Category: Dreams (Page 1 of 2)

Out with the New; In with the Old!

February 12, 2026 / Katie L. Carroll / 0 Comments

The last few years, I’ve come up with a word or phrase for the year instead of a resolution. I know most people do this in January, but last month was really busy, so I’m just getting to it now. This year’s phrase is “out with the new; in with the old!” (And no, I didn’t write that wrong.)

Every January, I do Storystorm, which is a brainstorming activity created by author Tara Lazar. My critique group and I read the daily prompts and type our ideas (not always related to the prompts) into a shared document where we can comment on them. It’s a really fun way to kick off the year with creativity.

Only this year, I was struggling to think of any new ideas. Part of that was because I was deep in revision mode on a novel, so I was singularly focused rather than in brainstorming mode. I also kept thinking about ideas from past years that I haven’t yet pursued. There’s a lot of good stuff in my backlog of ideas!

Finally, I was preoccupied with learning about octopuses (not octopi as I’ve learned). I’ve been working on a new picture book about an octopus and was reading all the books about the cephalopods. One particularly good nonfiction one was Octopus Ocean: Genuises of the Deep by Mark Leiren-Young.

That got me thinking about the phrase, “out with the old; in with the new.” It fits our modern society with our short attention spans, disposability of goods, and a desire for all things new and shiny. But I haven’t been feeling that way, so I decided to flip the phrase.

This year, I’ll be taking a look back at the old things. Old ideas. Old hobbies. Old hopes and dreams. I have lots of good old things that have been waiting in the wings for my attention. This is the year to give them that attention.

And while I may replace things that are truly worn out (I’m looking at you, my old handbag whose strap is about to break), I’m going to be thinking twice before going all-in on anything new. This phrase may also be a reflection on being a middle-aged woman, but that’s a post for another day.

Do you have a word, phrase, goal, or resolution for this year? I’d love to hear it!

THE BEDTIME KNIGHT Audiobook, Book Deals, SCBWI Conferences, and Podcast News!

April 4, 2023 / Katie L. Carroll

I wasn’t even sure how to title this post because I have so many exciting things to announce. First of all, THE BEDTIME KNIGHT is now available as an audiobook, narrated by Stephanie Quinn. And it earned an orange banner on Amazon for being the #1 new release in Audiobooks on Bedtime & Dreaming for Children! You can find the audiobook on Chirp, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Audible, Libro.fm, Scribd, Audiobooks.com, and Google Play.

If you’d like a free listen of THE BEDTIME KNIGHT, sign up for my author newsletter, where you’ll also earn access to two free short stories! It really is the best way to get all my latest news and exclusive offers, and I’ll only email you once a month. I appreciate all you who subscribe to the blog, but if you haven’t also signed up for my newsletter, I’d love for you to do that too.

For all you Kobo readers, two of my books are on sale right now. For the first time ever, ELIXIR BOUND is free now through April 9th! This award-winning YA fantasy is Shadow and Bone meets The Lord of the Rings with strong female characters embracing their power while on an epic quest. PIRATE ISLAND, the middle grade adventure reminiscent of The Goonies, is only $2.99 now through April 16th.

Now a little something for the writers! I’ll be presenting two workshops at the in-person New England SCBWI Conference, April 28-30. The titles of my workshops are “Traditional vs. Self-publishing: Who Will Win?” and “What to Expect When You’re Self-Publishing.” Keep an out another SCBWI workshop announcement coming soon! You can see all my author appearances, including a local in-person one in May, on the Events page.

Finally, I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Woodbury Writes podcast, hosted by Sandy Carlson, poet laureate of Woodbury, CT. We had a great conversation about creating fantasies for young readers and more!

There’s more I could talk about, like how I’m so very close to being done with revisions of my YA psychological thriller Hamlet retelling. I’ll be doing a cover reveal and release date reveal for that soon…as soon as I finalize the title! But I’ve reached information overload.

What have you all been up to lately?

