Book Review

I just did a review for the book, Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan. You can click here to read the full review.
Definitely a good read.

Social Media Control

What do you post on Facebook? On Twitter? On your own personal blog? This subject has been talked about quite a bit in the last year or so. "You need to watch what you post about because it could cost you your job, your reputation, etc."

This is true, and I agree, but I'm not going to "talk" about that today. Instead I'm going to take a different approach, sort of. I was at BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) a few weeks ago and the speaker made a really good point that has spoke to me as a person and as a writer.
Here is what she asked of us:

"Does what you post on any social media reflecting God in a good light or a bad light?" 

It really brought to light some of the things that I am seeing on Facebook posts, Tweets, blogs, and even more so on comments made on blogs. It also brought light to what I am posting...or at least has made me slow down and re-think before I put it out there before all the world to see. I even redid this post because I felt it was heading into a "preach it sista" mode, which is not what I was going for at all. 


I also read an interesting post by Jeff Goins with the question of whether people are meaner online than they are in real life. It's a good post if you have time to read it.

So, what do I do before I hit the "post", the "send", or the "publish" button? I ask myself this:

1. Is this going to hurt someone's character? I'm not talking about critiques of one's work, but of them personally. 
2. Is it TMI (too much information)? what I ate, what my kid did on the toilet, anything that I did that would make my mother blush - I hope I'm past that stage in life *blushing myself thinking of the past*
3. How is this going to reflect Christ? I am a Christian so this is important to me.

So, what do you think? Do you think people are meaner online? Do you think people are too vocal about what they do in the personal lives? Or is it just me? Have you been able to keep your posts positive and encouraging? I'll be honest, I think I've posted a few things while writing this that I wish I hadn't. They weren't HUGE or anything, just snide remarks that could have just not been written. Anyway, would love to know your thoughts as I'm pondering these types of questions.


*picture from microsoft.com

"I Am Special" Review and Interview

"I am Special", written by Lai Yit Loong and Catherine Lai, is a picture book relating the life of Benjy, a boy with autism. The reader gets a glimpse at what he can do and his accomplishments thus far. As a parent of a special needs child I was encouraged by the letters and poems written by Benjy's older sisters. 

I had the opportunity to this great couple a few months ago. When I heard that they had published a book, I immediately wanted to ask them loads of questions regarding publishing. So, below are the questions and answers by Yit Loong.

1. How did you decide which publisher to use?

 

Since I had not published a book before, I wanted a publisher who could offer a complete range of services with few or no restrictions and conditions, was flexible and accommodating, and willing to publish anything for a fee. I wanted to fully experience the journey of writing and publishing a book from the initial draft all the way thru to having the book finally printed and featured on Amazon.com.

I came across Authorhouse from a friend who had published a cookbook a couple of months before I decided to start the project.

2. What did you find to be the most difficult part in publishing?

 

The most challenging part was to decide the target audience of the book. The book grew and evolved as we got deeper into the project. I started with a simple idea of writing a story for my son's birthday present. Just for him to read. Then the idea expanded. I thought, wound't it be nice if the parents could read the book together with the child ? So I added my story and Cat's story for the parents. Then the idea grew again: why not make it into a family book that everyone in the family could express how they feel towards Benjy ? So I added stories from my girls. The next question came: why not make it into a book that we could share with our friends and family? So we added a bunch of photos. Finally, I thought it would be so cool if we added some illustrations to add more colors and variations. So writing this book has taught me many things, especially how to develop and turn a simple idea into the book. The most important thing I have learnt is an idea will remain an idea locked in your head, and rather meaningless until you do something about it. Wonderful experience and great results will follow when you act.

 

3. How have you marketed your book?

 

Authorhouse helps to put the book on google search and makes it available on the online stores. We discuss and share our work on Facebook with our friends. Cat shares it with other TAS mothers and friends. Thanks to TAS PTA (Parent Teacher Association) to help promote it. We also promote it at the school's Spring fair. We are grateful for friends and families who have supported us.

4. What do you feel has been the best way to market your book?

 

We find reaching out and openly talking about our experience raising Benjy and why we have written the book very effective in connecting with people. Benjy did a good job trying to autograph every book we have sold. We have been pleasantly surprised and extremely grateful at the level of support we have received so far.

