Lenny's World

...four legged federal agent

2012-02-23T15:17:00.000-05:00

did you know the united states government has federal agents that are dogs? yep! its true! beagles!! these four legged, furry federal agents been working for the department of agricultures animal and plant health inspection service since 1984. these super sniffers belong to a special group called...

THE BEAGLE BRIGADE

beagles got the job because theyre small, cute, friendly, smart and dont scare people (most people). and… theyre great sniffers.

teams of specially trained beagles and their handlers work at airports, post offices and shipping ports all over the united states. using their super sniffer power they inspect luggage, cargo, mail and vehicles for prohibited fruits, veggies, plants and meats. they dont do drugs. they leave that to the big dogs.

the BEAGLE BRIGADE is americas first line of defense against plant and animal diseases. unauthorized meat, animal byproducts, fruits and vegetables can cary deadly insects, diseases and pests that could infect u.s. agriculture.

the beagles get trained at special schools in orlando florida and newnan georgia. they dont have to learn how to smell cause that comes with having a super sniffer nose. they do have to learn how to know different smells for fruits and veggies and meat. before they start training thay have to pass the touch test. when someone touches or pets them ... no growling and for sure no biting.

once their trained beagles can recognize different smells and can tell the difference between a fruit, veggie or plant thats ok and one thats not. when a BB agent gets a scent of something thats not ok he sits down next to the container and his human partner takes over and talks to the owner and, if necessary, does a search. experienced beagles have a 90% success rate and can recognize nearly 50 distinct smells. wow! how cool is that!

the BEAGLE BRIGADE program averages around 75,000 seizures of prohibited agricultural products a year saving farmers MILLIONS of dollars from things that coud be deadly to their crops and affect their livelihood.

hooray for THE BEAGLE BRIGADE!

so...whatcha think about these four legged furry federal agents?
(be careful what you say cause the "speagles" [blogger spy beagles] are watching and taking notes)

...hugs from lenny

...whos the boss???

2012-01-24T13:18:00.000-05:00

even before i get going on writing a story i pretty much know how its gonna end and most times thats just how it does. but the other day i was writing a pb story and all of a sudden without not one word of warning the mc jumped right outta the story and said “STOP the storys done!” i scratched my head and said “huh?” then i said “wait a minute! this is MY story and i already got it figured out how its gonna end so get back in the story be quiet and let me finish it my way.”

could you believe that mc got right up in my face and GRRRRRROWLED (hes a big gator) and for sure hearing that growl and seeing those big sharp teeth got my attention. but i gotta tell you it got me a little angry. so i just looked that gator right in the eye and said "IM THE BOSS!” yikes! he didnt back down not one little bit and shot back at me “hey dude its MY story too and without ME you got NO story at all so you better listen to what i gotta say.”

i jumped back sat down and didnt say not one more word. i just sat thinking on what that gator said. i didnt ever think bout listening to my mc before. so i went back and read "OUR" story over a bunch of times and could you believe that gator was right and it needed to end just right where he said.

if youre wondering? yep! im still the boss (sorta). but for sure im gonna listen to my mc from now on (specially if its a big gator with sharp ^^^^ teeth).

for sure i got a good writing lesson from a place i didnt expect it - my mc! WOW! how cool is that!

now i just gotta ask you did you ever have your mc tell you what to do? if you did... did you do it?

…hugs from lenny and...you know who

A Writers Life

2012-01-03T13:24:00.006-05:00

heres something neat i read from my writers book that miss dianne gave me.

(Spilling Ink: A Young Writer’s Handbook by Anne Mazer & Ellen potter.)

A Writer's Life

Is this your idea of fun...

...sitting in a room by yourself all day?
...staring at blank pieces of paper while you cast about for ideas?
...writing and rewriting the same sentences over and over?

Yes? Well, have I got a career for you! To be a professional writer, you will need the following skills:

...time wasting
...day dreaming
...a knack for noticing things that annoy other people
...a delight in playing with words
...stubbornness
...a slight touch of insanity

Nobody feels sorry for writers. If we want to write in the middle of the night in a tree house in the backyard, wearing an electric lime green and orange ball gown, a beanie cap, wool socks, and Elmo slippers, that's our business. No one tells us what to do, or how to do it.

It's a dream job, so we shouldn't even think of complaining. Nevertheless, I'mgoing to complain. You should at least know what you're getting into.

1. Writing is some of the hardest work in the world. I call it "mental rock breaking."
2. Writing is lonely.
3. It takes a long time.
4. Even if you spend years on a project, you still might not succeed.

But, I also don't want to lie to you. Writing is one of the world's greatest jobs. Let's talk about why.

1. You're in charge. You set you hours: all day, half a day, three hours four times a week, or on weekends only.
2. You choose your working space: tree house, basement, closet, cafe, or the biggest and best room in your house.
3. You choose your method: by hand, by typewriter, by computer, by dictation.
4. You choose what to write: science fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance, historical fiction, nonfiction, technical writing, children's books, biography...
5. You choose the characters, the setting, the conflict and the style. (Okay, maybe some of them choose you, but still...without you, they'd never breathe or speak or have a life.)
6. You choose whether to write in first person or third person. You choose whether his eyes ar blue or gray. You choose whether she has a temper or is just too sweet to be believed.
7.You can create a universe from the smallest seed of an idea.

8. Your words, written in a solitary room by a single person, have the power to touch millions. They might turn someone who hates reading into a book lover. They might change the course of someone’s life. I once read a story about a famous actor who spent his teens lying, stealing, and beating people up – until he read Shakespeare.

I'll tell you the truth. Here's the best part of being a writer:

Your words can

Change the world!

WOW! how cool is that!

...hugs from lenny

...happy holidays!

2011-12-18T18:08:00.000-05:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

a holiday poem ...by lenny lee

the holidays again are here

and soon will come a whole new year

for everyone it’s busy days

with baking cakes and children’s plays

and running round to shop for stuff

but not one thought to say, “enough!”

so, stop and take some time to see

a pretty decked out christmas tree

or go ‘round town and see the lights

enjoy the pretty festive sights

please don’t forget to stop a while

and give someone a happy smile. :)

just take some time to have some fun

and celebrate with everyone

to all my friends both far and near

i wish for you a sunshine year.

happy holidays and happy new year!

…big hugs from lenny

...dead end

2011-11-29T12:52:00.004-05:00

ever read a book thats a dead end? you know – one that had a real crummy ending. it makes you sooo mad you wasted your time and you wanna stomp on that book. for sure youre gonna think twice before reading stuff by that author ever again.

we talk lots about the start of a book – that hook stuff that gets the reader wanting to read more. but we dont talk so much about endings and for sure theyre way important too. it doesnt have to be “happily ever after” but for sure you gotta give the reader something that could make him feel satisfied.

its sorta like eating a meal. the appetizers just enough so you still wanna eat more. the main course is what keeps you eating (if the food tastes yummy). the desserts a satisfying ending (if you don’t eat too much and get sick. ha ha). you could eat a real good meal but if the dessert doesnt taste good youre not gonna be happy and for sure youre not getting that dessert again.

heres some common types of endings (reference)

1. Explicit - answers all the questions and wraps up everything. lots of times tells what happens to the main characters. leaves the reader satisfied.
2. Implicit - based on interpretation. mostly used in short fiction.

3.Twist - unexpected or twisted. everything the reader believes gets thrown out at the end, and is replaced by a new revelation.
4. Tie-back ending – ties the end of the story back to clues planted in the beginning.
5. Unresolved - main conflicts are left unanswered. The reader is left to ponder the outcome. Cliffhanger endings fall in this category.
6. Long view ending –tells what happens to the characters a significant timeframe into the future.

heres some good tips for ending a your novel
1. dont write the end til you feel the time is right and that could be anytime
2. wrap things up and answer all the plot questions.
3. dont kill off your mc unless you got a really really good reason
4. get in, finish and get out. keep things simple and clear
5. start early and move towards the end slowly
6. epilogs are ok. remember theyre not the end, they just come at the end.
7. avoid endings that make the reader wonder what happened.
8. dont come at the reader too fast and catch him off guard
9. don’t force it - make sure the ending fits the story and the characters
10. write endings that fit your genre

theres bunches more good tips for doing good endings. how bout you? how do you avoid dead ends? what could you add to this list?

...hugs from lenny

...im thankful!

2011-11-19T21:46:00.004-05:00

yikes! could you believe its thanksgiving time again! i love thanksgiving cause of the pretty leaves and the chilled out air and specially cause of that special day of family, fun and scrumptulicious food. and… for sure theres an extra perk cause theres no school and that means no homework! WOW! how cool is that!!

i been thinking bout the things im thankful for and gosh theres so much stuff. but today im thinking bout YOU and how thankful i am for you being in my life.

why im thankful for you?

cause YOU…

accept me for being a just a kid blogger
give me lots of support for stuff in my life
get me smiling when im feeling down
teach me how to be a way better writer
come visit my blog and read what i gotta say
do the most nice comments on my posts
remember my birthday :)
make my life sooooo happy

im just the most lucky blogger in the world. thanks for being my friend!

what stuff are you thankful for?

…big happy thanksgiving hugs from lenny

...mind readers!

2011-11-08T12:07:00.000-05:00

mind readers?? yikes! for sure thats pretty scary. my blogger friend miss susan quinn has a new novel that just got out and its called OPEN MINDS and its book one of the mindjack trilogy. just that title could make you wanna know what its about.

heres what you could get inside

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mind reader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.

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sounds scary and exciting all at the same time. WOW! how cool is that!
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heres where you could get this cool novel
e-book: amazon, barnes and noble, smashwords
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printed book: amazon, createspace

autographed books: mindjack trilogy
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wanna get to know miss susan?
if you don’t know miss susan for sure you need to go visit her blog. shes just real nice to know and does the most cool posts. and you could find her at these other places too.
twitter, facebook, goodreads
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go meet her. youll be happy you did. and for sure get her cool novel!
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…hugs from lenny

...cool new novel

2011-11-02T01:13:00.001-04:00

miss Jessica bell is my special friend. shes a really good writer and just the most cool and nice lady. now her first novel just got published out and its called STRING BRIDGE.

if you dont know miss Jessica for sure you need to go meet her.

whats her cool book about?

"Greek cuisine, smog and domestic drudgery was not the life Australian musician, Melody, was expecting when she married a Greek music promoter and settled in Athens, Greece. Keen to play in her new shoes, though, Melody trades her guitar for a 'proper' career and her music for motherhood. That is, until she can bear it no longer and plots a return to the stage—and the person she used to be. However, the obstacles she faces along the way are nothing compared to the tragedy that awaits, and she realizes she's been seeking fulfilment in the wrong place."

WOW! how cool is that!! for sure you cant resist reading this neat novel!!
heres where you could buy it

barnes and noble

amazon

heres more links for miss Jessica
thenovel
email
website

big gigantical congrats to my friend miss jessica!!

...hugs from lenny

...happy halloween!

2011-10-30T23:54:00.005-04:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

have a ghouly, ghostly, vampirish, zombitastical halloween!

i hope you get lots more treats than tricks!

...big happy halloween hugs from lenny

...its my birthday!!!

2011-10-20T00:10:00.001-04:00

YIPPEEEEE!

todays my birthday!! now i added on another year and i got all the way to 12!! i didn’t never think i could get even to 11 but i did and now i got to 12!! WOW! how cool is that!!

BIG THANKS to all my blogger friends that remembered its my birthday and been sending me lots of snail mail cards and ecards and nice happy birthday emails and cool presents. for sure youre making my birthday just way special and soooooo happy.

i got the most best blogger friends in the whole world!!!
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…big hugs from lenny

...super saver!

2011-09-19T01:44:00.003-04:00

im a super saver! i save books, comics, pictures, hot wheels, greeting cards and just lots of little stuff. one of my brothers says im a junk collector. ha ha. for me saving stuff thats special to me is just real important. so for sure saving what i write is way important.

the other day i got rolling on my wip and the words just got flying at me like a meteor shower. in just a little time i did 3000 words! it felt sooooo good. and i didnt stop not one time to eat a peanut butter cup.

ok grab a kleenex cause here comes some sad saver stuff…

ack! ack! and one more BIG ACK!!! when i got it opened so i could do more writing all those 3000 words were GONE!

i hope youre not gonna think im a big baby but i cried big tears and shhhh dont tell on me but i yelled out some real bad words. ugh! good thing no one was home. i got sooooo mad at my self i wanted to just smack my head up on the computer. then i didnt wanna write on that story anymore cause i liked so much what i had wrote i didnt think i could ever do it so good again.

sometimes you just gotta talk to someone when stuffs all outta whack. so me and my cp miss sharon talked on the phone. i got a surprise knowing she lost writing stuff before and it could happen to any writer. she said i jut gotta just learn from doing a mistake and find a way not to do it. then i got feeling lots better. thanks miss sharon!
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now i got big yellow SAVE stickys stuck on the computer and all over the place and one pasted on my forehead. ha ha. maybe i could need a SAVE tattoo on the back of my hand. from now on im gonna be a

SUPER SAVER WRITER!

how bout you? did you ever forget and not save something you wrote or lose stuff you wrote? how do you make sure your remember to save stuff?

… hugs from lenny

...hooray for miss talli!

2011-09-14T00:27:00.000-04:00

guess what???? today miss talli rolands new novel is out!! wow! how cool is that! its called...

