Ebooks are on the Rise--Especially for Kids

Some of us older folks may still prefer reading by physically holding a book in our hands, but kids are turning to ebooks more and more. Here's an article by Jeremy Greenfield on the Forbes website:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremygreenfield/2013/01/31/if-kids-are-our-future-our-future-is-ebooks/
Writes Mr. Greenfield: "The next wave of the ebook revolution is coming and it’s going to be led by kids. While just under a quarter of U.S. adults are reading ebooks, some 54% of kids are reading them — that’s more than double."

We wish you and yours a very Happy New Year!

Christmas is About People, not Things

The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world's busy life and become more interested in people than in things.
~ Thomas S. Monson
Merry Christmas!

The Magical Wonder of Christmas

Last night I went to a wonderful Christmas Concert at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, at which the Sesame Street Muppets and Santino Fontana performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. An audience of 21,000 people, including children ages 5 and up, were enchanted with the delightful and magnificent performance. 

I was especially intrigued watching the little children, including my 7-year-old grandson, as they witnessed this magical performance. What a wonderful experience...to not only enjoy the fun of the Muppets and the wonderful dancers, the lights and decorations and special effects, but also to have a chance to listen to a full symphony orchestra and exceptional choir perform. 

These are the kinds of experiences that help mold children...experiences they never ever forget.

Give the Gift of Creativity

I've run across some websites lately the share lists of creative gifts you can give this holiday season. Instead of toys, consider giving a child such things as magic markers, colored paper, scrapbook scissors, glitter glue, craft foam...things that can be used to create a myriad of artistic masterpieces. The same holds true when it comes to adults...give such things as scrapbook supplies (for the scrapbook fanatic), a gift certificate to Home Depot or a yarn store or fish lure store, depending on the interests of the person you have in mind. For the wannabe artist, give art supplies. You get the idea. Other ideas for creative gifts include providing lessons, special family excursions and coupons for spending time together.

It may take a little extra thought, but this holiday season give gifts of creativity and gifts of memories.

Writing Concisely

Here's a great example of writing concisely. Saw it on Facebook today.

The monkey bars claimed another victim today...‪#‎raisingboys‬

Adjectives Can be a Nuisance

I substituted in a second grade class the other day. Their language arts for the day was learning about adjectives. The flowery descriptive adjectives they were coming up with made me cringe.

As far as I'm concerned, adjectives--and adverbs too--can be a bit of a nuisance. It is so much more important to dig for powerful nouns and verbs to put your point across. Instead of writing a long skinny dog with floppy ears and a pointy nose, why not use the word dachshund, then everyone will know what you're talking about.

Let Me Make Myself Perfectly Clear

Sometimes we assume that young children have an understanding of things that we as adults consider elementary.

This week I substituted in a third grade class. The science assignment was to study two paintings and to list the things in the picture that are living and the things that are non-living. When I first read the assignment, I thought, how simple can it get. Was I surprised.

Many of the children struggled with the distinction between living and non-living. "Mrs. M., is sky living? Are clouds? They move." "No, the sky and clouds are not living." "Are mountains?" "Well, some of the things on the mountains are living, like bushes and grass, but mountains are basically rock and dirt. They aren't living." And so it continued.

When we work with children, or write for children, the challenge is to make sure they not only understand what you're trying to say but also don't misunderstand you. How do you do that without talking down t them?

Happy Creative Halloween

Happy Halloween! I subbed today at an elementary school. The kids were all so excited and looked fantastic in their Halloween costumes. I was especially drawn to the costumes that were obviously put together by creative families, using a minimum of materials. What fun it is to see what you can come up with out of what you have around the house.

Ahhhhhhh!

Last Saturday my sweet daughter and her family invited me to go fishing with them. We spent the morning sitting in a boat in the middle of Payson Lake enjoying the beautiful fall day. It was so quiet, so peaceful, so relaxing. Whenever I think about it, I still get a warm fuzzy feeling.

