Imbolc season starts with February. Whether you celebrate on the 1st or the 2nd or during the time afterwards, this is the time of new beginnings. It is a perfect opportunity to introduce your children to Pagan festivals. In An Ordinary Girl, Rabbit and her mother celebrate the holiday by buying and planting seeds in preparation for the garden they tend outdoors in the warmer months. Other families make corn dollies to place in Brigit’s beds. There are a many fun and safe activities for teaching children about Wiccan holidays like Imbolc. You can make butter; leave bread out for the fairies; make a god’s eye or Brigit’s cross. This site lists many ideas and has links to instructions for some of them.

I have had a few people ask about coloring pages with Gods and the answer is yes, I will be doing the ABCs of Lessor known Gods after the Goddesses are finished. That will be very soon as I only have U,V, W, X, Y and Z left. And I am not sure there are any x goddesses! If you haven’t signed up for the newsletter yet, please do. All the other pages are archived for the members. I hope you all have a very blessed end of the year and stay tuned to this blog for updates on the new book. I’ll share art as soon as I can!

It’s been a while since I last wrote to you, I have been busy with a number of interesting projects which I am sure you will be excited to learn about.

The first one is a new picture book! Due out next year, it is authored by none other than acclaimed and award winning fantasy writer Catherynne M. Valente. Her wonderful story, called ‘Smoky and the Feast of Mabon,’ is as magical and entertaining as her adult and young adult fiction novels. And, as you probably guessed from the title, it is a Mabon story. The publisher will be taking pre-orders on their web site (http://magicalchild books.com) soon. Meanwhile, the book is in production and moving along nicely.

Speaking of books, all 4 other titles are still available at the web site as well. There are bundled purchase choices too which are money saving deals! And the publisher now accepts Discover Cards! Remember that a book is the best buy dollar for dollar of any form of entertainment. Please add one of the books to your lists when considering what gifts to get the young children in your life.

The other project I am working on is with author, Ashleen O’Gaea. Our Pagan parenting book has been picked up by an agent for representation. While the book is still in a holding pattern, both of us are hopeful it will find a home soon. I’ll keep you informed when there is more news.

I spent a rather cold and soggy October touring around the Midwest. It was wonderful to see some of you at the events I traveled to. I am always grateful and humbled by the kindness and joy with which I am greeted. Your support is what makes this all worthwhile. I am currently scheduling my 2010 events, and this year I am adding something new. I will be doing school visits! Programs for elementary through college level classes include things like how to make a picture book, story telling and what the life of an illustrator is like. If your kid’s school has visiting authors or illustrators, please let me know who hires the visiting creatives and maybe I can arrange a visit to your child’s school.

And last but not least, the newest coloring page for the ABCs of Lesser Known Goddesses is ready for download. Go to the publisher’s web site to sign up to the Yahoo newsgroup to get access to this one and all previous coloring pages. This page’s letter is “S.” The Goddess, Srahman is North African from the Kaffir peoples. She is a dryad spirit who teaches travelers the way of the woods.

As always, I love to hear from you. Please let me know what you think of the coloring pages, my books or if you have any questions about them or suggestions for upcoming new stories.

I am now on Twitter. My username is lyonmartin. Please friend me if you have a Twitter account.

Until next time!

Bright Blessings,
Lyon

This year has been especially solitary because of my medical snafu in January. It has kept me house bound much of the year and not out-and-about at festivals and events throughout the country like most summers.  I have put the time to good use. There are several new books in the works. I cannot talk about them yet, but soon I will tell you all the details. I can say that one is a book for adults. It is a Pagan parenting book unlike any other out in the market so far.

Even though I still have some healing left to do, I am back on the road beginning with Labor Day Weekend. If you are in the area, please come out and see me, I’d love to meet you if I haven’t already and renew our acquaintance if we have already met.