WATCHING WILLOW WATTS

you could get it from these places…

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/nlygHP
Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/riMpmH

oh and guess what else??? miss talli is having party right at her blog and you could go help her and all her friends do a BIG CELEBRATION! you could dress up like anyone you want or you could just go like you are right now.
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for me i going like one of my favs from a story my mom used to read to me when i was way little. its rikki tikki tavi and hes a brave mongoose. i gotta tell you mongooses arent the most cute animals but for sure theyre way smart and real curious and got tons of courage. thats how come i could like rikki tikki tavi. and i like him cause he could defend you with his life even against a big cobra snake. rikki tikki tavi is a short story from in the jungle book by rudyard kipling and it was wrote in 1894.

for that party im taking peanutbutter cups, honey bar-b-que potato chips and pink lemonade. yummy for sure!

come on lets go have some fun!!!

…hugs from lenny

...whos it???

2011-08-29T12:42:00.000-04:00

getting names for characters is fun!! cool characters got cool names!

do you remember these names? scarlett o’hara…ebenezer scrooge… hannibal lecter…hansel & gretel…darth vader…harry potter…lassie

how come we remember them? cause their names fit the genre and era & specially fit who they are. & theyre easy to say.

how could we make sure we get cool names?
1. use different first letters for names. dont use larry, lilly, luke and lenny. for sure thats not cool & its confusing
2. dont do a name thats hard to say cause the reader doesnt wanna stop and figure it out or stumble over it every time he sees it. make names rhythmic. exotic & alien & strange names are ok as long as the reader can say it.
3. use only one unusual or exotic name per book
4. names should fit the era and genre and be age appropriate
5. dont use names that sound the same like harry & larry or zack & jack
6. dont use names ending in s cause for possession its hissy sounding
7. dont use alliteration unless its a kids story
8. short one syllable hard consonant names are good for guy names. like dirk, ken, grant, trent
9. two syllable soft consonant names are good for girls. Like gina, sherrie, Jennifer, suzy
10. dont use names thats the same for male & female. terry, lee, kelly
11. use names with meanings if its important to the story
12. nicknames are ok for characters that are close to each other
13. watch out for loaded names. that ones that are associated from books, movies, tv, history, like scarlett, oprah, aldolph and romeo.
14. be open to change. if a names not working for you try another one
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where could you get some name help?
1. baby name book for first names and meanings
2. phone books and year books
3. encyclopedia
4. on line name generators
5. on line search for character & pet names
6. from your past and real life
7. atlas for place names (change up some letters for fantasy)
8. your imagination!
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want a real neat idea?
keep a name notebook!!! every time you see a cool name write it down and get it into your name notebook. later you could find just the right name for your characters from all the ones you got in that notebook. wow! how cool is that!
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how bout you?
how do you get good names for your characters? what could you wanna add on to the lists i did?
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…hugs from lenny
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where i got the stuff for this post
1. spilling ink – a young writers handbook by anne mazer & ellen potter (it was a neat present from famous author dianne salerni)
2. writing magic – creating stories that fly by gail carson levine
3. on line article: whats in a name? by cynthia van rooy
4. google.com search

...rats rule!!!

2011-07-28T10:52:00.005-04:00

a lenny lee book review...

im soooo lucky cause my friend miss hilary wagner just sent me a signed arc of her cool new book THE WHITE ASSASSIN. its a mg book but its for more older readers too. its got some stuff thats not for little kids. on the back it says ages 9 up and im thinking that about right.

i got started reading it just as quick as i got it out of the package. YIKES! what a BIG surprise that she got it dedicated to me. WOW! how special a friend is that! i gotta tell you this book is soooooo good!! i got it read sooooo fast. every time i was gonna stop i just had to go at the next page to see what was gonna happen. if you could like cool characters, lots of rising and falling action, excitement, yeesh i didnt see that coming stuff, strange relationships, twists and turns and bunches of emotions THIS BOOKS FOR YOU!!!

even if you didnt read nightshade city the first book in the nightshade chronicles its ok cause this books great all by itself. but in it you get some history of stuff from the first one so you could know what happened.

whats it about? the back cover says it pretty good:

“Book II in the Nightshade Chronicles begins three years after Juniper and his rebel band liberate the Catacombs from Billycan. A sense of peace has settled over Nightshade City, but it is a false one. Billycan, The white Assassin, has been found deep in the southern swamps, where he now rules a horde of savage swamp rats eager to overrun Nightshade City. With the help of an ancient colony of bats and an uneasy alliance with the swamp snakes, Juniper and his council set out to thwart Billycan’s plans. When an old secret is revealed – one so shocking it shakes both Billycan and Juniper to the core – the fate of Nightshade City and the life of Juniper’s only son depend on Juniper’s decision: should he help his mortal enemy? The past resurfaces with devastating impact in this dark tale of intrigue, deception and betrayal.”

WOW! how could you not wanna read it???

this cool books coming out in october 2011. you could preorder it here.and you could visit the official nightshade chronicles website here. and for sure you should go meet miss hilary at her blog. shes just sooooo cool!

WARNING! when you get this book dont plan not one thing cause once you get started reading it youre not gonna put it down til you get at the very last word.

oh! and guess what? i got a feeling theres a next book in the nightshade chronicles coming??? WOW! how cool is that!

thanks miss hilary for another great book! RATS RULE!!

…hugs from lenny

...cloudy ideas

2011-06-27T00:30:00.001-04:00

when you were just a little kid did you ever just lie down on the grass and look up at all those big white fluffy clouds? its like you could just reach up and touch them and theyd feel like soft cotton. WOW! you could see sooooo much neat stuff in those clouds like animals and ghosts and funny faces and angles and whatever you could imagine.

writing ideas are like cloud watching. sometimes we get a idea but its cloudy and floats through our head and we just cant see a shape. thats a cloudy idea. sometimes it gets a real neat shape and we know just what it is and what were gonna write. some clouds just keep floating and get mixed up with other ones and just float outta our head.

the cloud you write bout could still change its shape once you get going cause coulds could do that with a little change of wind and weather. weathers your writing partner cause its what gets your story moving and changing and keeps it interesting and exciting. you still got that basic shape but you could help it change and it could change itself when youre writing. its like youre a weatherman cause you could pretty much predict whats gonna happen but lots of times mother nature could fool you.

go look!

i go out lots and lie down in the grass and look up at those neat clouds. it gets me feeling lazy and makes me close to nature. makes me happy. did you find shapes in clouds when you were a kid? now cause you know how cool it is are you gonna go do it and have some fun? i hope so. you could do it by yourself or with your kids or any one. its soooooo much fun! it could get your imagination moving and guess what? maybe you could even get a real cool story idea out of those clouds. WOW! how cool is that!

cool cloud stuff
guess what? in the united kingdom theres a group called the cloud appreciation society! they got 26285 members that live in 89 different countries. yep! theres people that didnt ever grow up and still love watching clouds. they even got a book called cloud collectors handbook and they got a cloud shop where you could get post cards and clothes and art. they got a cool photo gallery and cloud chat and music to watch clouds by. wow! talk bout cloud ocd!! for sure i gotta ask miss sarah fine bout that! (shes a cool psychologist writer blogger) if you wanna see their web page go here. its fun looking around it and for sure check out their picture gallery. its got all kinds of cool cloud pictures.

cool cloud pics
mostly i like the ones that look like stuff specially animals. heres some of my most favorite ones. could you tell what they look like?
hooray for clouds!

…hugs from lenny

...sunshiny thanks!!!

2011-06-09T10:24:00.000-04:00

i gotta tell you for a while i been feeling gloomed and doomed and some ugly grey clouds been hanging round me. ack! then on last friday i got bunches of emails from my blogger friends that mostly said “hey lenny go look at my blog cause i did a special post for you.” i got scratching my head and thinking “huh?” i went and looked.

YIKES!!!! the whole blogosphere was exploding out in sunshine!!! i had to put on my sunglasses cause it was soooooo bright. ha ha. it was raining love all over the place and… all that love was for me! :) i got crying BIG tears for feeling so cared about and loved. i got all covered up in warm sunshine and it got swirling round inside me and got right down deep in my heart and thats where its gonna stay forever. now all that gloomy doomy stuff got faded out and im full up of sunshine.

now im saying a zillion BIG THANKS to all my cool blogger friends that did those sunshiny posts and all the ones who did the most nice comments on them and all the ones that didnt know me and came at my blog and did a nice comment on my mom post and some that got following me. you cant never know how much special and loved you got me feeling. for sure i love just every one of you soooooo much!

HOORAY for the most fantastical blogger friends in the whole wide world!

SUNSHINE RULES!! wow! how cool is that!!

…love and big sunshiny hugs from lenny

...a letter to my mom on mothers day

2011-05-08T00:00:00.000-04:00

this is a repost from last year. im posting it again cause its just how i still feel and i cant say it more better this year than i did last year. im wishing for all my friends thats moms the most happy mothers day!

dear mom

i miss you soooo much. when you died my heart got all crumbled and tied up in a tight ball and i couldnt take in even a little breath of air. all my insides got filled up with sad and i made so much tears i could have got drown in them. but little by little the crumble got less cause of remembering all the good stuff about you. it was like the hurting got shrunk up just like that time i put that pretty red turtle neck sweater you knitted for me in the washer and dryer and it got shrunk up so small that it looked like it could fit a for real turtle. ha ha. now theres so much things that could make me think about you with happy thoughts just like last night when i opened the deck door to go and feed the critters and i got a big nose full of some really pretty smelling bushes. i dont know what that bush was but it got me thinking of you cause of how you loved flowers and had that really pretty flower garden. it gave me a smile and a really nice memory. that kind of stuff happens lots of times cause now i could let it and before i couldnt cause of so much hurt being in the way. i think youll be happy that the hurt got shrunk cause you couldnt want me to be so sad for the rest of my whole life. i talk to you lots and i know you could hear me and i hear you in my heart even if you cant say stuff back out loud. some day im gonna get to be with you and im real happy for that. but right now cause im just right here still on the earth im gonna keep on being just me and do all the good stuff you taught me how to do. oh and you could need to know i dont ever forget to brush my teeth at night and i always talk to god before i get off to sleep. you could be real proud of me and my brothers and my sister cause were taking real good care of each other just like you taught us and just like you could want us to do. i love you more than a zillion of your apple pies and that’s a real lot cause you know how much i loved those yummy pies. happy mothers day in heaven mom!

…love and hugs from your son lenny

...time out

2011-04-25T15:08:00.000-04:00

i got some important stuff i just gotta do so im not gonna do a post for a a little while. but for sure im still gonna come round to your blogs as much as i could cause i could miss you too much if i didnt. i promise im gonna be back doing a post just as soon as i could. im gonna miss you for sure.

…lots of love and big hugs from lenny

...show and tell

2011-04-11T01:22:00.001-04:00

did you ever do show and tell at school when you were just a little kid? you know… take something to school and show it to the class and tell about it. did you know good writing has show and tell and if you got a balance of show and tell it makes your story move and groove. wow! how cool is that!

so whats the diff?

telling is just that. its telling the reader whats happening. its a summary of the action and it doesnt describe stuff or do dialogue or thoughts or feelings or sensations. it gets the story moving pretty fast. but…too much telling could make it move just way too fast and then it could end up with the “B” word…B-O-R-I-N-G! ack!.

showing has lots of details for important things that happen. it has dialogue and characters thoughts and feelings and sensations. it slows the story way down. but…too much showing could make it move too slow and that ends up with you know what. yep! that’s right! its the “B” word! ack!

a good writer has both show and tell in a story so that it moves at a good readable pace. how could you know how to balance it out? miss gail carson levine in writing magic creating stories that fly says…

“In general, you want to put in details that reveal character, or move the story along, or establish the setting or the atmosphere. The best details do more than one at the same time. Usually, when we write, we mix showing and telling together. We tell a little here, show a little there. Often the two are so closely entwined that you can hardly separate them.”

i learned from my writers books and from first impressions that miss dianne salerni does on her blog mostly i been telling and not showing when im writing. so now i gotta go back and edit a lot of stuff so i could have a balance of show and tell.

what about you? do you mostly show or mostly tell or do you have a good balance between show and tell?

…hugs from lenny

...blogiversary!

2011-04-03T23:51:00.001-04:00

WOWEEEE!! guess whos got a 1 year blogiversary???? lenny lee!!!! hey thats ME!!!!!! could you believe i been blogging for over a whole year. yikes i gotta catch my breath on that for sure! my for real blogiversary was on march 31st. i forgot it. ack!

even if its a little late i just wanna say thanks to all my blogger friends for coming round and visiting me and reading my posts doing real nice comments. i didnt never think i could get not even one follower and wow now i almost got 200 cool friends!

one of the best things for me in this last year is how much i been learning on being a good writer. theres soooo much i didnt ever know and now i got bunches of stuff im using to make my stories way better. i got recommened some good writer books and i got lots of stuff that could help me get better. one of the best surprises was getting asked to be a critique partner and now i got the best cp ever. :)

the best blogging thing of all for me is all the really neat friends i got and their from all over the whole world. WOW! how cool is that!

now im saying a BIG THANKS to you. thanks for reading my posts and doing cool comments. thanks for teaching me stuff to be a better writer. thanks for the books and arcs and cards and presents and stuff that got a smile on my face. thanks for caring bout me and for all the blog love you gave me.

thanks for being my friend!

…big hugs from lenny

...reject rebels!

