Join me for one or all of these fun events to celebrate the release of Pen & Quin: International Agents of Intrigue – The Mystery of the Painted Book.
The Mystery of the Painted Book Release Events!
Author: KS Mitchell
Kimberly (KS) Mitchell is an author of middle grade and young adult fiction. She loves journeys and bases her books off places she's been, or would like to go. Always up for an adventure, she now lives in Portugal and is working on her next book.
Book Cover Reveal Monday!
It’s Book Cover Reveal Monday! Check out this amazing cover for Pen & Quin: International Agents of Intrigue – The Mystery of the Painted Book.
I’m excited to show you the cover for the first book in my middle grade mystery series Pen & Quin: International Agents of Intrigue.
The Mystery of the Painted Book will be released April 30th by Vinspire Publishing. And here’s the amazing cover!
For more news on the book’s release, follow me on social media, subscribe to my author newsletter and check out Vinspire’s full line of books!
Mad About Madeleine Winners and Women’s History Month!
Congratulations to the winners of the A Wrinkle in Time Giveaway! Siobhan won a copy of A Wrinkle in Time with the movie tie-in cover and Christina L. won the movie giftcard! Thanks to everyone who entered. I do hope you’ll take the time to see the movie or read the book. Stay tuned as I hope to do more giveaways as my own books near publication!
This is Women’s History Month and to celebrate, I’ve been doing a little reading on some amazing women. I just finished Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. You might remember this from the movie that released in 2016. It’s an amazing read about the black, female “computers” that literally helped propel NASA into the space age. These women were on the edge of the space race while confronting gender and racial discrimination throughout their lives and careers.
I’m in the middle of Becoming Madeleine, the biography on Madeleine L’Engle written by granddaughters Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Lena Roy. I’m really enjoying the glimpse into Madeleine’s childhood and how her varied school experiences shaped her as a writer. I especially love the snippets of journal entries written by a young Madeleine that reveal how desperately she wanted to be a famous writer, while also wanting to fit in at school like any other awkward teenager.
I’m hoping to finish out the month with Gift from the Sea. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, a writer, aviator and the wife of Charles Lindbergh, wrote this little gem in 1955 but her words speak across the years to new generations of women on writing, love, marriage, children and anything in between.
What are you reading this month? How are you celebrating amazing women, both those from history and those around you every day?
Mad about Madeleine Month: A Wrinkle in Time Giveaway!
February is drawing to a close, and that means spring is almost here, but more importantly, so is the release of the new A Wrinkle in Time movie! The movie opens nation wide on March 9th, 2018!
Not excited yet? Check out the trailer and you will be!
Director Ava DuVernay’s portrayal of L’Engle’s classic story has many people, including me, pretty hyped up. The cast includes Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling and Chris Pine, plus Storm Reid as Meg Murry. The movie looks to be an amazing blend of L’Engle’s original story with the creativity and diversity of DuVernay’s long held vision to bring this movie to life.
To celebrate the movie’s release, I’m having a GIVEAWAY. Whoo-hoo. Enter to win one of two prizes. (Yes, two winners!)
Prize 1 – A Wrinkle in Time book – movie edition. The original book with the updated 2018 movie cover. You can read it before you see the movie, or see the movie and then enjoy the story. Either way, you’ll want to hang on to your copy!
Prize 2 – A $15 Fandango movie gift card you can use to purchase your ticket to see the movie! Plus, Fandango is running a sweet deal to nab a free Be A Warrior movie poster when you buy your ticket. So your entry could lead to two cool prizes!
*The Rules*
You must be a resident of the U.S. and 18 or older to enter. Winners will be chosen randomly at the end of the giveaway.
The Mad about Madeleine Wrinkle in Time Giveaway begins March 1, 2018 and ends March 8, 2018. Winners will be notified through information collected by Rafflecopter. I will also post the two winners on my blog on March 8th.
Good luck and please enter below! Thanks for celebrating Mad about Madeleine Month with me!
It’s Mad About Madeleine Month: Mad Space Facts & Giveaway 2!
Happy Mad about Madeleine Month! (And you thought I was going to say Happy Valentine’s Day. Well, that too!)
First off, thanks to all the entrants in the Becoming Madeleine book giveaway and congrats to Kelly W. on winning the book!
If you’re sad you didn’t win, I’ve got great news. Giveaway 2 in the Mad about Madeleine Month begins today. This week’s giveaway is on Instagram! Head on over and follow KSMitch17 to enter to win this week’s awesome prize?
What is it? Glad you asked. I really wish I could keep this prize to myself, but I’m going to give you a shot at winning!
Madeleine L’Engle was an avid fan of physics, stars and all things space related. It’s one of my favorite things about her books. She always took the opportunity to weave space and science into her work, and she didn’t see a divide between science and religion. Instead, she encouraged her readers to explore the deep connection between these two tough topics.
