Greetings.

It has been quite some time since I have sent out a newsletter. In spite of my best efforts they never seem to be done in a regular or timely fashion. I guess I am just not organized enough to keep up with them. However, this has been a very busy year. Since, I have received several e-mails asking me about what I have been doing and when the next book might come out, I thought it was time to let everyone know what I have been up to and inform you of some upcoming events. FYIAs most of you know, in addition to being an author, I am a full time schoolteacher and I own a video production company, VideoTech Productions. This alone keeps me very busy, but I also have my oldest daughter Stephanie that was married last summer, and all of our energy, for several months, was focused on her wedding. She is now in her 4th Year of Medical School in Galveston, and in addition to that our youngest daughter, Stacy, is in her senior year of high school and we have been very busy with her senior year activities. If that wasn’t enough bragging, let me say that Stephanie married the handsome, charming, and intelligent Jason Chandler; and Stacy who plans to major in music performance in college, qualified for State in Choir Solo and Earned a First Division in Flute this past year.

So What About Me?

Most of my creative energy for the past year has been put into songwriting. I have teamed up with a songwriting partner, Terry Stephenson, (I know, it’s hard to believe isn’t it?) that I met at the Old No. 9 Workshop I attended a year ago. Terry and I have really meshed as songwriting partners and we have really been putting our creative talents together to write some great songs. We have written many new songs and rewrote and improved many songs that each of us had written individually. I have done a few book signings this year and even performed some of my original Children’s songs at The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ Showcase at Barnes & Noble in San Antonio this past fall. However, most of my free time and creative energy has been spent on songwriting. Since Terry lives about 4 hours north, we devote entire weekends to writing and he comes to Beeville and we spend the time locked up in the studio writing songs and picking our guitars.

Songwriters’ Showcase: March 17th

Terry and I are very excited to have our first Songwriters’ Showcase coming up on March 17th, Saint Patrick’s Day, at the Green Door Restaurant and Bar, here in Beeville Texas. This is not only a really great and classy restaurant, but their large outdoor patio, where we will be performing, is something you would expect to find in Austin. We will perform from 7 to 11. We plan to open with a couple hours of our Original Texas Music, and end the show with a rip-roarin’ jam session. We will be accompanied by the ever-talented Brian Abildgaard on lead guitar. Brian is a music-major at Victoria College, and we hope to have Eric Flores sit in on drums. Eric is a music-major at Texas A&M University in Kingsville. We will have many surprises during the evening and several guest performances. The first hour of the show will be our more mellow style songs that are appropriate dinner style music, but the party will kick into high gear during the second set with some of our signature Honky-Tonk songs. Stop by, if you are in the area, and check us out. Saint Patrick’s Day at the Green Door? It can’t get any better than that! Don’t forget, The Green Door serves up some great grub! We’ll be looking for ya!Web Site Updated Last WeekI have updated my web site. I have some great new pictures on the web site and more information about my songwriting, author school visits, etc. I would like to invite everyone to stop by and have a look. I would really like to know what you think of the web site. I would also love to hear any comments or suggestions that you have to make the web site better. I have added a couple of new songs to my web page, and will be doing many more. Stop by and have a listen.

Projects in the Works

Terry and I are working on our first CD. We have a lot of good material to choose from and hopefully we will get that out sometime late this year or early in 2007. I also plan to finish up my Children’s CD “When Daddy Taught Me How To Read”. This is a much simpler type of project that we are recording in our own studio. There have been many parents requesting a CD for their children after they have attended one of my author presentations, as well as many of my own students want to get a CD. This should be finished by the end of the summer. Terry and I are working on a great song for this CD entitled The Dinosaur Rodeo. Terry and I even have plans to turn the song into a children’s book. As you can see, we are staying busy. In addition, we plan to pitch some of our songs to publishers this spring/summer. So keep checking in for the latest information on Stephenson & Stevenson: Texas Songwriters.

Presentations

I presented Rockin’ Through the 20th Century at the Texas Computer Education Association’s state convention. This was about the third time I have made the presentation at the state conference and it was a big hit again this year. I sold many copies of the CD at my cost. I wanted to get them in as many teachers hands as possible. I received many great comments and was stopped several times the next day in our hotel by educators who had attended my presentation to tell me how much they enjoyed it. By the way, if you have attended one of my sessions and would be willing to give me a quote or an endorsement that I can post on my web site and/or put in my flyers I would appreciate it very much. Many teachers and librarians have said very nice things to me about my presentations and I appreciate the kind words very much. I know those type of comments can also help other educators make informed decisions when they are looking for an author to visit their campus or a person to present an in-service.

A Reminder to-

Teachers, Librarians, & Students! We have created an Accelerated Reader test for 5K Runner. We will send it free to any school, teacher, or librarian who has bought a copy of 5K Runner. If you are a student, or the parent of a student that has bought a copy of 5K Runner, just have your teacher or librarian e-mail me and we will send the free test to your school. In ClosingPlease continue to tell others about 5K Runner and please forward this e-mail to anyone that you think might be interested. Also stop by my web site and check it out. If you get a chance listen to a few songs and let me know what you think. By the way, if any of you have friend or family member looking for some good material for their next album, send them our way. We have a wide variety of songs. Once again, thank you for your help, support, and interest! I look forward to hearing from each of you, so e-mail me, send me a letter, or leave a message on my bulletin board at my web site. 

Remember: 

As always when I use “we” instead of “I” in this newsletter, it is because my wife and partner Beverly is an important part of this process. She is my assistant, my promoter, my helper, my first audience, and my biggest fan. So “we” (= Beverly and Jim) Thank You for your friendship and support.