Tag: series

It’s Here! In Person!

New Release!! The Secret Locker, Bunnies in the Orchard Lands – come see it in person at WGV Gymnastics’ Pro Shop!

It’s Here! In Person!

March 16, 2022

“Haven’t you ever wanted to meet bunnies who can do gymnastics, especially vault?” Asks Bonnie. (from “Bunnies in the Orchard Lands“)

I am over-the-moon excited about this project I’ve been heavily working on!

Let me introduce you to “The Secret Locker,” a series of illustrated children’s books based on the wonderful imaginations of the gymnasts at my gym! (okay, not my gym, but I coach here and would like to think of it as mine) Each book follows a group of gymnasts as they explore or go on adventures.

The first one (just released!!) is “Bunnies in the Orchard Lands.” In these fun pages, we meet Jilly Beanie, Lizi, and Bonnie and follow them into an enchanted place called “The Orchard Lands” where they meet bunnies who can do gymnastics!

Can you wait to see the bunny siblings? Moon, Star, Blob, Rose, and Dally… maybe just a glimpse of hmm… The apple blossoms!

Oh yes, The Orchard Lands have apple blossoms all over! Didn’t my illustrator, Rebeccah Tart, do a great job? I love her art!

If you are close to St Augustine, Florida, come to my gym’s Pro Shop at 135 Center Place Way, Saint Augustine, FL and buy a copy (if I’m at the desk, I’ll sign it for you) and support our gym!! Otherwise, you can buy it online and still support our gym because a portion of all sales from “The Secret Locker” series goes to WGV Gymnastics!

I’m so super excited!! Rebeccah and I have two more books in “The Secret Locker” series being produced now and many more ideas coming! All thanks to little gymnasts with BIG imaginations!

Type at you next time!

~Nancy Tart

Christmas with the Chosen: The Messengers – Movie Review

A Movie Review: Christmas with the Chosen, the Messengers.

Christmas With the Chosen: The Messengers – Movie Review

January 17, 2022

(Note: This was written December 7, 2021 when whomever decided my computer’s operating system can’t access wordpress anymore)

First thing you have to know – I love Christmas! 

Second thing… I’m usually the one who talks everyone else out of going to the movies.  I’d rather sit at home and wait until it’s free. 

I have gone to the local theater for movies like “WarRoom” and “Overcomer.”  We decided to go to the theater for the “Christmas with the Chosen: The Messengers” movie last Saturday evening. 

Wow!

I have only seen part of one episode of the Chosen.  I do not like watching screens alone and when I’m home, we tend to be doing something outside, playing board games, or Louis is watching a sports game.  After this, I really want to watch them all.  Hopefully, it won’t be like the Bones series.  Grandma Joanne introduced Christina and Becky seven years ago.  We watched them after the littles went to bed and I was dispatching late at night (cab company era) usually one or two episodes each week or two.  I got to season three, we had to start borrowing from the library and the girls got impatient!  They would breeze through them!  Christina and Becky saw them all, then rewatch it and Kimberly saw them all, now Jaquline is even farther in the series than I am! 

At least with The Chosen, we can watch them with everyone. 

At the theater, my Mom and one of Christina’s friends joined us.  “Tart, party of twelve!” – our nine, one sister-cousin, one friend, and one Grandma… we took up half of a row!  

In retrospect, I have to laugh at all the wiggling feet and trying to be considerate but busting with worship sing-along voices!  Becky said if Christina’s parents’ guide website had been better informed, they would have mentioned it was best to observe this film from the back rows if your party has the proclivity to get roused into song and dance by concert-style worship songs – Becky called it “Passion camp on film.”  My only dancer who got to her feet was Thea, but she is little so everyone behind us could still see over her.  I wanted to dance!  I would have blocked too many peoples’ views though… I literally had to stop myself a few times.

I still think The Nativity Story is the most realistic culturally accurate story highlighting Mary and Joseph’s journey.  However, this film was incredible!  It had a short portion that showed, in what I’m gathering is the style of the series The Chosen, the journey of Mary and Joseph with a bit of a twist (no spoiler, I promise). 

If you enjoy music or historical reenactments, this is a must-see movie event.  

Thank you for reading,

Type at you next time!

~Nancy Tart

Where Do I Start?

March 15, 2021

Where Do I Start?

