Calling picture book writers! Upcoming contests and events...

Hey all you writers, I want to tell you about another fun contest coming up on March 2nd run by Vivian Kirkfield. Think you can write a book for kids in 50 words or less? Sounds easy right? Well just try it and see how hard it actually can be! These little challenges are just pure fun for me and I hope you will join me in giving it a try. You have a couple weeks to think of the perfect story. All the rules for the contest can be found here: https://viviankirkfield.com/2019/02/08/perfect-picture-book-friday-pippas-passover-plate-and-a-peek-at-the-50preciouswords-contest/

I also just discovered something called Writeoncon. It's the cheapest (yet still high quality) online writing conference for kidlit writers I've seen yet. The 2019 conference just passed, but you can still buy the content for another month. I went ahead and did it - for 15 bucks? Why not!

One more thing to make picture book writers aware of, if you don't know about it already, there are various pitch parties on Twitter. #PBpitch is specifically for picture book writers and it's coming up in just a few days (February 21st) so look it up, see what it's about (Psst. It's a short cut for getting agents to notice your picture book pitches), and participate!

Lots of fun writing events going on this month, hope to see you there!

P.S. Yay for finishing this year's Storystorm! 
 

More soon.

It’s Been Awhile! *Breaking out of writer’s block, major life changes, updates, and more*

…Yes it has, and I feel like I need to explain why I’ve been on a blogging hiatus the last 6 months.

It’s a funny thing, writing inspiration. One period of time, you can be bursting with so many ideas and motivation that you can’t put your laptop down. That was my entire January/February. After Storystorm, I was full of inspiration and excitement. Looking at my “STORYSTORM 2018” folder right now, there are FORTY new documents of stories and drafts, most of which were written during that time.

But then- it’s kind of amazing really- how the next day, all that enthusiasm and productivity can get sucked away into some mysterious black hole, leaving you with nothing…that was my entire March, April, and May.

I realized pretty quickly that there was a justified reason for this massive muse swing (see what I did there?) And it was an interesting discovery: A new onset of pregnancy, with its accompanying morning sickness (or in my case evening sickness), lethargy, and weird food cravings, can not only cause “Pregnancy Brain” but it can also cause writer’s block as well.

I’ll never forget the relief I felt around the first of June when my nausea and general feeling of icky-ness died down and Voila! Just like magic, my inspiration returned. I wrote the first decent picture book manuscript in months.

While I haven’t felt quite the same as my pre-pregnancy self, slowly but surely, I’ve been pounding out some new projects ever since. And I have to say, it feels SO good to be back. I’ve been reminded that writing really does make me happy. It was incredibly discouraging to feel empty of ideas for so long. There’s a huge feeling of excitement and fulfillment that comes with writing something new and submitting to agents, publishers, or contests.

So, I guess in the last few months, what I’ve learned is that inspiration can leave for a while, and it’s okay. It feels super discouraging, but it’s important to keep in mind that it WILL come back. It’s alright to take a little break from time to time. Especially when major life events are taking place.

Which brings me to the other big distraction from my writing recently, which is the fact that my husband got a new job out of state. Once we accepted, we had less than a month to get everything squared away – our house, our vehicles (two of which we had to sell), our Jack Russell Terrier Jojo (we couldn’t take her with us ☹) and a whole lot of other things, before moving across the country.

(We are currently in Washington DC but will receive a new assignment shortly that will take us to a new, unknown destination. We are excited to see where we end up!)

Suffice it to say, it’s been a crazy year so far, and now you know my excuses for not blogging in a while. But we are expecting baby #4 this Fall (It’s a girl, hooray!), looking forward to a new adventure with my husband’s job, and planning to keep plugging along with the writing game…in between park adventures, play dates, snack times, temper tantrums, and so forth.

Despite the ups and downs, here’s a few updates/stats for the year thus far: 

