Merry Christmas - The Christmas Star

THE CHRISTMAS STAR
          by Janet F. Smart          

The wise men from the east

All traveled from afar,

To find the little babe

Beneath the Christmas star.

I wish I were that star

That went before the kings,

The star of Bethlehem

Of which the angels sing.

I wish I were that star,

The star that showed the way,

And led the kings to find

Our Savior where he lay.

I wish I were that star,

That told of Jesus’ birth.

             The star of awe and hope              

That glowed above the earth!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

My First Book

You may be wondering why I don't post as much as I used to. The reason is that I do a lot of writing now and it keeps me busy. I post over on my writing blog more often than I do here. But, I'm still here, I haven't left. I'm just hiding behind my computer and big stacks of books!

You may know that I write a children's column in a regional magazine called, Two-Lane Livin'. I finally finished a project that I have been working on for a very long time. I compiled my articles into book form and had it published! Included with the articles are easy recipes, poems, crafts, activities and stories for kids. The book is approximately 150 pages long.

Fun Through the Seasons! Recipes, Crafts and Fun Facts for Kids . . . is hot off the presses!

 

My first shiny, honest to goodness book.

Here is the description of it on Amazon:

 In Fun Through the Seasons, Janet goes month by month through the seasons with informative articles for children to read and enjoy. The articles appeared in her column, Fun Facts for Kids, in Two-Lane Livin' Magazine. While reading this book, kids will learn all about snowflakes, Independence Day, genealogy, ants, the first Thanksgiving, collecting memories at Christmas, cookies - and much more! Sprinkled among the interesting articles are easy recipes, crafts, poems and challenges for kids in K through 5th grade. Parents will enjoy reading the stories to the younger ones and helping with the activities.

I have been working on putting together this book for a long time.  Each time another month came and went, I had another article to add. I also added a few more easy recipes, stories and poems. The pictures and clip art are grayscale, but perfect for your child to add their own touch to the book by coloring in with colored pencils.

I did it all myself (with help from my son with the cover), learning along the way.  It was a lot of work, but I loved every minute of it and I hope the children who own a copy of it will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I love writing for kids!

You can get a copy at Amazon or Barnes and Noble or from me (wvsmarties@yahoo.com.) The ones I send out will be autographed and have a handmade bookmark with them. My price is $10 + $2.50 for postage and handling (continental US only).

Happy summer everyone! It has been a long and hard winter that didn't want to let go. But, I think warm weather is finally here to stay and I welcome it.

What is January - and a Giveaway!

My Fun Facts for Kids

column for January

What is January?

    

      Knock knock. Who’s there?

     Wilma. Wilma who?

     Wilma hot cocoa be ready soon?

     January is a month named after the ancient god named Janus, which is the Latin word for door. He had two faces which allowed him to look both backward into the old year and forward into the New Year at the same time. He was associated with doorways, beginnings, and endings.       

     January is the month leading into the future of the New Year. It is special because it is the beginning of a long march of months that create an entire year for us to work, play, celebrate and journey through. It is the second month of winter and her cold days beckon us outside to play with Jack Frost and build snow forts and igloos.  Our house also beckons us to stay inside where it is warm.

     January is National Hobby Month. If you decide to stay inside and wait for warmer days, why not try out a new hobby each week. That way you can find out what you really like to do best.  Do you need some unique ideas? How about acting, board games, cloud watching, snowflake drawing, collecting, juggling, magic, storytelling, painting or writing. Once you find out what hobby you want to try, stick to it. Invite your friends over and share your hobby with them.  You and your friends can start a club and meet each month.  Check out books from the library and find out all about your hobby. Become an expert at what you love to do. Start out the New Year with a new hobby and step into a world of fun.

     I like to write. It is one of my hobbies. I write about kids, about my family and about fictional characters that do things and go places that I can only dream of doing. Writing takes me into a world of make believe.

     Your hobbies can take you into worlds of adventure, too. When your homework is caught up and your room is cleaned and you are free to do what you want, get out your hobby and create some fun and excitement.

     JANUARY IS. . . . 

     January is when snow falls like fluffy marshmallows from the sky and you build snowmen so fast you can create a village of frosty white figures before the sun sets.

     January is when the icy winds howl like wild wolves and your mom’s hot cocoa slides down your throat and turns your shivering body warm like a statue basking in the sun.

