What can you get for a buck?

A book for a buck, that's what! (Actually for less!) Congratulations to middle grade author, Anita Laydon Miller! Her newest release, A SCARY GOOD BOOK, is available today. Please go read a sample, and you will be sucked in and want more. Read that HERE. And read how you can purchase this kids ebook HERE! An awesome mystery for only 99 cents!!!

Twelve-year-old Hannah Stone tells everyone she’s “okay,” but that’s a total lie. Two years ago her dad was killed by a hit-and-run driver. The detective in charge of the case never found the driver, but he somehow managed to get Hannah’s mom to fall in love with him. The jerk. And speaking of love, Hannah’s developed a major crush on Ollie Ortega—he’s her best friend and the only one she can talk to—a crush on Ollie is so not a good idea.
Also not a good idea? Searching for a missing person with no help from the police. But that’s exactly what Hannah does when she finds messages in library books—underlined words that point her in the direction of someone who needs her.
And, suddenly, Hannah’s even further from okay. She breaks into a library, gets caught in a kidnapper’s web, and is stalked by her dad’s killer, all in an effort to save a life…but can she save herself, too?

CONGRATS, ANITA! This will be the first book I buy my daughter when she gets her ereader this month! I can't wait to read the rest of the book (and share it with her)!

Also, I've been a lucky blog winner this week. Thank you to Ellen Oh; I won Carrie Harris's BAD TASTE IN BOYS on her blog!! I know it's going to be a riot. Also I won Julie Fedderson's colloquialism contest. You won't believe what phrase won me a cool Honey Bee gift basket! Thank you, Julie!!

This and That Thursday

MOVIES

I watched three movies in the theater last week. I do believe that is a record for me. I watched Zookeeper with the family when our power was out for two days. (It was okay, but kids liked it) Hubs and I saw Horrible Bosses. It amused me, but I thought it would be funnier. But still it was pretty funny, more of a dark comedy. Great actors in it. Then of course I had to see HP7. Hubs and I took our oldest. I was on the verge of tears from the beginning knowing what was going to happen and knowing this was the last movie of the series. My son begged me not to sob loudly during a certain scene that he knew I might (because I sobbed loudly when I read the scene to him). I sobbed, but quietly into my Coca Cola. The movie was absolutely amazing. AMAZING! The only thing that could have been improved was more Fred and George. I love Fred and George.

Did you see HP7? Any other movies you recommend?

BOOKS

I read through 3/4 of the Vampire Diaries books by LS Smith last week when my power was out. I liked them (I'm such a good reviewer, aren't I?). I saw the first two episodes on TV, but stopped because I decided I wanted to read the books first. So I will have to watch the Diaries on Netflix at some point. I am now reading Ditched by Robin Mellom which is very amusing. I enjoy Robin's humor, and I won the ARC on a blog contest at her blog! Thank you, Robin!

WRITING

I've been reading and writing poetry for the last few weeks. I missed it. I'd been concentrating on my middle grade novels, so it's been so refreshing to get back to what started me writing in the first place!

And you know that poem that I posted below? I made it to the final four in Shelly's Poetry contest! I actually didn't realize it was a contest when I entered the blogfest. So, it was a pleasant surprise! Today is the last day to vote for your fave of the four!

MUSIC

I enjoyed rocking to Poison and Motley Crue last month. It was super fun and even better, the tickets were free (and amazing seats!). My high school friend is good friends with Poison's drummer, Rikki Rockett (see below), and he gave us tickets! My friend Sue and I had a blast! We loved singing along with the classic hits. And Tommy Lee even had a drum coaster at the Crue set! At the end of the show, Nikki Sixx sprayed blood on the front row (see video). It seems I can't get away from bloody concerts! (See Blood Ball with 30stm!).

No other concerts planned yet, but I did just buy Daniel Tosh tickets for my hubs and I. That will be gigglicious I am sure!!

What summer fun are you up to?