Have you ever wanted to start writing and looked at a blank paper or computer screen and thought, “okay, how do I start?”

*Raises hand and waves it frantically*

Honestly, I just go for it. 

Maybe I’ll edit and cut or rewrite the start later.  Sometimes what is the start turns into a midsection, gets edited out, becomes a draft outline, or even moved to a later story!  In “The Symbol of El Adame” (book in the works!!), the first piece I wrote is buried in the fifth or sixth chapter.  In “Web of Deception: Child of Miny’lyra” I wrote over 120 pages of copy that was deleted or squeezed in somewhere as back story.  The original start was during an advancement in Ja’hline that doesn’t exist anymore except as a memory in Jordan’s mind (and mine).  The first line I wrote for the “Adventures of Long Tail” books became a draft outline that never made it to a book!  The first written paragraph for the “Brantley Station Saga” became the beginning of book three (Becky’s begging for the “Pirate Baby Story” changed that). 

I will say that every first line of “Five Alive: Stories of the Funny Sisters” books and “The Devonians” books stay the start.  I wrote all of the Five Alive stories on the fly remembering a specific event and knew how I wanted it to start.  All of the Devonians stories follow a huge overlay outline that plots the start and end dates of each book and the timelines within each for the specific book and the overall story.  (Yes, I’m really nerdy about continuity – so much so that I’ve paused this series indefinitely as I lost my “Devonians” folder with all my Devonian maps and building plans when we moved last.  When I find it or redo the entire structure of the Devonian world, I will restart on my favorite children’s book series.)

When you can’t think of something to start with, just put your thoughts on the paper. 

Don’t stress.  You can always change it later.  That’s the cool thing about modern technology or writing with a pencil and paper (and eraser).  You can just clear it and rewrite, rephrase, or start all over.  The control key + backspace is your best friend when drafting emails and texts.

Remember that in today’s world, once you’ve posted a blog or status or tweet, it can’t be undone.  There is no “Ctrl-Z” in real life.  There is no real deleting of posts, texts, or emails once they’ve been sent. 

Still facing that blank screen or paper? 

WRITE!  Just start.  Rewriting is 75% of the writing process.  Maybe more.  Write.  Proof, edit, rewrite, proof again, edit again, rewrite again (repeat until satisfied).  In my case it’s “repeat until you run out of time” because I never think my work is good enough.  Ever.  It can be just this blog post, a children’s book, or a novel.  I never am truly satisfied with anything I write. 

Hope this blog encourages you to write!  Let your story out (or write you school essay)!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

New Release! The Tightrope Dare

New Squirrel Book just released! Read an excerpt from The Tightrope Dare!

August 24, 2018

New Release!  The Tightrope Dare

Today I’m really excited to announce the release of “The Tightrope Dare,” the second adventure in The Landmark Tribe (furry squirrels lighting the way)!  The illustrators have finally finished with this project!

Rebeccah did this illustration.  She drew and colored both the cute little squawler and the full background!

Kimberly accented the drawing for digital copy and enhanced the details on the computer (some digital art manipulation).

Each of the Landmark Tribe books is narrated by a different member of the Tribe.  This adventure is narrated by Nutty, a crunchie (the squirrel’s word for teenager) who may be just a bit over-confident (okay, maybe he likes to brag and exaggerate, as you can see from the excerpt below).

Our Landmark Tribe books are written for our church.  Any sales we get go straight back to church because it is our squirrely church family who inspires characters in the Landmark Tribe and this series was created during a trip to church!  (Read that story here!)

Come read a bit from “The Tightrope Dare” here:

 

This is the story of how, me, Nutty, greatest Crunchie in the Landmark Tribe and in all of the squirrel tribes in the Wooded Lands, saved the day with my big brawny arms!

“Nutty.”

And that is Walnut, whose favorite thing to do is do that deep sigh and say Nutty, like I’m really doing something wrong.  He is a Crunchie in the Landmark Tribe too, but he is ages older than me.  Walnut is almost as old as Kahoona, our great and powerful leader.

“Nutty.” Sighed Walnut again.

Okay, so he isn’t really that old, but almost.

On the day my story takes place, the winds were ripping squirrels from their nests and squawlers from their mother’s clutching paws.

“Nutty, seriously?” Walnut chided.

