2017 Valentiny Contest, Entry 2: Buddy's Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt

Here's my second submission to the 2nd Annual Valentiny Contest hosted by Susanna Hill, found here: https://susannahill.com/blog/. Happy reading and Happy Valentine's Day!

Buddy's Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt
by Penelope Aaron

“Woof!  Woof!” said Buddy to Tyson as he licked his face.  It’s time to wake up! thought Buddy.  There’s a heart shaped paper on your nightstand and I don’t know what it means!

Tyson sat up.  “Look Buddy!  This heart says to go to the playroom for a Valentine’s Day surprise!”
Buddy jumped off Tyson’s bed, ready to follow him anywhere.  He could feel Tyson’s excitement even though he didn’t understand what it was all about.
Tyson ran down the hallway with Buddy at his heels.  Tyson searched the shelves full of toys while Buddy sniffed around the toy box. 
“Woof!” Buddy gave one quick bark to alert Tyson that he had located the heart. 
Tyson rushed over to him.  “Good dog!” he said and patted Buddy’s head.  “It says to go to the kitchen.  Let’s go!”
Buddy galloped behind Tyson into the kitchen where Mama was sitting at the table. Buddy smelled something delicious.  
“Good morning boys,” Mama said with a smile.
Tyson’s plate was piled high with heart shaped waffles and strawberries and whipped cream.  He read the heart next to his plate.  “Buddy, it says Happy Valentine’s Day!” 
Buddy noticed the large bone in his dog dish.
“Thank you Mama. I love you,” said Tyson. 
“Woof! Woof!” said Buddy in agreement. 

2017 Valentiny Contest, Entry 1: Abuelita's Valentine's Day Surprise

This is my first submission to the 2nd Annual Valentiny Contest hosted by Susanna Hill, found here: https://susannahill.com/blog/.  Happy reading and Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Abuelita's Valentine's Day Surprise

by Penelope Aaron

 

“What are you doing, Abuelita?” asked Tomás.  He slid a barstool up to the kitchen counter so he could get a better look at his grandmother.  She was surrounded by bags and containers and small cups and spoons.  “What is all this stuff?”

“It is a surprise or una sorpresa,” Abuelita said.

“A surprise!  I like surprises!  What’s that white stuff?” Tomás asked.

“Flour— la harina.”

“And what’s that?” Tomás pointed.

“El azúcar— sugar.”

“And that?”

“Butter— la mantequilla.”

“And what’s that?”

“Los huevos— eggs.”

“How about that?”

“Vanilla— la vainilla.”

Abuelita showed Tomás how to mix all the foods together in a big bowl.  When it was smooth, they rolled it out into dough.  They rolled the dough until it was a big flat circle.  They cut the dough into heart shapes.

“Like this mi amor,” said Abuelita.

She showed Tomás how to put them on a pan.  Then Abuelita put the pan into the oven.  A few minutes later the timer rang and Abuelita pulled the pan full of hearts out of the oven.  The kitchen smelled wonderful.

“Cookies!” cried Tomás.  He clapped his hands.

“Sí, cookies— las galletas.”  Abuelita passed a cookie to Tomás and said, “Happy Valentine’s Day mi amor.”

Tomás smiled and hugged his grandmother.  “I love you Abuelita.”

 

 

Aunt Fabulous, True Story #3

My kids have been blessed with a lot of wonderful, talented, intelligent, gorgeous, amazing aunts.  One of these aunts is determined to obtain a newer, faster, limo-tinted-windowed luxury car every five minutes.  Her overabundance of charm and taste for all things upscale inspired my Aunt Fabulous character in my young adult novels, INSPIRALED and INSPIRITED.

 

Excerpt from INSPIRALED:

Aunt Fabulous put her arm around me and asked, “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine.  I’m a little stressed out- this happening to Coco, exams are coming up.  I don’t have my Christmas shopping done yet, and there is a cute boy that I kind of like.  I’m not sure though, because I’m still getting to know him which is hard because he goes to a different school.”   I rambled all of that out nervously, and somehow she was able to pay attention even as I was watching a cute doctor checking her out as he was walking by.  Aunt Fab could probably get a date anytime, anyplace, any hour, in any circumstance. 

“Can I help with anything, miss?” Cute Doctor asked Aunt Fab with a smile, as he slowed down and turned toward her.

“Oh, no sir, we’re all taken care of.  Thank you,” she answered as we continued walking.

I didn’t mention to her any names about the cute boy since my brothers were still in earshot.  Even though they were horsing around and popping wheelies with the wheelchair, they might still be listening.  She wanted to know more about Coco and about what I was feeling when I hugged him.  What was I supposed to tell her?  Sometimes I hallucinate and the things that I see make no sense at all, and as far as I can tell they don’t mean anything.  Oh, and I have bad dreams, too.

I played dumb, and told her, “I felt really, really sad for Coco and was trying really hard not to cry in front of him.  I wanted to cheer him up, not make him feel worse by crying.”

She stared at me with big suspicious blue eyes and somehow I knew she didn’t buy it.   

