WRITER 2 WRITER: THE PROS AND CONS OF SELF-PUBLISHING

SUCCESSFUL SELF-PUBLISHING, PART II

So, you’re considering self-publishing your book but are still not sure if it’s the right choice for you. Let me assure you that it is wise to take a step back and carefully look at your options before jumping right in.

In today’s 2nd part of my Successful Self-Publishing series, I will share the pros and cons of going the indie route. (Read part 1 of my series, “Should I Self-Publish?” HERE.) Let’s start with the cons:

THE CONS OF SELF-PUBLISHING

1.   MONEY – If you think you can publish a top-quality book for nothing, you’re in the wrong business. Sure, you can crank out a poorly edited, badly designed product with a crappy cover and hang an Amazon “For Sale” sign on it if you want. But don’t expect anyone but your mother to buy it.

Let’s be honest here. Most of us write books because we want people to read them. And to accomplish that, people need to buy them. In the world of traditional publishing, producing and marketing a book can take tens of thousands of dollars. While self-publishing shouldn’t cost nearly that much, it does cost. Cover art, line editing, proofreading, design, formatting, and marketing all require money to do it right. And that money has to come out of your pocket.

2.   MARKETING – When it comes to marketing, traditional publishers have a whole slew of resources at their fingertips. They have networks and budgets in place to acquire reviews, pay for advertising, and schedule book tours. Indie authors must handle all of this alone. Too often, authors think that they can effectively sell their books just by posting about them on Facebook or other social media.

The truth is, if you want to sell books, you need reviews and advertising, too. You need to establish a fan base and connect with them in a meaningful way. You need to set up blog tours as well as go to events to sell books in person. Again, as the author, this is all your responsibility, which takes a lot of time and money. And there are still no guarantees your book will sell.

3.     COMPETITION – Hugh Howey, E.L. James, and Amanda Hocking have made millions! So what? Listen, folks, mega-hits like Wool and Fifty Shades of Gray are the exception, not the rule, for self-publishing. According to a 2016 New York Times article, only about 40 self-published authors currently “make money” (meaning they’ve sold over a million copies and are hugely successful). The rest of the hundreds of thousands of SP titles out there are lucky if they sell a dozen copies a year.
In other words, your book will be a very tiny drop in a vast ocean . And since there are a limited number of book buyers out there, your share in the market isn’t likely to be very big. Does that mean your book doesn’t stand a chance? Of course not. But going into this business without being completely aware of what you’re up against is a bad idea.

Okay. Now that I’ve totally burst your bubble, let me share with you some good reasons to self-publish DESPITE the negatives I just listed above.

THE PROS OF SELF-PUBLISHING

1.     CONTROL – It’s a joke in the traditional publishing industry, just how long the publishing process takes (two years on average for a novel.) Also, once that manuscript is out of the author’s hands, he/she has little say in what happens next. Editing, cover design, marketing, even the price of the book are all decisions made by someone else. Self-publishing allows you to control the project through every step along the way. Not only can you publish in a matter of months instead of years, you can also make sure the end result matches your vision and not someone else’s.

2.     INCOME – While most traditionally published authors earn less than a buck off every book sold (While the really successful ones might get hefty advances, most do not.), self-published authors can set their own prices and make a larger percentage off every sale. This means that although you might sell fewer books, you can still make a decent profit.

3.     POTENTIAL – While stats show that the vast majority of self-published books earn less than $100, there are ways to greatly improve your odds (which I’ll discuss in next week’s article). The potential for success is definitely present, and there are plenty of examples of authors who, while not earning multi-millions like E.L. James, are making a respectable living with their books. If you do self-publishing right, you can too.

4.     SATISFACTION – There is nothing quite as satisfying as holding a printed copy of your masterpiece in your hand. Knowing that you not only wrote that baby, but you helped it become the book it is today is immensely fulfilling. Even more rewarding is seeing those four and five star reviews come in, as well as the ticks of the sales in your online reports. But best of all is when people who have read your book tell you how it made a difference for them, how it touched their hearts and changed them for the better. Nothing beats creating a book that has that kind of transformative power.
I’ve laid out the honest truth here, why you should or maybe shouldn’t self-publish. The final decision rests with you. If you decide to take the plunge into self-publishing, however, make sure you give your book the best chance possible to succeed. To find out how to do that, be sure to read next week’s installment in my Successful Self-Publishing series: “Keys to Successful Self-Publishing”.

WRITER 2 WRITER: TEACHING THE RULES OF WRITING TO KIDS

KIDS WRITE, PART VII


“There must be deviations from the rules in order to express almost anything….However, only the man who is familiar with the rules may sometimes violate them, for he alone can know that, in certain cases, the rule is not enough.” – Andre Ernest Modeste Gretry 

When I first began to teach writing classes, I went into the job with the assumption that my students already understood the basic rules of grammar and punctuation, and for the most part my assumption was correct. However, the most disconcerting discovery I made was that such an assumption could not be made about every child.

Mary* was fourteen years old and what I would call a bookworm. She was an eager learner and highly intelligent. On the last day of my fiction writing course that year, each of my students were to bring a typed copy of their short story to share with the class.

Mary did not want to read her story out loud, so I volunteered to read it for her. When she handed me her story, however, I was flabbergasted to find not one single use of punctuation on the entire page. There wasn’t a period, comma, or quotation mark in sight. Not only that, but not a single letter was capitalized, every fifth word was misspelled, and the story had been written in one very long block of text. No paragraphs. I did my best to read it, but I struggled to know where to begin and end each sentence.

My class was not a grammar class. I was teaching the craft of fiction writing and expected the kids to learn the basic tools of writing at home. In this case, however, that had obviously not occurred.
When I had the chance, I pulled Mary aside and complimented her on her creative story. She had a knack for humor and character development.

“But,” I told her as gently as I possibly could, “there is no punctuation on the entire page.”
“Oh, I don’t need punctuation,” was her confident reply.

The truth is I am still stunned that anyone could honestly believe they don’t need to use punctuation when they write. I don’t know if her mother had told her that or if she had come to that conclusion on her own, but she was wrong, and I told her so.

Mary’s case was a bit extreme. The vast majority of students who have received any kind of writing instruction, whether at home or in a classroom, will have learned the value of punctuation, proper grammar, and spelling. But parents and teachers should not be lulled into the same easy assumption as I was and allow your child/student to get as far as high school without even being able to put a period in the right place.

