Reach Out and Touch

Remember the old song with the words, "Reach out and touch somebody's hand. Make this world a better place, if you can?" It was something like this. Today, I am going to leave you some ramblings on reaching out and touching the reader.

There would not be much fun in writing, if no one ever picked up our books and read them. We would tire of reading them ourselves and being our only audience. We want people to like us. We want to build a fan-base. We would dearly love to see fans create web sites dedicated to us, but will they?

Pick and choose from the things below. Think about these kinds of things as you write.

• Who is your book meant for? Is it just a child? Do you want a parent to read it with a child and the two of them enjoy it together? What is the book really meant to do?

• If it is for a child, what do they want in a book or story? In the same light, if it is for an adult to read to a child, does this change the way you put it together?

• What is the Number One Thing, when it comes to your audience? WHat is top-most of what you want the book or story to do? What do you want the result to be?

• What can you do to surprise your reader? What can you do that is unique to your book? Is there some way that you can make your book offer something that no other book has for the reader?

• How can you you put it together and make it do what you want it to do? How is the story going to read? Will it be rhyme? Will it be told through a story?

• What will you do to insure that the reader turns the page? Read, Read, and Read and see how others keep you reading.

• What do you want your readers to feel, when the book has been read? How do you want them to react?

Most importantly, write, write, and write.

I will add to this, later. Got to run.

Copyright In and Outs

I had someone send me an email today asking about copyright. I figured that everyone knew this, but I am going to repeat it, just in case.

Any writer wonders about the same things. They are afraid that someone can steal their idea.

Actually, Ideas can be stolen. Ideas are not protected by copyright.

That is right. Ideas can not be protected.

If you look at all of the writing in the world, most of it comes from the same basic ideas. Most stories are based on the basic idea of good vs. evil.

Think about it. It is true. They all come from the same basic ideas. See how an idea can not be copyrighted? If ideas could be copyrighted, the book world would be very small. It has to be something presented as unique work and then it can be considered protected.

If you talk with someone and give them an idea and then they use it, you do not have a leg to stand on. Ideas are pretty much free to use. I would caution you about talking about ideas that are not in a written form.

Some people apply for a copyright. Please, do not send in a manuscript with a copyright on it. That is considered very amateurish. Publishers will laugh or want to laugh and toss it into the slush pile. This is a big "No No." You must be as professional as possible.

When your work is written down, it is copyrighted. This is automatic. This is also true of published and unpublished work.

When your work is published, the publishing company will take care of the copyright.

When a work is copyrighted, the copyright lasts for life plus seventy years. After that time, it enters public domain.

In public domain, anyone can use the work. The author's heirs do not get anything out of it. It is as stated "public domain."

Sorry, got to run. More later.

Where Do I Go From Here?

Okay, I am going to ramble a little about me and my situation. If you have anything helpful to contribute, write to me. I would appreciate the comments.

My picture book SleepyTown will be out, soon.

I have seen a final pdf copy and I have seen the cover. There is a chance that I will have a copy in my hands this Friday. Then, it should be available in stores, online, and etc. soon.

What now? I have around "seven" other things in different stages of being finished. I have two finished stories that need illustrations. Then, I have a short story that I have written 2,200 words of a maximum goal of 8,000 words.

It would be wonderful to get rich doing what you love, but it seldom happens that way. I would love to become an instant success, but that seldom happens. I would love for someone to see something in me and hire me to make big bucks. Alas, fairy tales do not always happen in real life. So, what now?

I am going to keep writing. I love it. If a person loves what they are doing, isn't that enough some times? Imagine the thrill of being able to do something that you love. Too many people go through life miserable. They feel locked into a life that "stinks."

I do not claim to be an amazing writer, but I love writing. I have always loved writing. I was the drama person. I was the artist. I was the creative guy. (I was the male lead in my high school's senior play. I won the best actor award. It was a comedy titled "Time Out for Ginger." It was a blast.)

I guess the worst thing for me is that I grew up and live in a small town. It stinks some days. Everyone just about knows everyone. If they do not know you, they know someone that does know you. Growing up, all the police officers knew my dad. If I went 45 in a 35 zone, they told dad. They did not stop me, but they told him. That stunk!

Creative people do not get a lot of respect in a small town. There is not an Art Gallery within 50 miles of me at least. There was a guy that tried to have a small gallery downtown, it lasted a few months. People did not visit it and they did not purchase paintings. (The gallery closed and the guy still has around seven items of mine, that I am still trying to get returned. I am the nice guy, I know. I should have set loose a herd of elephants in his back yard, but I did not do that this time.)

I am trying to improve myself. As stated, I do not claim to be the best, but I love what I do. I must do it. I have to do it. I get frustrated because I want to do it. Are you like this? Do you feel it inside? ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! Get the idea?

When I think about my picture book coming out, I have several feelings. I am excited, but I am scared, too.

I know that everyone that picks up the book and opens it becomes a critic. They will have an opinion.

Learning to accept criticism is not easy. That story is a part of me. It came from inside of me. If someone tears it apart, they tear a part of me. It is alive. Only the author understands the total picture. Am I right. Don't you alone see the entire picture? You know why you do what you do.

My publisher sent me a pdf of the cover and a pdf of the book on Friday of last week. It looks very good. Is it exactly as I would have done it? No. I would have done it differently, but I am not the publisher and I do not have the freedom of doing it totally my way.

My oldest daughter said, "It is the most beautiful book ever. It is just beautiful. It is better than a lot of books that I have seen."

Of course, I appreciate her feeling that way, but she is biased. I expect her to like it. If your family is not for you, hire someone to be family. Everyone needs their family behind them.

I have thought about seeking-out an online course that would challenge me to write. I found one, but I am doing some research to see if it is really what I want to do. The course gives assignments and you submit them. An instructor goes over the work and sends back comments. It does cost. (I do not have time to attend a college class. This might offer something that I would find beneficial.)

