It’s Na-No-Wri-Mo Time!

ljizlzhgq7wpsh5kvtcb_typewriter — by Florian Klauer

I’m not quite finished with my children’s book, Esther, Mia and the Stars, but I’m close. I am short just a few illustrations and I have someone translating it into Spanish. I’m going to have my mother translate it into Korean over Thanksgiving. I will ship it! It WILL happen!

I thought I should finish that before I started another project, but… it’s Na-No-Wri-Mo right now. I’ve been doing research in October in anticipation of this. Tomorrow, I commit to the writing. I’ve written several fiction stories, but I’m especially excited about this one.

A fellow teacher/writer asked me three weeks ago, “Why don’t you do Na-no-wri-mo?” My first thought, Yeah, right. A novel in one month. I’m working full-time, I have kids and a husband. There is no time.

And then another voice:

“You MAKE time.”

Yes, you make time. Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Marie Curie…all had the same 24 hours we have.

So, what’s it about? I can’t say.

Advice I’ve always remembered: Do not share or reveal too soon. It invites naysayers and judges at the most critical time. Focus on the content. Focus on the work. Reveal it later.

So, what do you say? Want to join me? I’d love to share our ups and downs!

Click on this link to get started now!

A Letter to the Anxious

Dear Fellow Fretter,

I’ve always been a bit high-strung. I’ve always been a worrier.

worrier

I used to spend more time worrying than taking action to stop the worry.

As I begin the last half of my life, I want to be a warrior.

warrior

I’m reading Tolle, Singer, the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.

I’ve read all kinds of books and learned a lot. But I heard Elizabeth Gilbert the other day on a podcast and she said something that clicked (!)

She was talking about her writing process and she said she writes in seasons….you know, as in nature. She said something like this (totally paraphrasing): There’s the quiet (winter) phase, where’s she’s in between projects and thinking, getting inspired. Then she begins research (spring), and she writes (summer) and then does the whole marketing tour bit (fall). And the cycle begins again.

The part that struck me as shockingly KIND to herself was that she gave herself time to just think, rejuvenate, get inspired. She sees it all as an integral part of her creative process.

Wow.

You mean, you don’t have to keep working and sweating?

It made sense to me. Of COURSE, even nature takes breaks. Parts of it die in order to enable other things to grow. This applies to every career, every job, every role in life.

So yes, make your To Do lists and set goals. That is important. But be sure to take the time to relax, re-energize, and follow the cycle. Calmly get each step done. No need for stress.

2 Quick Tips for Self-Publishing and Entrepreneurship

As my illustrators get to work, I want to apprise you of two valuable resources for self-publishing and entrepreneurship – especially if you’re a teacher – but for everyone.

Tip #1: Fiverr.com– Here, you can find every possible digital need: marketing, video animation, programming, singer-songwriters and translation work. Each gig starts at $5. You can also sell your services here.

Here is what you see when you browse for “Cartoon & Caricatures”:

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You can communicate with artists before making a decision. All you need to do is agree upon a deadline and price and then wait. I used an artist who lives in Germany. I just needed cover art for a short story and she did a fantastic job…for $5! Providers are given reviews to hold them accountable for delivery time and customer satisfaction.

Tip #2: Especially for teachers – is TeachersPayTeachers.com Here, you can find high-quality lesson plans and activities for your grade level and subject matter. Almost all material has been created by teachers. Again, providers are reviewed by customers and everyone strives to attain a 4.0. There are teachers on this site who are so good, that their pay from TpT equals or exceeds their teacher salary!

Here is the Halloween page:

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Selling your work is free and easy. They have ample tutorials and advice to help you be successful. If you sell a lot, it’s recommended that you go to “premium” status, which costs you about $60/year, but you’ll get a higher percent of your sales.

Here’s the breakdown for getting paid via PayPal and Dwolla:

tpt_payment

Here’s to creating, learning, teaching and prospering!

Children’s Book Self-Publishing: Lessons As I Go

My illustrators (daughters, ages 13 and 14) have been busy with homework and violin concerts this week. But I hope they make a lot of progress this weekend:

In the meantime, I am shopping for translators at our school. Fortunately, I have access to a couple Spanish teachers and one Mandarin teacher. I will be asking them today if they’d be interested in doing language translations.

