Giveaway! 3 StoryFest Family Tickets and 2 of Jane’s Books

***The Giveaway is over. Congratulations to Stacy and Sharene!

We have a Giveaway! Without further ado, here are the details.

storytelling-poster-2015-1-1Coyote Tales – the Vashon Wilderness Program‘s Annual Storytelling Festival is so much fun. Fabulous tellers and a warm, welcoming community within which to enjoy the tales. As an instructor in VWP, I can tell you that storytelling is essential to our mentoring of youth in nature, and helping to deepen their connections with the natural world, each other, and themselves. Storytelling is truly what we call a core routine, and we aim to “catch” our students’ stories as often as we offer stories of our own.

The Coyote Tales Storytelling Festival is VWP’s only live event fundraiser. VWP aims to never turn any child away due to a family’s lack of funds, and to that end, has given over $95,000 in scholarships in its eight year history. Wow!

When: Sunday, Feb. 8, 2PM. Where: At the Open Space for Arts And Community, Vashon, WA. Tickets: Advance – $40/family, $20/individual. Door: $45/family, $25/individual

If you live on the island, do consider joining us at this family friendly event. Forest Halls is a proud sponsor! And do enter our drawing.

For those of you who don’t live on the island, you can still enter the Giveaway and be part of story magic fun. I’m giving away two copies of my children’s fantasy novel Because Of The Red Fox to you!  Stories (from myth and elsewhere) thread through this tale, as do magical nature ways. Be sure to note in your comments that you are entering the drawing for the book.

 Want a Chance to win a StoryFest family ticket or a copy of my book? Here’s how!

  • Read my blog post about how We (humans) are a Story People. Comment here about how you share story in your family or a special experience of when your family shared story (in any form!).

For more chances to win, leave a separate comment each time you do the following. Note in at least one comment whether you are a Vashon Islander or not:

  1. check out the description of Coyote Mentoring on the  Vashon Wilderness Program web site and tell me what you think is most compelling to you about Coyote Mentoring.
  2. blog about a Coyote Mentoring idea or about storytelling (please leave a reference link in the comment)
  3. Sign up for the Vashon Wilderness Program’s newsletter and receive their free booklet “10 Awesome Practices to Make Nature a Natural Part of Your Family Life.”
  4. Tell me about one of the “10 Awesome Practices” you’re going to introduce to your family
  5. “Like” the Vashon Wilderness Program on Facebook
  6. On Wed. Feb. 4, at 8:30am PST, Voice Of Vashon/KVSH 101.9 FM will interview VWP’s Executive Director, Stacey Hinden. Listen to this live streaming interview with Stacey about story, nature connection and children, and more, and share something you learned or found exciting from the interview in your comment.

And here are even more chances to win!

  • Sign up for Forest Hall’s ezine, Acorn To Oak. Are you already on my mailing list? Then please share something you enjoy about my ezine (newest edition will be out by Tues. 2/3) or blog.
  • Read my blog post Magical Doors, about reading aloud to children, which is another kind of story enchantment. Share here about a book you enjoyed as a kid or that you’ve enjoyed reading to kids
  • Follow Forest Halls on Twitter and tweet this Giveaway with hashtags #foresthalls #familymagicgiveaway . (Please list your Twitter ID in the comment so we can find you)
  • Post about this Giveaway on your Facebook page

Sign ups for the Giveaway end at 11:59PM PST on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015. I’ll draw the winners on Thursday, Feb. 5. There will be only one prize per family. Good luck, everyone, and thanks for entering!

***Note about the Comments capsha: Just in case it’s not clear from the instructions below, you need to click on the little images until they turn right side up.

Ready To Write? Now’s The Time!

National Novel Writing Month is just around the corner — in fact, it starts tomorrow! Each year for the past three, my family has participated. This year is no different! My younger daughter, husband, and I are all going to be working on novels.

How about you?

If you’re a kid, sign up with the NaNoWriMo’s Young Writer’s Program. There you get to set your own word count and have the fun of seeing a graph of your progress. Plus, if/when you complete your novel during the month, you receive a few lovely perks. In the past, CreateSpace.com has offered five free copies of one’s book if you are NaNoWriMo winner in the Young Writer’s Program. Whoo hoo!

If you’re an adult
, sign up at NaNoWriMo. Your challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. You’ll find lots of support and tips when you sign up (whether in the Young Writer’s Program or in the grownup version). I have to confess that on years (like this one) when I know I can’t make 50,000 words (my hands are complaining these days of overuse) I sign up in the Young Writer’s Program … I guess I feel like my novel writing self is indeed mostly a young writer. But I’m sure that’s not the intention of YWP.

But whether you sign up with NaNoWri or the NaNoWriMo Young Writer’s Program, it is so worth participating. All over the world, thousands of writers of all ages will be scrawling or tapping keyboards furiously.

How about you?

I’d love to hear about what you”re writing (novel, poem, story — anything!). Feel free to share in the comment box below.

Catch the wave and write on!

treeleaf's picture

 

When Mischief Sneaks In

Recently I discovered some cool drinking glasses with red foxes on them … and then noticed red foxes on aprons, file folders, kitchen magnets. Suddenly, foxes are everywhere!

My niece tells me that foxes are owls are “in”.

Gosh, so I have ever more reason to “fox walk” and use “owl eyes”. (Download the Because Of The Red Fox book preview and scroll to p. 25 if you don’t know what I’m talking about.)  Maybe you’d like to join me too in sneaky silent walking and wide-angle vision — both of which are really great for glimpsing the magic that’s all around us, right now.

Below is a photo of those glasses and the book, with a bit of presto-change splashed upon it. May it inspire you to discern the mischievous wherever you are!

Where have you experienced the fox or her/his mischief lately? Please share your story here!

Red Fox Mischief
Foxes are everywhere! Photo Art by Jane Valencia