Debbie Dadey – Story Catcher Publishing

WE HAVE A OCTOBER WINNER! WOOT! WOOT!

October 20, 2021Donna L

I’m so glad to be able to announce we have a winner for the October PAY A BOOK FORWARD book bundle giveaway! Woot! Woot!

Word continues to get out about the hundreds of books I will be giving away for FREE throughout 2021 which makes THIS book lover very happy!

Put your hands together for October’s PAY A BOOK FORWARD winner…

DEBBIE DADEY!

Debbie will be sharing these books with Isaiah 117 House of Sevier County (http://www.facebook.com/isaiah117seviercounty/) in memory of her son, Alex. I also added a few extra books to the bundle as well. I’ll be sending Debbie a message so I can get her books to her hopefully by next week.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month’s PAY A BOOK FORWARD event! Make sure to come back on November 10th to see what’s in store for the special HOLIDAY giveaway!

In the meantime, share a little book love with a child in your world. Give them the first step into a magical, life-long love of reading!

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Hybrid published author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a ‘ninja’ writer of flash fiction, children’s picture books, chapter books, young adult novels and inspirational essays by night. Donna offers occasional BOOK NOOK REVIEWS of great children’s books and offers WRITERLY WISDOM to new and established writers. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and Children’s Book Insider. Donna loves dark chocolate, going to the beach and adding to her growing book collection. You can check out Donna’s books on her website (www.storycatcherpublishing.com) or through her Amazon author page (www.amazon.com/author/donnalmartin).

Want to connect?

Pick your favorite…

Email: [email protected]

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LinkedIn: Donna L Martin/Story Catcher Publishing

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Mail: Donna L Martin

c/o Story Catcher Publishing

P O Box 27788

Knoxville, Tn 37927

FEEL GOOD FRIDAYS: Debbie Dadey

May 29, 2020April 15, 2020Donna L

Debbie quote

(Editor’s Note…If you’re like me, adjusting to a new, COVID-19 world is a bit stressful. Everywhere you look…radio, TV, newspapers, and even the internet…are stories of the latest stats from around the world. Hospitalizations. Unemployment. Social distancing. How do we keep our sanity in the middle of all the craziness?

BY STAYING CONNECTED WHILE STAYING SIX FEET APART

For the next several weeks, many of my writerly friends will be virtually dropping by to inspire, uplift, and make us laugh as we look for reminders that even the scariest of times do not last forever. I hope you enjoy this FEEL GOOD FRIDAYS series. If you want to know more about me, Donna L Martin, or my books, check out my Story Catcher Publishing website at www.storycatcherpublishing.com)

Pandemic Swing

By Debbie Dadey

I spent a lot of time on my swing when I was a kid. It wasn’t a fancy wooden one like you seen in the backyards of MacMansions today. It was red metal with a painted wooden frame my daddy had attached to the bottom. The frame was supposed to keep it from rising off the ground or turning over. It didn’t work. We never turned over completely, but we did lift the frame off the ground almost every day. We would swing for hours. Sometimes I’d sing or sometimes I’d talk with my brothers or friends. The wooden frame made a seat for me to tell all my troubles to my dog, Spike.

On a really good day, our neighbor, Dougie, would come over. He would stand in front, on the frame stage, and give us a comedy show that was better than the Brady Bunch. It didn’t matter if I’d flunked a spelling test or I was in trouble with my mom, the entertainer would help me forget it all.

I realize I’ve been on a pandemic swing lately. Perhaps you have as well. My frame has been wobbling up and down, making me nervous the whole thing will tip over. I admit I’ve been singing around the house perhaps more than usual. On Easter morning, I stood on my porch looking at the sunrise and sang, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today!” at the top of my lungs. Not sure what my neighbors thought about that.

I’ve also called and texted my family and friends more than usual, just to make sure they aren’t sick. It’s comforting to face similar problems, like neurotic hand washing, with someone else. It’s not the same as sitting side by side on a swing set, but it’s still a comradery that’s soothing. My dog has even suffered through some teary talks and came out wagging her tail.

