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Showing posts with the label Inspiration

Turning my Blog into a Book

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  Turning my Blog into a Book   As many of you know, I am just a normal everyday American Girl. Well, for five years, this American Girl left her homeland and moved to Europe. This would not only turn out to be such a life altering event in my life but in the lives of my whole family. It also would become the time in my life when I started writing. As a teacher and mom, I had always been a lover of children’s books and enjoyed reading to little ones. This time in my life would introduce a love for writing and this eventually led to writing children’s books.   I began my journey in the Netherlands by sharing with family and friends on Facebook my daily adventures. In the beginning I would share funny posts about me learning how to drive a stick better. I had driven a stick in high school a few times. But nothing could prepare me for having my first rental car there being a stick and being forced to have to drive that way all the time. We had ordered me a standard d...

Love and Happiness~ A Blast from the Past

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 Love and Happiness~ A Blast from the Past I was reading through some of my older blog posts today and found one that I had not shared but felt strongly that I need to share. This post really says a lot about my self as an author and writer. This was written before my book Excuse Me Sir, Do you Bark English? was written. I hope you enjoy. February 26, 2019 As I sit here on my back patio going back and forth between writing and gardening, I was trying to figure out a name for this article. That’s when Al Green came on singing this song, Love and Happiness. And truly this title sums up what I was wanting to communicate with my readers about my passion for my Blueberry Pancake Publishing. We all love the progress of the world and technology that helps us to do things faster or easier. Do you remember having party lines on your phone, or using a rotary phone or even your first cell phone? Do you remember when you wanted to play with a friend, you had to go out the door and walk to th...

Inspiration

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  Inspiration~ Annie Laurie Inspiration is defined as “The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. “ I thought I’d share with you the inspiration behind one of the main characters in my 2nd book. There are really 4 main characters... my grandma, her best friend, 6 children and a little cottage in the northern pine woods in Michigan. Each is unique. I was trying to think of what to blog about today and I realized that I have a lot of new friends. I am lucky enough to be very good friends with the children that grew up with me. I am still friends with kids that I went to kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school. I’m still in touch with my best friend from college. Thankfully, I am still friends with my teacher friends from when I taught school. My favorites are the children who have found me on Facebook. I have one that said she became a teacher because of me. What better compliment could a person ever receive? I am...

What's in a Name?

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  What's in a Name? People always ask me, “How did you come up with the idea for your story?”. All my family and friends who follow me personally on Facebook know of my love for dogs. I’ve shared before on other platforms about how Excuse Me Sir, Do You Bark English? came to be my first story. Our precious Little Bear was an escape artist. If the gate was left ajar, he would dart through and have a good romp around the neighborhood or even the forest that was close by. It was actually quite scary to have him missing. Luckily the Dutch are wonderful dog lovers and would all join in to find our precious boy. Now enter Blueberry Pancake Publishing’s second book. This book has been written for a few years, but I like to give each book its own time of glory. I’ve also learned that self-publishing a book takes a lot of work. I will be revealing small tidbits about the book along the way until it's time to launch. Today I would like to tell you how I came up with the idea for book #2...
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 Stirring and Mixing to get the Stories Just Right These shown above are little poffertjes from  my kitchen in the Netherlands.  Writing a story for little ones is kind of like making blueberry pancakes. If you take a pinch of this and a dash of that and stir it all together. Gently fold in love and a hug.... Perfection. As pure and simple as a child opening a book. Blueberry Pancake Publishing... Creating Rocking Chair Moments. Blueberry Pancake Publishing Pancake Recipe Shhhhh secret recipe (ok, not so secret) Ingredients: 1 cup milk 1 cup self rising flour 1 egg Fresh blueberries Mix together first three ingredients. Gently fold in blueberries. Spoon out desired amount into frying pan. When batter stops popping bubbles, flip and cook other side of pancake. Remove when lightly browned on both sides. Serve with pat of butter and fresh maple syrup. My favorite comes from a little farm in Michigan called Currey Farms.

Blueberry Pancake Publishing~ The Story Behind the Name

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Blueberry Pancake Publishing ~ The Story Behind the Name What I’m learning as I meander my way through the Indy publishing world is patience. People have begun to ask me when will the first book be ready to purchase. I tell them with a smile… as soon as it’s finished. I don’t want to rush through the process because I want to make sure it’s perfect. But as we wait, I’ll tell you another question people have been asking me and that is…. How did you come up with Blueberry Pancake Publishing? Well, as different names were being tossed around in my head I kept coming back to Blueberry Pancake Publishing. But it was kind of a mouthful and didn’t roll right off my tongue. It wasn’t like any other publishing company that I’d ever heard of and I decided that was a good thing. People might remember the name and might want to read more. The name… Blueberry Pancake Publishing came into my mind as I thought of things I love. Yes, I love blueberry pancakes but what I love is my memory ...