HITS Young Artists!

We had a fantastic day at HITS Ocala Kid's Day!

I met several wonderful young artists at the Ponies & Puppies fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. They all received prizes from local businesses, and the Grand Prize winners received copies of my books, Beloved Sport Horses and Woogie's Travels.

Participants who drew or colored horses and dogs included:

Top Photo: Hannah (left) and Rebekah were the Grand Prize winners

Middle Photos: Amelia, Cai & Kia, Ava, April

Bottom Photos: Megan, Destiny & Carly, Mae & Hannah with Woogie, Lindsey

Many thanks to Lisa & HITS Ocala for hosting Kids Day, the local businesses who donated prizes and items for the St. Jude table, the young artists for sharing their artwork and all the people who kindly donated to this St. Jude fundraiser.

Last but not least, thanks to my husband, Bob, and our Irish Terrier, Woogie, for helping me!

Online Fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

For the month of March, I'll be donating 20% of my book sales to the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in conjunction with the fundraiser and Ponies & Puppies Young Artist Contest at HITS Horse Show in Ocala, FL on March 14th. See the previous post.

Having lost a son last October to cancer, and a nephew the year before, I firmly believe in cancer research and St. Jude's has a great site and mission statement, as well as a track record of helping numerous patients. See http://www.stjude.org/about to learn more.

About my books - the Beloved Horses series. They are illustrated collections of true short stories about the wonderful bonds between horses and their riders.

Beloved School Horses features amazing, inspirational and humorous stories from my Unicorn Stables (20 years in Salisbury, MD and 5 years in Honesdale, PA) Some stories include: Windfield Farewell, a Morgan Horse who helped a scared Girl Scout earn her equestrian badge; a double amputee Viet Nam vet who rode Knipper just to prove to himself that he was still a cowboy; and Dennis, a gentle horse who made an autistic 6 year-old boy smile for the first time in his life.

When I went on the road in 2004 to market this book, so many other horse owners wanted to share stories of their remarkable equines. So, a series was born. Beloved Horses From Around the Country include inspirational handicapped riding horses, a funny police horse, a wise Belgium trail horse and many special backyard horses.

With Beloved Sport Horses, I interviewed all types of competitors with a variety of breeds and backgrounds. Some riders are famous - Katie Prudent, Carole Fletcher, Lynn Palm, Mary Alice Malone - to name a few. Many are beloved horses of those who enjoy the sport in which they compete, from Western to Eventing, and everything in between.

I'm now interviewing and writing stories for the fourth book in the series - Beloved Horses in Second Careers. It will be released this fall and prepaid orders for it in March will also be included in this fundraiser. This book will have even more stories than the others and the price will be the same at $14.95.

All the stories are enjoyed by readers young and old, and reviews and excerpts of the current books can be read at my publisher's site http://www.BBOTW.com or Amazon.com and search by title.

I also have three mystery novels for Middle Grade and Young Adult readers, and a Beginner Reader book about our Irish Terrier, Woogie. See info on his book at http://woogiestravels.blogspot.com/

Visit my site at http://www.sharonminer.com and print out the Order Form. Mail to me during March and you'll not only receive an autographed copy of wonderful horse stories, but also you'll be helping a worthy cause.

Just e-mail me at sharonminer@yahoo.com if you have any questions.

Thanks for your support!

Young Artists Contest at HITS Ocala!

I'm hosting another young artist contest, "Ponies & Puppies," this time to benefit St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital - http://www.stjude.org. After our son died last fall, and my nephew the year before, I'm a firm believer in cancer research.

It will be held during Kids Day at Horse Shows In The Sun (HITS) on Sunday, March 14 from 11 am - 4 pm. The show grounds are located on SR 27 in Ocala, Florida. See http://www.hitsshows.com/

There is no entry fee and each child who submits a drawing or painting will receive a gift, with the winners receiving copies of my books. Beloved Sport Horses features a leading Grand Prix rider, Tracy Magness, and several other riders and trainers from Florida.

I will be selling and signing my three Beloved Horses books, Woogie's Travels (about our Irish Terrier) as well as my three young adult mystery novels. See http://sharonminer.com and http://woogiestravels.blogspot.com.

Donations of 20% of all sales will be sent to St. Jude's, and other donations will be appreciated.

Please spread the word by sharing this information to an horse or dog loving child in the area!

What a Great Writer's Conference!

I has such fun at the SCBWI Miami Writing Conference, and also learned valuable insight from the speakers.

I met numerous other writers and authors, including Peggy from Orlando pictured left in 2nd photo. I even bought five books to read that were written by some of the speakers including Richard Peck (bottom photo) who gave a fantastic opening speech.

The 3rd photo is the panel that discussed first pages submitted by writers. They are from left: Marietta Zacker, agent at Nancy Gallt Literary Agency; Jennifer Rofe, agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency; and Kathleen Duey, author of numerous books including the Hoofbeats series (see my blog http://horsebookreviews.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html) I loved her writing so much that I bought the other three books of the Lara series and had her sign them!

The top photo is attendees dancing the Salsa after the Sat. night dinner! Some even dressed in costume for the Havana Nights theme.

To learn more about the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) visit http://www.scbwi.org/ I highly recommend joining if you write for children!