I have also researched writer retreats. There is one, not too far away, but it runs into Summer vacation. That stinks. There is a writer retreat, but you have to be an alumni or take the writer workshop to attend the retreat. The retreat is for writing and writing and writing. The workshop features instructors.

I found a guy that opens up his house to authors during the summer. He is on the beach. He accepts three people at the time. They write and share and enjoy being away from home. It would be nice, but I am not sure that it would be right for me.

I am just sharing the things that I am thinking about at this time. If I lived in a larger town, there might be a writer's group that I could join, but you already know that one. I told you about it earlier in this post.

There is a writers convention thing this fall. That offers classes in a lot of areas. I have asked for a brochure so that I can look at it and think about how I can attend it and benefit from it.

I would really love to start something online. I just do not know what to do or how to start. I would really like to have my own site and get people to share stuff that would help all of us.

What would you do? Give me some feedback. I need it and I would appreciate it.

If this rambling is too much, forgive. I just was a little out of it this morning. I am tired. I am trying to keep myself under control. I can be really "stupid," when I am tired.

More later.

A Mind Retreat

Excuse the deviation from the norm, but I thought that I would take a "mind retreat" today. I am actually thinking about doing this on Fridays. Read the post and take a minute to drop me a message. Register here, it is FREE. If you are a member, log in.

I grew up in the very same town where I live now. Sometimes I wonder why I did not leave this small town and go somewhere, anywhere but here.

So, here I am. I have one older brother. He is seven years older. He is the perfect child. No matter what, he never does anything wrong. It has been that way all of my life. Yep, it is still the same today. It will never change.

As a child, we had a very small house. (I live in that house, now.) My brother and I had to share a full-size bed. Our house only had two bedrooms. Imagine growing up and having to sleep with your older brother that hated your guts. He hated my guts. (He had never seen my guts, but he hated them just the same.)

Being seven years apart did not help anything. Well it did make me the "whipping-boy" many, many times. When I tell you what he did to me, you will probably laugh.

Look, I was the younger brother and I wanted to be like big brother. You know, I wanted to hang out and talk and feel like a "big boy." For some reason, he was against that idea.

One day, okay, I will admit that I was being a pest. I just wanted some attention. You have to know that my dad never had time for us. He worked lots of hours and was always on call. (One week a year, we were together as a family. It was called vacation in Panama City. Then, my dad lay on the bed in the motel room and slept. We went to the beach.)

Time to get back to the story. I do have attention issues. I get distracted. One day, I was in the bedroom. I kept going by my brother and saying things to him. Look, all I wanted was for someone to pay attention to me. (Mom and dad did not.) I was acting kind of crazy. After all, I was seven years younger.

My brother said, "If you do that one more time, or touch me one more time...I will knock you through that wall!"

I could have been the good little boy and walk away. I could have gotten a book out to read. I could have even took the time to plan a trip to Siberia, but Nooooooooo, I did that "one, last thing."

He back-handed me and knocked we through the wall. My entire body went into the wall. Now, before you think that he was some kind of "Hulk,” you have to know that we had sheet rock walls. (I hate sheet rock walls.)


My entire body went backwards into the wall and made an impression of my entire body. My brother had this look on his face. I grinned. I knew that he was going to get killed. He was dead meat. I tried to fake a wound, but he said that he would kill me if I did not stop it. He meant it. Mom and dad were not happy campers. They did not say, "Yea, you did good son. We can see his complete outline in the design." They were very, and I mean very, upset.

My brother had to give a pint of blood, have two finger nails pulled out by the roots, and he was locked in the trunk for an entire day. (I lied! I wanted this to happen. He was grounded. He had his toothbrush taken away, or something stupid like that.)

Several days later...mom and dad had to go somewhere. They left me at home with my brother. DANGER!

They told him to wash the dishes and have the kitchen clean, when they came back. Most of all, they told us to "be-have." (Is that spelled correctly? It was used to tell kids to do what was right, and stay out of trouble.)

My brother was washing dishes and I as in the living room. In our home, the living room and kitchen were connected. I was taunting him, I think. He had to do the dishes. I was going to lie and say that I was not doing anything, but I am an honest person. I was standing in front of the couch. I was saying something to my brother about him doing the dishes. I did not have to help.

It was best not to have us around dishes at the same time. Mom wanted to have some for the next meal.

Honest, truth...It was not that I was mean. My brother just hated my guts.

It did not take long and he got his fill of me.

He said, "If you say ONE MORE WORD, I will sling this knife through you!!!"

Please, oh please, he should not have said "say ONE MORE WORD." That was his fault. He should have known better. He tempted me. I could not help it. I tried to hold back. I groaned and grabbed my mouth and mentally, I said, "NO!" I gave my brother THAT LOOK and said in my clearest, seven years younger, voice, "WORD!"

He whipped around and all I saw was a blur as his arm swung in a perfect arch and something zoomed over the table, through the door, and across the 14 feet between door and me.

It was almost like The Matrix, only different. I did some kind of uninvented-asian-kung-fu thing and slipped out of the way of the butcher knife.

That is right. It was a butcher knife. It missed me and lodged itself into the back-support of mama's couch that was strategically placed in front of the Spanish painting of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. (Mom was into Spanish decorating.)

This was going to be so good. This time he was bound to lose a liver or something. If not a liver, maybe he would have his spleen ripped out. I smiled and said, "You're gonna get in trouble."

Then, he reminded me of something. Why had I talked? I knew better. I should have only given my name, rank, and serial number. I had told my brother something a while back. Hey, I did not think that he would remember it and drag it up in a time of need, but, he did.

My mom had this PRIZE, and I do mean prize, painting behind the couch. It was "gi-normus." (giant with a twist) My mom loved it. It was her prize. (She paid $75.00 for it at a furniture store and made me swear on a stack of sale papers not to tell dad.)

I had taken "glow-in-the-dark" crayons and added color to parts of the painting. That way, when mom and dad were not home, I could get out my "black light" and make the painting glow.