Society often tells us, though flippantly, that rules are made to be broken. Writers and poets in particular are notorious for breaking rules.

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela’s Ashes, author Frank McCourt avoids quotation marks like the plague. Ernest Hemingway’s original works were littered with misspelled words. William Faulkner was notorious for his run-on sentences.

This bending and breaking of the rules in contemporary literature may give young writers the impression that the rules are irrelevant when compared to the creative process of writing. This could not be further from the truth. The rules of writing should not be broken, must not be broken, until they are first mastered. If Frank McCourt had written a quotation mark-free story for his college professor, he probably would have received a poor grade indeed.

Mary’s comment that she did not need to use punctuation is to writing like saying we do not need to obey traffic signals is to driving a vehicle. If we fail to stop at a red light, for example, cars will crash into each other, causing a lot of chaos and damage. The same thing happens to language without the proper use of punctuation and grammar.

In Mary’s case, my opportunities to assist her were limited. However, I did manage to teach her a few simple self-checks to help her get her writing under control. Look for these self-checks in next week’s article.

* Name changed for privacy.

WRITER 2 WRITER: STORYMAKERS AND POLITICS

This past weekend I attended the STORYMAKERS WRITERS CONFERENCE in Provo, Utah. I believe this was my 5th visit with this particular conference, and I have to say it was my favorite so far.

First, my daughter Carissa attended with me (she came last year too). She and I not only did conference stuff, but we also hung out with my son Stuart who is attending college nearby, visited with my cousins who I hadn't seen in a long time, saw a play together, and tried several yummy restaurants.

Second, my sister also flew in from Seattle, and we spent plenty of time with her.

Third, the food and classes were excellent! Carissa rightfully stated that the overall quality of this year's conference was much better than last year. We even got a really cool, nice quality business bag instead of the usual tote.

Over the past decade or so, I've attended about thirty different conferences and retreats. Most have been via the SCBWI (Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators), some with Storymakers, and others with a variety of different organizations. I've enjoyed them all, but what I love most about Storymakers is the feeling of comradarie and acceptance among the hundreds of attendees. Most of us are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so we are connected by our faith and values. But other than offering prayers over our meals, you won't hear much spoken about religion or politics or social ideas at Storymakers. It's all about writing.

And that's the way it should be. Despite our common religious backgrounds, there were all kinds of men and women there: blue and purple hair, women with babies, all levels of education, some with band t-shirts and others in dresses, a diversity of personalities and tastes and cultures. Everyone was welcome and accepted.

In recent years, I stopped attending SCBWI events because they became too political. Speakers began inserting their personal political agendas into their presentations, forgetting that children's books writers come from all walks of life. As a politically conservative woman, I increasingly felt that I was not welcome in SCBWI anymore. The organization itself was never meant to be political, but with so many high ranking members and speakers being liberal and becoming so vocal about it, I just stopped feeling like part of the tribe.

Storymakers, on the other hand, has never vocalized politics. By the very nature of the fact that most members are LDS and Christian, most of us are probably conservative too, though not everyone is. But the cool thing is... WHO CARES! At this year's conference, politics were checked at the door, allowing everyone to feel like part of a vast, wonderful family of writers.

Thank you to Storymakers for being so inclusive and making it all about what really counts: WRITING.

WRITER 2 WRITER: A WRITER'S JOURNEY

As an author, one of the most common questions I am asked is “How long have you been writing?” My answer is usually something like, “My whole life,” but that’s not really what people want to know. They want to hear about my journey, how I became a published author.

I have fifteen published books under my belt. The first was published in 2012, but that wasn’t the beginning. I wrote my first book in 2006. Couldn’t find a publisher. Wrote my second book in 2007, which took a couple years to revise and polish. I started submitting it to publishers in 2008. Two years later, I signed my first publishing contract. Nearly two years after that, the book [The Rock of Ivanore, Tanglewood Press] finally came out in 2012.

During the interim years, I kept writing. Book #2 [The Last Enchanter, Tanglewood Press] came out in 2013 with another in 2014 with a different publisher. Then things started going south. My first publisher went on hiatus and announced they were not going to publish the third book in my series. The second publisher just sort of vanished. Fortunately, a third publisher picked up my now orphaned book and republished it [Contact, Evernight Teen]. But I was still stuck with a series installment with no publisher. That’s when my journey changed direction.

Around this time, a friend of mine lost her husband to a sudden illness. She is an amazing sci-fi author but had never published anything, so I founded Skyrocket Press and published her short story collection [Martian Goods, Noelle Campbell]. Since then I’ve published many of my own books and other authors’ books via Skyrocket Press.

Our newest title, The Word and the Struggle by Raymond A. White, is a collection of essays about the Old Testament. I am currently in the process of publishing books three thru six of my fantasy series The Crystal Keeper, which I hope will be out soon.

So that’s it in a nutshell, my author’s journey. Very condensed, I know, but the next time you read a good book, remember that the journey the author followed to get that book into your hands was often a long and difficult one. But I can guarantee that for all of us, it’s been one helluva ride!

Join Skyrocket Press’s mailing list and get a FREE book here:

https://mailchi.mp.7861dc13bbef/skyrocketpressnews

WRITER 2 WRITER: 3 TIPS FOR WRITING FUNNY

Funny books. Kids love ’em. My kids have been avid fans of Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid for years, and they’re not alone. Dav Pilkey’s hit sensation has sold more than 70 million copies, and the latest addition to the series has been on the New York Times Best-seller List for 86 weeks. Even more astonishing is Jeff Kinney’s series, which has sold over 150 million copies! Hard Luck has been on the list for 446 weeks, while the author’s newest title, Dog Man, currently dominates the list’s top spot. So, there’s no doubt writing funny is worthwhile.

When I first started writing, I wanted to make kids laugh. Not all the time (I’d leave the gut-busting chortles to Pilkey), but an occasional chuckle was fine by me. Unfortunately, writing funny requires a certain flare that doesn’t come naturally to me. So, to infuse humor into my books, I turn to the masters for advice.

Remember Fonzi from the hit 70’s sitcom, Happy Days? He’s a best-selling author now and as funny as ever. He and Lin Oliver, founder and President of The Society of Children’s Books Writers & Illustrators co-write the hilarious Ghost Buddy and Hank Zipzer series.

One thing about Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver is that being funny comes second nature to them. Everything that comes out of their mouths is funny, so of course their writing is funny too. But comedians, actors, and best-selling authors do not have the corner market on humor. Here are some ideas from Henry and Lin that any author can use.

