A Writer's Week #13: The Middle of the Marathon

This was a fantastic week! It had the best of all possible things; a busy, productive work week, fun with the family, a decent amount of writing, a satisfying marketing accomplishment, and even a few book sales.

The writing came pretty easily this week. I wrote about 1,500 words, and I would have written more, but I started a project that took up some time. I'm at the point in the book where I'm just keeping at it, plugging away. I'm having fun writing, but at this point it's like a marathon where the exhileration of the start has given way to marking the miles as they go by. Sometimes I feel pretty good, like the guy on the right in the picture above. At other times, I'm feeling kind of flat, like the flapjack next to him (yes, that's a flapjack--it said so in the caption). I'm working on delivering (no pun intended) a great story, while gearing up for a strong finish. We'll see how everything turns out.

I was able to write and produce my own video book trailer this week. It turned out very nicely, and I'm like a new parent right now, full of pride and optimism. I've posted it everywhere I can think of, including at the bottom of my blog, and in yesterday's post. Here's a link to it on YouTube. Please share it everywhere you can, and let me know what you think.

This week was also great because it marked the seventh anniversary of Gotcha Day, the day we picked up Abigail in China. We celebrate it every year. I wrote a post about adopting Abby a while back. Every day, we can't believe how incredibly blessed we are for having Abby and her big brother Christian.

So, as you can see, it was a truly spectacular week, but now it's back to the marathon. I can't wait to find out what's around the next bend.

New Book Trailer Released

It's been a busy week. Work has been a scramble, with late nights and early mornings, but it's all turned out well, so I'm happy. On Tuesday, one of my coworkers showed me a video of one of our corporate events on his iPad. It was done in a movie trailer format, and looked really sharp.

My brain immediately began working, and I thought, wouldn't it be great to make my own book trailer. I don't have any fancy Mac equipment, but I thought maybe Windows had some software. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had Windows Movie Maker already on my computer! Just goes to show how much of a techie babe in the woods I am.

I spent Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning looking for decent, public domain royalty free video to use, and writing the script. On Wednesday, I talked Christian into acting like Eric peering into the drainpipe under our driveway, but it was partuially blocked with logs, and I didn't get a good shot. It didn't matter anyway, as I later found that I had been holding my iPod Nano the wrong way and the footage was upside down!

It was then that I decided to scrap the video and go with stills. But how could I make an exciting video without video? The program features a bunch of different efffects. I played around with a number of different ones for each shot until I was satisfied.

Once that was done, I had to add music. There's a very talented composer who has scads of short compositions of varying genres that you can use for free as long as you credit him. His name is Kevin MacLeod. Here's a link to his site. After a number of tries, I found the right piece and, voila! First class book trailer. CreateSpace can do a minute long trailer for you for $2000, so I'm that much ahead. Not a bad job if I do say so myself.

So, here's the trailer. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

What's Christian Reading? The Phantom Tollbooth

Last week, Christian told me that he's tired of reading chapter books. So, I took him to a bookstore, and I told him that he could pick out any book under $10, hoping to get him hooked on a new series that he could continue reading by checking books out of the library.

Of course, he couldn't find anything. Everything I suggested was met by snorts of "No" or "Boring." Mind you, these weren't any random books, these were titles like Fablehaven, Gregor the Overlander, and the Pendragon series. Nothing sparked his interest.

It was at that point that I decided I was trying too hard. We went home and did some stuff. Later on, I casually mentioned that since he was bored, maybe he should read a book about another boy who was bored. I handed him my ancient copy of The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster.

He took it doubtfully and looked it over. Then he opened it annd read a page. "Well, maybe I can read a chapter," he said. By the end of the next day, he'd finished it. Now he's off and running again, reading some books he got from the library book sale this past weekend. Thank goodness for the classics.

Here's what Christian says The Phantom Tollbooth is about.

"It is about a boy named Milo who has nothing to do and gets a tollbooth and a toy car mailed to him. When he drives into the tollbooth it transports him to another world. He meets the watchdog, Tock. Tock has a big clock in his side. He and Tock have to rescue the two princesses, Rhyme and Reason. He makes it to a city, Dictionopolis, and meets the king.

"Milo then is given the mission to find Rhyme and Reason. He goes to Digitopolis and meets a second king who also asks him to rescue the princesses. There is a war between letters and numbers. Rescuing the princesses will help end it.