It was beautiful. It was like WOW and Spanish all wrapped up together. My brother knew that mom would kill me or make me walk three days in a desert without water.

He said, "If you tell mom and dad, I will tell mom about the "glow-in-the-dark" crayons.”She will kill you. She will make you swallow a razor blade." (Yes, he was cruel.)

Then, he pulled out the trump card of all trumps. I am telling you the honest, truth.

He said, "If you tell mom and dad, Soap Sally will come and get you and make soap out of you!"

I was scared to death of Soap Sally. (Soap Sally was a legendary woman that lived in the woods. She had a pack of wild dogs and she captured bad little children and made soap out of them. No one had ever seen her, but I was told that she existed. I cowered-down, when Soap Sally was mentioned.)

Fear took a hold of me then and there. I froze for a minute. I tried to keep my brother from noticing how it affected me, but being the emotional-wreck that I was, I could not help it.

Hey, if you had grown up with him as your brother, you would have been a wreck, too.

He smelt blood. No, he smelt the fear that was rushing though my veins. I was scared. My brother removed the butcher knife from the couch and arranged the cloth so that it was hardly noticeable.

Of course, I would have been sitting there with my finger in the hole of the couch, when mom and dad came in, but...He only had to look at me and say..."Soap Sally."

When mom and dad came home, I was in the bedroom reading. My brother was just finishing the dishes. Mom and dad never found out.

Making money with your writing and other stuff!

Did you know that many local junior colleges offer classes in things of interest for the community?

They have Art, Knitting, Sign Language, and all kinds of subjects.

This could be a great opportunity for you as an author, illustrator, or both.

Go by your local junior college and get a catalogue. Look in the back of that catalogue. It might have a list of classes that people can sign up for that are taught by people, just like you.

Hey, you might have some other talent or background that your local college could use. Ask! You do not lose for asking. The worst thing they can say is, "Sorry, we do not have anything right now." If that happens, keep reminding them that you are interested.

Look under the "Continuing Education" department.

The Continuing Education Department is committed to linking College and community resources to provide quality enrichment programs to people of all ages.

Most colleges offer a variety of "fee-based" workshops, classes, community-service activities, and continuing education courses designed for those who want to keep learning but who are not necessarily interested in earning academic credit or pursuing a college degree.

Classes are designed for people in search of life enrichment and those striving for personal and professional growth.

Most programs consists of two major divisions of courses: professional development courses and personal development, interest, and leisure courses.

Programs are provided for youth, adults, and seniors in a variety of formats, such as seminars,workshops, and short courses.

For example, my local junior college wanted me to teach Watercolor Classes at night, but I already have a commitment. I could not do it right now.

Then, check out your local college's Kid's Programs during the Summer. Many colleges offer an education-based type of day care for children. I work two months in June at my local Junior College and teach Art to children. It provides vacation money for me and my family.

I just thought that all of you bloggers would appreciate a new idea to check out for a way to use your talent.

I would suggest that you write up a proposal of what you can offer and give it to the person that is in charge of the special programs. You never know what might happen. Give it a chance. Share your talent and knowledge. People will appreciate it.

Let me know if you find something.

Everything you ever wanted to know about being successful

Stephen King has written a lot of books that were very successful. He writes. He gets paid. He lives off his writing. He is successful. He was asked, in an interview, to tell writers what they need to know in order to be successful. This is a short version of what he said. I am not going to quote his exactly. I am giving him credit for what he said and then I am adding my two-cents-worth.

1. Be talented: He stated that if you write something and it gets published and then you get a check for it, then, you are talented. He actually goes on to say that he is not really trying to anser the talented thing. HE is just saying that if you have talent go for it. He does say that we should skip as much of the "self-illusion" as possible.

ME: If you have that writing thing in you, write. You have to do it or die. Then, write. Hang in there with the rejection letters. A lot of very good authors got rejected many times. You will know, if there comes a time to turn to something else. If you can do nothing but write, WRITE!

2. Be neat: Type. Double-space. Do it just the way the publisher wants it. Use good paper. Stay away from cheap paper. Do not send in a messy manuscript.

ME: If you want to be treated like a professional, make it look professional. If you get a rejection, make it the best manuscript that has ever been rejected. If, by chance, you get any comment on your work, GLOW! That is a good thing. If a publisher makes a favorable comment, they saw something good.

3. Be self-critical: You should have marks all over your manuscript as you go back and make changes. No one writes a perfect story the first time. "Only God gets things right the first time."

ME: You have to walk away from it. I put it down for a couple of days and work on something else, then I go back to it. I laugh when I think that I have five children's stories that are in various levels of development. On top of that, I am writing a teen-vampire short story. As a painter, it helps to turn the painting upside-down and see it from a new view. Try it.

4. Remove every extraneous word: If you want to preach, go out to the woods, stand on a crate and preach. Get to the point. Remove the parts that do not help the story move along.

ME: If you keep circling the airport, looking for a place to land. Ditch the plane and start over. Parachute out of that one and start over. This is so hard to do, when you are attached to your story.

5. Never look at a reference book while doing a first draft: You want to write? Write! Stay away from the dictionaries, the encyclopedias, the thesaurus, and other books. Write.Stay away from spell-checker. Write. You can go back later and make corrections. Do not stop your train of thought. Stay on track.

ME: I agree. If I stop, it takes me a while to get back into what I am doing. I do better work if I stay with it. I don't even like to stop and go to the bathroom. Sometimes, I must. Sometimes, when I stop, I totally lose where I am before I stopped.

6. Know the markets: Do enough research to know what markets are interested in what you do.If you write something good, why not send it to someone that wants to see that kind of material? You have to research the market.

ME: True! You really need to read what they publish. You need to know what their slant is in the publishing world. Look for trends. Try tot find THAT SPOT. There has to be an opening that no one else has stepped through. Do it.

7. Write to entertain: People read books for a reason. They want to get enjoyment out of the reading. Write for others to enjoy your writing.

