A Long Over-Due Update

Hi Everyone,

As you can tell, I haven't posted on this blog for a very long time. There are a lot of excuses, I mean reasons, for that, so I won't elaborate. Suffice it to say I will try to do better in the future. (That shouldn't be too difficult, should it?)

First an update: I started this blog to promote my craft books. I didn't do much of anything with it once I got the initial information up about my books. The books were initially printed in 2002. In 2012, six of the eight books were taken out of print (sniff, sniff). I'm sorry to see the end to my series, but it was fun while it lasted. You can still order autographed copies of ALL my books, except for PIPE CLEANER MANIA (I ran out of extra ones). Just email me for more details (alamarr@sbcglobal.net).

Much has happened in my writing career since I last posted. I haven't secured any more book contracts, but I have been writing - a lot. In addition to children's books and stories, I have written web articles, journalistic-type articles, recipes, restaurant reviews, and a whole slew of book reviews (for children as well as adults). You can read some of my book reviews by going to these websites: Christian Children's Book Review; Book Reporter; TeenReads; and KidsReads.  I have also written a lot of articles for the Internet and various websites. However, I did not get a byline for many of them so you could read them and not know I wrote them. However, you can read a few of my articles on this website, Amish Shop Online.

Although I haven't had much published recently in regards to children's literature (besides book reviews), I still have plenty of stories and books I'm working on. That's part of the reason why I've decided to start blogging. I'm hoping it will attract more traffic to my site and encourage me to keep writing for kids. My dream is to have at least one picture book published that becomes a classic, the type kids want to read - or have read to them - over and over and over again.

To that end, I have enrolled in the 12 x 12 challenge with Julie Hedlund (wonderful opportunity), added new writer friends on Facebook, entered a couple of contests, and submitted a couple of stories to agents (so exciting)! I'll keep you posted on my progress as I go along.