Meet Erica & Cody Wagner - Twin Teenage Writers

Meet Erica and Cody Wagner, they are published writers.  And, guess what? They are teenagers! Erica and Cody are homeschooled, 13 year old twins. The twins have been writing books since they were 10 years old. Cody loves cars, he is a car guy.  Erica, on the other hand, is all about science. 

Separately, Erica has written two books, and Cody has written two books. The twins also co-authored a book, Minecraft for Parents by Cody and Erica Wagner, together.

I am happily excited to introduce the twins for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, they are successfully doing what many of us have only dreamed of doing - - they are writing. Their work is published and available for us to read and enjoy.

Erica and Cody’s books are available on Amazon, which is another reason I am thrilled to introduce them to you. Many of us also wish we were featured on Amazon.

Erica and Cody’s Kindle Book titles are:

Minecraft for Parents by Cody and Erica Wagner

The Stick, A Turtle and a Fish by Cody Wagner

My Quest to Catch a Fish by Erica Wagner

Erica's Guide to taking care of a Grasshopper by Erica Wagner
Legend of the Viper according to Cody Wagner

Erica and Cody have also created Udemy Courses and they are premium instructors on Udemy. They were interviewed on their local Fox News for their Udemy courses. How awesome is that for 13 year olds!

Erica and Cody’s  Udemy courses are:

How to Play Minecraft for Parents by Erica and Cody Wagner

Pic Monkey for Beginners - Erica Wagner

Automotive Tips for Women - Don't Get Scammed by Mechanics - Cody Wagner

Do you have or know a young person with potential for writing? Do you wonder how you can help them get started? Visit Erica and Cody’s Amazon Author Pages for inspiration and motivation:

Erica Wagner - - Cody Wagner - - 

There you have it, my introduction of Erica and Cody Wagner, two amazingly awesome teenage writers! 

I Can See Clearly Now

I picked up my new glasses today. When the gentleman first stuck them on my face I had to re-adjust them, he had them kind of crooked. Then he proceeded to ask if everything was okay. It was. I couldn't see anything well when I walked in the place anyway. It took a minute or so for my eyes to adjust to the new prescription.

I wasn't quite used to them yet so, I ventured to look all around at the different places where there were things to read. Some I could see right away some I had to stop, wait a bit, and then the writing came through loud and clear.

He explained that it would take a few days for me (my eyes) to get used to the new prescription. He said not to drive home in them, to wear the old ones to drive back. I said okay, didn't see any need to explain that Jordyn was driving and I was simply a passenger.

A lady came over explaining that he was needed by a gentleman over there, guess the one waiting on me was the "head honcho" today. He left to go help the man. The lady sat across the table from me, removed my new glasses, and proceeded to adjust the little "doo-hickey" that rests on your nose, the little plastic thing.

"I'll adjust this a bit," she said twisting as she spoke, "they (the glasses) are sitting a little low on your nose."

They seemed fine to me, fit like a glove. I never had a pair that felt so good on the first go 'round. She finished adjusting and stuck the glasses back on my face. I had to re-adjust them. She had them on crooked. Maybe my head isn't on straight or something. Maybe my ears are crooked. Whatever it is, both people tried and ended putting my glasses on lopsided.

"Oh, I guess you would know how to put them on," she said, barely able to contain her indignation. I repeated what the gentleman had said about not driving home wearing them to her. She picked up a test paper, held it in front of me and pointed to the very last line of writing. It was about a 6 point font.

I looked at her and asked, "What? Read that?" She nodded yes. I looked back at the paper and read the line with ease.

She put the paper down, "If you can read that, you can drive home." I said okay, didn't see any reason to tell her I wasn't driving. I suppose I could easily have stopped all this talk about driving if I wanted to. Oh well, it made for a good little bit of interesting interaction there for a minute.

I put my old glasses back on my face, put my new ones in the case, gathered my belongings and headed off to find Jordyn.

At home I switched the old for the new and got busy adjusting. The gentleman was right, it was definitely strange for a while. By the time I finished my "to-do" list and sat down at the computer, I was used to having them on and ready to find out how well they worked when it came to the written word.