• In the last six months, I’ve submitted eight writing projects to agents/publishers/contests. I’ve received three rejections and am waiting to hear news about two more projects by the end of August. Crossing my fingers!
• My goal is to send out a query at least every 1-2 weeks for the remaining of the year... This week is covered - I sent one yesterday! 
• Last week, I departed from the picture book sphere and worked on a creepy short story that’s been on my mind ever since my husband and I made a random pit stop in rural Tennessee two years ago in which we made a TRULY unexpected discovery past a locked gate and down a dirt road (I hope that makes you want to read it 😃) ..Sometimes spooky stories are the most fun for me to write. I'd like to submit it to a magazine (Do you have any suggestions?) once it runs through the peer-editing mill in the coming weeks. 
• My last update is a plan I’ve been formulating through trial and error for years now. It will probably continue to evolve, but I want to share it because it has worked for me every time I’ve used it. The trick is, using it consistently! (That whole self-discipline thing is kind of hard to stick to). Nonetheless, as I've tried my best to implement it more and more, it has brought me not only writing success, but overall life happiness/productivity as well. I also believe it has played a key role in getting me out of my recent writer's block. It probably wouldn’t work for everyone and I’m in no way giving out advice. All I’m saying is it’s been my own personal solution to juggling kids, home and other duties, getting writing projects done, and not going crazy in the process. So here it is:
1. Every night, making a list of realistic to-do’s for the next day. 
2.  Cutting out the social media I’m most attached to for the entire week (weekends are okay). In my case, it’s Facebook. 
3. Spending one-on-one time with my kids each day (I shoot for 20 minutes).
4. Being completely present with my kids when I’m with them, with no unnecessary distractions. 
5. Going to a gym with childcare (as many days a week as possible). This is a key element of success for me because it serves many purposes. A. To get exercise which always reduces my stress and gives me more energy/confidence/happiness. B. To allow myself a short break from the kids, even if it’s for 20 minutes (It’s amazing how a little breather can help me to be a better mom). And C. While I exercise I can read or listen to Audible – Any books, emails, news, or scriptures I need/would like to read that day, can be done while I run on the treadmill. Two birds with one stone = I feel really happy and productive. 
6. Making the very most of down time (kids’ naps/scheduled TV time), which is when I pull out my to-do list and start crossing stuff off.  
7. Getting the kids to bed early every night. Our kids’ bedtime has always been 7pm and it’s been the best thing ever. I mean, EVER (For me AND the kids). I owe this step to the book HEALTHY SLEEP HABITS, HAPPY CHILD by Marc Weissbluth – one of the most helpful parenting books I've read. 
8. Getting to bed myself before 10pm.  
•  What these steps do for me: After my kids go to sleep, I’ve spent quality time with them without distractions so I feel good and not guilty. I’ve already read what I wanted to read that day. I’ve already exercised. I’ve already finished everything on my to-do list (because it was realistic). I still have energy because I’ve been going to bed on time. I feel satisfied about my day instead of discouraged/depressed. I don’t need to worry about being distracted with time-wasting social media because I’m still off it until the weekend. I’m completely ready to write or work on whatever else I’m excited about…which may be watching a good movie with my husband too. I’m not perfect at following this plan, but it’s taken me awhile to realize the necessity of each step and I KNOW that for me, it’s what I need to do to balance my life, get things done, and feel at peace. 

 So anyway, that’s what I’ve been working on and thinking about lately. How about you?

 More soon - Hopefully much sooner than last time!

High Time for Another Update

It's been awhile, so I thought I'd give a quick update on what's been happening the last couple months...


In December, I had my one-on-one skype critique with the talented Penny Parker Klostermann (see previous post and check out her wonderful books). She gave me a great critique on one of my rhyming stories and also shared some invaluable advice that I wanted to pass on:

• When writing rhyme...don't sacrifice the story just to get the rhyme. You have limited real estate, so to speak, don't waste it just for that last word of the phrase.
• Make every word count. Every word must belong and make sense to the story - don't take short cuts.
• Picture books need to either A) Have a strong goal/purpose, where the main character goes through some sort of transformation, or B) If the story is more of a general journey through and experience, there must be a theme throughout the story to tie it all together, such as a repeating phrase. (Say no to vague stories about feelings or lists, that don't have any purpose or theme!)
• Check out Storystorm here: https://taralazar.com/storystorm/. It happens once a year in the month of January (So it just finished up), but it's a great, FREE resource for picture book writers.
• Read THE NUTS AND BOLTS GUIDE TO WRITING PICTURE BOOKS by Linda Ashman.
• Make sure your in a writing group that consists specifically of picture book writers, who know the market and the ins and outs of picture book writing (which is quite different than other genres).  

Following Penny's advice, I participated in Storystorm this year, and wow. What a great experience that truly was! It's put on by Tara Lazar and it's basically a series of blog posts designed to help you generate ideas for picture books. It's still up on her website so any writer can look through the posts and get inspiration all year long (which I highly recommend). At the end of the month, I was left with more than 60 new ideas, 5 newly written manuscripts, and over a dozen more I started writing. Never has anything helped me so much with my writing.

I'm also in the process of reading Linda Ashman's book: THE NUTS AND BOLTS GUIDE TO WRITING PICTURE BOOKS, and again have found this so incredibly helpful! It contains the best, most straight-forward advice on writing picture books I've ever seen in one place - AWESOME resource.



I also organized a new writing group last month through my SCBWI membership - they have resources on their blackboard where you can find other members who'd like to start a critique group. So we have started meeting once a month and that's been great!



So yeah, Penny's advice has been amazing. I'm feeling super excited about my newly written manuscripts and have even started querying some stories again. It's been a good month!