Here is my schedule through October:

• Harvest Homecoming & Ozark Avalon’s 13th Anniversary, Sep 3, 2009 12:00pm, Sep 7, 2009 3:00pm, Ozark Avalon Church of Nature Boonville, MO
• Mid Missouri Pagan Pride Day, Sep 27, 2009 12:00pm, , Peace Park, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
• Our Haven’s October Gathering 2009, Oct 2, 2009 3:00pm, Oct 4, 2009 12:00pm, Our Haven Nature Sanctuary, French Lick, Indiana
• WytcheHaven Weekend #10 – Riding the Winds of Change, Oct 9, 2009 1:00pm, Oct 12, 2009 1:00pm, ISIS Foundation Community Church – Salem, Arkansas
• Summerland Grove’s Festival of Souls, Oct 15, 2009 3:00pm, Oct 18, 2009 12:00pm, Meeman-Shelby State Park, Millington, Tennessee

To see complete details and for future events visit the calendar page.

This month’s FREE coloring page is the “Q” of the ABCs of Lesser Known Goddesses. Quinoa-Mama is a grain Goddess from Peru. During the harvest of the quinoa crop, the leaves of the plant are collected and made into a “corn-dolly” which is dressed in traditional Peruvian costume. The doll is saved until the following year when it is burned to ensure a bountiful crop and harvest.

Q was a tough one. There just aren’t that many Goddesses whose name starts with a Q. I eat quinoa on occasion, so I was excited to find there is a Goddess just for this small and tasty grain.

Have your children gone back to school yet? Did you know that the publisher has free teaching guides for each of my books on their web site? If you are friendly with your school librarian or even the local public librarian, why not suggest they add some of my books to their collection. Libraries across the country have. Help spread the word.

In addition to the newsletter, please friend me on
http://lyon-martin.livejournal.com/ LiveJournal,
http://www.myspace.com/wlyonmartin MySpace,
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/376137.W_Lyon_Martin GoodReads,
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/wendy-martin/3/812/93b LinkedIn or
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/kidsbookartist?ref=name FaceBook.

The publisher also has a fan page on
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Magical-Child-Books/75752934850 FaceBook, become a fan today.

I ‘ve been keeping up with my art challenge with a 30 minute daily doodle. Watch my progress on my http://wendymartinillustration.magickware.com/wordpress/
illustration blog.

As always, my books, ‘An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child,” “Aidan’s First Full
Moon Circle,” “Watchers,” and “Rabbit’s Song,” are all available from the
http://magicalchildbooks.com publisher, on my personal website -
http://magickware.com, at your favorite online or brick and mortar bookseller
and possibly even you local public library. I know times are tough all over, but
dollar for dollar, a book is one of the best deals for your entertainment budget.
In closing, I thank each one of you for joining me on this wonderful and wacky trip of mine. It is because of your unending support that I am living my dream. Your friendship is a true blessing and I am honored.

I’ve been very busy this month. Last month I decided to do a daily doodle. The reasons behind this are many, but mainly, I wanted to get into the habit of drawing something (anything) every day. When I was much younger, the daily drawing habit was something I never had to think about. With the responsibilities of adulthood, like mortgage and bills and parenting, the days seem to be much shorter.

Obviously, there are still 24 hours in a day, it’s just that they’ve become clogged with other things.

I also have been working hard behind the scenes to update (and upgrade) my web presence. I am on myspace, facebook, live journal and a half a dozen other networking sites. I have not twittered yet, but that may change eventually as many of my art friends have been forming twitter groups to network with each other. I hate to think I may be missing something.

Since my injury earlier this year, I have been home a lot more than usual because I wasn’t able to travel for my usual tour season this spring and summer. It’s put a dent in my income that I will have a hard time recovering from in the remaining months, but the down time has allowed me to concentrate on the many chores that piled up because I was either packing, traveling or unpacking for much of the years previously.

I have high hopes that 2010 will bring many new events, friends and opportunities. I just have to be patient and lay the ground work.

This month’s ABC Goddess is Pax, a Roman Goddess of Peace. Her festival day happens in July, so it seemed a perfect choice for the free coloring page. Enjoy.

—

Magical Child Books has turned two, and we are in the mood to celebrate.

Last month our first book ‘An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child,’ received the prestigious honor as a 2009 COVR Visionary Awards Finalist. As you can see, we have more than one reason to have a party!

You and all your friends are invited.

Usually when someone has a birthday, the people coming to the party bring the gifts. We’re turning the tables and flipping this custom on its head. We will give the gifts. You heard right. We are giving each of four lucky winners one of our four titles. That’s one ‘An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child,’ one ‘Aidan’s First Full Moon Circle,’ one ‘Watchers,’ and even one of our newest title, ‘Rabbit’s Song.’

