Category Archives: Latest News

Guest Blog Post at Candysraves.com

I’m trilled to have a guest blog up at Candysraves.com today! It is an interview with me about being a writer and “Why Kimba Saved The World.” You can see the interview at Candysraves.com, or it is copied below as well. Thank you, Candy, for helping to get the word out about “Kimba!”

Guest Post by Meg Welch Dendler, Author of Why Kimba Saved the World

Tell us about yourself…

I spent 15 years working with young children, 10 of those as a classroom teacher. I have been writing since I was a little girl and have always wanted to be a full-time author. For many years I did freelance work while I was teaching and raising my daughters. Now writing has my full attention.

What genera do you write and why?

My current series is for middle grade readers, roughly ages 8-12. That is an age group that I really loved working with as a teacher, and this story was perfect for sharing with them. But I will freely admit that I have lots of adults who love the book and read it right along with their kids.

Tell us about your book…

“Why Kimba Saved The World” is about a pampered house cat who wishes she could be wilder and have more freedom, until she suddenly learns that she is really part of an alien race and has a whole huge destiny and big adventures expected of her. It’s exciting at first, but she has some life-changing choices to make about what is important and where her loyalties lie.

What was your inspiration for this book?

The main character is based on one of the cats in our house, Kimba. I had grown up with the idea that cats might just be aliens — my mom read lots of science fiction — so it wasn’t much of a stretch to wonder if that was true of Kimba too. Later books in the series will focus on different characters and how each deals with their own challenges in coming to terms with their alien heritage.

Do you have a favorite character and why that one?

Kimba is definitely my favorite because she is based on the real cat that is mine out of the clowder of cats we have at home. When we found Kimba and her sister Hiro at only a day or so old, we already had four cats. That’s a lot of cats! Kimba is just wild and crazy and totally nutty and an independent cat. She’s my favorite. As I write this, she is sleeping on a chair next to me in a pile of stuffed toys. She’s a real character. The cat on the cover of the book is an actual photo of her.

Did you find anything particularly difficult in writing this book?

When I first started writing it, I hoped to have something for an even younger age group — very early readers. But that is limiting for the vocabulary you can use, the length of the story, and technical things like that. As it progressed, I just knew I had to kick it up a notch and hope that those younger kids who are still developing their reading skills will have someone who is willing to read it aloud to them.

What project(s) are you currently working on?

Right now, I am very focused on writing the second book in the series, “Vacation Hiro.” I really want to have that published next spring so I can take both books with me to the fairs and festival in 2014. That is one of the great things about self-publishing. Once you have the text ready to go, getting it into print format can be done in a couple of months.

Right after that, I will be publishing an unrelated book called “At The Corner of Magnetic and Main” that is for a bit older reader and follows the spiritual journey of a young woman who is having trouble moving on from her life here on earth to what lies ahead. That manuscript is in the hands of some much trusted friends and colleagues right now for their feedback and critique.

Do you have any interesting writing quirks you want to tell us about?

I will freely admit to being quirky. I think most writers are! Writing a first draft is hard for me. Just getting it out of my head and onto the paper for some reason is very frustrating. So I reward myself with breaks. If I write a chapter or a certain amount of words, then I can take a break for 10 minutes and play Zoo World on Facebook, or something like that. My office is also filled with my collection of Disney mini-plush characters. I have about 75 of them right now. They watch me write, and that makes me very happy. Kimba has pulled 10 of them down onto her special chair today for her nap. I don’t mind sharing them with her.

Do you have any advice for writers out there?

Write, and then write some more. If you have a book in your head, go for it! But also be sure to get input from people around you that you respect. Join a critique group. Go to conferences. Sometimes I get the best idea on how to tweak a story or “bling” it up some just by listening to others talk about their work. And pay an editor if you are self-publishing. Pay someone to help you make the best cover you can. If it doesn’t look professional in the end, it won’t matter how good your story is. Make it great!

Where can we find you?

My website and my blog are at www.megdendler.com. I am on Twitter @kimbababy and on Facebook at Meg Dendler, Author (there’s a link at my website). You can sign up to follow my blog and get my newsletter. I’m also active on Goodreads and have a YouTube channel with fun videos. I’m in production right now on a series of videos where I read “Why Kimba Saved The World” aloud one chapter at a time and will share fun photos and “behind the scenes” stories. That should be up soon.

And of course we have to know, where can we find your book?

“Why Kimba Saved The World” is available in paperback and ebook through Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com. You can also get signed paperback copies directly from me through PayPal right at my web site. I’m happy to personalize it and add a matching bookmark just for fun.