Stuck In The Writing In-Between

April 22, 2021 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m currently in between big writing projects, and I’m having trouble getting out of that space. Some of that is because there are things currently out of my control in regards to what happens next in my writing career, so it’s hard to look too far in the future. Which makes it hard to commit to anything big right now–mainly on deciding what novel I want to write next.

I did have a sort of break planned where I was going to read and catch up on some non-writerly stuff…and wait and see where my muse takes me next. I’ve definitely done this, and worked on some smaller projects in the meantime. All those small projects have turned out to be on the quirky side, so I’m not really sure what to do with them.

It’s not that I don’t have novel ideas (I literally have notebooks of ideas stashed away); it’s more that I can’t quite seem to figure out what one is calling to me the loudest. There’s also the consideration about what makes sense to work on next as far as my career goes, and that brings me back to having to wait to see where those things out of my control shake out.

The waiting is part of the business of writing. I’m growing impatient with the waiting, though. My fingers are itching to get to work. My dreams (like the sleeping kind, not goals and aspirations) have gotten even weirder than those small projects I’ve been working on, which is a sure sign that my brain is getting antsy to work on a big project.

I thought maybe writing this post out would help me have some insight into what to do next. But here I’ve reached the end and I still don’t know what to do.

FIRE TRUCK DREAMS by Sharon Chriscoe Pre-order Campaign

April 30, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m super excited to welcome Sharon Chriscoe to the Observation Desk to help spread the word about the pre-order campaign for her picture book FIRE TRUCK DREAMS. My boys love the other books in the series, RACE CAR DREAMS and BULLDOZER DREAMS, and this new one will probably end up their favorite because they love fire trucks. Sharon is offering some really great goodies for the pre-order giveaway. Welcome, Sharon!

DING! DING! DING!

FIRE TRUCK DREAMS is officially available for pre-order and to celebrate him being the third book in the ‘Vehicle Dreams Series’, Fire Truck and I are doing a three alarm giveaway! (A three book alarm giveaway, that is!)

Fire Truck cover

Isn’t he adorable!

First, I want to extend my gratitude to everyone who has purchased and supported the other books in the ‘Vehicle Dreams Series’. Race Car, Bulldozer, and I are forever grateful and hope your little ones are enjoying them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Now, onto those fiery hot giveaway details:

If you pre-order FIRE TRUCK DREAMS before his release date of October 9, 2018, I will mail you a swag pack this October that includes:

One (per order) signed bookplate.

One (per order) Fire Truck Dreams bookmark. (Photo to come this fall)

And possibly some sweet surprises. (Everyone loves a good surprise, right!)

*** IF YOU’RE A TEACHER OR CHILD CARE TAKER please let me know in your email so I can send a bookmark for every child. A simple quick note that you are a teacher or care giver and how many bookmarks you’ll need and they will be on their way this fall.

GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY!

In addition to the swag pack listed above, every pre-order placed by 11:59 PM October 8, 2018 will be eligible to win a grand prize (one grand prize giveaway per every five hundred preorders) basket filled with:

One swag pack mentioned above with FIRE TRUCK DREAMS bookmark and a signed bookplate.

One each of RACE CAR DREAMS and BULLDOZER DREAMS bookmarks.

Race Car Dreams bookmarks Bulldozer bookmarks

An autographed copy of ALL THREE of the vehicle dreams books! Aren’t they cute!

Additional swag gear (a mini race car trophy, a squishy cone stress toy, and a fun fire truck squishy stress toy!) (Squishy fire truck photo to come!)

trophies Cone

One $25 Barnes and Noble gift card

One $25 Starbucks gift card

(And! Additional items to be announced throughout the duration of the preorder campaign.)

To Enter:

Pre-order FIRE TRUCK DREAMS by 11:59 October 8, 2018.

Send a quick email to vehicledreamsbooks@gmail.com with the number of copies you pre-ordered in your the subject line. Please only send one email per person. The number of copies ordered listed in the subject line will suffice for multiple entries. Also, within the email include your mailing address for your swag to be sent to and if you’d like the bookplate inscribed, please include the name. Or if you prefer, you can fill out this simple, short google doc form and I’ll do the rest for you! Google Doc Pre-order Form

BONUS ENTRIES ALERT!