In other news, my new book THE TWO ANGELS, A STORY ABOUT TWINS has been out for about 2 months now, and I've been so grateful for the success it's had. The first month of sales was better than I hoped, and I'm noticing that even after Christmas, there's been a steady stream of online sales. This wasn't the case with my first self-published book, ITCHY MITCHIE, and here's what I think is the difference. THE TWO ANGELS appeals to a very specific market: Twin families, and also Christians. When I set the book up in Amazon, I made "books for twins" and "a book about twins" two of the key phrases. Because of that, and also since there just aren't that many twin books out there, when people search for those things in Amazon, my book is one of the first to show up. It's also listed under religious fiction and Christianity, which makes it even more specific. So it turns out that writing a book for a niche market can be really beneficial rather than a generic children's book that may appeal to a wider audience but will simply not get seen in the enormous sea of picture books. Good to know, huh! (Now what other book could I write that appeals to a small, but consistent niche? Hmmmmm....)



Anyway, the kids are all emerging from naps and play time, so I better wrap this up, but it's been a great couple months of writing  and I'm excited for what's ahead in 2018!



Oh, oh! Ps. One more thing: Susanna Hill's next writing contest has been announced. It's coming up in a couple weeks, check it out here: https://susannahill.com/2018/01/27/bic-writers-its-time-for-the-2018-valentiny-contest-guildelines/



More soon!

Author Readings with Babies, Camp Nanowrimo, and More!

Last weekend, I was able to participate in a couple author readings. (More like tag along with more experienced and established authors like Gayle Irwin  and Shauna Murray, who are very talented and oh so sweet!). The first event was at the local library with these cute little people.

I always gain a lot from these experiences, and I'm really grateful when I can participate. You learn a lot by watching other authors and just seeing how kids react to the books and presentations. This is one of the many reasons I'm glad I self-published on my quest to becoming traditionally published - getting practice reading my book aloud and interacting with kids and fellow authors is an invaluable experience!

The second event was at a book shop in a neighboring town. Because it was a bit of a drive to get there, I got to bring this little sweetheart along.  I have to admit, I was slightly nervous about how it would go,but she was a happy little snuggle bug while I read... and I kind of love this picture! Hehe :D

In other writing news, I recently discovered CAMP NANOWRIMO, which is this awesome, FREE program where you sign up with other authors in a "camp" and create a writing goal to complete by the end of a set deadline. I found out about it late in the game, so my goal was to write two short stories totaling 1400 words within a few days. When I reached my goal, I was declared a "winner" and was awarded the right to post this picture. Wooohooo!

It was GREAT motivation to have an official goal and other "campers" as a support group. I highly recommend other authors signing up for the next round, which I believe happens in July.
 
That's it for now, but stay tuned for more soon! :) 

Confessions of a picture book manuscript submission...based on true events

After hours of writing, revising, and researching, I’m finally ready to submit my manuscript! EEEEEEK! Okay, I should probably double check the submission criteria one more time before I print all this off. 

(Looks up submission page on publisher’s website).

“Please include your contact information,” Check!

“List any credentials qualifying you to write your book,” Wow, I feel incredibly under-qualified by that statement….but check! 

“Be sure to send a cover letter with your synopsis (no more than 250 words),” Okay, better read that one more time. YES! Perfect! 

“Include competing titles and how your story would stand out in the market.” Shoot.  That sounds like soooo much work.

(Some time later, types up new paragraph in query letter).

Okay! Now I am ready!  Let’s print this baby off!

(Prints cover letter, query letter, and manuscript, reads it out-loud)

Wait a second! Now this sentence sounds completely stupid! I have to rewrite this, I'm not sending this! 

(Rewrites sentence and looks over documents again to be sure. Prints again). 

Oh my heck! I forgot to mention this is a multiple submission! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Oh well, guess I’ll need to print again. Well…while I’m at it, I think I’ll change my contact information and take out the fact that I’m a SCBWI member since I already mention that in the query letter. 

(Revises, prints again). 

OH NO! I probably should have mentioned in the cover letter that I’ve included my query letter and manuscript. I don’t want the editor to think I’m rude or too lazy to have mentioned it. UGH, This is the LAST TIME. SERIOUSLY! 

(Revises, attempts to print again).

Really printer? You’re really going to smudge up the ink like that? Ugh. Now that I think of it, I better check over everything ONE more time…wouldn’t want to have to print all this out AGAIN.

(Checks over documents)

HOLY COW! I can’t believe I forgot to put a comma right here! Wow. Good thing I checked this again...This is kind of freaking me out how I’m still finding this stuff.

(Feeling of impending doom settles in).

(Reads aloud documents again, makes more minor revisions). 

Okay. This. Is. It. I’m ready. No turning back. Here I come printer!

(Attempts to print again).

Seriously? Now you’re going to fold the corner of my paper as it goes through? Come on PRINTER! 

(Attempts to print again).