About the Author:
Meg Welch Dendler is a former teacher with a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. While over a decade as a freelance writer gave her the chance to interview individuals as diverse as the Archbishop of Cape Town and Sylvester Stallone, in 2010 Meg set her focus on publishing several books for young readers that she had been working on for years. Meg is thrilled to be sharing her first book, “Why Kimba Saved The World,” with young readers worldwide. In this first book of the Cats in the Mirror series, feisty house cat Kimba learns that she is really part of an alien race and has to pick sides between her loyal human family and her feline destiny. The second book, “Vacation Hiro,” is already in the works. Meg and her family (including four cats and her dog Max) live at 1,400 feet in the Ozark mountains on what they call Serenity Mountain, just outside of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Visit her at www.megdendler.com for more information about upcoming books and events.

 

May Artrageous Fair Fun

Summer time in Eureka Springs brings a great chance for independent artists and authors like me to share our wares with the tourists who come through town. Basin Park, in the heart of downtown, is always an interesting place to wander through on a weekend. You never know what you will find. But this is especially true during May’s Art Festival events. I had a great weekend being part of the Artrageous Festival on Saturday, May 25th, and loved meeting other artists in town, as well as both kids and adults who shared stories about their favorite crazy cats. Copies of “Why Kimba Saved The World” went home with excited children and adults, and many names were added to my mailing list. The weather was perfect. Street musicians entertained us all. Our resident 11 year-old performing sensation juggled knives just inches from our tent. All-in-all, it was a great Saturday in the park. Knowing that my book earned some new fans is the icing on the cake.

 

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Scott used some chalk from the Kid Space booth next door to create some inviting “Kimba” footprints.

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This is actually Friday night in the park, but it looked the same for Saturday.

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Overhead view of a quieter moment near the end of the day at Basin Park in Downtown Eureka Springs.

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The view coming up the main staircase, past The Sphere, and toward my booth in Basin Park.

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Three of the artists with booths nearby turned out to be cat lovers who just had to take a copy of “Kimba” home with them.

 

New Book Review For “Kimba”!

I’m so thrilled to share this great new book review from the blog The Ends Don’t Tie With Bunny Rabbits. Click on the link to read it on Jeridel Bank’s blog, or the text is copied below. Thanks, Jeridel, for taking the time to read and share my story!

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“Cats have a soft spot in my heart, and so does Why Kimba Saved the World, a book about cats. Well, not regular cats—though, they are amazing—but cats who have a collective secret mission. Kimba, an all-white cat with a rebellious streak, is enlisted into an agency of cats who can communicate through mirrors. They tell her of her real heritage, one where humans aren’t the loving caretakers of cats.

This book captures cats with amazing accuracy, and the interactions between the cats and their owners are realistic. Who doesn’t grab their cats and hug and kiss them like their own children? (I know I do.) It’s an easy read, and it’s suitable for the whole family. Children will love Kimba’s desperate need to accomplish ridiculous missions outside and inside her home. Parents can relate to Kimba’s owners. Cats may find themselves in Kimba or Hiro or…er, that’s right. Cats can’t read! Why Kimba Saved the World will make any reader believe that cats aren’t from this world.”

Author Interview With Book Club Reading List

I’m thrilled to have another interview posted, this time with the Book Club Reading List web site. 482 people recommended it on their Facebook pages. Who knows what that means in real life, but Kimba and I are happy for whatever attention we can get for our new book! I should add that we would love to Skype with any children’s book club that is reading “Why Kimba Saved The World” for free. The text of the interview is pasted below. Enjoy!

Author Interview – Meg Dendler

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What inspired you to write this book?

I have been writing for years, but this particular story was inspired by the real life Kimba. She is such a kook and is constantly into something. I love her beyond reason in that way that only crazy cat ladies can truly understand. As a child, I had heard a story about cats being aliens and communicating through mirrors with cats on earth, so it didn’t take much for me to start imagining Kimba being a part of that. She and her sister, Hiro, spent the first few months of their lives living in our bathroom, so I just let my thoughts about what they might be up to in there when we were gone run wild.

What topics in your book or background do you think book clubs would find interesting?

“Why Kimba Saved The World” is a children’s book, but I have had many adults read it and be just as interested in Kimba and the choices she has to make. We all have things we want to be free from, to feel independent, but that freedom comes with challenges of its own. It’s not always all we thought it would be. What if that freedom meant hurting someone else? Kimba’s decisions echo the same ones we all face in our lives.

Tell us about your career outside of writing and how it influences your writing.

I spent many years working with and later teaching young children — preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary. I have been certified to teach in two states and hold a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. Language Arts and Reading were always my specialties and favorite parts of the curriculum. I always spent way too much money on books when I went to teaching conferences and loved reading them aloud in class and at home to my own daughters. Any time I am working on a book, I try to think about how it would be received by a child just listening to it — not yet able to read it him or herself. For a book like “Why Kimba Saved The World,” it is important to walk that line between the child being able to read it independently and an even younger child listening to it aloud and being absorbed by the characters.