ME: Keep telling yourself that "someone" is going to read your writing. You write for people. You want them to say "Wow!" You want them to go and tell their friends to purchase your book. You want to make money. It is true. It is not all about having fun. Money is a nice side-line.

8. Ask yourself frequently, "Am I having fun?": If you never say "YES," do something else.

ME: I write for me, but I also write for others. It is a blast. I am doing what is in my heart. I have to write. I must write. I love it. I am not saying that I am the best. I am not saying that I know it all, but I know me.

9. How to evaluate criticism: Listen to what others say. Nod. Then, think about it carefully. If your critics are ALL telling you the same thing, maybe they are right. If THEY say something is wrong, something is wrong.

ME: If something is not working, get rid of it. If you love it, keep it for you. If the critics do not like it, and they keep pointing out the same thing, let it go. Put it in your private stuff. Just maybe some day someone will find it and be amazed at something that never got published. It happens.

10. Observe all rules for proper submission: Do it exactly as stated in the submission guidlines.

ME: Some things get rejected, if they miss just one little point of the guidelines. It helps with rejections. Some get tossed in the slush pile from the start because of one little thing.

11. An agent? Forget it, for now: Agents make money off you. Beginners do not need an agent. Do all the work yourself at this point. Agents come later.

ME: Stephen King says that you do not need an agent until you are making enough money to matter. Actually, he said it stronger than that, but I chose not to repeat it. I am trying to be nice. He says it like it is.

12. If it is bad, kill it: "When it comes to people, mercy killing is against the law. When it comes to fiction, it is the law."-Stephen King

ME: I quoted him on that last one. The truth hurts. It rubs like sandpaper or worse. I have a few things that have been buried among papers. I did not totally kill them, but maybe they will arise some day.

Take care! Keep writing! Do what you have in your heart!

What others say about writing

The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. ~ Robert Cromier

I do not know all of these people, but I did find it interesting to read what they had to say about writing. I decided to leave some of them here for you to enjoy.

Read, read, read. Read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.~ William Faulkner

I did read that Stephen King was making a comment about writing and he said, "If it is bad, kill it."

You don't write because you want to say something' you write because you've got something to say.~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

What we want is a story that starts with an earthquake and builds to a climax.~ Samuel Goldwyn

One of the least impressive liberties is the liberty to starve. This particular liberty is freely accorded to authors.~ Lord Goodman

They're fancy talkers about themselves, writers. If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.~ Lillian Hellman

Manuscript: something submitted in haste and returned at leisure.~ Oliver Herford

Why do people always expect authors to answer questions? I am an author because I want to ASK questions. If I had answers I'd be a politician.~ Eugene Ionesco

If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, its research. ~ Wilson Mizner

I always do the first line well, but have trouble doing the others.~ Moliére

The dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he's given the freedom to starve anywhere.~ S.J. Perelman

Writing is the hardest way of earning a living with the possible exception of wrestling alligators.~ William Saroyan

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightening and the lightening bug.~ Mark Twain

No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft.~ H.G. Wells

Have a great day! More later.

Finding Myself

Who am I? What am I? Where am I? How do I go about finding my voice? What makes me unique? Where is that "empty spot" that I need to fill?I have been trying to find my place. Where do I belong? How am I going to get there? What makes me special? It all seems close and then at other times, far, far away.

This blog is more personal than other-person driven.

Most of my life, I have wanted to write for children. I want to make them laugh. I want them to sit with wonder in their eyes and take in every word. I have always wanted children to pick up my book and love it, too.

I don't consider myself a selfish person, but I have always wanted that acceptance.

Children are so easy to please. It does not take a lot. Just giving them a little attention does a lot. They trust. They listen. They explore. They wonder. They are children.

I am looking at my book ideas and thinking, "what makes my ideas different?" What do I offer that other authors do not offer? What advantage do I bring to the table that someone else does not have? Why would someone choose to pick my book off the shelf over another book? I am still thinking about these things. If I come up with an answer, I will share it.

Give your work the same view and let me know what you come up with in that department.

Want to know what else I want to do? I want to write a vampire novel for teens. That might sound really weird, but I have loved vampire movies and books for most of my life. I want to write for teens. I want to do it. I have to do it.

I found something interesting by Stephen King. He was giving a ten minute thing on how to write a novel.

He said this: "You want to write a story? Fine. Put away your dictionary, your encyclopedias, your World Almanac, and your thesaurus. Better yet, throw your thesaurus into the wastebasket. The only things creepier than a thesaurus are those little paperbacks college students too lazy to read the assigned novels buy around exam time. Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. You think you might have misspelled a word? O.K., so here is your choice: either look it up in the dictionary, thereby making sure you have it right - and breaking your train of thought and the writer's trance in the bargain - or just spell it phonetically and correct it later. Why not? Did you think it was going to go somewhere? And if you need to know the largest city in Brazil and you find you don't have it in your head, why not write in Miami, or Cleveland? You can check it ... but later. When you sit down to write, write. Don't do anything else except go to the bathroom, and only do that if it absolutely cannot be put off." - Stephen King

I wanted to share this comment. Sometimes, I get wrapped-up in stuff, when I need to write. I just need to blinking write.

What makes for a Great Read

I was sitting here thinking about the kinds of books that I like to read. What gets my attention and keeps me turning the pages.

I have always loved Vampire movies and stories. I guess I have been the only person in my family that likes that kind of subject. Some would think it weird, but it has nothing to do with being weird.

Last year, I picked up the books Cirque de Freak. I actually did not pick up the books; I picked up book one and took it home to read. I loved it. It had me from the start. That one book led to me purchasing all twelve and injesting them at the speed of sound. Okay, I did not read them that fast, but I am sure that I read them at a speed where I missed something.

I liked the books, but they made me mad toward the end. A main character got killed. That made me wish that I had not read the book, but I turned the page and finished it. I also went out and purchased the next book. The last book, number twelve, made me wish that I had stopped a couple of books earlier. I wish there had been some really happy ending, but there was not one that I liked.

