Archive for the ‘blogging’ Category

I lifted this photo from my friend Julie’s blog. This is one of her students reading my book. I get a great deal of satisfaction from watching kids read my books. Julie’s a mom, part-time librarian, part-time writer, knitter, and crafter. Just an all-around kindred spirit. I love her blog because it has lots of photographs and she uses colors and images so well. You can read the post she wrote about photographing student engagement here. We are partnering on some work at her school (St. Therese Catholic School) this spring. I’m sure I’ll be sharing some about that in the coming months.

In the meantime, I find myself doing lots of paperwork related to the business side of being an author and illustrator. I am checking each of the 1099′s as they come in against my own records of last year’s income. So far, of the three that have come, I have found mistakes in two. I am setting up spreadsheets to record 2010 expenses, income, mileage, and sales tax. I am famous, or infamous, depending on how you look at it, for the piles of papers on my kitchen desk and my “real” desk. I would always rather be creating, blogging, editing photos, writing, anything really, than doing paperwork. But such is life.

It’s ready to view! See the book trailer for Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature. I’d love to hear what you think.

It’s also available on my website and on my Amazon author page. (Look in the far right column at the bottom.)

Richard and I have been busy behind the scenes (mostly Richard, it must be said) working on a new look for the website and the blog. Please let us know what you think.

Big news today for Hester Bass! Her book, The Secret World of Walter Anderson, won the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children. This is wonderful news for Hester, for the book, and for the legacy of Walter Anderson. Many, many more people will learn about his extraordinary life and art. Way to go, Hester!

In November, I talked with Hester about the book and featured a video of her reading the opening lines. Click here to see that post. Hester also presented at my sons’ school, Power APAC, which I wrote about here. During Hester’s visit to Jackson, a crew from Mississippi Public Broadcasting filmed an interview for their online feature Don’t Lecture Me!

Our marketing package for Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature includes a  book trailer. This is a new venture for us — book trailers not being as much of a “thing” when Wolfsnail came out. Since we got grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Greater Jackson Arts Council to support marketing efforts, we were able to hire Mosaic Media, a pr and video production company owned by Ron and Kathryn Rodenmeyer. After looking around at other book trailers and reading some reviews of trailers, I decided I wanted a trailer that would address two ideas: first, that despite the somewhat intimidating sounding name Fibonacci, the number sequence at the center of my picture book is pretty simple; and second, that examples of Fibonacci numbers are all around us in daily life. I set the desired length at 1 min. & 30 sec.

With these key parameters set, Kathryn told me the next step was for me to write a script. She told me I would need to write more informally than I was used to. The words would have to flow like conversation. I put something together. Ron and Kathryn liked the concept, though they suggested I needed an intro. We came up with an intro and then Kathryn developed a list of video and still shots, music, and voice/over and on-camera audio. Then, we started talking about talent. I asked my friend Julie to play herself (mom and librarian); I asked Ron and Kathryn’s kids Ben and Kate to play Julie’s kids; and I engaged Tanner the dog as himself.

We decided to shoot the indoor scenes at my house and the outdoor shots at my parents’ house. I bought flowers for the inside and the outside (we had the worst cold snap in the state’s history last week, which zapped all the pansy blossoms).

I can’t tell you how great it was to be working with people who knew the video medium. There are so many things to think about with video that us still photographers don’t have to think about. Most of these have to do with time and audio.

Besides bringing Ben and Kate to “star” in the book trailer, Ron and Kathryn also brought along their oldest, Eve, to engage the younger ones after their work time. When the Rodenmeyer kids were off camera, they played ping-pong with my boys and then we played bananagrams. Ron, who was working the entire time (directing, shooting, recording), had to shush us when we forgot we were on a set.

We had a few last-minute script changes. I woke up with the idea that Julie should record some of the lines that had been slated for me. She was a good sport. I wasn’t in on her recording session, but I know it went well.

Ron was good at coaching. He had me read a few lines to check the audio levels. Then, as soon as he said, “We’re good to go. Ready when you are,” I belted out the lines like I had to project to the bleachers. Woa! You never know what you’ll do in front of a microphone. I’m trying not to think much about appearing in my own book trailer. It goes with the territory and getting nervous just makes it harder. We left Ron and Kathryn with all the raw footage, some still images from our family archives, and some bags of pasta. I will be giddy with anticipation until I get to see the rough cut. This is fun!

