Tag Archives: middle grade fantasy

Creativity is its Own Reward!  Guest post for Linda’s Book Bag

lindas-book-bag-icon         Diane Solomon’s guest post for Linda’s Book Bag

 

Here’s an excerpt:

Being creative is often a calling. Are you compelled to create, be it art, music, poetry, fiction? Then you must do it. You must do it to fulfill your passion in life.  Without it you may feel dead, unfulfilled, trudging through the three-foot mudslog of life, day by day, without experiencing the joy of your own heart.

But, I hear you ask:“Will someone else like my artistic endeavor?” My answer: Who cares? Seriously. WHO CARES?

A few tips for artists and writers everywhere:

1) Dare to Suck (or Dare to Fail, for those of you appalled by the vulgarity.) As a singer/songwriter, I learned early (after an ego struggle) to trust the creative process and dive deeply into it. You have to dare to be criticized, dare to be silly, dare to be crazy, to be wild. You have to Dare to Suck.

READ The entire guest blog at Linda’s Book Bag

 

Check out our middle-grade fantasy/mystery entitled, The Ravenstone: The Secret of Ninham Mountain.
   Raventsone Homeschooling Book Cover

About Diane Solomon
EloquentRascals.com 

 

Book Links for The Ravenstone

AMAZON:  Kindle or paperback
SMASHWORDS eBook
GOODREADS
TWITTER
NETGALLEY

BARNES AND NOBLE Nook & Paperback

About the book: Imagine a raven appearing out of thin air and guiding you to an exquisitely carved icon that glows with ancient light and pulses with shamanic power.  This is how the adventure begins for Nadia and Aidan Shaw, 13-year-old twins, who live in idyllic Cold Spring, New York. Armed with the power of the Ravenstone and their own special gifts, they embark on a harrowing quest across centuries, at the bidding of a mysterious old shaman. They must depend on their courage, their faith in their friends, and luck… or is it destiny?

If they succeed, what they bring back could change the course of human existence.


REVIEW:

Many thanks to Dii Bylo, a Top 1% Goodreads Reviewer for her 5-Star review

diannes-review-nov-4

NETGALLEY REVIEW INVITE

The Ravenstone

 

Author Interview on Chat About Books!

Chat About Books:
Author Interview with Diane Solomon and Mark Carey
Diane Solomon Chat About Books interview

 

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

Diane & Mark: For the pure logistics, we are outliners. We use a large board, into which we stick pushpins to hold up postcard-sized cards with scenes, sections, or individual pieces of the story (or sections if non-fiction). Then we can physically see the jigsaw puzzle and move things around until they feel right.

Character is vital: We spend a long time on character development, and each day before either of us writes, at least at the beginning, we tend to read through all the notes and reacquaint ourselves with the character.

Diane: Yes, if I am beginning to live and breathe the character – if I am in the protagonist’s head, and she is in mine – she will write her own actions and words.

But, I want to bring up something else, something required for the writing process for me. It’s hard to define, but essential. My writing seems to stem from what my husband calls my “extreme heart.” My writing process only works well if heart is involved….

Continue : READ MORE ON CHAT ABOUT BOOKS

Raventsone Homeschooling Book Cover

Check out Diane and Mark’s new middle grade novel  

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Are you a homeschooler looking for quality middle-grade books?

cover-front-kindle-aug-9-larger-textThe Ravenstone:
The Secret of Ninham Mountain

Buy The Ravenstone The Secret of Ninham Mountain at Amazon
Only $2.99 Also in paperback 

Many of the books, written for kids, feature main characters whose behavior is… well, appalling.  Diane and I set out to create characters with heart and honor.  We put the twins, Nadia and Aidan, in situations where they have to decide for themselves to do the right thing. They take risks for their family and they succeed in spite of their fears and flaws.  Our kids don’t have to be snarky to be cool.  As your kids read they accompany Aidan and Nadia on their adventure and are intrigued by the mystery they try to unravel. Plus, they learn, along with the twins, about; history, Native Americans, Celts, folk-lore, extinct plants and other environmental science, and more than just a little about morality. 

The action is fast-paced. Our younger beta readers couldn’t put the book down. One Skyped us from Oregon to tell us how much he loved it. He even honored us with the comment, “This book is better than Harry Potter!”  

