Donna Galanti - Where heart and hope meet adventure!

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Free Spooky Stories + Halloween Goodies!

By Donna Galanti

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Halloween is almost here! Get your spooky on by visiting the Begonia House today for a character costume party.

The virtual party features original spooky shorts by children’s authors: Anika Denise, C. Lee McKenzie, and me! There will be mystery surprises, bobbing for books, goody bags from Trick or Reaters and plenty more! Check out a new story about Joshua and Charlie from the Lightning Road series and see if you can guess their next adventure. You could win a poster of the Lost Realm!

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I had more spooky fun last week at an amazing tramadol school visit where I presented to 300 students at Churchville Elementary.

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Between the breakfast with staff, the special welcome artwork, and the enthusiasm of the kids – I felt so appreciated and so lucky to be in this job!

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I mean look at this AMAZING wall they created right from my website banner here.

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One of the best moments? At the end when a young girl named Chloe ran up and wrapped her arms around my waist and burst out, “You are so inspiring!”

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! 

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Pre-order Joshua and the Lightning Road & win an iPad Mini + 5-star review!

By Donna Galanti

So many fun things are popping about with Joshua and the Lightning Road (coming May 19th!) that I had to share in the excitement with all of you folks!

First,
Joshua and the Lightning Road is now available for pre-order on some outlets! Amazon & Barnes & Noble

And I’m so giddy that I’m doing a pre-order giveaway with lots of goodies!
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How awesome is this?! Even if you don’t win an iPad Mini look how cool this 18 x 24 map poster of the world of Joshua and the Lightning Road is that you could win!
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Second, I had so much fun in my first interview about Joshua and the Lightning Road and received my first review – 5 stars! I’m also giving away a print galley (a pre-publication copy). Check it out on This Kid Reviews Books . Even more amazing is that this book blog is run by 13-year-old Erik, who also happens to have his first book published! He is truly inspiring. Watch for his interview on my site this month featured in my Kid Heroes series.

Here’s some of what Erik had to say:

The descriptions in this book were so vivid I could feel, smell and envision the setting. The characters were solid. Joshua was totally believable. He had all the right characteristics of a great main character – brave, smart and kind, but he also acted like the kid he is. The story has a lot of action but also a great plot line that strings everything together. The ending is satisfying but leaves the reader buy ambien wanting to get into the next book in the series. (Read more)

In other bookish news, I also had an amazing time presenting at my first two writer’s conferences in March, at Liberty States Create Something Magical Conference in Iselin, NJ, and The Write Stuff in Bethlehem, PA . I spoke about how to position yourself as an author before you get a book deal, foundations of world building, and revision techniques. I finally got over my anxiety of teaching (eek!) and met some great new folks and met up with old friends.

YAFESTJR POSTERYou can also catch my latest post on Project Mayhem about blurring the line between good and evil in fiction. Stop in and chat about your favorite villains, heroes, and anti-heroes!

And you can see me speak this month in NJ at the The South Jersey Writers’ Group at the Barrington VFW on April 16th, and at the Bethlehem Public Library, Bethlehem, PA, on April 25th at YA Fest Jr. where I’ll be signing free copies of Joshua and the Lightning Road that my amazing publisher Month9Books is giving away – plus I’ll be hanging out with tons of cool authors!

Check out all my events that keep growing. Would you like me to come speak to your group or school? Just email me! See what I include in my school assembly presentation.

So come party with me as Joshua and the Lightning Road blasts to Earth. My favorite space traveler Captain Picard says “make it so”!

 

 

Finding white space: I ran away (but came back)

By Donna Galanti

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I ran away last week.

It’s okay. I’ve done it before. And I’ll do it again.

In a twist of fate I had two book deadlines due February 1st. As if one wasn’t enough! Yup. I had to review final proofs for book one in my fantasy middle grade series coming out in May, Joshua and the Lightning Road, and hand in edits to go to print (cowabunga!) and I also had to hand in book 2 in the series.

A storm was coming. There would be snow days. There would be laid-off husbands clunking around and a son wanting to hang out (usually a good thing!) and cats jumping on my lap and laundry piling up and meals to be made. There would be no white space just a space of many colors.

And I needed chunks and chunks of white space to create my own colors.

And I do mean white as I raced ahead of the BIG STORM I-shall-not-name that was-not-to-be to a teeny tiny town called Boyds Mill, PA. This is where the Highlights Foundation runs a fabulous retreat center with author-run workshops and cabins for writers who need to run away (apparently it’s a writerly phenomenon).

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In another twist of fate all the cabins were closed for the winter except the big lodge and I had it all to myself. Did I say ALL TO MYSELF? I did.

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Through the arctic tundra I traveled. Down snowy roads to my haven in the woods.

Now if you haven’t heard of Highlights you should! They’ve been producing children’s magazines and books for decades. And what a treasure it was to find these old magazines from the 1940s in the lodge.

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And this was my view all alone in this lodge.

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And this was my couch where I edited and revised two books twelve hours a day.

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Surrounded by framed illustrations and authors all around the world who’ve created pictures from writers’ imagination inspiring kids to dream.

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And this was my white space from my desk. But in that white space was movement and color and joy. For every day, far across the snow on the hill, two kids played. A big brother pulled them on a sled behind his ATV as their dogs ran about. Up and down they went. Back and forth. The dog tumbling along. Their laughter bounding off the snow to me.

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And I remembered the days when I would sled all day with my dogs. Down the hill to slide across the pond, yelling as loud as I could, my dogs racing with me. Then to run up and do it all over again – and again.

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And that memory and the scene before me blended into one. I grasped my own child-like wonder (that can be so often lost in the drudgery of line editing and the writing business) and the wonder of these kids before me, and looked at the pages in my book  – and I felt it there. I felt it so deeply that I picked up the phone to call my mother and share my excitement. We once shared every day. And in that brief child-like wonder my mother was alive again to me. Then the loss of six years hit me all over again. Her gifts were left behind and her vibrant colors were long gone.

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But my white space was now colored with my own paint of childlike wonder.

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And eventually I ran away back home to a world of different colors.

One of my own making as well.

And that was just fine.

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Lover of doughnuts, Doritos, and adventures (not so much authority figures). Does that make me a kid? Read More…

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