Friday, December 26, 2008

An Update on My New Book 'The Guys The Roses & The Regrets'

Hey Everyone,

So its been a while since my last post and life has gotten pretty busy, I got my drivers license, I've been doing a lot of school work, I've been working with my publisher to get my new book 'The Guys The Roses & The Regrets' out asap, my big brother is moving to california for a while and of course we had christmas so all in all I've been pretty busy but I wanted to give you guys an update about my new book 'The Guys The Roses & The Regrets'

Like I said I've been working hard with my publisher and finally all the editing is done! I am very excited about that and so now we have moved onto the cover of the book. We have been busy desigining the cover and making sure the cover is appealing.

As soon as we finish up the cover design (which should be within the next week or so) we will move onto to legal and marketing.

I am hoping to have 'The Guys The Roses & The Regrets' in stores by Valentines Day and I hope when it is released you will go check it out!

Feel free to check out my other sites

www.gracehatton.com

www.youtube.com/GraceHatton

www.myspace.com/gracehatton

Oh and I am now posting regular YouTube videos so feel free to subscribe! Until next time God Bless and Lots of Love,

Grace Hatton,

Teen Author

Monday, August 25, 2008

I am back from South Africa! Read this to find out all the details!

Hello all my faithful readers,

So I am officially back! After one month of life changing experiences in South Africa, I have a renewed passion for life and for my God.
I met the most incredible people in the most dyer circumstances but now that I have seen, I am responsible to be a voice for those people.

In this blog post I will let you
know what happened in South Africa and now you will know how many lives we're changed and the passion for life that was ignited within me.
So After 40 hours of travelling, me and my team, which was a group of 68 arrived in Johannesburg or Joberg as I am now used to calling it. We stayed in Joberg one night before we took a very crowded five hour bus ride to a village called Estcourt which is a Zulu township. Estcourt is nestled in the mountains of South Africa thus making it very very cold.


Since South Africa is in the Souther Hemisphere, it was winter when I was there. So yes we slept on the floor of an African church, there we're no showers and our toilets we're holes in the ground. We had some interesting times at those toilets and there are a million stories I could tell but I won't because it might just gross you put two much.

Anywho every morning we got up at 5:15 a.m (it was extremely cold at 5:15a.m) so we could quickly eat breakfast and get to the Zulu high schools. At the schools the youngest was around 9 and the oldest was 20. Small groups of four or five went into individual classes and taught a lesson. My group was teaching a lesson all about history and decisions

At one point during the lesson we asked the kids to get in groups of five and write down three easy decisions and three hard decisions. One girl who was the same age as me wrote down for her hard decision whether or not to kill herself. That broke my heart, she was so young yet already she was willing to give up her life. South African teens have issues facing them that most American adults don't have to deal with. I talked to many of the girls in smaller groups and it made me realize, my life is so easy.

These girls are the same age as me yet their world is so different. However one thing is universal, boys. Me and the other two girls in my group talked about relationships and abstinence almost every day in the Zulu schools. All the South African girls we're curious as to what is was like in the States. We had some very interesting conversations and a few girls told me because of us talking to them they had chosen to save themselves for marriage.

We we're also told we we're an inspiration, we talked about relationships, about businesses, about their dreams and their passions. Every single one of them have such incredible spirits and I am truly blessed to have known them.

The Zulu blessed me truly and I will never forget those teenagers who although they face many so many challenges, never give up. They are determined to live good lives, to make their dreams come true and change their country for the better.

Our second part of the mission trip was back in Joberg in an area called The Squatter Camp or Diepsloot. The Squatter camp is an area just outside of the city where people who are basically homeless are allowed to set up tin shacks to live in, however when the government says move
, they must move. The shacks are 10 by 10 with no electricity, no plumbing, no running water and usually no windows.

There is water pumps in the squatter camps but they are in the middle of the camps, so the people have to walk up to five miles to get their water. Diepsloot is a large squatter camp, it has 300,000 people in a very small area. There are no streets simple mud walkways with filth running down the center inbetween the shacks. The filth smelt so bad the first day I was there, I almost threw up and some of the other girls in our group actually did.

At the squatter camps our mission was simple, to help these people in any way we could and love on them. Once again we we're in small groups of four to five with a translator since in the Squatter Camps there we're many different languages spoken.

We spent eight hours in the squatter camps everyday, we built shacks, we cooked, we did a kids program in the middle of the camp, we carried water, we washed dishes, we held babies in our arms, we washed clothes with our hands, we dug holes for toilets, and we prayed for anyone who wanted it.

In that place where almost everyone we talked to had the most dyer circumstances, I found the most incredible people and I found peace. There was one shack we went to, where a single mother had five month old twins, a boy and girl. There names meant Happiness.

So I was holding the girl twin in my arms, another member of my group was holding the boy twin, another was doing laundry with the mother, another was chopping wood and this little baby I was holding was looking into my eyes. She had the biggest most curious brown eyes I had ever seen, a gentle wind washed over us and I felt utter peace. I could have stayed there forever, holding Happiness in my arms.

I worked so hard while we we're in the squatter camps and for a little while nothing was about me. It was all about them, those people in the squatter camps who had been praying for some help to come. Before we went out to work my group leader would always say "Today you have the opportunity to bless people and change the world. Go for broke and hold nothing back."