Did the author do that because he wanted to make readers mad?

I do not know. I do know that I have talked with several people that read the same series and that, like me, hated the last book.

I was hungry for Harry Potter books and saw the Charlie Bone books in the book store. I purchased book one and read it. I loved it. It was advertised as a book for those who like Harry Potter. It was true to the mark.

Charlie is a little boy who has a special power. He does not go around with a wand, like Potter. He can enter photographs and experience the scene and objects in the picture.

Charlie lives in a horrid situation and his father is missing. This made for a great story. I do not have them in front of me, but I think there are "six" books total. I am not sure. Do not quote me on that. At one time, Warner Brothers was planning on making a movie of the Charlie Bone books. They purchased the rights, but I am not sure they are going through with it.

Both series have that gift. They have characters that you connect with and want to see them succeed despite difficult odds. Harry has a horrid homelife, as does Charlie. Both have a special power that helps them accomplish their goal. They also have friends that make a difference in their lives.

Also, to me, the writing was smooth. It was easy to follow and it did not jump around too much. I always knew where I was in the story.

Try Charlie Bone, if you like. It is written for older children, but it is a great read.

Sorry, I am sitting here, in my backyard leaving this note on my blog. It is sunny. The wind is blowing a little. I just had a piece of toast with butter. Yum!

I wanted to say "morning" to you, and then I must stop for a while. I have something that I am working on and if I do not make myself stop, I will not get it written.

More to this post later.

SPRING BREAK

Finally, the time has come. I can hardly believe it. I am so ready for a break.

Next week is Spring Break.

I do appreciate knowing that people stop by and read my blog. I do it for me and I do it for you. Hopefully, in all of the mix, it will help all of us. I always have a lot to say. I do not claim to know it all. Honest!

I will be out of town Sunday - Wednesday. If you stop in and nothing new has been posted, please check back later. It is possible that I will type posts and save them and then post them later. Yer! That is a good idea.

I used to be in contact with a guy from Australia. We chatted a lot. He got me to using "Yer!" for yes. Sorry, it just slips out.

I will post something esle later. This is just a quick note this morning.

Please, do me a favor. When my book comes out, go to your local book store and order it. It shows them that people do care about them having our books on the shelf.

WAIT: This sounds pretty selfish of me and I am not that kind of guy. When you go to a book store and ask for a certain book and order it, it helps ALL OF US! let's face it, major book stores do not get excited over authors. They get excited over money. It is a money game. They want to stock books that will make them money. If we ask for a book and have enough people order it, they say "Hmmmmm, maybe I should have this book in stock." Let's shake-up the book store world. Support people like me and us and them, buy our books.

I sound like I am groveling, huh? Okay, I won't do it anymore, after the next time. Okay? Have a great weekend. I have some great posts planned.

Laterz!

Hot off The Press

Have you ever made a purchase, gotten home and then said, "I wish I had never spent the money for that item?" If you had waited a little longer, gone home, thought about it, you would not have purchased the item. It helps to step away from it and give it time. The same is true with our writing and making it "publisher ready."

I am writing this because of something that I did yesterday. I was all excited about something that I had written and decided to read it to someone. It was so "not ready." I almost laughed. It reminded me of being the "eager beaver" and saying something that should have been kept inside. I am sure that you understand.

Do yourself a favor.

Never send out anything that has not been declared your BEST. It might have to be revised later, but make it your best. You want to impress the publisher, you do not want to turn them off to your writing.

Keep in mind that the computer will delete, copy, cut, paste, and a whole bunch of other things. Just like the weather, this too shall change. Make your writing smooth. Listen to me, and I get all goofy on here with this blog. I guess that is allowed.

I discovered something by accident. I do myself a favor by writing on a project, putting it away for a few days, and then going back to it. During the break, from that project, I work on something else. I have found that it forces me to look at the project in a different way, when I pull it back out of the folder.

It reminds me of what I said in an eaelier post concerning Art. Sometimes, you have to turn the work upside-down to see it in a new light. This forces your mind to see it differently. It works.

Try it, you'll like it.

Also, do yourself an even bigger favor. Think twice before ripping something into a million pieces and burning it in an ash pot. (What is an ash pot? I do not know. It just jumped into my head.) Years ago, I wrote a lot of poetry. I got in this mood one night and I burned a notebook that contained some really special stuff. I can not explain why. I just got this "wild hair," and I did it. I am mad at myself now for doing it.

I did not learn from that. Still later, I was taking an art class at the local college and I got mad at the instructor. He showed favortisim to a couple of students that hardly came to class. I had worked my rear off.

The instructor walked over and looked at a drawing that I was doing in his class. He stood there. I just knew that he was going to say something good. He reached out, took the drawing from my board, ripped it down the middle and said, "I don't like it. Do it again." Then, he dropped the two halves in the floor.

I went home and burned my sketch book from his class.

Hmmm, I have this issue with fire, I think.

I got over it. No, I take that back. I did not get over it. I decided to stop letting it hurt me. My reactions were keeping me awake at night. He was at home asleep, snoring, and having a nice rest. I passed the class with a "B." I never took him for a class, again.

The main point of this post is to keep the good and the bad. Improve the bad. It just might become your best seller one day.

I am going to look at my NEW creation today and try to improve it. It can be better. I want to make it my BEST WORK today. It might not be all that it can be, but I can make it my best work today.

How Do I Promote Myself? Let Me Count the Ways.

Your publisher will always do certain things to promote your book, but there are things that you can do yourself.

Your publisher will probably create a press release. It is usually pretty short and includes the title, author, type of book, and a brief sketch of what the book is about.

Usually, local newspapers are interested in spotlighting an author. Try to think of local publications that would want to add something about you. My local paper has a section called "Community News". They like to include local things, of course. Maybe a local business publishes a newsletter. They will often include a note about local people.

To be honest, if you are not a famous author or illustrator, your publisher will not be spending a lot of money on you. They can't really. They have to go with the "big name" until you become a "big name".

