Weather or Not

The silver lining of missing out on my postponed two-day school visit to Rochester due to the incoming blizzard? The $170 difference in airfare I was just refunded by JetBlue. Today's happy thought is as simple as that: I love JetBlue!

Overcome Fear and Start Writing

The article in the NY Times Sunday magazine section was about "Rewriting a bad memory to get yourself back on the slopes." They say that revising a fearful memory is a mental process - an actual neurological thing - and that you can overlay a positive image over the bad memory and change the outcome of how you feel about the memory. You can't change the content of your memory, but you can change the accompanying emotion.

This is what I've been talking about, only kind of in reverse. I say...visualize, imagine, foresee the positive. As in, "I will sell this manuscript!" Or even before that, "I will finish this manuscript!"

The article concludes, "The best thing about fear is that it makes you act smarter." So (manipulating this to fit my theory), will fear of feeling like ca-ca because you told yourself you'd write today, but instead ended up answering emails with "LOL!" or something else equally unproductive help you to sit and write?  Can you use a fear of feeling badly to reach your goal?

You know what I'm gonna say, right? Of course, yes and absolutely! Whatever it takes to think positive and get your work done is good. And the really upside to that is that at the end of the day, you'll have the satisfaction of having written something. Rinse and repeat the next day and voila! You've got two days worth of writing done.

Pretty soon you're in the habit of sitting down to write every day, and you'll actually start to have a physical feeling of withdrawal when you don't and you know what? That fear thing will have worked - or, put more positively, you will  have visualized and realized your finished manuscript!

Think of Yourself As a Writer Part 2

I was listening to a radio program that was debating various careers that were related to children. One of the guests stated that, considering children are the future (sorry, not my choice of cliches!), it's pretty astonishing that jobs to do with children are usually lower paying. Childcare is the most obvious first on the list, but even doctors like pediatricians and child psychologists make less money that their counterparts in adult healthcare.

I can't tell you how many people have said to me or my writer friends, "So when are you going to write a real book?" Translation: a book for adults. Or, when I've been asked what my latest book was, and I, referring to my middle grade title, said, "I just had a novel come out from HarperCollins," they respond, "Oh, how great! You're writing for adults now!"

I've heard advances are bigger in the adult book world, and I've been to book festivals where the children's books are, shall I say kindly, not front and center. But I don't care - well, I care, but I wouldn't trade it for the email from a mom of a third grader who wrote me that because of a book that I wrote, her child finally learned to read. How cool is that?! We tend to forget those incredible, miracle-like moments because it's such a solitary job.

So remember, as you toil away on your story for children, that writing for growing minds is the best job ever.

Think of Yourself As a Writer Part 1

Whenever I'm on the faculty of a conference or I do a school visit, or even just in casual conversation, people will often express their burning desire to be published. The conversation will often go something like this (let's call my conversationalist Annie):

Annie: I've always wanted to write a children's book!
Me: Oh, cool, you're a writer, too!
Annie: Well, I have this story I've told my kids/grandkids/neighbor's kids and they love it.
Me: Have you written it down?
Annie: No, but I've told it so many times.
Me: So write the story and submit it!
Annie: I just don't have the time.

Then come all the reasons why Annie can't find the time to write her story. And believe me, I totally get it. Writing is hard. But it's so worth it. If you have a fabulous story, find the time and write it down. Work on it. Rewrite it, and work on it some more until it sings. Be hard on yourself, but in a good way, not as a demeaning mantra of "I'll never get this done," rather, tell yourself, "I'm really honing this story!"

Mind/Body Connection

I love Serge Bloch's illustration for this New York Time's article from Feb.1. The article, by Tara Parker-Pope, was entitled The Real Body Language. It was all about how our body listens to our mind, whether we know it or not.

So when you say, "Oh, my back is killing me," you are sending your back a pretty terrible message. It's confirmation that thinking positively can have a beneficial effect on your well-being. So why not send your body some healthy energy and repeat every night before falling asleep, "My body will wake up tomorrow feeling great!"

Laundry and Positivity

You may wonder what one has to do with the other but if you saw my half-full laundry basket, you'd know.

How I See The World

To me, the world is divided between those who love candy, and those who are not tormented daily - nay, hourly - (minute by minute?) at thoughts of "Where can I find my next piece of candy?"

I am telling you, it is torturous to go into a bank. There are actually people who have - gasp - candy-filled bowls sitting right on their coffee tables, like they are decor or some sick thing like that. I know for sure this is true because every time I went to Deena Teschner's house, there it was. I remember that. I do. I see it still.

Then there are the sick-o minds that set up a dental office next door to The Candy Wall (see the photo?) The CANDY WALL?

That is my positive thought of the day. A wall made entirely of candy.

Tonight I go to the prison to teach. One woman wrote a story about going to a candy-lined store, and that is a story I can relate to. A+++++ for her.

Overheard On the Subway Today

"Yo," the first twenty-something said to the other. "Audio books are like, how lazy do you have to be to listen to a book?"

I was dying to ask this guy why he was so angry at audio books. There was more going on with this opinion than just the surface comment. I was so curious! Maybe I only heard him quoting someone else? Maybe his mom hates audio books. Maybe he actually loves them so much he wants to marry them.

This right here is what I love about stories. Tell one part of it and you only see one angle. Hear a different part and you know something else. It's the old Five Blind Men Describing An Elephant story. Geez I love that.

The More Positive I Am the More Positive I Am

It's been a month now, and except for three, I blogged a positive thought daily. I'm trying to keep them related to writing, illustrating, and books, though occasionally I've found other stuff compelling. Thing is, I am loving how it's seeping into my daily thinking.

The more I look for a positive thought, the more that come into my head. I know cynicism is cooler, but I've never considered myself one of the cool kids. I'm too enthusiastic for cool. But that's cool, too.

Pink!

Pink, on a twirly acrobatic thingy, singing a stunningly heartrending song, spinning, singing and NOT barfing all at the same time is pretty amazing.