RhyPiBoMo Registration Is Open!
Please follow this link to register for Rhyming Picture Book Month
https://angiekarcher.wordpress.com/rhypibomo-registration/
Registration for the RhyPiBoMo is open from March 16th – April 16th
at 11:59 p.m. Central Time
You must be registered to be eligible
for all prizes.
The countdown is on…only 15 days until we start our adventure together. As I’ve been busy writing the daily lessons I realized that most of you don’t know anything about me, other than I’m that crazy, Hoosier lady who keeps bugging you about this rhyming picture book and poetry stuff.
I thought I’d share a little bit about myself and how I ended up here, talking to you…
I was born and raised in Southern Indiana and still live in the town where I grew up. I love the Mid-west and all it has to offer, especially for raising a family. I visit my brother in New York City quite often and I am located roughly 2 to 3 hours away from Indianapolis, Nashville, St. Louis and Louisville, so big city life and all it has to offer is in all directions, but I feel blessed to come home to a house in the country, with small town peace and quiet.
I am married to my very patient husband for nearly 23 years and we have four beautiful, bright and kind teenagers, ranging from 13 – 19. It is the craziest, most exciting mixture of organized chaos that you have ever seen! Oh, and we have a beagle named Gracie and a dachshund named Lucy who I adore because they adore me!
I am a former kindergarten teacher, 13 year stay-at-home mom, developmental therapist, director of an African American museum, director of education at a children’s museum and now full-time author/children’s writer.
My first book WHERE THE RIVER GRINS came out in 2012 and it is about the history of Evansville, Indiana. It was published locally and then I wrote and was awarded a $13,000.00 grant that provided for a class set, over 2500 books, to be placed in all 3rd grade classrooms in the city. The teachers use it as a resource/text book for teaching local history. They didn’t have a book to use and now they do! It really was needed and one of my dreams to have it published.
My next book, THE LEGENDARY R.A. COWBOY JONES comes out this spring. It is a MG biography about a 70 year old jockey who still races. This book was written 95% by interviews. It was quite an undertaking and I’m thrilled to tell his story. And yes, his name is Cowboy.
So who is Angie Karcher?
I’m sure that’s what you and probably most of my wonderful guest bloggers are asking themselves as they generously wrote blog posts about rhyme and poetry for this lady from Indiana who they never met.
I am someone who is very determined, passionate, stubborn, and willing to do whatever it takes to “make it happen” if I believe in IT strongly enough!
I apologize in advance for all my !!!!!!!! but it’s who I am!
I do have a zest for life and people. I was told by a very wise editor a year ago that I must have a writing platform. HUH? At the time, I was begrudgingly on Facebook and my closest “friends” were mostly related to me. All 12 of them!
So I listened, and started following writers, friends of writers, friends of friends of writers and eventually my platform wasn’t so flat. Yes, I had my hand smacked a few times by Facebook for “friending” people I didn’t know. But remember, I’m stubborn so I kept on…And I learned quite a funny lesson by doing that.
I was busy one night ‘liking” and “sharing” and “friending” and people were accepting me as a Facebook friend left and right. Note…I’m a children’s writer, so you can imagine my surprise the next morning as I clicked on my news feed to see dozens and dozens of muscular, tanned, oily, hard-bodied men and sexy, scantily dressed, hot babes. Yes, to my surprise, I had managed to unknowingly friend and accept friends in a very nice group of adult, exotica writers. The images of those mostly naked bodies are still burned in my kindergarten teacher’s mind. Shocked and awed, I quietly tiptoed over to the “unfriend” button to part from these very nice writers whose posts were more x-rated than my children’s writer image could handle. I have parents and children who look at my page, for goodness sake.
I want to be clear to say that I have absolutely nothing against exotica writers! I have even been known to read a sexy Danielle Steel saga or two in my day, but this wasn’t exactly the group of writers I was looking for to stand on my platform. There’s more than one joke here but I’ll leave it alone.
So, now I check to see who people are, who their friends are, if they write what I write, if we are in the same groups and I look at their page to make sure it’s kid writer friendly!
My point is…I am still working on that platform and busy every day on social media networking and making the right connections that will continue to help me learn more about writing for kids. In one year’s time, I created a website, I’m blogging weekly, I’m Tweeting, Instagram-ing, have an author’s page and now hosting RhyPiBoMo and chatting daily with folks who have the same passion that I do. I have met some wonderful REAL friends in the past year too!
It’s been quite a year! It is pretty cool to think that even at the age of 47, I can still learn something new every day. I will never give up on my dream to write and become published in picture books. That is my ultimate, top-dog, number one goal and I thank each and every one of you for trusting me to walk with you on your journey.
So, if you leave now because I am not a published, rhyming, picture book author I will certainly understand. But, if you are determined, passionate, stubborn, and willing to do whatever it takes to follow your dream, then stay here a while and see what you think.
I am not an expert in rhyme or poetry! I am a teacher and I am a rhymer. Teachers research and find experts on the subjects they teach to share that knowledge with their students. That’s why I’m here. I’m a rhyme and poetry facilitator! I am as excited to learn from the guest bloggers as you are…and you will be thrilled with their blogs! I have received most of them and they are bursting with exactly what we need to hear…the good, the bad and the ugly! But the posts are written with love and generosity for us and the kids who benefit from what we do.
This has gotten way too long so I’ll end by saying,
Who is Angie Karcher?
I am a children’s writer who hopes to meet you someday, somewhere, give you a hug, exchange our books and say…
“Remember when we learned how to write these rhyming picture books together!”
~ Angie
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Angie Karcher 