of my kids is desperate to get back to school. The other one, not so much.

Not feeling it.

Nora, my twelve-year-old, was pretty much bored out of her mind all summer. And unlike previous episodes of summer boredom, this one did not resolve with a big acts physical creativity like digging an enormous hole in the backyard or washing her hair in a bucket that the chickens drink from.

We’re on the brink of the teens years. And if I didn’t already know that, I could tell by the amount of David Bowie music emanating from her bedroom (SO proud) and her general apathy towards almost every activity I suggest.

This was her first summer with no real plans. No viola lessons, no swim lessons, no art camp. And her phone, which she was using to text a few friends (she doesn’t have cell service yet) broke and we haven’t replaced it.

Without really meaning too, we starved her of social interaction for nearly twelve weeks. As a result, she’s VERY eager to return to school. 

I’m calling that a parenting win.

The four-year-old, Alma, has NOT been eager to return to school. Mind you, her school is a veritable kid paradise. Warm, beautiful classrooms, lots of time outdoors, a ludicrously loving staff. She’s just anxious because she’s moving from preschool to kindergarten.

Every time school is mentioned, her pat response has been, “I’m going to hateit.” She had a home visit from her teacher, a potluck with her new classmates, and plenty of coaching and coaxing from me, but it hasn’t put a dent in her sour attitude.

Finally, my husband called her bluff. And it was beautiful. Part Jedi mind trick, part reverse psychology.

“Alma, if you’re really going to hate it, we won’t send you. We would not make you go someplace you hate. So don’t worry. You’re not going.”

“Nooooo!” she cried immediately. “I saw some things that might be fun! I want to—” here she caught herself showing too much enthusiasm, “I mean—I’ll try it.”

“You want to try school. You might actually like some parts of it.”

“Yes,” she pleaded.

“Well, okay,” he said. “We’ll let you try.”

Today, we visited the classroom for about an hour, so she could get a feel for it. I practically had to drag her out of there after an hour so the poor teacher could finish setting up her room.

I highly recommend picking a Jedi co-parent.

Season 7, Episode 3: Nora’s Foolscap Continued

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In this episode, Nora starts brainstorming some details to plan her story and confesses that wearing headbands makes her feel “elevated,” a feeling she shares with her protagonist.

You can also listen using any number of podcast platforms and apps including Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Show Notes:

Season 7, Episode 3: Nora’s Foolscap Continued

This week we brainstorm and work through some ideas in Nora’s story plotting—playing with the idea of time travel in different eras. There might be a climax that takes place in the kitchen at Hampton Court Palace!

Nora’s story planning so far:

Nora’s decided she’s writing an action story with time and space travel. Her main character (as yet unnamed) is a space fanatic and is reading a book about the moon landing, but her book disappears. She discovered her book has been erased from existence and that Martians have gone back in time to prevent the moon landing from ever happening because humans are planning to travel to Mars and are getting too close to being successful.

Here’s her Foolscap so far:

External genre: Action

External value at stake: Life and Death

Internal genre: Disillusionment

Internal value at stake: TBD

Point of View: Third person limited (will stay in head of main character)

Objects of desire: Wants her book back; want life to be exciting; wants space travel to work

Controlling idea/theme: Humans mess stuff up (tentative)

Beginning hook:

Inciting Incident: Protagonist’s book on the moon landing disappears.

Complication: It’s been erased from existence because Martians have traveled back in time to erase the moon landing

Crisis: Prog must decide whether to help against Martians

Climax: TBD

Resolution: TBD

Things we mention (or forget to mention) that you should check out:

And, don’t forget, you can now, buy, read and enjoy my book: The Cat, the Cash, the Leap & the List. (And leave a review when you’re done, pretty please.)

Disclosure: By the way, all of these links are affiliate links, so if you buy something, you pay the same, but Nora gets a few pennies for her big 8th grade trip fund.

Season 7, Episode 2: Nora’s Foolscap – Part 1

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In this episode, Nora starts brainstorming some details to plan her story and confesses that wearing headbands makes her feel “elevated,” a feeling she shares with her protagonist.

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You can also listen using any number of podcast platforms and apps including Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Show Notes:

Season 7, Episode 2: Nora’s Foolscap

Nora’s story planning so far:

Nora’s decided she’s writing an action story with time and space travel. Her main character (as yet unnamed) is a space fanatic and is reading a book about the moon landing, but her book disappears. She discovered her book has been erased from existence and that Martians have gone back in time to prevent the moon landing from ever happening because humans are planning to travel to Mars and are getting too close to being successful.

Here’s her Foolscap so far:

External genre: Action

External value at stake: Life and Death

Internal genre: Disillusionment

Internal value at stake: TBD

Point of View: Third person limited (will stay in head of main character)

Objects of desire: Wants her book back; want life to be exciting; wants space travel to work

Controlling idea/theme: Humans mess stuff up (tentative)

Beginning hook:

Inciting Incident: Protagonist’s book on the moon landing disappears.

Complication: It’s been erased from existence because Martians have travelled back in time to erase the moon landing

Crisis: Prog must decide whether to help against Martians

Climax: TBD

Resolution: TBD

Things we mention (or forget to mention) that you should check out:

And, don’t forget, you can now, buy, read and enjoy my book: The Cat, the Cash, the Leap & the List. (And leave a review when you’re done, pretty please.)

Disclosure: By the way, all of these links are affiliate links, so if you buy something, you pay the same, but Nora gets a few pennies for her big 8th grade trip fund.