My friend and fellow writer, Jodi Thomas, has sent us another motivational moment to inspire and spur our creative spirit.
Quilting with words
My mother quilted, my grandmother quilted. Both my sisters quilt.I have a quilt room in my house full of handmade quilts dating back five generations. But I don’t quilt.
One of my first memories is lying beneath the quilting frame and listening to my mother and her friends talking as the needles flew. I learned that for them it was never about how fine the stitches were, it was about the friendships, the creative adventure, the love that went into each quilt.
Years later, I was in my late thirties and just beginning to write. My mother was moving into Alzheimer’s. She’d set in the study with me and quilt on a little frame while I typed away on my stories. As the years passed and my skill as a writer grew, while her skills slowly vanished we both still loved those morning working together.
Finally, when my first book came out, of course, I dedicated it to her. To Sally Faye Kirkland Price, who always believed in dreams for her children. I’ve published 45 books as of January 2017. I’ve won many award and am a New York Times bestseller but her review has always meant the most to me. She was only able to read the first one. When she finished, she smiled, holding the book as if it were a treasure and said, “Jodi, you quilt with words.”
“Writing is easy. All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” ~~Gene Fowler
“For those who can do it and who keep their nerve, writing for a living still beats most real, grown-up jobs hands down.” ~~Terence Blacker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “As a writer, I marinate, hibernate, and speculate.” Trisha Sugarek ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! November was best selling author, Grace Burrowes and in December, Reed Farrel Coleman, contributing writer for Robert B. Parker series
How to Jump Start a Writer’s Day ~~ My Guest Blogger, Author, Jodi Thomas
‘ As I was saying in Trisha’s Motivational Momentsfor Writers: The hardest thing a writer does each day is sitting down to work. In 28 years as a working writer I’ve published 45 books and 13 novellas. The hardest thing wasn’t learning to write, but learning to managing time. I picked up a few tricks but it is still the dragon I fight every day.
First, remember this is your job. If you worked in an office or taught school you wouldn’t stop and answer every friend’s call. So leave the phone in the kitchen or garage. You’re at work. One phone call might not knock you out of fiction, but the third one might.
Second, build your nest. I find this makes it easy for me to step into fiction. It doesn’t matter if your nest is in a secret room in the attic or a small desk in a hotel room, it needs to be your nest.
I usually start with a notebook. My facts book, my bible for the series. It includes all characters’ names and basic facts. Maps of the area—if you’re making up a town, make up the map. Sometimes pages of research like maps of the area or dates that need to be considered. If you’re writing about a time in history you need to be aware of what was happening on that day in history. If Lincoln was shot or 9/11 happened your fictional characters need to react. Continue reading “Guest Blog from Best Selling Author, Jodi Thomas”
How to Land a Multi-Book Children’s Publishing Deal? Write From the Heart!
About a year ago, I was paddling down a familiar stretch of whitewater when I found a tangled up crawdad in a fishing line. After about five minutes of meticulous unwinding, I launched the little fellow back into the wild. My wife Tamara and my paddling buddy Tom, both thought that would make a great children’s story. The next morning, I wrote my first children’s book, Jason and the Crawdad King, on the back of a few napkins while sipping tea in a coffee shop.
Not far from where I found the Crawdad King
It was the first time in my life it felt like all the pieces were falling into place. The premise of the story came out of doing something I love. The suggestion for the story came from people I love. Plus, the story imbues a sense of wisdom from my personal experience and philosophy˗˗something else I love. And the whole package is directed toward the people that everyone loves—their children. From the time I found the helpless little crawdad, to the moment I’m typing this out on my laptop, it’s been one endless magic carpet ride. I think in spiritual circles they call it divine Flow.
The day I finished writing the story, Tamara’s daughter Chantelle came to visit. It was the first time I met her. It just so happens, besides being a professional ballerina in San Francisco, she’s also a brain child from Columbia University. In the two days she visited, she edited my book. Flow on, man.
Next I met my illustrator, Lili Avakem. Major Flow there. Lili and I met via the modus operandi of the 21st century…the internet. I was hoping to find an illustrator who was exceptionally talented, in love with illustrating, relatively unknown (like me), and hadn’t reached their full potential yet (hopefully like me too!). In short, I was hoping for an enormous stroke of good luck.
I held a contest on Freelancer.com, searching for samples from illustrators. Lili beat out 25 other entries. However, to win the contract to illustrate the entire book, I asked Lili and another artist from Thailand to submit one more illustration. I took one glance at Lili’s second submission and my jaw dropped to the floor in utter disbelief. I realized the enormous stroke of good luck I was hoping for had actually arrived. As I sit and write this, I still haven’t met Lili face-to-face. It’s like she’s some angelic creator of magic, hanging out in cyber space.
Shall we Flow a little further? After Lili and I finished the manuscript, I sent out queries to about 120 literary agents and publishers. After about a month, as rejection notices started to pile up, I was contacted out of the blue by Golden Bell Entertainment in New York. I never submitted anything to them. They contacted me based on an illustration of Lili’s I posted on Facebook. Go figure!
I recently landed a children’s picture book publishing deal, for nine books, with Golden Bell Entertainment in New York. “Wow!” You might be thinking. “How did you pull that off?”
I’ll lay it to you straight. It happened on accident. I’m was born a creative free spirit. It took me a long time to figure out what that was, let alone accept it. I was also born with powerful spiritual inclinations and an incredibly strong connection to nature. I’ve always seen things from a philosophical point of view, as I’ve wandered deep into the wilderness. That framework led me to a Master’s degree in Geology and a patchwork career as an exploration geologist. With a helicopter pilot as my chauffeur, I’ve prospected the Alaskan Arctic, the Yukon Rocky Mountains, and the Barren Lands of the Arctic Ocean. I also hung my hat for a spell in northern Sweden.
Artic Tundra…that little speck is me
And what was the result of those fascinating explorations? It deepened my connection to this planet we call Earth. So here I sit, a published author with the sky as our limit. And how did it all happen? By being myself and doing what I love, with people I love, to the core of my being. If you’re looking for success as an author, I’d suggest you start there. The rest will take care of itself. Your only job is to enjoy the journey.
Bio
Joseph Drumheller is a three-time award winning author with works in non-fiction, fiction and now children’s books. He has a deep love for nature and adventure, which fueled his previous career as an exploration geologist. He lives with his twin flame and extraordinary performing arts spouse, Tamara. They live in the great Pacific Northwest. www.josephdrumheller.com
DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! September’s author will be Joseph Drumheller and October: Author, Lisa Jackson. November’s author will be best selling author, Grace Burrowes Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!
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My friend and fellow writer, Jodi Thomas, has sent us another motivational moment to inspire and spur our creative spirit.
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