Children’s Picture Book – Henry Likes to Fly

By admin on July 28, 2010

Here’s an example of a picture book manuscript I completed a few years back (when my kids were still young enough to enjoy it,) but never struck a chord with the publishers.  If I had any illustrating talent, I might have drawn the pictures myself and considered self-publishing, but it’s a tough call because print-on-demand in full color is really expensive, even for a book that would clock in under fifty pages.  Plus, a perfect-bound paperback version of a picture book meant for 5-7 year-olds might not hold up as well as a hard cover, so the choosy parent (like my wife, for instance,) would likely pass it by.

But, that all said, I like the dreamy, fun and silly rhyming story about Henry Cabot and his increasingly frenetic flying dreams.  I hope you do too:

Henry Likes to Fly

Pg. 5 (Picture of Henry flying with moon, stars)

Henry Cabot likes to fly

Around the Moon and through the sky.

Pg. 6 (Picture of Henry flying toward a beautiful early sunrise)

From the eastern sunrise, rising slow.

Pg. 7 (Picture of Henry flying toward a beautiful sunset)

To the western sunset, sinking low.

Pg. 8 (Three smaller inset pictures of Henry flying with birds, a plane, bats)

He soars with birds and planes and bats,

From here to there, from this to that.

Pg. 9 (Picture of Henry flying past snowy peaks under a starry sky with far horizon)

Beyond the stars, past mountain tops,

For miles and miles

Pg. 10 (Picture of Henry sitting on a cloud, relaxed and thinking)

before he stops.

To think about the things he’s seen,

Pg. 11 (Picture of brown bears next to the stream)

Like brown bears sleeping near a mountain stream,

Pg. 12 (Picture of Henry flying towards clouds shaped like a car, an alligator, etc.)

Or clouds floating in the high blue sky

Shaped like things that shouldn’t fly.

Pg. 13 (Picture of elephants in a zoo waving at viewer, seen from the air)

He saw an elephant or two

When he flew over Smithtown Zoo.

Pg. 14, 15 (Picture that spans two pages of three monkeys swinging on vines, one after another, with a woman in an apron fourth in line, waving at the viewer)

Monkeys swinging on long green vines,

And look! There’s Mommy right behind!

Pg. 16, 17 (Picture that spans two pages of the purple sea with all items as listed.)

Henry saw a purple sea

With ice cream cones and cups of tea,

Cupcake islands, banana boats,

Whales with glasses, flying goats!

Pg. 18 (Picture of odd forest, each tree containing several people sticking out of the foliage: mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, babies… one bee’s nest in nearest tree)

A forest filled with Family Trees,

And on one branch, a nest of bees.

Pg. 19 (Extreme close-up of bee’s nest with several bees, one with top hat)

One bee wearing a tall top hat,

Pg. 20 (Extreme close-up of top hat, with gnat dressed in tuxedo and tap shoes)

And a dapper gnat tap dancing on the hat!

Pg. 21 (Picture of Billy arm-wrestling four of the octopus’s eight legs)

Then things really started to get silly!

Henry saw his best friend Billy

Arm-wrestling an octopus!

Now isn’t that ridiculous?

Pg. 22 (Picture of crocodile in flannel and John Deere hat dancing with pig in backpack and boots)

A crocodile that drove a rig

Was dancing with a hiking pig.

Pg. 23 (Picture of baby rabbits jumping over a line of Henrys in leap-frog position)

A school of tiny bunny rabbits

Played leap-frog with four Henry Cabots!

Pg. 24, 25 (Picture that spans two pages of confusing cyclone that contains all the items mentioned)

A cow, four ducks, three mice, some hay,

A quilt someone had thrown away,

Two pens, a car, one telephone,

All spun around in a huge cyclone!

Pg. 26 (Close-up of Henry flying through the mess)

Then Henry started spinning too!

Pg. 27 (Picture of the animals flying past Henry as he covers his ears from the noise)

He heard three squeaks, four quacks, a moo,

Pg. 28, 29 (Picture that spans two pages with the entire confusing mess spinning around Henry, his hands clamped to his ears and a pained expression)

The phone was ringing, the car went BEEP!

