Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Petra Wins The Day!


Review of Sir Princess Petra Talent’s by Diane Mae Robinson


This time we are very glad to speak about a children’s book. This work is suitable for children aged 7-12 years. That is a fairy tale enriched with magical words. Its title is Sir Princess Petra’s Talent’s and its author is Diane Mae Robinson, an established and rewarded writer of Children’s books and a writing instructor at the Creative Writing Institute.
The book we are reviewing is the second episode of The Pen Pieyu Adventures, a series set in the reign inhabited by the little, brave Princess Petra, her parents, namely the king and his queen and a royal council that supervises Petra’s friends while they try to follow the rules established by the royal book to became royal knights.
The book opens with the synopsis of the first episode, where the little, nine years Petra gets the title of royal knight to have hushed the howling dragon Snarls. The latter becomes a friend of Petra, but in the book two, the parents of Petra expect their beloved princess to behave as a true Princess and not only as a royal knight. The king, hence, orders Petra to attend the Talent School to gain a talent certificate. If she refuses this proposal, she will be turned into a frog!
Naturally, Petra accepts to attend the School. In this new experience, the Princess is accompanied by her friends Snarls and Prince Duce Crablips of the Kingdom of Crablips. But which will be the talent that Petra will choose at the Talent School? The answer is in the book that we want to define a graceful masterpiece of the children’s literature.
Many readers or aspiring authors believe that writing a children’s book is easier that writing a fiction for young adults. Indeed, in order to fit style of writing for little readers, a writer must have high skills in creative writing. Thanks to her excellent writing skills, Diane Mae Robinson has been capable to create a perfect story for children.
Sir Princess Petra Talent’s is well written and created by using the proper words, sentences and adjectives, the sequences of words build a sort of poetry and this style makes the story more and more poetic and enchanting. This style emerges during each chapter of the book. Moreover, this work contains a high educational purpose because it  teaches children to develop their talent and abilities and overcome the several obstacles imposed by life.
This tale teaches, above all,  to face problems in a fun way. The adventures of Petra and her friends are, indeed, recounted with a humoristic tone and with words capable to lighten every difficult.
But not only, Sir Princess Petra’s Talent is also a book about the most important ethical values in life, namely sense of friendship, respect for other people and for nature, for the sky and the going of the seasons. This book is also enriched with drawings describing the story written by Diane Mae Robinson.
The writing of the author seems to paint and shape the same pictures of this fairy tale. To tell the truth, we have read this book with the mood of a child and we have remained happily charmed. We are sure readers will have the same opinion and much more!
One more thing: Sir Princess Petra Talent’s by Diane Mae Robinson is available onAmazon.
For more information of my dragon books for children, visit: http://www.dragonsbook.com. There's a Kid's Page and a free pdf coloring book download.
Book three, Sir Princess Petra's Mission, forethcoming 2015.

Sunday, 8 February 2015

10 Resolutions for a Saner Internet—and Life, by Jane Friedman


The latest blog post from JaneFriedman.com Re-blog from: http://janefriedman.com/2015/01/19/10-resolutions-saner-internet/
Jane Friedman

The Latest Blog Post at JaneFriedman.com

10 Resolutions for a Saner Internet—and Life

By Jane Friedman on Jan 19, 2015 05:00 am
saner internet life
For me, the hardest thing about being online is remaining focused on creative endeavors important to me. The multiplicity of voices—and the community that you care about—can make you forget your center. You get sucked into other agendas that could be worthy, but are never what you intended to get mixed up in. Sometimes, it’s hard not to play. You love the networks you’re a part of. You want to connect and contribute. You want to pay it forward.
But then it becomes hard to extricate yourself. You react and sometimes let it dictate your schedule. More and more often, you look up and realize that nothing you’ve been doing for the past few hours (or days or weeks!) much related to the underlying purpose you have for your own creative work.
There is so much to do, so much to participate in, so much to respond to—so many opportunities. It is a double-edged sword. Who doesn’t want more opportunities? But when the online community starts writing your to-do list, what happens to your own vision?
I’m not necessarily better at dealing with this than anyone else. I have periods of discipline, and then I don’t. I often gain back my discipline when I have moments away—to allow my own perspective to return. Some of the things I try to do:
  • Focus on reading or creative work first thing in the morning, for 3-6 hour stretches.
  • Stay off email for 8-12 hour periods—sometimes 24 hours.
  • Stay offline after dinner.
Sometimes I feel guilty about these things. What if students, colleagues, or clients need a response quickly? Is it OK to disappear for a full business day? I try to tell myself: Yes. And to also set others’ expectations so I don’t feel guilty.
All of this is a long prelude to 10 resolutions put forth by L.L. Barkat at Tweetspeak Poetry, as part of a movement called “Citizens for a Saner Internet—and Life.” Consider me one such citizen; want to join me?

10 Resolutions from Citizens for a Saner Internet—and Life

  1. Consider sharing three beautiful posts for every negative post we feel we must share.
  2. Share angry posts only if they significantly contribute to an important conversation.
  3. Understand anger as important, a red flag type emotion, that loses its strength if all we ever do is feel angry.
  4. Write headlines that are intelligent, witty, or intriguing without exhausting our readers by frequently playing the “outrage card” to get click-throughs.
  5. If we feel we want to listen to an angry Internet conversation for what it may be able to teach us about a subject, we resolve to do so silently for a “waiting period,” in a stance of learning rather than one of defense and counterattack.
  6. We will not link to attack journalism from our websites, so as not to give more power to the writer or website of said journalism. Related, we will not link to or re-share iterative journalism, which is a sloppy form of journalism designed to deliver a “scoop” that may have no foundation yet in truth.
  7. Consider ways to move beyond the “page view model” of Internet sustainability (which is one reason attack or sensationalist journalism is often pursued by individuals and websites, because it can result in high page views, which can translate into staying financially sustainable).
  8. Get offline for periods of rest—optimally, one offline day a week and getting offline by a certain cutoff time in the evenings—and use this time to cultivate face-to-face relationships, read, exercise, or otherwise interact with the world around us.
  9. If we are unsure about our own angry or sensationalistic post on a subject, we will first pass the post by trusted friends who come from different viewpoints, in a more private setting, before deciding whether to hit the publish button.
  10. If we have been online for hours and are finally simply “surfing” because we feel lonely or unfocused, we will get offline and spend time with people face-to-face, read, exercise, play, or delve deeply into a new interest area—one that will seriously challenge us and open up new avenues for our learning and our lives.
Sometimes, anger isn’t as much the issue (for me) as feeling buffeted by the concerns, egos, and ambitions that can be baked into social media interaction—where our moods and attitudes can be influenced who’s following, liking, responding, or connecting … or by who’s getting recognition or not … or by who’s agreeing or participating or not. Getting stuck in that thought pattern is a sure sign you’ve lost focus and probably control over what you’re trying to accomplish.
All that aside: I tend to have a bigger problem dealing with email distractions than social media distractions. Social media is easy to compartmentalize when needed; I’m still working on that with email.
As Laura says at her original post, feel free to take the 10 resolutions above and publish them on your blog. The resolutions are a community thing, and they belong to you if you want them to.
For more thoughtful reading on this topic:
The post 10 Resolutions for a Saner Internet—and Life appeared first on Jane Friedman and was written by Jane Friedman.