Help Your Baby Sleep with Days End Lullaby: Interview with Karen Cioffi

by Jill | Apr 17, 2009 | attachment, babies, children's books, lullaby, parenting

 Today’s Guest is Karen Cioffi, co-author of Days End Lullaby. Make sure you stop by Karen’s blog and read my guest post!

Tell us about yourself and background as a writer:

Karen Cioffi and Robyn Feltman are advocates of education, reading and the environment.  Two of their favorite sayings are:   “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”   “You must be the change you want to see in the world” I am an author and freelance writer.  I am also the creator and manager of Virtual Book Tours as well as co-moderator of a children’s critique group. I have two grown daughters and two very young grandsons.  Much of my days are spent learning my craft, researching and writing, and managing Virtual Book Tours. I am a member of SCBWI, and the Children’s Writing Coaching Club, where I do some of that ‘learnin.’  I live with my husband, Donald Ventrice, in New York City.

Robyn Feltman holds a masters degree in Children’s Literature and is an elementary public school teacher.  She is an initiator of environmental and humanitarian projects in her school; one of the projects is the Oambassador Program.  Author Feltman lives in New York City and recently finished her 2^nd masters degree in Administration/Supervision degree.

Days End Lullaby Synopsis:

“Your day’s been long and full of fun.  But, now you’re much too tired to run,” sings the parent to the child in the lullaby.  Day’s End Lullaby has lyrical and rhyming phrases along with a rhythmic flow.     I composed the poem and music over 30 years ago to help my first born fall asleep and continued to use it for my second child.  I saw positive results in singing it and now I sing it to my two young grandsons.  I reassure them, “The sun has set, it’s out of view.  The moon’s now shining bright for you.”       You can hear a little of the lullaby at Days End Lullaby.  Click on the audio link button on the bottom of the “About the Book” page.       Robyn Feltman and I wrote and illustrated Day’s End Lullaby as a loving book to comfort little ones and provide a sense of security at bedtime.  The simple and colorful illustrations are intended to hold the child’s attention while the parent’s soothing voice helps the child gently drift off into a peaceful slumber.  Day’s End Lullaby will be a perfect addition to every child’s bedtime routine.

What feedback have you gotten from parents who have used your book?

I have a 5 Star review from Stories for Children Magazine. My co-author, Robyn Feltman and I were featured in a 3/4 page article in our local paper with a great review. The feedback from every parent that I was able to hear from is all positive. They love the soothing and rhyming phrases, the colorful illustrations, and many love having the sheet music included as an extra feature.

What age group is it geared for?

Day’s End Lullaby is a bedtime picture book for infant to preschool.. The simple and large text is actually great for beginning readers.

What is virtual book tours?

I am the creator and manager of VBT – Writers on the Move (formerly Virtual Book Tours). Our new name better fits our marketing strategies and personal writing goals. The goal of our yahoo group is to promote each other – our platforms and work, and to promote each other as individuals. In other words we cross-promote in various ways. We still have monthly tours, but we now use other marketing strategies such as a monthly Viewpoint or Hot Topic segment. In May or June we will have weekly blog talk radio interviews with members. We also utilize a library marketing strategy and link exchange. The group also has it’s own blog site (http://vbt-writersonthemove.blogspot.com). And, in June we will initiate a monthly Mystery Site Give Away. We’re looking into many other marketing and promotional tools to take our group onward and upward. If any writers out there are interested and would like to learn more they can contact me at: karenrcfv@yahoo.com – please put VBT-JO in the subject box.

I am in the final stages of a MG fantasy chapter book – I’ll be submitting it to publishers and agents within a month or so. I have a sci-fi MG chapter book as a works-in-progress and  two children’s pictures books in the works. I’m also doing freelance writing and copywriting, and am in the process of creating a new website to offer these services and other writing related services. In addition to this, I’m moving VBT – Writers on the Move upward and onward. Our focus in now marketing and promotion rather than just virtual book tours. So it’s a very busy time for me..

Where can Days End Lullaby be purchased?

Day’s End Lullaby is available at Amazon. Here are several of Karen’s tips for writers:

• Show, don’t tell. Use your imagination and picture your character going through motions – maybe he’s turning his lip up, or he’s cocking his head.
• Try to visualize it – this will help in showing rather than telling.
• If your imagination went shopping for the day, do the motions yourself. I’ve found this helps a great deal.

• When editing your manuscript, use the Find function in your word program and look for words you might have overused.

You can find out more about Karen’s Writing at http://karencioffiwritingforchildren.com/