2018 Goal Adventure

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Good Day & Happy New Year I am  looking forward to 2018

2017 not the best year, but not the worst year either. It was a year of identifying the changes I need to achieve future goals. Change takes huge amount of time, research and dedicated work to make it happen. I am so glad I can move on to implementing the change hopefully in 2018 and see some positive results.

First thing I am doing is setting goals, not resolutions. When you set resolutions often it results in depressing failures. But working towards goals pushes us to achieve and this can lead to fabulous new adventures.

My first goal of my writing career is to find an outstanding children’s literary agent. I truly believe after 10 years of being in this business and published by independent publishers, winning awards, great reviews, and emails from fans, that my books would be best sellers if I was contracted with a children’s publisher. Sadly the majority of children publishers do not accept unsolicited submissions. So you must have a literary agent.   I currently have 5 finished magical realism adventures, that ignites children ages 7-12 imaginations as they fly on the back of Matthias the dragon.  They meet and learn that preconceived notions of creatures and people are not what they seem. Most folks are interesting and enjoy adventures too. Adults that have read my stories have told me they are taken back to their childhood and are reminded of the imaginary adventures they thought of when they were young.    Pure pleasure. The adventures are currently magical realism illustrated chapter books, which could be made into graphic novels for children. I add some Icelandic folklore and cleverly hidden life learning messages as children learn about the Icelandic hidden people.

Book 1: James Saves the Moon–  James, a young boy, sees the moon sitting on the mountain in Iceland. He decides he must touch the moon. Along the way, he meets Syvok, who calls on his friend Matthias a dragon to fly them to the top of the mountain.  The moon is stuck, and the three must work together to release it, without ending up in space themselves.

Book 2: Helga Returns– James adventure begins with a footprint. He once again calls out to his Icelandic magical friends, Syvok and Mattias to discover what it means. He will find Helga the troll who left the footprint. James follows Helga to Yamas, the troll village. Will they be left on a glacier or when the earth tremors will they save the Guardian Troll from danger? Will Syvok and Matthias reach James in time to save him?

Book 3: Tomfoolery and 13 Yule Lads of Iceland–  26 days of Yuletide adventures.  Matthias the dragon knocks on James window and is whisked away to meet the Icelandic 13 Santas.  Christmas Cat gets James in serious trouble and he must go home. Tomfoolery happens as the Yule Lads visit  James every evening 13 days before Christmas. One yule lad must be saved when he falls into a crevice. Fires, dancing, and fireworks to say goodbye to the Icelandic hidden folks at the end of the yuletide season.

Book 4: Amongst the Clouds– James and Syvok 4th adventure has a new mystery floating about. Jame is curious to explore the iridescent cloud. All the colors of a rainbow glow,  surely there are new adventures as the dragons soar. Come along and meet new friends and old enemies. Dragons, cats, old hag and more. Join the adventures up in the sky and help the wizard find her magical key before old Hag steals the magical travel cloud.

Book 5: Sleigh Ride– Santa’s reindeer broke his sleigh! James and Syvok get whisked away to help save the day with Mattias, the dragon. The threes stop at the Yule Lads home to deliver their sleigh to the North Pole.  Along the way they are delayed by a polar bear, searching for her cub, who is floating on a block of ice in the arctic ocean. They must help, but will this delay Santa Claus?

All the above books are Amazon currently. Amazon Wendy Nystrom

 

 

Book 6: Magic Carousel: This book is in the editing stage.  James and his family are planning a trip back home to Minnesota. James is once again whisked away to Helga’s cave. He is given a mission to find a magic carousel at the zoo and see if a mermaid and ogre who went missing a long time ago and turned to stone are on the carousel. Syvok the Icelandic elf/fairy travels with James to Minnesota. They have many comical adventures while vacationing and find the carousel. With the help of all his Icelandic friends, sisters, and carousel caretaker, they work together to bring the mermaid back home. But what about the ogre? How long can they all keep the travel tunnel open?

I am also working on a novel called the New Moon Brethren. This story is magical realism set in Portland, OR. The new moon brethren is a secret society with regional headquarters that were set up on mother earth to take out the dark one regime so that all of mother earth creatures can live out in the open again.  It opens with Blaze the dragon waiting for her team to assemble. Their mission to bring a wolf changeling and her young daughter in, to be protected. The mission does not go as planned. Blaze and her old troman friend lose their mates but save young Isabelle, who may one day become an important leader at the New Moon Brethren. The dark one Delray, who was created, 1000 years ago by mistake due to a poor decision of his dragon mother, wants to bring Isabelle into his regime. She holds the DNA to create the next clan that can control earth. The novel is about halfway done.