Side note: I am not a "big name," nor do I claim to be a big name. I wish I were an important author/illustrator. As you know,from my blogs, I am just a guy. I do not believe that I am more than anyone else. I just hope that I am the unique person that I should be to my family and those who know me. I am unique. There is no one else like me. Now, you are relived, huh? There is only one "me."

Back to what I was going to say. You might not go on a BIG author tour, but you can make a difference locally. Visit the local book stores and talk to the manager. Show them your book and ask if they will consider a "book signing." Some book stores and toy stores love to do that. It does not mean mega bucks for you, but it does get you noticed a little more.

If possible, send a copy of your children's book to your local school librarian. Include a press kit. Let the librarian know that you would be willing to make a school visit. (TRUTH: If you are a first time author, they might not be able to pay you for the visit. Big name authors can get a nice check for a school visit. In fact, a lot of authors do not get rich off of book sales, but they get a nice monetary gift through speaking at schools and other places.)

Let's face it, no one will pay attention to you unless you are famous, and you will not be famous until people pay attention to you!

The truth hurts a little. Ouch!

Create a list of book stores local and in towns that surround you. Drop by and ask about book signings. Ask if you can get in on special promotion days. They might already have something special planned and you just might become that extra item on the list. Always let the book store know how you plan on promoting the event. They will appreciate everything that you do to help bring more people into the store. Offer to sign copies of the book. Sometimes, people will purchase the book with the signature just because it has been signed by the author or illustrator.

Please! Please! Please! If you are going to do something locally, let your publisher know about it. They will appreciate it and sometimes they will do something to help promote the event.

Visit your local library and give them a copy of your book. The children's librarian will appreciate it so very much. Also, volunteer to be there for story-time and read your children's book to children.

If you have friends all over the country. Ask them to go to their local book store and order the book. Make sure they actually pay for it and take it home.

Another great idea, take your book to the local children's doctor and leave one in the waiting room. Have a note attached to the cover of the book telling parents where they may purchase a book.

If you have not thought about it, teachers love to have teacher-tips to go along with books. They also love coloring pages for the students. Anything and everything is welcome to a teacher. If you check on your counties web site, you will find a list of things that each grade needs to cover for the state requirement.

Use this as a guide for creating teaching ideas for the teacher. In most elementary classes, anything that you can do to promote hands-on study is wonderful.

One last comment: It is not professional looking for you to stand on the street corner, selling books.

Encourage people to visit the local book store.

The most important thing you can do is write! If you are a writer, write. If you are an illustrator, illustrate. Just get going with it.

Hey, drop me a message, for crying out loud. I feel like I am talking to the wall. I would love to hear from you.

BEWARE of Lions and Tigers and Bears

Warning: Be very careful of letting your excitement of getting something written cloud your view and make you fall prey to Lion and Tigers and Bears.

It would be such a perfect world, if everyone was honest and treated everyone with respect and we all smiled, and no one ever gave off a bad smell. Alas, some have searched for a Utopia and never found it. It reminds me of the statement, if you are a church-going-person, find the perfect church and join it and it is no longer perfect.

To those who are longing to get something published so badly, beware of the "Lions, Tigers, and Bears." They are out there. They promise to publish your work no matter what.

You finally find someone that wants to see your manuscript. You send it in and wait, but what is this? They do not take months to reply. They contact you imediately and tell you that they do not have to send your manuscript through the usual process. They want it. They offer to publish your book.

You are so excited. (Understandable) You send it in. You have been told that the manuscript will go to a review committee. "Bam"..."Shazam"..."Wam"...You pass the committee with flying colors.

You are told that they like it. But...it needs to be edited. Now, that is not uncommon. But...it should NEVER cost you to have the work edited by a publisher.

You are told that unless you have had a PROFESSIONAL editor that THEY approve, you must pay to have them edit the book.

So many excited people pay by the hundreds and who knows maybe thousands. The book gets published and costs an arm and a leg and almost a pint of blood to purchase. On top of that, the book stores will not buy it.

Oh, I almost forgot. People that treat you like this never give you an address. Some never give you a phone number, or if you call, they are always busy. You can not visit them. For some strange reason, they keep moving around the country or something.

You are stuck with purchasing your own books. You are stuck with doing your own marketing. (Let's face it, you do have to sell yourself, but not like this.)

You spend day after day going from store to store. You show your book. You give the rehearsed spill. You wait. You cross your fingers. You stop breathing for a moment. Then, the store manager shakes his head sadly and says something that becomes clouded and unintelligible for a moment.

The truth sinks in. You want to cry. Maybe you do cry.

Even if it seems this way, it is NOT the end of the world. Learn something very valuable and get back to writing. Stop running around trying to peddel your book and write. You will drive yourself crazy going from place to place to place.

Use this as fuel for the fire to do something amazing that will make ALL publishers want you. Chalk it up to a lesson learned.

Discover your voice. Discover what makes YOU unique.

You might have been wounded, but you are not down. You might have taken some shrapnel, but limp or no limp, you will make it.

You are a writer. Be a writer. Take yourself seriously. Become who you are destined to become. Remember how movies love to have the hero down and out. We get all "teary" as he realizes that he must rise and be the leader. He pulls himself up, grabs his armor, and rushes into battle.

There are Lions and Tigers and Bears out there. But, there is no place like home. Home is where your heart is and if you are a true writer, it comes from the heart.

I am making myself get all teared-up and emotional. Isn't it wonderful to be able to do what we do? What a wonderful world! GO FOR IT!

Illustrating a Children's Book

It always helps to visualize the illustrations for the story that you are writing. To illustrate or not to illustrate? That is the question.

As you know, I did the illustrations for my book SleepyTown. I had a clear idea of what I wanted, when I put the story together. Now, that it is done, would I do anything differently?
Yes, I would. I think that everyone would make changes to their work if they did it again and again.

That might not make sense, but artists often paint the same subject over and over. They do study number one and study number two. Sometimes, they take sections of the painting and paint that section over and over.