Pg. 30 (Picture of Henry sitting up in bed, disheveled from waking quickly from his exciting dream)

Then Henry woke up from his deep deep sleep.

Pg. 31 (Peaceful picture of Henry sleeping again, smile on his face.)

The End (until tomorrow night. . .)

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Instant Expert – Narrowing Your Focus

By admin on July 27, 2010

Last week, we talked about your initial decision-making and how to determine in which area(s) you’re going to become expert.  You should have a nice selection of quality ideas on paper in front of you based on last week’s post.  If you haven’t gotten that far, go back and read the post so you can hit the ground running this week!

When you have your list narrowed down to a handful of good, solid ideas, filter them through this set of questions:

• Can this topic be broken down somewhat to become more specific?

• If so, are each of the subtopics you came up with complementary? (Could you reasonably connect two or more of these subtopics and become an expert in all those areas?)

• When you look at your remaining list, does the name of an already-established expert immediately come to mind?

• If so, are you prepared to compete on the same level, or would it be better to adjust your plan to compensate?

These questions should help you to find your niche.

A niche is a very specific area of expertise that is broad enough to allow you some flexibility in how you approach and apply your knowledge, but narrow enough to be easily understood and focused when dispensing your information.

This is important because if your topic is too broad, it won’t matter how many articles, books or websites you develop on it, you will not be considered the expert because the topic is just too broad for one person to stand out.

We’ll be hitting the subject of niches and microniches in more detail next week.  For now, run through those questions above with each of the topics you came up with last week.  That should keep you busy for a bit.  Then, next week, we’ll narrow your focus even more!

Stay tuned!

**************

This post is one in a series, all focused on how you can enjoy “expert status” in the field of your choice through the tools and resources available to everyone in the first half of the 21st century!  If you want instant access to the basics, sign up here and you’ll receive the FREE SPECIAL REPORT: Instant Expert – How to “Write the Book” in Your Field of Choice and Make a Killing at It!

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Timeless Principles – Faith

By admin on July 26, 2010

Faith is inherently difficult to describe because if you can describe it concretely, your faith is not strong enough.

At least, that seems to be the common understanding of faith.  I happen to disagree.

I believe faith needs to be a very real thing, and I believe it has two completely different, but equally important, applications, even in this modern, critical and skeptical world.

First, let’s define faith.  I’ve found the Bible’s definition to be the easiest to understand and apply:

“Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for.  The evident demonstration of realities, though not beheld.” – Hebrews 11:1

In other words, faith is the ability to see what is not there and know it’s coming, based on evidence.  There are two important points to learn from that basic definition:

  1. Faith is not blind. True faith is not the willingness to put aside reason and knowledge and understanding, as if these qualities are mutually exclusive.  True faith is based on evidence.  Concrete, observable evidence.
  2. Faith is not automatic. To be assured of something you cannot see in front of you, you need to work at studying the evidence and convincing yourself that it’s an adequate basis for believing your expectations will come true.  No one can do that for you either.  It’s a very personal thing.

Now, generally the concept of faith is automatically attached to the concepts of organized religion, or at least to spiritual matters.  And this is to be expected as nowhere else does the matter of faith play such a leading role as it does in religion.

But, interestingly, faith is actually at play in nearly every aspect of our lives, even in the most practical and mundane activities.

For example.  When you go to bed at night, you set your alarm to wake you up in the morning.  If you are late to work, you could lose your job.  And yet, you’re willing to entrust your livelihood to a $12 clock radio you picked up at a yard sale last spring.

Why?

Because it’s always worked before.

Every time the alarm clock wakes you up, it builds your confidence in its ability to do it again tomorrow.  This is evidence.  Evidence your brain uses to convince you that, although you can’t see the future, you can rest assured the alarm clock will wake you up again in the morning.

So, you have faith in that fact.

I could list a thousand other mundane activities in our daily lives that require a measure of faith: starting your car, turning on your windshield wipers, logging into your computer, punching your time card, etc.  In most cases, we don’t understand the inner workings of the technology we use and rely on every day, but it’s always worked before, so we have faith it will again.

Now, if our car starts acting or sounding funny, our faith falters.  We start to doubt whether or not it will start the next time we put the key in.  The evidence has changed: it’s not consistently (faithfully) working as it should, so we start losing confidence.  But, if we take action, such as bringing it to a professional mechanic who fixes the problem and gives the car a clean bill of health, suddenly we’re confident again.