I can see so clearly now I wonder how I ever got anything done before. There's no need for 'head-tilting-eyeglass-adjusting' at all. From every angle, every word on the screen is as clear as day. All afternoon and into the evening, I work. My left hand often finds its way to my glasses before I realize, I don't need to do anything. I can see just fine, perfectly in fact - for the first time in a long long while.

Now, all I have to do is see if these new glasses make me write any better or any more. I really do need to get that second book done.

On The Road To The Starting Gate: To Mama Leona's We Go

One bright summer day we leave our tiny three room house in the Saw Mill Quarters walking the short distance from our backyard up the narrow dirt road toward the school. We round the slight curve past the church. Stop. Look both ways then, carefully cross the paved highway.

Happy for the play break, we hop skip and jump our way down the hill past Mr. Sam Gilmore’s big white house with the hurricane fence. Before long we reach the top of the hill singing and skipping past Mr. Hank & Mrs. Hannah Davis’ little green house. Or was it blue? Green, blue it doesn’t matter, we are glad as can be on our way to Mama Leona’s.

With tons of energy left to burn we pass the yellow and white "section-houses" where families that work for the railroad live. I wonder why they are called "section-houses". Is it because there are only three or four of them and they are located along a section of the railroad tracks for their employees to live in? Ummm...

We run lickety-split across the railroad-tracks and don’t stop until we reach the bottom of the steep little hill that runs along side the track, all the way across the huge open field toward Miss Lorene’s.

We’re now in Palmetto– Palmetto Quarters.

A short distance down the path Grandpa & Grandma Bluitt sit on the porch, rocking rhythmically in squeaky rocking chairs. Mr. Earl sits perched on the edge of the porch digging in the dirt with a stick. We are not really related to Grandpa and Grandma, that’s just what everybody calls them.

“Good evening, Grandpa,” we call out in unison. Grandpa nods with a grunt swaying steadily back and forth.

“Good evening, Grandma,” we shout. Grandma speaks back, interrupting her rocking long enough to spit a mouthful of snuff over the end of the porch.

A mere hop, skip and jump away, close enough to throw a rock, lives Mr. Henry (Grandpa and Grandma’s son) and his wife, Mrs. Bertha. No sign of them today, so we don’t have to dilly-dally around speaking politely and making nice. There’s one last hill to climb to Mama Leona’s.

We scurry quickly up the final winding hill, through the tree-lined rut-filled trail to Aunt Mary Jane & Mr. Clyde Addison’s. With Aunt Mary Jane being a whopper of a mouthful to say, we chop it down to a manageable bite-sized “Ant-Mae-Jane.”

Around the bend and finally, we arrive at Mama Leona’s.

“Hey, Mama Leona, we’re here,” we shout, loud enough for her to hear from her seat in the living room. Before we reach the first step, she’s out the door, standing on the porch with her hands planted firmly on her hips.

“You mean y’all passed by Grandpa and Grandma’s and didn’t speak to Mr. Earl? Just get your little behinds right on back down that hill and speak to Mr. Earl like you’re supposed to. And, don’t ever do that again or you’re all going to get it! Now go!” She demanded in her no-non-sense, not-to-be-questioned voice.

© 2008 by Leona G. Shankle - All Rights Reserved ▪ Dell Girl Publishing

Update

Jordyn on stage in: How 'Bout That
* * * * *

As I promised in my Saturday, June 14, 2008 post about my book, At The Starting Gate, here is the update on Jordyn.

The post read, in part, "My favorite daughter, Jordyn is Business Manager, assistant editor, and book promotions supervisor for Dell Girl Publishing. She is responsible for day to day business plans and strategies, proofreading and editing and is jointly responsible for marketing. Jordyn is the publisher of my book, At the Starting Gate."

More about the 4' 11" dynamic, Jordyn Lorenz.

My Journey To The Starting Gate - A Revelation

August 19? 2008, right? Wow, it has been a year, a whole year since it first struck me that I no longer had any body to look out for to care for - to be a mother to.

