Thank you all so much for your support of THE DREAM HEIST, my new serialized novel on Kindle Vella. Just like you did with my other novels, you skyrocketed the book to hit #11 of all Kindle Vellas and hit numerous category Top Favs. I am blown away!
WAYS YOU CAN CONTINUE TO HELP THE DREAM HEIST:
Give each episode a thumbs up as you read them.
Once you purchase tokens, every week you can give THE DREAM HEIST a crown!
Leave a review.
Share the story with your friends.
THANK YOU once again for letting me share my stories with you.
I have exciting news! I’m embarking on my first serialized storytelling adventure with Amazon’s Kindle Vella. The book is called THE DREAM HEIST, a YA thriller.
Kindle Vella is a brand new program Amazon is launching where readers can subscribe to books and read each episode in a serialized format. The aspect I love about Kindle Vella is that I will be able to share my thoughts, fun facts, and inspirations in each episode within the author notes section. I’m hoping that this will be a great way for you to get an insider peek into the world I’ve created for you.
The Dream Heist spins an action-packed, near-future thriller in the vein of Inception meets The Bourne Identity.
Eighteen-year-old Aria Hale loves her job as an intern at her father’s dream therapy company where she enters dementia patient’s dreams to save their memories. When she enters Patient 145’s dream and discovers the dreamer is a boy from her class, she begins to question the company’s true purpose.
But everything changes when Aria discovers their lab has been ransacked, two technicians are murdered, and her father is missing.
Determined to find her father, Aria and her friends embark on a harrowing hunt across continents using the dreams of their enemies to guide them. But this dangerous journey plunges her into a world she never bargained for: deception, intrigue, and even love. As she races to save her father and hunt down her enemies, she soon realizes she’s in fact the one being hunted. And her dreams are the greatest danger of all.
This gripping adventure will propel you into a world of suspense, romance and intrigue.
HOW TO READ THE DREAM HEIST
Go here to read the first 3 episodes for free and be sure to give it some love by LIKING IT and a CROWN. You can read the rest of the novel as the episodes over time release using tokens. I will be releasing more episodes over the next month with a bunch coming out this weekend! I hope you enjoy this new story!
VELLA BOOK CLUB ON DISCORD
If you know Discord, you are welcome to join me along with other Vella authors on the Vella Book Club on Discord! You can chat with us about books and share your thoughts on the episodes as they release!
Do you have a novel that you wrote long ago and put it away, but now wonder if its worth revisiting? In this video, I share my thoughts, tips and personal experience based off of my drawer novel (THE PRINCESS AND THE PAGE) that got published by Scholastic Press.
Are you feeling like your fantasy could be stretched? Does it feel cliché or familiar? Here is a tip to get you brainstorming and coming up with new ideas!
I’ve had requests asking for me to share what inspired me to write THE PRINCESS AND THE PAGE. So on my YouTube channel, I’m sharing about what inspired the book and where the concept came from. Ideas are everywhere! Sometimes they come in the most unexpected places.
Are you looking to fast draft your manuscript? Or perhaps you’re participating in NaNoWriMonth? I am! Or at least a version of NaNo as I’m in the middle of revisions too. If you are drafting, buddy up with me here and we can fast draft together! I’ve created a video for you with tips and thoughts on my fast drafting techniques. Hopefully it will help you along the way. Also, if you’re looking for the plotting template I mention in the video, you can find it on my Writer’s Resource page under Book Plot Outline.
I’m thrilled to share with you a collaboration video I created with twenty-seven of my middle grade author friends. If you are looking for a fun laugh and a new book to read then check out our First Lines video. We had a blast creating this video and sharing the first lines of our books. We hope this will help you discover your next reading adventure and enter a whole new world one page at a time! Happy reading!
A HUGE thank you to Scholastic for allowing me to read the 1st chapter of THE PRINCESS AND THE PAGE during school closures! Many of you have asked me to read the first chapter while you are doing your part in social distancing. I’m so proud of all of you for staying home even though I know it’s tough. Remember you can visit my YouTube channel for videos or go to The Gilded Series website for games! I created this video for you to watch during this time of school closures. In the comments, I’d love to find out what you would write if you had a magical pen that made stories come true. Or draw a picture of it and share it with me on social media. I hope you enjoy the video!
TRADE REVIEWS
“A
smart, peppery, action-packed plot teams up with playful, astute characters.”