2011-03-27T23:31:00.004-04:00

raise your hand if you just HATE rejections. you could raise your hand even if you didnt ever get one and just heard how getting one bums you out and gets you all depressed. WOW! look at all those hands way up in the air.

lots of my cool blogger friends got rejections and got feeling hurt and bummed out and that made me sad. i got thinking we just gotta make it a little more easy. i think that rejection word is a big problem cause you get feeling like not just your work got rejected but YOU did too cause what you write is a BIG part of YOU. its a cold and mean sounding word. just say it. reject! ACK!

me and my cp miss sharon decided were gonna be reject rebels and give that yucky “r” word the boot and get a word thats lots better. miss sharon liked the word raspberries and so did i. then we changed how it gets spelled and now it ended up being spelled RAZZBERRIES! just say it! razzberries! yep! its a cool word for sure.

whats neat about razzberries is its lots like baseball. when you slide into a base and get a yucky bruise on your thigh it gets called a raspberry or a strawberry cause thats how it looks. it hurts and stings for a while and you gotta take care of it but you stay in the game and keep on playing. thats how it needs to be with writing. and in baseball giving the ump or the other team the razzberries is booing them. so you could give that agent the razzberries. ha ha.

who whats to join with me and miss sharon and boot that ugly “r” word right out the door and be a reject rebel? raise your hand! .
x
WOWEE! i see lots of hands way up in the air. how cool is that!
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hooray for razzberries!!!
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did you ever change out that yucky “r” word for something else? did it make it more easy when you got a you know what?
x
…hugs from lenny

...cool characters

2011-03-21T00:56:00.000-04:00

WOW! i just found a cool tool for helping get characters developed. for sure the plot of a story mostly has to do with character. what if little red riding hood was a selfish snotty brat and didnt care bout her granny. that could of changed up the whole story. yep! characters real important for sure.

everyones way different from each other and its just real important to be a good people watcher cause thats how you could get neat ideas for developing the character of your mc and all the characters in your story.

heres a cool tool from out of one of my writing books that called writing magic creating stories that fly by gail carson levine. its a character questionnaire! heres the questions:

Name:
Nickname, if any:
Kind of being (human, animal, extraterrestrial, fantasy or fairy-tale creature):
Age:
Sex:
Appearance:
Occupation, if applicable:
Family members:
Pets:
Best friend:
Describe his/her room:
Way of speaking:
Physical characteristics (posture, gestures, attitude):
Items in his/her pockets or backpack or purse:
Hobbies:
Favorite sports:
Talents, abilities, or powers:
Relationships (how she/he is with other people):
Fears:
Faults:
Good points:
What she/he wants more than anything else:

all you gotta do it answer the questions and youre on the way to making a neat character. WOW! how cool is that!

you could use this before you get started with you ms or when youre working on it. sometimes you got a character started and get stuck on what he or shes like. just do this questionnaire and it could be a big help. remember its only ideas and you dont need to use all of it just only the parts that work for your story and you could change your characters any time you want.

did you ever use a character questionnaire. if you didnt would you try it? how do you develop your characters?

...hugs from lenny

…more books and author stuff!

2011-03-13T13:10:00.000-04:00

wow! theres so much interesting stuff you could find out about books and authors. heres some more neat facts.

wanna read the most b-o-r-i-n-g book ever? its a book about the calculation of pi to two million places. its got 800 pages! ack!

the first published book ever written on a typewriter was the mark twains adventures of tom sawyer.

in the usa we buy 57 books per second and thats about five million every day.

a new book is published every 13 minutes in america. 125 new titles are published every day.

the first novel ever written is believed to be the tale of genji. it was written in the first decade of the 11th century by murasaki shibuku a japanese noblewoman. it has 54 chapters.

in charles dickens a christmas carol most of the characters were based on people he knew personally including ebenezer scrooge who in real life was ebenezer scroggie a counselor at edinburgh.

south african writer mary faulkner wrote 904 books and according to the guinness book of world records ranks as historys most prolific novelist.

the first recipe book was published in 62 a d. by the roman apicius. its called de re coquinari and it describes food the emperor claudius liked to eat.

shakespeare used around 29,000 different words in his plays. before that about 10,000 of them had never been used in any english literature .

now cause i promised heres the 10 most read books in the world. drum roll…

1.The Bible - 3.9 billion copies

2 Quotations from the Works of Mao Tse-tung by Mao Tse-tung - 820 Million Copies

3. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - 400 Million Copies and translated into 65 languages.

4. Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkian- 103 Million Copies

5. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - 65 Million Copies

6. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown - 57 Million Copies

7. Twilight - The Saga by Stephanie Meyer - 43 Million Copies

8. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell- 33 Million Copies

9. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill - 30 Million Copies

10. Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank- 27 Million Copies

i hope you liked all this cool book and author stuff.

…hugs from lenny

...books and authors

2011-03-06T01:40:00.000-05:00

heres some cool fact stuff maybe you didnt ever know bout books and authors.

could you believe when youre reading a book for every 8 letters you read one of them is the letter “e”

an author named ernest vincent in 1939 wrote a 50,000 word novel called gadsby and guess what? it didnt have not one letter “e” in the whole book. yikes! how weird is that!

a french author named michel thaler published a 233 page novel called le train de nulle part (the nowhere train) and didnt use not even one verb in it. he said verbs are like weeds among flowers and should be taken out. ack!

samuel clemens got using the name mark twain when he was just 27. he got it from how a mississippi river boat measured how deep the water is with a stone tied to a rope cause of so much sand bars. when "mark twain!" got called out it meant they hit the critical mark for the paddle wheel of two fathoms. twain is old english for the number two.

we got taught not to do run on sentences. right? well in the book les miserables the author victor hugo did one sentence thats 823 words long! yikes! for sure you could need oxygen if you got reading that out loud. ha ha.

but guess what? when victor hugo did his query letter to his editor he just wrote “?” wow thats getting to the point real fast. and guess what the editor wrote back? his answer was “!” wow how cool is that! dont you wish querying was that easy.

william shakespeare could write neat words for sure but did you know in his writing he made up lots of words. bet you didnt know he made up all these words and phrases: hurry, boredom, disgraceful, hostile, moneys worth, obscene, puke, perplex, on purpose, shooting star, sneak. puke? ack!

we all complain bout so much revising. when there was no computers or copy machines leo tolstoy wrote that loooooooong huge book called war and peace all with a pen and paper and he did seven revisions! and guess who copied his whole ms seven times by hand. his wife! now thats love for sure!

got a writers quirk? charles dickens had to be facing north before he could write even one word.

cant wait to get your wip done? it took noah webster 36 years to write his first dictionary.

ok thats enough cool fact stuff for now. but i gotta tell you im not done yet cause next week i got more neat stuff bout books and authors and guess what? im gonna tell you the 10 most read books ever. wow how cool is that!

so how do you like this fact stuff? could you guess what the top most book ever read is?

...hugs from lenny

...get a notebook!

2011-02-28T14:49:00.002-05:00

not just any old notebook. a writers notebook! and nope its not a journal or a some girly diary. ack! those just say whats happening all day in your life and for sure it could be pretty boring unless you got a real exciting life. a writers notebook is something real special and every word in it is exciting and could end up in a neat story.

miss shannon odonnell sent me a set of three cool writers books and heres what mr ralph fletcher wrote in on of those books called a writers notebook …

“Writers are like other people, except for at least one important difference. Other people have daily thought and feelings, notice this say or that smell, but they don’t do much about it. All those thoughts, feelings, sensations, and opinions pass through them like the air they breathe. Not writers. Writers react. And writers need a place to record those reactions. That’s what a writer’s notebook is for. It gives you a place to write down what makes you angry or sad or amazed, to write down what you noticed and don’t want to forget.”

wow! how cool is that!

whats neat bout having a notebook is you got it with you all the time so you dont need to get panicked out and run round looking for a pencil and some paper when theres something cool that jumps into your head and you wanna jot it down.

whats the best kinda notebook? any kind you could want cause it just only for you and its gotta be a fit for you. some writers got all fancy flowery ones or got stuff they like on the front. some got just plain old paper with lines or not with lines. some are small and some are big and some are computer notebooks. you gotta find what could works best for you. for me i got lined paper cause I write crooked if I don’t got lines. ha ha.

keeping a writers note book is a big help for ideas and characters and lots of other stuff. whats neat is its not a time thing and you could use a idea today or next week or in ten years and its still fresh like you just wrote it.

i love my writers notebook!

do you use a writers notebook and if you do what kind is it and how do you use it?

hugs from... lenny

...in the navy!

2011-02-20T19:42:00.000-05:00

WOW! did you know dolphins and sea lions are in the navy! yep! theyre helping fight terror all over the world and watching the coasts and helping do lots of other neat stuff. they been at it from way back in the 1960s in the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program.

how do they get trained

it takes 4 years to get dolphins and sea lions trained and 5 weeks to get a navy handler trained. mostly the training gets done in san diego california. first they learn how to “breach” and thats jump back in the boat or on the dock on a signal. they get started in the shallow water and when they know what theyre sposed to do they keep going deeper and deeper. after that they get trained on lots of other stuff. they get rewarded with food and lots of attention and a good home. they wear harnesses with cameras and pingers but not tethers and could swim away any time they want but they know a good thing when they got it and not one ever swam away. theyre real smart, got great underwater senses and learn real easy. theyre good divers and could go down more times in a row than a navy diver and could go faster and more deep than a navy diver and find and mark or bring back stuff lots faster.

what do they learn how to do

mostly theyre trained for finding and marking or bringing back stuff like mines and equipment. theyre part of the navys ORT and that’s Object Recovery Team. other stuff they do is carry parts and tools back and forth for building stuff and find lost divers and lead them back to safety. they get used as sentries for harbors and ships to find enemy swimmers and when theyre on patrol they carry locators in their mouth. when they spot a enemy diver a dolphin bumps his tank with his mouth and that puts a thing on his air tank thats got a float that floats up to the surface. a sea lion zaps a handcuff on the divers arm or leg and its got a float that goes up to the surface. cause sea lions could see lots better than dolphins in cloudy water they get used lots for patrolling round piers and pilings looking for bombs or enemy swimmers or stuff thats not sposed to be there.

how do they get transported

the navys got special designed carriers that could go on ships, boats on the road, in airplanes and in helicopters. theyre made so the dolphins and sea lions stay safe and wet for just as far as they gotta travel. they could get to any place that needs them in just only 72 hours. they been used for mine clearing in the vietnam war and in the persian gulf in the iraq war.

who takes care of them

the u.s. army vets take really good care of the dolphins and sea lions and they got some of the most best equipment and high tech medical stuff. they go along with the navy on all the training and the for real missions so they could be there if a dolphin or sea lion needs some vet stuff. they make sure they get good food and the best care.

cool video

if you wanna see a really neat video about dolphins and sea lions being in the navy and see them getting trained and working go here.

question

how do you like knowing you got dolphins and sea lions helping protect you? for me i say WOW! how cool is that!

hooray for dolphins! hooray for sea lions!

…hugs from lenny

...miss nicoles blogfest

2011-02-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

What is your favorite word? remission!!
x
What is your least favorite word? asparagus! ick! just look how ugly a word it is and how ugly it sounds. ack! and it looks like a fat green weed and tastes like a yucky fat green weed. ick! ick! ack!

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? creatively – mostly everything specially nature and people and animals and music. spiritually – mother earth and for sure swimming with wild dolphins. emotionally – love and lots of times its watching moms and dads being real loving with their kids. sometimes its sad stuff specially when some ones hurting and i cant do nothing about it.
x
What turns you off? cruelty to kids and people and animals. mean people and selfish people.
x
What is your favorite curse word? shizz!!! (thanks candyland!) ha ha
x
What sound or noise do you love? theres lots of sounds i could love but if i gotta pick just only one its the sound of sea and its sometimes when the big white capped waves are crashing over the rocks and spraying misty salt water on your face and sometimes when the more gentle waves are just lapping real easy on the beach and you got a warm breeze on your face
x
What sound or noise do you hate? yikes! for sure i hate hearing that loud whaling tornado warning siren specially in the middle of the night. i get sooooo scared.
x
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? i dont got one right now lest you say school is one. but for sure when i grow up besides being a writer i could wanna be its a race car driver cause i love going really fast. zoooooooom!!!
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What profession would you not like to do? i couldnt wanna be a vet cause i couldnt never put a animal down even though i know its the most best thing.
x
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? i could want god to say welcome lenny. come on in. your moms been waiting for you. look! shes right over there!
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thats all my answers. you could go here to see more bloggers thats in miss nicoles blogfest.
x
…hugs from lenny

...happy valentines day!

2011-02-14T00:01:00.005-05:00

im wishing for all my special blogger friends a BIG happy valentines day. for sure this is a day when were sposed to say i love you. but i gotta tell you that not just on today only but on every day i love you!

…lots of love and big hugs from lenny

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

...blah blah birds!

2011-01-30T22:28:00.003-05:00

did you ever read stuff characters said where they just said “blah blah blah?” and you said YIKES! that was sooooo B-O-R-I-N-G!!! and then you thought what they said didnt add not one thing to the story. thats cause theyre blah blah birds. but i just gotta say its not their fault cause theyre just saying what their writer said they should say. for sure i dont want my characters to turn into blah blah birds.

so whys that dialogue stuff important anyway? its got two BIG things it could do for a story. it could get you knowing lots more about a character just from his words and it could be a big help for keeping the plot moving

“A few good lines of dialogue can reveal more about your characters than an entire page of description. Dialogue is one of your most powerful tools, so let it work for you. Use it to move your story along, show the readers what your characters are made of, and deepen the drama.” ellen potter (on my ps so you could know who she is) WOW how cool is that!

heres some neat stuff for helping do good dialogue

1. watch and listen to people

2. write so it reads like how people really talk but for sure take out the boring stuff

3. dialogue shouldnt give so much away that it messes up the flow of the story

4. break up dialogue with action stuff cause long dialogues could get boring for the reader

5. be careful on using labels and cuss words and slang stuff it could be a distract for the reader

theres lots more good stuff for doing good dialogues and im gonna do some more posts on it.

are your characters blah blah birds or do they say really neat unboring stuff that keeps your story moving?