Okay, okay, so maybe the winds were just enough to make leaves dance, Walnut is only a season older than me, and maybe I am not the greatest Crunchie in all of the squirrel tribes and maybe I didn’t use my big brawny arms to save the day, but I’m telling the story and that sounds cool, doesn’t it?

And that sigh from Walnut means he agrees but doesn’t want to say I’m right about anything.  Ever.  And he certainly doesn’t want to admit that I, Nutty the Great, am cool.  But I so am.

“Why do you start every sentence with a conjunction?” Walnut said in a bookish voice.

Honestly, he sounds so much like Grizzly, a new member of the Landmark tribe, that he seems like his real son.  Grizzly talks with a gruff bear voice but through his nose like it is constantly pinched shut.  And now Walnut has walked away so he can’t hear my awesome story.  Okay, well, you will have to do.  Stay right there and don’t move.

 

If you liked that and want to see how the Landmark Tribe of furry squirrels light the way in the Wooded Lands, click on the link to buy a copy or check out my Book List to view all the available formats!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

 

You Can’t Rush Art

“You Can’t Rush Art” say my illustrators while I’m waiting on cover art for two new releases!

July 24, 2018

You Can’t Rush Art

I love finishing a new book!  I actually have two (One is the pilot in a new young adult series, the other is the second in the Landmark Tribe Books) that are finished.

Now comes the part I’m always excited about… illustrations!

I never know exactly what my illustrators are going to come up with for covers.  Rebeccah is designing the one for the Landmark Tribe book because she loves drawing animals – and I love her furry squirrels!

She was discussing how to make a “quirky” Crunchie (aka teenage boy squirrel) but still keep the soft style she did with Granny Pecan for the “Busting Berry Bath” cover.  I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

For the new series book, my illustrators get to come up with a whole theme!  With no pre-set design constraints, I’ve already seen a pastel sunset background, a sharper, darker, hard pencil background, and an oil-paint-style grid.  They haven’t decided on a “perfect” theme yet, but watching their imaginations run while they figure it out is amazing!

For now, I have to wait (trying to be patient – because “you can’t rush art!”) as they do the artistry part of my story.  Regardless of what people say, audiences DO judge a book by its cover.  This is why my illustrators make commissions off of their work!

I can’t wait to release these stories for ya’ll to enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

New Release: Alena’s Baby

March 28, 2018

New Story Release!

Yippee!  My illustrator team (Christina and Rebeccah) did some awesome cover art again! This time for the fourth story in The Devonians series!  It’s currently available in ebook and paperback format.

20180317_CetRltNat_Cover_AlenasBaby_sm

The Devonians are space castaways who have developed a colony on a strange new planet (they name it Devonia).

This newest story, Alena’s Baby, begins a few days after the end of A Foundling Furball.

It seems that Joseph Taylor has been leaving his work because he knows his younger brother, Charley, will do it.  Charley thinks he’s tricking Joseph into having to take him fishing in the afternoon since he does Joseph’s chore.  Both boys think they are tricking the other; they are manipulating, and that isn’t right.

Alena and her sister, Janine, and brother, Michael, are taking care of Tawny, Alena’s baby dengee.  The children had rescued her from Ice Cube Creek (this story is in A Foundling Furball!) a few days ago and want to ask the council for permission to raise her.

In the afternoon, while Janine is catching a fish that almost takes her into the creek, the Taylor children’s father comes and gets to meet Tawny.

For a peek into Devonia, read this excerpt from “Alena’s Baby!”

“I’m always funny,” Janine giggled, made a funny face that only little sisters can make, and skipped back toward the house. 

Sandy smiled.  “Michael,” he grabbed the attention of both boys and Alena, “Tawny is a growing infant.  Think about how most babies grow.  They grow far more quickly in their first few weeks with the growth rate slowing down as the baby ages.”

Sandy balled his fist, “see, if you could draw a circle around the first joint in her paw like a fist, that’s approximately the size of her stomach.”

“Wow,” Joseph gasped.

“Don’t baby animals digest milk quickly so sometimes they eat more than their stomachs can hold?” Alena asked.  She remembered something about that from raising the rejected lambs.

“Very good,” Sandy nodded, “yes, they do.  Milk is usually a perfect food for the baby.  Since this is Brown-Sheep milk and Tawny is a dengee, she may not digest it as easily as she would her mother’s milk, but she’s appearing to do rather well.”