Describe your style of writing?

I consistently lean toward third person omnipotent, the outside source who knows what everyone is thinking and sees all as the narrator. It isn’t that I went through different ways of presenting the text and ended up with that one, it is just what is comfortable for me as a writer. Both the sequel “Vacation Hiro” and an unrelated book “At The Corner of Magnetic and Main,” which I am working on now, have that same style. I also test my text against that read aloud-ability scale that I mentioned earlier. I read paragraphs out loud and edit them when it doesn’t flow well or I find myself naturally using a different word or phrasing than what I originally wrote. I helps me catch mistakes in the text too.

Which authors have inspired you?

I am very blessed to have a mother who loves books. When I was in elementary school, bedtime stories included T.H. White’s “The Once And Future King,” “Watership Down,” and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders series. She continued to read aloud to me long past when I was an independent reader, and that is so important. It allowed me to “read” books that were still a bit beyond me but had amazing vocabulary and stories. We also had all of the Wizard of Oz books (by Baum and his daughter), the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, Beverly Cleary, Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, and Madeline L’Engle. After reading “A Wrinkle in Time,” I insisted that everyone begin calling me Meg (my nickname at the time was Molly), and it stuck. It’s probably not surprising to hear that “Socks” was one of my very favorite books growing up. I read it dozens of times. As a teacher, I grew to love newer authors like Don and Audrey Wood, Lois Lowry, and Jean Craighead George. When I tried to read aloud “Charlotte’s Web” to a group of first graders a couple of years ago, I couldn’t make it through the part where Charlotte dies without crying. To say out loud that she was all alone at the end was so heartbreaking. Now that’s great writing!

 

 

Free Ebook To Celebrate Book Birthday!

Today is the official Book Birthday for “Why Kimba Saved The World”!!!! It is also the real 6th birthday for Kimba and Hiro, who we found in a box at only a day or so old and hand raised. To celebrate, I’m offering up free copies of the ebook to help spread the word about this new series: the Cats in the Mirror. “Kimba” is only book one, but “Vacation Hiro” is well underway and expected to be out in March of 2014.

You can download a free ebook copy today at this Goodreads.com link! If it’s not working for you, just email me at [email protected], and I’ll send you the file directly.

Happy Birthday, Hiro and Kimba!! Now it’s time for a game of string!

Kimba and Hiro playing their favorite baby game.

Kimba and Hiro playing their favorite baby game.

 

 

Babies!!

Babies!!

Author Interview With Meg

I was thrilled to do the following author interview with the Book Marketing Buzz Blog web site. Here’s the text of the interview with a link to the blog at the end.
Interview With Author Meg Welch Dendler
1.      What type of books do you write? Picture books, middle grade readers, and so far one more YA style book is in the works. “Why Kimba Saved The World” is my first published book, but there are two others on the way for 2014.
2.      What is your newest book about? “Why Kimba Saved The World” is about a pampered house cat who wishes she could be wilder and have more freedom, until she suddenly learns that she is really part of an alien race and has a whole huge destiny and big adventures expected of her. It’s exciting at first, but she has some life-changing choices to make about what is important and where her loyalties lie.
3.      What inspired you to write it? The main character is based on one of the cats in our house, Kimba. I had grown up with the idea that cats might just be aliens — my mom read lots of science fiction — so it wasn’t much of a stretch to wonder if that was true of Kimba too. That led me to wondering what would happen if the young Kimba of my imagination was put in that situation of finding out how big her life really could be. Later books in the series will focus on the different characters and how they deal with their own challenges in coming to terms with their alien heritage.
4.      What is the writing process like for you?  My head is all full of good ideas, and I usually have the story totally complete there, but it is very hard for me to put down a first draft. That’s not terribly uncommon, but it is very frustrating. Once I get most of the story on paper, I do better with the elaborating and editing process. That part is fun, but the first draft is like house cleaning — I know I have to do it and I’ll regret it if I don’t, but I come up with lots of ways to avoid it. Setting a release date for the sequel has kept me on task this time round. My office is in a room without windows in our basement, which can be kind of depressing when the weather is nice, but Kimba hangs out with me, and I have a huge collection of Disney mini-plush toys that watch and encourage me too.
5.      What did you do before you became an author?  I have been writing since I was a little girl, and I did freelance work for many years as an adult. I worked for over 10 years as a certified teacher and moved around over almost all of the grades when opportunities came up. Teaching was great fun, and I’m still in touch with many of my students, but writing is where my heart lies.
6.      How does it feel to be a published author? Magnificent. For many years it seemed out of reach because I just didn’t have the right connections or the time and money to go to lots of conferences and meet people. I’m so grateful that through the freelance work I have done over the years I did know the right people to serve as book guides and help walk me through the nitty-gritty of taking a manuscript and making it look professional and just as wonderful as every other big publishing house book on the shelves. Knowing that I have the control to keep doing that over and over without having to send out dozens of letter selling myself is amazing.
7.      Any advice for struggling writers? Write, and then write some more. If you have a book in your head, go for it! But also be sure to get input from people around you that you respect. Join a critique group. Go to conferences. Sometimes I get the best idea on how to tweak a story or “bling” it up some just by listening to others talk about their work. And pay an editor if you are self-publishing. Pay someone to help you make the best cover you can. You MUST have a good cover! If it doesn’t look professional in the end, it won’t matter how good your story is. Make it great!
8.      Where do you see book publishing heading?  Ebooks and self-publishing are clearly the future of book publishing. How to navigate through the influx of books that will hit the market that way is the tricky part. I’m grateful to be in on it during the first few years of the boom so that I can establish myself as a quality writer and stand out from the coming pack. There may be a ton of not so great books that manage to see publication in that way, but it is also a fantastic way for unknown writers to make their mark. I hope I can be in that second group for a long time to come.
To learn more about Meg and her book, “Why Kimba Saved The World” (Serenity Mountain Publishing), check out www.megdendler.com.