Our faith has been restored!

That’s how we can develop and maintain an “assured expectation of things hoped for” in even the big things of life: our relationships, our spiritual need, our finances, our goals.

Observe the evidence.  Determine the expected outcome.  Measure the two in relation to each other, and manipulate whatever is within our power to change, working to get the two to meet.  When they do, our faith has been proven to be well-founded.

And we can’t leave this discussion without considering how faith in one’s own ability to accomplish what needs to be done can be just as important as faith in the mundane or faith in the supreme.

If you can’t look back on the body of evidence you’ve created in your life that proves what you’re capable of accomplishing, you need to start working to build that body of evidence.  But if you can, by all means, don’t give in to self-doubt and try to convince yourself that you’re not capable of something the evidence proves you are capable of!

The evidence may very well prove that you’re capable of expanding your horizons and accomplishing even MORE than you set out to accomplish!  That’s evidence, even if it’s invisible to you now!  So take it and build your faith on it.

I believe in you.

Do you?

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Spruce Up Your Copy – Think About Your Audience

By admin on July 25, 2010

We’ve already discussed some important points regarding passion and enthusiasm.  Now, let’s consider the mechanics of making your writing really shine. The first step to improving your writing is to take a moment or two before you start writing to think about the people who will be reading what you write, your audience.

Why?

Because they are the entire reason for the investment of mental energy, time and effort you are pouring into this project. Perhaps it’s just an inter-office memo or a quick e-mail, or maybe it’s a company brochure, a sales letter or an annual report. No matter what you’re writing, it has to have a purpose.

That purpose is to communicate something to a specific group of people. Not just to throw information in their face, but hopefully to produce action on their part, whether you’re asking for the sale, or just to help them understand your point of view.
Accomplishing this purpose requires that you know something about your reader. For example:

  • Who are they? Co-workers? Your boss? Qualified prospects? Customers who are dissatisfied?
  • What do they already know? What position have they taken on the subject?
  • How will they get the information? Unsolicited mailing? E-mail? Glossy report?
  • What do you need this reader to do when they’re done reading?

Now that you’ve given some thought to your audience, you can begin thinking about what you need to bring to the table.  Next week, we’ll consider Planning Ahead!

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Writer’s Block

By admin on July 24, 2010

This post is a good example of what happens when good intentions collide spectacularly with laziness, inefficiency and YouTube.

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Poem – My Favorite Photo

By admin on July 24, 2010

This is a very brief poem with (in my humble opinion) a powerful emotional core.  The subjects are, of course, my kids, Travis (10) and Emily (9), and the picture is two years old.  It’s been on my desk, brightening up cubicle hell for two years now, and this poem (along with the picture) made it into The Ectopic Epiphany because I just really love it.

My Favorite Photo

He smiles like he’s told
a hilarious, slightly risqué joke.
She smiles like she
loves him anyway.

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Public Speaking University – Conquering Stage Fright

By admin on July 22, 2010

It has long been listed among the top five greatest fears in human existence, often right at the top of the heap: Stage Fright.  Or, more specifically, the fear of speaking in front of a crowd.  Or, more specifically still, the fear of making a fool of oneself while speaking in front of a crowd.  That’s the real kicker, isn’t it?

Now personally, I’ve never understood the fear.  I’m apparently one of those lucky few who just seem to have a faulty stage fright gene.  Don’t get me wrong, I get nervous, I feel the butterflies when it’s time to perform.  But that feeling has never held me back.  Not a bit.

So, it will be interesting to see if the advice that follows is of any benefit, because honestly, I’m giving advice from the standpoint of someone who’s never needed the advice.  Like a lifetime non-smoker teaching you how to quit.