A little about author Wendy Nystrom. I grew up in St.Paul, MN and have many adventures at different locations the last 25 years. I started writing epic magical fantasy stories for children while living in Iceland in 2005.  My son looked out the window and saw the moon sitting on the mountain. He then told me he was going to climb the mountain and touch the moon. That evening I dreamed about him going on the adventure and in the morning I was handwriting the story.  One evening while watching the moon on the mountain, changed my life. A key turned and unlocked my imagination.  I have been dreaming and writing adventures since that magical night in Iceland. I earned a BA in urban planning at Texas State University. I am married and have 3 wonderful adventurous children. I have lived many places MN, TX, ID, CO, Iceland, WV, MI. I have held many different job positions, management, customer service, sales, security, and now writing. I have visited classrooms and inspired children to write, as well as participated at a  childrens writing conference. I have been placed on organizations boards in my community

I have been told by many that my writing is original and outstanding. I am a talented storyteller and looking forward to working with someone who can move my writing career forward. I am easy to work with, open to ideas and love learning new things.  I know a little about a  lot of things.

If you are interested in contacting me, my email is wendysbookcase@gmail.com

Thank you for dropping in today. Enjoy the adventure the day brings you.  WB

Magical Realism Adventures Chapter Books Ages 7-12 by Wendy Nystrom

http://www.amazon.com/Wendy-Nystrom/e/B0064V1T0O

https://www.facebook.com/Wendysbookcase

 

 

What If Adventure

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One of my favorite blogs is https://theblabbermouthblog.com/ by Linda Epstein. Her and guest post are witty, engaging and informative. Last week she announced she was done blogging. This announcement kind of bummed me out for a couple of days. Then it reminded me of how she enlightened me about the business of writing and one of her guest post changed my outlook about writing, and life. The title is “Where Do Writers Get Their Ideas?” by Joe McGee.

What if?  What a great question.This question opens up our imagination, thinking and leads to problem solving plans.  I am incorporating this in to my life, writing and interactions with people. The next time I have the privilege of being in a classroom, conference, presentation, meeting, helping with homework I will ask what if. I have also began using it as I write.  This question is a guiding tool for nearly anything and we don’t even realize it that many of us use this  question while pursuing objectives or goals. What if the moon is sitting on a mountain? I know  when I was writing my first book back in 2005 after my son noticed the moon on the mountain in Iceland. I asked this question what if frequently when writing the story.

James Saves the Moon

I recently ran into a teacher who invites me to her classroom,  at the grocery store. While we were waiting in line, I informed her of my favorite writing blog and the post I mentioned above. “What If” She loved the idea also, and informed me she will use the what if tool in her 4th grade class.

When my children are struggling or frustrated with school work, I am going to ask what if you could solve it. I think this will calm them down to think about using another approach rather than thinking they are not smart enough.

What if you enjoy the adventure the day brings you? I hope you enjoyed the What If  adventure today.

Thanks for dropping in today. Enjoy the Adventures the day brings you! WB Magical Realism Adventures Chapter Books Ages 7-12 by Wendy Nystrom

http://www.amazon.com/Wendy-Nystrom/e/B0064V1T0O

https://www.facebook.com/Wendysbookcase

Magical Realism – Fabulism Adventure!

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Today I began a journey reading a post about what agents have been asking for and discovered two genres I have never heard of.  Magical Realism and Fabulism. So I googled them and discovered what the genres mean.

Magical Realism – a style of painting or writing that depicts images or scenes of surreal fantasy in a representational or realistic way.

is a style of writing or painting which sometimes describes dreams as though they were real, and real events as though they were dreams. 

a style in 20th-cent. literature and art that depicts fantastic or magical characters or occurrences in an otherwise realistic presentation  a style of painting or writing that depicts images or scenes of surreal fantasy in a representational or realistic way.

Fabulism – (literature) A form of magic realism in which fantastical elements are placed into an everyday setting.

I was like WOW! My writing fits these genres! I am a Fabulist, who uses magical realism.  No wonder kids and adults can relate and enjoy my stories. My children’s series for ages 7-12 are magical adventures set in the here and now.

Where would your imagination go if you saw the moon on a mountain and you decided to touch it? What happens if you discover a huge footprint and your fairy friend and dragon and show you whose foot it belongs too?How cool to have a dragon knock on your window and take you on a wild adventure and talk via telepathically. You look at a unusual cloud and wonder what could be hidden inside. You are whisked away on dragons back to help legendary yule tide characters. What happens when a troll takes you inside a mountain? I truly enjoy that my writing releases children’s imagination and reminds adults the adventures we had letting our imaginations run wild as children. 

My novel New Moon Brethren that I am working on, is not urban fantasy. It is Magical Realism also set in the here and now city environment with a secret society of all of Mother Earths thinking creatures, humans, gnostics, dragons, tromans, changelings, fairies etc working together to fight the dark ones regime so Mother Earth can find balance again. As a author I am lucky, I can have imaginary friends (muses)and travel with them and not be considered mentally ill.

As I continue on my quest to find an agent, two new words will be added to my query letter Magical Realism and Fabulism or Fabulist. Award winning of course!

Thanks for dropping in today. Enjoy the Adventures the day brings you! WB

https://www.facebook.com/Wendysbookcase