Waiting to hear from readers out there! Click HERE for contest details.
Check out this "review"!
Dear Tzipi Caton,
I am so mad at you. My mother keeps ignoring me. She is reading this book and not paying any attention to me. So not fair! So don't write any more books, unless they are children's books. My mother says I am not old enough to read this one yet, maybe when I am bigger. Even though I am seven years old and I read on a fourth grade level. So you could write one for like fifth graders, that would be good. And when my mother finally came down to the kitchen, she still wasn't listening to me, so I said "I can tell, you're THINKING about INVISIBLE ME!" And then we both started laughing cuz she said I was right!
So to make me feel better, she said I could tell you how I am feeling...she said you might have more time to listen than she does right now.
Sincerely,
Chaya
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Tell Me About It!
My book is on the shelves!!!! I saw it today!!! I even took a picture, hehe.
Now I want everyone to get their hands on a copy and read it, and I'll even offer you a good incentive to do so.
Targum and I are putting up a contest.
We're looking for the best review on Invisible Me.
We need readers to write up what they think about the book, why or why not they'd recommend it to others, what age group they think its appropriate for, what they enjoyed most, and of course, anything else they'd like to share about Invisible Me.
The only things you can't include are spoilers about the book. Please don't mention any specific incidents and of course, don't give away the ending!
All entries will be published on Targum's website, and together, my editors and I will choose our favorite one.
The contest is open from December 1, 2009 until January 31, 2010. Please send your entries to my email address, TwinkleBrite AT yahoo.com and don't forget to put REVIEW in the subject line.
Give us a name you'd like your review to be listed under and we'd like your age as well. (If you prefer your name and age not be mentioned, just say so and we'll keep it private, but you'll still need to send it in to be eligible to win.)
Now for the most important part, the PRIZE! Targum has generously offered to give our winner a 30% discount at Targum.com. Depending on how many reviews are submitted and how many excellent ones we'll need to choose from, we might consider runner ups, but for now, this is what you'll be competing for.
Check out Bas~Melech's review of my book to get an idea of what we are looking for. Thank you Bas~Melech for the great regards!
So dear fans- get reading cos I'll be waiting for your reviews!
-Tzipi
Now I want everyone to get their hands on a copy and read it, and I'll even offer you a good incentive to do so.
Targum and I are putting up a contest.
We're looking for the best review on Invisible Me.
We need readers to write up what they think about the book, why or why not they'd recommend it to others, what age group they think its appropriate for, what they enjoyed most, and of course, anything else they'd like to share about Invisible Me.
The only things you can't include are spoilers about the book. Please don't mention any specific incidents and of course, don't give away the ending!
All entries will be published on Targum's website, and together, my editors and I will choose our favorite one.
The contest is open from December 1, 2009 until January 31, 2010. Please send your entries to my email address, TwinkleBrite AT yahoo.com and don't forget to put REVIEW in the subject line.
Give us a name you'd like your review to be listed under and we'd like your age as well. (If you prefer your name and age not be mentioned, just say so and we'll keep it private, but you'll still need to send it in to be eligible to win.)
Now for the most important part, the PRIZE! Targum has generously offered to give our winner a 30% discount at Targum.com. Depending on how many reviews are submitted and how many excellent ones we'll need to choose from, we might consider runner ups, but for now, this is what you'll be competing for.
Check out Bas~Melech's review of my book to get an idea of what we are looking for. Thank you Bas~Melech for the great regards!
So dear fans- get reading cos I'll be waiting for your reviews!
-Tzipi
Monday, November 23, 2009
Economics Lesson
Gave my husband a lesson in economics.
He went to the grocery store and I told him I needed Motrin, but only the Extra Strength.
He told me the Extra Strength usually cost more and shouldn't he rather get the lower dose?
So I explained carefully that if he bought the lower dosage and I'd have to take four pills instead of the two Extra Strength I normally need, I'd finish twice as fast and then replacing that bottle would cost a lot more than just having the Extra Strengths to begin with.
I thought he understood but then he came home with four travel packs of Motrin each containing two low dose pills. Each travel pack cost a whopping 75 cents! He spent three dollars on what is essentially to me two doses, or about eight hours of toothache relief.
He said the store was all out of bottles and this was the only thing they had left.
When I lost my head about spending three dollars on two doses of Motrin when an entire bottle of 250 pills cost about $5, he calmly replied that if he'd come home without anything and saved the money he'd be up all night hearing me kvetch about my toothache.
So, he concluded, he didn't actually spend the $3 on meds for me. He spent three dollars on a guaranteed good night's sleep.