I held nothing back at the Squatter camps and I know in my own little way, I changed the world.

So I've been a Christian and in church my whole life. So I've always heard "Go on a mission trip, it will change your life'

I never really understood that until now. When you chose to take time out of your schedule to give back to others, when you spend time in the most basic living circumstances, when you don't have the media influencing you for a while, when you see girls with their shoes worn out because they walked two hours to school every morning, when you talk to mothers who have to do the unthinkable to feed their families and when you hold weeping starving children in your arms, you change. You are no longer who you we're

After all 'When you do things you've never done, you become what you never were"

I am a changed person and now that I have seen what I have, I am responsible. I am responsible to let the world know about my journey, to let the world know about the children that I held in my arms and the people I prayed for.

I believe this trip to South Africa was the first of many, I now have a passion to help as many people as I can in as many countries as possible. It may seem like an impossible task but with God nothing is impossible.

I can no longer sit back and wish for the world to change. I have to truly be the change I want to see in the world. I have to get up, get out of my comfortable life and go!


In South Africa, I fell in love with life, people and my God again. I am forever changed, I now have an incredible passion for people, for my God and for life.

The last thing I want to say in this blog is something one of the teenage girls wished upon me, now I am wishing it for you and I hope it blesses you as much as it did me.

"Faith makes all things possible, Hope makes all things work, Love makes all things beautiful. May you have all these things in abundance"

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Miley's racy Photos

Okay so usually I am not into celebrity gossip and I am by no means a blogger who focus is on celebs.

However I just saw Miley Cyrus’s new photos for Vanity Fair and I’d thought I’d share my opinion on the whole situation.


First of all the thing we all have to remember is that although Miley Cyrus is living the life of a superstar she is still only fifteen and her fans are even younger.
The controversial photo of Miley wearing nothing more than a sheet is spreading like wildfire and I am sure it won’t take long until all her ten year old fans see it.

These young girls look up to Miley, the respect her and want to be her. So when they see Miley posing like that in a photo, they assume its cool and they’ll want to do it two.

That is the problem with Miley’s photos, she is two young to be posing for a photo like that simple because of the amount of influence she has.

With great power comes great responsibility and celebrities these days have great power, because whether we like to admit it or not, celebs influence a lot of our daily decisions.

Especially if you’re a kid or teen, you want to be like your favorite actress, model or singer. It’s that simple, Miley Cyrus is in a position of great power and great responsibility.


I understand why she took the photos though, after all like I said before she’s living the life of a superstar.
So even though she is fifteen, she probably feels a lot older and wants an older fan base. If she had however waited another two or three years to take these photos it would not have been such a big deal. However she didn’t and now she’s taking the heat for it.

All I can hope is that her fans don’t take to posing like that for photos.
So yeah that’s my opinion on Miley’s photos, keep checking back for my opinion on other things and updates on The Guys, The Roses & The Regrets.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Silver Bullets and YouTube

Recently I have been reading up on how to publicize your book, which is something I need to know since I have a book and all. One thing the experts say you must have is a silver bullet. Otherwise known as a short paragraph describing your book and why it’s worth reading. So here is my Silver Bullet, enjoy!

“Filled with easy to understand hints and tips on how to date with minimum heart break. The Guys, The Roses and The Regrets is a fun addictive girl to girl dating guide that will keep you turning the pages.”


I really want to get this silver bullet right, so if you want to give me your opinion please visit my myspace and message me.

I also set up a YouTube page today; this is where I will post an online dairy of my journey to becoming a best seller. So everyone watch out for lots of YouTube posts from me! If you want to check it out, the URL is
www.youtube.com/GraceHatton

I hope you’re all having a wonderful January so far and I want to thank you all for supporting me.


Lots of Love, Grace

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Happy New Year! Wait Till You See What I Have in Store for 08!


So 2008 is here! Christmas is gone and New Years is here. I hope you all had a fantastic New Years celebration and I hope you’re enjoying your year so far. Well, what to expect from me, this year? I am going to release my book and it will be in Barnes & Noble and Borders all over the country. I know my book has the potential to be a best seller and it will be. If you haven’t already check out my newly redesigned myspace, here's the link, www.myspace.com/gracehatton

I have endorsements for my book lined up; I just have to follow up. I will also be approaching magazines this year to get publicity for my book. These are the magazines; I want to be featured in:

Teen Vogue

Seventeen

Justine

GL

Blush

Cosmogirl

Teen

And I also want to be featured in local magazines such as Cornerstone and Radiant.
If you know anyone who works at the above magazines, please e-mail me! If you don't but still want to help get the word out, you can simply e-mail the magazines and say you'd like to see my featured.
If you are a teen and own a myspace, you can harass these magazines on their myspaces two!

I am committed to making this book a success, to those of you who received a promo copy, I hope you liked it and I hope you tell all your friends to buy the book when it is released.

For continually updated info on me and my book, The Guys, The Roses and The Regrets, check out all my websites.

www.gracehatton.com
www.ghteenauthor.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/gracehatton
Once again, I love you all and Happy New Year!