Ohhhhh kay.  I guess the rest of the paper that’s going to come out of here is going to have this folded corner right here. 

(Checks paper loader). 

Of course you're empty. 

(Loads more paper. Prints again). 

(Sighs with relief).

Thank you! Alright then, let’s get you packed away into that manila envelope already. 

(Carefully slides cover letter, query letter, and manuscript into envelope). 

Ooh, can’t forget this vital component. 

(Inserts self-addressed, stamped envelope).

OH MY HECK! I can’t believe I forgot to sign my cover letter!

Mentorship lessons and Upcoming Writing Contest

Two things I wanted to share tonight.

• Number one, I started my picture book mentorship. Hurray! I wanted to pass on some of the tips I've found useful so far:

•  A great resource for picture book writers who enjoy writing rhyme is http://www.writingrhymeandmeter.com/ It's been great searching through the site and getting a better understanding of meter, metrical feet and all that jazz.

• Another wonderful resource filled with all-things Kidlit is http://www.underdown.org/. They've got everything on that site!

• If you are interested in writing a picture book series, use the same basic formula for each book. Formula example: character wants something really bad, many things stop her from getting it, she becomes discouraged, then she changes her work ethic and she obtains her goal.

• If you are a rhyming picture book writer, always always always have fresh eyes read your story out-loud to you, so you can hear where it's not flowing. (I think when I do this, I may record it!) A lot of times, we writers can't pick out the choppy parts of our stories since we are reading it with a certain musical element in our own heads - music that no one else can hear but us. It's important to write rhymes that anyone can read smoothly. 

• Don't be afraid to submit to publishing houses that are accepting open submissions without an agent. In fact, on the purple crayon website I mentioned above, I read that it can be harder as a picture book writer to find an agent than it is to find a publisher! Wow. Other genres may be a different story, but as for picture books, don't be afraid to submit to everyone and anyone that you think would be a good fit whether you have an agent or not! (AFTER, of course, you are positive your work is ready to submit). 

• Number two, I'm planning to enter this super fun writing contest!  https://susannahill.com/2017/01/28/announcing-the-2nd-annual-valentiny-writing-contest/ (P.S. You should too! It's short and sweet - perfect for writers like me who don't have a lot of free time). If you look on the submission guidelines, applicants are supposed to post their stories on their blogs, so here's a heads up: I will be posting my submissions in just two days! ...And yes I am submitting two...So stay tuned for a couple of Valentines Day stories coming up on February 10th!

YouTube Inspiration

I had writing inspiration hit in a little bit different way recently and I wanted to share my experience with you!

So my brother sent me a link to an extremely popular YouTube video with literally hundreds of millions of views. I watched this thing and I couldn't believe it was so popular! But I tried to think about what made it so appealing. First of all, it targeted grade-school kids. The illustrations were very simplistic and dorky, in a funny way. It had a very catchy tune and rhyming words. It also was funny because one of the characters kept getting irritated by another nonsensical character.

Next, I tried to think about writing my own story with that same formula - dorky, rhyming, catchy, somebody getting irritated by a silly character... Well, lo and behold, I came up with a unique idea that turned out pretty good!

Most times, I read other picture books to glean ideas and inspiration, but for some reason, by looking at an animated song, I got a whole new perspective and some fresh ideas that I don't think I could have gotten in any other way.

So maybe give it a try! Find a highly viewed YouTube video targeted at the age group you write for. Watch it and try to determine why it's so popular. Then use that same formula to create your own unique story and see what you come up with!

Random Writing News

Thought I'd post some updates on my writing life, since it's been very busy lately:

• My motivation meter has gone up a great deal these last few weeks. I’ve created five new picture book manuscripts, four more poems, and an essay to submit to a magazine all in the last month or so. It’s been so fun to create completed projects! I’ve also been reading a lot of great writing websites and have been picking up so many good tidbits. (Let me know if you want to know which sites have been particularly helpful). 

•  A few of the said “learned tips”: if your goal is to publish a book, it’s good to have some credentials under your belt for when you start querying. Try getting published in any way that you can - by a magazine, as a part of an anthology, or by a smaller publishing house. Try entering your works in a local or national writing contest. Take some writing classes, attend online webinars and go to writing conferences. All these little awards, classes, and publications show agents that you are a serious writer and they will look good on your query letters.   

• So, here’s me following my own advice: I’m going to start submitting more of my works to children’s magazines. I’ve submitted a couple already, but hope to make this a new trend! I have found a couple smaller publishing houses that look like a good fit for a couple of my manuscripts, so I plan to submit soon! I’ve been entering several different writing contests lately and am always on the lookout for more ways of getting my work out there (a great way to hear about contests is joining an online writing group for your area – they usually list legit contests on their website). I’ve been watching webinars and listening to podcasts at writersdigest.com and SCBWI, and am really excited to participate in a local writing conference hosted by my state-wide writing group this summer.