…hugs from lenny

ps… lots of what i got on the post i learned from a book that miss dianne salerni gave and its called spilling ink a young writers handbook by anne mazer and ellen potter. thanks miss dianne!

and click here for a place i used thats got really good tips for doing good dialogue

...can you read this?

2011-01-24T00:19:00.002-05:00

yieks! one of my borhters jsut shewoed me tihs rlelay cool wya of raednig and witrnig sftuf. wow tihs is soooo werid!

i lokoed it up on gogole and hrees waht taht actirle on gogole siad:
x

Do you have a strange mind? Can you raed tihs? If you can raed tihs, you hvae a sgtrane mind.

I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae.

x
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.

Qoestuin - Can thsi be doen in ohter lnagugues? Snapsih, Fenrch, Iatilan, Gerek, Rissuan. Chenise, Jaapense, Herbew, Aaribc?

Yes! Muachs gcarais! It wroks for ohter lnagugues too!

wow! hwo cool is taht!

...hgus form lneny

p.s. my borhter did a cehck on sonpes.com and it siad for the sutats its unmideterned so you dnot konw if its ture or not. but no mtaetr waht its slitl prtety naet!

...a monsters loose!

2011-01-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

HELP!

yikes! i got a angry snow monster running loose on apple mountain! hes in my wip and hes just really mad cause he doesnt got a name. he said if he doesnt get a name pretty soon hes gonna swallow up my whole ms characters and all.

for sure i been trying to get him a good name. first i got calling him sasquatch and he hated it. then my cool cp miss sharon said thats a hairy man monster not a snow monster. i tried yeti but he hates that too. he wants a his very own scary name. i been thinking and thinking but i just cant think up one he likes.

miss sharon said maybe i should ask my blogger friends for some help and i said woweee thats the most best idea ever. now im asking for some cool names from you. heres some stuff bout that snow monster that could maybe help you think up a cool name.

hes made of icy snow and hes gigantical tall and big and hes real ugly and mean. hes got a mouthful of sharp pointy icicle teeth and he loves to eat mountain climbers. (yikes! all my characters are mountain climbers!) he howls so loud you gotta get your ears covered. hes soooooooo scary.

i hope you got some good names you could share out with me cause for sure couldnt want that monster to eat up my ms and my cool characters all in one big gulp.

x
big thanks for being a help for me and my wip and my characters!
x

did you ever not know what to call a character and if you didnt how did you get a name?
x

…hugs from lenny
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ps if you cant think of one just real quick you could think on it a little while and then sent it on a email. im at lennylee@rocketmail.com

...blearning

2011-01-09T22:31:00.001-05:00

i stuck blog and learning together and got “blearning.” cause of your cool blogs i been "blearning" lots of neat writer stuff! i gotta say youre just the best teachers ever. so i gotta say thanks to all my blogger friends.

x
heres just some of the stuff i “blearned” so far.

1. whats a query letter and how to do a good one and how much it hurts to get rejected
2. abbreviations like mc wip pov arc ya ms mg cp and lots more
3. whats a genre and which ones you write
4. whats a beta (i thought it was a fish! ha ha) and how one could help your story be better
5. some rules for good grammar and punctuation
6. whats a critique partner and how could it make your writing better. i got a cool cp and its miss sharon!
7. its really hard to be your own publisher
8. in the beginning of a book you gotta have a real good hook
9. storytelling is a art
10. writing stuff from your for real life is soooo interesting
11. you gotta do lots of reading and research
12. building up your vocabulary is good for being a writer
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heres some really neat stuff i “blearned”
x
1. adding exclamotion points and sparkles to writing is cool!!!!
2. reading interviews get you to know more personal stuff bout a author and gives you lots of good info and hope (and sometimes a signed give away!)
3. contests are soooo much fun!!! (i won lots of stuff and even a soccer ball in an uncontest. ha ha)
4. tips for being an unboring blogger (i hope i got that right!)
5. blogfests are soooo cool. so far did one and it was lots of fun!
6. how to make a book trailer for dummys like me. ha ha
7. a debut novel is sooooo exciting!!
8. cool new words… schizz suckage realz
9. yikes! im a blogaholic
x
thanks for teaching me soooo much and being a big support on my writing. some day im gonna get a for real book published and on that page where you thank people im gonna say thanks to all my blogger friends cause i couldnt have did it without you!!
x
… hugs from lenny

...i love candyland!

2011-01-05T00:40:00.007-05:00

CANDYLAND ROCKS!

do you know candyland? if you dont youre missing out on knowing a really special blogger. my special blogger friend miss candace is a knock your socks off blogger! mostly people know her by candyland cause thats were she lives in bloggerville. wow! sweet place to visit for sure!

candyland could make you fall down laughing or get you caring about others just like she does and could make you cry. the one thing you could always know is what ever she says and no matter how she says it its just real honest and comes right from her heart.

candyland is just a really big support and inspiration for everyone and she could give the best hugs. shes been a big supporter for me bunches of times. now its my turn to be a supporter for her cause she been having a hard time and she could need lots of love and hugs from her blogger friends.

so if you got a little time maybe you could go at her blog and say hi and just give back to her some of the love and hugs she gives to everyone. she needs it and i know she could be real thankful for it.

heres some words from a bob marley song thats called 3 little birds and this song got me through lots of hard stuff: “don’t worry ‘bout a thing ‘cause every little thing’s gonna be alright!” it just takes time but for sure its gonna be alright. im gonna always be here with love and hugs and prayers for my special friend.

x
i love you candyland!
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heres some candyland friends that are saying how much they care and love her…
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miss sharon
miss jen
mr matthew
miss jessica
x
…big hugs from lenny

...happy new year!

2011-01-01T00:01:00.003-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR! i just only got started blogging in 2010 and wow just real fast i got sooooo much special friends. you cant know how much you gave me for my life and how much you could mean to me. i just gotta say BIG THANKS to all of you for saying "welcome lenny" and for reading my blog and making the most nice comments. and on my birthday you gave me lots of happy birthday wishes. whats even lots nicer is when i been sick you sent me lots of get wells and thats what helped get me better. im just the most lucky kid on all the blogs for having such cool friends. im wishing for you the most best and most happyest new year ever.

...hugs from lenny

...countdown to 2011

2010-12-27T13:53:00.005-05:00

COUNTING DOWN...

0 days til its a new year!

whats your wish for 2011?

...happy hugs from lenny

...happy christmas!

2010-12-24T19:44:00.002-05:00

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

...hugs from lenny

...happy holidays!

2010-12-20T01:21:00.000-05:00

im wishing for all my blogger friends the most bright and best and happiest holidays ever.

i love you bunches! :)

…big happy holiday hugs from lenny

...tests! ACK!

2010-12-15T14:18:00.002-05:00

big HI to all my blogger friends! i bet you been wondering wheres lenny? i didnt get a new post on my blog for a while and didnt get round to visiting your blog. yikes! im just real sorry! i gotta tell you its cause i been soooo busy studying and taking those icky school tests. ACK! they got my brain spinning round in my head for sure. but you could know im gonna be back real soon cause i just gotta come and say happy holidays to all my special friends.

…hugs from lenny

...critique stuff

2010-12-05T23:08:00.000-05:00

i hear lots of stuff about how getting what we write critiqued and making sure we get a really good cp (critique partner) could be a really big help on making our stuff lots better. i got a really nice cp but i gotta tell you the truth is i got lots of questions cause for sure i dont know so much about critiques or being a good critiquer and i wanna be a really good one. so whos the best person i could ask? my cool cp! and thats miss sharon at random thoughts. its pretty nice she took time to answer stuff for me. im sharing it with you cause maybe it could help you too.

heres what i asked and what she said…
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1. is a critique more different than a review?
x
It's very different than a book review, because you are trying to help the writer improve his/her story. In a book review you are summarizing the story and telling why you liked or didn't like the book.
x
2. does a critique mean you gotta check all that grammar and punctuation stuff?
x
By the time you send your manuscript out for a critique you should have all your spelling, punctuation and grammar problems fixed. It doesn't mean your cp won't find a mistake, but you don't want them to have to look at little things like that when they are spending time on your manuscript. You'd rather they spent time telling you if something didn't make sense or wasn't logical.
x
3. does a cp do any editing?
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I think that a good cp critiques and edits without thinking about it. I know all my cps do. If they think of a better word than I have, they suggest it. I'm always open to suggestions. I'll use them as long as I think they are better than what I said and I think they sound like me. It's important to not forget to NOT lose your voice.
x
4. how come we could need someone to critique our stuff?
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We ask people to critique for us because it makes our work stronger. We are beginners and we are learning by helping each other. Just like reading a book, it's another tool to improve your writing skills. Even seasoned authors have agents who are kind of like their critique partners...Although some, like Steve Swinburne, don't have an agent or a cp.
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5. how come some people got more than just one cp?
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One reason to have more than one cp is to get a variety of points of view (POV). I find it really interesting when I send something out to a group of people and they all see different things that could be improved in different ways.
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6. what could you want from your cp that could help you make your stuff better
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It helps me when a cp tells me how they feel about a piece or a character or a scene. Was the character too predictable? Was the character too perfect? Was the bad guy too bad? Is the storyline believable? Did the story touch your heart? (that depends on the type of story) Did the timeline make sense? Did the main character grow or change in some way? Was the character consistent throughout the story? (ie he had brown hair, picked his nose, liked monkeys and had a crush on Sally) Did they live on Drew Street all along? Did the writer change the name of the main character (mc) by accident mid story? Does something not make sense to the reader?
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You want your cp to question you. I ask questions all the time when I'm critiquing someone’s work. If a cp just says your writing is wonderful, you need to get a new cp.
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When I'm critiquing I jot down my thoughts and emotions as I read as well as other comments so that the writer can see what emotions are evoked in me. You want your reader to connect with your story emotionally on some level. I want the author to know when I LOL or when I cry.
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7. is their anything else on critiquing you could want to say
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It's really important to remember that your critique partner is giving suggestions. It's your story and you have to stay true to it and to your voice. You can take the advice you think fits with your voice and dismiss the rest. You always want your story to sound like you. (That's my opinion anyway.)
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BIG THANKS miss sharon! now for sure i could know more about critiquing and im gonna work on being a really good critiquer!
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what do you think could be a big help for you from a cp or a critique?
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…hugs from lenny

p s ...today december 6th is my cp's birthday! happy birthday miss sharon!

...holiday blues

2010-11-28T22:40:00.002-05:00

we think of holiday time for being the season to be jolly. but did you know theres lots of people that get really sad and lonesome and could even get real depressed at holiday time. what they got and maybe what you could get is called the holiday blues.

heres some reasons you could get feeling not so jolly…

1. feeling lonesome if you live alone or if your family and the ones you love live far away. this is real true for old people who are all alone and got no one or no family.

2. remembering past real happy or real sad holiday stuff

3. thinking about loved ones that arent here any more

4. not having enough money to buy as much presents as you want

dealing out with family problems

5. being real tired from trying to do too much

6. missing the sunlight on those gloomy winter days

what could we do to squash those blues?

1. one of the best things you could do is help someone whose got less than you cause it gets you off thinking on yourself and on thinking of someone else

2. volunteer somewhere

3. make goals you know you could do and ask for help if you could need it

4. let go of that past holiday stuff and make some new traditions

5. call or email people you didnt talk to for a long time and send holiday cards

6. stay busy but dont forget to take some time for YOU so you could get yourself recharged

7. get out outside and see decorations and lights (go talk to santa ha ha)

8. dont drink too much (booze)

9. dont beat up on your self if you dont get everything done you want to

heres something i like lots from a article i read. im calling it number 10…

“Now here’s the most important thing you can do to beat those blues: No matter what is happening in your life, think of the blessings you do have. Taking stock of all of the positives in your life — right here and now — can go a long way toward ending your “bah humbug” mood.” Maud Purcell, LCSW

WOW! how cool is that for beating off that hum bug!

did you ever feel those holiday blues? if you did what did you do to make it better. if you didnt what could you tell people who get feeling that way that could help them.