I tried that not too long ago. I had painted a Tuscan scene about a month before. It was nice and I liked it. You know how you can crop an image on your computer? I did that. I chose one section and I painted just that section, again. It was interesting. I could not approach it the same way that I did the big canvas. It made me look at it in a whole new light. I liked the results, but it was so different.

Maybe it helps us most, when we take sections of our story and work on just that section. Take one illustration and work on it and do not go to anything else. Try different mediums. Before staying with colored pencils for SleepyTown, I did one illustration in watercolor, one in acrylic, and one in a mixture. I decided on colored pencils because of the simplicity that I wanted it to be.

Just a few minutes ago, I had something come to me. It is concerning illustrating your own book. Have you ever collected a group of books from a publisher and really looked at their books? Does that publisher have a certain style? Can you see it in their published works? Do your illustrations fit that style? In other words, how does your art work compare to the illustrators that they use for their books? If your illustrations do not fit, can you make them fit?

Wow, it is a lot to consider. If you look at it too long, your head will begin to swim. You will feel dizzy, and you just might want to scream. Life would be so much easier, if everyone followed the same rules, but...it would be boring.

This is a short post today. I have a lot to do. I have a new children's story that I am trying to finish writing. It is about cows and I have to keep "moooving" along. Sorry, that was sick, huh? I could go back and delete it, but I kept running my mouth.

Drop me a message. I would like to hear from you.

Tracking Submissions

It is very important for you to keep track of submissions. It also gives you something to do, after you send your manuscript to a publisher.

There are tracking programs that allow you to keep track of submissions, but you can also do the same thing in several ways.

Things to put on your submission record:

Publisher, Editor, Type of submission, Date Sent, Date Returned, and Comments.

Choose a system or make up your own.

• Purchase a pack of index cards and the box that goes along with them. Organize your cards by Publisher alphabetically, or organize them by month and then publisher. That way, at a glance you can tell how long a submission has been gone. For example, if you use colored index cards, a certain color could represent a certain month.

• If you are good at working with spreadsheets, make one for your submissions. You can keep it on your computer and print it out for reference. If you want, print out your spreadsheet and keep it in a notebook. That way, you will have room to add any notes or answers that you get from publishers

• Perhaps you would rather purchase a notebook and draw and label your own system. Just remember: It is important to keep up with your submissions.

While you wait and wait and wait, it is important to stay busy. Why not keep working. This will keep you in practice and help to make you a better writer. If you can, place yourself on a schedule. Make time to write, even if you just doodle or do a creative writing exercise.

Something weird happened today. I sat down to work on a story idea that I want to use for a children's book and I wrote one line and all of a sudden, BAM, I started writing something else and created a fun idea for another children's book. While the juices were flowing, I wrote page after page of text. Of course, I will go back and prune the work, but I have a great start. It just came out of nowhere.

I amazed myself and enjoyed that moment. It was kind of like speaking to children and you have that "magic moment." You know what I am talking about. Every eye is on you and every emotion is at your control. Every child is sitting there waiting, listening, and waiting to see what is next. Your audience is totally under your spell. It is amazing!

There is nothing better than what we do. It is amazing. It is fun. It is a blast. It is incredible. KEEP WRITING!!!

SleepyTown

I am excited to announce that my picture book SleepyTown will be released on Friday, April 25th.

This picture book is a great bed-time story for children. Every night Zander goes to bed saying, "I'm going to beat you to SleepyTown, Domey." He calls me "Gomey," but he can not say "Gs." I do not care. He can call me almost anything and I would not mind. Zander is two years old and loves SleepyTown.

I visited my wife's first grade class and read SleppyTown to them. They loved it. In fact, she had them do a drawing of something they believe would be in SleepyTown. She asked them for something that is not in the book. They had a blast drawing pictures.

I visited the entire first grade on March 3rd, for Read Across America. There were around 120 students in the room. I showed them the illustrations and read the story. Then, I talked about how I drew the illustrations for the story. They loved seeing some examples of things that I changed for the book. It showed that artist and writers make changes and the changes are better than the first idea.

I will never forget the reaction of the class, when I showed them this illustration. The words that go with the picture say, "Flowers grow big, as big as a house." When I read this and clicked the picture, they all gasped. It was wonderful. Just the connection of words and illustration was "magic." For that moment, time almost stood still. It was amazing.


It is really something when someone reads something or has something read to them and they see it come to life in the illustrations.


I do not claim to be the greatest writer. I do not claim to be the greatest illustrator. I just hope that I am the greatest that I can be. This is a dream come true. I get to see something of mine in print and it means something to me. It might mean more to me than it ever means to anyone else, but I want people to fall in love with SleepyTown. I want the book to become a favorite to children. I guess we all wish that.



This is one of my favorite illustrations. Notice that Zander is on the playground with two other children. They are forming a chain. Notice that I left an empty space on the right. That was intentional. I wanted children everywhere to know that they are accepted in SleepyTown. The words say that in SleepyTown no one gets left out.


I remember, as a child in elementary school, getting left out on the playground. I knew why I was picked last for kick ball. Who wanted the kid in the brace with polio? I also understood the look in the eyes of the "class jock" as he had to pick me. I was the only one left.


I just wanted to play on the team. I wanted to be a team player. People that are always first never know how it feels to be last. They do not know the times that I just wanted to be normal.

I want kids to know that SleepyTown is a place where everyone is accepted. I want them to know that they are important in SleepyTown.


After all, in SleepyTown there are no frowns. Everyone is happy in SleepyTown.

It might not be the real world that we live in, but books take us to other places. They are a way of escape. That is why we write. We want people to choose to go on our journey.


Please! Do all of us a favor. Ask for the book at your local book store. Let those know that only care about how much money they can make on a book that some things are more important. The story is important. The meaning is important. The book, the writer, the illustrator and those who support us by purchasing our books are important. We are not just a number. We love reading! We love to see children love books. SleepyTown is a book for children and parents to love and enjoy.