But mostly, what has helped me to keep moving has been entertainment. My husband and I have been watching a movie a night, when we would normally watch one a week at the most. I am averaging a book a day, when usually one might last me a week. I tried reading classics, but I needed comfort fiction, which for me is Christian Historical Romance. I needed books I enjoyed and swept me away like an old Calgon bath commercial. After all these years, I still needed the diversion of the arts to take me away from the troubles of the day. I keep my regular ‘work at home schedule’, but I make allowances for ‘comfort time,” because we must be kind to ourselves as we face this pandemic swing. We will not tip over, but soar on.

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Pearl needs her merfriends’ help when she’s named Winter Princess and finds out she’s going to be a big sister in this sparkling Mermaid Tales adventure.

Pearl is over the moon when she gets the fin-tastic news that she’s been picked to be the next Winter Princess! She can’t help gushing to Shelly, Kiki, and Echo about the beautiful dress she’ll get to wear and how all eyes will be on her when she makes her big speech at the Winter Festival. She can’t wait to tell her parents!

But her parents have some news of their own…Pearl is going to be a big sister! They’re adopting a baby boy, and he’ll be coming home with them right around the time of the Winter Festival. Suddenly, instead of glittering gowns and princess tiaras, Pearl has to talk about new cradles and baby toys. How can her new brother be stealing all of her parents’ attention before he’s even here?

Can Pearl convince her parents that a messy, noisy baby is the last thing they need? Or will she discover she’s more suited to being a big sister than she thought?

Available on Amazon and other online retailers.

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Debbie Dadey is the author and co-author of 176 traditionally published books, including the upcoming Mermaid Tales book, The Winter Princess. It is available for pre-order before the July release (pushed back because of the pandemic). Debbie is working to help homeschooling needs by providing content on her website and with a YouTube live reading every Friday at 2:00 Eastern through the end of May, which will be available on her YouTube channel afterwards. During National Library Week, Debbie will read aloud an entire book, Marty the Mudwrester, on FacebookLive at 9:00 Eastern, which will be available afterwards in her Facebook library. Find out more about Debbie on debbiedadey.com, Facebook.com/debbiedadey, Twitter.com/debbiedadey, or youtube.com/debbiedadey

BOOK NOOK REVIEWS: Debbie Dadey

July 17, 2019July 14, 2019Donna L

Title: Mermaid Tails: The Narwhal Problem
Author: Debbie Dadey
Illustrator: Tatevik Avakyan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Publishing
Ages: 8-10

Synopsis:

Kiki is super excited — a narwhal is visiting Trident City! Kiki has always wanted to see a narwhal, but they live far away under the ice in the Arctic Circle, so it’s never been possible until now.

Doctor Reef is having a code-breaking contest. Whoever can solve her code will get to meet the narwhal. Kiki doesn’t know anything about codes. All the merkids in her class seem to know a lot, and they all want to win. Kiki’s going to have to learn everything she can about codes — and fast!

But when they finally do meet the narwhal, Kiki and her merbuddies learn that there is a big problem in the ocean…something that could hurt them all. Is there anything they can do to solve this mystery?

Why you should read it:

Who doesn’t like mermaids? And mysterious sea creatures who look like unicorns? Award winning author, Debbie Dadey has another winner on her hands with the latest in her Mermaid Tales series. By combining a catchy story line with characters elementary children find engaging, Ms. Dadey weaves a whimsical tale while subtly introducing school age kids to basic coding.

Teachers will find the Narwhal Reports in Code useful and challenging for students to think outside the box.

With more than 170 published books to her name, author Debbie Dadey is quite possibly the undisputed queen of successful chapter book series. Her latest effort, The Narwhal Problem, would make a great addition to any home or school library!

Like-O-Meter Rating: 5 out of 5…grab it!
**Rating scale**
5 out of 5…grab it!
4 out of 5…think about it.
3 out of 5…take or leave it.
2 out of 5…maybe not for you.
1 out of 5…forget about it!

AN INDIE AUTHOR’S JOURNEY: And The Winner Is…

October 29, 2018Donna L

I’m delving into the world of indie publishing. Some authors go the quicker route and use a source like Kindle Direct to immediately get their books out there.

There’s nothing wrong going that route but I’ve decided to take a different path.

