I’m jumping on board a blog hop this week.

This Weeks Questions:

Do you like the spotlight or lurking in the shadows?
How many books are in your TRB pile?
What is next on your to read list?
What one item would you eat for the rest of your life?
What is the last thing you bought?

——————————

Do you like the spotlight or lurking in the shadows?

If you’ve seen me in any of the #BloggersDance videos – you’d agree – Spotlight!

How many books are in your TRB pile?

I have a lot of books in my to-read pile. There are 11 on my GoodReads page, 3 stacked by my bed, two by the toilet and an entire shelf dedicated to To-Read!

What is next on your to read list?

Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work. Ewww, I know. But I had a run in with one of them and am now writing about it.

What one item would you eat for the rest of your life?

Sushi. Does that count? If that’s too broad then pizza!

What is the last thing you bought?

The Country Dancing XBox Kinect Game. Wooooweee, yes I did!  Heehaw!

Share and Enjoy

It was my birthday yesterday and my friend Kerry from HouseTalkN.com interviewed me via our webcams about writing Tilda Pinkerton.

It took us longer than expected to figure out how to get our video together and uploaded while also doing three conference calls, feeding four kids, having only one van that works between us, two laptops but no recording plugin for Skype, one butterscotch pie to finish, a carpool to drive, four meals to cook, a book to read, and presents to unwrap – and wrap!

But we did it!

Hopefully you find it funny – we had a hoot.

And of course, read Tilda Pinkerton. If you’re like Kerry and can’t pry it out of the hands of your kids, get your own copy!

Share and Enjoy

Have you ever done an unboxing video?

Do you know what an unboxing video is??

I did not!

That is until filmmaker Mike Dougherty tweeted me that he was going to shoot an unboxing video for Tilda.

As first, I was like don’t you hurt Tilda Pinkerton!  He assured me he would show her the upmost love and that an unboxing video was a video of unwrapping or unboxing a package – in this case The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton Book One from Amazon!

Unboxing Tilda

So… who wants to shoot another unboxing video!

This honestly gave me little goose bumps with a huge AWWWW.

Keep the videos and photos coming! I love hearing from you.

And you can also Tweet Tilda too. She’ll tweet you back. She’s enjoying this Twitter thing.

Share and Enjoy

Related posts:

1. The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton – first two chapters for free

I wrote a guest post on the Word’s Worth Book Blog and just had to share an excerpt.

10 Reasons To Wear Hats – While Reading!

I love hats. There’s a reason I wrote a book series centered around hats. Above was once my favorite hat. It was destroyed by a… well, I’m trying to say nice things. Let’s just say I cried. I actually cried over a hat, yes I did. But it did inspire the creation of an evil character who hates hats.

Here are some fun reasons to wear hats:

10. Hats Hide Bald Spots

9. Hats Combat Bad Hair Days

8. Thinking Caps Help You Think

7. Wearing Hats Brings Back a Great Era

6. Hats from Other Cultures Can Broaden Your Mind

5. Hats Prevent Illness

4. Hats Celebrate Occasions

3. A Fascinator Makes Words More Fantastic

2. Hats Accentuate Your Good Side

1. Hats Get You into Character

Read the full guest post I wrote on the Word’s Worth Book Blog.

Thank you for loving and taking care of your hats!  I sure miss my favorite one.

Share and Enjoy

Related posts:

1. Do Woodchucks Wear Hats?

On Nov 1st, Tilda Pinkerton started a tour – online.

As an author I was a bit nervous and excited to see how book blogger received Tilda Pinkerton. They did not know me from my past work and were reading Tilda blindly. If I bit my nails I might have, but that is an awful habit and oh the germs you ingest!

So I sat back and watched and am watching every day until late December!

The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton – Book One

Releasing a book is a big deal. Even though it is exciting to watch the process of how it gets out into the world, it can still make an author nervous.

I have been floored, elated, and moved to tears (yes, I did actually tear up) while reading some of the things readers are saying about Tilda.

It’s kind of like going to a new school – which I did oh about 400 times when I was a child – and finally being seen. It’s like having your favorite teacher give you the approving nod.

I love Tilda Pinkerton, but to see others love her too is the best present I could ever get. And a big birthday is about to arrive for me too. Perfect timing.