• One of my new year’s resolutions is to stay off the computer while my kids are awake. So far, it’s been a great change and I feel like it’s helping me to be a better mom and writer by focusing on one thing at a time. (You'd be surprised how much you can do in just a couple hours of no distractions). Hope I can keep it up all year long!

Here’s to an exciting new year of creating lots and reaching goals!

Why every writer needs a writing group

This is a picture of my writing group. I love these women! Just looking at this picture makes my heart happy. These are my girls. They are amazing and I don't know where I'd be without them. Yes, we are a pretty small group, but don't be fooled. It only takes a a few talented writers coming together to create a highly productive, incredibly helpful, and completely awesome writing group.

You may ask yourself: what is a writing group and how does it work? Well, every writing group probably does things a little differently. But basically, it's this:

You team up with other writers in your area and say: "Hey, lets meet every week, (or every other week, or once a month) at such and such place". Before you all meet, each group member sends out something they've written via email so the whole group can read it beforehand. (Note: It's important to have a maximum number of pages to send out so that the group isn't overloaded with 500 pages to read in a 2-week time period). Each group member will edit the writings and make notes for each author. When the group meets, everyone will take a turn to get what they wrote critiqued by the entire group. The author can ask any questions and get feedback on how they could improve on what they've written.  You can also discuss any related topics, like querying agents, marketing strategies, and whatever you want really.

And that's that! So...

Are you a writer with goals of turning your stories into something more than they are now? If the answer is yes, my next question is: Are you in a writing group? If not, then you should be! And here's why:

1. If you want your writings to be the best they can be, YOU NEED CRITIQUE! No matter how good you think your writing is, there's components of it that you just can't see need to be changed on your own. You need a new pair of eyes and a fresh brain to read it over and point out what may be obvious to everyone else but you. Is is intimidating to put your writing out there for others to edit? YES! But that's why you invite nice people into your group, who will tell you the truth (extremely important that they are honest) but in a nice way. :) And hey, getting advice doesn't mean you HAVE to change your story, it's just incredibly helpful feedback - and you should get as much of it from as many people as possible if you want your writing to improve.

2. Writing groups keep you MOTIVATED TO KEEP WRITING! Even if you think you write pretty often already, being in a writing group forces you to keep it up on a regular basis and gives you incredible motivation to FINISH projects. For example, my writing group meets every other week and we each are expected to have written something new each time. How motivational is that! Are you working on a novel but stuck in a writing slump? What about an idea for a children's book that you just haven't got around to putting on paper? Not finishing writing projects is what happens to 90% of wannabe authors - making any dreams of publishing impossible. In a writing group, having to have new material written every two weeks FORCES you to at least get something down on paper, even if it's not perfect. And after a few months of this, you'll be finishing that book in no time!

3. Writing groups connect you to amazing people who will increase your opportunities and skills! In writing groups, you'll meet other artists, other creative minds. People with great ideas who can help inspire your work. People with skills that you may be able to learn from - knowledge of other writing clubs, classes, or resources. Maybe someone in the group knows how to use Photoshop really well and you need to learn that to create a successful book cover. Maybe someone has connections with the local library and can help you get an author reading day set up there. Maybe one is an illustrator and can help you illustrate your book or give you information on someone else who can. Collaborating with other authors helps you find out about local author events, gives you other authors to split table costs with at the craft market when you sell your book, helps you find out about writing conferences or helpful websites, or other books that relate to your work (which is helpful in finding the right agent for you). If you are all writers with similar goals who are all researching ways to get your books out there - then you are all bound to learn and gain something valuable from each other. 

4. The Support is just the best! Being in a supportive group of other authors, cheering each other on, buying each others books and helping to spread the word for each other, having friends to go to writing conferences with or just to talk about writing with in general, having that support - emotional and physical - is just priceless. It makes all the difference. It keeps you going. It encourages you. It makes writing FUN. It's seriously like a party every time you meet. But then again, make sure the members in your group are nice, like mine...;)

5. You can meet in your PJ's and bring cookies. I think that pretty much speaks for itself. It's awesome. 


So I know it might be a little intimidating, but trust me, being in a writing group is SOOO much better than trying to figure everything out on your own. It may get you out of your comfort zone, but for those serious about writing, believe me, it's what you need. And hey, maybe you aren't really serious about writing and it's just something that gives you joy and you don't really have any goals for your works. In that case, a writing group can still be for you! If you just have a desire to share what you are writing or to just get free grammar editing, or just positive feedback, let the group know, and if they're nice like mine, then they'll be more than happy to oblige. :)

So, ask around. Find out who likes to write just like you do. You'll be surprised at how many people do! Try to find those who are truly talented and passionate writers, who will be honest - people who will inspire you and help you rather than be TOO nice to give you any critique. And then organize a writing group with these people. Even a group of two or three is better than one. If you can't find anyone you know , look up groups in your community - they are all over the place. And when you do, let me know how much your writing is improving and how much you are loving it! Because I know you will!