*********************************************************************************

 Two-Lane Livin' is a regional magazine printed and distributed in West Virginia. 

So not all of my blogging friends have a chance to pick up a copy.

Would you like to get a free digital subscription to Two-Lane Livin' magazine?

Now is your chance.

Each month the winners will be able to read every column, see every picture and enjoy every page.

 

Just comment on this post and get the chance to win one. There will be two winners.

The winners just have to supply me with an email address and they can fly away with the prize!

I will draw the names of the winners next week.

WINNERS HAVE BEEN PICKED
Congratulations - Linda and Lil Red Hen

Posted by Janet Smart on Writing in the Blackberry Patch.

A Little Writing and a Lot of Fiesta

I usually have a writing post on Wednesdays, but I don't have much to say about writing today.

I received a rejection email from the agent I queried for my MG book.

Our writing group has not been meeting lately and I do miss the meetings. I am thinking of trying to find some online writers to share manuscripts with to edit and critique. I need someone else to read my stories. Other eyes see things our own eyes do not.

I am still working on putting together my family history book. I am anxious to get it finished and printed. But, really it will never be finished, because it is still being written....because life goes on and on. I had spoken to one of my cousins before about his remembrances and he had told me he used to go hunting with my Grandpa. This was a long time ago, because my grandpa died before I was born. I saw my cousin over the weekend and asked him about it again. I am glad I did. Seems the hunting he spoke about was not for squirrels, deer or bear. . . but ginseng!

My mind lately has been on colors! The colors of Fiestaware! We are traveling to Newell, WV very early tomorrow morning to attend Homer Laughlin's semi-annual Fiestaware tent sale. I have never been to their tent sale before and I am so looking forward to it. Newell is in the tip top section of our state. If we are lucky and do not get lost along the way, it will take 3 1/2 hours to get there. But, it will  be worth it. The prices are incredible!

What color do you like best?

If you are familiar with Fiestaware, what is your favorite piece? 

I am making a list and checking it twice. Wish you could come along, I might need someone to slap my hand and keep me from buying too much.

Our state is a beautiful and wonderful section of America. Two of West Virginia's best ambassadors are Homer Laughlin and Fenton. Their products add beauty to our world.  If you are not familiar with their products, go check out their sites.

Writing Wednesday - Inserting Fact into Your Fiction

I lead a pretty boring life, which is not good if you are a writer.
Interesting, crazy and funny lives can lead to some pretty interesting stories.

But all is not lost. Fortunately, you can take simple happenings, memories and family member quirks and add them to your manuscript. You can add these small tidbits to your storyline or characters and make for some interesting reading.

I've had this picture frame for years. I picked it up at either a yard sale or thrift store. Many times I have thought of getting rid of it, but I loved it too much. I finally searched for some family pictures to stick in the windows. I put the baby pictures of my three boys in the tiny round windows. My oldest is looking out from the attic. The  middle picture is my mom holding my youngest in a rocking chair. Those are my favorites of the entire frame. My grandparents greet you at the front door and my gr grandparents are on both sides of them. I just love this little 'family tree' frame.

I have taken little quirks, physical traits and unusual mannerisms from my family and added them to my stories.

For instance, how else would I come up with a name such as Ollie Belle for my main character in a chapter book I have written. My mother in law once told me if I ever had a girl, I could name the baby after her and my mother and call her Ollie Belle. It is a cute name, but I'm kind of glad I didn't have a girl.

My father was in the army during WWII and served in Japan for a year after the bombs were dropped. We have listened to his war stories for years. I used them as a basis for a short story titled The War is Finally Over.

Lucy of Tupper's Holler is very loosely based on my grandparents and gr parents life in the early 20th century. There are many things in the manuscript that I would never thought to put in a story had it not been true facts about them. For instance, my grandmother was a very superstitious person and my grandfather was what I would call a healer. He stopped blood and blew the fire out of burns. And, my gr grandmother was rumored to be a  witch. I would never think to put these kind of things in a story if they weren't a part of my ancestor's lives.

I wrote a short story about mine and Charley's courtship and marriage. It is titled, Always There to Hold my Hand.  

Simple things such as the memory of the smell of honeysuckle at your grandparent's house, picking berries, winning ribbons at a county fair for canned goods, working in an enamelware factory during the 1940s, unusual family names, how a cousin or aunt hated sleeping on straw tic beds, your grandmother making quilts and selling them for $2 and the refreshing taste of cool well water in the bucket by the kitchen door can work their way into your stories and poems.

