My Raggedy Tots

Years ago, when my children had left home and married, I suffered from empty-nest syndrome. My husband and I had moved to a remote area, so I made the Raggedy Tots. There are only seven here, but I made over a dozen. Now my grandchildren love to play with them.

Trouble is, I get no sleep now because the tots sneak out of bed in the middle of the night, raid my cookie jar and eat all the fruit. Then they turn on the stereo and dance around until they're exhausted. Naughty raggedy Tots.

  

Paperback and eBook Giveaways

I'm giving away a paperback copy of Rascals Sing at The Opera House 
To enter this Giveaway, follow the link to Goodreads on the sidebar on the right side of the blog.

People from all countries can enter to win a free eBook from one of my stories. To enter, just post below which of my characters stuffed her dinner in-between the clean sheets in the linen closet.

To win a copy of all of my eBooks just add a unique name for a sprite in my new story:
 Velvet and Roseberry (Volume 2) If I like it, I'll give the prize of my four published ebooks and also a copy of the new eBook when it's published.

Unfortunately, the paperback Giveaway is only available to American residents this time due to large postage costs overseas. However, the eBooks Giveaways are for all countries. I will be adding other Giveaways for other countries in the future.


Good Luck!

Introducing Magda M. Olchawska

I'd like to introduce you to a dear friend I met on twitter last year: 

Magda M. Olchawska.

Magda M. Olchawska is a writer and an award winning film maker. She was born at the end of winter in Wroclaw, Poland, and at a time when Poland was still a communist country and a scary, grey and ominous place for as kid to grow up. After graduating from high school Magda decided to follow her dreams of becoming a film-maker and moved to London. While there, she joined an acting school and later film school.
Magda has always made up stories, often, living in her imaginary world with imaginary friends, where nothing was as scary as the outside world. She wrote many short stories and loved poetry while at school, but on one particularly low day she destroyed all of her work. After her act of self-destruction Magda avoided writing for few years. Then one day when she woke up on a very cold and foggy morning, she had an inspiration and started writing scripts.

Her early inspirations came from stories by Hans Christian Andersen and The brothers Grimm as well as old 40's and 50's movies. Later in her life she was to be inspired by Kafka, Dostoyevsky, Camus, Saint-Exupery and many children's authors.
Most of Magda's scripts have been turned into movies and one of her featured film scripts "Two People" is in pre-production, ready to commence shooting next year.
Magda's writing has evolved since giving birth to her son a few years ago and she has decided to venture into much brighter & lighter tones.

Here are some of Magda's achievements:
Filmography

Writer/Director/Producer
2012- “Anna and the Case of Modern Day Slavery” – feature film in pre-production
2010 – “The Man With The Spying Glass”/short film Winner of Best Picture @ Ballston Spa Film Fest.;
Official Selection at:Jaipur International Film Festival; Newport Beach International Film Festival; NYIFF – (NY spring & LA summer 2011); Short Film Corner – Festival de Cannes; Ballston Spa Film Festival; Naoussa International Film Festival;
2009 – “9 mm”/short film;
Official Selection at; Waterford Film Festival; Jaipur International Film Festival; Deep Fried Film Festival; International Festival of Film & Culture at Patras City; Naoussa International Film Festival; Novara Film Festival;
2008 – “Short Guide-Autism”/experimental
2008 – “Mikolaj”/ experimental
2007 – “7 Minutes of Ur Life“/ short film;
Official Selection at: No Festival Required
2007 – “Reverse“/short film
2006 – “The Fantasy House“/ medium length film

Script Writer
2003- 2011 – I have been writing scripts for all of my shorts.
2011 - “Human Creatures” / script in development
2011 – “Shift” /script in development
2010 – “Two People”/ feature film in pre-production
2010 – “Fantasy Room”/ feature film in development


Magda has to do the usual jobs of an independent film maker, such as writing, producing, editing and directing, and as well as all this, she's an author of children's books.

Between writing scripts and making shorts Magda also set up a website for indie filmmakers called www.bulletfilm.com.

Magda’s interests lie in social issues, mostly revolving around women   kids and children’s education as well as her fantasy stories.

Her recent short films: “7 Minutes of Ur Life”, “9 mm” and “The Man With The Spying Glass” have been screened at 15 international film festivals around the world, with the latter film winning the Best Picture Award at the Ballston Spa Film Festival.

Magda’s publications include “Mikolay & Julia” a series of stories for 4-6 year old kids and short stories, which can be read on Amazon. Mikolay & Julia are six year old wizards who are not only BFF but also big time trouble makers.

Magda is happily married to Marek and the happiest mum of a wonderful son Mikolay.


Find out more at www.magdaolchawska.com

In 2011

- “Pooh Gets Beating”
- “My Mum Is a Superhero”
- “Do You Know How To Do Pee Pee or Poo Poo? Do You Know Why To Do Pee Pee or Poo Poo?”
- “Do You Know How To Blow Your Nose? Do You Know Why To Blow Your Nose?”
- “Do You Know How To Brush Your Teeth? Do You Know Why To Brush Your Teeth?
- “Mikolay & Julia In The Attic”
2010
- “Mikolay & Julia Meet The Fairies”
Short Stories Collection
- “Julia & the Sea”
- “A Man Who Gives Happy Memories”
- “The Man & His Dragon”
- “Scary”
- “3 Months”
Magda really is a delightful person and has been so helpful to me and many other authors and indi film makers. Find out more about this wonderful woman's work  by visiting: www.magdaolchawska.com

Visit www.mikolayandjulia.com for interactive activities for the whole family.