Thanks for reading my stuff. Please, support it. Get the book. (Release date: April 25th)

Creating your Frankenstein

Creating a main character is one of the most challenging and important aspects of writing. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to create a character that readers connect with in some way.

Readers enjoy the unique individual who is trying to overcome some impossible task. It is always enjoyable to read about a character that makes us feel like we have accomplished something. We connect and are almost out of breath at the end of the book.

Your writing is not a monster. It can be one, if you are having trouble creating that special character.

Try the following to create your own Frankenstein:

1. Give a name to your character. Make it a name that is appropriate. I just could not imagine some characters with certain names. Could you see Goliath being Fred? Could you see Batman being Cardinal-man? Could you see Hercules being Henry? (There is nothing wrong with Fred or Henry. I am trying to make a point.) How old is your character? What does your character want to accomplish? Why does your character want this? What is keeping your character from reaching this goal?

2. List three words that describe your character? Really think on this. Make it the three best words that you can come up with.

3. Where does your character live? Describe the living space. (You learn a lot about a person by seeing how they live.)List 7 things that could be found in the character's bedroom that reflects the person's character.

Side note: Allow me to leave the subject for a moment and tell you a story. Actually, it is true.

Years ago, I worked at a small school. A young man became a friend of mine. He would always hang around to talk. He would listen to everything that I had to say.

I invited him to go to supper with my family one evening. His dad dropped him off at the local Chinese Restaurant and we ate. We had a blast. I have never seen a young guy eat so much in my life. We laughed and talked and laughed some more. After eating, we took him home. He asked me to come in and see his stereo. I did.

I met his dad and step-mom. They were expecting a child. You could tell that everything was all about the new baby. They hardly noticed their son come in the house. They did say "hi", but that was all. It was weird.

The young man led me up the stairs to his bedroom. His bedroom was on the top floor, In fact, he had the entire floor. This included a bathroom and computer room. (complete with internet) His bedroom was large. It had a "humungus" stereo, a telvision with a couch in front of it, a television with a video game hooked to it, and a door that led to the outside stairs. (He could leave and enter the house at will. Dad and step-mom never knew when he was there or not.)

There were no pictures on the walls. The walls were dark. There were no posters on the wall. It was all about the things to entertain him and take up time. Basically, he lived alone. There was nothing visible that made the room feel homey. By looking at his living space, I saw who he really was. I saw the life that he leads. It made me love him more, as the young man that he had become. His dad had missed a lot. The guy only wanted to be accepted. He wanted to have value.

He was pulled from the school, but I did have a chance to say "bye." I did not see him for years. Finally, I saw him at a restaurant one day. I got to shake his hand. His dad still missed it. Dad was too busy. I am glad that I was not too busy. I gave him time.

See, you learn so much by seeing how a person lives.

Back to character...You want the reader to connect with the character and turn the pages of the book. You want the reader to make that commitment from page one until the last.

4. I will say more about dialogue later. Just this one thing, think of body language when you write dialogue.

5. Think...what is the character thinking? Get into the character's mind.

6. What is the character wearing? Clothes tell a whole other story. Why does the person dress this way or that way? Is it required or is it choice?

7. Quick list: Do not think sentences, think ideas. What does your character like to do for fun? What does he/she not like? What kind of friends does this person have? (Birds of a feather, flock together.) What are his/her favorite foods?

Finally, you have a great start to creating your character.

This is your "Frankie." I do not mean that your writing is like a monster. You know what I mean.

You are creating someone unique. You are the creator. Fun stuff, huh?

The TRUTH about Publishers and submissions

When you have something returned from a Publisher, do you ever have this feeling that no one really read it?

Have you ever wished that you could have some device attached to your writing that displayed a message letting you know that someone actually opened the manuscript and read it? It would be like those messages that let us know that someone read out emails.

Here is the TRUTH.

Do you want it candy coated or straight to the point about publishers? Straight to the point?

Great! Here goes...

Publishers are always looking for new talent. There has to be NEW discoveries. If there were no new authors, the book pool would soon become shallow and eventially dry. Authors do not live forever. There has to be replacements.

Here is the bold-print truth: EVERYTHING THAT ENTERS A PUBLISHING OFFICE IS READ. It is some kind of unwritten professional law. If they are a publisher worth their salt, they do have someone read the manuscripts.

Okay, so, if every publisher reads my manuscript, WHY DO I GET REJECTIONS?

It is a number of things. Maybe that publisher is not looking for your type of material. Maybe you did not do your research and know what they are asking for in manuscripts. Maybe you did not follow the submission process correctly. Maybe they want someone more marketable. Maybe the publisher does not have the freedom to choose your work. Maybe the writing style is not what they want at this time. It could be a number of things.

I know that we wish that publishers would take the time to tell us why our manuscript was rejected, but think. They get thousands of submissions and it would take forever to take the time to write "hi." After all, they are not paid to be "pen-pals" to writers. That might sound a little harsh, but they do have a specific job to do and a short time to do it.

If you do get a note on your submission, take that as something good. Make the revision and send it back to the same publisher with a cover letter stating that you have made the suggested corrections and appreciate the time taken to give you advice on how to make it better.

Publishers appreciate the fact that you listen to what they have to say. If they do not publish you, you might have made a valuable contact for the future.

Also, some publishers pay people to be readers and they read manuscripts and make suggestions to someone else. That person, in turn, makes suggestions to someone else, then some are sent to committees that meet once a week. In those meetings, each manuscript might only have a few minutes to be considered. It is a jungle out there and our manuscripts gets caught in the vines.

All in all, most publishers are professional and they like to have authors be just as professional. Keep it professional. Keep it sharp. Impress them with your business sense. They will appreciate it.

Sorry, I am not a publisher. I have never been employed by one. I am just a guy with a lot to say and I hope that it does not fall on deaf ears. I am trying to encourage myself as I work to encourage you.

Keep writing!