(Richard documented the whole thing by taking the photographs in this post. He also helped with set-up, provided a back-up tripod, and offered critical opinions.)

Today my editor wrote to suggest I draft a press release. He and I are collaborating on the marketing plan for Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature. Such is the nature of publishing with a small publishing company. (Actually, I think it is the nature of publishing, period.) We all have to pitch in and help with everything that needs to be done. A few weeks ago, I sent in a list of names to add to Boyds Mills‘ master list of reviewers, librarians, teachers, science magazines, etc., who will get an advance copy of Growing Patterns. Among them were librarians and bloggers I have met or followed during my nearly two years as a published author. I looked at each blog carefully to determine the individual blogger’s policy for submitting books for review. In some cases, reviewers want to read about a book and request a copy if interested. So, I started the press release.

The last time I wrote a press release for a book, the target audience was local media outlets at the time of Wolfsnail‘s launch at a local bookstore. I had to convince general interest publications to run a story or blurb about a local woman becoming a published author. My charge this time was different. In the first place, I was writing for specialists. Folks in the Kidlitosphere are discerning readers of children’s books. They stay abreast of what’s being published and they know what they’d like to have in their libraries, classrooms, and homes.

As I stared at the blank screen, I was temporarily stymied. How could I describe this 811-word book in a few sentences? Sometimes, when you’ve lived with something so intimately for so long, you believe you can’t find one more original thing to say. Then I remembered that I am the only person (with the possible exception of my husband and my editor) who has been living and breathing this book. To others, it will be new. This freed me to write about why I think this book will be a good addition to any (and every) library in homes and schools and cities and towns. I want kids (of all ages) to open this book, to count flower petals, to add numbers, to discover a pattern, to trace spiral shapes, and to search out examples of Fibonacci numbers in their own neighborhoods.

In a way, I was writing a review of my own book. It felt strange. I am curious about how other writers handle the marketing responsibilities that come their way.

Our two copies of Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature arrived today. The books are beautiful! The colors are bright, the pages are shiny, and the shape is a golden rectangle. After getting some positive feedback on using video on the blog, I decided that this would be a good day to use it again. You can watch the brief video below and then read on for more information.

From my early days of writing for children, I have always read what I was working on to kids. At first, it was my own. Then, I moved on to sharing with kids at my kids’ school. In addition to reading my stories and poems, I read all kinds of books to small groups and entire classrooms. I could tell from the kids’ reactions what was working and what was not. I learned, too, that kids are not willing to sit still for version after version of the same story. I learned to get my stories into pretty good shape before I shared and to read once and move on.

One of the spreads in Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator is in the book because of questions I got from kids when I went to schools with my Highlights article about wolfsnails. Kids always asked if wolfsnails eat worms. I created a scene in which a wolfsnail encounters a worm (and does not eat it) so that I could answer the question in the text.

With Growing Patterns I pushed my luck with a few of the young readers, asking them to read it aloud to me. I know they felt a little nervous, but I kept my mouth shut and tried not to be too obvious about the notes I was taking. I was watching for places where they stumbled over my awkward constructions or where they needed more clarification. Two second graders wrote out a page of questions for me. Many of the questions were about how I took the photographs or got interested in the pattern. But they also pointed out their favorite photographs and patterns. I am very excited about going back to their school this week and showing these now third graders the final product.

Thank you, everybody!

If this goes on much longer I may be reduced to posting outtakes from Wolfsnail. The arrival of a few Christmas cards and another package cushioned the blow today when the mail did not bring my copy of Growing Patterns. Sigh, again.

Growing Patterns did not arrive today. Sigh.

This image was considered for the book, but didn’t get in. One challenge we had with Growing Patterns was the fact that, in general, the photographs are taken very close to the objects they depict — so close that we weren’t sure readers would recognize the objects. In several cases, we included photographs from slightly different angles or of the full object. At one point we talked about using this image for that purpose, but decided against it. Richard used photoshop to edit out the background on this sunflower. It was a rough job and he would have had to fine-tune it if we had decided to put in in the book.

As the title of this post suggests, this is my 300th blog post. It’s amazing how quickly they add up when I post every day — as I have been lately.

One thing about this countdown that I have enjoyed is looking back through my Lightroom catalog. This photograph of a spider lily was taken before I had the notion I would write a book called Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature. Today I counted the spokes going out from the central stem; there are 8, which is the 6th Fibonacci number. I didn’t expect the book to come today because it it Sunday, but I do have high hopes for the coming week.