Bring on the sniffles and big snotty sneezes - April Newsletter 2026
News from the Makerspace Desk of Angela Hatch March is in the books and April is in the air! Here's my little Spring poem:Bring on the sniffles and big snotty sneezes That make room for flowers and pretty Spring breezes.As if it's not enough to have runny noses and wheezes,She pranks us with pollen...but then SHE sneezes."About all that pollen," she laughs, "I'm just teasin.'""April Fool's Day!" she says, "Enjoy the Spring season!"Happy Spring! As Spring arrives, I find my creativity has been in overdrive. There's been so much happening. Even bad poetry!I discovered that I love creating puzzle games. In March, I created two games that tie in with my Makerspace Mysteries book. I'm focusing on one at a time and have had game testers play the first one. Feedback on the game has been fabulous; people have really enjoyed it. Once I work out the final prototype, I will send the design to a game producer. More to follow on that!This month I attended a Writer's conference (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). The highlight was the breakout session called Author Business 101 on classroom visits. It was very informative. Fun and Unique Days to Celebrate in April: Apr 1 - April Fools' Day: Time for those jokes and pranks! When my son was young, I made a plastic ham and cheese sandwich for his school lunch but put the real ham and cheese slices in a plastic baggie off to the side. He didn’t know that and ate only the bun. Okay, so I felt a little bad about that one. So, when I filled his Cheetos bag with fake popcorn used for shipping, I felt even worse! What's the funniest prank you ever played?Apr 4 - International Pillow Fight Day: Have an epic pillow fight and watch the feathers fly! Age does not matter!Apr 7 - National Caramel Popcorn Day: I LOVE caramel corn. Like love love it. I think it deserves more than just one day of celebration a year. In fact, if you want to celebrate it every month, I'm with you. Here is a great recipe I use:Caramel Corn:7 1/2 qts popped popcorn (keep warm in oven)combine:2 c brown sugar1/2 c corn syrup1 c butter1 tsp saltBoil for five minutes. Add 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp vanilla. Add to popped popcorn and bake 1-2 hours at 200 F, stirring every fifteen minutes until popcorn no longer sticks in clumps. (Here's where you pretend you saw me take a bite on a food video and roll my eyes and stomp my foot because it's so good.)Apr 10 - National Siblings Day: Cheers to family and to our brothers and sisters. Write a “What I love about my sibling” letter or poem. Or make them smell your armpits like my brother did. Your choice. Kidding, that never happened. I love my brother. He's amazing.Apr 18 - National Animal Crackers Day: Who's with me on how to eat an animal cracker. Head first, right? Then legs. Then body. There really is no other way.Apr 20 - National Lima Bean Respect Day: I think this only works if you know someone whose had one stuck up their nose. And got it out.Apr 22 - Earth Day: Celebrate the planet! Do a nature clean-up project, plant a tree, gaze at the stars. Do something Earthy.Here are a few of my latest astrophotography images. You'll recognize the moon. The other one is Orion's nebula, estimated to be 24 light years away. Apr 23 - National Talk Like Shakespeare Day: I had loads of fun with this! Make this a dinner activity with your kids or friends. Here's an example: "Hark, how dost thou fare this day? Doth not thy heart delight in perusing this missive?" (Hello, how are you today? Don't you just love reading this newsletter?") Use this handy dandy translator to help you out:Shakespearean English TranslatorApr 30 - International Jazz Day: I don't know what it is about watching cats playing instruments, but I'm hooked! Seriously. Hooked. Check out Jazz Cat Noir on youtube: https://youtu.be/6wWgjpFGSj0?t=22 Angie's Amazing Adventures As you may recall, in my personal/non-writing life, my goal this year is to have one cool adventure every month.March's Cool Adventure was touring our library's Makerspace. If your library has one and you haven't been, you're missing out! I toured the Makerspace in our library this month. Ideas are buzzing around like fireflies in my mind! So excited to do some work in the creative lab!I'm so thankful for our library. By the way, Apr 21st is Thank You for Libraries Day. Celebrate! Read a book, do a cool project, learn a new hobby. It's all there! Still working on my author branding, but I made some buttons to give out at the writer's conference I attended this month. In January, I gave away copies of "When the Earth Trembled." If you read it, and liked it, it would mean a lot if you left a review on amazon. Go to: Amazon.com: When the Earth Trembled eBook : Hatch, Angela: Kindle StoreThat's it for this month. If you know someone else who might like a newsletter like this or if you'd like to learn about any of my books, check out my website at: angelahatch.com. It's all there. Books, newsletter sign-ups, everything! With curiosity and hope,Angela Hatchwww.Angelahatch.comAdventure with purpose. Stories that spark courage, laughter, and heart.