You want a FREE book, don’t you? Well, yeah! Of course you do.

To celebrate Magical Child Book’s second birthday, we are holding a book give-away contest. It is easy to enter.

All you have to do to enter is post an announcement like this one on your blog. Include the youtube.com book trailer for ‘An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child’ in your post. Once you have posted the news on your blog, send us an email with the URL link and your real name. That’s it. You’re entered!

On August 11, 2009, we will announce the winner for each book. Winners will have 48 hours to claim their free book by emailing with their mailing address. If a book goes unclaimed, we’ll draw another name from all the entries. Help us spread the word. Post in your blog an announcement like this. Be sure to EMAIL contest (at) magicalchildbooks (dot) com your link and real name so we can put your name in the drawing.

You can link to this post so everyone knows how to make sure they are entered for a FREE BOOK!

And because we are in such a good mood, if you hurry and you have your blog post up by next Saturday, July 11, 2009, we’ll put you in for you an extra entry. Just for posting by Saturday.

Spread the word! Win a FREE book!

Please only post announcements in places that allow these kinds of posts, we don’t want anyone spamming in our name. Also, make sure to set the post to public so we can view it!

June has been an extremely busy month. It feels good to finally be able to get back to my normal crazed schedule.

My first event of the year was Memorial Day weekend in Arkansas. I returned to the lovely land of Pyrth Annwn for WytcheHaven Weekend #10. As always, my hosts, the lovely Rio and the wonderful Brennan, went above and beyond to see to my comfort and needs. Since I was still weak from the events in the winter, I was surrounded by my own harem of burden boys. I didn’t have to lift, drag or haul anything. I was even reprimanded for raking leaves from in front of my book booth. I do do like being spoiled.

Early in June, I received word from the publisher that my first book, ‘An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child,’ was selected as a finalist for the 2009 COVR (Coalition of Visionary Resources) Visionary Awards. Three finalists are chosen from all entries for each category. The winner for each category is announced at the INATS (International New Age Trade Show) West held in Denver, CO. This year’s Awards Banquet is on June 27th. I will be flying out to Denver to accept the finalist award and hopefully a winning trophy. I am very honored and humbled for my book to be chosen for this prestigious award.

My second event for this year was the St. Louis Pagan Picnic in mid June. (June 13 & 14) Now in its 18th year, it is the largest free Pagan event in the Midwest. St. Louis is in my backyard and personal stomping ground. It is always a pleasure to meet and greet all the local Pagan community members who over the last 5 years have gone from being strangers to fast friends.

Above is a copy of the coloring page installment for June. “O” is for Opet. An Egyptian Goddess, Opet is the subject for “O” in the ABCs of Lesser Known Goddesses. Please visit Magical Child Books’ (the publisher) web site to sign up for the mailing list and get the link to download your FREE copy. There are links to previous coloring pages for newsletter members there as well.

In addition to the newsletter, please friend me on LiveJournal, MySpace, GoodReads, LinkedIn or FaceBook. The publisher also has a fan page on FaceBook, become a fan today.

I recently gave myself a daily challenge with a 30 minute daily doodle. Watch my progress on my illustration blog.

As always, my books, ‘An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child,” “Aidan’s First Full Moon Circle,” “Watchers,” and “Rabbit’s Song,” are all available from the publisher, on my personal website – magickware.com, at your favorite online or brick and mortar bookseller and possibly even you local public library. I know times are tough all over, but dollar for dollar a book is one of the best deals for your entertainment budget. Consider buying one of the above titles for your family or friends. Or ask your local librarian to add them to the children’s section collection.

In closing, I thank each and everyone of you, whether you have purchased a book or not, for joining me on this wonderful and wacky trip of mine. It is because of your unending support that I am living my dream. Your friendship is a true blessing and I am honored to have it.

I just found out my book “An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child,” is a finalist in the 2009 COVR Visionary Awards.

All finalists and winners will be announced up on stage on June 27, 2009 in Denver Colorado during the INATS Banquet. Winners will be announced at the banquet. SQUEEEEEEEEEEE…..

I’ve been invited to be there to accept my award. I wish Denver was closer!

Oh my gosh! I can’t breath!