Words and Ideas Can Change the World

Just think -

Amazing, right? And with all those different books made up of those 26 letters, 

So,

Because

Truth. That's not to say that authors are, or need to be megalomaniacs. But think about it - are your words making the world a better place?

You have that power. Use it wisely.

Writing Quotes, Notes & Inspiration

For this week's post, I thought I'd share my Pinterest board that I have had a wonderful time collecting today. This will be a good resource for me to turn back to when I need a kick-start or a self-check.

Follow K Stewart Art in Photography's board Writing Quotes, Notes & Inspiration on Pinterest.

Happy Writing!

The Journey Continues

I have been struggling with PiBoIdMo. I started off completely gung-ho, sure I would get at least one idea down per day.

Then life happened. And between one thing and another, I haven't had time to write down, let alone think of, a picture book idea in five days.

I wrote down my idea for today and then had much mental gnashing of teeth for the lost five days. Then for some unknown reason, I clicked over to my other blog (which I don't necessarily keep active) and saw that my one post that I wrote over two years ago FOR ME AND ME ALONE has about quadruple the number of hits as my next highest post. I so wrote that for me and me alone that I didn't even put any search labels on it. I just knew that I needed to have a post that would bring me calm just looking at the photos, which are of my personal haven. The photos wouldn't even mean anything or have any emotional impact to people who don't know the place.

So why the 1,200 hits? I don't have a clue. I'd be interested to know, but still, the purpose of that post was for me.

This got me thinking about my gnashing of teeth over my five day lull in PiBoIdMo. I'm participating in PiBoIdMo for me. My participation is for me and me alone. If I can keep up with an idea a day, that's great. If not, well, okay. It's just for me.

And to take this concept larger, the picture books (or MG or YA) I write should be FOR ME. They should speak to MY heart and give a piece of myself. If I write an idea because it was cute, fluffy, funny, it's a 'hot topic' at the moment or it seemed acceptable at the time, but it doesn't speak to MY heart and isn't a piece of ME that I am giving, I think there is far less chance that it will 'work'.

Just When I needed a Magic Idea Generator...

... there it was!

I'm very excited to be participating in Tara Lazar's PiBoIdMo for the first time this year. PiBoIdMo, or Picture Book Idea Month, is for writers along the lines of NaNoWriMo. For PiBoIdMo, you use November to think of a picture book idea each day.

One idea each day for a month? Just one? Phhht! I got this! I have millions of book ideas popping into my head all the time!

Welllll. That's what it felt like anyway. When those ideas were flapping and cavorting riotously through my head for weeks on end.

Turns out there were three ideas for picture books. Three. So here it is, November 9, and I have been barely coming up with additional ideas. Shaky ones at that.

Now, I do have a method. I put my picture book idea with the date on the 'front' of each page in my notebook. And then, (since it seems some of those cavorting ideas were MG/YA ideas filling up my brain and making the whole idea room in my brain feel pretty full) I put my MG/YA idea on the back of that same page.

Then I print out writer/artist/editor/book pro guest posts from Tara Lazar's blog that I think will really help my writing process and put them in the back of my notebook.

My coolio notebook which is actually one of my son's discarded composition books from last semester's classes

I also left room in the back of the notebook for making lists that may end up generating writing ideas.

So November 4 comes. Patting myself on the back for my organization, puffed up to be participating in PiBoIdMo this year, no sweat I'll pull millions of ideas out of my fabulous head! Millions, I tell you! Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnd . . . (cue clunker car engine death rattle wherein I write down one or two clunker ideas) . . . I'm out of ideas.

What I need is a genyoowine idea generator. Yep. A good, old fashioned, genyoowine idea generator.

Poof! And there it was!

Splendiferous. Check out the George Stanley Idea Generator from Jennifer Arena on PiBoIdMo Day 7.

I closed my eyes and dropped my pencil point on one idea. Dragon. Then another. Dinosaur. Dragon Dinosaur? How am I going to make a picture book idea out of that??  Dragon .....Dinosaur.  Dragon... Dinosaur?

I then cheated. Pumpkin. Dragon Pumpkin. Dragon Pumpkin? Dragon Pumpkin! I can make an idea out of that!

The George Stanley Idea Generator. Try it, you'll like it!

And I'm taking ideas for Dragon Dinosaur. Ahem.

Native American Heritage Month

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, I'm passing along a great post from First Nations Development Institute. This is their post for Native American Heritage Month 2014 that includes quotes from Native authors, historical leaders and contemporary leaders in Indian Country.
In their own words:

November is National Native American Heritage Month 2014, and Nov. 15 in particular is “Rock Your Mocs Day” in which Native people stand together by wearing their moccasins (there's also "Moc Mondays" every week during the month). In recognition, the 20-member staff of First Nations Development Institute has created a list of their favorite Native American quotations and films.

“Many of us here are prolific readers and movie-goers, especially when it comes to things by Native authors and filmmakers or about Native history and experiences,” noted First Nations President Michael E. Roberts.  “In doing so, we often bookmark certain quotes or passages that speak to us, both from historical figures or contemporary authors, or we recommend films that, for one reason or another, we think are worth seeing. We think Native American Heritage Month is a great time to share these quotes and movies with both the Native and non-Native worlds.”

