Starsongs Magazine

Title: Starsongs Magazine
Publisher: Written World Communications

Cover blurb: Although Written World Communications is a Christian publisher, Starsongs Magazine is a general market quarterly magazine for kids by kids ages 9-19. Starsongs accepts original short stories, poetry, essays, articles, photography and art work by young people in the above mentioned age group. Each issue of Starsongs contains a mentoring article about writing or photography by an adult writer. We also feature an interview with an extraordinary young person. These interviews to date include author Kayla Woodhouse, Olympic skater Rachael Flatt, manager and first violinist for the New World String Quartet Rebecca Phillips, and mulit-published teen author Riley Carney.

1) How did the idea for this magazine come to you? This magazine came into existence to inspire young people to express their creative talent through original writing, photography, and artwork. Our tag line is “voices of the future” and our goal is to inspire youth.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting the magazine in circulation.
The first issue of Starsongs became available in September of 2010. Starsongs staff is proud to have published over thirty young writers and photographers, many for the first time. Our publication is available in downloadable and print format. We will be celebrating our one year anniversary with our next issue, due to release in late August, so watch for some neat contests!

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
1) I have a son and daughter-in-law who live in the United Kingdom
2) I have an awesome granddaughter who was nominated for the softball all-star team
3) Even though I live in Colorado, I was born and raised in New York (not New York City!)

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
Lots! Starsongs will be launching a book imprint, general market YA books, for which we are currently soliciting manuscripts. As Vice President of Written World Communications, I also supervise our other two children’s publications, each of which have their own book imprints, which we plan to launch within the next few months. Untapped is a Christian YA magazine and book imprint. Patchwork is a Christian children’s magazine and book imprint.

5) Parting comments?
If you are or know a young person who likes to write, please get in touch with me. I am always looking for submissions and I love to work with and mentor young writers. Always be open to God’s plan for your writing life. My original goal was to write westerns! Even though that dream still lingers in the back of my mind, publishing young people brings me much more satisfaction than seeing my own book in print (if that ever happens) probably would.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
Starsongs is available at www.magcloud.com/browse/magazine/113497. Our Written World Communications web site is under construction but we can be reached at http://www.written-world.com/. Send Starsongs submissions to Patti Shene at starsongs.mag@gmail.com.

Jenness Walker & Tracy Bowen's "Bliss"

We're happy to have Jenness Walker and Tracy Bowen with us today talking about their book, Bliss. To learn more about them and their book, read on!

Publisher: Written World Communications

Cover blurb: When the universe lets you down, it’s time to go over its head. Following the stars, Indie Moore sets off to find ultimate happiness in South Florida. But in her quest for comfort and fortune, she encounters mishap and mayhem. She finds a home in a trailer park, a job scrubbing toilets, and a moody roommate-not quite the glamorous world she'd envisioned for herself when she left Rabbit Hole, Kansas. But maybe bliss looks a little different than she'd thought. Laugh and cry with Indie, the Miss Adventure of misadventure, as she blunders on land, by sea, and in church, seeking love and a sense of belonging...seeking true Bliss.

1. How did this story come to you?
J - The story started with this question: what if a girl was addicted to horoscopes, but every time she followed the advice it ended up in disaster?
T - The original premise came from the brilliant mind of Jenness. She approached me with the idea and asked if I would be interested in helping her bring the story to life. There were a million different ways that the book could have gone. After a very long beach walk together we mapped out the rest of the story. Our main goals were to reflect our belief that God is the source of true happiness in our lives, and to have fun in the process.

2. Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
Hmmm. You probably don’t have enough room here to get into all of the details of that long saga.  Bliss placed in the 2007 Genesis contest, but it took a while to complete it, as it was our first book to write together and we had other projects going at the same time. We finished it just in time to miss the chick lit boom. But we loved the book and didn’t give up on it. New publisher Written World Communications decided to take a chance on us and Indie. We hope you’ll enjoy the result.

3. Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
J – 1. I won a contest in first grade, so my drawing was used in a newspaper to advertise a baseball game. 2. I can’t drink coffee. I wish I could. I love the smell and the whole idea of it, but I just can’t like the taste no matter how much I doctor it. 3. I don’t like to drive. If I’m out of familiar territory, I have to turn the music way up and sing along to steady my nerves.
T - I am fairly new to the party and most things about me would be a surprise since I am “unknown”.  1. I am terribly afraid of heights. This is a result of a little incident in my childhood that involved me being aboard a plane that crash-landed in a soy-bean field in a town called Santa Claus, Georgia. 2. I avoid a movie if I know that it has the potential to make me cry. Seriously, who puts money into buying a ticket or a DVD if they know it will make them sob? I can look at my checkbook and do that for free. 3. For most of my life I was a faithful church-going wreck of a woman who secretly felt inside that there was no way that God could ever love me. I was the queen of the façade. And then someone reached out to me, and truly showed me a glimpse of His character. I was loved to Jesus.

4. What are you working on now and what's next for you?
We have a couple projects together that are in different stages of development and are waiting to hear back from an editor about one of them.
J – Meanwhile, I’m trying to finish up a story that’s very close to my heart. It’s a darker women’s fiction story, but I pray that the darkness makes the glimpses of hope and faith that much brighter.
T - I am working on a non-fiction solo project. Somewhere in the back of my mind I also have a great story line for a children’s series. There are not enough hours in the day to cover all of the material that is whirling around inside this crazy, blonde head! 

5. Parting comments?
Thank you so much for having us! We hope you enjoy Bliss.

6. Where can fans find you on the internet?
Drop by and see us anytime at http://www.tandjbooks.com/, our joint website We also have a facebook page (Tracy and Jenness Books) and Jenness has a personal website (http://www.jennesswalker.com/).