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Humberto, the Bookworm Hamster has just been released. I am thrilled to have, author Mayra Calvani answer a few questions about how she works.

A little bit of introduction:
Multi-genre author, reviewer and animal advocate, Mayra Calvani, enjoys writing for children and adults. A regular contributor to BLOGCRITICS MAGAZINE and AMERICAN CHRONICLE, she's a member of SCBWI, CWCC and Broad Universe. She keeps two blogs, Mayra's Secret Bookcase and The Dark Phantom Review.
Additionally, she's the co-author of the ForeWord Best of the Year Award winner, THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING.
Visit her newest, fun blog, Pets and Their Authors, where her golden retriever interviews authors' pets.
Mayra does Spanish translations of children's picture books, is co-editor of Voice in the Dark newsletter, and the National Latino Books Examiner for Examiner.com.
Check out her children's books at Mayra's Secret Bookcase.

When working on a story, what steps or process do you use?For a picture book, what usually happens is I get an idea and then let it simmer in my mind for weeks, sometimes even months or years. Then one day I just feel the need to write it down and the whole thing pours out of me in a sitting. When this happens, I stay working on the story a whole morning or a whole day. I then take a break from it for maybe a day or two before going back and polishing it. Then I send it to my critique group for feedback. This is very helpful. I may or may not take on their suggestions, but their advice is always good. I save each version of the story, so if I edit the story 5 times, I’ll save those 5 files of each version under a folder named after the book’s title.
What sparks your ideas for stories?Real life, newspaper articles, TV shows, family stories, memories, photos, beautiful scenery. Everything around me may spark an idea in me. The Muse is a very curious thing.
What is your strongest personal trait that make you a better writer?I would say persistence. I never give up, no matter how many rejection letters I get or the competitive state of the children’s book market.
Where did your last story idea come from? Where were you when you began working on it? For a long time I wanted to write a picture book story about a little mouse or hamster who loved books so much, he didn’t have time for friends. That’s how Humberto the Bookworm Hamster came about. As usual, I let the idea simmer for some time, then, one morning, I got up from bed and had to sit down and write it. So that’s what I did, and the story poured out of me in one sitting.
Humberto loves books so much, he reads at all times of the day; even while he sleeps he reads—audio books. The other animals want to become his friends, but he doesn’t have time for them. He’s too busy reading! Then one day a flood comes and he must decide whether to salvage the rest of his books before they sink in the rising water or helping the animals. Humberto’s story is a tale about books and the true meaning of friendship: how good are books really if you can’t share them with people who care about?
I can sympathize with my character because many times I see myself in him. As a writer and reviewer, I’m so involved with books I tend to become a hermit. Socializing is im

Mayra Calvani, author and animal lover, has a fun blog featuring authors and their pets. I know my pets have been major inspirations for my writings. In fact, they were interviewed by Mayra a while back. If you missed it, here's the link on April 5, 2009.

I am honored to have been given the ONE LOVELY BLOG AWARD from my friend,
Author Helena Harper. Helena, a winner of the ONE LOVELY BLOG AWARD herself, is a children’s author and poet. Her works include "It's a Teacher's Life...!" and "Family and More - Enemies or Friends?"
Helena is one of the first writers to become my friend on My Space. From the start, her positive personality, cheerful and thoughtful ways made friendship easy and fun! I can always count on Helena for inspiration.
In the spirit this award was given to me I am honored to pass it along to an author I greatly admire. These are the rules for the award. They are simple:
1) Accept the award, and don’t forget to post a link back to the awarding person.
2) Pass the award on.
3) Notify the award winner.
After 25 years of trying to get a publisher for my books I decided I was my own publisher. Though I had an agent at one time and editors interested in my works none of my stories made it into print. This award gives me the opportunity to acknowledge my admiration and thanks to the woman I am passing this award to:
MAYRA CALVANI
Mayra Calvani is a multi-genre author and book reviewer. Some of the titles of her books are, Sunstruck, Crash!, The Magic Violin, The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing and Dark Lullaby.
When I looked for advice on getting my children’s books printed, Mayra was there. She also invited me to join her on several key author sites when I begin networking. Mayra review my first book and her glowing review got the book noticed. Over the years that I have know her I have learned that Mayra’s words are golden and the she is always true to her words!

J.D. Holiday's Site Book Garden Publishing, LLC http://www.bookgardenpublishing.net

To promote our books, several of my fellow children's authors and I are going on a two-week blog tour. Most of of us have been published by Guardian Angel Publishing.Reviews, interviews, inspirational articles will be posted and prized given at the end of the tour! Participating authors include:Mayra Calvani, Crash!http://www.mayrassecretbookcase.blogspot.com/Jennifer Gladen, A Star in the

Holly, my dog, says it's cold outside, so she'd rather stay inside.

For more on bilingual books for children go to this article by Mayra Calvani.

http://picture-books.suite101.com/article.cfm/new_bilingual_book_for_young_readers?