What Book Bloggers are Saying

If Dr. Seuss had written a novel it would be just like this–whimsical, charming, colorful as an artist’s palette, with moral values wrapped in parables like peaches in whipped cream, with epic struggles of good against evil and full of the wonder and wisdom only ever comprehended by the heart of a child.  This story will speak to every child heart aged 8 to 88. Joy Story

Angela Shelton’s imagination is fertile ground for her literary adventure with Tilda.  The writing was so crisp and vivid that the book played like a move in my head.  The characters just jump off the page and come to life. So Many Precious Books

Young and old will both love this book and rest assured if you are looking for a gift for a birthday or for Christmas coming up this book would be perfect!! Two Kids and a Migraine

The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton is imaginative and magical story! Once you start reading, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the story. It can also be very hard to put it down! Sweeps for Bloggers

Read Tilda Pinkerton on your Kindle for free until Dec 17th if you have Amazon Prime.

Thank you for reading, sharing and gifting others with Tilda Pinkerton.

Hearing from you makes me happy.

Share and Enjoy

Related posts:

1. Kids Are SO Honest
2. The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton – first two chapters for free

We love Free Stuff!

Receive the First 2 Chapters of The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton AND a list of all the characters with their wonderfully lyrical names – FREE when you sign up for Tilda’s Newsletter – the Tilda Times- until Nov 30th.

Who Does Tilda Appeal To?

According to readers and bloggers – Tilda Pinkerton is written in a wonderfully lyrical way.

Pish Posh says the book will appeal to fans of Dr. Seuss, Star Trek, Matilda Wormwood, and Harry Potter!

Every character’s name is a verbal play on their personalities.

Sign Up for the Tilda updates and receive a free download of the long list (from A-Z) of characters.

Quinn, for example, is Quinn Quisquilious, who works with rubbish to create new things.

Belinda Balletomania is just that – obsessed with ballet.

And of course Aaron Arachnophobia is the spider desperately afraid of himself.

Discovering the meaning of all the names is a fun activity to do with young readers.

There is a list of other Games and Classroom Activities on the Tilda book website.

Read the beginning of Tilda Pinkerton

I’ve had some friends of mine shocked that I wrote Tilda. I was shocked that they were shocked!

When I asked them what ever did they mean – they said they were expecting another road trip movie or chick flick, they had no idea they were about to read something so imaginative and fun.

HA!

I get such a kick out of that.

Then I’ve heard  OMG you wrote this with the mouth on the floor – it’s so good. I wasn’t expecting to go to another world. It is so fun and entertaining! 

I heard another friend this morning say something very similar and it just makes me laugh.

Of course it’s fun!

So, inspired by my friends and so you too can see how Tilda is very different than anything I’ve ever written – you can download and read for free the first two chapters.

It’s easy. Just sign up for Tilda’s Updates – that will come out every month or so – and after you confirm your subscription, the first email you get will have the first two chapters along with a list of all the awesome characters that I love so much.

I’d love to hear who your favorite characters are!

Please leave a comment and let me know!

Share and Enjoy

Related posts:

1. The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton ~ Book One

This past weekend I ran into two little local girls – 10 and 8 – who are big fans of mine. They know Safe Side Superchick and they are very happy about that.

The older one looked up at me excitedly and announced -

I’m reading your book! 

That of course made me VERY excited. I love it when people read my books – especially The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton!

I had just been on a county wide art tour where my mom had bought me a very artistic necklace of a frog. Yes, I had a frog on a lilypad around my neck. It was a perfect talking point to bring up Tilda.

Really?

She looked up at me with her very precocious 8-year-old sister beaming with pride and mischief beside her.

Yes!

Her little sister chimed in.

Me too!

Rolling of the eyes.

No, she’s not. I’m reading it.

I so wanted to hug the two of them. Instead, I pointed to the frog on my necklace.

If you’re reading Tilda, then who’s this?

The older sister put her hands on her hips. She knew the answer. She started at my necklace, then looked up at me confidently.

That’s Gladys.

I squealed. Yes. I squealed. Which caused the two girls to squeal. Which caused heads to turn to look at us.

No big deal, they’re just reading my book.