I even achieved one of the items on my "bucket list." I saw a bald eagle, flying across a backdrop of evergreen pine trees. Awesome!

Being in nature always brings out the creative streak in me. Just sitting in that boat surrounded by such beauty, I was itching to have a notebook and pen to write, write, write!

Ask Questions

A good way to blast through "writer's block" is to ask questions. What would happen if...? How would it feel to...? What's another way to do this? Or describe this? Or solve this problem? What's another way to say this, other than use a tired old cliche?

I substituted in a junior high technology class the other day. The reading assignment had to do with innovation and invention. 

I wanted the class to get a tiny taste of what innovation means, so I held up a paper towel and asked the students to come up with different ways of using that paper towel.

At first they kind of just looked blankly at me, but gradually the ideas started come and before long it was hard to stop the overflowing creativity.

Not a bad little exercise to try to jump start the brain into writing fresh, exciting material.

Being Creative Means Taking Risks

http://hbr.org/2008/09/how-pixar-fosters-collective-creativity/ar/1

I really like this article in Harvard Business Review entitled "How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity."

The author, Ed Catmull, wrote: "Pixar is a community in the true sense of the word. We think that lasting relationships matter, and we share some basic beliefs: Talent is rare. Management’s job is not to prevent risk but to build the capability to recover when failures occur. It must be safe to tell the truth."

The creative process of making a movie, he says, involves the creative input of a host of people. It's the sum result of tens of thousands of ideas.

The same holds true in writing a book. When a person reads a book, she isn't consciously aware of the number of ideas and choices make up that book. It's really quite staggering. The selection of each scene, each trait of each character--yes, even each sentence and word--is the result of the author's conscious choice.

Creating a movie, says Catmull, is all about being scared; it's about taking risks. Again, the same holds true in writing books. Will our burst of imagination be understood by the reader? Appreciated? It's the chance we must take.

Take Time to Day Dream

Why is it when you get older you think there's something wrong with daydreaming? I think daydreaming is a marvelous mini-vacation that we can take. It's refreshing. It's rejuvenating. What's wrong with escaping from reality for a few minutes and letting our mind soar? It's great for boosting creativity.

Writing Prompts

Writing prompts are often used by school teachers in language arts classes. They can give a student a jump start in deciding what to write about. But sometimes the prompts don't help much.

I was substituting in a third grade class and on the lesson plan that teacher had left instructions for the class to write about a special day they'd had.

Most students jumped right in and began writing away. A few gazed blankly, pencils limp.
One boy seemed especially perplexed. I stooped down and asked him to tell me about a special day that he'd had. He said he'd never had a special day. How about Christmas? I asked. Do you do anything special on Christmas? The boy shook his head. How about your birthday? What special things do you do on your birthday? Special food? Special...the boy again shook his head. He had the saddest look on his face. Haven't you done something fun with your dad or mom or gone on a vacation? No.

I don't think he ever got anything written down for that assignment.

How sad.

Introduce Them to Books

I occasionally accept substitute teaching assignments. Last week I subbed for a resource teacher in a junior high. I don't believe I've ever seen a classroom that was decorated more creatively. Mobiles hung down from the high arched ceiling. The walls were covered with interesting and fun posters and decor. There were shelves of board games and things to do. And there were books--shelves and shelves of books of all kinds.

The students had earned a free day. After the opening happenings, they were left to their own devices. They just sat there. Nobody went over to check out the board games. Nobody went over to the bookshelves. They didn't even seem to be confident conversing with one another--other than the normal banter of young teens.

It wasn't until the computers were unlocked and the students had access  to technology, their hands and eyes and minds occupied with surfing the Internet or playing a game. were they comfortable.

This happened in each of the class periods. I was amazed. And saddened.

Something's wrong with this picture.

I understand that technology is here to stay. We live in a world where our children need to use technology to learn and function. But surely books haven't become a white elephant! Are we really dependent on a computer to entertain and intrigue us? Can't we function or be conversant or creative without a monitor staring at us?

