Books for kids, teens, & those who are young at heart

Author: Katie L. Carroll (Page 109 of 142)

“The Bedtime Knight” Is Born

Today marked the day my picture book The Bedtime Knight, illustrated by Erika Baird, originally released with a company called MeeGenuis. While it’s no longer available there, you can now buy the ebook or signed copies of the paperback on the Purchase Books page

You also find it at BookshopAmazonBarnes & NobleKobo, or Book Depository (for international folks). Listen to the audiobook on ChirpBarnes & Noble, Kobo, Audible, Libro.fm, Scribd, Audiobooks.com, and Google Play.

When the lights turn off at bedtime, a young mouse’s imagination runs wild. Daddy Knight charges in to the rescue and sheds light on what the shadows really are. Then he empowers his daughter to turn the scary shadows into fun imaginings.

THE BEDTIME KNIGHT is a gentle way to face the childhood fear of the dark. Perfect for a bedtime story or as a read-aloud any time of day.

We Are All Stardust

I’ve been watching reruns of Discovery Channel’s series How the Universe Works on the Science Channel lately. It’s totally blowing my mind!

I did take physics in high school and college, but I don’t remember it being anywhere as awesome as this program is. Maybe I’m just late to the party, but being a physicist is probably one of the coolest jobs in the world…or the universe (second only to writing, of course!).

The other night I stayed up late to watch an episode about supernovas (exploding stars) and then a second one about stars in general. I learned something that made my skin tingle: We are all made of stardust.

That’s right. When you look up in the sky at night and see those twinkling burning balls of gas, you came from that. Are you wondering How is that possible? I could try and explain how when a star explodes it shoots out the elements that create pretty much everything in the universe, but the Discovery Channel does a much better job of it in this video.

As if it weren’t enough to realize you’re a star-child, here’s another video about just how tiny we are relative to the largest known star. We’re talking size on a level that I can’t even really imagine (and I have a pretty endless imagination).

Okay, now that my mind has been blown apart, I wonder what kind of beings its dust will create?

 

 

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

Warning: The Next Big Thing Blog Hop has gone viral. On this hallowed day, I’m sad to report I’m the latest victim. That means you’ll have to suffer through hearing all about my latest work in progress, a follow up to my novel Elixir Bound.

This all happened thanks to the virus-spreading Rosalie Skinner, who shared the pestilence of her work in progress last week.

What is the working title of your book?

Elixir Saved

Where did the idea come from for the book?

When I wrote Elixir Bound, I always knew I wanted to write a more epic sequel. Enter Elixir Saved. Three POV characters, an epic battle scene, and life-and-death choices.

What genre does your book fall under?

YA fantasy adventure

What actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

This is a tough one, mostly because I haven’t had power for the last few days, which inhibits my ability to scan the Internet looking for just the right actors.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Each saved by the Elixir, three survivors must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice with their second chance at life.

Will you book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Most likely neither. I’ll be sending it to the publisher of Elixir Bound once it’s ready.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Who can say? Hopefully not as long as it took to write Elixir Bound. I’m aiming for less than a year.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Genre wise I’d say Kristin Cashore’s and Melina Marchetta’s fantasies. Wouldn’t I love someone else to compare me to those writers!

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My sister Kylene, who died unexpectedly at the age of sixteen. I’ve been very candid about how she has influenced me in my writing career.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Most of your favorite characters from Elixir Bound will make appearances in this book. Honestly, I’ve grown so much as a writer these last few years, I think Elixir Saved will be even better than its predecessor!

On November 7th, the next victims of the blog hop will be posting about their own books and works in progress and spreading the madness. Tag, you’re it:

Meradeth Houston

Cheryl Carpinello

Sarah C. Pilon

Confessions of an Author: Grammar

Confession #1: I don’t always use proper grammar.

When someone asks me how I’m doing, I’m just as likely to say “I’m good” as “I’m well.” Saying “I’m well” sounds funny, and frankly, a bit pretentious. I don’t need to flaunt the fact that I know the grammatical way to answer the question is “I’m well.” I’m an author, not a snob. Besides, my brain’s default answer is “I’m good” and idle chitchat hardly warrants more than a default answer.

There are lots of other instances when I don’t speak proper grammar as well. In fact, I probably speak improperly as often as I do properly. It takes way too long to formulate a well-constructed sentence; if I had to speak grammatically correct all the time, I’d never end up contributing to the conversation.

I also text/tweet (okay, I don’t actually tweet, but if I did…)/post on Facebook/casually e-mail with incorrect grammar and even crazy text speak. (Don’t all gasp at once!)

Why don’t I use proper grammar? You might think it’s because I don’t want to intimidate others with my superior grammar knowledge. The truth is just because I’m an author (and admittedly an editor), doesn’t mean I even know proper grammar.   “Who” or “whom,” “lying” or “laying.” I don’t know! And when I do need to know, I look it up.

Not to mention the fact that if I did keep my grammarian hat on all the time, I’d probably go crazy. Have you seen some of the terrible grammar there is out there in the world? It’s astonishing!

So the next time you are talking to an author or reading a nonprofessional e-mail from an author friend of yours, don’t assume everything they offer will be grammatically perfect. Authors are people too, and we can’t be expected to always know the grammatically correct thing to say (or write). That’s what we have editors for!

Author-extraordinaire Katie L. Carroll has been disproving (and sometimes confirming) the myths of legends of being an author since 2012.

Elixir Bound nominated for the 2012 Cybils Awards

Well, I made it through my first author event without any major hiccups (no passing out or vomiting midspeech!). Rumors have been circulating that the whole thing was recorded and may end up on YouTube. I’ll be sure to let you know if that comes to fruition (and, of course, only if I look good in the video!).

CybilsLogo2012-Web-ButtonIn other news, I was thrilled to have Elixir Bound nominated for the 2012 Cybils (Chilrden’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards) in the Teen Fantasy/Sci-Fi category. I’m up against some stiff competition, and that’s only after the public nominations have been listed. It’s an honor just to be in the running. (I certainly don’t expect to beat out a book like Kristin Cashore’s Bitterblue!) A special thanks to Ladybug Lin for nominating Elixir Bound.

Finally, check out an original short story of mine called When Angels Die up on the MuseItUp Publishing blog today. I penned this one specifically for the Halloween season, so I hope you like a good scare.

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