Economics indeed.
He went to the grocery store and I told him I needed Motrin, but only the Extra Strength.
He told me the Extra Strength usually cost more and shouldn't he rather get the lower dose?
So I explained carefully that if he bought the lower dosage and I'd have to take four pills instead of the two Extra Strength I normally need, I'd finish twice as fast and then replacing that bottle would cost a lot more than just having the Extra Strengths to begin with.
I thought he understood but then he came home with four travel packs of Motrin each containing two low dose pills. Each travel pack cost a whopping 75 cents! He spent three dollars on what is essentially to me two doses, or about eight hours of toothache relief.
He said the store was all out of bottles and this was the only thing they had left.
When I lost my head about spending three dollars on two doses of Motrin when an entire bottle of 250 pills cost about $5, he calmly replied that if he'd come home without anything and saved the money he'd be up all night hearing me kvetch about my toothache.
So, he concluded, he didn't actually spend the $3 on meds for me. He spent three dollars on a guaranteed good night's sleep.
Economics indeed.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Invisible Me
For all the nosey little fans out there already asking questions, here's some background on the new book.
One night, while I was in the middle of writing another novel (that I hope to get back to writing now IY"H,)I was in the mood of a challenge.
Writing was going too easily for me. It was just so simple to put the story to paper and I was bored.
So I came up with a concept. Not to write about mental illness, (as some people think is the point of this book), but to tell a story from inside the head of a girl who couldn't speak for herself.
I wondered if I could do it. If I could make a story happen, in first person narrative, from the perspective of a girl who could hear and feel but not add to a conversation. I wondered if I could tell her story and make things right for her and help her prove her worth even without her voice.
So Dini is a girl with Selective Mutism. The book though, is not about her disability. It isn't meant to be. The book is about relationships. Its about struggling to be heard and loved through the haze of things you say to fill empty spaces.
I wanted to see if I could have conversations without talking. And what it would look like if you only got to see one side; the side in Dini's head.
Targum Press did an excellent job with the book- they put different fonts for every time Dini writes a note and other fonts for the people in her life who write back. It's a fun book to read and also challenging.
Aside from the fun I had playing around with the literary side of it, it's emotional too. I wouldn't call it cheesy, because I don't go for the mushy stuff. (Unless we're talking chocolate cake in which case, bring it on!)
It's emotional just because it's frustrating living inside the mind of a bright, talented, otherwise normal girl, while being treated like a retard. My aim was to help the reader feel just as trapped as Dini is and feel along with her and see the story from her side.
The story is pure fiction. Like I said, it was just a dream on my part to challenge myself and see if I could do it. I'm bored of all the regular linear books out there. The plots are okay, but they all kind of mush together after a while. I wanted mine to stand out. Not so much because of the plot, but because you have to work to read it and so I hope it'll stay with readers a lot longer.
No, it's not another Miracle Ride. Nothing will ever be. But it's still worth reading. Not just because I wrote it, but because I really think it's good. *pats self on back*
So if you pick up a copy, let me know what you think!
One night, while I was in the middle of writing another novel (that I hope to get back to writing now IY"H,)I was in the mood of a challenge.
Writing was going too easily for me. It was just so simple to put the story to paper and I was bored.
So I came up with a concept. Not to write about mental illness, (as some people think is the point of this book), but to tell a story from inside the head of a girl who couldn't speak for herself.
I wondered if I could do it. If I could make a story happen, in first person narrative, from the perspective of a girl who could hear and feel but not add to a conversation. I wondered if I could tell her story and make things right for her and help her prove her worth even without her voice.
So Dini is a girl with Selective Mutism. The book though, is not about her disability. It isn't meant to be. The book is about relationships. Its about struggling to be heard and loved through the haze of things you say to fill empty spaces.
I wanted to see if I could have conversations without talking. And what it would look like if you only got to see one side; the side in Dini's head.
Targum Press did an excellent job with the book- they put different fonts for every time Dini writes a note and other fonts for the people in her life who write back. It's a fun book to read and also challenging.
Aside from the fun I had playing around with the literary side of it, it's emotional too. I wouldn't call it cheesy, because I don't go for the mushy stuff. (Unless we're talking chocolate cake in which case, bring it on!)
It's emotional just because it's frustrating living inside the mind of a bright, talented, otherwise normal girl, while being treated like a retard. My aim was to help the reader feel just as trapped as Dini is and feel along with her and see the story from her side.