“So, we should feed her until she doesn’t want any more?” Michael asked.

“Yes sir,” Sandy nodded, drawing out the word “sir” into two syllables, “she won’t take any more than she needs.  You have to care for her completely until she can eat herself,” Sandy reminded as he stroked the tiny blind creature.  Tawny mewed gently, pawed Sandy’s hand, and attempted sucking on his knuckle.  Sandy chuckled, “once she opens her eyes, she’ll start to get some independence.”

“Daddy,” Alena sighed, “she can’t even crawl well yet, she scoots like she’s swimming.”

“And lambs are not born blind.” Michael added.

“They are up walking just after they are born,” Joseph remembered.

“Yes,” Sandy was walking about, checking the lambing boxes to see if any ewes had birthed, the children trailing behind him. “In the wild, Brown-Sheep are born in the meadow or forest without any protection so they have to be able to follow the herd.  Dengees stay in one area and mark a section for their den where the pups are born and cared for until they can leave to join the pack.”

“So how long do you think Tawny will be an infant?” Alena asked.  Michael had refilled the bottle with a little milk and returned it to Alena.  She was now feeding her gurgling dengee pup.

“A few days at least,” Sandy replied, “maybe a few weeks; we’ve never been able to study a dengee pup.”

“So you’ll be my baby for a long time,” Alena whispered to the brown-tan blob of soft fur.

… (continue reading Alena’s Baby here!  Or browse all titles and formats here!)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

 

New Story Release! The Brown-Sheep Prank

New Release! 2nd in The Devonians Series – “The Brown-Sheep Prank”

December 13, 2017

New Story Release!

There’s a new chapter in the continuing story of the Devonians!  The Devonians are space castaways who have developed a colony on a strange new planet (they name it Devonia).

20171210_brownsheepprank_christina2_small

The soft-crayon illustration is done by Christina Tart. (She is a published illustrator who wisely takes commission for her work!)

This newest story, The Brown-Sheep Prank, begins the day after the end of Daydreamer. Alena Summers, whose family husbands (takes care of) the village’s herd of Brown-Sheep, is very excited about her second-favorite time – Shearing Day!  (It just so happens, that’s the day covered in the story!)

Alena loves the busy time when all of her neighbors will be gathered at her family’s house, trimming the wool (called Shearing), washing fleeces (a fleece is the wool from one sheep), preparing food (Alena’s job is to assist here), and stacking the finished fleeces in the big barn (this one is shared by the entire village).  The boys and overgrown boys (men) love the table of ready-to-eat food that those on refill duty (Alena and Butterfly) have to keep stocked.

Devonia travels in a longer solar orbit so has the equivalent of 499 Earth days in the Devonian year – so when Alena says “5 years 8 months” it really means “about 7½ Earth years.”  Just a little hint about the world of Devonia!

Now to get an idea of how busy Shearing Day is in Covenant, read this excerpt from “The Brown-Sheep Prank!”

Everyone was so busy that Alena had barely stopped moving since Mother had called her away from the Brown-Sheep observation this morning. 

It was nearly lunchtime. 

Alena’s stomach growled. 

“Oh my!” Cried Butterfly in fake shock, “you’d better feed that monster!” 

Alena laughed.  She and Butterfly were on refill duty.  This meant they helped in the kitchen and ran back and forth from the big table refilling the food baskets and bowls.  For Shearing Day, everyone snacked whenever they were hungry from the long table outside.  The unwed boys had brought it over from the meetinghouse before Alena awoke.  She grabbed a carrot stick and quickly ate it.

Alena’s Father and most of the other men plus a few older boys were cutting each Brown-Sheep’s wool close to the skin but taking care not to cut the soft skin.  This was called shearing.  This formed what they called a fleece.  The fleece was the shape of a flat sheep without legs or head.  The Brown-Sheep’s head and legs didn’t have wool like the rest of the body. 

A cluster of two men and three women with a few of the older boys and girls were thoroughly washing each fleece to make sure they would get clean. 

… (continued reading The Brown-Sheep Prank here!)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

 

Meet Matthew

October 8, 2017

Meet Matthew Taylor

Matthew is one of the Taylor boys.  He lives with his father, mother, brothers, and baby sister on the first settled family plot in Covenant.  Although he must help with chores on his family’s farm first, he prefers to spend time around the Summers’ farm and learn about Brown-Sheep.