…big hugs from lenny

2010-11-21T22:28:00.003-05:00

i got thinking on all the stuff im thankful for and YIKES! its just a whole lot! then i got thinking on how im so really thankful i got started blogging and in doing it i got soooooo much friends. now i could want to share with you my blog thanks.

im thankful that…

even though im just only a kid you said welcome lenny glad to meet you and you made me feel like im one of you.

you thought my posts were good enough that you could say a comment and could want to come back again

you liked what i said and who i am and could want to be a follower for me

im thankful that…

you taught me soooo much stuff that could help me be a better writer and didnt ever not want to answer my questions no matter how dumb they were

even being young and not knowing so much bout critiquing someone could believe in me and want me for a critique partner and im thankful for others that asked me to be a critiquer for their stuff.

you like the sunshine i love sharing with you and you tell me so

im thankful that…

you were there when i been soooo sick you cared about me said get well lenny on comments and emails and ecards and even some for real cards

im alive and got to my 11^th birthday and you were right there with me and you sent lots of love and happy birthday wishes and cards and presents and made it my best birthday ever.

god let me be here and get such wonderific friends!

specially for you...

im wishing the most happiest thanksgiving ever to every one of my special blogger friends. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

…big thankful hugs from lenny

...super sniffer

2010-11-14T18:11:00.013-05:00

its for sure dogs love to.. sniff sniff sniff! if you been around dogs you probably been sniffed and thats mostly in your crotch. ack! ha ha. theyre real good at airports for sniffing out drugs and theyre really good for tracking stuff and sniffing out bombs. but did you know all that sniffing could sniff out sickness even before a doctors test could? yep! its true! thats cause a dog is the best sniffer in the world and it could smell 10,000 to 100,000 times more better than a human. WOW! thats a super sniffer for sure!
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when someones got a sickness inside their body it changes up a lot of chemical stuff and that makes a odor that dogs could smell. a dog could get trained in just only a few weeks to know the healthy smells and the not healthy ones. the dog stays sitting if its healthy stuff and lies down if its not or just goes and sits next to the not healthy one. this gets done mostly by sniffing urine or breath.
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how good a sniffer is a dog? well just look at this…

1. bladder cancer 88% correct from sniffing urine
2. lung cancer 99% correct from sniffing breath
3. breast cancer 87-97 % correct on from sniffing breath
4. type 1 diabetes 65% correct for warning their owner about dangerous drops in blood sugar by barking and whining
5. epilepsy 65% for warning their owner that a seizure is coming by barking and whining
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WOW! thats pretty good sniffing for sure!
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right now those research people didnt yet figure what are the chemicals that the dogs could smell. when they get to know just what they are they could do better dog training and find out if someones sick lots more fast. and like all those medicine people say the more early you find a sickness the more fast you could get medicine and the better chance you got to get better.
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some day dogs are gonna be at doctors offices and be a big part of a check up. a new sign on the doctors office door is gonna say…THE DOGTOR IS IN! ha ha.
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for sure super sniffers are mans best friend!
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what could you think about getting sniffed by a dog on a check up at your doctors office?
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…hugs from lenny

photo credit mark watson

...voice lessons

2010-11-08T00:01:00.003-05:00

YIKES! for sure I can’t sing! im a writer (umm…a wanna be writer) not a singer! well guess what i found out? writers got voices too! yep its true! writers got voices just like singers. if you listen you can hear that voice right there on everything you read.....wow how cool is that!
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whats a writers voice?
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i like what susan j letham on write101.com says (mostly cause i could understand it…ha ha)
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“Voice is the way your writing 'sounds' on the page. It has to do with the way you write, the tone you take--friendly, formal, chatty, distant--the words you choose--everyday words or high-brow language--the pattern of your sentences, and the way these things fit in--or not-- with the personality of the narrator character and the style of your story. You might be surprised to know how many beginning writers write out of character, that is, they choose the wrong voice and tone for the purpose they have in mind. …that would be story, not voice.”
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wanna read miss susans whole article click here.
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could you have more than just one voice?

its sorta like singing cause mostly you dont just sing one note. some people do and they sing way off key too and that pretty hard on your ears. yeeech! ha ha. but mostly you got lots of notes that say what your voice is. you could be soprano or alto or bass and lots of stuff in between. a writing voice is just like that cause its your voice but it could change up for what youre writing. for sure a story about a pretty sunset is gonna be in a way different voice than a story about a flesh eating zombie. yikes! what made me think of that. ha ha. and if you and me wrote the same stuff about that zombie both stories could be way different cause of us having different voices.

where do you find your voice?

for a beginner writer like me im not so sure what my voice sounds like or what its gonna be. the most best way to find out is write…write…write and write some more! it takes time to find out. just like practicing singing voice lessons you gotta practice your writing voice so it could be the best voice for you. right now im one of those boy sopranos but the more stuff i write and the more older i get and finally get all grown up in my body and in my writing for sure im gonna have my very own writers voice. then when you read something i wrote youre gonna hear my voice on a page and say wow thats lenny talking. :)

Voice question...

wheres your voice? are you still growing up as a writer and finding your voice or do you already have your own special one?
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…hugs from lenny

big thanks to my critique partner miss sharon and to my bloggerwriter friends and my neat writing books and google for teaching me lots of stuff about voice.

…how bout a laugh!

2010-11-01T20:10:00.005-04:00

HA HA HA HA!!!

i love laughing! when i get laughing really hard i get soooo weak i could just fall down on the floor. and sometimes i do! ha ha. i laugh every day even at stuff i get thinking about thats funny from yesterday or some other time. sometimes its just a little giggle and sometimes it a really big nose snorter weak in the knees falling down big belly laugh. how much times you laugh in a day pretty much says how happy you are.
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did you know kids laugh 300 times in a day! big people laugh just only 17 times in a day! WOW! how sad is that! YIKES! whats the matter with grown ups???!! seems growing up makes you just way too serious and makes you forget how to relax and laugh and just have lots of fun. heres something to think on… “We don’t stop laughing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop laughing.” …Michael Pritchard x thinking on that could make grown ups want to get laughing again for sure.

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maybe we need to add laughing to those five senses and then there would be six and that sixth one is a sense of humor. its something thats part of everyone. did you know lots of therapists are getting into that sixth sense and doing laugh therapy cause it helps their clients let go of stuff. and i bet you didnt know that theres laugh clubs all over the world that do nothing but just laugh! ha ha click here and go see a cool bbc video about a laugh club in india.

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when you get thinking on it theres just lots of good that comes out of laughing. heres just some of it.
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1. gets rid of stress
2. stops you from being irritated or angry or makes it lots less
3. helps you let go of stuff youre holding on to thats not so healthy
4. helps you feel lots better if youre feeling depressed
5. gets you connected up with people and makes friendships lots more strong
6. makes you lots more healtlhy
7. makes how you see the world lots more happy
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i hope you could see the good that comes from laughing and start doing lots more of it. WOW! laughing is soooo cool. i love it and i hope you could love it as much as me.
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now how bout a good laugh.. ha ha ha hee hee ha ha ho ho!!!
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…lots of laughs and hugs from lenny

...happy halloween!

2010-10-28T11:04:00.004-04:00

HAPPY CANDY DANCE!

...trick or treat hugs from lenny

...best birthday ever!!!

2010-10-24T23:46:00.009-04:00

WOWEE....... this was my best birthday ever in my whole life!!!

on the day of my birthday when i looked on the blogs WHOA! i almost fell right out of my chair cause me and my sunshine were all over the place. YIKES! i didnt ever think so much people could say happy birthday to me and so much people could put neat pictures and happy birthday words right on their blogs. but you did and it got me right in my heart and made me feel just soooo special.
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at lunch one of my brothers took me at my favorite mexico restaurant for lunch. chimichangas rock! ha ha. then we went to the movies and saw secretariat. its about a neat race horse. WOW! i loved it cause i love animals and it had a really good message for believing and not quitting. you just gotta go see it.
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YIPPEE!! after dinner i got to open my cards and presents! WOWEE!! i got so much cards from my blogger friends and my family and i got a zillion presents from everyone! how could so much people be soooo nice to me. now i just gotta share with you what neat presents i got cause their really cooooool and i love all of them!
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really cool books! …you could get jealous reading this list ha ha
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1. nightshade city by hilary wagner …she signed it with a nice birthday message
2. the iron bodkin by amy allgeyer cook …she signed it & did a nice message for me
3. the mystery of mr nice by bruce hale …he signed it and said “dream big” cool!
4. the animal cartoon book by robert ainsworth …its a neat how to draw animals book
5. mrs frisby & the rats of nimh by robert c. o’brien
6. guardians of ga’hoole by kathryn lasky …books 1 – 4 wowee! how cool is that!
7. spilling ink a young writers handbook by anne mazer and ellen potter
8. white crane by sandy fussell …its an arc!
9. zora and me by victoria bond & t. r. simon …this is an arc too!
10. the golden pathway by donna mcdine ...signed with a nice message

11. octavia boones big questions about life, the universe & everything by rebecca
rupp

AND…… mr lenny lees one & only birthday book by lennys blogging buddies WOWEEE! how cool is that!!! its got poems and short stories that got wrote by a bunch of my special blogger friends. it got me feeling soooo special!
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YIKES! i got enough stuff to read for the whole winter!!
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revvvvv it up stuff!
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1. hotwheels ferrari 5 pack …hooray for ferrari!
2. 10 hotwheels cars
3. hotwheels motorcycle
4. lego creator – super speedster …wow soooo cool!
5. hotwheels sunglasses …way cool!
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stuff to wear!
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1. candyland t-shirt!! …hooray for candyland!! check our her cool contest here
2. rattle snake t-shirt …says arizona watchdog! yikes scary!
3. 2 pairs of pajamas
4. underwear and socks ack! birthday present??? ha ha
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yummy stuff!
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1. reeses peanut butter cups!!! yippee! my favorite candy for sure!!
2. box of mrs fields cookies … wow theyre soooo good!
3. hotwheels chocolate birthday cake with vanilla ice cream … scrumptulicious!
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more neat stuff!
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1. 4 amazon gift cards WOW! how cool is that!
2. leather journal with 5 multi colored fountain pens
3. 12 silver dollars with one paper dollar …yikes! im rich!
4. 2011 puppy calendar
5. blue and yellow dream catcher
6. wildlife fun capsules
7. frankenstein cookie on a stick …yep hes on a stick! ha ha
8. sony digital camera …WOWEEE! this is soooo neat!
9. jigsaw puzzle …100 mice and one piece of cheese! ha ha
10. reading lamp for over my bed …YAY! cause now i got lots to read!
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AND…really special happy birthday lenny stuff!
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1. bunches of neat blogger posts! WOW!
2. over 100 happy birthday comments from all over the whole world!
3. 36 for real snail mail cards from all over the whole world!
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and… a partridge in a pear tree! ha ha
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i just gotta say a really BIG THANKS to every one that sent me those cool presents and cards and emails and made those neat happy birthday comments on my blog.
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this was my most fun and happy birthday ever and im never ever gonna forget it cause i got it way down deep in my heart forever. i didnt ever think i could get to 11 but i did and you made getting there just the most happy time of my life!!
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…smiles and thanks and big hugs from lenny

...big thanks!

2010-10-21T03:11:00.004-04:00

WOW ! thanks for all the cool happy birthday comments and for all the cool blog posts for my birthday. if you did a happy birthday post for me and i didnt see it just say so and im gonna go look. i couldnt believe so much people could know it was my birthday and say happy birthday to me. it was like for a little while my name got all over the blogosphere. for sure you must have got really tired of seeing my name. YIKES! theres that birthday kid again. ha ha
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i got soooo tired cause of doing so much fun birthday stuff for the whole day and at night i didnt get to do a post about my birthday. but for sure im gonna do one real soon and share with you how cool it was.x

thanks for being my bloggerbuds and for making my birthday sooooo special! i got lots of love and im keeping it in my heart for ever!

… hugs from lenny

...my birthday

2010-10-20T00:01:00.000-04:00

WOWEEEE! its my birthday! now 10 is gone and i got a whole year of being11. how cool is that!
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for my special day first my brother alex took off work and gonna taking me for lunch where ever i could want to go and then hes gonna take me to any movie i could want to see. i dont know which one could want to see so were gonna look on the computer and pick one. mostly me and alex dont do so much together except sometimes i go at his work with him so hes making a special time just for me and him and that makes me sooooo happy.
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later after every one gets home and we get done eating dinner i get to open all my cards and presents. YIKES! all those cards are from my blogger friends! i looked at all those post marks and name labels and i got cards from all over the whole united states and i got some from canada and england and one from france. i cant wait to get them open. i love cards! after i get those cards open and read every word on every one im gonna put them up over the fire place so i could see them every day. WOW! its sooooo cool that my friends sent me so much cards. it gets me feeling good right down inside my heart.
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after that i get to open my presents. YIPPEE! could you believe besides those neat cards i got lots of presents from my blogger friends. WOW! how cool is that! for sure i cant wait to get them open. i got lots of presents from my brothers and my sister too. so I got lots to open up. presents are sooooo much fun!
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AHHH! after cards and presents comes the cake and ice cream! i’m hoping for a hotwheels cake thats chocolate with chocolate frosting. i could like a BIG hunk of that cake with a BIG scoop of vanilla ice cream on it. YIKES! i got myself hungry just thinking on it. ha ha. if you could be here for sure id share out that cake with every one of you. but for sure im gonna tell you how good it tastes. :)
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this is gonna be the most special birthday of my whole life ever and its just way more special cause of all my blogger friends. after it gets all done im gonna do a post and tell you everything about my special birthday and for sure im gonna be saying BIG THANKS for all those cards and presents.
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WOW! im just the most lucky kid in the whole wide world!
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…big hugs from lenny

...detail stuff

2010-10-09T22:12:00.006-04:00

detail is real important in writing. its that little stuff that could make what you write lots more alive. if you get some detail into your writing the readers not gonna be bored. mostly it doesnt just pop out at you and you gotta do some thinking on when it could be needed and how much you could want to use. too much is just as bad as not enough.
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when you start thinking about details you gotta learn to look around and see stuff a different way. heres what i mean. just think about brushing your teeth. thats easy. but if you think about those details in brushing your teeth you could be real surprised at how much of them there are. what color is my toothbrush? does it have hard soft or medium bristles. what kind of toothpaste am i using? is it in a tube or one of those squeeze bottles? what color is the tube or bottle? do i use a little squeeze or a big glop? hot or cold water? whats the sink look like and the handles and spout? WOW! thats sure a lot of detail stuff just for brushing your teeth and theres probably lots more. its real important for your story that you think about that stuff cause details could give your story lots more color and meaning for the reader.
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heres something real important. you just gotta be real careful not to do too much detail cause that could be a bore for the reader too. i read a story one time that did a lot of describing in every chapter of how everything at the setting looked in zillions of little details. after a couple times it got soooo boring and got me away from what the story was about. ugh! that story was pretty good and i wanted to get to know how it ended so every time i got to a long bunch of details i just skipped past them and looked for more of the story. i gotta be honest and say if the story wasnt so good i would have just stopped reading it and for sure i wouldnt give it to someone else to read. thats pretty sad cause the writer did really good writing but did just way too much details on one thing. so you gotta be sure those details are something that could help the story but still let it keep moving.
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now i hope you could know more about how its important to put details in your writing and how its a really good thing when you get them just right.
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do you think about details and use them just enough so your story could be more alive?
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…hugs from lenny

...tai chi is cool!