My baby kid moved out in June of 2007, got his own apartment and went on his merry way, all grown up and moving out into the world to become his own man. It didn't sink in right away as he made frequent trips back to pick up more of his things. Throughout June and most of July his ritual was to come by one or two evenings after work and he'd always come on the weekend. By the end of the second week in August he had moved all of his things.

He didn't come by that weekend, he needed to unpack and organize the apartment. He didn't come by the following week either. That was okay though. He was busy and I was busy, sorting rearranging and filling-in the gaps where his belongings used to be.

Somewhere around the third week of August on a bright sunny humid Wednesday morning I brought a load of towels from the laundry room to my bedroom. As I passed his bedroom, it struck me like a ton of bricks - unh . . .

my baby is gone. He's not coming back.

Flaming hot tears streamed down my face quicker than water through a busted pipe. I stood there in the middle of my bedroom, alone, gasping for the kind of breath you need to stop yourself from being overtaken by grief. As I choked back tears and gasped harder and harder for air one simple thought jabbed sharply in my head, "My baby is gone. I don't have any body to take care of now. I don't have any one to look after. What am I going to do now?"

"What in the world do I do now?"

"The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman

I bought "The Well-Fed Writer" at a half-priced bookstore. I bought it believing I will finally learn something about the business of freelance writing. The front cover promises "Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less."

Just what I need, a guide. Since I have no knowledge about freelancing this book will tell me what it's about, how to get started, what the requirements are, and how much money I am going to make. Oh yeah! Haha and LOL and such. Just kidding. sort of.

The front cover also indicates that this book is "A detailed roadmap to freelancing success, brimming with nuggets of practical advice delivered in an enthusiastic, casual style. If you're serious about writing for fun and profit, you MUST buy this book!" according to Bev Walton-Porter, Editor, Bookstop and also found at www.Inkspot.com, The Writer's Resource.

Seriously, I have done a quick-read, scanning for facts. What I have read so far definitely lives up to the introduction.

Now, I will go back with an open mind and read more deeply for comprehension as to what I can put to use for myself from the book, to see if freelancing is a possibility for me.

Happy reading to me.

Book Give-Away

Friday July 18, 2008 - 2:10 p.m. - You design the contest.

I have thought and pondered until I'm frazzled. I asked and you answered, "Do You Like Contests?" I got your answers. They were all good answers to the question. It helped to understand how and why you would or would not enter a contest.

Still, I'm looking for a way to get more comments and readers to my spaces and blogs. I also want to give away a book!

Who - will win the prize? How would you choose a winner? What would someone have to do to win?

What - is the prize? A copy of my book, At The Starting Gate.

Where - will this happen? The contest/give-away must be designed around making comments on my blogs, either here on my Starting Gate Blog or my Spaces Blog or both. Got any ideas?

When - will the winner get the prize? How long should it run, a week, a month, what?

Why - I want to get more people to comment on my blogs. And, I want to give away a copy of my book.

Okay, there it is. Now, I can stop trying to figure it out alone.

Can you help me?

Dell Girl's Mama

You met Daddy a while back and I promised to tell you about Mama another time. Meet Annie P. - Dell Girl's Mama.

Read the story.

Meet Dell Girl's Daddy

Before there was Dell Girl there was Dell Girl's daddy. *SEE June 26th's post.

Get a "Sneak Preview" of the book, At The Starting Gate

and . . .

Meet Dell Girl's daddy

Testimonials for My Book

Leona, your book took me back through
a journey of my past as I read it. I could
taste, see, and smell your experiences
from your point of view. They spoke
directly to my senses, forcing me to be
in the moment without any distractions.
One favorite was "The Mechanic's Wife."

Cheryl Tanner, Actress
Houston

© 2008 by Leona G. Shankle - All Rights Reserved ▪ Dell Girl Publishing

What is "At The Starting Gate"?

My book, "At The Starting Gate" is written after many years of postponing my hopes and dreams of being a writer. It contains a collection of assorted works. The poetry and short stories range from light and engaging to funny to serious.