Multi-genre author Mayra Calvani has been a reviewer for ten years. She’s the author of the supernatural thrillers, Embraced by the Shadows and Dark Lullaby. A regular contributor to Blogcritics Magazine, she’s also a member of Broad Universe, Authors Coalition, and The Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators. Visit her website at: www.MayraCalvani.com. For her children’s books, visit www.MayrasSecretBookcase.com. Mayra also keeps a blog, The Dark Phantom Review, where she regularly posts reviews and author interviews. To learn more about The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing, visit www.slipperybookreview.wordpress.com

Amazon Reviews… and Mothers-in-Law

By Mayra Calvani



You’ve published your book. You’ve sent it to many review sites and begun collecting rave quotes for promotional use. You check Amazon regularly to see whether any readers have written anything about your book. They have! Wonderful. The comments are positive. You keep checking almost everyday until—what’s this?!—suddenly you find a HORRIBLE review at the top of the list.


You’re aghast. Your face flushes as if a subterranean volcano exploded inside of you. How dare anybody say anything negative about your masterpiece creation? What an atrocity. This is sabotage!


After a few glasses of wine, you tell yourself you’re a reasonable person. You realize chances are not everybody can love your book.


But there are negative reviews and there are negative reviews… and this is book annihilation! This particular review seems to have been written by someone who not necessarily hates the book, but hates YOU.


This happened to a friend of mine recently. A few days after her book came out in Amazon, someone wrote a mean, nasty review.


The review in question was something along these lines: “This is the WORST book I’ve ever read in my entire life. It is filled with thousands of spelling, grammatical mistakes and clichés. Please don’t waste your book on this book. You’ll regret it for as long as you live…” etc, etc, etc… The review went on and on, its author clearly deranged or driven by sweet revenge.


Not surprisingly, my friend later found out that it had been written by her dear mother-in-law in reaction to how my friend depicted her in the novel (Lesson: DO NOT use your mother-in-law as one of your characters).


I know the lady in question, and while I think it’s true that she has “sagging cheeks like day-old pancakes” and clammy hands like “large wobbly maggots,” as my friend wrote in her novel, I believe she shouldn’t have gone so berserk. I mean, there’s something to be said for self control, right?


If any of you is the victim of such atrocity, there’s something you can do about it. Remember that Amazon wants you to sell your book almost as much as you do (they should—they take 55% off the retail price!), so all you have to do is contact them and explain them the situation. Most likely they’ll remove the review. Email them at: [email protected].


But pleeeeeease don’t contact them for negative reviews that were clearly written by serious readers or reviewers, otherwise they’ll think we authors are egotistical maniacs who break at the slightest lashing … and we wouldn’t want that now, would we? (it’s important to keep our true nature low profiled).

Mayra Calvani

Congratulations, Mayra on being a USA Best Book Award Finalist!

Mayra Calvani Website

June is 'Book Reviewing' month at Blogcritics Magazine! To promote the release of The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing, author Mayra Calvani will be interviewing 15+ reviewers and review editors during the month of June. Learn all about the business of book reviewing and what's in the mind of some of the most popular reviewers on the internet today. Some of the guests will include: Alex Moore from ForeWord Magazine, James Cox from Midwest Book Review, Irene Watson from Reader Views, Andrea Sisco from Armchair Interviews, Magdalena Ball from The Compulsive Reader, Sharyn McGinty from In The Library Reviews, Lea Schizas from Muse Book Reviews, Linda Baldwin from Road to Romance, Hilary Williamson from Book Loons, Judy Clark from Mostly Fiction, and many others! To see the complete lineup, visit: The Slippery Book Review Blog.
Stop by and leave a comment under the interviews for a chance to win a Virtual Book Tour (sponsored by Pump Up Your Book Promotion, a $150 value!) or a $50 B&N gift certificate!

Tomorrow morning Baby is taking part in a school arts programme as narrator of her class play. She was thrilled to land the role, which she had to audition for. She even started mumbling about a career in the arts, but I suspect something else will soon grab her attention. Or she’ll go back to wanting to be an accountant. That's what she wanted to do for years after finding out that there were

Handa O Gakgametse Originally uploaded by damariasenne Author: Eileen WalkerFirst Published by: Walker Books, 2004Reissued by: Giraffe Books, Pan Macmillan South AfricaPublished: 2004ISBN: 1-92001608-2Availability:Pan Macmillan at www.panmacmillan.co.za or Amazon.co.ukA couple of months ago Baby and I read Handa o Gakgametse by Eileen Brown but I never did post our review of the book here

How cool is that?

Sue Eves, the British children's book author who interviewed me on her blog on December 10th, just informed me that the British SCBWI has announced our interview and my virtual book tour on their front page... Yeah!

http://www.britishscbwi.org/

Happy holidays!
Mayra

My guest today is versatile author, Mayra Calvani.