Poetry Schmoetry Blogfest/Poetry Friday

Today I'm doing double poetry duty! I'm joining in at the Poetry Schmoetry blogfest today at Shelley's blog. Check here to see more entries. I am also participating in Poetry Friday which is being hosted at A Year of Reading today. I used to do Poetry Friday a lot, but my middle grade writing took over. It's time to pay my respects to poetry again!



I'm sharing a poem today that I wrote after watching a preschooler reunite with his father when he returned from war. It was so incredibly touching. I was tearing up along with all the other moms watching the special moment.



HOME FROM AFGHANISTAN


Months of waiting.
Celebrating.
Daddy’s home.

Smiles beaming.
Tears are streaming.
Daddy’s home.

We are racing.
Warm embracing.
Daddy's home!

No more missing.
Hugs and kissing.
My daddy is home!


-Kelly Polark, all rights reserved

First 250+

Today I'm participating in Shelly Watter's Birthday Blowout Contest!
And here I go. Any feedback is appreciated!

Title: Rock 'n' Roll Princesses Wear Black
Genre: Humorous Middle Grade
Wordcount: 26,000


My cousin Gina coined our place, The Loud House.

“Yes, I’m back in black!” blasted from the family room speakers. My little brother cried like a baby in his bedroom, because, well, he’s a baby. I stepped into my room and shut the door for some rare peace and quiet. Why couldn’t our place be The Occasionally Loud House?

Even with my door closed I could hear my dad listening to his AC/DC playlist on the iPod speakers. He always did that when he paid bills. AC/DC is a classic rock band. Which means they’re old. I like music and all; in fact, I love it. But there’s a time for rocking out, and there’s a time to get things done. I needed to find something to wear to Brooke’s birthday party right now. Stat. Immediately. Pronto. If only my brother would go back to sleep. He should be napping now. He usually can sleep through music playing, dogs barking, anything in The Loud House. Mom said that he’s teething. Another reason for my parents to smother him with attention. Another reason to say, “Stef, wait a minute. Stef, I can’t do this now. Stef, your brother is the only thing we care about.” Okay, maybe they’ve never said that last one, but they’ve probably thought it.

I rifled through the middle drawer of my white dresser and searched for something to wear. I couldn’t find one thing with pink on it. My mom was not going to like that I left the shirts in a rumple instead of neatly in a stack. She worked at the Gap in high school and learned how to perfectly fold clothes. Maybe I’ll let her redo my stacks, you know, to remind her of the good ole days of high school.

This and That Thursday

BOOK SIGNING

Look who I got to meet this week! Shelley Moore Thomas had a wonderful and busy library book tour in Illinois recently, and lucky for me, one was about 30 minutes from my house! I took my younger two to listen to her tell stories and read A Good Knight's Rest. My children and the children attending all adored her. Shelley has such a way of entertaining the little ones with her fabulous voices, cute puppets, and interactive stories. I was so glad to not only meet her, but watch her do her magic! She isn't called the Storyqueen for nothin'!

LIFE

I apologize for not being around the blogosphere lately. I am taking two graduate courses in four weeks, and it is taking up the majority of my time. I have an Illinois teaching certificate, but I am applying for a Wisconsin one, too. I need 6 hours of graduate credit to get it since I've been out of the classroom for so long (it's been twelve years since I've been a full time teacher!). Even though it is a buttload of work (that's a new educational term I learned), I am finding the courses so interesting and informative. I'll be checking blogs more often in July!

GOOD NEWS

There is so much great news for my bloggy friends!

1. Congrats to Stephanie Blake. She recently signed with an agent! Go congratulate her and find out the deets!

2. Congrats to Donna Earnhardt! She recently signed a contract with Flashpoint Press for a picture book. Go say, "Way to Go!" here.

3. Congrats to Myra McEntire on her YA book release, Hourglass! Isn't the cover awesome?!

4. Have you seen Elana Johnson's fan website for Possession?! It is amazing. Check it out here.

5. It's summer! Have you downloaded PJ Hoover's newest book Solstice yet? Go to her blog to see how you can purchase her book for 99 cents!

