Fairies of Carlow – Sonja Danielson

It’s My Birthday!!!

-and to celebrate, I’m having The Fairies of Carlow: The Outsider ebook listed for FREE!

Go to amazon.com (or go to the left margin of this website for the direct link) and get your FREE COPY!

Help me celebrate by day by reading all about Princess Fruhlingsmorgen–oops, she likes to be called Morgen–and her engagement to the Crown Prince of Carlow.

Will she find happiness?

Perhaps, but there a many obstacles she must surmount.

Not only will you learn about Princess Morgen, but there is new fairy magic to discover. Not to mention the dastardly Red Caps. They’ll likely want to ruin any chance at happiness by the royal family of Carlow.

I think Morgen is up to the challenges. She’s a feisty fairy, and one who has nothing to lose as she learns to love her handsome prince.

Enjoy this special story! Sonja

The Struggles Are Real

When a story doesn’t unfold in my brain, it’s a struggle to get it down on paper–or, rather, in ones and zeros. I’m having this issue with Lady Zepherine’s story. She is reluctant to tell her story, and I am having a difficult time writing it. Difficult is putting it mildly. It’s like hammering dull nails into an oak board with a sponge. Yes, that’s impossible.

The hard thing is not writing her story. But I feel like it’s a tortured mess. That’s what editing is for, right?

It’s also tough because parts of her story are so personal to me. Diving into my memories, and interacting with the mean girls and bullies who live there, makes me sad. I wish I had the knowledge that I have now, back then, so I could stand up to them and defend myself instead of ‘taking it’ like I did.

Even now, I try to take the high road and not get pulled down into what I consider trite arguments. The unfortunate side of that is the number of people (who I though were friends) believing the liar and rumor-spreader.

Aren’t you glad that it exposed your false friends? Yes, but it makes for loneliness, too. I wish they had taken the time to find the truth rather than believing the person who had no issues dragging my name through the mud. I hope I haven’t made the same mistake.

I hope I am the friend I wish to be. Sonja

Still Recovering…

While I continued to wear a spiffy blue cast on my lower arm, I imagine it actually looks like this. I’m charmed by this photo.

Plus, I am writing about Lady Zepherine in the fourth installment of The Fairies of Carlow. Her namesake rose isn’t such a light pink but is equally beautiful. It’s a more cerise pink, maybe a medium dusty pink, so she makes a statement when she enters a room! There’s no blending in for someone wearing a cerise pink gown.

While I’m unable to write without sending pain throughout my hand and wrist, I am busy plotting in my head. My notebook is filled with ideas (my right hand, my handwriting hand, is fully capable!) and I’m starting to form another novel under a different author’s name.

The next Guinness the Therapy Dog book is also close to being sent to the illustrator.

Exciting stuff, huh?!?!?

I hope your week is filled with success, too. Sonja

#TBT

https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=the+fairies+of+carlow — (c) 2019 Available on Amazon.com

It’s Throwback Thursday and I’m looking back at my first book series: The Fairies of Carlow.

These middle-grade books have chapters and are based on a fairy kingdom. They come from Ireland and now are in the United States. With magic, they find their way through their teen years. Not only do they grapple with the angst that accompanies that time, but the Red Caps are causing trouble.

These wicked creatures bring chaos and fear to the kingdom and cause trouble throughout the series.

Each book stands alone, but you get to revisit the characters from previous books and can see what they’ve been up to since their story was told in their book.

One of the benefits of staying home these days is the ability to read more. Ebooks are always available while print books may take a while to ship, depending on where they are coming from and how well the shipping lines are doing to your town.

Personally, I love ebooks and carry my Kindle around in my purse. That way, when I’m stuck in a line I can take out my book instead of standing around getting bored or irritated.

Bonus: all of my books are available as ebooks!!! Just for you! Sonja

Did You Get My Gift?

For the winter holidays, I arranged for special pricing for the three above books. Available exclusively on Amazon.com, the ebooks for The Gilding and The Voyage were free worldwide–The Commoner ebook was available for free to my friends in the UK.

I hope you were able to take advantage of this special pricing!

Keep an eye on this website or my Instagram page @author_Sonja_Danielson for special pricing alerts!

Enjoy the second day of the new year! Sonja

Writing for Illustrations

It’s different when you write the text for a chapter book that doesn’t include pictures and writing for an illustrated book. The illustrations help the reader visualize what you’re writing about.

I didn’t have to describe the clothing in ‘The Voyage’ because the artist did such a phenomenal job with her research to show the clothing and the colors that were true to the period.

For ‘The Fairies of Carlow’ series, I took literary license to use clothing that was suggested by the Victorian period and was able to modify it as necessary for the stories.

The ‘Guinness the Therapy Dogs’ stories will be modern-day and the dress of the people he interacts with will be easily drawn. I probably won’t mention the clothing unless it directly affects the plot of the book.

And dogs don’t wear pants! Hey, that’s a good idea for a story!

The illustrations in ‘The Voyage’ also show the world occupied by John Wing as he traveled through Europe as a preacher. It helps the reader see where he stood in The Hague, Oxfordshire, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts (for his family).

Take a look at the beautiful illustrations of ‘The Voyage’. The illustrations for the first two books of the ‘Guinness the Therapy Dog’ series are being drawn by the artist right now!

I can’t wait to show you. Keep a lookout for the logo that will appear on the front cover of every ‘Guinness the Therapy Dog’ book. It’s spectacular and I will unveil it here on this website soon!

Keep writing! Keep reading! Sonja

Countdown Deal for The Gilding!

Starting today (September 10) I am having a Countdown Deal on Amazon for The Fairies of Carlow: The Gilding! The price today for the eBook is $0.99!!! Tomorrow (September 11) the price will be $1.99. By Friday, September 13 the eBook will be back to its regular selling price of $2.99. It’s a spectacular deal and one I hope you won’t miss!

Stay tuned for more Countdown Deals on Amazon in the future. New deals–new books!!!

Have a great week, Sonja

2020 Tucson Festival of Books

I’m excited to announce that I will be appearing at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 14, 2020.

I’ll be in the children’s section from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.

I will have copies of:

The Fairies of Carlow: The Gilding (Book 1)

The Fairies of Carlow: The Outsider (Book 2)

The Fairies of Carlow: The Commoner (Book 3)

I will have also my new historical picture book

The Wing Family of America:

From England to the American Colonies

available!

AND, copies from my new series of picture books:

Guinness the Therapy Dog

As a special treat, I’m working to have Guinness available at the Festival!!!!! Won’t that be fun?

I hope to see you at the Tucson Festival of Books!