(Kirkus Reviews)
“The
pace is effective for building a deep sense of mystery. Slowing down works for
the overall mystery… particularly since, in Keira’s first-person narrative,
readers will discover clues right along with her.” (Booklist)
“The
shimmering jacket illustration by Petur Antonsson will surely catch the eyes of
young readers and lure budding princesses to read about the sapphire blue pen’s
magic powers.” (Recommended read by School Library Connection)
Teachers and parents! These are tough times right now for all of us. As a former teacher in the traditional and homeschool classroom as well as now writing virtual school curriculum, I understand what you are going through and I want to help! Below, I’ve complied resources I’ve created for the classroom. I love my readers so much! I hope through this time they can find hope and light in the stories they read and write.
VIRTUAL AUTHOR VISITS
I love doing virtual author visits! I offer free 20-30 min visits for classrooms. During this time, I go through my writing process and offer time for students to ask me questions. Formats I can do virtual visits with you:
Skype
Zoom
Teams
Slack
Blackboard
Hangouts Meet (Google Hangouts)
Flipgrid
If you are interested, please contact me on my contact page or at Christina at ChristinaFarley dot com.
I hope these resources are of help to you! Also, if you have a topic that you’d like me to talk about on my YouTube channel, please don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know!
I’m thrilled to have Jennifer Drone here today to share how she revolutionized the mindset of her school from the idea that reading is a requirement to reading is a celebration. Jennifer has the stats to prove it. The first year she began the Sunshine State Celebration where she required students to read the Sunshine State books, she had 6 students participating. Last year over 400 students completed all 15 Sunshine State books and over 650 participated and read at least 5 books! Those are staggering and inspiring numbers.
First group of many getting into the limo with the teachers and authors.
I was thrilled to be one of the authors chosen to celebrate with the students at Jennifer’s school, Keene’s Crossing Elementary/. These students blew me away at how excited they were about reading and being a part of this reading party. One of my favorite parts was when the whole school came out and cheered for the students who read all 15 books as they paraded to the limos.
If you are a teacher, media specialist, or librarian struggling to get your students to tackle required reading or a state reading list, check out Jennifer’s fantastic tips on how to revolutionize your reading celebrations.
What inspired you to create a Sunshine State Celebration at
your school?
Jennifer Drone starting off a fun day celebrating literacy!
My inspiration for starting the Sunshine State challenge and celebration was to spark an interest in reading books that my students might not normally pick up on their own. My program is based around the yearly SSYRA titles selected by the state. It contains 15 titles of various fiction genres. To participate in the celebrations, students must read all 15 books. I needed a way to get the students to read books that might be outside of their comfort zone and introduces them to genres such as historical fiction or mystery that they would not have read by first choice. I also needed to show the students that they could read books that were longer and more difficult than they thought they could. Offering the celebration, gives the students the extra motivation to complete the SSYRA challenge and challenge themselves.
Share
with us what your Sunshine State Celebration looks like.
Limo ride to the restaurant!
My Sunshine State celebration is a full school day that
includes visits with local children’s authors and lunch at a local restaurant
with transportation via limousine. We typically have 3 authors. The
students are divided into groups and rotate through the author presentations.
Author presentations are about 40 minutes in length. We also have a local
book store set up books written by those authors. The students are
allowed to choose one book as a gift from the school as well as preorder other
ones. Following lunch, the students have the opportunity to have their
books signed by the authors. To honor the students who meet the
challenge, families, teachers, staff, and remaining students come outside to
cheer and take pictures as the students get into the limos. It is a community
celebration.
What are the biggest obstacles you’ve had to face? How did
you overcome those?
Every student came away with an autographed copy of an author’s book of their choice.
The biggest obstacles are funding and organization. It takes
a lot of fundraising through book fairs to raise enough money to pay for such a
grand event. However, after the first couple of years, the school and
community got behind the program and have been generous in donating to make
sure it is able to continue. The second obstacle is organization. Leading
up to the event, you must have a plan in place for tracking student progress
and be diligent about the accuracy of your records. You also have to plan for a
restaurant location and a limousine service that can accommodate your
group. You have to consider the dietary needs of your students and
restaurants that have adequate seating. The day of the event has to be planned
to the minute. There are so many moving parts. Students have to be
divided into groups and move from location to location to hear the various
authors. One group has to board the limos and be dropped off for
lunch. While they are eating the limo has to return to pick up another
group.
What
piece of advice would you give a media specialist, librarian, or teacher who
wishes to follow the model that you run at Keene’s Crossing Elementary?
Each author shared reading and writing tips.
My advice is to start early and get a plan in place. Make sure you are very clear on the criteria for participation. And ask for help. Get volunteers to assist where you can.
Jennifer and I all fancy for our limo ride!
Jennifer Drone is the media specialist for Keene’s Crossing Elementary. She is a master teacher, having been awarded teacher of the year for her school and one of five finalists for teacher of the year in the entire Orange Country Public Schools.