Do you have any fun or good news to share?

MUSIC

Yes, I'm going to another concert on Saturday. Isn't that what summer is for? It will be a great break between assignments. I'm so excited to see Motley Crue, Poison and the New York Dolls. I've seen the Crue and Poison many times in my day; they always put on a kick butt show! Now where's the hairspray???

Possession

Today I am participating in a Possession Celebration Blog Hop hosted by Nichole Giles !
First of all, congratulations to the wonderful, generous, talented Elana Johnson on her book birthday for her debut young adult novel POSSESSION! And another congratulations to Elana, because the companion novel to POSSESSION recently sold! What a fabulous June you are having, my dear!

To celebrate, I am supposed to tell about a time I broke the rules. This is hard for me as I am a strict rule follower, law abider. I was a good kid. I'm a good adult. So, I will tell you about the first time I got a speeding ticket. (I've only had a few!)

I was in college and driving my friend Becky home from our summer jobs as Human Resources interns. The sun was shining, we were giggling as always on our way home with the radio blasting. I sang along loudly to the chorus of Queensryche's "Jet City Woman" as it played on THE BLAZE hair band radio station. And then I looked in the rear view mirror at the lights flashing behind me. My heart sank.
I looked nervously at Becky and pulled over to the side of the road. I knew I had been speeding. I wasn't paying attention.
As the officer approached my car, I hiked up my mini skirt to show some more leg as a last minute attempt to bat my eyelashes out of the ticket. But the tired looking, older gentleman asked for my license and registration anyway. As I waited nervously in the car, he returned with my very first speeding ticket. Crap!
I'm pretty sure I cried when I told my mom when I got home. I paid for the ticket myself with my summer job money. But I did the crime, so I paid the fine.

So that is my rule breaking story that my long, tan legs didn't get me out of. Nothing exciting, but definitely a moment I'll always remember!!
Were you a troublemaker?? :)

I also want to give another book birthday shout out to Shelley Moore Thomas! Her picture book A Good Knight's Rest is released today, too!! Congrats, Shelley!

Today's Tune for Tuesday is "Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest. I loved when James sang with them on the Idol finale! Also random fact about me: I yell, "Judas Priest" like a curse word! (My grandma used to, too.)

Fun and Games Blogfest

The king of blogfests, Alex Cavanaugh is hosting today's superdeeduper fun blogfest. Participants are to list their three favorite games.

Here are mine!

1. Scattergories - I love this, because you think it should be easy, but it isn't! I also love that it is fun for all ages so we can have family games.

2. You Don't Know Jack - My hubby and I used to play this game on the computer many years ago before kids. We are super competitive with one another, and this one was great because we were about even with wins. We are getting him the Wii or Xbox version for Father's Day! (shhhh, don't tell him! He's so busy with work this week; I know he won't read this!)

3. Apples To Apples - We have family games around the table. Even my kindergartener can play it! The only downside is no one likes it when I'm the judge. They think I'm a terrible judge! But it's so fun anyway!

Honorable mention - Pig or horse at the basketball hoop in the driveway with my son. Competitiveness runs in the fam.


What's your favorite game?? Find out what others have to say at Alex's blogfest headquarters! Join in on the fun!

Another favorite pasttime of mine? Concerts! I went to Q101 Jamboree with my mom and sister on Saturday. I even got to see Carolina Valdez Miller and Erica Chapman there (they had Pit tickets, brave girls). We ended up with fifth row seats, so we were pretty happy! We saw Sum 41, Papa Roach, Seether, and 30 Seconds to Mars! Papa Roach is now the band I've seen the most times live (this was my sixth!). And I even got a hug from Papa Roach's electrifying frontman, Jacoby Shaddix, when he came out into the crowd! Here he is right before he couldn't resist my charms.

And here's a pic of Jared Leto from 30 Seconds to Mars, another amazing frontman!

I hope the photo resizing and post formatting works. This Blogger is driving me nuts!
Have a great week, everyone!!