1. EXAGGERATE
When writing dialog, write over the top. Instead of saying, “That candy bar cost me two whole dollars!” say “That freakin’ candy bar cost as much as Fort Knox!” Or instead of writing, “Johnny, I called you three times! Didn’t you hear me?” try “I called your name a gazillion times! Are there marbles in your ears?”

Characterizations and descriptions can be over the top too, like a bald super hero who wears whitey tidies and window curtains for a cape.

2. ADD THE STRAIGHT MAN
Abbot and Costello, Lucy and Ricky, Pinky and the Brain! Every great comedy duo has the funny man and the straight man. Jokes are funnier when played off the serious guy who either doesn’t find it comical or just doesn’t get it. Winkler and Oliver’s characters Billy Broccoli and The Hoove from their Ghost Buddy series are great examples of this. The Hoove’s hilarious jokes are often lost on Billy, but readers laugh every time.

3. ACT IT OUT
Once you write a scene that needs to be funny, try acting it out with a partner. Humor comes more naturally during conversation. So, read the scene aloud, encourage improvisation, and see where it leads. Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver do this while writing their books, and the results are uproarious!
Still lacking confidence to craft a laugh-out-loud scene in your book? Check out Writers Digest’s How to Write Funny for more great tips!

WRITER 2 WRITER: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

In 2014, I founded Skyrocket Press as a place where authors seeking to self-publish could get quality, professional help with editing and design.

The first book we produced was MARTIAN GOODS by Noelle Campbell, a collection of sci-fi short stories. Since then, we have helped to publish seventeen books by half a dozen authors. I'm very proud of these books.

But I want to do more. So, this year I am transitioning Skyrocket Press into a traditional small press. I hope that in the coming year we will publish 6-8 novels and non-fiction books. I know what some of you are thinking. Why?

Why, when the publishing industry as a whole is losing money? Why, when most books out there barely break even, if they're lucky?

While of course I hope to earn a profit in time (if I don't, this venture may not last very long), my aim is pretty simple: I love creating books!

Not only do I love writing, but I love the process of publishing a book: editing, formatting, design. For me, each book is a work of art.

I also want to share my skills with other authors who dream of getting published. I know what it's like to work so hard for years on a story only to face rejection after rejection. I want to find a few gems and give them a chance. Give them life.

I can't promise my authors will get rich. If they do, great for both of us. But I can promise I will create books worthy of their stories, and I will do my best to help them market them and make them successes.

Submissions to Skyrocket Press are now open. We are looking for non-fiction "how-to" and self-help books, "clean" adult fiction, and occasional young adult fiction. We are particularly interested in titles about writing, and religious titles.

For more information visit our website: https://www.skyrocketpress.com/submissions
Scroll down past the contest info.

WRITER 2 WRITER: CAN AUTHORS MAKE MONEY?

As a published author, one question I get asked frequently is “How many books have you sold?”
That question is like asking a man how big his paycheck is. It’s rude — for several reasons.

First, authors don’t like that question because we often don’t know how many books we’ve sold. Most of us don’t keep specific numbers, and when we do, they are never as high as we’d like them to be.

Second, the question is really a sneaky attempt to find out if we are actually making any money at what we do. And unfortunately, for the majority of us authors, the answer is — not really.

I recently attended a writing conference where the guest speaker spoke about his award-winning self-published book. Then he opened it up for questions from the audience. One person asked how much it cost to produce the book. The answer was in the realm of $10,000 (which is a huge amount). The next question was whether the author had earned that back in sales. The answer was no, not even close.

The discouraging truth about self-published and even the majority of traditionally published books is that most authors don’t earn a profit on their books. Most self-published books earn less than what it costs to produce and market them.

I’m being flat out honest here. I was first published in 2012. I currently have 15 titles on my list. Several have won awards. While I do sell consistently, I earn an average of $30 – $50 a month on royalties. I spend hundreds each month on editing, design, publication, and promotion. The only real profit I’ve ever earned is when my traditional publisher wrote me a check for $2,000 for the rights to my first book. I make the bulk of my income from teaching and from editing other people’s books. Other authors earn money from offering online courses.

That’s not to say all authors live like this. There are plenty who make a decent living at writing, but they tend to be the leaders in their genres, the best-sellers who either get the lion’s share of their publishing houses’ marketing or cut new ground in the self-publishing market. But they represent a small percentage of all published authors, most of whom are lucky if they just break even.

Should this discourage you from pursuing your dream? Yes, if your dream is to be the next J.K. Rowling. Chances of that happening are about 1 in a billion.

But if your dream is to write and see your name in print, to have a small but loyal following who love your books, then go for it.

When you look at the dollar signs, or lack thereof, it’s easy to feel like a failure. I know. I’ve been there often. But then I remind myself why I’m a writer. I didn’t write my first novel because I wanted to make a million bucks or become world famous. I wrote because I love to write. When kids tell me my books inspire them or when adults thank me for writing stories that make them cry, I am the happiest author in the world.

And in the end, that’s what matters the most.

WRITER 2 WRITER: WRITING THROUGH THE BAD DAYS

You’ve set a goal to write regularly, if not every day. But then something happens: a child gets sick, the plumbing backs up, the car gets a flat tire…

You know what I’m talking about. And it doesn’t have to be “big” problems that throw a wrench in your day. Maybe you just have too many other things on your plate and writing isn’t a high priority. It’s easy to say you’ll get to it later, or tomorrow, or next week. But be careful.

As Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man said: “Pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.”

If you want to be a writer, you must WRITE.

Writing isn’t a hobby or something you do to pass the time. For many of us, writing is a serious pursuit, a career. You wouldn’t wake up to a crazy day and say, “I guess I won’t go to work today.
Too many other things to do.” So, make writing THE priority. Here are three ways to do it:

1. WRITE FIRST – No matter how long your to do list is, writing should always be at the very top.  

2. SET REACHABLE GOALS – If your day doesn’t allow for 2,000 words or three hours of writing, write 500 words, or 250. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Whatever you can realistically manage, but write something. 

3. BE FLEXIBLE – If you’re faced with a serious challenge, and you don’t feel like working on your latest sci-fi novel, then write something else. Write in your journal, or a letter to a friend, or a poem. The goal is to avoid procrastination, to keep your writing schedule in tact. But if you need to change up what you write today, then do it.