The story is pure fiction. Like I said, it was just a dream on my part to challenge myself and see if I could do it. I'm bored of all the regular linear books out there. The plots are okay, but they all kind of mush together after a while. I wanted mine to stand out. Not so much because of the plot, but because you have to work to read it and so I hope it'll stay with readers a lot longer.
No, it's not another Miracle Ride. Nothing will ever be. But it's still worth reading. Not just because I wrote it, but because I really think it's good. *pats self on back*
So if you pick up a copy, let me know what you think!
NEW BOOK!!!
It's HERE!!!
I just got my Author's copy and if I do say so myself, it looks good!!!
Check it out here!
I just got my Author's copy and if I do say so myself, it looks good!!!
Check it out here!
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Vampires Suck
Edward Cullen- come and get me.
I went to donate blood today and no one wanted it!
I did everything; played nice, pleaded, begged, groveled, threatened to prick my own arm until they had to restrain me, but no cigar.
Parents lie to you to make you feel better, you know? When I was a kid and I was the only one covered head to toe with mosquito bites, my mother used to tell me I had "sweet blood" and that they all loved it.
But it can't be true. Because no one but those darned mosquitoes want it!
I think the Twilight franchise would go down the tubes if I offered the vampires my blood. They'd all be so horrified by it that they'd be turned off their love of blood like I was turned off sesame chicken on chemo and never look back.
The Jewish private blood drives never took my blood claiming they didn't want it after I'd had transfusions. Even though those transfusions were back in '03.
The place I went to today was horrified to hear that. They said it was illegal to turn down someone if it was more than a year since their last transfusion. They claimed that they needed blood donors badly enough that to turn away someone when the NY requirements said I was fine, was almost criminal. I was told by a regional director (named Carlos) that if anyone ever turned me down for that again, they could lose their license or something equally satisfying to me.
So don't ever say it to me again, you hear, because I got Carlos on my side.
But today it wasn't the transfusions stopping me.
I am a small person. I was built this way. There's nothing I can do to change the fact that I will probably never weigh enough to give a pint of blood to someone who needs it as badly as I once did.
I lied and said I was just a pound under the limit. I begged and said it was more like two pounds but could I please? I pleaded and said I was once a cancer patient and wanted to give back. I bargained and asked if I could just give red blood cells.
They put me on the scale. At a full eleven pounds under the limit, they gave me the free cookies out of pity but asked me to leave.
As a girl all I wanted was to be like my mother. The woman who helped build my father's business, raised nine kids by day, scrapbooked their pictures at night. Cooked one supper for us as a family and another every Sunday for Chai Lifeline. Ran with me to the hospital and then came home to PTA. Gave blood in the morning and then went rollerblading at night with us girls.
She's the goal I set all my life and I'm trying, even though I'll never match up. See, we have different blood types.
She's A- and I'm A+. So if it came down to it at the medical level- she won't ever want my blood either.
I'm feeling rejected.
Any vampires out there who like A+? My blood is looking for a good cause. If it can't be cancer kids, I don't mind Edward Cullen paying a visit...
I went to donate blood today and no one wanted it!
I did everything; played nice, pleaded, begged, groveled, threatened to prick my own arm until they had to restrain me, but no cigar.
Parents lie to you to make you feel better, you know? When I was a kid and I was the only one covered head to toe with mosquito bites, my mother used to tell me I had "sweet blood" and that they all loved it.
But it can't be true. Because no one but those darned mosquitoes want it!
I think the Twilight franchise would go down the tubes if I offered the vampires my blood. They'd all be so horrified by it that they'd be turned off their love of blood like I was turned off sesame chicken on chemo and never look back.
The Jewish private blood drives never took my blood claiming they didn't want it after I'd had transfusions. Even though those transfusions were back in '03.
The place I went to today was horrified to hear that. They said it was illegal to turn down someone if it was more than a year since their last transfusion. They claimed that they needed blood donors badly enough that to turn away someone when the NY requirements said I was fine, was almost criminal. I was told by a regional director (named Carlos) that if anyone ever turned me down for that again, they could lose their license or something equally satisfying to me.
So don't ever say it to me again, you hear, because I got Carlos on my side.
But today it wasn't the transfusions stopping me.
I am a small person. I was built this way. There's nothing I can do to change the fact that I will probably never weigh enough to give a pint of blood to someone who needs it as badly as I once did.
I lied and said I was just a pound under the limit. I begged and said it was more like two pounds but could I please? I pleaded and said I was once a cancer patient and wanted to give back. I bargained and asked if I could just give red blood cells.
They put me on the scale. At a full eleven pounds under the limit, they gave me the free cookies out of pity but asked me to leave.