2010-10-03T10:55:00.010-04:00

IMPORTANT REMINDER! you still got 6 days to donate to that walk to help save lives. just click on the poster at the top or miss justines daughter on my side bar (shes the pretty girl with the horse) she just needs $10 more dollars to meet her goal! miss candace and miss justine met theirs. now you just gotta help miss candice and her husband mr andrew meet theirs. thanks for caring!

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tai chi is soooo cool! i do it mostly every day in the morning. doctor ron got me started on it so it could get me feeling relaxed and not scared or worried about stuff. hes got a black belt in it and even went to china to learn more from a famous tai chi master. i was thinking cause its pretty neat and does lots of good maybe you could want to know some stuff about it and maybe even try it.x

tai chi is a martial art but its lots more different than those ones like kung fu and karate cause its not for thumping or beating on someone to win a fight. nope! its mostly just for defending your self. it got started by a guy named chang san-feng way back a zillion years ago in the sung dynasty in china. one day he saw a snake and a crane fighting each and he liked how they were so balanced and in defending them selves they moved slow and graceful in getting out of each others way. he liked it so much he copied it and made it into a real neat self defending art that got called tai chi chuan.

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mostly tai chi is a neat way for getting in a sync with your body and your mind so your whole self works together for good. its a bunch of real slow moves and every one of them is like imitating something in nature and each moves got a name like wild goose looks for food and bridge over water and stomping the tigers tail. that makes it more easy to remember. every move is real smooth and just flows right into the next one til you get done with a whole routine. it takes just 15 minutes a day to do it or you could do it longer or shorter.

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whats so cool about moving and dancing around like a snake and a bird defending them selves? you could be real surprised on all the things it could do for you. heres some of them…

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1. it makes you lots less antsy and more calm and lots less depressed.
2. you get better balance and good breathing and more strong muscles
3. for more old people it helps them not fall as much
4. you could sleep lots better
5. if you got high blood pressure it could help get it down
6. your heart could be lots more healthy
7. if you got pains it could help them not hurt so much
8. you could get lots more energy
9. it helps you get focused
10. mostly you could just feel lots better!

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besides all that it could help kids that have attention problems and thats called add and that stands for attention deficit disorder and now doctors say it could be a big help for kids with autism. it’s a really neat way to help those kids get more focused on stuff.

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now you know some cool stuff about tai chi. you know who invented it and its real old and your know what its good for. so im hoping your could go look for more about it and get started in it. if you do youre gonna be really surprised on how easy it is and how much better you could feel.

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if you could want to read some good health stuff about tai chi you can go in the computer and visit the mayo clinic. just click on mayo and like magic youll zooooooooom all the way to minnesota and be right there at that real famous clinic.
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照顾你自己 take good care of YOU! x

…拥抱 hugs from lenny

...senseless writing

2010-09-27T00:34:00.003-04:00

senseless writing makes no sense! huh? what you talking about lenny? well what im saying is we gotta be really on top of our five senses and take notes about them so we could use them to make our characters and places and other stuff come alive for the reader.
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we gotta think about our senses and not just use them. if were listening to people talk and listen to the words and know what they mean were using our sense of hearing but mostly we dont stop and think does that person have a high voice a low voice or a real deep voice. were using our sense of sight but are we thinking does that guy talk using his hands or just sit there. does that lady cross her legs and not look people in the eyes. does one of them have some habits like knuckle cracking or playing with a moustache or swinging a leg or tapping a foot. see what i mean? that’s using our senses and thinking about them at the same time! its using our thinking senses to know about people and writing it down. if we want our charcters to be real we gotta think on all our five senses when were around people and places.
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its not just listening and watching though. we gotta let those other three senses be part of our thinking too. we gotta think about touch, smell and taste stuff. if were writing about being at a pizza place we want to know how it looks and smells and how the food tastes and how our character fits in. all this sense stuff makes real good descriptions of people and places.
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in my writing book writing magic creating stories that fly miss gail levine says, “When you tell readers what your characters are hearing, tasting, smelling, touching , and seeing, then your readers will experience it all, too, and they’ll be drawn into your story.”
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do a fun thing for yourself and for a day think about your senses and dont just use them. take a bunch of little notes and at the end of the day look at what you said. youre gonna be soooo surprised at what happens when you get on top of all your five senses!
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do you think about all of your five senses and make notes about them to help make your characters more real and make your writing better?
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…hugs from lenny

...for just one $

2010-09-23T10:35:00.006-04:00

LOOK UP! see that cool poster at the top of my blog with those three pretty ladies on it? theyre some of my really special blogger friends that i love. one reason i love them soooo much is cause they got really good hearts and like helping people.
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on october 10th, and thats coming up pretty quick, theyre gonna do a walk to help kids and big people not kill them selves. theres just so much of that suicide stuff happening. could you believe over 32,000 people kill themselves every year. its just a really big problem and its getting worse. how sad is that! its real hard for familys cause they got nothing left but asking “why?” a zillion times but not ever getting an answer and that could hurt their hearts forever. that could happen for your family too. you could lose someone you love and maybe its a friend or someone in your family.

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could you believe in america someone tries to kills himself every minute! and every 16 minutes someone dies from it. just think, while youre reading this theres a lot of people trying to kill them selves and before you get done someone is gonna be dead. thats sad and scary! whats more worse is now lots of them are just kids and real young people. suicide is the 5th leading cause of death for kids just 5 to 14 years old and 3rd for young people 15 to 24 years old. its 4th for adults 18 to 65 years old.
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YIKES! we just gotta help!

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helping someone is really EASY! you dont have to do the hard part of the walking. nope! we already got some cool walkers! all you gotta do is stick your hand in your pocket or wallet or purse or smash your piggy bank and pull out a dollar. just think, for just ONE $$$ DOLLAR you could help SAVE A LIFE!!! how cool is that! more than one dollar if you got more would be even better! :)
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i couldnt write all this stuff and not give out my own dollars. so i need to tell you i already did my part and i got my brothers and sister to do their part too. now im asking you to do your part and GIVE JUST ONE $ DOLLAR!

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are you ready to do it? hooray for YOU! just click on that poster at the top and type in a name and it will get you to where you need to go. oh, see that pretty girl on my side bar? the one with the cool horse? shes emily and shes miss justines daughter and shes doing the walk too. hooray for EMILY! you can support her walk too. just click her pic!
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BIG THANKS to all the ones who gave already and all of you who are gonna read this and give bunches of help from your pocket. i promise its gonna make your heart feel soooo good. :)
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…biggy supersized hugs from lenny

...yikes! im sick!

2010-09-18T08:11:00.024-04:00

AACHOO! sorry. did you see my sunshines been gone? some did and some didnt. its gone for a while cause i been real sick. i got a little scared cause i couldnt want to think i could miss my birthday for being sick and maybe be in the hospital. i said inside my head no way lenny youre NOT gonna miss that birthday!

my brothers and my sister got me to the doctor real fast. the doctor said i got a really bad bug but im gonna be ok. WHEW! that made me happy for sure. yesterday i started with a really sore throat and now today i started with real bad coughing. ack! so now i got that bad bug and a bad cold. yikes! for sure im not having any fun. im doing lots of rest and eating chicken soup. ugh! im drinking lots of water and juices. cause of being in bed im reading lots. right now im reading that neat grey griffins book that nice miss shannon w m got specially for me. WOW! its really cool. thanks again miss shannon!

now im saying BIG THANKS!! for all my blogger friends that been sending me really nice get well lenny emails. so far thats miss sharon miss theresa miss shannon o miss candace miss yaya miss lola miss justine and miss sarah. i gotta say another BIG THANKS for the really neat e cards that got sent from miss vicki miss susan quinn and miss candace. all those nice cards made me know people could care about me and thats a really good medicine for me and got me my smile back for a while. WOW! i got the most nice friends in the whole of bloggerland and in the whole world.

i gotta say one more really special BIG THANKS to miss sharon cause she sent me the most neat get well lenny basket. WOWEE! it was a really big and nice surprise for me and got me smiling and feeling happy. i gotta say i cried happy tears cause of feeling lots of love came with that cool basket.

that baskets got 5 different kinds of candy bars and theres two of each one so thats 10! and theres lots more. its got big sizes of peanut m & ms and plain m & ms and a big bag of twizzlers a big box of spree a pack of starburst and 2 really long tootsie rolls. WOWEE! how cool is that! im gonna share with my brothers and sister. its got a big red balloon a big orange balloon and one thats a bright yellow smiley face balloon. that basket is soooooo cool! BIGGY SUPERSIZED THANKS miss sharon!

my super doc says "loving kindness heals!" i feel lots better and my sunshines coming back a little at a time cause of all that loving kindness i been getting.

im hoping im gonna get all better really soon. im hoping people wont stop coming to my blog cause of me not being here for a while. i miss reading all that cool stuff you say on your blogs and putting my comments on them. i miss writing stuff for you to read and say stuff about. but mostly i just miss YOU!

…big hugs from lenny

...good idea!

2010-09-13T20:14:00.007-04:00

*you dont need a zillion ideas to be a writer. you could have just only one or just only a few. when your heads full of them you gotta be careful cause you could only write about one thing at one time. some people could do more at one time but not me! its real good to keep those other ideas. write them on a paper and save them. miss jens got a blog bucket for posts so an idea bucket could be real cool.

lots of ideas come from stuff we did in our life and from stuff like movies and talking to people and dreams. sometimes a neat idea just hits you smack in the head... WHAMO like it got there just like magic. you could think on where you get your best ideas and go there if your bucket starts getting empty. for me its sitting and daydreaming mostly outside that i get my most best story ideas.

when you get stuck and nothing comes into your head just get a pen and paper and sit down and stay sitting. start writing stuff on that paper. it could be dumb stuff or happy stuff of junky stuff or lists or descriptions. just anything that gets in your head. let your brain loose. save everything you write and drop it in the bucket cause some day you could use it. thats when you could stop calling it junk and start calling it notes!

now im wondering where YOU get your most best writing ideas?

…smiles and hugs from lenny

*this post is from stuff i learned in my writing book - writing magic creating stories that fly by gail carson levine. thanks miss gail!

...dogpaddling lifeguards

2010-09-04T13:49:00.042-04:00

WOW! these are the most cool dogs ever! (click pic to enlarge) they jump out of coast guard helicopters and speeding boats and they help swimmers who get in trouble and could drown. they work with the coast guard in italy mostly at beaches. theyre called the corps of canine lifeguards and theyve got special training in saving swimmers.

lifedogs wear harnesses or tow boys and swimmers can grab onto them. sometimes they pull a raft to a swimmer so he could climb on and then they pull it back to the beach. the italian coast guard says theyve got hundreds of lifedogs working and every year the coast guard rescues at least 3,000 people and lots of them get saved by these neat dogs.

it takes three years to get a lifedog trained to be a really good life saver and right now theres 300 that are on duty. they get trained at the italian school of cainine lifeguards at a town outside rome. the school trains any breed but they gotta weigh up to at least 66 pounds. labradors, newfoundlands and golden retrievers are used the most because theyre water dogs and love swimming and retrieving.

lifedogs help the lifeguard to not get so tired in the water and get people to the shore a lot faster. theyre real smart and can go in the water and help a person and get him back to the shore all by themselves. they know how to chose the most safe place on the beach and how to swim through the most safe currents.

the dogs love their job and because of being natural retrievers they cant wait to get in the water and get a human and bring him back to the beach. for them saving lives isnt hard work its just a game and a really fun day at the beach.

hooray for lifedogs!

…smiles and hugs from lenny

...cool rules for writing

2010-08-29T20:45:00.007-04:00

BIG thanks to everyone who did the writers oath with me and the ones who put it on their blog. now from my new book writing magic: creating stories that fly by gail carson levine heres the really cool rules for writing.

1. The best way to write better is to write more.
2. The best way to write better is to write more.
3. The best way to write better is to write more.
4. The best way to write more is to write whenever you have five minutes and wherever you find a chair and a pen and paper or your computer.
5. Read! Most likely you don’t need this rule. If you enjoy writing, you probably enjoy reading. The payoff for this pleasure is that reading books shows you how to write them.
6. Reread! There’s nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over. When you do, the words get inside you, become part of you, in a way that words in a book you’ve read only once can’t.
7. Save everything you write, even if you don’t like it, even if you hate it. Save it for a minimum of fifteen years. I'm serious. At that time, if you want to, you can throw it out, but, even then don't discard you writing lightly.

ok... theres the cool rules for writing! im gonna try to be a good rule keeper and i hope youll be one with me.

…hugs from lenny

...writers oath

2010-08-22T01:01:00.015-04:00

yippee i won $25! i got real lucky and won it on on miss candaces contest to help get money for that really neat charity joy 2 the world. it was a gift card from that nice miss tahereh and it was so neat that she donated it. the card was for stuff at amazon. yikes! theres a zillion books there. how could i ever know which one to pick. after looking at so many books my eyes got crossed. ha ha. finally i picked a really cool one called for boys only: the biggest, baddest book ever. its full up of all kinds of of real neat stuff and im gonna use some of it for some posts another time. but for now i want to tell you about the other book i got. its called writing magic: creating stories that fly. wow! stories that fly! how cool is that! i love it! when it got here i jumped real quick into reading it cause i want to be a really good writer and i know i could learn a lot from it. in the very first part theres a writers oath and i stopped right there and made a promise to do just what it says. then i thought it could be really nice to share it with my blogger writer friends and see if they want to do the oath with me. i put it right up at the very top of the page. so if you want to do the oath you could just say it or you could put it on your blog or you could put it by your computer or wherever you mostly do your writing. if you got here and youre not a writer its ok cause you could just do a oath to do the best you can at whatever you do. next week im gonna share some cool rules for writing right out of my new book. for this week im asking...who wants to be my oath partner? i hope its you!