WRITER 2 WRITER: WHEN ARE YOU "DONE" WRITING?

When I visit schools, I teach kids about the writing process. I explain that it takes me months to write a first draft for a novel, but then the work is just beginning.

I ask students how they feel when they turn in an essay or story only to have their teacher mark it all up with red pen. Inevitably, the kids groan. They know what I’m talking about. Revision is hard work.

I’ve written sixteen novels over the past twelve years. Each first draft took four to twelve months to complete, and I rewrote (not just edited) each book an average of nine times. Some more than that. And those revisions can take years. For example, I just completed the ninth revision of a novel I first wrote seven years ago.

I teach college composition, and I require my students to turn in three drafts of each essay. They hate it! But each draft improves upon the one before it. A question I often hear in both my school visits with kids and from my college students is, “When am I done writing?”

My answer is: “When it’s published by Random House and sitting on a shelf at Barnes & Noble.”
In other words, until a book or essay is actually bound and printed, there is always room for improvement.

If you’ve submitted a novel to agents or publishers and haven’t gotten a contract yet, your book needs more work.

If you’ve self-published, but the book isn’t selling well or is getting negative reviews, your book needs more work.

If you’ve only written two or three drafts, your book needs more work.

Have you hired a professional editor? No? Your book needs more work.

Keep going. Your story deserves to be the best it can be.

WRITER 2 WRITER: PROUD TO BE A BOOK ADDICT

Keeping it short and sweet today.

I am a book addict. I don’t know how else to describe the inexpressible pull I feel toward books or my compulsive need to keep buying them. I read about 30-50 books a year, usually three or four at the same time. I own more than a hundred books that I haven’t yet read but have every intention of reading “some day”.

Last year, in an effort to break myself of this habit and to declutter my house, I gave away eight boxes (BIG boxes) full of books to my local library, friends, and a needy school. I estimated there were at least 200 books in those boxes, maybe more. The value was over $2,500. Many were new books I’d purchased but never read.

I continue to donate about 100 books a year to schools and libraries. And I keep buying more. When my monthly Barnes & Noble coupons arrive in the mail, it feels like Christmas.

There are books I have read that I’ve loved so much I refuse to part with them, even though I will never read them again.

I love the texture, weight, smell of a new book. Better than chocolate. To me, each book is a treasure. A gift.

I am an not ashamed of my addiction.

If you share my addiction to books, send me a message and tell me which book you just finished along with the last sentence of the last page.

WRITER 2 WRITER: THE VOICE THAT COUNTS

As a teen, I often entertained grandiose visions of becoming a best-selling novelist one day. I spent most of my spare time writing anything that came to mind: poetry, plays, short stories, journal entries. Then all my dreams were shattered in a single moment.

Ms. Danson was a tall, imposing woman who looked more like a football player than a schoolteacher. She prided herself on the fact that she knew every spot on campus where students could ditch class and hide. She should know because she had graduated from our school only a few years earlier. This was her first teaching job and I was unlucky enough to get her for English that year.

Now, as a student I was not anything special. However, I excelled at English. The only thing I loved more than writing was reading. I had fallen in love with literature during my freshman year thanks to Thelma Chapman, a vivacious English teacher with a delightful British accent. Due to my nearsightedness and my love of English, I always sat in the front row, but Ms. Danson seated her class alphabetically, and since I was the only “W” in class, I was relegated to the corner seat in the last row.

Our reading assignments that year included The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I was sure Mark Twain himself would have slept through Ms. Danson’s lectures. To make matters even worse, we were to write a term paper on it. I was pretty good at poems and stories, but I wasn’t so good at term papers.

One afternoon Ms. Danson called me into her office. She slid my paper across her desk and instructed me to open the cover. I did so and found a big ‘D-’ scrawled in red ink on the title page. Ms. Danson proceeded to flip through the pages detailing all the mistakes I had made, from the lack of transitional phrases to putting my commas on the outside of my quotation marks. Red marks adorned every page. All I saw was red, and that ‘D-’ seared itself into my brain like a branding iron.

Then I did something that took Ms. Danson by surprise. I started to cry. I put my head down on her desk and wept like a heartbroken child. Though Ms. Danson had not said the actual words, what all those red marks told me was that I was a failure.

Perhaps if my experiences with writing had ended there, I might never have picked up a pen again. Fortunately, tenth grade ended and the next year I was assigned to Elizabeth Rose for English.
I had heard rumors about Mrs. Rose, that she was unusual, and perhaps she was. She was a tiny woman with long, straight platinum blonde hair. She wore four-inch heels, short skirts, and a lot of make-up. She was animated, moving her hands and her head when she talked so that her hair bobbed up and down against her shoulders. But her most distinctive feature was how much she loved teaching. It was evident in everything she said and did. Red marks were few and far between. Instead, she covered her students’ papers with rubber stamped images – she had hundreds in her collection.
When Mrs. Rose read a story, the words jumped right off the page. I often sat with my elbows on my desk and my chin propped in the palms of my hands as I listened to her read Rebecca, Gone with The Wind, or The Haunting of Hill House. I fell in love with literature all over again that year, and thanks to Mrs. Rose, I picked up that pen and started to write again.

Unlike Ms. Danson, Mrs. Rose accentuated the positive. Instead of a term paper, she put us in groups and told us to write “Gone With The Wind – 10 Years Later.”  She told me I had talent, that I was a writer at heart and should pursue my dream. Now, having spent more than a decade as a professional writer, I am living that dream every day.

What made the difference for me? The answer is simple. Someone believed in me. Someone took the time to focus on my positives and let the negatives take care of themselves. I wasn’t a perfect student, but Mrs. Rose saw potential where Ms. Danson saw flaws. In time, I learned how to use punctuation correctly and how to write a proper bibliography. More importantly, I learned how to organize my thoughts and put them on paper. That would never have happened if I had never learned to see the qualities in myself that Mrs. Rose saw in me.

The point I want to make is that as a young writer I was vulnerable to criticism. Not that learning proper grammar and punctuation wasn’t important, it was. But for a short time I listened to the criticisms of others and allowed them to crush my dreams. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to find someone who helped me discover my own worth as a writer and to get back on track toward fulfilling those dreams.

Writers always receive criticism. Whether you’re a novice just starting out or a famous novelist getting bashed by book critics, there will always be someone more than willing to point your flaws. The trick is to keep your eye on your dreams. Listen to those whose comments and suggestions are meant to help you improve your writing, and ignore those whose only intent is to see you fail. If you dream of being a writer, don’t let anything or anyone stop you. And remember, the most important voice to listen to is your own.

