Today I welcome Christine Verstraete, author of the kid’s mystery, Searching for a Starry Night, and the nonfiction book, In Miniature Style II. She makes her way to my blog during the Summer Teen Reading Party!
Welcome, Christine!
Thanks Emerald for hosting me. I thought I’d talk today about taking time… to enjoy yourself, to perfect your project.
We live in such a fast-paced society where everything is instant — or we want it to be. Writing, of course, is one of those things that takes time.
Sometimes it takes a while to get everything in place. Sometimes it takes time to get the story how you want it. Sometimes you don’t see things right away, or a better idea comes along later. But that’s okay. There is no hurry. Nor should there be.
Even though some best-sellers feel the need to churn out even more work to keep on top and it can be hard to get noticed within the hub-bub of the publishing world today, not everyone is a hare. Some of us are tortoises meaning slow and steady wins the race.
Between rewrites, between figuring out projects it’s good to take time to — using that old cliche — stop and smell the roses. Enjoy summer. Plant a garden. Take time to work on a hobby. Enjoy the writing.
It’s too easy to get caught up in the promotion-writing-marketing cycle without taking time to actually enjoy what you are doing. After all, it should be fun, too, right?
What’s next?
A new story is coming out soon where a rescued pup helps solve a near-crime in a local cafe. I’m also taking a different approach in my writing with a YA book featuring a girl who turns part-zombie.
About the books:
In Searching for a Starry Night, Samantha Ann Carlton would rather spend her summer vacation anywhere but a spooky old house in Wisconsin…like Lake Geneva! Somehow Sam knows it’s going to take more than a few days to find a missing painting no bigger than her hand.
Maybe things won’t be so bad, she thinks, since she gets to take a friend’s lovable but mischievous Dachshund, Petey, and her best friend Lita. If they’re lucky, the three of them can find the miniature replica of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” and help Sam’s mother get it to the museum where it belongs. It’s not going to be easy, Sam realizes, when she discovers her own family has some spooky secrets. Then Petey digs up an ancient curse, and Sam fears her friendship with Lita is doomed…
Will they find the miniature masterpiece in time? Will Sam and Lita go home friends — or enemies?
In Miniature Style II has dozens of 
stunning photos, over 40 how-to projects, and profiles of talented miniaturists and their work. Updated features, new photos & dozens of new how-to’s including half-scale and miniature doll projects by IGMA artisans and other skilled miniaturists.
Connect with Christine
Christine Verstraete http://www.cverstraete.com
https://www.facebook.com/christine.verstraete
Blog: http://candidcanine.blogspot.com
MSII Print: http://tinyurl.com/4ockdh2
Dreaming Awake 