I announced to the adults in the room. That got some of them talking about my book, which I loved. But I was having so much fun with these little girls. I learned she was on the chapter about the Blue Forest and her favorite character in the book was Tilda herself. She loved that she transformed and that she had red hair. Red hair? I figured that’s the beauty of reading – you can paint the people in the story however you like.

The younger one looked up at me grinning again. She was a little trouble maker.

Yeah, and, you know that picture of you in the back of the book? It doesn’t look like you.

Faint. Recover. Quickly. What did she mean?

Really?  What’s it look like?

She grinned again. She had me.

Not like you.

Well.

Well, what kind of picture do you think they should have of me then?

She huffed, hands on her hips, pondering that question.

Maybe I should do a photo shoot with all my hat collection?

I suggested. She shook her head.

No. You have to just be you. Just you.

We smiled at each other.

Just me, huh? And how does that picture look?

She and her sister were both getting a real kick out of this talk. They looked at each other, grinned, giggled and then back at me.

Just be you – with funny glasses. Yeah, you need funny glasses. You’re funny.

Share and Enjoy

1. You are a multimedia whirlwind.

What is the driving theme to your body of work?

2. How does Tilda fit into your body of work?

3. You are an advocate for children.

How does Tilda promote your message?

Share and Enjoy

Are you trying to write a book or run a blog or get that article done?

Do you have distractions, obligations and responsibilities too?

YES? Me too!

Do you lose weight while writing?

I wish!

I broke my leg last year and gained 30 pounds! While I was laid up in bed I wrote  The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton: Book 1 - Bonus!

I am now working on Book Two while staying in touch with PR and book bloggers reading Book One and working with teachers on the Teacher’s Guide for Tilda Pinkerton’s Magical Hats for younger readers. It’s all a fun type of busy.

But I have to wash and fold the laundry too.

I have lost 20 pounds of that 30 though! Bonus!

When Do You Do Laundry?

I put a load in and give myself the allotted wash and dry time to tackle a writing task or take the puppy on a run around the field. I gave up on gyms long long ago.

But then I have to deal with this:

I used to wake up around six or seven and write for about 2-3 hours. Now we have puppy Emma. She’s fourteen weeks old and yes, she sleeps in the bed with us. My husband is a big softie.

I wake up like this:

Work Out or Walk?

I COULD just send her out to do her morning routine while I jump on my laptop. I also want that last 10 pounds gone, so… I thought of doing squats while she squats. It’s harder than I thought. Sometimes I give myself a break and just walk – I’m still moving!

When Do You Write?

I must grab the laptop as soon as puppy begins to get sleepy. My writing time now centers around nap time. I’m working on giving up portions of my Twitter and Facebook habit (please feed my habit by liking the pages to the right!).

It’s hard to write with paws on your keyboard. For some reason if I get on the floor with her as she plays she will lay down and let me type.  She’s an understanding dog. I could do sit ups or something during this time but I usually opt for a paragraph or two.

My husband has mastered the art of laptop and lap dog much better than I have.

I get the least work out time and most writing time when the baby is like this:

I weighed in at two pounds lighter today too so my fanny is much happier to sit and write another fantasy.

The good news is that puppy Emma (who has her own Facebook page) inspires new books just by being her cute little country dog self.

I’m late for the 8 Week Challenge but there’s nothing like joining halfway into it.

Share and Enjoy

Book Giveaway lasts until 10/11/12

WIN 1 copy of The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton on I’m a Reader, Not a Writer’s Blog.

Shipping to US or Canada

PLUS –>

Read my first interview as author of the Tilda series.

The Questions and Requests were:

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Pet Peeves

Skittles or M&Ms?

Please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book.

Any other books in the works? Goals for future projects? 

If you could jump in to a book, and live in that world… which would it be?

What was your favorite book when you were a child/teen?

Is there a song you could list as the theme song for your book or any of your characters?

Who are your favorite authors of all time?

What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?

Write a Haiku about your book

What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

Read my answers on I’m a Reader, Not a Writer’s Blog.

Even more fun – please purchase the book from the link on that awesome book blog too!

Hit me up (angela at angela shelton dot com) if you’d like to do a review, share a giveaway and/or plug Tilda Pinkerton because you love her so much!

Share and Enjoy