As a girl all I wanted was to be like my mother. The woman who helped build my father's business, raised nine kids by day, scrapbooked their pictures at night. Cooked one supper for us as a family and another every Sunday for Chai Lifeline. Ran with me to the hospital and then came home to PTA. Gave blood in the morning and then went rollerblading at night with us girls.
She's the goal I set all my life and I'm trying, even though I'll never match up. See, we have different blood types.
She's A- and I'm A+. So if it came down to it at the medical level- she won't ever want my blood either.
I'm feeling rejected.
Any vampires out there who like A+? My blood is looking for a good cause. If it can't be cancer kids, I don't mind Edward Cullen paying a visit...
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Bro Scores, Yanks Win!
Who flipping cares?
Don't get me wrong, I like the outdoors, I love playing games, I know all the rules. But rooting for some idiot who makes three million a year to hit a ball? C'mon. I don't even know the guy! And does he even care if I root for him or not? No! Cos he don't know me from beans either.
But still at my brother's wedding, there were all the guys, (and many of the gals I must add), on their blackberry's watching the game live on Fox.
As my brother was on stage swaying and praying, his friends in the audience were jumping with nerves as they watched the innings go down.
Every so often you had some kid, or half the assembled, pump a fist in the air and holler "Go YANKS! Whoooooooop whooooop!"
We're talking during the chuppah.
I would like to say I didn't see my brother's eyes flick up once or twice, inquiring about the score, but I can't be sure.
(Just kidding! My brother isn't into sports at all.)
Stupid sick people.
Well the Yanks won and the wedding was great and the couple is cute and my gown was nice and I had a miserable time with my cranky kids who are NEVER coming to a wedding with me again, so all is well, but reality check anyone?
Don't get me wrong, I like the outdoors, I love playing games, I know all the rules. But rooting for some idiot who makes three million a year to hit a ball? C'mon. I don't even know the guy! And does he even care if I root for him or not? No! Cos he don't know me from beans either.
But still at my brother's wedding, there were all the guys, (and many of the gals I must add), on their blackberry's watching the game live on Fox.
As my brother was on stage swaying and praying, his friends in the audience were jumping with nerves as they watched the innings go down.
Every so often you had some kid, or half the assembled, pump a fist in the air and holler "Go YANKS! Whoooooooop whooooop!"
We're talking during the chuppah.
I would like to say I didn't see my brother's eyes flick up once or twice, inquiring about the score, but I can't be sure.
(Just kidding! My brother isn't into sports at all.)
Stupid sick people.
Well the Yanks won and the wedding was great and the couple is cute and my gown was nice and I had a miserable time with my cranky kids who are NEVER coming to a wedding with me again, so all is well, but reality check anyone?
Friday, October 23, 2009
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Got a call from the mother of a really depressed little girl losing her hair. We needed to find a way to cheer her up.
I sent her a clown sheitel with this poem:
So you wake up one morning and your hair starts to go
its all over your pillow and blanket and clothes
its itchy and depressing and feels so bad,
but it doesn't have to make you sad.
Yes, this may be the part where chemo takes over,
but its a great excuse for a make-over!
Have very straight hair and want to give curls a turn?
Get a sheitel with a nice frizzy perm
Or are you tired of breaking brushes in your curly messes?
Time for a straight look with easy smooth tresses
Like long and short, but cant decide which one?
Get two sets of hair and switch around for fun!
Go to school every day and make your friends guess
What way you decide to wear your hair next.
What about color? Would you look good as a blonde?
You never know, go try one on!
Black or brown might suit your head,
Go try some one, or what about red?
Or orange or purple with highlights green or blue.
What do you think? It's up to you!
I know your real hair is hard to part with,
but here's some new hair just to start with.
I sent her a clown sheitel with this poem:
So you wake up one morning and your hair starts to go
its all over your pillow and blanket and clothes
its itchy and depressing and feels so bad,
but it doesn't have to make you sad.
Yes, this may be the part where chemo takes over,
but its a great excuse for a make-over!
Have very straight hair and want to give curls a turn?
Get a sheitel with a nice frizzy perm
Or are you tired of breaking brushes in your curly messes?
Time for a straight look with easy smooth tresses
Like long and short, but cant decide which one?
Get two sets of hair and switch around for fun!
Go to school every day and make your friends guess
What way you decide to wear your hair next.
What about color? Would you look good as a blonde?
You never know, go try one on!
Black or brown might suit your head,
Go try some one, or what about red?
Or orange or purple with highlights green or blue.
What do you think? It's up to you!
I know your real hair is hard to part with,
but here's some new hair just to start with.
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