WRITER 2 WRITER: "I'VE GOT THIS!" - FOR MY MOM

Six years ago, if you had told me I’d be running my own editing service and publishing company, I would have laughed and said you’re out of your mind. In 2012, when my first novel came out, I had no idea what Facebook was, I’d never read a blog, and social media was a term I couldn’t begin to define. But my publisher told me it was a must for today’s authors. So, I dove in.

I learned how to “build my platform” one step at a time. From there, I learned how to format digital and print books and then ventured into self-publishing. I learned how to promote my books and how to expand my business to include other authors as well.

Along the way, I hit many road blocks. There were times when I thought, “I’ll never figure this out.” But I never gave up, and eventually I did figure it all out.

What’s been my biggest motivation?

My mom.

Mom, who turns 71 this week, is an amazing woman. Married at nineteen with three kids by the age of twenty-four, Mom has spent her entire life hurdling obstacles. She was diagnosed as a Type I diabetic when I was seven. When I was eight, she carried my youngest brother to full term only to lose him during delivery—complications of diabetes. She has battled endless health issues, financial setbacks, and disappointments. But I’ve never known anyone more optimistic about life than she is.

Mom is an adventurer at heart. In 1977, the year after my brother died, Mom and Dad moved us out of the city to a rural mountain community where they built a two-story log home with their own hands.

Mom never went to college, but she has a slew of certifications and has accumulated enough life experience to most college graduates to shame. She’s owned several businesses, has managed multiple medical offices, and spent many years volunteering in her community.

In addition, Mom can build, repair, and design anything. She spent twenty years as a professional seamstress, taught herself how to reupholster furniture, rewired lighting fixtures, and built a cement block wall and a 25ft. aviary.

During the past decade of her life, she has faced constant pain and illness and countless hospital visits. But she always has a smile on her face and a compliment for whoever happens to be in her presence. More than once, we thought we would lose her, but she just kept on going, her spirit too strong to give up.

My Mom is my greatest inspiration. As I was growing up watching her battle illness and tackle projects that seemed beyond her capability, she would always tell me, “If someone else has done it, I can learn to do it too.”

That was her motto. She could, quite literally, do anything.

I’ve tried to follow Mom’s example. I’m not much for building aviaries or sewing dresses, but I apply her stick-to-it attitude to what I love best: writing and publishing.

At the moment, I’m trying to learn how to market my books via Click Funnels. Thanks to Ken Dunn’s beta class on the subject, I’ve learned a lot. But this is perhaps the most challenging thing I’ve ever tried to learn. I am at a brick wall. There have been times, even today, that I’ve turned off my computer and threw my hands up in frustration. “I just can’t do this!” I want to shout.

But then I think of Mom’s words: “If someone else has done it, I can’t learn to do it to.”

So, I turn my computer back on, take a deep breath, and then say to myself, “I’ve got this.”

WRITER 2 WRITER: MOTIVATING TEENS

I'm veering off-topic today. Hope you don't mind.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 1 out of every 20 teens drops out of high school each year. Out of those who do remain in school, many others fail to achieve even average grades. School is a constant source of frustration for them, their teachers, and their parents. At the source of the problem lie various factors, which may include learning disabilities or ADHD, substance abuse, gang involvement, or poverty.

“These are the kids who are at risk,” says Anne Messersmith, former Addiction specialist with the Interagency Drug Abuse Recovery Program in Los Angeles, California. “People can sit back, point their fingers and judge, but they haven’t a clue what these kids go through. They give up on them.”
But is it possible to turn struggling students around? Messersmith believes it is. “The only way to change these kids is to build their self-esteem,” she says.

Beth Larsen, a high school resource instructor who specializes in teaching adolescents with learning problems, agrees. “These kids are sick of school,” she says. “It’s never easy and is a constant struggle. They often think ‘I got a bad grade, so I’m stupid,’ but intelligence isn’t the issue.”

For parents, having teens who do not live up to their expectations can be disappointing to say the least. Just getting them to do their homework, let alone stay in school, can be a challenge. According to Larsen, however, the greatest challenge is finding a way to motivate them.

“Teenagers aren’t motivated by the same external rewards as younger children,” she explains. “The best motivation comes from inside.”

Larsen often infuses her lessons with stories of successful people who have overcome the same challenges her students now face, such as her own cousin who never did well in school grade wise, but who, after attending culinary school, is now a leading chef working at an upscale restaurant.
Like Larsen, Messersmith also believes that kids need to recognize their own potential in order to succeed.

“You have to ask them what they want in life. What are their dreams? Help them reflect back to what their hopes and dreams were when they were children and go from there.”

Teens need to clearly see their goals, whether it is graduating from high school, going to college, or just passing the next big test. But kids who struggle with school cannot be expected to reach their goals alone. They need support from both parents and teachers. Below are seven ways to motivate struggling teens to stay on task:

1. PAY ATTENTION – Parents often assume that teens do not need the same amount of attention they received when they were younger. But nothing could be further from the truth. “The most motivated students,” says Larsen, “are those whose parents sit with them during homework and do not ignore problems until it’s too late.”
2. BE INVOLVED –Kids whose parents are involved in their lives often want to please their parents, which is a perfectly acceptable motivator. But all too often kids who struggle in school do not ask for help when they need it. Parents should be willing to help every time they do ask.
3. COMMUNICATE – Parents should be aware of what is going on at school and what assignments their children have been given. Larsen advises parents to communicate regularly with teachers about their child’s progress. “Teachers want your child to succeed as much as you do.”
4. DON’T MAKE EXCUSES – Sometimes parents enable their kid’s poor performance in school by laying the blame on that child’s disability or situation. Instead, parents ought to expect teens to be responsible for their own education, while keeping such expectations reasonable. “Parents should also set the example for their kids,” says Messersmith. “No double standards.”
5. RECOGNIZE ACHIEVEMENTS – For teens who struggle in school, even the slightest improvement is an achievement. Praise your child for his efforts. Receiving recognition for accomplishments is a great motivator.
6. CELEBRATE STRENGTHS – “We all have different abilities,” says Larsen. “Parents can motivate their teens to succeed by focusing on their strengths and helping them improve on their weaknesses.”
7. NEVER GIVE UP – High school students who face academic challenges can sometimes feel like throwing in the towel. But with the love and support of their parents and teachers, even the most frustrated teen can set and meet goals. “It’s so much easier to give up,” says Messersmith, “but don’t get discouraged. Stand your ground.” The key, as Larsen reminds us, “is to never settle, but also don’t have crazy, unreachable goals.” In other words, set realistic goals and never stop helping your child attain them.