That time a TV Producer contacted me...

I finally feel like I can talk about this now that it's all said and done, so let me tell you the story of how a TV producer randomly contacted me one day...

A couple months ago, on October 1st, I received a message through my Youtube channel that said:

"Hi Debbie! My name is ______ I am a producer with the Dr. Oz show. I watched your nurse song video and loved it! I would love to talk to you about a segment that I am working on. Can you please call me at your earliest convenience?" She then left me with her number.

HUH??

My first thought was that this was a scam. This was NOT real. So I googled her name and looked her up on twitter. Turns out she truly was a Dr. Oz producer who had previously worked on other major television productions. This was the real deal. Meanwhile, she also found me on twitter and sent me another message to contact her.

Ah!!!

So unsure of what was happening I called the number she had left me in the first message. And this is what she told me.

The Dr. Oz show was doing a "Nurse Search" competition where they were searching the nation for a nurse to join their team of core experts. Apparently, they had received thousands of video entry submissions from nurses all over the country and so far, they hadn't found what they were looking for yet. So, they took to Youtube to see if they could discover any interesting nurses there.

Well, she told me on her first search of "funny nurses", she came upon my youtube video of a song I wrote in college and performed with my roommate like 7 years ago, and checked out my Youtube channel with my other songs. She told me she thought I would be a great candidate for the nurse search competition and that she wanted me to submit a video singing a song on my guitar about why I would be a great candidate for one of the core experts on the show.

Ok. Wow. ...Well hey! Why the heck not!?  So, long story short, I ended up writing a whole new little jingle about being a nurse and emailed it to her.

A couple days later, I got another call telling me I was going to be on the show that coming Tuesday!  They were going to pay my way up to New York City and my hotel room in Manhattan. They told me they were probably going to have me sing a whole new song that I would come up with on my guitar - that I would sing on NATIONAL TELEVISION as one of the nurse search candidates. AH!! Wait, What?!

Ok, breathe. Juuuuust breathe. My thoughts were this: Terrified, excited, and honestly perplexed as to how I got myself into this situation! I didn't ask for this and to be perfectly honest, I  probably never would have applied to nurse search on my own. But because I was ASKED to do it, I felt like this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I couldn't pass up! Why not just see what happens, and take things one step at a time? I said to myself.

So immediately I went to work on another song and came up with something for the show.

Well, spoiler alert! This is where the story gets pretty anti-climactic...

I got another call a few days before I was going to go in for the show. They apparently needed more time to prep for it.  I was told there wasn't enough turn around time from the last show.  So they said they would re-schedule me for a couple more weeks.

Well, sadly, that never happened! Of course I could never know exactly what went wrong, but in the end, other candidates and ultimately another nurse core expert was chosen. And that's the end of the story, haha.

 Now that it's all said and done, I have to say, I really am grateful for the experience, even with how it all turned out!  I learned and gained some good things, and like I said, it's not something I ever asked for or even wanted - it was just kind of an amazing opportunity that fell on my lap one day. Which is just crazy!



One thing I did find incredible that I wanted to pass on to you was that if you have your work out there in the universe, you just NEVER know who might see it.  So for all you who have a passion for your craft - if you are doing it anyway, you might as well get it out there!! Submit your writings to agents and publishers, Sell your artwork on Etsy or wherever you can, put your videos on Youtube (as long as they aren't embarrassing Ok (:), share your talents with others! Because who knows? You just might have a producer randomly contact you one day, and give you an opportunity you never would have had otherwise. :) 

Do YOU want to publish a book?

Ever since I became a published author, I've found out that so many other people around me - friends, family, neighbors, fellow church-goers, and coworkers- have had that same dream as me - a dream of publishing a book. Some of them have written an entire story out, others just have the ideas for a story. But all of them have that burning desire, that feeling I know all too well.

My WHOLE life I have felt that feeling. I have these piles of ideas, these stories - some just in my head, others on paper, that I want so badly to DO something with. It's a nagging feeling. It's an ache. It's a feeling of urgency, almost anxiety. Oh ya, and a little bit of hopelessness, from not being sure what the next step is.


Do YOU feel this way? 

 If you do, first of all, believe me when I say, I have been there! And I know first-hand that the ONLY thing that's keeping you from doing something with your ideas and stories is YOU. It's all up to your will, your determination, your desire, and willingness to motivate yourself. And it's not going to happen unless you invest some time into it, do a little bit of research, find the answers, and kick yourself in the tush to get going!