We understand why you, as a parent, choose to teach your children at home. You may feel a level of concern about the academic quality of local public schools, quite justifiably! And you may feel that teaching them at home provide a higher level of moral instruction. Teaching them academic facts alone does not make them good people and we all want our kids to grow into people we can be proud of.  Those kinds of lessons are difficult to get across to kids without seeming preachy. Here is where a book like The Ravenstone can entertain and teach at the same time.

A fun, suspenseful, entertaining book helps to teach those lessons! And a classic quality book becomes part of your child’s heart and mind, something she will remember her entire life.

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The Ravenstone: The Secret of Ninham Mountain

REVIEW: 5.0 out of 5 stars

EXCERPT: “It’s a magical, hopeful story full of loyalty, courage and heart.” “I appreciate this honor, this depth of character, in an age where so much of our media, books, TV, and movies are full of violence, darkness and a kind of “attitude” or “snarkiness.” I am tired of that! This is a family-oriented book, wholesome even, and very heartwarming.”

FULL REVIEW:
By Dr. David Baltimore on October 5, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition

What a fun, suspenseful adventure! I got it for my niece, but read it myself first. I got hooked in and couldn’t put it down… It’s a magical, hopeful story full of loyalty, courage and heart.

The characters are well-drawn; the protagonists, Aidan and Nadia, are 13-year-old twins who are sent on a mission to help save their dad’s life work. But, they are also driven by the desire to achieve something great for mankind. They must take great risk, overcome fear, and survive great danger from a magic stronger than theirs.

I appreciate this honor, this depth of character, in an age where so much of our media, books, TV, and movies are full of violence, darkness and a kind of “attitude” or “snarkiness.” I am tired of that! This is a family-oriented book, wholesome even, and very heartwarming.

 
 
AMAZON:  Kindle or paperback
SMASHWORDS eBook
GOODREADS
TWITTER
NETGALLEY

Diane Solomon’s Author interview on BookGoodies

bookgoodies Diane Solomon interview

EXCERPT:

What inspires you to write?
The joy of creativity, of being creative, drives me. It always has! As a singer/songwriter, I learned to trust the creative process and dive deeply into it. You have to dare to be criticized, dare to be silly, to be crazy, to be wild. There are moments during writing where you forget yourself entirely. You lose track of time. The writing seems to have taken over. Sometimes you look down and are surprised by what you read, as if you didn’t, in fact, write it! I can only describe this experience as somehow verging on transcendent, in that it feels beyond the limits of experience, or independent of this world. It is exciting, inspiring, and rewarding.

As for ideas for books, they stem from my life (and I have had a very strange but interesting life), and from my imagination. And from the “What if?” game!

READ MORE ON BOOKGOODIES

Book Review: “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah

The NightingaleThe Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Having read quite a few of Kristin Hannah’s books, I looked forward to “The Nightingale.” Although it held my attention, throughout the book I could not quite put my finger on why I wasn’t moved by the distressful events of this World War Two story.

Two sisters struggle to survive in Nazi-occupied France; one maintains her home and resists any idea of resistance. The other sister, impulsive and passionate, launches herself into the resistance movement, and becomes The Nightingale, leading British and American pilots through the mountains to Spain, to return them to their countries to fight another day.

The book delivers a potentially powerful story of suspense, courage, honor, love, and loyalty. My reservations are with regard to the level of exaggeration I felt was in play. And the tendency to cliche. Granted, these devastating events occurred, I just don’t believe they all happened to so few people. It is as if all the horror stories of the war were funneled into this one book, and it seemed a wee bit unrealistic and unbelievable to me.

As bizarre as this sounds, I became somewhat desensitized to the travesties. I am a sentimental, soft soul, and fully expected to be brought to tears by this tale. Especially having loved other books of Kristin Hannah’s. But I have come to the conclusion that this book, in its leaning toward melodrama, turned me off at some level, and I was left with a feeling of disappointment that truly surprised me.

So 3 stars for “The Nightingale,” which I hate to say is not one of Hannah’s best. I feel almost guilty saying this as I love so much of Hannah’s work.

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View all my reviews

 

The Ravenstone middle grade book coverCheck out Diane’s new middle-grade fantasy novel, written with her husband Mark Carey: 
The Ravenstone: The Secret of Ninham Mountain