Sit down and look at your family's pictures and make a list of interesting happenings, physical features, mannerisms and quirks. You might find great material  to add to your next story or poem.

Happy Writing.

Writing Wednesday - Dry Holes and Gushers!

Welcome to Writing Wednesday!

First off, a thank you to Carole Anne Carr over at The Adventures of a Children's Author for passing on to me the You are an...Inspiration Award. As most of you know, I don't really go by the rules of awards and such. But I usually mention them when someone is nice enough to give me one.

Now on to my other topic for the day.

Dry holes and gushers!
What do they have to do with writing, you ask?
Everything!

I am going through a gusher period at the moment.
I have all these ideas and stories in my head and they are all gushing forth trying to splash out onto paper (or maybe I should say computer screen).

I am currently working on what I think is a YA (young adult) manuscript. Notice I said I think it is a YA manuscript. I've never written a YA before, so wish me luck. If you notice my little WIP gadget at the top of my page, you will see that the computer is currently sticking it's tongue out at me.

But, I also have two PBs (picture books) I am working on. I had written one of these a few months ago and I have now brought it down from the attic of my mind and started dusting it off. I just finished the other PB and it is very short and sweet. In fact, I'm thinking it could be published as a board book.

I also have a manuscript I am working on that is not a fictional story, but a collection of articles, poems, recipes, crafts and such that I would really like to get some feed back on as to how to put it all together so a publisher might consider it.

I sometimes feel like a juggler . . .

and wish there were more hours in the day.


So, how about you? Are you experiencing a dry well or having a gusher?
It doesn't have to pertain to writing, we can be overwhelmed with garden work, housework, crafting ideas or DIY projects around the house.

Dry wells and gushers can both be very frustrating.

Happy Writing!

Food, Finds and New Story

Hey everybody, I'm posting about a simple taco dish, yard sale finds and a new story I'm writing.

I made this taco dish a few days ago. It is very good.

INGREDIENTS:
2 tubes Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
16oz sour cream
8oz softened cream cheese
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
1 pint pizza sauce
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
chopped lettuce, chopped tomatoes
2 cups crushed Doritos
1 - 8oz jar medium taco sauce

DIRECTIONS:
Brown ground beef in skillet and drain. (I use the real lean ground beef and I usually don't have any fat to drain) Add taco seasoning and pizza sauce. Simmer until well combined. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Roll  out crescent rolls on 1/2 sheet baking pan to make a single layer crust. Bake 10 minutes or until golden. Apparently my baking pan wasn't large enough, there was only enough room for 1 1/2 pkg of the crescent rolls.

Combine sour cream and cream cheese and beat until well blended and creamy. Spread the mixture all over the cooled crust.

Gently spoon ground beef mixture over the top of sour cream mixture. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the beef mixture. Layer with lettuce and tomatoes. (I didn't have tomatoes, so none were added) I refuse to buy tomatoes from the store off season. They are too expensive and taste awful!

Crush Doritos and sprinkle over top of vegetables. (I only used 1 1/2 cups of crushed Doritos).I put my Doritos in a small Ziploc bag and crushed with my hands.  Lastly, pour taco sauce over the entire dish.

Yummy!

This is very good. I have a few suggestions, though. It makes a lot! Unless you have a large family or you are taking it to a pot luck dinner, HALF the recipe and it will make plenty.

Also, my son said he would rather I left the taco sauce off and let people add it on their serving in their plate. He is not that crazy about the taco sauce. This would be very easy to do.

I went to a couple of inside yard sales today. I picked up a few things, among them. . .

candles, Little Golden Books and 2 very nice 5 x 7 frames. 

I love the frames, they are vintage looking and made of metal and would look great with pictures of my ancestors in them. I also collect Little Golden Books, I hope I don't already have these, I'll have to check.

NEW STORY! I haven't been posting as much as usual lately, because I came up with an idea for a new story. I have been writing! When I am on a roll, I hate to stop. This story takes place in the mid 1940s. I was calling it, Ruby Mae, but I am now thinking about calling it Ruby Mae and Nellie. Ruby Mae is (at the moment) 19 yrs old and Nellie is her young 6 year old niece. Spunky Nellie wants to share the spot light with Ruby Mae, so I decided I should include her in the title, too. I've a long ways to go, I am only on Chapter Three, but hopefully I will keep plugging along until I am finished. I think it will be geared for Upper Grades.