So here's the great news. I PROMISE that you, yes YOU - even if you are inexperienced, even if you don't feel like an "expert", even if you don't know how to proceed - you CAN accomplish your life-long dreams of publishing a book! And I'm going to tell you how:

Step 1:

DO RESEARCH. What are you trying to write? A novel? A children's book? A self-help book? Who is your target audience? Research how long it should be, what's appropriate, what publishers are looking for, and general guidelines.

Step 2:

FINISH YOUR BOOK. Write the whole thing. FORCE yourself to finish it. Try not to do other hobby projects until you get the dang thing done first- So many people have a dream of writing their book, but most just can't seem to finish it. FINISH it! Make time. Take your project into your own hands. Be proactive. Make a goal for yourself. Say "I'm going to finish this by the end of the year" and then set aside time to do it when you can.

Step 3:

Read your book and then re-read it. And then take a break and re-read it again. Edit it to make sure you are 100% satisfied with it. And then...

Step 4:

Give your book to people you trust to edit it. It's pretty intimidating and a little scary, but it's ESSENTIAL. Have as many people read it as you can. Tell them to be honest because you are trying to make it the best book you can. Take all their comments into consideration. If more than half are all saying the same thing, listen to them. Don't be lazy. Take the time to edit your story, so it's perfect (actually it probably will never feel "perfect", but as good as you feel it possibly can be).

Step 5:

Now that your project is done, you can go two routes for publishing.

• You can try to go the traditional route - this is the route that every writer dreams of. This is getting picked up by a publishing company who will sell and market your book. This is also where the odds are really working against you. It's extremely competitive and it will probably involve a lot of rejection, but it's not impossible! You will want  to get an agent first. So spend some time googling "how to query literary agents" (look at several different sites to get a good grasp on it). I like "Method 2 of 4: Publishing Your Book with the Help of a Literary Agent" on this WikiHow website: www.wikihow.com/Publish-a-Book. 

•  If the traditional route isn't for you, you can instead go the "self-publishing" route, which is what I did. And PS I have loved my experience with it! There are a lot of companies that can help you self-publish. Some will even do it for free and print the book on demand. I went with Createspace (now Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP) because they do both those things. Also, after researching many other companies, Createspace seemed to allow the highest amounts of profits with each sell while allowing me to keep the book cost relatively low. I've been very happy with them. If you want to find out more, go to https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/ or call their customer service line and they can give you a run-down of their services. I've also heard excellent things about Ingram Spark and they offer hard cover books unlike KDP. 

Step 6: 

If you've gone the self-publishing route, it's time to market your book! There are infinite ways to do this, but I would say this: create a website, facebook page, and twitter account where you can promote yourself. Make business cards and keep them with you wherever you go. Get involved in the community - work with local book stores and libraries to organize events. And then google more ideas of how you can self-market.

Illustration Considerations: Now if you are just writing a book, that's one thing, but if you want your book to have illustrations, that's another thing. So here's what you need to know about it if you are going the self-publishing route:

• If YOU plan to create the illustrations, then uploading the illustrations with the text to KDP or other self-pub companies can be tricky. The illustrations have to meet certain technical requirements as well as mesh with the words, and you have to be semi tech-savy to do this. I did NOT feel capable of this, which is why I hired a graphic designer to do it for me. So, there's one expense that you should be aware of. The cost for a graphic designer to format your book properly varies, but can be anywhere between 400 to 1000+ dollars depending on who you go to (Search among your friends/family for someone who could give you a deal.) A lot of other self-publishing companies will offer this service for a similar fee. 
• If you want someone ELSE to do your illustrations, then it gets even more expensive, because now you have to hire an artist. The price for this also varies. Many self-publishing companies offer this service as well, but at a hefty cost. Like in the thousands..Don't worry though, the dream can still come true! It might just be a very big investment. Which brings me to my next thought... 

Cost/Benefit Considerations: 

As you can see, it CAN be very expensive to publish a book, specifically a self-published book that contains illustrations. Also, no matter where/how you publish your book, there's no guarantee about how successful it will be. A lot of it depends on your marketing techniques and the amount of time/effort you put into it, how much audiences truly like your book, and then there's a lot of luck involved too - or who you know. Picture books are a TOUGH market because it's so saturated right now, but there's always room for a product that people really want and need. (My book about twin boys did better than my first book because it was so specific that people searching on Amazon for a book about twin boys found it pretty easily).

My suggestion would be to weigh the cost/benefit ratio out in your mind. How much do you want your dream to come true? Enough to spend money on it that you very well may never make back? Do you think your book is good enough that you really COULD make the money back in sales? Does making a profit even matter to you? 

Obviously there's no right or wrong answers, it's just important to be realistic and think about what you want out of your published book: To be able to say you fulfilled your dream of being published? To make money? Something else? 


In Conclusion

I  truly hope that if you feel that burning desire to fulfill your dream of publishing a book like I did, you will do what it takes to make that dream a reality. It's all up to you and believe me, if I can do it, I KNOW you can too. So, keep working on it, don't give up, stay determined, keep pushing yourself, and go publish that book of yours!!