Today’s giveaway honors a love of space, both mine and Madeleine’s. Head over to Instagram to check it out and enter.
Read on for some fun facts on space! Did you know…?
- There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of Earth. Astounded? That’s more than a billion trillion stars.
- Most stars are between 1 billion and 10 billion years old.
- Astronomers believe there may be at least 1 planet orbiting every star. Take that number in.
- Scientists estimate that the number of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy (the Milky Way) is around 2 billion.
- It’s highly likely that we (well, or our descendants) will find life on other planets. Will that life be in a form we recognize and one that can communicate with us? That’s the great mystery!
Now go enter the giveaway and see you next week!
“They are very young. And on their earth, as they call it, they never communicate with other planets. They revolve about all alone in space.”
“Oh,” the thin beast said. “Aren’t they lonely?”
― Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
Giveaway Time: It’s Mad about Madeleine Month!
You GUYS! If you follow me at all, you know I’m a huge admirer of Madeleine L’Engle, both as an author and a person. She’s become a bit of a spiritual guide for me as I pursue my own writing journey. I count 30 books by her on my bookshelf. That’s not obsessive, right…?
I digress. Let’s get to the GIVEAWAYS! Yes, that’s plural. I’m doing a giveaway every week this month in celebration of my love for L’Engle’s writing.
Tomorrow, February 6th, Becoming Madeleine, drops. I’m really looking forward to this biography on Madeleine written by two of her granddaughters, Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Léna Roy. It’s written for a middle grade audience, so right up my alley as a writer of middle grade fiction, but I think it will be a great read for any age.
My copy will be arriving soon, but what about yours? Time for a giveaway! Enter below to win your own copy of Becoming Madeleine.
Tell me what your favorite Madeleine L’Engle book is and why!
The giveaway starts today and will end Sunday, February 11th.
And, stay tuned for more Madeleine themed giveaways this month. Follow me on social media to find out more next week!
Good luck!
**Please note: all entrants must live in the continental U.S. to receive a hard copy or be willing to accept an ebook (Kindle) edition in place of a hard copy if at an international address.**
Publishing News!
I’m excited to share that Vinspire Publishing has acquired my middle grade mystery series, Pen and Quin: International Agents of Intrigue.
12 year old twins, Penelope and Quin Grey Reyes are shipped off to Mexico to visit their grandparents for the summer. Pen decides to liven things up by advertising their services as international agents of intrigue. Soon they’re tracking down the Codex Cardona, a mysterious 400 year old Aztec book. When their grandfather is attacked, their search turns personal and Pen and Quin are vaulted into an international mystery.
I can’t wait for you to read the rest! Sign up for my newsletter for updates on the release date for Pen and Quin. Follow me on social media for information on my books, writing and life in general!
With books forthcoming from Vinspire Publishing and Glass House Press, 2018 will be an exciting year. Hope you’ll follow along and enjoy the stories!
Harvest Party Fun with Cobblestone Farm
***FTC Disclosure*** This is a sponsored post, which means I’ve received some compensation, but the views and opinions are my own. Please read on, because Cobblestone Farm is an amazing organization.
Nearly two years ago, my husband and I made one of those big, life changing decisions. We moved to a small 50 acre farm so he could pursue his dream of raising animals and healing and sustaining the land.
Although I grew up in Oklahoma and dreamed of having a horse, I wasn’t a farm girl in any other way. I grew up in the suburbs of Tulsa, played soccer through college and then pursued international travel before settling down to teach and write in Northwest Arkansas. Farming was outside my field of vision.
But that’s what spouses are for. They stretch you, challenge you, and you learn to take on their dreams as they take on yours.
So here we are on the farm. And in two years, I’ve learned A LOT about how most food is grown in the U.S. and how most of our meat is raised, and it’s been a shock to the system. I won’t write about it here, but suddenly, local farming and knowing your food sources became much more important to me.
That’s where this week and Cobblestone Farm comes in. Cobblestone is a local, non-profit farm committed to hunger relief. They donate over half of the produce they raise to local food banks, shelters and projects. How amazing is that?
In Northwest Arkansas alone, 130,000 people are “hunger challenged” every day. They go without meals because they don’t have the resources to secure them, and if they do, those meals are often nutritionally deficient. Food banks are amazing places, but they rely on foods with long shelf lives. Cobblestone brings fresh, locally grown food into the lives of the people who need it the most. That’s a project I can get behind.
You can, too? Great! Here’s more information and ways to help.