5. Any advise to those seeking publishing?

 

Start with a passion to write. Then just do it. There are a lot of people and resources out there offering to help.

6. Plan to write more books in the future?

 

Yes...I would like to write an anthology on my family stories, a family cookbook and a business book.

I liked Yit Loong's advise, "Then just do it." 

Related articles

• "I Am Special" Book Review

Ways to Get Back into Writing

Life gets busy.
Kids need to be fed. Floors need to be swept. Child forgets lunch for school. A mountain of laundry is forming in front of your eyes. Oh, and the kids need to be fed again.
End of day, tired, no writing done.

Or the motivation to write anything is just gone, but you want it back.
Here are a few ways that I have used to help pull me back into the writer's chair.

1. Enter a critique giveaway. I entered Marcia's  January critique and won. I was forced to edit my first 1000 words of the novel I had shelved to submit to her. It was exactly what I needed. If you are interested she seems to have them every few months. Next week Amy will be giving away one to celebrate her birthday, so if you are needing a nudge here is a great way to start.
2. Enter a critique blog fest. I entered Sharon's blog fest last week. It led me to pull out an old PB manuscript that I had been working on. Now I'm polishing that up. This was just the first 100 words, so how hard was that? I've seen these around in the blog world, so keep your eyes open. It was my first one and so much fun.
3. Enter a writing contest. Find a writing contest that interests you and polish something up or create something totally new to enter.
4. Journal. Go back to write your own personal story. I find that writing is therapeutic for me. It just helps me to shut down and reflect on the situation(s).
5. And when all else fails - Block time and sit bottom in chair and start typing. That is what I just did to finish up the PB manuscript for critiquing and to write this post.

What do you do to motivate you to get back in the writer's chair?


*Photo by xlibber on flickr

Happy Easter!

I've been absent since New Year's Eve. Wow....is this becoming a Holiday only blogsite?
No. At least I don't plan on that.
I could give lots of reasons why I've not been writing here, or there, or really anywhere...but instead I'll just post a few pics of our Easter weekend.

We colored eggs!

We painted eggs and hung them on our
Easter Tree!

Our church put on an Easter party. We hunted
for eggs, fished in a water pond, jumped in jumpy
castles, played games, got faces painted, and did the
"Chicken Dance!" Great time!

I and my lovely friend from South Africa getting ready
to have a match off....

Neither one of us got our hose off our heads. We were
both declared winners and Jie Jie got to pick a prize.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend!  

And I promise to write a few blog posts before the next major holiday...;)

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve in Taipei is always filled with lots of fireworks. Since we've moved our view is even better. We had a free showing from our balcony of Taipei 101, which is the tallest building in the city.  Also, along the river, we could watch fireworks for hours.

This is a big year for Taipei 101. The year 2012 is also the year 101 in Taiwan. Taipei has two years. The one that most everyone around the world goes by and then the one that signifies the year that the Republic of China began.

Here are a few photos of what we saw.

Taipei 101 at midnight.

After a few minutes, this was all we could see.

Some fireworks by the river near our home.

If you'd like to watch the fireworks display, here is a video that I found on youtube. It was a pretty amazing display.  

Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I haven't been writing here much, not due to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I decided not to join in on all the fun this year. Good decision.
I also didn't join in on the Picture Book Idea Month this year either. Another good decision.

What has taken me away?
1. I've been writing more over at www.raisingtcks.com. I think I've found my niche in life, but I'll pop back over here to keep up on the other areas of my life...need a place to be random, ya know. ;)

2. Articles and short pieces for magazines. I have only one that has been published, but it is a start. If you are interested, you can read about one of my favorite reasons for our move, The Youth Park. This great little gem is what I call "our backyard." Click on this link to get to the magazine, then it is on page 20. I also took the photos and found I have a new love for photography.

3. Entering a contest over at Wow-Women on Writing, which I need to touch up and get submitted. The due date is Nov. 30th. Will be doing that in a few days after I have a nice Thanksgiving meal with some friends and my family of 5.

4. Then just the normal everyday homeschooling, apartment cleaning, biking kids to school, and other juggling activities of a mom.

With all that, I'd like to say to you...Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you have a wonderful time with family and friends during this holiday (if you are from the US, that is).