TODAY IS HAIKU DAY!!! #blog2011

Today is Day 10 of the Word Count Blogathon and the theme is HAIKU!

This style of poem, which you can learn about here http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Haiku-Poem, is composed of 17 sound units divided into three parts - one with 5 units, one with 7 units and another with 5 units.

They are pretty easy to write and I love composing them from overheard voices.  In fact, this process actually makes for some very interesting haikus, like these that I wrote while listening to a sermon on a Sunday morning.

Baptised in fire
Purged by God's own holy will
Burn away your sins.

If you yield to Him
God will announce your purpose
Don't go your own way!

Aren't you curious
To know and live God's purpose?
It's why you are here.

Relax and enjoy
Trust that he has brought you here
To show you the way.

You will be a queen
If that is in your future
Strive to rule like Him.

Predestined within
We are justified with Him
To be used for good.

Can you tell what the sermon was about?  What a great exercise to try.  I love reading them again.  I will never forget that sermon now and can always revisit it for inspiration.

I also like to write haikus when I go out with my friends!  Sometimes they tease me for pulling out my journal at a bar. ;)

The happy hippy
Is she writing a haiku?
Flower poet child.

But the best ones are the ones I write when I am alone, thinking, contemplating a subject and feeling the urge to get its point across poetically.  This one is my hands-down favorite haiku ever:

Honest to a fault
I wear my heart on my sleeve
Like a truth tattoo

I actually have a running list of haiku poems that I published here on my blog:
http://missamandapanda.blogspot.com/p/haiku-for-you.html

So how about you?
Think you can write a haiku?
Try it here and now ;)

Feel free to add yours
In an empty comment box
Don't forget to share ;)

Happy Haiku Day! 
Get out and enjoy the sun :)
Tan those blank pages.

Thank you for reading
I cannot stop myself now...
Haikus keep coming!

I will never stop
Unless I do it myself
Right here and right now!

;)  Ms. Panda



Investing in Your Dreams

I was asked, "What is your dream?"

I answered, "My dream is to be able to hold a copy of my own book."

As I thought about that answer, my mind suddenly flooded with the million tiny steps that it would take to eventually reach out and touch that holy grail.  Since I will most likely self publish, I have a lot to invest before I can expect royalties to start rolling in.  The bulk of that investment will be focus, hard work and time, but there will be a point when I will have to pitch in some of my hard earned money as well, if I ever expect a tangible book to appear. 

I immediately thought of the book, You, Inc., by Harry Beckwith, in which he writes that one of the top mistakes that small businesses make is, "They didn't invest enough."  He continues, "As a result, their execution looked half-baked.  They looked tenative, as if they feared their idea was flawed and lacked the faith to put their money behind it."

It's true.  Money is a huge piece in the process of starting a small business, which I easily consider self publishing no exception to the rule.  

In self publishing Children's books, 

an author must first write the story,

then storyboard it,

find and pay the right illustrator, 

find and pay the right graphic designer to organize it all in the right format, 

choose the right publishing house, yep, pay them to print it the way you like...

...and finally, one may hold their own book in hand. 

Beckwith concludes with this thought:  "You have to invest.  The investments you make, of both time and money, demonstrate your confidence in what you are offering.  The premium prices you pay are literally that: premiums.  They are your insurance in your success."

It is so important to invest in our dreams.  If we don't think it is worth it, no one else will. 

And, even though the above mentioned half of the process doesn't directly speak about investment in marketing and selling a book, I feel that the money you spend before the product is complete, will directly effect the chances of it selling, too. 

Andy Warhol once said,

Personally, I am not focusing on selling it just yet.  I really just want to hold the culmination of my hard work in my hands and have the ability to ship it off to my friends so they can share Ms. Panda with their kids finally!

All of our dreams are unique, but they do all share one common thread - investment.  The point here is:

Don't cheat yourself!

I may still be a beginner, but I've got killer taste!

In my last few blogs, I've reached into the issue of originality and staying true to oneself no matter what avenue you persue.  As a beginner in the realm of Children's lit and self publishing, I found these two Ira Glass quotes very reassuring.  They are full of wise thoughts that may prove important to anyone who enters a new field. 

Ira Glass is an American public radio personality, and host and producer of the radio and television show This American Life.  

 

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

"It's hard to make something that's interesting. It's really, really hard. It's like a law of nature, a law of aerodynamics, that anything that's written or anything that's created wants to be mediocre. The natural state of all writing is mediocrity... So what it takes to make anything more than mediocre is such an act of will..."
— Ira Glass

AN ACT OF WILL.

Happy Writing YOUR WAY!!!

10 inspiring images today.

In the first blog I wrote here, I made myself a list of 100 ideas to use if I ever needed a creative push.

Well, today's blog is a tip o' the hat to good ol' #77 -- visit more free museums. 