First Nations is a 34-year-old, Native-created and led organization that works to build stronger Native American economies and communities.  It is based in Longmont, Colorado, but serves American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities across the U.S.

Dance Fan by Kara Stewart, Art in Photography

See the rest of their post here. Great stuff.

And don't forget about Moc Monday. Not just to show solidarity and support, but hey, comfy shoes to work every Monday in November works for me!

PiBoIdMo time!

Have you heard of PiBoIdMo? I only found out about it this past summer. Author Tara Lazar started in 2008. In her own words, from her blog, Writing For Kids (While Raising Them):

"What is PiBoIdMo? Why, it's Picture Book Idea Month!

Tired of watching novelists have all the fun in November with NaNoWriMo, I created PiBoIdMo as a 30-day challenge for picture book writers.

The challenge is to create 30 picture book concepts in 30 days. You don't have to write a manuscript (but you can if the mood strikes). You don't need potential best-seller ideas.

You might think of a clever title. Or a name for a character. Or just a silly thing like "purple polka-dot pony." The object is to heighten your picture-book-idea-generating senses. Ideas may be built upon other ideas and your list of potential stories will grow stronger as the days pass.

Daily blog posts by picture book authors, illustrators, editors and other kidlit professionals will help inspire you. By the end of the month,  you'll have a fat file of ideas to spark new stories."

Awesome idea, right? She has a fabulous line up of guest bloggers for November who are authors, illustrators and picture book professionals. Prizes are involved. Squeee!

It starts November 1, so get registered now!

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The Importance of Adult Reading Buddies

As I'm learning to read more analytically as a writer, I realize that it is also important to me to continue to have adult reading buddies that may or may not focus on analyzing the writing of what we read.

I have a teacher friend who I consider my Book Buddy. While we both love reading, we might like slightly different kinds of books. Hannah opens my eyes to new things through her recommendations - and therefore new thoughts that may become fodder for my future writing. You never know.

Hannah recommended Rin Tin Tin: The Life and Legend by Susan Orlean. Although I am a big time dog person, this wouldn't be the kind of book I'd ordinarily read. However, I learned a lot of (to me) interesting history through this book - the orphan trains in America, the origins of the German Shepherd breed, tidbits about World War I that I never knew, tidbits about Hollywood's early film days. It expanded my horizons, which can only help me as a writer.



Another teacher friend and I gush about all things MG or YA. Jasmine is just as deadly in a book store as I am, and I haven't asked her, but Amazon might thank her personally like they do me. Every time I finish an awesome MG or YA book, I know I can rave to Jasmine and she'll understand and rave even more. She raved about R.J. Palacio's Wonder a while back and I can't believe I still haven't read it! I know I will find not only new thoughts in it, but it will be great to analyze it as a writer.


I'm currently reading The Cobweb Bride by Vera Nazarian, also recommended to me by a friend and fellow book lover/writer (Alison DeLuca). Now this is the kind of book I'd pick up and read in a heartbeat - fantasy, intriguing title and cover. And I did get this on Kindle quite a while back. Just hadn't read it. I was hedging because, honestly, you never know what you're going to get with Kindle books. I have read true drivel, and worse, irritatingly non-edited self-published books. I say that knowing that my own writing will probably be viewed as true drivel and/or irritatingly non-edited at some point. And I say that understanding that as writers, we all have to start somewhere. And I am glad that so many have started their writing adventures - very much so. But it also adds to the titles that you have to wade through that are not quite . . . finished.

The Cobweb Bride is not like that. So far, anyway, and I'm about half way through it. Again, I might have put this book down a little way in to it if not for Alison's recommendation. Why? Because it's a zombie book. No, it's not, really. But it is. I mean, it has people in it who should be dead but aren't. But saying Cobweb Bride is a zombie book is like comparing the Mona Lisa to a paint-by-numbers Mona Lisa. They are both paintings, but the masterpiece has infinitely more detail, delicacy, subtlety, nuance, emotion and intelligence.

I wouldn't have read it if someone had told me it's a zombie book. It's not. Not any more than your Great Aunt Sophie's paint-by-numbers Mona Lisa is the real thing. So read it. The book, not your Great Aunt Sophie's paint-by-numbers.

Point being, Nazarian's concept and implementation of the concept of Death and hence the plot, is phenomenal. Creativity plus skill. It opens my thoughts to how I can think and stretch creatively as a writer to new ideas and concepts. It makes me think about how we can help our students do that. My reading buddy spurred me to all of that.

My next book up is from my Book Buddy, Hannah. She has let me borrow Lisa See's Shanghai Girls and Gail Tsukiyama's Women of the Silk.  Again, neither are the sort of book I would pick up and read on my own. I tend to get stuck in MG/YA and fantasy, as well as Native literature. But I can't wait to find out what new information, world views, perspectives, concepts and tidbits I will discover.

                                             

And after those, Wonder!  Because MG/YA.