"Then, he goes through the land of the demons. They live in the Mountains of Ignorance. It's not a nice place. He also has to jump to the Island of Conclusions. I thought that was funny."

Here's what Christian liked best about the book.

"I liked when he met Tock. Tock  wound up being a good friend to Milo. Milo didn't have any friends before Tock. That's why I like that part so much."

Was there anything that you didn't like?

"There wasn't anything that I didn't like. It was a really great book."

So, how did Christian rate The Phantom Tollbooth?

He gives it 5 out of 5 flaming monkey heads.

Did You Know? The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

As a follow up to yesterday's interview with Dorothy Gale, we're presenting some interesting facts about The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and author L. Frank Baum. Let's see what our crack team of scholars (?!) was able to dig up.

Did You Know...

• A play based on the book was produced to publicize it soon after it was released?
• The book's illustrator, W.W. Denslow, was a friend of L. Frank Baum, and co-held the copyright?
• Baum credited the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen as his inspiration?
• Baum claimed that the name Oz came from his file cabinet labeled O-Z?
• In the book, Dorothy's travels were much more extensive than in the movie? In the book, she travels through many lands, including the Fighting Trees, Hammer-Heads, and the China Country.
• In the book, the shoes Dorothy is given are silver, not ruby?
• When he was a child, Baum had a recurring nightmare about a scarecrow chasing him through a field? When the scarecrow had its hands around his nneck, it would fall apart.
• Baum's father was oil baron Benjamin Ward Baum?
• After receiving thousands of letters from children, Baum decided to write a sequel? In all, he wrote 14 books. After his death in 1919, his publishers released an Oz book every Christmas until 1942.
• Ruth Plumly Thompson.wrote 21 Oz stories for Baum's publishers after his death?

Hey, those were some interesting facts. Thanks to Wikipedia for providing them! Here are some songs from the beloved 1939 movie version that always makes me smile. I just love the wordplay in this movie and its music!

 

 

Monday Interview Series: Dorothy Gale

I'm pleased to announce that a special guest is visiting us this week at The Deliverers Publishing Headquarters. She just blew in all the way from Kansas, Miss Dorothy Gale!

Greg:  Welcome, Dorothy. Thanks for taking some time with us.

Dorothy:  Thank you very much for having me, I'm sure. You sure do have a lot of trees around here.

Greg:  Don't you have very many in Kansas?

Dorothy:  Oh no. It's all flat and kind of dusty and gray in Kansas, at least the part where I'm from. There aren't hardly any trees at all. And the twisters, my Aunt Em is always afraid of being caught in one. She always runs lickety split to the storm cellar whenever there's the faintest hint of a breeze, much less a twister. "Better safe than sorry, I always say," she always says.

Greg:  Yes, a wise woman, no doubt. If I remember correctly, it was being caught in a twister that started you on your adventure.

Dorothy:  Why, yes, yes it was. It's almost like you could read my mind, just like that Professor Marvel. Oh, he was a wise and wonderful man--he could see into the future. He didn't tell me that I'd be caught in a storm and taken to Munchkin Land. But then, I don't suppose that anyone in their right mind would have predicted that.

Greg:  No, I don't suppose they would. How did you get to Munchkin Land?

Dorothy:  By twister. Toto, that's my dog, and I were trying to get into the storm cellar, but Aunt Em and Uncle Henry had locked themselves in, so I took Toto into the house. That twister lifted us clear up and out of Kansas and into Munchkin Land. I guess that I was the first person to travel by twister who lived to tell the tale.

Greg:  What was Munchkin Land like?

Dorothy:  Oh is was beautiful. The Munchkins were very pleased to see me, mainly because my house had landed on the Wicked Witch of the East. The munchkins were happy, but the witch's sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, was pretty upset. I was very sorry. All I wanted to do was to get home, but she didn't listen to me. She just wanted her old ruby slippers, which her sister had, but which wound up on my feet somehow.

The Munchkins said that maybe the Wizard of Oz, a great and powerful wizard, might be able to send me home, so they had me follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City. I would have preferred to take a train instead of walking, but they didn't seem to have any such things, so I decided, when in Rome!

Greg:  So you were on your way. Did you make any friends on your way to Oz?