See the full article and other information at: Book Marketing Buzz Blog     

First Sold Book and 21st Century Friendships

This morning, I put pen to inside title page of my first sold copy of “Why Kimba Saved The World” and signed it to my dear friend Annette Bridges. I had several orders to fill today, some of them even from family, but Annette’s order was the first I received. It only seemed fitting that she should get the official “first copy.” Annette and I are the epitome of a 21st century friendship.  I’m not sure how we first connected, but we bonded over a shared love of writing. She recommended me as a columnist for www.religionandspirituality.com, and I loved the year or so that I wrote “Spiritually Significant Cinema” for them. It gave me the chance to not only go to every movie preview showing in town, but also to interview the likes of Kirk Douglas, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Sylvester Stallone. Unfortunately, another job I held at the time felt these columns were a waste of my time and highly discouraged me from continuing. So I let it slide. But my friendship with Annette continued. We have kept in touch through the social magic that is Facebook. These days, as we both move into the book self-publishing game, we have begun reading and previewing each other’s work. But here’s why I think we are a perfect example of a modern friendship–we have never actually met, face to face. The power of the internet allows us to chat freely through email and follow each other’s life-journeys over Facebook. Just because I have never been in the same room with this friend doesn’t mean I don’t feel just as close to her as folks I worked side by side with for years.  It doesn’t matter where in the world we end up, I have a feeling that we will still be in touch 20 years (and hopefully dozens of books between us) from now. As people who respect each other often do, I’ll share my friend’s web site so you can check out her delightful book, “The Gospel According to Mama.” I’ve already read a preview of the sequel and written a heart-felt endorsement. As my first sold copy of “Kimba” whisks its way through the mail to Annette (along with 3 other copies she ordered),IMG_5990 I will share her web page link as the first of many people I highly recommend.

www.annettebridges.com

 

Graphic Artist Shout Out

It seems appropriate to give a moment in the spotlight to the graphic artist who conceptualized and created the cover art for “Why Kimba Saved The World”-– Leslie Hollinger Vernon. Her work was arranged through my publishing super-helper, Carol Hohle, so we never spoke directly. (I hear that Leslie has just had a new baby, so mazel tov on that too!!) In the beginning, I even had a totally different concept in mind with the image of Kimba reaching up and touching a mirror (which will make sense once you have read her story). Where we ended up, including just the exactly right color of purple for the background, is so much better. Cover art, especially in children’s books, is HUGELY important. Based on how Leslie’s work was purchased, she is not credited in the book itself, but I wanted to make sure her name is out there somewhere. Well done, Leslie!! You will be hearing from me again.

Paperback Available!

I’m thrilled to announce that paperback copies of “Why Kimba Saved The World” are now available at amazon.com! If you go to the “Kimba” page at my site, you will find links to purchase it from amazon, or you can buy a signed copy from me directly (which comes with a free bookmark). Sadly, the ebook version is still having some issues, so if you want to read it that way just hang in there a couple more days so you can get a really clean and pretty copy. It is amazing how difficult the conversion and ebook process is, and I’m grateful to have professionals helping me out there. It has really been a labor of love to see this book through so much that is normally handled by a publishing company, but I had grown tired of getting responses like “very creative, but not right for our list at this time” — if I got any response at all. Even more often, I found that good publishing houses are closed to anyone without an agent to submit for them. So…thanks to modern technology and amazing folks like Carol Hohle who know their way through the maze of book creation, I was able to share this fun story with the world myself. I hope you enjoy sharing it with all of the young people in your life…. and that you enjoy it yourself.