What the following advice really entails is a series of actions, both large and small, that you can take to hopefully ease the fear enough to allow your inner public speaker to shine through.  We all have one.  And, with the right training and encouragement, many of them can be truly spectacular.  But only if they’re not strangled by irrational fear.  So here we go:

  1. Identify: What, really, is it you’re feeling any way?  Is it honest-to-God fear of speaking publically?  Or is it more a fear of being the center of attention?  Is it a lack of confidence in your own abilities?  Or a lack of conviction in the message you’re going to present?  Is it rooted in the audience you’ll be speaking in front of?  Or the subject you’re discussing?  In other words, what are you really scared of?  And is it truly fear at all?  Or is it doubt?  By identifying exactly what you’re dealing with, you’re more than halfway done with conquering it!
  2. Isolate: Once you know exactly what it is you’re dealing with, consider: is there anything you can honestly do about the root cause of your fear?  For example, if the main issue is the audience you are going to speak to, can you realistically bow out of the occasion?  Or can you transplant the audience?  If so, and it’s important enough to take drastic action, go to it!  But if not, accept that.  In most cases, we find ourselves fearing situations or circumstances we truly have no control over.  If that’s the case, and you can accept that in your own mind, you can put that fear away where it belongs: deep down in your mind with nuclear holocaust, alien invasion, tape worms and all the other frightening things we can’t control.
  3. Hack Away at It: If, on the other hand, your fear is rooted in something you can control, then focus your efforts on hacking away at that problem instead of worrying about it.  For example, if you’re dealing with a lack of confidence in your own ability as a speaker, double your efforts in improving your public speaking!  The benefits are innumerable (here’s just five of them!) but just one is that the better you get, the less afraid of speaking you’ll become!  You’ll also find that fixing one problem area often improves another as well.  For instance, improving your preparation methods will make you more comfortable with a speech, which will boost your confidence level, which will allow you to speak with more passion and conviction, which will result in a better performance, which will make it easier to face the next speaking opportunity!
  4. Relax: I know it sounds trite, but the fact is, it works!  In the day, or hour, or minute, or seconds leading up to the start of your speech, make a concerted effort to just relax.  Nerves feed on themselves, and when all that chewing is done, they spit out panic.  Even the greatest of public speakers can destroy his self-confidence, his poise and his naturalness by allowing nerves to hype him up prior to the speech.  Just relax by doing whatever you normally do to chill out: read, listen to relaxing music, talk to a friend, walk a dog, crochet a sweater.  Whatever.  Just don’t sit there chewing your thumbnail and silently convincing yourself you suck.  That doesn’t help.
  5. Count: Or pray, or meditate, or whatever works best for you to focus as you walk to the podium.  The last thing you need is a full-blown panic attack in front of everyone!  (That sounded really encouraging, I know!)  But it’s important, and here’s why: Most professional speakers admit that those few seconds when you’re on stage in front of everyone waiting to speak, or while you’re being introduced, are by far the worst seconds of the whole affair.  Someone struggling with stage fright will have an even rougher time of it.  But if you can make it through those few seconds and actually say your first few, well rehearsed, eloquently stated words… you’re home free!
  6. Enjoy Yourself: Finally, once you’re up there, just enjoy yourself!  Look at it this way: You’ve been asked to speak at this event for a reason.  Maybe you’re an expert in the field and these people want to learn what you know!  Or you’re a leader and these people look to you for leadership!  Maybe you’ve written a book, or started a business, or for some other reason have some important information to get out there, and these people in the audience WANT TO HEAR YOU TALK ABOUT IT!!!  What could be cooler than that?  Seriously!  So enjoy it!  You’ve prepared, you’ve studied, you’ve written a great speech, you’re READY!

So go to it!  And don’t let some silly little thing like stage fright hold you back!

So what do you think?  How do you handle stage fright?

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Odd Children's Story – Vladimir the Agoraphobic Turtle

By admin on July 21, 2010

I haven’t done a lot of writing for children, but I’ve done a bit.  Mostly for my own kids or others personally, not for sale per se.

Here’s an example of a short story I wrote for my niece Dani a few years back because she asked me to write a story about a scared turtle and a happy duck.  Really.  That’s what she said.

So, I added interesting names and more descriptive detail than is truly necessary, plus a weird little moral and a hint of the macabre… and PRESTO!  Meet Vladimir…

Vladimir, the Agoraphobic Turtle

This is a story about Vladimir, the agoraphobic turtle and Horace, the overbearing duck.