Today, I visited the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri.  It is home to many beautiful sculptures, paintings, and other musings from around the world, including an Egyptian mummy, suits of armor for a man and horse and a super retro Frank Lloyd Wright chair.  

I love it all.  The old and the new, the elaborate and the simple, studying each collection as a sum of its cultural traditions.  Life fascinates me and I know I will sneak back very soon to soak up some more of that rich history that those walls contain. 

As for today, here are 10 pictures of the wonderful things that the free museum awarded me for visiting.  Cheers to lucky #77! Hope the images strike creative chords in your day, too! 

Happy Mother's Day eve :)

On the Illusory World of the Illustrator

When I first thought of publishing a Children's book, my biggest fear was not having it illustrated the way I could see it in my head.  I mean, who else could truly understand what an eel-ephant looks like?

I was weary of publishers, for they pair your story up with one of their illustrators, and once the story is sold, it is creatively out of your hands.  That freaks me out!  Writing is my art, and just like the clothes and jewelry that I create, I have a deep personal investment in each individual piece.  Anything that I produce and actually present to the rest of the world must bring with it of that one-of-a-kind effect. 

I am, by no means, an illustrator, but I try.  I try because I must stay true to myself.  However, I do realize that in order to make print worthy images appear on the pages of my story about Eli, the eel-ephant, I'm going to have to seek out some professional assistance. 

Yet finding the right person for the task has proven to be quite difficult.  Most prolific artists step right up to the plate when I ask for their help.   Maybe it is because they truly love what they do, or maybe it is because I offer to split the profit right down the middle with them once it is self published.  Considering my views on artistic license, self publishing is clearly the way I am leaning.  However, after the initial excitement of exchanging emails, picture texts, and inspiring ideas subsides, the artist seems to fade away. 

I'm not sure where they go, because they are still reachable, but somewhere inside the illusory world of the illustrator, there is a mind erasing machine that makes them forget about my Eli. 

I'm sure that not all illustrators are like this, but they are most likely also the ones who are getting paid to work.  I wonder how much they make?

On a forum at: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-14130.html,
a post by Vin states, "I did a spot illustration for a book [small maybe 4x6] I could get $200." 
Wow!  That is way out of my budget considering that one children's book with 30 or so 8 1/2 x 10" pages - you are looking at a cool $12,000!!!  In that case, Vin better stand for Da Vinci!

Another artist in the forum discussion, bRyaN, has a starting rate of, "about 15 dollars an hour, plus art materials."  Yet, how do we know if bYanN is prolific enough to bust out 30+ images in a week, or if he is going to milk the hourly for every red cent?

Pricing is a tricky topic in the illustrator's world.  I understand that an artist may feel solace through being commissioned to do a project.  There is virtually no risk.  They get promised a set amount up front and they can expect to receive it upon completion.  Voila!  But working with a budget is a reality in the self publishing world and I must spend my money wisely. 

As I am still in the beginning stage of my publishing journey, I plan to story board my picture book to the best of my ability, which I will most likely blog about in the near future as well.  With this valuable tool, I can more soundly approach illustrators with a sense of preparedness.

I must also write a synopsis of my story and a bit about myself, the author.  These will prove very important communication tools, so I plan to choose every word deliberately. 

With both of these "tools" readily available, I hope to unite forces with just the right illustrator and make my dreams of self publishing a reality on the road to success! 

If you have any experiences or suggestions for how to find an illustrator when self publishing, please comment below!  Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again :)

Ms. Panda's Progress Report

Welcome back! 

Day 5 of the Blogathon and I have learned so much from participating already! 
One of the most important blogs I read came from the Blogathon's coordinator, Michelle Rafter.  She writes about being a newbie in the blogging world and what works and what doesn't. 



You can read it here:
http://michellerafter.com/2011/05/03/bad-beginnings-10-newbie-blogging-mistakes-how-to-fix-them/



It's pretty much common sense: like don't skip two weeks in between blogs, stay on topic, comment on other's blogs, reply to comments that others post on your blog, etc.  I mean, I knew I was goofing up last month when I only posted four times.  I made excuses like, I don't want to write just "fluff" and that I wasn't inspired, etc.

But the reason I originally started this blog was because I wanted to document my journey into the Children's lit world.  I've had stories in my head for years and I even wrote rough drafts of many of them.  Some came out as series, others not so much.  But they were all great ideas and I loved sharing them with my family and friends!

However, talking about things and doing them are very different actions.  My support group continuously pushed me to produce something tangible so that they may eventually read my stories to their kids. I realized I was only holding myself back by not going for it all the way!

So, I started this blog.  I joined Children's writers groups on Yahoo! and meetup.com, started following publishing houses on Twitter and even went as far as to declare myself an "author" on my own Facebook page. 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gladstone-MO/Amanda-Steinhaus/187655541276631

From one of the meetup groups I joined, I learned about and started attending a critique group for Children's authors.  Our first meeting was a hit and I left feeling super inspired!