Cobblestone Harvest Party
THIS FRIDAY, September 15th, 2017, Cobblestone is holding its 4th annual harvest party. This is a food to table fundraiser that promises to be awesome. The party is being held at Morter Farm (8412 Morter Drive,Rogers, AR 72756) from 6 pm-11 pm. Enjoy cocktails and a great farm to table meal provided by chef Luke Wetzel of Oven and Tap. Good food, live music, open bar and country casual attire all promise a great evening of food and fun. Plus, I’ve always wanted to go to a farm to table dinner, haven’t you? So please, check out harvestpartynwa.org and put that in your plans for Friday night.
CSA Subscriptions – Cobblestone has Harvest Shares, community supported agriculture subscriptions that allow people to purchase their produce for an entire season. When you buy a harvest share, you’ll receive a box of fresh, in season produce, eggs and flowers each week from May through October. How fun to see what arrives in your box each week!
Volunteer or Donate – Cobblestone is a non-profit organization and accepts donations to help support its work in hunger relief throughout Northwest Arkansas. You can also volunteer at the farm! Take some time to dig in the dirt and give back to the community in a tangible way.
So join us this Friday night and meet some local farmers raising fresh, naturally grown food in Northwest Arkansas, and consider ways to support Cobblestone and other local food producers. Knowing where your food comes from and how it’s grown is rewarding and a more healthful approach to eating. You will love the difference!
Happy, healthy fall and see you at the harvest party!
Photos courtesy of Cobblestone Farm.
Summer Reading 2017!
Reading has always been one of the joys of summer. As a kid, I relished the long days of swimming and reading, two of my favorite things. My reading time is shorter these days as I chase around an increasingly mobile kiddo of my own, but I still make time to do some summer reading. Here’s what’s on my list for the rest of the summer.
I just finished Madeleine L’Engle’s first book in the Crosswicks Journal series, A Circle of Quiet. The four books in this series were written mostly from her journal entries she kept while living at her farmhouse in Connecticut and apartment in New York. They cover the time period in her life I now find myself in, raising young children, trying to write and publish, and running headlong into the challenges and joys of both. I’ll probably pick up the other three journals throughout the rest of 2017. L’Engle always inspires and comforts me at the same time.
Next up is the middle grade adventure The Mysterious Benedict Society. I’ve read fellow Arkansas author Trenton Lee Stewart’s series before, but this time I’ll do a close read to see how he’s brought his multiple characters to life. One of my current stories juggles multiple characters on a similar adventure. The best way to figure out how to write your story? Learn from those who have already done it.
Then it’s on to a few non-fiction books for a little inspiration. I received Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic for Christmas, along with Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. I’m hoping one will inspire me to write and the other to dream big. You decide which is which! I just ordered Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s (yes, that Lindbergh) 50th anniversary edition of Gift from the Sea on the recommendation from my cousin that every woman should read this book. I’m sure it won’t disappoint!
Finally, I hope to get to a few books that have been on my list for awhile. Ta-nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me as well as Kwame Alexander’s Newbery winner The Crossover (basketball playing twins, yes!) and the follow up, Booked (this one’s about soccer. Woot!) Hopefully I’ll close the summer with Sherman Alexie’s new memoir You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me.
I’ll be happy if I get halfway through this list and continue reading on it in the fall. What’s on your summer reading list?
5 Great Reasons to Attend the Arkansas SCBWI Conference this June
Although Arkansas is the proud host of quite a few writing conferences, the Society for Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) conference is the only major conference in the state focused specifically on writing for children. Here are my top 5 reasons for attending the conference!
Although Arkansas is the proud host of quite a few writing conferences, the Society for Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) conference is the only major conference in the state focused specifically on writing for children. Here are my top 5 reasons for attending the conference!
The conference will host two editors and one agent from New York publisher Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic and Waxman Leavell Literary Agency. This is an easy way to get your work in front of editors and agents. That’s a BIG deal, and it’s not easy to accomplish.
This is a great opportunity to meet other writers from around the state. Writing can be a hard, lonely business. Use this conference to connect with other children’s writers in Arkansas and stay in touch throughout the year.
The conference is being held in the Butler Center in downtown Little Rock right in the River Market District. Spend a weekend in the capital and enjoy what downtown Little Rock has to offer.
The Arkansas SCBWI conference is NOT intimidating. This isn’t your overcrowded, get lost in the shuffle kind of conference. We’re a small, friendly group of writers looking to support one another. You will have the chance to speak with other writers, and you’ll get to chat with the industry professionals speaking at the conference as well.
Other conferences can be so full of writers that it’s hard to meet anyone, let alone talk personally with the editors and agents. Not so at the Arkansas conference.
Become a better writer. In the end, that’s what we’re all looking for, and the conference sessions will help every writer get better at every aspect of writing, from working on that book to pursuing publication and everything in between.
The Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Arkansas will hold its annual conference June 16-17 in Little Rock. Find out more information at scbwi.org or on Facebook SCBWI Arkansas.
I’ll see you there!