WRITER 2 WRITER: TEACHING CREATIVITY AND STRUCTURE IN WRITING

When it comes to writing well, two things are essential: creativity and structure. These work side by side to construct any piece of good writing, be it a poem, a story, an essay, or an instruction manual.
Let’s begin with structure. Structure isn’t so much the shape or the organization of the writing as it is the rules that govern how we write. It includes spelling, grammar, punctuation, syntax, as well as things like thesis statements, plot progression, argumentation methods, poetic patterns, and so forth. Structure is HOW words are put together and HOW they function within a sentence, a paragraph, stanza, or so on. Without structure, things simply don’t make a lot of sense. Also, the rules that form the structure of writing apply the same to everyone.

Creativity, on the other hand, is the freedom to sculpt language the way an artist sculpts a work of art. Every individual creates his/her own style of expression and language patterns. Each person is capable of tapping into his/her imagination to craft a unique written work. The possibilities are truly endless. New songs, poems, stories, news articles, and books are brought into existence by the thousands every single day. In fact, it is practically impossible for two people to write the same story or poem — unless they intentionally copy each other.

In order to write well, which means to express one’s ideas in a way that they can effectively communicate those ideas to others, kids need both the rules that govern good writing and the freedom to explore their own imaginations. To focus solely on spelling and grammar and such is boring and can discourage the budding writer who may struggle to learn those concepts.

Likewise, to allow unfettered freedom without also teaching structure gives kids a false sense of confidence and dooms them to mediocrity in a world where employers and college professors expect quality writing skills.

How do parents and teachers balance creativity and structure?

One way is to encourage students to choose their own topics to write about while still requiring specific guidelines. For example, if the assignment requires a five paragraph essay, teach the structure and rules necessary for essay writing but let the student choose which topic to research, whether it is baseball, or lizards, or unicorns, or Abraham Lincoln. If the teacher is teaching a specific curriculum, such as biology, provide a suggested list of topics from which the students can choose. The key is to give the student a choice and to encourage individuality and creativity in how they present the information.

Another way is to teach creative writing, such as short stories or poetry, before tackling more academic forms of writing. The goal is for kids to have fun and to develop confidence in their writing. Once that happens, then they are far more likely to succeed with essays and research papers.

WRITER 2 WRITER: GO WIDE - DISTRIBUTING YOUR EBOOK GLOBALLY

I’m taking a short break from my current series, KIDS WRITE, to talk about something every self-published author should know about: GOING WIDE.

Are You Stuck in Kindle?
What is going wide? It means making your book available across the globe on every e-book platform possible. There is a lot more to the digital book world than Kindle and Nook. You may have heard of Kobo, Canada’s leading e-reader, but have you heard of Tolino in Germany, or Perlego in England, or Librerias Gandhi in Mexico? There are dozens of different e-reader platforms throughout the world allowing authors to connect with readers in just about every country of the world.

But My Book is Only in English
It shouldn’t surprise you to know that there are millions of people in the world who speak and read English as a second language and who enjoy reading English-language books. But they will never read your book unless you make it available to them.

How to Connect
Fortunately, it isn’t all that difficult to get your e-book into dozens of digital bookstores. Most e-book publishers distribute to multiple stores. Smashwords, for example, distributes to Apple Books, Overdrive, Scribd, Tolino, and several others. Upload your book to the Smashwords site and select the stores of your choice. But in order to reach all of the global booksellers, you need to upload your book to several publishers at once, because each publisher has their own unique list of stores to whom they distribute. The publishers I use include:

SMASHWORDS
DRAFT 2 DIGITAL
PUBLISH DRIVE
STREET LIB

What about the cost?
Each publisher has its own fees, and you’ll need to read their agreements to find out what those fees entail. It’s free to upload your book and sell it, but the publisher will take their cut of your sales. To maximize your earnings, it’s a good idea to publish directly to a handful of popular bookstores, such as KDP (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), and Kobo. Just be sure to NOT select these stores on your other publishing sites.

A Word of Caution
Some of the publishers’ bookstores overlap with each other. For example, Smashwords, Draft2Digital and Publish Drive all distribute to Overdrive. You must select Overdrive on only one of your publishers. I keep a simple excel spreadsheet to keep track of which bookstores I use with which publisher. If you are new to global distribution, you might want to start out with just one or two publishers and go from there. Don’t get overwhelmed.

How to Start
As I just mentioned, if you’re new to global distribution, start small. I suggest publishing with KDP, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo individually, and then upload your book to Smashwords or Draft2Digital.
You will need an epub file of your book, which can be converted from a doc or docx file. While some publishers allow you to upload docx files directly and they will convert them for you, I strongly recommend uploading your own epub file. There are free conversion sites online, or you can hire experienced professionals to do it for you. Conversion doesn’t cost much, around $20 on average. And the benefit to having an expert do it for you is that they can make sure there is nothing wrong with your file and that it looks as good as it should. Fiverr is a good place to find these experts, but if you really want someone reliable, feel free to contact me and I’ll refer to the person I use.

By the way, Kindle uses a mobi file, but KDP allows you to upload a doc or docx file, and their conversions are usually successful.

Each publisher will require you to create a free account. You need to include your personal information and billing information (your bank account and routing numbers) so that when your books sell, the publisher can pay you. Make sure you keep accurate records of your sales for tax purposes.

One Last Piece of Advice
Once your book is available on multiple platforms, don’t forget to provide the links to your fans. Include links to a variety of stores on your website. Some publishers, like Draft2Digital, provide a “universal link” allowing readers to purchase your book from any of their bookstores. I include links to Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Draft 2 Digital, and a few others. You don’t need to include links to every single store. The list would be way too long!

So, there you have it. Sell your ebook on a global scale. Go wide!

WRITER 2 WRITER: WHEN TO START TEACHING KIDS TO WRITE

KIDS WRITE, PART VI

Experts in the educational field have found that it is best to begin teaching children to write at an early age, and that reading and writing are “best learned together.”

Formal instruction may not commence until a child is six, seven, or even eight years old, but that does not mean a younger child cannot grasp the fundamental concepts of reading and writing.