The overall purpose of At The Starting Gate is to motivate and inspire others who have put their dreams on the back burner of life. It is a blueprint, a model to hold in your hands to examine, and to realize that you too can write a book like this. It will serve as your inner voice telling you that if she, a 61 year old former housewife and retired mother can do it, you can too.

At The Starting Gate is evidence that it is never too late - there is no better time to start writing than now.

© 2008 by Leona G. Shankle - All Rights Reserved ▪ Dell Girl Publishing

About My Title: At The Starting Gate

The title of my book, At the Starting Gate, - alone - does not literally represent the contents of the book.

At the starting gate is a “place”; the place where I am in life at this moment in time. It is a way of being. It is doing. It is both literally and physically what I do now. I write.

I write instead of wishing and hoping to – one day. I write instead of proclaiming aloud at every get-together, occasion, or one-on-one interaction that, “This would make a good story.”

I write now instead of postponing it for a time somewhere in the distant future. When situations, conversations or images trigger my writing “light bulb” and I think it might make a good piece of poetry, I write it, instantly. Granted, I occasionally record on my hand-held tape recorder but the point is I do it now.

Like a thoroughbred race horse being prepared for its first major race, I spent many days and years asserting, “One day I’m going to write a book.” That day is here. The book is written. No longer does it sit, waiting to be released from my word-soaked brain and from the various boxes bins and containers I had stored it in. Nor is my computer hard drive simply a convenient technical storage box for my work.

With that all done, I am: At The Starting Gate. I am at the starting gate of writing, writing with meaning and purpose; at the starting gate of publishing the work I write; but most importantly, I am at the starting gate of sharing my work with those who share my passion for the written word.

© 2008 by Leona G. Shankle - All Rights Reserved ▪ Dell Girl Publishing

About My Book - "At the Starting Gate"

Meet Jordyn, my favorite daughter. Jordyn is Business Manager, assistant editor, and book promotions supervisor for Dell Girl Publishing. She is responsible for day to day business plans and strategies, proofreading and editing and is jointly responsible for marketing.

Jordyn is the publisher of my book, At the Starting Gate.

Jordyn holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas and an M.A. in Organizational Communication from Howard University in Washington, DC.

A thorough and detailed update of Jordyn's abilities, skills, and contributions to Dell Girl Publishing and my book, At the Starting Gate - coming soon.

At the Starting Gate - The Beginning

The day I stood before my 2nd grade classmates

and wove a tale so tall so big so wide,

they all sat amazed and mystified,

was the day I found my speaking voice.

That day I awakened the creativity within,

the artist within.

That was me - simply being me

the storyteller, the writer.

~~~

Leona G.

© 2008 by Leona G. Shankle - All Rights Reserved ▪ Dell Girl Publishing

My Book - At the Starting Gate

My book, At the Starting Gate, is a collection of my works, from poetry to short stories. They range from light-hearted and funny to serious and inspirational. Some are true with a twist from my sometimes overactive creative inner artist. Others are a complete and utter fabrication of my hyper-vivid imagination. My book also includes some of my original poetry and short stories, the works are varied.

After years of postponing any hopes and dreams of becoming a writer, a gentle prodding nudge from my daughter rekindled the fire within – to write. The fact that the book is finished and published is evidence that it is never too late to realize your dream. At the Starting Gate quietly whispers – “there is no better time to start (name your dream) than now.

It is never too late to start, and now I am . . .
At the Starting Gate

© 2008 by Leona G. Shankle - All Rights Reserved ▪ Dell Girl Publishing

About My Book - At the Starting Gate

Hey Lin, thanks for asking about my book. I started this blog in the first place for it to be about my book. Instead I have blogged about everything else BUT that. I will do that first tomorrow. Your asking puts me back on track - thank you for that.

You can sign up for the newsletter by clicking on any article in the right-hand sidebar under the heading, "The Writing & Publishing Resource". After clicking, a drop down box will appear. You sign up for the newsletter there. You will also receive a free ebook for signing up for my newsletter.

Thanks again, Lin.