This means I need to create a document with just the text. Currently, I have text and illustrations (or placeholders). Lesson learned: next time, create a text only documents first.

I’m pretty excited about this stage because it adds a lot of value to the book. Adding a language component can expose children to other languages and pique their interest if they’re not already learning Mandarin, Spanish, Korean or French.

Make Your Own Motivational Poster: Tip #9

The final tip Daniel Pink offers in his book Drive is to Create Your Own Motivational Poster. I know, it sounds lame, but I played around with it and it’s incredibly fun.

Try these sites:

http://diy.despair.com/

http://bighugelabs.com/motivator.php

wigflip.com/automotivator/

I made my Kismet poster using bighugelabs.com. It was very easy.

Try it!

Self-Publishing for Newbies

While I wait for my illustrators (daughters, 13 and 14) to submit more art, I’ll tell you how I created my first draft of Esther, Mia and the Stars (a book about a girl who gets bullied and how her best friend and school helped her).

esther_grandma_pees — PPT slide with placeholder (Ava created a much better graphic).

I created the story line and broke it down by “scenes.” Each scene then got its own Powerpoint slide. I know…PPT is BORING. It’s passé. But it was for my eyes only. It helped me visualize the book and run through it quickly. I could drop kick each illustration (or placeholders) easily. This helped me “see” the book readily and troubleshoot quickly.

Tip: Consider using Google Slides. This way, you’ll have access to your project wherever you go and you won’t lose it!

Self-Publishing: Last Minute Changes

I’m still uploading illustrations and I’ve discovered I’m missing several – actually, many – illustrations. The girls (my daughters) are not going to be happy about creating more at this point.

Oh well.

I also learned that published books through Createspace.com only come in MATTE, not glossy. Traditionally, children’s books are glossy. You know what? I’m OK with that, I think it will be cool to have it matte – sounds old timey in a good way. My book is definitely NOT traditional, anyhow.

I’ve also decided to translate the English to several different languages: French, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish…this way, it will be educational in a foreign language/cultural/anti-bullying way.

With these changes, this is going to take a long time. My goal is to complete it by March 2017. That is when I first starting writing the book. Yes, that’s an awful long time to write and publish a dinky children’s book, but I work full-time and I have two daughters who are very busy with violin extracurriculars. I’m also wife to a very high-maintenance husband. Just kidding, he’s pretty easy-going.

The DOG on the other hand…

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I was doing yoga and Bryan Kest said something I’ve heard a hundred times (I practice to his DVDs) which finally made an impression on me:

“Go as far as you want to go, as long as there is stability.”

Stability = family + work balance

Stability = emotional, mental, spiritual

Stability = physical (strength and flexibility)

Working consistently in an even-keeled manner, not stressing and taking it out on your loved ones…this is yoga.

Self-Publishing: Illustrations

I had to download all of my images (which I had scanned) from my hard drive to my Google Drive for security purposes. I would hate to lose them should my computer die! This took awhile. I then placed half of those images into my CreateSpace Dashboard. It’s been a super long day/night and that’s all I can get done for now. It seems silly to create a whole blog about it, but I am (hopefully), I’m inspiring you to do even just a little (whenever you can) toward reaching your goals.

When you’re tired and just want to veg with Netflix…

When you just want to take a bath and go to bed…

When you just want to surf the Internet reading mindless junk…

do one small thing towards your goal instead.

Good night!

Self-Publishing: CreateSpace.com

I completed placing the text tonight. I will complete uploading the scanned illustrations (hopefully) tomorrow night. It’s a super busy week for me both at work (school) and for my daughters (school/violin).

Alas!

Balance. Consistency. Little-by-little.

It’s still not clear to me how placing text and illustrations in a Word template will ever look good, but I have to trust the process, right?

Thank you to all who have been so kind to provide words of encouragement. I hope I am helping even one person out there.

Self-Publishing: CreateSpace/Formatting

I’m just formatting my text and illustrations. I feel a little discouraged tonight. I feel unsure of myself. It doesn’t help that one of my illustrators (a daughter), just walked up, saw her illustration and said, “I hate those drawings! They’re terrible.”

But you know what? This is a labor of love. I plan on donating 20% of all my work to children in need. This book is far from perfect. But it comes from the heart and I’ll always cherish it as my first published book and one in which both of my daughters contributed.

crying

Formatting is a pain in the derriere.