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I was lucky enough on Saturday to participate in a ten author, costume themed book signing event at The Book Market in Sevierville, Tn. This writing life sometimes feels like going to the Oscars. You put your heart and soul into your story, and then one day you are invited to attend a group celebration of your book, along with other authors. And when you walk in the door of that bookstore and see a stack of your novel displayed for the world to see, it’s like someone just gave you that shiny gold statue for a job well done. And at that moment I could tell myself…

I’M A WINNER!

I’m a visual writer and love adding visuals to my book display when I go on author visits. I had a replica of the Cup of Notari holding skull pencils to give away, a small resin treasure chest with pirate coins, a limited edition whale tale statue, a replica of King Midar’s lost journal, as well as some STORY CATCHER PUBLISHING business cards, and some promotional postcards for my young adult fantasy novel, LUNADAR: Homeward Bound.

I also got to hang out with a couple of my critique partners. Here is Rick Starkey, fabulous author of BLUES BONES. His middle-grade novel is about voodoo and blues music. He jammed on that cool guitar when he wasn’t meeting people, and even showed me a magic trick which came pretty easy to him since he owns a magic shop in Gatlinburg.

This is the sparkly Debbie Dadey, another of my critique partners. I want to be like her when I grow up. IF I ever grow up. She writes lovely chapter books for children and has sold MILLIONS of copies of her BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS series and now her MERMAID TALES series. She looked regal in her lovely mermaid costume.

Here we are…Rick, Debbie, and myself…all dressed up and having a blast as a character from our books.

Here are some of the other authors who attended the book signing event. I met all of them earlier this year during the Rose Glen Literary Festival but now I was “one of them”.

Here I am chatting with Fayla Ott. She has written some Christian romance novels before but her latest book, AFFLICTED, is a historical fiction about the Salem Witch Trials. We discovered we had much in common…both ran a martial arts school, both were hybrid authors, both came from Louisiana. It was fun sharing our publishing journeys with each other.

Book Market Book Signing.jpg

But by the end of the day, I could look around and see we are ALL winners because we shared a common goal…sharing our stories and a love of books with others.

Just before it was time to pack up everything, this young lady stopped by my table and was so excited when she found out there were pirates and fairies and mermaids and evil creatures in LUNADAR that she ran to beg her dad to let her buy it. It made my day to see her eagerness to read my story and it helps validate that I am EXACTLY where I should be in my writing journey…

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WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!
WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!

I’m happy to announce the winner of week five of my TWELVE WEEKS OF LUNADAR free giveaway! Stuart Field has won a beautiful moon and stars necklace. Thanks for following this blog! Congratulations! Look for my email on how to get your prize…

Week Six

***DON’T FORGET! It’s week six of THE TWELVE WEEKS OF LUNADAR giveaway and this week you get a chance to win another audio book shown above! Just click on the pile of presents to the right of this post and choose how you would like to enter the FREE giveaway. Winners will be announced every Monday in my INDIE AUTHOR’S JOURNEY post, so enter the FREE giveaway and check next Monday to see if you’ve won!

LUNADAR cover jpg
Ruler by day, a reluctant pirate by night, 18-year-old Princess Ariana fights for her subjects in the waterfall city of LUNADAR. In a kingdom surrounded by fairies and mermaids, and ravaged by deadly Drundles, only a chosen few are trusted to guard her daughter, Candra, as the secret heir to the throne.

But it only takes one ill-fated meeting for Ariana to suddenly be plunged into an escalating web of secrets found in her father’s journal, a deadly kidnapping, and an ever-weakening resolve to turn her back on the call of the merman’s song.

With Ariana’s world falling apart and the future of LUNADAR at stake, how will she bring her father’s murderer to justice and fulfill a deathbed promise to protect Lunadar’s legacy?

donna
International best selling, award-winning author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a ‘ninja’ writer of children’s picture books, chapter books, young adult novels and inspirational essays by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books, and the host of WRITERLY WISDOM, a resource series for writers. Donna is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and Children’s Book Insider. She is a lover of dark chocolate, going to the beach and adding to her growing book collection. Donna’s latest book, LUNADAR: Homeward Bound (a YA fantasy), is now available in ebook and print form from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, and other online retailers.