Matthew has a twin brother named Stephen.

Matthew and Stephen don’t like to wake up early.  Sometimes their little brother, Jacob, will jump on them to wake them up!

Matthew sometimes likes to set pranks for others.  This isn’t a good trait, as he discovers every time he tries, but that doesn’t seem to stop him.

You can read more about Matthew and his family in The Devonians series, starting with Daydreamer.

 

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

A Storm and Chicken Story

A sneak peek at Long Tail and the Big Storm

August 26, 2017

A Storm and Chicken Story

One day we were playing outside and a storm came up.  Not a cute little Pooh bear thundercloud with a few raindrops, but a giant, hurricane-wind, flash-lightning-fireworks-in-the-sky, shake-the-whole-house-thunder, all-people-hide-inside kind of thunderstorm.  (Okay, it was a simple, everyday, Florida thunderstorm.)  The winds were swirling chicken feathers and fluffing them out like towel-dried cats.  Smaller chickens were hop-flying to stabilize themselves as they fought for the safety of the henhouse.

After drying off from the first wave of rain, the girls peeked outside and giggled at the chickens until the raindrops were so large we couldn’t see the henhouse anymore.  The late summer winds blew the tree limbs around like strong autumn breezes scatter just-raked leaf piles.

“Mom, can you tell us a story with a storm?” Asked Rebeccah.

“A Long Tail story!” yipped Kimberly.  She was five, and she loved Long Tail.

So we snuggled on the couch with lightning flashes illuminating the room through the big windows and started what would become “Long Tail and the Big Storm.”

The chickens of the yard were ruled by Long Tail, the great yellow chief, and guarded by Long Tail and Alfredo, the white rooster imported some time ago.  Under this rooster team, the hens and pullets scratched and gossiped and laid eggs all day with no worries.

On one autumn day the bright sky darkened with angry clouds.  The sun hid.  The birds in the woods started crying warnings and flying away.  Two small humans who were playing in the henhouse with the baby biddies, heard a booming crack of thunder and jumped!  They put the baby biddies back in the safe brooder and left the henhouse.

“Look at those little humans!” cawed Alfredo, laughing, “running like rabbits!”

A giant bolt of lightning lit up the sky just behind the woods and a cannon-loud BOOM of thunder shattered the air.  Alfredo scrambled into the henhouse and hid under the brooder.

All the hens laughed at the silly rooster.

Even Red Feathers and Golden Eye, two of the youngest pullets, laughed at him.

Long Tail strutted by, “when the water falls from the sky, we come in.” Long Tail was not afraid.

A big wind shrieked through the henhouse.  It blew the people door open!

Can Long Tail save his flock?  Be sure to check out Long Tail and the Big Storm to see just how this courageous rooster accomplishes this brave feat!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Meet Granny Pecan

Meet a sweet, pie-baking, Granny from The Landmark Tribe of Furry Squirrels

August 12, 2017

Meet Granny Pecan

Deep in the Wooded Lands but not too far from most of us, there lives a tribe of furry squirrels known as the Landmark Tribe.  They spend their whole lives racing through trees gathering nuts, berries, and other foods to eat and to store for winter.  The whole tribe works together to keep healthy, grow strong, and raise their squawlers.

Granny Pecan is the wise woman of the tribe.  Although she would laugh at such a title and say “I just speak through my lens of experience so you avoid my mistakes,” Granny Pecan is a sweet, thoughtful, grandmother squirrel loaded with tips, tricks, and wisdom.  The other squirrelesses in the tribe come to her often for all kinds of mothering advice, especially regarding Crunchies (teenage boys) since Granny Pecan and Grappy raised six of those!

She is a baker.  Oh, what a baker!  It is the opinion of every male squirrel in the Landmark Tribe (and maybe all of the Wooded Lands) that Granny Pecan’s hazelnut pie is a golden slice of heaven.  Rumor has it that her second son, Big Oak, loved her hazelnut pie so much that he named his daughter Hazel because of it.

Granny Pecan often snags one or more of the Crunchies to help her gather items.  This is what happens to Chip in Busting Berry Bath.  You can read more about Granny Pecan in any of the Landmark Tribe books!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

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