Happy Weekend, everyone!


posted by Janet Smart at http://janetsmart.blogspot.com

Writing Wednesday

I think I am going to start a Writing Wednesday.
I will  blog about writing on Wednesdays, and who knows, maybe on other days as well.
If you like to write, join me on Wednesdays and put up your own blog post about writing, too.

As many of you know, I like to write.
My grammar is not perfect. . .
my rhyme is sometimes off. . .
but as one of my favorite quotes proclaims "A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit."


I have been dabbling with poetry this morning. I have many poems on my hard drive. These are poems that I thought were good, but when I bring them up on the screen, after they have been out of sight and out of mind for many months, I see lots of room for improvement. That is one thing about writing, if you continue to write, you will improve. Practice makes perfect.  I will never be perfect. . .  but I don't want to be. Perfection takes out the challenge and fun out of writing and improving your craft.

My family sometimes wonder why I continue to change and edit my stories. They think the first draft is the way it should be. They think if you have to keep changing  it, that you must not be a good writer. How wrong that is. In my opinion, a good writer is one who knows how to edit and how to get it right. The first draft is sometimes just getting your idea down on paper, kind of like the appetizer for a meal. Then you go back and add the meat and potatoes and maybe discard the scraps that are not needed. That may sound like a funny way to put it, but I think it kind of tells how it is.

I have been editing my middle grade story this past week. AGAIN. I now have it ready to send out to publishers. AGAIN.

Writing and getting published is a slow process. It is very hard for people to comprehend that from start to finish it can be years before your story is seen by the eyes of the reading public. I am an impatient person and the waiting is the hardest part for me.

AN EMPTY BARN

by Janet F. Smart

An empty barn,  an opened door

Snowflakes scattered upon the floor.

An empty barn from times gone by

Sitting beneath the snowy sky.

If walls could talk, what would they say

Of those who toiled here yesterday,

and tarried in its loft at night,

Lit only by dim lantern light?

I leave you with a writing prompt. Find a favorite picture you have taken and write a short poem about it.

Giveaway on my Other Blog

Just thought I'd let my readers know that I have a giveaway on my writer's blog.
A lot of you probably don't know that I'm a "wanna a be" writer. I mainly write stories for children, but I also write short stories.

I just received my contributor's copy of this book in the mail. Needless to say, I'm very excited.


My name is in print. . . finally! I wrote my short story, which is on page 36, about two years ago and it has taken this long for it to be published. You have to have patience to make it as a writer.
Patience and persistence. An amateur can't quit or they will never become a professional.



I put the announcement on my side bar, but I don't think anyone noticed it.

Go to my writing site and comment on my giveaway post to be in the drawing for a copy of this book. I've read a lot of the stories in the book and they are very good. They will give you ideas of Christmas traditions your family might want to start.

You have to comment on my writing site to be in the running, though.

So, if you want a chance to win, get on over to my writing site!

Grandma and Writing

This is the beginning of my fictional middle grade book I am currently writing. It starts with Lucy's marriage and ends with the birth of her first son.

Lucy

Only my parents saw me get married that Saturday afternoon in 1908. It was a cool crisp autumn day and the leaves were a golden yellow and russet brown. They blew in the wind and rustled beneath my feet as I carried a bucket of cool well water into the kitchen. I laid the bucket down, placed the long handled dipper in it and smoothed my hair back in place with my hands. Usually I wore my hair flowing down with the front tresses tied back from my face with a white ribbon. But this morning I piled up my light brown hair hoping this grown up style would make me appear older than my 17 years. I tucked my crisp white blouse into my long gathered skirt. The freshly ironed ruffle hung down and covered the buttons of my blouse. They rolled smoothly up and down like the brightly colored hills surrounding our house.

Below is a picture of Grandma Lucy and Grandpa James. It was taken very early in their marriage by a traveling photographer. They married in October of 1908 and had 10 children together. Grandpa was born March 18, 1887 and died Dec 10, 1953. Grandma was born June 7, 1891 and died Jan 1 1984.


She's the one I went berry picking with in my childhood days. She left me with many memories. Memories of her delicious applesauce stack cake, memories of sitting in the yard with her and picking four leaf clovers, memories of sitting on her front porch waiting on the mailman, and memories of playing under the large weeping willow tree in her front yard.

Many memories from many years ago.