…hugs from lenny

...heeeerrreees gunther!

2010-08-20T01:00:00.003-04:00

one person guessed what gunther looks like and thats miss candice because she knows i love animals and theyre in all my stories. yay for miss candice!

Here's what Fletch, the Grellow Bird, saw when he saw Gunther.

Fletch took a chance and poked his head out of the hole in the rocks. He gulped when he saw the strange, scary looking beast. It was the size of a big sheep, had long, thick, shaggy white fur that hung all the way down to the ground, a stubby, little white tail and big black eyes. On its head was a pair of big, grey horns, like cow horns, except these were curved backwards and looked just like bicycle handles. Under its chin was the strangest thing, a short, pointed white beard. Fletch was sure, in his whole life, he had never, ever seen an animal with a beard or any animal that looked quite as scary as this one. The shaggy beast pawed the ground and said, "Who are you and watcha doin' so high up on my mountain? Naaaaaaa a good idea! Naaaaaaa a good idea at all!"

this blog fest was soooo much fun! thanks miss jen!

...smiles and hugs from lenny

…miss jens guess what my character looks like blog fest

2010-08-19T00:25:00.004-04:00

Gunther was born and lived on Apple Mountain his whole life. He loved the fresh air, blowing, white snow and the beauty of the mountain. He went down to the valley only when he ran out of food. He stayed there just long enough to eat a good meal and fill his big, canvas packs with food and staples for himself and his friends. Although he was friendly and greeted everyone, he didn’t stay very long and was always happy to go back to his home on the mountain.

When he was young, Gunther was wild, carefree and really stubborn. He butted heads with just about everyone. A lot of times, because of his own carelessness, he almost lost his life to the mountain. Now that he was older, he was smarter and more careful. He was strong and sure footed and, even though he walked with lots of confidence over the rocky paths and close to the scary drop-offs, he never forgot the mountain holds many secrets and hidden dangers.

When he was just a kid, Gunther’s mom taught him how to yodel and he loved it. He stopped doing it when he was a teenager because all of his friends laughed at him and said he sounded like a sick cow. Now that he was a grown up he didn’t care about what anyone thought of his yodeling. He had a deep, gruff voice, but when he yodeled, the sweetest, tones flowed out of his mouth. He yodeled while he climbed the rocky, jagged hills and walked the dangerous paths of the mountain. His voice echoed down into the valley, rose up and wound itself around the rocky hills and icy peaks and bounced cheerfully off the top of the mountain.

what do you think gunther looks like? come back tomorrow and see. : )

click here to go see who’s in the blog fest

…hugs from lenny

...go fly a kite!

2010-08-13T22:43:00.012-04:00

i love kites!!!

they look so cool with all those bright colors floating and flapping around way up in the sky. can you believe kites been around for 3000 years! wow! thats a really long time. way back then they got used for fishing, wars, magic and lots of other things.

now their mostly for fun. you can get all kinds of kites. theres stunt kites, fighting kites, racing kites and lots of other ones in all kinds of sizes, bright colors and every shape you could ever think of. all over the world theres kite days, contests and festivals. zillions of people are flying kites and having lots of fun doing it.

the most fun time for me was when me and my brother andrew made our own kite. we got some old pieces of wood, a used up old white shower curtain that had neat swirlies on it and some old rags we tied up together for a tail. everyone laughed and said that big ol ugly lookin kite wasnt ever gonna fly. but andrews a good builder and he dosnt give up so easy on something he believes he could do and i just knew he could get that kite flying. so, we just kept changing it up a little after every time it crashed and that was a bunch of times. ugh! one day on another try i held it up high over my head and andrew ran as fast as he could pulling that long string over his head and while everyone was laughing at us that kite just jumped right out of my hands and went up up up into the sky. WOWEEEE! it was soooo exciting! it was bigger than any kite i ever saw and its long raggy tail was wagging real proud in the wind like it was saying ha ha told you so to all the ones who had been laughing. me and andrew held tight on that string together. we let out a bunch more string and watched that kite go higher and higher in the sky til it got so high it didnt look like an old shower curtain anymore and looked like a big beautiful white bird gliding way high up on the wind. it was the best and most beautiful kite in the whole wide world. since that time i got lots of store bought kites in lots of pretty colors and shapes and had lots of fun flying them. but i just gotta tell you the best one ever was that ugly white shower curtain kite me and andrew built and flew together.

have some fun! ...go fly a kite!

…hugs from lenny

earth angel award!

2010-08-07T21:10:00.011-04:00

mostly everyone knows MISS CANDACE at candyland! if you dont then you just gotta go visit her at http://themisadventuresincandyland.blogspot.com/. shes real funny and can make you laugh so much. but sometimes she puts her heart right there on the page and shares really hard stuff. she makes you feel like youre right there sitting with her. one of the best things about her is shes got a really, really BIG HEART for doing good for people who need help. she just did a contest to help women in ghana so they could have a better life. lots of people got into it and gave money for a charity called JOY 2 the WORLD. she did sooooo much work on it every day for a whole month and gave out really cool prizes. if you want to you can still give and on her blog you can still buy a tee shirt that helps too. so, not just for being a cool and neat and caring lady but for having the most BIG HEART for caring about others and doing something about it, im giving her the EARTH ANGEL AWARD! heres what it says In recognition of your Good Deed and for your efforts towards making the world a better place! its not just from me. its from my family and all her blogger friends and that new medicine brady guy and especially from the people of ghana. miss candace is the BEST!
…biggy hugs from lenny

super doc!

2010-08-01T13:00:00.008-04:00

i had to go to the doctor the other day. dont worry, im not sick or anything like that. im doing great! i was just doing what you call follow up stuff that i do every couple of months. mostly people dont like going to the doctor but i love it. yep i really do! thats cause shes a SUPER DOC!

whats a super doc? im gonna tell you but watch out cause when i do youre gonna be sooooo jealous and wish she could be your doctor too. ok heres goes.

she makes me feel sooooo special just like im her only patient. i know shes got lots more and i bet she treats them special too but i just like feeling im the most special.

she spends lots and lots of time with me and is a really good listener. she doesnt just want to know about how im feeling in my body and in my mind but she wants to know about everything thats going on in my life and she likes hearing about it.

she writes down everything i need to remember and gives me the paper to take home so i wont forget what i need to do to take good care of myself.

she talks to all my family and other doctors and people who are helping so everyone knows what’s going on and can help together.

shes a big support for me and for all my family. shes always there if i need her.

she answers my emails but I dont send many cause i know shes real busy. sometimes she sends email pictures of her dogs and cat. she sent one of her cat getting a bath and it was soooo funny.

shes got a really nice smile and a neat sense of humor and a really cool laugh. she makes me feel soooo good when im with her.
……………………..
youd think thats enough but for me heres what makes her an even more extra special doctor.

she gives the biggest and best hugs and you know how much i love getting and giving hugs. if you dont just go look at my how bout a hug post. hugs feel soooo good and are real healing.

when she knows im coming to see her she brings her two dogs lefty and scout to the office for me to play with while im waiting cause she knows how much i love animals. theyre little lap dogs and make waiting soooooo much fun.

and best of all…she loves me!!!
……………………..

wow! shes a SUPER DOC for sure! now arent you jealous? told you so! ha ha!

… hugs from lenny

...alarming!

2010-07-17T13:05:00.012-04:00

i HATE alarm clocks! i tried the dingle-a-ling one, the buzzzzzing one the la-dee-dah music one and even a talking clock. yikes! who wants to wake up to a stranger in your room with a yucky computer voice telling you to get up. no way!

it doesn’t matter which one i have ‘cause all of them have the same evil purpose and that’s to jar me outta dreamland and wake me up when i don’t wanna wake up. it’s my own fault. after all, who set that stupid alarm anyway? i did! what was i thinking? why am i letting a loud mouthed alarm clock get me up when i don’t want to get up? that’s self abuse for sure! and, isn’t one booming blast of abuse enough? NO! i can take more! just watch me push that handy dandy little snooze button and torture myself every ten minutes until I finally give up. geeeez! how dumb is that?!

think about this. the word “alarm” itself sounds scary. i don’t think waking up when the alarm goes off is supposed to be an emergency. where’s the fire? where’s the flood? and, why do we say the alarm “goes off” anyway?? doesn’t that sound sorta mean and angry? “alarm goes off!” yikes! i don’t want to be jarred awake by something that “goes off.” nope! i want to wake up slow and easy, take some time to open my eyes and rub the sleep out of them, yawn, stretch and crawl out of my bed at a snail's pace.

my mom used to call the alarm clock “the devils own invention.” i didn’t know what she meant til i had to start using one myself. eeeeek! the devil is alive and living in my alarm clock! i hate to admit it but i gotta tell you ive killed off a lot of those evil clocks. i smashed one against the wall, smothered a couple under my pillow, pitched one right out the window and drowned one in the sink. every time i get rid of one some nice person gets me another one. gosh thanks! how nice! oh i just love it! you’re sooo thoughtful. aarrgh!

the best alarm i ever had was my mom! she’d call out in a soft, cheery voice “time to get up. come on sleepy head get up.” what could be sweeter than waking up to mom’s voice. and, she’d come back and do it all over again until i got up. what's even better is when i finally rolled out of my warm, cozy bed and stumbled out my bedroom door, still half asleep, she was there and gave me a warm good morning hug. i’d close my eyes and wish i could go back to sleep right there in her arms.

i guess having my very own alarm clock means i’m growing up and being a lot more responsible for myself. i hate to say it, but, like everyone else, i need that devil to jar me out of dreamland. ugh! i HATE alarm clocks!

(thanks to my brother for editing this so it reads lots better.)

…hugs and smiles from lenny

cruisin'!

2010-07-06T23:47:00.006-04:00

wowee! i just been on my very first cruise ever and it was soooooo much fun. i went on a big ship named the monarch of the seas for three whole days. when you see that ship real close up you just get no words except wow! my room was neat and it had a window where i could look out and see the water and land when we got to it. i didnt hardly ever stay in my room cause there was sooooo much fun stuff to do. mostly i swam and ate. i ate til my belly was busting and made my tee shirts stretch out. ha ha. it had so many places you could eat all the time and one night i ate pizza at midnight. i gotta admit i did it only one time cause i got sick in the night and threw up cause of eatin so much so late. ugh! the ship had a cool arcade room and a place to play basketball and ping pong and lots of other cool games. there was lots of music and places you could dance and movies and real live shows. i took a kite with me but got so busy i forgot to fly it. all the crew was really nice and helped me if i got lost (i did that a lot …ha ha) or needed something. the ship went to the bahama islands and i got to get off at nassau. it was really pretty and had lots of buildings painted in pastel colours. it was fun walking around and seeing all the neat stuff mostly at the straw market. it was sooooo hot there that i didnt stick around too long and got back on the ship and jumped in the pool. ahhhh! the last day the ship went to a real small island called cocoa cay and i swam way far out in the sea and snorkeled and saw lots of pretty fish and even a big ol sting ray. hooray for no sharks! they had a big barbeque and i ate a bunch more food. yikes! the ship got back at port in florida on monday morning. now im back home and wishin i was still on that ship and hoping i get to go on a longer cruise some day. if you didnt ever go on a cruise you just gotta do it!
… hugs from lenny

beat the heat!

2010-06-10T12:55:00.007-04:00

this little guy knows just what to do when hes all hot and needs to get cooled off. cause most of us dont have a nice waterfall to sit under we gotta find other ways to beat the heat. heres some stuff you could do thats mostly free.

1. drink lots and lots and lots of water and lots more

2. dress in light stuff like shorts and tank tops and wear a real neat looking hat

3. if youre gonna walk or jog or do exercise outside get it done early before it gets real hot outside

4. if youre gonna be outside a lot go slooooooow and dont get all hot and sweated up

5. if youre gonna be getting lots of sun wear that sun screen stuff and make sure its one with a high number on it like 15

6. eat light stuff that has lots of water in it like fruits and veggies

and heres some stuff thats real extra special important to think about

1. if you take meds be sure its ok to be in the sun or get hot

2. dont ever ever leave your kid or pet in the car even if you got the windows open

3. if you get sick from the sun or being way too hot call 911 real fast

have a really cool summer! …hugs from lenny

how 'bout a pet!

2010-05-28T09:14:00.006-04:00

right now i dont have any inside pets but i got a bunch of outdoor ones and im gonna write about them another time. i got thinking when i had some inside pets how much i liked it and why i did. pets get into your heart and get to be more than just friends cause they live with you and that makes them a real part of your family. theyre there all the time. theyre there when you get home, when you eat, when you go to bed, when you get up, when youre lonely or afraid or just need a friend to be with you. theyre always happy to see you and be with you and mostly they dont complain. they love you and dont ask for much except some love back from you. pets could make your mood lots better. if youre sad or feeling all antsy, playing and petting feels good for you and for your pet too and when they get you laughing from doing fun stuff that feels real good and makes you smile and feel happy. pets are good cause they could get you thinking on some one besides your self and make you know that you need to take real good care of some one besides you. when you have a pet its not just about you any more and its whole life is on your hands. you have to feed, water, comb and brush, make a good potty place, take it to the vet and get medicine and make sure you do every thing so it could be healthy and happy. having a pet is a big thing and lots of work and you gotta be sure youre ready for it. if you are then try to get a rescue pet cause they need you real bad. but theres lots of other kinds of pets so just get one that you could like, love and be ok taking care of. so, how ‘bout a pet? it could be a real happy thing for you and your family and specially for your new pet. …hugs from lenny

how 'bout a hug!