How To Find Time for Hobbies as a SAHM

I'm not an expert at this in any shape or form. This is all just my own little opinion and tips I've discovered, that when I actually DO them, have worked to open up some free time for hobbies while being a stay-at-home Mom. For those who may be looking to find some free time to do the same, I hope that this can give you some ideas. So here's some tips that have helped me personally, to have time for things like writing, music, and exercise:

1. First, make a to-do list every night for the following day. For me, lists are ESSENTIAL. I have a hard time remembering what it is I'm supposed to be doing in the 5 or 10 minutes the boys are busy building blocks together. When those moments of free time suddenly appear, I can take a look at my list and be like, "Oh ya! I got to make that Dr's appointment!" It's nice to write a list the night before too, because once the kids are awake and going in the morning, I may not have a chance to think straight enough to even make a list for the day.

2. Next, decide which of the things on your list can be done with kids present. Try to get as many things done while the kids are awake as possible.
 Here's some activities I find possible with kids:
*Laundry. I just fold all the clothes on top of the bed so the kids can't get to it, and I block the nightstand with a pack n play so they can't crawl on the bed and throw the laundry everywhere. The kids love handing the clothes up to me, so it's a win/win.
*Exercise... well, depending on what you're trying to do. Just work with what's possible. You can do a quick set of push-ups. If they jump on your back while you are trying to do them, just think, you are going to be even stronger than you were planning :) You can also pick the kiddos up as you would weights and lift them up and down. They are sure to giggle a lot, especially if you blow on their tummy every time they come up, another win/win! Squats, dips using your couch, sit-ups, jumping jacks, pull-ups on a pull-up bar, definitely running outside in a jogging stroller (for me, a jogging stroller is essential)...lots of things are possible. And if all else fails, you can turn on music and dance, because that's definitely exercise and they're definitely going to love it.  Or you can just get a gym membership with childcare, which may be the best option of all.

*Small cleaning projects or tasks around the house. These include getting dinner in the oven, wiping down the kitchen counters, sweeping, dishes, and other quick/simple to-do's.  It may be trickier, but the more you can realistically do while they're awake, the more free time you'll have during naps and when they go to bed, which brings me to the next thing that's helped me have more time for hobbies...

3. Scheduled naps and bedtimes. I am totally a pro-scheduled naps and bedtimes Mom. Before we had our twins, I read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins" by Marc Weissbluth or "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" for the singleton baby Moms. It was the best book I ever could have read to prepare for Motherhood. Our boys get at least one good nap together every day and go to bed really early...6:30pm. Now to some that may seem TOO early, but I'm telling you, it's wonderful. So during those naps and after bedtime, I try to quickly finish up any of the necessary to-do's I couldn't complete while the babes were awake, and then...free time!

4. Another thing I think that helps to find time is organizing craft/writing nights with other women. It gives you a specific time to work on your project and you can't make excuses not to, because other people will be there. I recently joined a little writing group where we share our writing projects and discuss our goals. It has motivated me so much to work on my books and find time to write!

5. Go shopping on Saturday without the kids or as a whole family. If I don't have to go to the store during the week, then I have more free time, plus it's WAY easier than taking the boys by myself.

6. One huge factor that has given me so much more time in the day is cutting out TV. I pretty much stopped watching it almost a year ago and I've had SO much more free time since. It's amazing how much time we waste when there is a television show in the background to distract us. Of course the internet is the mother of all distractions. I have made so many attempts to limit my internet time. When I'm successful at it, my "free time" increases immensely. If you just take those 5 minutes when the kids are busily playing to sweep the floors or unload the dishwasher, instead of browsing facebook, then remember, that's one less thing you have to do later, and you'll have more time to work on being creative.

Now if you're like me, your creative hobbies can start to compete for your attention when you should be putting your priorities elsewhere. Although it' good to find time to work on hobbies, I believe it's also important to limit them. It's a delicate balancing act. I know that God wants me develop myself and my talents, but I also know that Motherhood is my number one priority. And I definitely know that I shouldn't be revolving everything else around my hobby time. There are days that I would really love to work on an idea I have, but I have to realize that if too many things are going on, it will just have to wait. There's that lesson in patience again. You may have a project that you could easily get done in like 4 hours, if only you just had 4 hours straight in peace. But as a SAHM.. you possibly never will. Well, maybe at night, but even then, there's a million other more important things to do...so just remember to be patient. Do what's most important in your life first. It may take awhile to get your creative projects done, but keep working on it little by little, when you can. 

 In summary, I do believe the time for being creative is there, even if it's just a few hours every week. I hope I've given you a few ideas that might help you discover that time in your life, so you can start creating something wonderful! :)