Puerto Rican author Mayra Calvani has been writing since the age of twelve. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Literature/Creative Writing from the University of Bridgeport, CT. Her stories, articles, and book reviews have appeared in many online and print publications in the States, England and Puerto Rico. She is co-editor of "Voice in the Dark" ezine, where she writes a monthly column. After having lived in several countries, she is now settled in Brussels, Belgium with her husband, two children, and a variety of pets.

Welcome, Mayra. I'm impressed that you write in so many genres! Do you have a favorite?

I love to write in many genres, but I have to admit my weakness is speculative/supernatural fiction.

The Magic Violin has such an intriguing title. Would you tell us how you came up with the title and the idea for this children's picture book?

My young daughter and I both started playing the violin about five years ago, so I know very well how difficult it can be at times, especially when learning a new piece. The violin is a very difficult instrument to master, requiring lots of discipline, perseverance and commitment, and this can be hard for a child at times. My love for the violin and watching my daughter play were my inspiration for the story. I wanted to create a tale which would be fun and magical, yet one which would encourage children and teach them about self esteem at the same time.

The title is simple yet has a nice ring to it, plus children love magic, right? In the story there is a part where Melina, the little protagonist, suddenly begins to play amazingly well--is it because of her hard work or because the violin has turned magical? That is one of the questions the reader must think about.

I noticed that you became a "paid" author at an early age. Did you have a mentor? Someone who has inspired your writing?

My mother, who writes beautiful poetry, has always been a great supporter of my writing. Because of her, our house was full of books and she instilled in my mind the importance of reading and being intellectually smart. But besides her, my inspiration was the books themselves, the great stories of mystery and romance I read at an early age. I think by the time I was fifiteen I had read all of Agatha Christie's mysteries. Conan Doyle was another powerful inspiration in my writing. During my teens I also loved the historical romances of Barbara Cartland. I loved being transported to her Victorian world of black carriages, alluring counts and lords, lace and bows, and all the elegance of that era.

You are also editor of "The Fountain Pen" newsletter and co-editor of "Voice in the Dark" Ezine. Keep two blogs and write book reviews for various print and online publications. In addition, you teach a book review writing course at the Long Story Short School of Writing. My question: How do you find time to write?

Good question! I guess my first answer would be doing my best to keep myself organized. For starters, I live and breathe with my large agenda/calendar, the kind where I can see the whole week in front of my eyes. For other projects, I keep a monthly calendar. It's very important for me to visualize what I'll be doing on a weekly and monthly basis. It keeps my thoughts and time structured. Otherwise I would forget everything! I only work on my newsletters towards the end of the month and it actually takes me a while to read and review a book. In spite of all the planning, though, I still have to struggle to write every weekday. The important thing to remember is that writing must come first. Book promotion is also extremely time consuming and emailing can become a little addictive, so many times I have to reel myself back like a fish and tell myself: 'Leave this for later; you have to write first.'

Do you have any specific writing rituals?

I love having music in the background while I write, and of course the music must match the tone of the story. Mostly I listen to violin music. Most of the times I write in the mornings when my mind is fresh and the house is quiet. If I feel particularly uninspired, I go on a walk with my dog or go to write at a cafe--these two things can be extremely effective to unleash your creativity. On occassions I may light a candle. I also have my violin at arm's reach and if I'm stuck in a scene I play for a while. Oddly, this has a calming effect and puts my annoying inner critic to sleep. :-)

What other project are in the works?

I'm very excited about a proposal I'm working on for Harper Collins. I'm also polishing a tween manuscript which I already completed. I have a work-in-progress I also need to finish. I took a break and will start on it again after the holidays. This one is a paranormal/werewolf suspense novel for Zumaya Publications.

Finally, is there something funny you can share about yourself that your readers might not know?

Hmm. I don't know if this is funny or not, but here it goes: This morning on our way to school my fifteen-year old asked me if I would give up reading for one whole year in exchange for one million dollars. I didn't have a quick answer for him so I told him I had to think about it (I really needed to think about it!). He thought I was completely nuts!

Mayra, would you tell my readers about the prize you're offering at the end of your book tour on Christmas day?

I’ll be giving away a $20 Amazon gift certificate to a lucky winner on Christmas day. To be eligible, all a person needs to do is leave a comment at the end of this post or any of my other tour stops. If the winner is from England, I’ll be giving away a £20 gift certificate from Amazon.co.uk. I will announce the winner on my blog Mayra's Secret Bookcase, on the 25th.

Mayra Calvani
Mayra's Secret Bookcase
Mayra's Secret Bookcase Blogspot

A couple of days before I was to see the premier of The Golden Compass, a friend forwarded me an email urging me to boycott the movie because of its anti-God message targeted at children. The Golden Compass is based on a book called Northern Lights (also called The Golden Compass in the United States) by Phillip Pullman. It tells the story tells of Lyra Belacqua, a girl who goes on a voyage to