To continue reading INSPIRALED:

http://www.penelopeaaron.com/

https://www.facebook.com/penelopeaaron2014 click on Shop Now

http://www.amazon.com/Inspiraled-Penelope-Aaron/dp/1495422224/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454881304&sr=8-1&keywords=inspiraled

https://twitter.com/penelope_aaron

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rUHA6BjxIA

And to check out the exciting sequel to INSPIRALED, take a look at INSPIRITED:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrAOvkm0DSw

https://www.amazon.com/Inspirited-Penelope-Aaron-ebook/dp/B01JGX6KBY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476115605&sr=8-1&keywords=INSPIRITED

 

 

 

 

The best thing about Career Day at Earle B Wood Middle School

Author Penelope Aaron presenting to E.B. Wood Middle School students at Career Day
2016

The best thing about presenting at Career Day?  The kids!  To get to spend the day with such intelligent, innocent, curious, and creative young minds was an honor. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, the mail started coming in.  Here are some of their sweet letters:

 

Thank you E.B. Wood Middle School!  To check out the novels we discussed during the presentation, visit http://www.penelopeaaron.com/ 

INSPIRALED has been approved for MCPS high school libraries and INSPIRITED releases 9/23/16!

My boys, True Story #2

Inspiration for my Kavi and Lakota characters in my debut novel, INSPIRALED, came from my boys, pictured here soon after arriving at college.  Like the characters in the book, these two handsome gents like to eat, play sports, eat, make people laugh, eat, workout, eat, wrestle, eat, play video games, eat, drink protein shakes, eat...well, you get the idea. 

Excerpt from INSPIRALED:

 

I could hear Mom yelling about all the extra chores the boys were going to be doing for getting in trouble at school even before I entered the kitchen.  When I walked in to say goodbye, Kavi was sitting on the counter shoveling heaping spoonfuls of strawberry Nesquik into a large glass of milk.  He stirred the milk, licked the spoon, and then inserted it back into the Nesquik for one more scoop.  Ew.  Lakota was sitting at the dining room table with a bag of gummy bears, pretending to be interested in what Mom was saying.

 

To continue reading INSPIRALED:

https://www.facebook.com/penelopeaaron2014 click on Shop Now

 

http://www.amazon.com/Inspiraled-Penelope-Aaron/dp/1495422224/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454881304&sr=8-1&keywords=inspiraled

 

https://twitter.com/penelope_aaron

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rUHA6BjxIA

 

 

 

To Penelope, From Penelope

  Yesterday was full of firsts.  It was my first Gaithersburg Book Festival.  The GBF is huge!  It features many accomplished, world renowned authors every year, and there I was amongst the greats with my little ol' debut novel, dressed to the nines.  Ok, so not the dressed up part, but hey, it was 50 degrees and rained all day- still had a great time!

  I took my first credit card transaction.  Woo-hoo!  If a lack of cash has been stopping you from picking up a copy of INSPIRALED, then fret no more, plastic is fantastic.

  I tried my first Nothing Bundt Cake and was swept away to my own private heaven made of nothing but rich, decadent, fudgy, chocolate magnificence.  I temporarily forgot where I was and that my wet toes had become numb...all that mattered was another bite of that cake.  If you haven't tried one yet, stop what you're doing and go get some Nothing Bundt Cake!

  Finally, my last first of the day was my signing of a book to a beautiful lady named Penelope!  Yes, it was to Penelope from Penelope.  I hope my first Penelope keeps in touch.

  The Gaithersburg Book Festival was full of warm, energetic book lovers (except for the one lady that said she didn't like to read when we asked her what genre of books she likes.  What the...???) and I had an absolute fabulous time making new friends and bonding over our favorite books (and cakes), even though it was a little chilly.  I can hardly wait for next year's GBF!

Don't like to read but still enjoy a good story?  Listen to INSPIRALED instead!  It's easy and can be free at audible.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rUHA6BjxIA

http://www.amazon.com/Inspiraled-Penelope-Aaron/dp/1495422224/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1463945909&sr=8-1&keywords=inspiraled

https://www.facebook.com/penelopeaaron2014/ Click on Shop Now

https://twitter.com/penelope_aaron

Random Pirates and Writing Groups

 

When people find out that I've written a book a lot of them will tell me that they've always wanted to write one.  "Go for it!" I say.  But there is a lot more to writing a book than just sitting down and typing it up.  Even though getting words on the page is a huge accomplishment,  you really need another set of eyes to take a look at it.  This other set of eyes should be able to tell you honestly (and encouragingly- hey we're supposed to be on the same team!) what works and what doesn't, how they interpreted and envisioned the picture you painted, and what just needs to be axed.

For example, I inserted a random kid in a pirate suit swooping in and saving the day in my upcoming novel, Inspirited.  I thought it was hilarious.  My writing group girls (whom I love to pieces and are pictured in this post) said, "What the heck!  You can't just drop him in at the last chapter.  Where's he been the whole story?  Put Big Mike in the pirate suit!  He's been here all along and deserves part of the hero cred."  Why didn't I think of that?  Mike is so big that the pirate suit will be too small.  I think that's hilarious.

So whether you've got pirate problems or a dragon named Montana that can't find a dress in her size anywhere in Shabbywocka County (take a look at The Dragon Dress Hunt by Penelope Aaron on funclassroomprintables.com), you really need to get a group of eyeballs together every week or month or however often works for you all.  But seriously, do it- your story's life depends on it!

Oh, and please check out my debut novel, Inspiraled.  Don't like to read?  Listen to it instead!  It's easy and can be free at audible.com

https://www.facebook.com/penelopeaaron2014 click on Shop Now

 

http://www.amazon.com/Inspiraled-Penelope-Aaron/dp/1495422224/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454881304&sr=8-1&keywords=inspiraled

 

https://twitter.com/penelope_aaron

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rUHA6BjxIA