A couple of weeks later, it was time for my work to go under the chopping block.  After the critique, I felt discouraged.  Everything the group had to say made perfect sense intellectually, but emotionally I felt sideways.  I think it was partly why my progress slowed down a lot in April.  I lost some of my steam and my momentum got stuck in some metaphorical quick sand.

And I know that I am not alone.  Many writers, just like me, join groups and feel discouraged by them. 

Today, a writer from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/childrens-writers posted:

"I joined this group over a year ago with the thoughts of submitting for publication a picture book I'd written. I've never been published... nor have I tried. However, after hearing comments and reading the books you've all suggested, I've been reluctant to send it in... because it rhymes. Apparently poor rhyming skills can kill any thought of being published pretty quickly and, being a newbie, I lack confidence that I'm doing it correctly."

I cannot stand how "experts" rip apart rhyming, as if it were some lesser form of literature.  I naturally rhyme when I write and feel it helps me create stories with excellent rhythm for reading aloud.

As with any critique group, or writer's forum, the information presented is there for the taking, or leaving.  All writers are at a different place in their journies and I can respect and honor that.  However, for me, the one most important lesson that I learned so far:

STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF!

I obviously have an idea that I genuinely feel needs to be added to the vast arena of literature out there.
I realize that if I keep learning and investigating, I will eventually make that idea come to life!

So, for today's progress report, I award myself an A+, for getting back on track and realizing what is right for me!

My 5 Favorite Children's Picture Books

Day 4:

Today is the first of several theme days taking place during the 2011 WordCount Blogathon. All bloggers are invited to write about the same topic: “My 5 favorite books on ……”

Since my blog is (primarily) focused on my journey into writing environmentally and socially empowering books for children, I’m sharing my 5 favorite kid's books of all time.

It should be no surprise that I am listing two Dr. Seuss books, since he has been such a great source of inspiration to me and my writing career. 

Yet, not all five of my selections go to him.  There are so many great stories out there, but I can honestly say that I could easily spend fulfilling hours with each of the books I chose.  Hope you will agree!

1. The Giving Tree,  Shel Silverstein

I absolutely love the message this story offers.  The true example of love is being willing to give of one’s self for the benefit of another. Shel Silverstein tells the story of love between a boy and a tree that is an example of this sacrificial love. Though there are many ways to interpret this story, the true message of love shines through. Even when the boy is an old man and long after the tree has been cut down, what is left of the tree is still giving. The old man, once the little boy who played under the tree, now uses the stump of the tree to rest on. 

2. The Lorax, Dr. Seuss. 

I actually found this book in college and loved it so much that I adapted it into a play that you can read here: http://missamandapanda.blogspot.com/p/plays.html.   Dr. Seuss uses his classic rhythm and rhyme to tell a story that will make anyone who reads it think about their role in nature. The narrator, named Once-ler, has lived a life of carelessness, disregard for nature, and selfishness. By ripping away all of the truffula trees, the Lorax loses his home. The key to restoring the forest lies in the hands of a small child, who happens to have a seed, a single hopeful seed to a truffula tree. The Lorax contains the implicit ideology that children are independent thinkers and capable creatures who have the ability to create change if given the proper tools and education. 

3. Where The Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak also puts the power in the hands of his main character, Max, in a tale of suspense, action, and fun. Max has been naughty and is sent to bed without any dinner. He defies his mother by escaping into the forest among creatures that appear wild and free. However, being wild with the wild things can be tiring, as Max quickly discovers. Sendak's illustrations grab your eye and his story will draw you and your children back again and again.

4. Stellaluna, Janell Cannon

A good friend's mother, who reads to kids at a local library, gave me Stellaluna as a gift.  After I read it, I immediately loved the message it shares as well as the educational aspects to it. Author Janell Cannon tells the story of a little fruit bat named Stellaluna, who gets separated from her mother and is found and taken care of by a mama bird. The mama bird insists that Stellaluna do everything the way ordinary birds do, which is totally different than the way bats do things. When Stellaluna can finally fly, and actually ends up finding her mother, she is told that what she feels is the right way to do things are her natural instincts, and that she should follow them. Sharing this story will not only teach you and your children about how bats look, live, and are different from birds, but also about acceptance of others even if they appear different.

5. Oh, the Places You'll Go!, Dr. Seuss

One of my very favorites, this book became part of my collection around the time I left home for college.  Dr. Seuss has taken a simple story and made it one that applies to everyone at one time or another. Each milestone in life opens new doors of opportunity, and that is what this story implies. As you read it you may even be inspired yourself. Not only does it inspire and encourage the reader about the opportunities in life, but it is also entertaining with the traditional Seuss wit and rhyme. Fun to read aloud and even more fun to share with a loved one, this is one picture book that will be passed down for generations to come!

There you have it!  My fab five kid's books. 

Please comment with any titles that you loved as a child, or as a parent reading to your children.