March On With Mentor Texts 2024 Registration

As many of you know already, reading and studying Mentor Texts can play an important role in our journeys from aspiring writer to published children's book author.

In fact, it's one of the most important things that I credit for my own success which includes Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten, Hedgehog's 100th Day of School, The Star in the Christmas Play, Moldilocks and the Three Scares, Let's Eat! Mealtime Around the World, The Three Little Pigs and the Rocket Project and related coloring book, The Palace Rat, Henny Penny's Weather Worries (coming 4/2024), BroomMates: A Brewing Boundary Battle (9/2024) and more, forthcoming!

I mention these here because each book owes its success to reading Mentor Texts - knowing what's out there, knowing what isn't out there, knowing which publishers already have which topics and themes, knowing publisher leanings and styles, knowing what the competition is out there, and more! And that's not even touching upon what you will learn about the writing craft by reading, re-reading, typing out and studying well-written stories!

So in 2021, when ReFoReMo closed its doors, I couldn't bear to let that yearly reminder to focus on Mentor Texts just fade away. For 2022, I created March On With Mentor Texts to inspire aspiring writers and published authors to "march forward" on their path to publication, armed with the knowledge, information and inspiration of Mentor Texts. We are excited to kick off our third year!

So now, each day during the month of March 2024 (excluding Sundays), you will find a different Mentor Text post from a different Author to read, explore and learn from.

The first step to join this kidlit celebration of mentor texts / reading challenge is to register as listed below.

1. Sign up for our posts by entering your e-mail address in the subscription box at the bottom of our blog: Rate Your Story | Blog.

2. Comment in the comment section of the post with your name, a mentor text that you found helpful and why.

3. Get a bonus entry by signing up for our Newsletter HERE. Note in the comment that you are a subscriber.

4. Get an additional bonus entry by sharing this challenge on Social Media and tagging @RateYourStory #MarchOnWithMentorTexts #RateYourStory Note in the comment where you have shared the post.

Then, come back every day starting March 1st for your daily dose of Mentor Texts and be sure to comment on each post for prizes.

Writers and readers, feel free to grab your participant badge and display in your profile picture or even on your website with a link back to www.rateyourstory.org/march-on. A Winner's Badge will be posted at the completion of the challenge for all who participated fully (honor system).

Here is the reading list for the first half of the month, which will be updated until complete...

March On With Mentor Texts 2024 Reading List Part 1. Part Two should be posted next week. So, check back for updates.

Reminder: To be eligible for any and all prizes from our Authors, you will need to be receiving Rate Your Story blogposts by e-mail subscription, as well as to have registered on the registration post with your name/mentor text comment.

Winners will be selected starting one week after the close of our event (to give readers a chance to catch up) and will be notified via a Rate Your Story Blogpost with the winner's list on or about May 1st, 2024.

Winners will need to contact me at RYS.CyberOffice@gmail.com with March On With Mentor Text Prize - [Note Prize] in the subject line and their prize delivery information in the body of the e-mail. Please note that prizes must be claimed by May 30, 2024, as we cannot be tracking them after that date. We will get them to you as soon thereafter as practicable, but please note that I am scheduled to be out of the state May 18 - May 28, 2024, and will have extremely limited internet access, if any, during that time.

Prize Delivery Information should include full name and e-mail address for any and all critiques and name, address, e-mail address and phone number for any prizes to be delivered by the authors or by Amazon.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this regard. But especially, thank you for joining us. We are all so very happy to have you here and to share our love of Mentor Texts with you! I hope you will join us and reap the benefits of Mining Mentor Texts.

As an added bonus, I will be giving away five (5) Rate Your Story Speedpasses to five (5) writers who sign up on this post by March 1st, 2024.

So excited to March On with Mentor Texts! Thanks for joining us!

Lynne Marie is the Owner/Director of RateYourStory.org, ThePictureBookMechanic.com, and the Creator/Host of March On With Mentor Texts (www.rateyourstory.org/march-on) and Mentor Text Talk by Rate Your Story). She’s also the Co-Host of #SeasonsOfKidLit 

(www.seasonsofkidlit.com), and a Feature Columnist at Children’s Book Insider (www.writeforkids.org).

When she’s not mining story ideas, she lives in the heart of Florida with her family, a Schipperke named Anakin and a Chihuahua named Marlowe Charlotte. Visit her at www.LiterallyLynneMarie.com. Lynne Marie is represented by Marisa Cleveland ofwww.theseymouragency.com.