A Fine, Fine Idea

The other day I substituted in a third grade class. We read together a delightful story called "A Fine, Fine School," by Sharon Creech. In this story the school principal is so pleased with his "fine, fine school" and its students and its teachers that he announces that school will not be held on Saturdays...and then Sundays...and then during the summer.

The students and teachers don't voice their opposition to the principal's new policies because they like him and don't want to hurt his feelings.

In the end, a little girl named Tillie visits the principal and points out to him that there are some things that can, and should, be learned outside the classroom--like how to skip and how to climb a tree and how to sit in a tree for an hour.

It's a wonderful story but more importantly it reminds us all that we need to allow kids to be kids sometimes. Let's not schedule them so heavily with sports and other activities that they never have a chance to be bored. Some marvelous realizations can come to a bored child--and a bored adult, for that matter.

There's nothing wrong with occasionally taking a break and just watching the cloud pictures in the sky or taking a bubble bath or daydreaming.

Who said kids had to have all the fun?

Hooray for Non-Fiction

We had a delightful evening with our daughter's family. She and her husband have two wonderful sons, 9 and 6. They love reading non-fiction books. Around the dinner table we had a lively conversation about what the fastest animal was, the fastest chicken, what is the deepest ocean in the world, and on and on.

I was amazed at what these boys know about the world around them! They just love checking out stacks of library books--especially non-fiction. How cool is that!

Got a Lot of Reading to Do

Never happier than right after a trip to the library. "I got a lot of reading to do," he says with a smile!

Flight to the Imagination

I love this quote by Plato:

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything."

Let There Be Music!

Music for the Very Young Child

It's never too early to introduce a little child to a variety of music. A love of music seems instinctive even to a baby. A mother's lullaby can calm the newborn.

I remember visiting in the home of my son's family. Their young daughter was (and is) a very active child. She had trouble falling asleep because her mind would continue racing and imagining. Her wise mother would play peaceful music softly on the CD player. It set such a sweet, calm atmosphere.

I remember as a very young child dancing as my mother played the piano.

Expose your child to a variety of music styles. Play some Souza's marches and all march around the house waving flags. Hand everyone a rhythm instrument and enjoy playing Latin music. Tape a strip of crepe paper to a stick and twirl it around as you dance to Swan Lake. What a fun way to develop creativity.

Let your child see you enjoy many types of music.

What a marvelous smorgasbord of musical genres are out there to be enjoyed...by all ages.

Cool 3-D Art Project

Here's a fun art project to do with the kids--drawing your hand in 3-D!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203388520264353&set=vb.1552160823&type=2&theater

Thank You, Mrs. Cummins

Yesterday my granddaughters went shopping for school with their mom. When they got back, they showed me all of their cool new outfits. One granddaughter is entering third grade and I told her that one of the great things about third grade is you start doing more writing.

It got me to thinking...I can trace my love of writing to my second and third grade teacher. I had Mrs. Cummins for two years. She encouraged our creativity in writing in such a simple way, but I'll always be grateful to her for it.

She had us cut a picture out of a magazine and then write a story about it. My mother saved all my stories. I read them now, and they're very primitive but when I read them, I remember the feeling I had when I wrote them.

There's not a red pen mark on any of them. Even though my spelling was less than perform, Mrs. Cummins was focusing on something else. She was wanting us to learn to love expressing ourselves through the written word.

Thank you, Mrs. Cummins. I hope my granddaughter has a teacher like you for third grade.

Ready...Set...Get Playful

Years ago I took a creative writing class. One of the most helpful things that I learned was this: Before starting to write, loosen up...get playful!

Children are naturally creative. Watch them at play. What do they do? They use their imagination. They giggle. They have fun. They play games.

Got writer's block? Before writing, try this: Act like a kid. Get down on the floor with your 4-year-old and have a tickling contest. Play dress-ups with your grandkids. Share knock-knock jokes with your tween.

