Category Archives: Kidlit

Sep12

TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #5

Posted on by
TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #5

THE FIRST OVER-NIGHTER at ANCHOR

                   … How did he get Prairie Girl back onboard again?

Well, let’s just say, husband didn’t get Prairie Girl back onboard for that entire fall and winter- and not just because she was still traumatized from moving marinas! No it was too late in the season and husband had a TO DO LIST 3 pages long to deal with before setting sail. He was anxious to have the boat updates done before next summer when they’d be ready to go cruising – of course they would be!

yknewbottompaint

So the kinds of projects that husband took on brought the reality of boat ownership home quickly to Prairie Girl. Mooring fees were one thing, but … Read the rest

Sep11

FUN HAPPENS! CHANGES URL

Posted on by
FUN HAPPENS! CHANGES URL

ATTENTION ALL FUN HAPPENS! FOLLOWERS 

I am in process of moving my blog to a new site: https://www.marylaudien.com

I value your visits to my  WordPress Blog and the comments you leave.  I am hopeful that you will subscribe to my new site of

FUN HAPPENS!:

HUMOROUS KIDLIT & TENDER, SASSY POSTS

You can expect to find two types of posts:

  • TENDER TUESDAYS 

  • FUN KIDLIT FRIDAYS

I’m looking forward to meeting up with you on my new site.  Please copy the URL now, so that we can continue to share fun stories with one another. (https://www.marylaudien.com)- easy to remember if you know my name…

mary_helming

 

… Read the rest
Aug23

TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #4

Posted on by
TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #4

YOU MEAN WE HAVE TO TAKE IT OUT ON THE WATER!

Sailboat ownership was new territory for Prairie Girl. She was so busy getting the new school year launched, that she barely had time to perseverate on the fact that they now owned their very own Catalina. Warm, fuzzy feelings descended upon her whenever she’d mention to her colleagues and parents at her school that they were now proud sailboat owners! (Oh yeah, she was still locked into her rosy vision of the beautiful people sailing in white, flowing nautical clothing, sipping champagne in the evening under the stars.) Obviously not grounded in reality! DUH! Instead of seeing a Catalina 27 that had had better days, she was transporting herself … Read the rest

Aug10

TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES # 2

Posted on by
TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES # 2

I know, I know… it’s back to Wacky Wednesdays.  So hard to keep on a schedule while traveling and working on one’s book!

YOU WANT PRAIRIE GIRL TO DO WHAT?

-A SAILING GET-AWAY? ARE YOU CRAZY?

My boyfriend (now husband) had enthusiastically sailed in his earlier years, and when he suggested that we should charter a boat for a weekend and give it a try, I somewhat reluctantly agreed. After all, I was PRAIRIE GIRL, what did I know about sailing the Pacific Northwest? Absolutely nothing! He, on the other hand, had apparently moved to Vancouver Island for a stint in his early 30’s and immediately notified the Royal Victoria Yacht Club that he was … Read the rest

Jun28

TENDER TUESDAYS

Posted on by
TENDER TUESDAYS

MEET INSPIRATION #2

I’m finally getting back on track after a chilly Spring Cruise with SCYC (our yacht club), an overhaul landscaping job of our front yard, a trip to Portland, setting up publishing files for my picture book, WHO’S the CAPTAIN? … just to name a few distractions from TENDER TUESDAYS!

On FREAKY FRIDAY, I explained how meeting Dave Alavoine (the cartoonist for COCKPIT CONFESSIONS in PACIFIC YACHTING MAGAZINE) and starting our collaborative process together was inspired. I had already written this repetitive language picture book with a sassy nautical glossary, and had prepared notes for what the action in the cartoons would look like and the dialogue that the sailing family on vacation would be … Read the rest

Jun23

TENDER TUESDAYS

Posted on by
TENDER TUESDAYS

MEET INSPIRATION

AN APOLOGY TO MY FOLLOWERS: I know this isn’t Tender Tuesday or Wacky Wednesday, and not even Theatrical Thursday… Please accept my apology for publishing this on Freaky Friday! (I’ve been a little busy….)

Many of you may not be aware that I’m in process of publishing my first Picture Book! I waited for months to have the carefully chosen publishers respond to my query and tell me how anxious they were to get the project to print. I dreamt of bidding wars over my manuscripts- seriously! You’re shaking your head right now, thinking another disillusioned novice gets a dose of reality. Not exactly! I have had some experience with publishing in a former … Read the rest

Apr13

AUTHOR VOICE

Posted on by
AUTHOR VOICE

(Catalogue Article Submission to Red Tuque Books)

 WRITING with VOICE

by Mary Laudien

During my career as an educator/principal, I was innovative in structuring and implementing Writers’ Workshop in West Vancouver schools. The success that the students experienced by taking risks and realizing their potential as writers was brought home years later, when one of my earlier Grade One classes held a Grade 12 graduation party with their parents, and invited my former teaching partner and I to attend. The families wanted to acknowledge that they recognized how their confident children/learners had been so successfully launched in their school careers and were all anticipating exciting post secondary plans for their future. Writers’ Workshop was a powerful tool to bring … Read the rest

Mar4

WORLD BOOK DAY

Posted on by
WORLD BOOK DAY

World Book DayCelebrations for WORLD BOOK DAY are happening today in schools everywhere.  Students arrived in class dressed up as their favorite character and enjoying author visits, as well as sharing their own books published through Writers’ Workshop.  It’s an opportunity to inspire enthusiasm for one’s favorite titles and create awareness of the diverse and worthwhile reads out there.

No longer an educator participating in these school celebrations, I chose to share a book review of an eBook that was recently written by a woman while undergoing breast cancer and extended preventative surgery.  Tanyia Pelham was motivated to  write, HEARTS of the PRAIRIE PAST, as she convalesced and reminisced about her youth in the 70’s,  living on a ranch situated near … Read the rest

Jan6

UMBRELLA RESOLUTION

Posted on by
UMBRELLA RESOLUTION

I’m not sure about you, but I’m not always ready by New Year’s Eve, to articulate my resolutions for the upcoming year ahead. I’m learning, as I move forward through the years (such a poetic way of saying aging), that everything in life comes down to RELATIONSHIPS. I used to get annoyed in my profession when the buzzword relationship-building became over-worked. I wanted to shout out at times that if everyone just did their job to the best of their ability in a principled way, relationships would never be an issue.

Now that I’m retired and have had the luxury of time to contemplate and appreciate the wisdom of valuing, maintaining, and further developing deeper relationships with others; I … Read the rest

Aug26

OKANAGAN TWEENS READ

Posted on by
OKANAGAN TWEENS READ

PeachfestKiddieParade

Okanagan TWEENS are readers. The  THE CHILDREN’S PARADE at PEACH FEST  this summer highlighted the array of wonderful, rich stories and novels that Canadian authors have currently published. This picture of TWEENS sharing my 3 Frenchie novels in the KIDS PARADE, made me realize that there are so many Middle Grade readers (ages 9-13) who don’t even know that these titles are available in paperback or ebook format. Red Tuque Books distribute the paperbacks of the three novels in the series in Canada. Just click on: http://www.redtuquebooks.ca

Amazon Stores/Book Links

You only have to click on the country you live and you will have access to Kindle formats or paperback of Frenchie Diva (Book #3) If you want Book #1 … Read the rest