A Winner
Posted on: December 14, 2011
I won one of the three Grand Prizes in PiBoMo. I get to pitch five ideas pb with Jen Rofe. How cool is that?
Starting Up the Blog Again
Posted on: December 14, 2011
I have been busy with Cancer and the side effects but will be starting to post again.
Be sure to sign up for his posts. He discusses a lot of great topics.
Well, platform is one of those nebulous concepts that will result in a thousand different definitions if you ask a thousand different individuals. But here’s how I think of it: platform is the number of eyeballs you can summon as you promote your book.
A “platform” may be comprised of an Internet or media presence, a very strong reputation in a particular field, a TV show, affiliation with a popular brand, a connection to a popular writing collective, celebrity status, or ownership of the world’s largest soapbox.
As many of my regular readers already know I have been fighting my way back to a more healthier and happier person in the past few months. I am in week 4 of my journey. On August 3, 2010, I discovered that I have colon cancer. Treatment started after a move back to Michigan on August 23.
Having discovered the cancer is in some ways a good thing. Some on you may gasp at this comment but it is true. Knowing how precious one’s life is has helped me to focus on the things in my life that are really important and to let go of the other things that aren’t that crucial. I feel more aware of the little things that make my life special, whether it is a pat on the back, a smile from a child or just being able to sit quietly and let the sun shine on my face. I have met the most awesome people one person can ever hope to meet. My writing family has gathered around me and filled my emails with love and support. My non-writing friends and family have been super. The staff at the treatment center are fast becoming lifetime friends. My life is fuller and richer than I had ever imagined.
Treatment is going fairly well, if one can consider cancer treatment as something that can go well. The whole process has had its share of challenges but I am making it through and still smiling. Lol.
Me, at a Hats Off to Women's conference.
Below is a little about Noelle Sterne and a brief excerpt for the readers to see if the article appeals to them.
Writer, editor, writing coach, and consultant, Noelle Sterne holds the Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University and publishes in writers’ and mainstream magazines. Her articles have appeared in Archetype, Children’s Book Insider, Pure Inspiration, The Write Place At the Write Time, Writer’s Digest special issues, Writers’ Journal, and The Writer. Her short storyabout a boy with healing powers appeared in the Star Stepping Anthology (2008). Noelle is currently working on a collection of essays offering candid counsel and relentless support to writers: First You Find Your Desk: Start Writing and Keep Writing with Less Agony and More Joy.
As a children’s author, do you know you can use more resources to publicize your book than mainstream authors? I discovered many of these avenues after the publication of my children’s book Tyrannosaurus Wrecks: A Book of Dinosaur Riddles (HarperCollins). This book, in print for eighteen years, was featured on the first
dinosaur show of PBS-TV’s Reading Rainbow, which continues to air
and is now on DVD.
Me, a month before the stage 3 colon cancer was detected. Deceptically healthy looking,
Early August’s news that I had colon cancer kind of rocked my world a tad. For several days I struggled with the feeling that I shouldn’t bother to blog. I was worried about how I would feel and whether anyone even cared if I blogged or not. It didn’t seem to be that important in the grand scheme of things but after the first week of treatment, I realized something. That was . . . whether or not anyone reads my blog not, I really missed it. I like looking for things to share with others. I like the writing aspect. I have decided that while I might not post as often as I have in the past while I am on my journey to “good health” I am going to try and keep up the blog.
I’m asking those who read this to be patient with me over the next few months as I work my way through this challenging time.
Whenever I am feeling like I should just stop writing, I come across something like this that renews my desire to write. It is nice to know that even the great writers have those times when it didn’t come easy. This appeared on Verlakay’s site and was posted by Stephanie Theban. Thanks Stephanie for sharing this. I heard Phyllis Reynolds Naylor speak today. She said that she used to say she had received a thousand rejections, and then she felt bad about it because she didn’t know if it was true. She had her secretary go back and count them. there were actually over 10,000.
Ten thousand rejections. She read a series from one editor who said things like, you don’t understand how to construct a story, I hate to see you spend so much energy on stories that won’t work, you can keep sending stories to me, but I won’t publish any of them until you learn something about story. And as she said, a lot of acceptances. It was a great reminder to perservere. |
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Stephanie Theban aka Leeth
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