If you don't happen to have any children around, think of something playful to do. Stand on your head. Call someone up and share a hilarious joke. Play Chopsticks on the piano. Pat your head while rubbing your tummy.

Do something...anything to loosen up. You'll be amazed at how much more creative your writing will be after this exercise of acting like a kid.

Expose Your Children to Music and Culture

Summer is a fantastic time to expose your children to a variety of musical, art, and cultural events. Many communities have free concerts at the park, featuring a variety of genres. If you live near a university, find out about recitals that may be open to the public. The wider the variety, the better. Museums, art shows, dance festivals, celtic festivals...the list goes on and on.

I'll be forever grateful to my dad, who took his children to many cultural events even though money was very tight. I remember the thrill of sitting in a huge auditorium and being blown away by a full evening of Beethoven. He took us to the Ice Capades and to "The Nutcracker." We went to many community plays and concerts.

Largely because of this exposure, I have loved the arts all my life.

Creating Nature Sounds

This is a lovely little website, creating a combination of nature sounds.

http://naturesoundsfor.me/

Read, Read, Read

Not only do I love to write, I also love to read. I have found that if I want to write for a certain genre or certain age group, I must first read tons of books in their genre or for that age of child. If I want to write for beginning readers, I must read dozens of books written by various authors. I read somewhere that an aspiring author of children's books should read 100 books in the specific reading level on which he or she will be focusing.

Sounds about right.

Revising

A critical part of the writing process is the revision stage. It's not always the most fun part of writing, but it is vital to producing a polished finished product.

When I begin a writing project, I initially don't worry about such things as grammar, punctuation, or even readability. I focus strictly on getting my story down. Once that is accomplished, then comes the challenge of re-reading the piece over and over again. Where, at first, I am the creator, now I must become the editor.

Each time I go through the piece, I scrutinize it for different things. One time I may look at how the story flows, whether or not the plot makes sense, where the bottlenecks are, whether all the questions are answered. Another time I will focus on grammar, punctuation--and at this stage I must be very picky. Is there an extra space between two words? Are the ellipses handled correctly? That kind of thing.

Again, this can be quite--even very--tedious. But it is essential.

One of the last things I like to do is read the piece out loud. I catch a lot of errors that way.

That's where I am today on my newest junior fiction novel, Return of the Schmurthies. For several months now I've read through that book--dozens of times (and I'm not even joking)--revising and re-revising. Today, I will read it as my readers will read it--straight through. How sweet it is!

Expressing Creativity Through Music

In addition to writing, I love composing music. It's another way of expressing creativity. I've written a number of songs and I've started a new category on this blog of some of my Original Music Compositions. I'm including "On Eagle Wings," which I wrote when our oldest son was completing the requirements for his Eagle Scout award. Becoming an Eagle Scout is quite a feat for a young man. A very small percentage of Boy Scouts ever achieve this rank. I wrote this song to honor them. It was performed at our son's Eagle Scout court of honor.

Book Trailer for Secret of Bombastic Bertha & the Bamboozles

Josh is bored—that is, until he discovers the magic of drawing in three-dimensional. But somehow things get out of control in the secret world he creates, along with Worm and Penny. In fact, the ultimate survival of the Ferkle civilization is threatened by the elusive Bamboozles, led by the notorious Bombastic Bertha. Are the Ferkles doomed to utter destruction? Will Josh’s imagination get the best of him?

“Join Josh, Worm, and Penny as they pop in and out of their 3-D pencil-drawn mural!” writes Mark Kistler—Emmy-winning creator of the “Imagination Station”—in the book’s foreword. “Travel through a land of magical valleys, mountains, and jungles, all while meeting an extraordinary cast of unforgettable characters.”

Secret of Bombastic Bertha & the Bamboozles is the first book in Marianne McKnight’s junior fiction series, “Secret Worlds.” Preteens, ages 8-11, will be drawn into the fast-paced story that sparkles with adventure, humor, and a touch of mystery.