These two unlikely friends lived in the marshy reeds surrounding a small woodland pond in the middle of a sparse wood not too far from an overgrown meadow down the road from a suburban tract of cookie-cutter houses fringing a smog-coated urban metropolis in the northwestern corner of a midwestern state in the North American sub-continent just under latitude 54-degrees North.

Horace spent his days gracefully swimming the length and breadth of the pond, waddling about in the reeds of the marsh, and tormenting Vladimir for his agoraphobic ways.

Vladimir spent his days curled up inside his shell with only a sliver of sunlight connecting him to the outside world.

His only respite from this existence was the hour per day when Horace would inevitably drop by to try to talk him out of his shell.  When this habit had first began, Vladimir resented the intrusion, but over the years he had grown so accustomed to it, he had to count Horace as his only true friend.

This day dawned like any other, and Vladimir woke and stretched (as much as he could within his shell) and yawned.  He peeked out quickly to make sure no one was around, then, with lightning speed, shot his head out of the shell, snagged a nearby leaf and drew it back in with a flash.  He munched contentedly on his breakfast.

He could hear some quiet splashing and quacking from the pond and knew that Horace was nearby.  He grinned a little, waiting patiently for that familiar ratt-i-tat-tat on his shell followed by the duck’s creaking voice crying,

“Aw, come one, Vlad.  Lemme see ya do that mighty cannonball dive you’re always braggin’ about!  (Vladimir had never bragged of any such thing.)  I think that salamander from across the pond was checkin’ you out yesterday! (She was not, and Vladimir would not have been interested if she was.)  Oh fine, stay in your shell!  See if I care!”

And then he would inevitably stomp off through the reeds, then return, all apologies, a few minutes later and continue the harassment.  Vladimir munched his leaf and waited.

Suddenly, a new and frightening sound broke the peaceful morning drips and drabs of the pond.  A tremendously loud echoing BANG reverberated through the reeds, followed by the sound of a hundred woodland creatures scampering for cover or bolting into the sky on frenzied wings.  Vladimir crunched even tighter into his shell, but he could hide no deeper, so he sat listening to the eerie silence that followed.

After a few minutes, he heard the unmistakable clumping gait of a human hunter and the slobbering whimper of his hound as they made their way through the reeds.  The dog yipped excitedly and the man said,

“Good boy!”

Vladimir screwed up all his courage and peeked quickly out in the direction of the unfamiliar sounds.  What he saw chilled his blood even colder than his natural cold-bloodedness prepared him for.  Horace, his one and only friend, lie limp, torn and bloody, in the hand of a huge flannel-wrapped hunter with a shotgun strapped across his back.  Through a mist of tears and rage, Vladimir’s all-encompassing fear disappeared in an instant, and his head and legs shot from his shell with astonishing speed.  Before the hunter could react, the brownish-green blur that was Vladimir the Pissed Off Agoraphobic Turtle had torn a hole in his boot and scratched his big toe with his razor-sharp beak.  The marsh’s dysentery-infested brackish water seeped in immediately, and the hunter swore in shock, pain and disgust.  The blur proceeded to nip tiny holes in each of the dog’s four foot pads, allowing the same disease-riddled water to enter its bloodstream with deadly efficiency.  Then the blur was gone, and Vladimir cowered within his shell, alone and mourning for his friend.

The hunter slogged from the woods with his prize, his dog trotting beside him, neither realizing that the next three days would include cramps and diarrhea of escalating severity, delirium and fever, followed by nearly a day of raving insanity, then death.

Over the years to follow, Vladimir thought often of his fallen friend and Horace’s dearest wish that Vladimir would leave his shell and interact with the outside world.  But Vladimir never managed to do more than that one lightning-fast homicidal blur.  And his legend lives on to this day in the marshy reeds surrounding a small woodland pond in the middle of a sparse wood not too far from an overgrown meadow down the road from a suburban tract of cookie-cutter houses fringing a smog-coated urban metropolis in the northwestern corner of a midwestern state in the North American sub-continent just under latitude 54-degrees North.

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Instant Expert – Initial Decision Making

By admin on July 20, 2010

Last week we discussed the one thing that’s vital to becoming an expert in your field of choice: GETTING PUBLISHED!  But how do you go about determining what area you want to specialize in?