2010-05-15T10:28:00.007-04:00

i don’t know ‘bout you but i love hugs. i love giving them and i love getting them. i bet you didnt know theres a national hug day and its on january 21st.

i got thinking about hugs and whats so neat about them. hugs are for lots of things. theyre for being happy, for when you’re sad or scared or sick, cause we like some one or love ‘em, to make some one just feel better, to say im sorry, to make up after a fight, to tell ‘em we care, to give comfort, to make em feel real safe and lots of other reasons. some times a hug isnt for any reason but just cause it feels like the right thing to do and it feels good in our heart.

i think theres different kinds of hugs. i like the bear hug cause its so close and squeezy tight and like for a minute were all one person together and for me thats a for real hug. theres a not for real hug and its one of those social thingys and it doesnt have much feeling and its not squeezy tight and its just for saying hello. theres group hugs and theyre neat for being close with a bunch of people.

whats in a hug that makes if feel so good? mostly i think it feels really good cause in the touch you could feel that some one really cares about you or loves you and they say it more strong in a hug than in just words. its really neat when you get hugged and get the words all at the same time. being wrapped up in some ones arms is a real feel good thing.

some times its real important to not just hug some one but ask if they could want a hug. thats like when i go with my brother to where he works with mental ill people. i always ask if one of them could want a hug and mostly every one says yes. i think thats cause they didnt get much hugs in their life and dont get any now. thats a real feel good hug for me and for them too! its ok to say no if you dont want a hug cause some times you just dont feel like it and some people dont like getting touched.

one of my brothers found this quote for me cause he knew im making this hugging post

“Hugging is healthy: It helps the body’s immune system, it keeps you healthier, it helps cure depression, it reduces stress, it induces sleep, it’s invigorating, it’s rejuvenating, it has no unpleasant side effects, and hugging is nothing less than a miracle drug.” - Unknown –

now if you want to you could leave me a nice big hug and go give some one a just because hug! ..... …..biggy supersized hugs from lenny

a letter to mom on mothers day

2010-05-08T16:08:00.004-04:00

i miss you soooo much. when you died my heart got all crumbled and tied up in a tight ball and i couldn’t take in even a little breath of air. all my insides got filled up with sad and i made so much tears i could have got drown in them. but little by little the crumble got less cause of remembering all the good stuff about you. it was like the hurting got shrunk up just like that time i put that pretty red turtle neck sweater you knitted for me in the washer and dryer and it got shrunk up so small that it looked like it could fit a for real turtle. ha ha. now theres so much things that could make me think about you with happy thoughts just like last night when i opened the deck door to go and feed the critters and i got a big nose full of some really pretty smelling bushes. i dont know what that bush was but it got me thinking of you cause of how you loved flowers and had that really pretty flower garden. it gave me a smile and a really nice memory. that kind of stuff happens lots of times cause now i could let it and before i couldnt cause of so much hurt being in the way. i think youll be happy that the hurt got shrunk cause you couldnt want me to be so sad for the rest of my whole life. i talk to you lots and i know you could hear me and i hear you in my heart even if you cant say stuff back out loud. some day im gonna get to be with you and im real happy for that. but right now cause im just right here still on the earth im gonna keep on being just me and do all the good stuff you taught me how to do. oh and you could need to know i dont ever forget to brush my teeth at night and i always talk to god before i get off to sleep. you could be real proud of me and my brothers and my sister cause were taking real good care of each other just like you taught us and just like you could want us to do. i love you more than a zillion of your apple pies and that’s a real lot cause you know how much i loved those yummy pies. happy mothers day in heaven mom! …love and hugs from your son lenny

a doggone good deed!

2010-05-05T19:59:00.006-04:00

when you see some one who could need help its a real feel good thing to be a help for them. today when me and my brother were getting gas a dog who was in the back seat of a car in front of us got his leg caught real tight in the seat and wow he got yelping out so loud that every one all around could hear him. the lady whose dog it was tried getting him loose but cause he was a really big dog she couldn’t hold him and try to get his foot unstuck both at the same time. she was shaking all over and crying for her dog. my brother and a guy in another car ran over real quick to help. my brother grabbed up the big dog in his arms to keep him still and talked real nice to him so he wouldnt feel so scared. the other guy worked real hard and finally got the leg loose. that poor dog was panting and whimpering the whole time but you could see he got trusting my brother the guy getting him loose and he didn’t one time try to bite. when the leg got loose it had a big rip in it and was bleeding a lot. my brother held it closed with his hands and said for the lady to get some paper towels and a plastic bag from inside the store and she did. he wrapped the leg in a bunch of the towels and tied the bag around it so it could stop bleeding. wow that lady was so happy for the help she got and she said thanks a bunch of times. she wanted to give my brother money but he wouldn’t take any. she said she was going right to the vet to get the dogs leg stitched up. im real happy for the dog and that lady. doing good stuff for people who could need it makes your heart feel real good and happy. .....hugs from lenny

a springtime poem

2010-04-28T22:11:00.017-04:00

trees

yesterday the trees were dark and bare

sad and lonely in the icy air

.
came the sun and showers of gentle rain

dressing trees in fullness once again

happy glossy leaves now dance along

in the arms of springtimes joyful song
.
by lenny lee

a letter to mother earth

2010-04-21T21:12:00.003-04:00

dear mom
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wow! could you believe its been another year gone by and its time for your special day again. i like that cause i get to tell you all the good stuff thats been happening. it could make you real happy to know that lots more of your kids are doing good stuff for you and im hoping that pretty soon all of them will want to help. i think lots of them get so busy doing their own stuff that they forget about you and i know that hurts you. im doing what I could to let them know they need to be more a part of taking care of you cause i want you to live a really really long time! guess what? tricia who does soooo much to help you started a special group a while back for people everywhere that takes a little time every tuesday at 11 o clock to send love and healing stuff to you by special thoughts. no matter where i am i dont ever miss not even one tuesday. i hope you could feel it cause its full up of love specially for you. im gonna spread the word out on it so every one who wants to could do it with us. that would be really neat and a real family thing. i think you could be real proud of me cause im doing a lot of things to help keep me and my brothers and sisters and you healthy. someone got an idea a while back for a thing called go green and its been catching on more and more. it just means doing better stuff for you and for us so we could live more healthy and when the whole family gets doing it youre gonna be happy and proud of everyone. and for sure youre gonna live a really long and healthy life. oh I forgot to tell you i got my very own blog and some times im gonna use it to tell my brothers and sisters more about helping you cause there lots they could do but maybe just didnt ever think about it. this week I did lots for wildlife and I even signed a paper to do more. you knew I would cause you know how much i love animals and trees and plants and water and all that nature stuff you gave me and all of us. i guess that’s all I have to tell you for now but you could know for sure im always thinking about you and always doing good stuff just for you. and you could be sure im letting my brothers and sisters know what they could do to be more help for you. thanks for loving me and giving me so many neat things to see and love and care about. youre a terrific mom! i love you with all my heart. .....…from your son lenny

EARTH DAY! we can make a difference

2010-04-17T22:53:00.008-04:00

earth day is coming on thursday april 22nd! its real important to keep on taking care of the earth for us now and for everyone who comes after us. you can make a promise to make a special day to help the earth and after that you can keep on doing stuff to help the earth every day. me and my family been doing it for a real long time. one of the best things you could do is GO GREEN. Its not a hard thing to do and it’s a big help to mother earth. happy earth day! ….hugs from lenny

feel good friday

2010-04-16T09:26:00.016-04:00

hi everyone! happy friday!
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this was a pretty good week in my world. heres some of it.

1. i got following justine dell’s blog and i love it. she’s got a neat sense of humour and a real easy way of writing stuff. she makes me feel like im sitting right there with her and could feel how shes feeling. its a real feel good blog. go look but watch out its crowded! :)

2. hooray! i got two more followers for my blog and now theres three!

3. two people read my whole fish story right here on my blog and guess what? they liked it! wow! that makes me sooooo happy!

4. i went to my brothers work. he does therapy with mentally ill people sometimes one on one and sometimes in groups. i learn a lot when im there and the best part is i give out lots of love and hugs to people who never get much. wow! that’s real feel good stuff!

5. a really special friend gave me netflix for a present and i get a movie every couple of days. wednesday I got one called the bear and it was real good for helping save animals. it was a little sad in some places but it had a feel good ending. hooray for saving animals!

6. im in a writers block this week on my dragonfly story. ugh! i got me and my friends stuck on an icy ledge in the mountains and the ledge is breaking up under us. YIKES! scary! i need to get us saved before we freeze or drop off. wheels in my head are spinning. ha ha.

take good care of you and have a really nice weekend! …..hugs from lenny

new page! my fish story

2010-04-09T21:19:00.020-04:00

im writing a story book called The Adventures of Lenny Lee and His Friends. the first story i wrote is called A Fish Story and you could read the whole story if you want. just click on the pages link thats on the left side of this page. i hope you could take time to read it and say if you like it. i hope you could like it. . …..hugs from lenny

how to love you

2010-04-08T16:00:00.005-04:00

i said back a little while ago that you need to love you first before you could love other people or animals or the earth. well i got thinking it’s a pretty hard thing do when you don’t know how to be your own best friend. now I need to say stuff on how you could love you when you don’t and you feel all empty inside and like your not much worth anything. then you’re telling mother earth youre not part of her and that makes you all by yourself in the world. so what could you do? first you need to want to love you and be happy and be like sunshine and not some lumpy grumpy black cloud. you need to say “yeah I want to be a real bright shiny star.” you could need to know its ok to not be perfect or try to be and its ok to just be who you are and feel just what you feel. you need to start doing more nice stuff for you every day that I call feel good stuff like saying good words about you to your self and doing fun things and some times doing stuff that’s just real not you and maybe a little crazy like wearing two different colour socks or an inside out or backwards tee shirt. it gets you smiling and feeling good and happy. you need to get rid of that junk pile you been carrying around and start tossing stuff out cause its hard to carry a big lot of junk around all the time. you need to practice this stuff every day til it gets way deep down inside you and pushes out that lumpy grumpy black cloud. then you will meet someone you could like and love. someone who's just brand new in your life – YOU! …..love from lenny

my squirrel friend!

2010-04-07T18:20:00.009-04:00

this is one of my really good friends and her name is squirrelita and shes my neighbor. she lives in a really neat treehouse that she designed up and got built by herself. we got to be friends last spring cause of both of us liking peanuts. she likes cat chow too but not me. ick! you could see how she gets herself right at home in the kitchen. shes got three kids from last year that are really big now and they come for peanuts sometimes too. every morning when i open the door so i could put clean water out for the birds and squirrels she just walks in and waits for a peanut while im filling up the bucket. she goes out side with me and gets up the tree to eat the peanut and she watches me get the water changed out and put out food for the day time critters. then she comes down to get more peanuts and talk with me for a little while. having a friend is real neat and its even more neat when its a squirrel friend! .....hugs from lenny

you gotta love you first

2010-04-05T11:38:00.016-04:00

you can’t love any one or animals or the earth til you could love you first. you can’t spread out love til you could know your worth getting love and could love your self way down inside. i couldn’t love all the people i love and the animals and mother earth if i didn’t love me first. it starts deep down in my heart and feels like warm sunshine all inside and it makes me happy and makes me like me and love me. lots of people could think they love but they could turn it on an off cause its not for real and in doing that they could cause hurt. when you for real love your self then you could spread it out on everything just like peanut butter and jelly and you can’t never shut it down cause for real love can’t get shut off. so its really really good to love you first so you could love every thing else even the most smallest little thing. it could be lots of work in loving you but you gotta know your worth it and your worth getting love and giving it out. .....love from lenny

hi from lenny!

2010-03-31T14:56:00.020-04:00

hi! i'm lenny lee and im soooo excited 'cause im writing stuff on my very own blogger page. i didn't ever hear the word blog til a lady we know, her name is paddy, said it to my brother, his name is sebi, and he told me and i said WOW thats neat! my brother jon, who could be mostly pretty mean, says BLOG means Big Load Of Garbage. that made me laugh haha. i hope what i write could be lots better than that. oh, and he said no one is gonna read my stuff or say any thing nice about it. well, he didn't bother me and i'm still gonna write stuff 'cause it's fun and i like doing it and i hope you could like it too.

i named my blog lennys world 'cause thats only what i know about and could write about. mostly its feel good stuff that i hope could make you feel good too. heres the first thing i want to share with you.

spring time is in front of me

spring time is just right in front of me and getting closer. i know that 'cause today i saw some really pretty white flower trees and pink flower ones. i just stood for a long time looking at them and didn't think of anything but just them. all of a sudden the softness and prettiness got past my eyes and got way down inside of me til i got filled up with them and i wanted to burst open and scatter all of what i was feeling all over the place and get it on every one. i think its love for just this small part of mother earth that got inside me. i wished i could make up a pretty spring song and sing it to the whole world so they could love these pretty trees too. its a good thing i didnt 'cause im not a good singer and maybe mother earth would cover her ears and bring back winter really fast. ha ha. i could like it a lot if you could take just even a little time to see spring in front of you and let it get inside you. it feels really good. if you try it, tell me if you got feeling good too. bye for now. .....hugs from lenny