Here's the link for the book trailer:  http://youtu.be/dYSdX_YosXM

Ideas

Where does an author get his or her ideas about which to write?

Ideas are all around us. They come from reading a newspaper or magazine article. They come from overhearing a snippet of a conversation. They come from a dream...or a nightmare. They come from asking question, like "What would happen if...?"

There is no limit to the number of ideas out there. The problem is capturing those ideas before the flea, for ideas for very elusive.

I keep a little pad of paper and pen on the nightstand so that if I think of an idea during the night, I can jot it down because chances are I'll forget it by morning. Carrying a small notebook, or even a folded up piece of blank paper, in one's purse or pocket is a great idea--especially if you develop the habit of actually jotting down ideas and thoughts on it.

Coming Soon! Second book in Secret Worlds Books

I'm excited! Within the next couple of weeks, we will be launching the second of my Secret Worlds books: Return of the Schmurthies. This will be a fun adventure book for readers, ages 8-11. A fun and welcome treat for summer reading.

Phyllis A. Whitney's Idea for a Writer's Notebook

Years ago I ran across a book by Phyllis A. Whitney in which she gave tips on writing a book of fiction. One part of the book showed how to create a writer's notebook to use when planning and writing a book.

When I studied Phyllis's book, it was like a light turned on for me. Writing a book suddenly became easier and more enjoyable. I found a writer's notebook so helpful in organizing my thoughts and research. It was great having everything I needed for a current (or even future) book project in one handy notebook.

I didn't use the notebook for the last book I wrote and I lived to regret it.

The whole idea is divide the notebook into sections: Such as Characters, Plot, Setting, Research, Future Book Ideas. Then, as an idea comes to you, you just jot it down in the appropriate section. That way, that idea is available to you  when you need it.

I have found when I am hatching an idea for a book, as well as when I'm up to my earlobes in the writing process, snatches of ideas will come to me at all times of the day. If I don't have the good sense to write them down, then that idea vanishes in thin area.

I recommend this book by Phyllis A Whitney for the experienced writer as well as the rookie:
http://www.phyllisawhitney.com/Guide%20to%20Fiction%20Writing.htm

I Can Smell the Water

This week I have been focusing on finishing the second of my Secret Worlds books. And the end is in sight. I can't tell you how excited this makes me feel. I've been working on this particular book for months. It really shouldn't have taken so long to write, but I made at least one critical mistake — for one thing, I neglected to really flesh out one of my main characters and his motives before I started writing. I won't do that again. It cost me months of trying to paint myself out of a corner.

Anyway, I'm just about ready to have it read and reviewed by others, including a grandchild or two or three.

Wipppeeeeeeee!

Are You Famous?

I've been doing a lot of substitute teaching this year. As an author of children's books, I've found this to be a great way to observe what young people (preschool through high school) are reading as well as how they interact with their world.

Having said that, I must add that being a sub is a tough way to make a few bucks. I was at the local public library yesterday and happened across a book entitled, "Thirteen Ways to Sink a Sub." I don't know that I've encountered that many types of sabotage, but...it's a jungle out there.

When I substitute I often ask the students what they think I do when I'm not substitute teaching. Their responses include "Take care of grandchildren" (Yes, I do that but what else?) and "You're a librarian." (No, not a librarian.) When I tell them that I write children's books, it's fun to see their reaction. The younger students will inevitably look over at their classroom bookshelf before asking, "Which books have you written?"

One of my favorite responses is: "Are you famous?" (No, I'm definitely not famous.) In one second grade class, the "Are you famous?" question was followed by: "Can I have your autograph?" I told the youngster that that was the first time I've been asked for my autograph and yes, I'd give him my autograph. He proceeded to rip off a corner of his math worksheet and hand it to me to sign. By the end of the day, several others in the class had likewise received autographs written on little torn-off pieces of paper.

Of all the things that I do, including substitute teaching, I believe writing children's books is right up there on the top of the stack.