To begin, sit yourself down in a quiet place with a notebook and pen in hand, and just think.

Think about what you know, and what you do well. What you have a passion for. Are people constantly coming up to you at your job asking for help with a particular process or software package? Are your friends calling you for help with a particular problem because you always have the answers? What do you know better than 90% of the people you talk to every day?

Now that you’ve mulled over those questions for a while, start filtering your list of skills and ideas through this series of questions:

  • Which of these items am a most passionate about?
  • Which of these items could mean the most to me personally if I were considered the expert on that topic?
  • Would anyone be willing to pay me for my knowledge or expertise on that topic?
  • Does that even matter to me?
  • What is my purpose in wanting to become an expert in this area?

By considering your list of ideas in these ways, you begin to filter out the less desirable ideas. Those areas that are too limited in scope to be of value, or those that no one else really cares about.

Be careful, though, not to allow your own negative thinking to weed out potentially good ideas!

For example, if you happen to be a person who finds joy and satisfaction in cleaning out gutters, and secretly wish you could do it more often, perhaps even as an occupation, don’t weed it off your list because you feel it’s too unimportant or commonplace to warrant becoming an expert.

The fact is, most people hate cleaning out their gutters, and would welcome the opportunity to find out from an expert how to do it better.

Or, to allow an expert to do it for them!

So now, you have some basic ideas about areas in which you can specialize.  But you’re not done yet!  Next week, you’ll be narrowing your focus even further into niches and microniches!

***********

This post is one in a series, all focused on how you can enjoy “expert status” in the field of your choice through the tools and resources available to everyone in the first half of the 21st century!  If you want instant access to the basics, sign up here and you’ll receive the FREE SPECIAL REPORT: Instant Expert – How to “Write the Book” in Your Field of Choice and Make a Killing at It!

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Timeless Principles – Goodness

By admin on July 19, 2010

Last week we talked about kindness and the principle of goodness has a lot in common with it.

Both generally involve thinking of other people first: their thoughts, their feelings, their preferences.  Giving people the basic dignity of treating them as you would want to be treated.  (Here’s a little clue for you, just to make sure you’ve been following along: there’s a common thread that runs through most of the Timeless Principles that have a real impact on human life.  Check these previous posts out if you don’t believe me: Peace, Love, The Golden Rule.  And there will be more.  I guarantee it!)

But goodness forces us to take an even broader view.  Goodness basically involves doing what is right and good for others even if it’s not the kindest or friendliest thing to do.

How in the world can that be?  How contradictory!

Well, not really.  Here are some examples:

  • A young mother stops her infant from running into the street after his favorite ball.  The ball gets popped by an oncoming car and the child’s arm is sore from where she grabbed him.  As far as the  kid is concerned, Mommy was not very kind.  But she did the right thing!  That was goodness.
  • Dad finds an empty beer can in his 17-year-old son’s car and confiscates the kid’s keys for the weekend, completely ruining a date he had planned.  Ouch.  Was that loving?  Peaceful?  Kind?  Not if you ask the son.  But was it good?  All the parents think so.

As a parent, the parenting examples come readily to my mind, but certainly the principle of goodness can be exemplified in countless ways.  The point is that sometimes the good or right thing to do is not always the easiest, kindest thing to do.  But if it’s truly done with the other person’s best interests at heart, it’s still good.

Now a serious warning is in order here: since goodness can sometimes involve making the decision to do something in someone else’s best interest, even against their will, you’d better be darn sure that what you’re doing is actually the right thing.  AND you’d better darn well be in a position where you are morally, ethically, and legally able to take whatever action you’re thinking of taking!  Because if you’re not, all the pure motive in the world won’t change the fact that you’ve imposed your will on another human being where you had no right to do so.  And that will never be good.

So, as a parent, you’re in a tough position sometimes, needing to make difficult decisions on behalf of your children that they may not appreciate or agree with.  At least not yet.  In some other facets of life, you may need to do the same for others as well.  Being good is not easy, especially since the easier path is generally the wrong one.

But when the dust settles and you look back on the decisions you’ve made, you will hopefully be able to confirm that what you did was the right thing.  And hopefully, by then, the people you helped out will appreciate it too.

Thank goodness.

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