Learning to read begins the first time a mother opens a picture book and reads it to her baby.
Repeated daily interactions between parent, child, and books soon form the foundation that will one day motivate that child to learn to read on his own.

Likewise, when a child is introduced to words printed on a page, he is already gaining the preliminary understanding that letters form words, words form sentences, and these words and sentences express ideas.

During recent decades there has been an increasing push for parents to read to their children. Research has shown that when parents and children read consistently together, literacy improves.
The same holds true with writing.

In their report Because Writing Matters, The National Writing Project makes the following observation: “We cannot build a nation of educated people who can communicate effectively without teachers and administrators who value, understand, and practice writing themselves.”

Might I suggest that we cannot build a nation of educated people without parents who value, understand, and practice writing themselves. Teachers and administrators may have the expertise and curricula to educate mass numbers of students in the more technical side of writing, but no teacher is more effective in instilling within a child the love of writing than a parent who loves that child and who teaches by example.

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WRITER 2 WRITER: THE DISCIPLINE STAGE

KIDS WRITE, PART V

This is part five of a series about how to help kids not only learn to write well but to love it. Excerpts are taken from my book TEACHING KIDS TO WRITE WELL: SIX SECRETS EVERY GROWN-UP SHOULD KNOW.

Discipline (Autonomous) Stage of Development

As children grow older, they will need to understand that sometimes we must learn for the sake of learning. They may not love math, but they need to learn the times tables anyway. They may not have a natural interest in history, but it is important that they know the difference between the Revolutionary and the Civil Wars.

These are just examples, of course. As adults, we understand that there are some things in this world that are important to know. We also realize that there are some things we must do whether we want to do them or not. The laundry must be washed and folded. The lawn must be maintained. The bills must be paid. A child learns how to commit himself to even seemingly undesirable tasks by watching his parents’ examples. If the parents procrastinate, complain, and fail to get the job done, then the child will likely do the same. However, when parents are committed and dependable, their children will learn the value of these qualities and will be more likely to develop them as well.

The difference between adults and children, however, is that adults generally understand why a thing must be done. We understand that even though we don’t like mowing the lawn, if it doesn’t get mowed, the grass will grow too long and make the yard look ugly. Unfortunately, adults sometimes forget to explain the why to their children. We tend to give a command, such as “Mow the lawn!” And when the child moans and asks, “But why?” we might respond with, “Because I said so!”

While knowing the why may not automatically make your children more committed right now, over time it will. Just as understanding the why of certain tasks is important, children should understand the why of learning to write well. What motivation is there in writing a five-paragraph essay if the objective is nothing more than learning how to write a five paragraph essay? However, if the essay becomes a tool for learning something of interest to the student, then the motivation increases.

I taught a class in essay writing not long ago where my objective as the teacher was for my students to be able to create an outline, conduct research, and write a well-organized essay on a particular topic. I recalled having to write essays in high school and how much I dreaded them. So I decided to find some way for these students to learn what was necessary without turning them off to writing all together.

The answer was in allowing each student to choose a topic that was of great interest to him. The topics ranged from hamsters and alligator lizards to the history of baseball and how to play Yu-Gi-Oh. While I taught the very concrete skills they needed to write their essays, I allowed complete freedom in the subject matter.

On the last day of class, each student read his essay aloud. Not one student expressed boredom, frustration, or even apathy in their assignments. Rather, everyone was enthusiastic and proud of their accomplishments. Their primary objective of learning about something they loved was obtained, and my objective of teaching them how to write an essay was also obtained.

Children need to learn to write well, but unless there is some obvious benefit to them, they will resist learning it. I am not talking about unrelated incentives like candy or an allowance. I am talking about a desire to develop a skill that will enable them to pursue their interests.

If a child needs to improve his penmanship, have him write something that must be read by someone he cares about. Grandpa has to be able to read his letter, so he needs to write as neatly as possible.
If an older child needs to write a book report, have him choose a friend that he thinks would like to read it, too. Have him find some fun way to tell this friend about the book, such as creating a book cover, making a poster, or retelling the story in his own words.

If a teen needs to learn to write a bibliography, let him gather together some of his favorite books and practice on those.

WRITER 2 WRITER: THE DISCOVERY STAGE

KIDS WRITE, PART IV


This is part four of a series about how to help kids not only learn to write well but to love it. Excerpts are taken from my book TEACHING KIDS TO WRITE WELL: SIX SECRETS EVERY GROWN-UP SHOULD KNOW.

Desire (Associative) Stage of Development

While children naturally imitate the behaviors and actions of those around them, eventually, as they grow a little older, they start to learn how to do things because they want to.

This desire first presents itself during the toddler years when the child’s will conflicts with his parents’ or siblings’ wills. An older brother plays with a truck and the three-year-old wants that truck for himself. He grabs it, and a tug of war ensues.

At first glance, this situation appears undesirable. Good children, of course, should share. But these children are also learning something very important: they are learning that they have their own unique wants and needs, and that they have the power to satisfy them.

This is the very reason why, as frustrating as it is for us adults, we let our children dress themselves, tie their own shoes, make their beds, etc. Most of the time, it would simply be easier for us to do these things for them. The dishes would be cleaner, the house would be more organized, and our children would always be wearing matching socks. However, we would rob our children of the satisfaction of accomplishing something on their own.

Human nature demands that we pursue our own interests. We don’t like other people making all our decisions for us. From a very early age, children stake out their own talents and hobbies and interests and dreams.

One little girl wants to be a nurse when she grows up. Another girl loves horses. A young boy is practically obsessed with baseball, while his brother dreams of being an astronaut. No one told these children what they should love or want to be when they grow up. They decided these things on their own.

When it comes to writing, and even reading, one of the biggest mistakes we make with our children is demanding that they read certain books or write on particular subjects with little regard to the child’s interests. Would you like it if you could only read what someone else told you to read? I could tell you to read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. It is a very good book, and you might like it. But if you were forced to read it, how much would you really get out of it? You might end up resenting the teacher and hating the book.

That’s what often happens in school. Students are told what they will read and what they will write. The teachers, of course, have the children’s best interests at heart. It is for their own good that they read Huckleberry Finn or write an essay on the Revolutionary War. These things are important! They need to be learned!

Wouldn’t it be nice if every child could love what she reads or feel enthusiastic about researching a topic and writing about it?

The key to helping children enjoy writing is to tap into a child’s natural desire to pursue his or her own interests.