Everyone loves bonus entries, right! If you order both RACE CAR DREAMS and BULLDOZER DREAMS with your pre-order of FIRE TRUCK DREAMS, you will receive TEN entries for the grand prize giveaway!

IF you already own one or both of the vehicle dreams books, attach a photo of your book or books and you will get FIVE bonus entries per book (FIVE for RACE CAR DREAMS and FIVE for BULLDOZER DREAMS!). Bonus entries for books you already own are only eligible IF you preorder FIRE TRUCK DREAMS. Total entries will be TEN for the grand prize giveaway!

International entries are welcome.

Auto receipt for your entries will be sent.

Winners (chosen by random computer draw) will be announced by October 31, 2018. Proof of pre-order will be required for grand prizes.

To make preordering easy for you, here’s some links:

Amazon / Barnes and Noble/ Book Depository/ IndieBound

And lastly, once again a sincere and heartfelt thank you to every single person who has purchased one of my books. It’s your support that brings the love of books into children’s lives. And with your continued support, authors just like me will be able to keep writing those words for your children to enjoy.

FIRE TRUCK DREAMS blurb:

For fans of Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site comes an exciting new bedtime story about a brave little fire truck.

A fire truck has had a big day of putting out fires and saving kittens, and now it’s time to sleep. After making sure all is quiet and safe, he rolls back into the station for a shower, swishes and swigs a bedtime refreshment, and settles in with a bedtime story. But a hero’s job is never done, and the fire truck dreams of taming a ferocious campfire and celebrating the end of his exciting day with s’mores!

This delightful book about a heroic fire truck preparing for bed will be a favorite for any fan of fire trucks and everyday heroes. As always, Sharon Chriscoe lulls the reader with her witty and gentle rhyming verse, accompanied by Dave Mottram’s charming illustrations. Fire Truck Dreams is certain to bring joy to any bedtime routine.

October Ripples in the Inkwell: Anxiety Dreams #inkripples

October 12, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

For our October Ripples in the Inkwell (#inkripples) Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and I are discussing fear/things that go bump in the night. My mind immediately went to nightmares.

It is well-known among my friends and families that I have very vivid, often wacky dreams. I’ve even been lucky enough to have the occasional lucid dream (in which you are aware you are dreaming, and may actually be able to take control of the dream…pretty cool actually, and I always end up flying when I can!). That also means I’m subject to realistic, terrifying nightmares.

I’m more prone to having nightmares when I’m feeling anxiety and stress. A couple of common stress dreams I experience with some regularity are the one where I show up for the final test of a class I haven’t been to all year and the one where my teeth fall out or crack.

More likely than those two dreams, though, is a recurring anxiety dream that has changed throughout the years. When I was very young, I can remember having lots of dreams about wolves chasing me, and I would wake up sweating, my heart racing. At some point during my adolescent the go-to stress dream turned into dinosaurs stalking me (one reason why, to this day, I have a hard time watching any of the Jurassic Park movies).

After The Boy was born, my anxiety dreams were often about the end of the world. Usually they would start with me seeing something strange in the sky and then aliens would strike or there would be some kind of widespread terrorist attack, and I’d be trying to protect my family.

And lately, my nightmares have taken the form of zombies (you won’t catch me watching The Walking Dead ever!). What’s interesting about these dreams is that the zombies don’t get a lot of “screen time.” It’s more the constant threat of a zombie attack that causes the panic.

Aren’t you so glad to have a glimpse into my dreams? What kinds of nightmares have you all had?

Have you joined the #inkripples movement yet? Ripples in the Inkwell is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll(me!). On the second Monday of each month, we post on a particular topic. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it and we’d love for you to participate (full details here). October is all about fears and things that go bump in the night. Be sure to provide a link to your own #inkripple in the comments!