home    books    art    blog    bio    visits    calendar    media    resource links    freebies    contact me    store Welcome to e's news! For September 22nd, 2009 – In this newsletter: blog book tour | internet radio interview | giveaways! | events | a note to teachers coloring page tuesdays | visits | resources | recommendations | in memoriam Click here to view this email in a browser TA-DA!!!!!!!      A book is born! This Thursday is the official birthday for my first picture book as both author and illustrator, SOAP, SOAP, SOAP and SOAP, SOAP, SOAP ~ JABON, JABON, JABON!!!! Want to help me celebrate?      This week's Coloring Page Tuesday is the rubber duckie from SOAP - click on him to download the coloring page. Find more fun stuff to do at my SOAP Activity Page.      All week I will be visiting various blogs around the kidlitosphere. There will be interviews about the inspiration for SOAP, my method, career, etc. There will be reviews, a radio show, and there will be GIVEAWAYS!!! You can see the full BLOG BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE at my SOAP Activity Page - I'll update those links as each visit goes LIVE and link to the visits from my blog each day. But here's a peek of where I'll be: INTERNET RADIO INTERVIEW!... TODAY!!      I'll be interviewed LIVE on internet radio at Suzanne Lieurance's Book Bites for Kids at 3:00pm est, Tuesday, September 22nd! And you can call in with questions!! Hope to HEAR you there!! (Click the logo.) BLOG BOOK TOUR The Teaser...my first online book review...      9/17 - Janelle's Brimful Curiosities The Big Kickoff...      9/20 - Stephanie Ruble of sruble's world      9/20 - Children's Authors and Illustrators on Facebook (hosted by Simon Rose)      9/20 - Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast Here we go a'traveling...      9/21 - Tina Nichols Coury's blog Tales from the Rushmore Kid      9/22 - LIVE interview at Suzanne Lieurance's Book Bytes for Kids                at 3:00pm est!      9/23 - Wendy Martin Illustration      9/24 - Kim Norman's Blog - Stone Stoop      9/25 - OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE FOR SOAP!!! YIP, YIP, YAHOOOOOOO!!!!!      9/26 - Debbi Ohi's Inkygirl!      9/27 - Sarah C. Campbell's blog      9/28 - Teaching Authors      9/29 - Coloring Page Tuesday!!      9/30 - Jessica Handler's Swimming in the Trees      10/1 - Tarie Sabido's Into the Wardrobe      10/2 - Donny Seagraves Winterville Writer Speaking of GIVEAWAYS!      I said I'd give away more copies of SOAP and here we go! There are several ways to win... 1.  There was the drawing for watching my Book Trailer - comments close today and the winner will be announced Thursday on my blog. 2.  Visit the official kick-off Blog Tour post and leave a comment to enter another drawing for a signed copy of SOAP. Comments deadline is September 30th and the winner will be announced on the last day of the Blog Book Tour - October 2nd. 3.  Leave a comment on every day of the book tour at my blog each day (September 20 - October 2nd) and at least 8 of the blogs I visit, to have your name go into a drawing to win a SUPER PRIZE PACK including two signed copies of SOAP (one for you and one for a friend or your favorite library), a COLORING PAGE TUESDAY coloring book, SOAPy bookmarks and postcards, and a rubber duckie keychain!!!! (Deadline to leave comments will be October 4th and the winner will be announced as soon as I can figure it out.) 4.  Several of the blogs I will visit will also be doing drawings - so there's lots of opportunities to get some free SOAP in your life! EVENTS:      The Decatur Book Festival was incredible! Read my wrap-up here.      Here's where I'll be next - mark your calendar!      SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers) Trade Show, September 26-27, Greenville, South Carolina (signing at 10:30am on Sunday)      Border's Bookstore in Athens, Georgia, October 4th at 1:00pm      The Southern Festival of Books, October 10-11th in Nashville, Tennessee      Georgia Literary Festival, October 17th in Rome, Georgia      Savannah Children's Book Festival, November 14th in Savannah, Georgia      John C. Campbell Folk School, December 4-6th, Brasstown, North Carolina - I'll teach "Creating Children's Picture Books" again this year. Click here to request a catalogue or visit the Folk School online. A NOTE TO TEACHERS      With the swine flu scare there's been a strong focus lately on washing your hands and hygeine, especially in the children's world. SOAP, SOAP, SOAP has a strong get clean element to it. So much so, that Anastasia Suen recently made it one of her Picture Books of the Day and included links to hand-washing activities. Also, the Alliance Theatre's Teaching Artists picked up SOAP for their programming this year, partly for the "getting muddy - getting clean" aspect in the book.      Can you use SOAP in your classroom as a kick-off to this topic?      Also - I have a TON of SOAPY activities at the SOAP ACTIVITY PAGE! FREEBIES! Coloring Page Tuesdays      If you're not subscribed to Coloring Page Tuesdays maybe you'd like to know... I create a new coloring page every week, FREE for download (from my blog) for parents, teachers, librarians and booksellers to enjoy with their kids. I've been doing this for over two years now, so the collection has grown quite large. CLICK HERE to see all the fun images and maybe sign up to have Coloring Page Tuesdays go straight to your in-box every week!      For this week's Coloring Page, scroll back to the top to the rubber duckie image. Quack! VISITS:      Need a speaker for your school, conference or event? I do lots! And now I'm also offering Virtual Visits using Skype! This is becoming a popular (and affordable) way for authors and illustrators to connect with kids. Click my VISITS page for details and to see me in action at a recent school visit in Alabama.      The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) has made it easier to find authors available to speak in the South through SIBA STARS - check it out!      CLICK HERE to view my current schedule of events. RESOURCES:      Registration has been extended for our annual SCBWI Southern Breeze Portfolio Workshop on October 3rd at the Decatur Library. Our guest speakers will be Donna German of Sylvan Dell Publishing and Illustrator Mark Braught. Email me for details or click the logo to the right for more information! RECOMMENDATIONS:      My latest fave is Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. I read it in 24 hours, couldn't put it down. And it's official - Shannon is one of my all-time favorite writers. You may recognize her name as the author of the Newbery Honor winning Princess Academy, another fave.      I've also read some other great books lately and interviewed the authors (and illustrators) of several of them. So CLICK HERE to get some behind the scenes conversations with some of my favorite people! IN MEMORIAM:      Southern Breeze has established a scholarship fund in honor of my dear friend, Liz Conrad, who we lost to cancer recently. Two budding illustrators will receive free Portfolio Reviews at each upcoming conference for a very long time thanks to all the kind donations. If you would like to make a donation, click here to learn more. Click here to read my tribute to Liz, leave a note for her family, or learn details about her Celebration of Life Ceremony which will take place October 24th. THANK YOU!      It took seven years to get my first book as both author and illustrator published (Raven Tree Press), and many of you have been along for much of that ride. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support. YOU GUYS are the ones making all this good stuff happen - thank you! And please share my news and activities with your friends and family. They can subscribe to my blog or follow me on:             Of course, you can also unsubscribe, but I sure hope you'll stick around! Thanks Y'all! - e Click a cover to learn more about one of my other titles...   All Artwork © Elizabeth O. Dulemba,  - Y'all play nice, Okay?