A child who loves football will want to read about it, write a letter to his favorite player, or learn how to play football himself.

A girl who loves poetry will want to read poetry, write poetry, and learn what she needs to know to become a successful poet one day.

As adults, we should pay more attention to our children’s interests and then use those interests to motivate our children to learn. Parents know their children better than anyone else and are better able to connect them to the very resources that will motivate learning. The primary objective should be the interest itself, whether it is rocket ships, rabbits, or racquetball. The act of reading and writing should be secondary.

Parents are best equipped to tap into their child’s unique interests and talents and to use those interests as a tool for teaching literacy. The child is, of course, learning to read and write, but he is having fun doing it and does not concern himself so much with those things as he does with what he is reading and writing about.

WRITER 2 WRITER: THE DISCOVERY STAGE

KIDS WRITE, PART III


This is part three of a series about how to help kids not only learn to write well but to love it. Excerpts are taken from my book TEACHING KIDS TO WRITE WELL: SIX SECRETS EVERY GROWN-UP SHOULD KNOW.

Discovery (Cognitive) Stage of Development

Do you remember the first time you wanted to walk? You were most likely between the ages of eight and fourteen months when you first pulled yourself up to a standing position and grinned proudly at your parents as if to say, “See, Mom? See what I just did?”

As your legs grew stronger and your balance increased, you took those first hesitant steps, “cruising” along from couch to coffee table, to chair to couch again. Finally, with your parents coaxing you with open arms, you gleefully pitter-pattered across the floor into their waiting embraces.

What was it that first moved you, an infant, to make that first attempt to stand on your own? Some would say it was instinct, like little birds fluttering their wings to take flight, and for the most part they are correct. But I contend that there was something more.

Human nature is driven toward progress. Even the little baby somehow knows he is meant to do more than eat, cry, and sleep for the rest of his life. Like walking, communication is something to which human beings are naturally inclined. Children learn to walk and to talk by observing other humans walk and talk. Mobility, language, and many other basic skills are developed not by active teaching, but through passive observation. At first the child mimics what he sees or what he hears without fully understanding if these actions have any meaning. Later, he begins to imitate the adults around him, those whom he respects and, hopefully, loves. He wants to be like them, so he does what they do.
A good example of this is when a young child picks up a book and “reads” it. Maybe she holds the book upside down. Maybe the story she recites bears no resemblance to what is actually printed inside, but that doesn’t matter to her. What matters is that Mommy reads, and she wants to read, too.
When he was four years old, my third child came to me with a stack of papers in his hand. I had given him an old manuscript of mine to use for scratch paper. He took the manuscript and set up his dresser like a desk, with a penholder, a chair, and a supply of writing utensils. He spent hours sitting at his desk, scribbling on sheet after sheet of paper. When he was finished, he presented me with his collection of scribbles and announced it was his book. Needless to say, I was honored. Imitation is my favorite form of flattery.

Maybe instinct drove my son to learn to walk, but would he have known how to sit at a desk and write if he had not seen me do it first?

Children are naturally curious. They want to explore their world and learn all they can about it. As parents, we teach them how to color with crayons, how to brush their teeth, how to dress themselves. Children first learn that these behaviors exist by catching others in the act.

When it comes to writing, let your children catch you in the act. Emails, personal letters, grocery lists, calendars, poems, diary entries—whatever drives you to put pen to paper, make sure you do it where your children can observe you. It won’t be long before they will be writing, too.

WRITER 2 WRITER: LET THEM SEE YOU WRITE

KIDS WRITE, PART II

This is part two of a series about how to help kids not only learn to write well but to love it. Excerpts are taken from my book TEACHING KIDS TO WRITE WELL: SIX SECRETS EVERY GROWN-UP SHOULD KNOW.

“I talk and talk and talk, and I haven’t taught people in fifty years what my father taught by example in one week.” – Mario Cuomo

Prior to publishing my first novel in 2012, I had spent eight years as a writing instructor for a homeschool co-op. One afternoon following one of my writing classes, I chatted with some of my students’ mothers. I asked them why they enrolled their children in my class. All of these women were intelligent, mature, and confident, but they had one other thing in common: each had had a negative experience when they were children or teens that convinced them they could not write well.
One by one these women shared their stories. A teacher had criticized one in front of her class. Another had a teacher who covered her work in red marks. Still another was bored with the assignments given her.

Since then, I have discovered that many adults have had similar experiences. As a result of these experiences, they feel unqualified to teach their children how to write beyond the ABC’s and simple sentences. Yet if I were to ask these same parents if they were qualified to teach their child to walk, to talk, ride a bicycle, or even to read, they would answer with a resounding, Yes! Of course!

Learning to write may not be as simple a task as learning to walk or talk, but the process of learning is much the same. In 1967, American psychologists Michael Posner and Paul Fitts found that humans experience three phases when learning new skills: Cognitive, Associative, and Autonomous. In the Cognitive phase, we identify and form mental pictures of the new skill. In the Associative phase, we practice the skill, breaking it down to its component parts. And finally, in the Autonomous phase, our ability to perform the skill becomes automatic.

Though frequently applied to the development of motor skills, such as in sports and physical education, these phases can easily apply to other skills as well. (I’ll discuss these phases in greater detail next week.)

Experts in the educational field have found that it is best to begin teaching children to write at an early age, and that reading and writing are “best learned together” (The National Writing Project).
Formal instruction may not commence until a child is six, seven, or even eight years old, but that does not mean a younger child cannot grasp the fundamental concepts of reading and writing.

Learning to read begins the first time a mother opens a picture book and reads it to her baby.

Repeated daily interactions between parent, child, and books soon form the foundation that will one day motivate that child to learn to read on his own.

Likewise, when a child is introduced to words printed on a page, he is already gaining the preliminary understanding that letters form words, words form sentences, and these words and sentences express ideas.

During recent decades there has been an increasing push for parents to read to their children. Research has shown that when parents and children read consistently together, literacy improves.
The same holds true with writing.

In their report Because Writing Matters, The National Writing Project makes the following observation: “We cannot build a nation of educated people who can communicate effectively without teachers and administrators who value, understand, and practice writing themselves.”

Might I suggest that we cannot build a nation of educated people without parents who value, understand, and practice writing themselves. Teachers and administrators may have the expertise and curricula to educate mass numbers of students in the more technical side of writing, but no teacher is more effective in instilling within a child the love of writing than a parent who loves that child and who teaches by example.