Interestingly enough, I haven't posted anything on my website in over a year, and somehow I am still getting views. I guess I am feeling a little frustrated about things again. I know what I want to do, but I am having a hard time getting things done. Why? Well, part of it is work, part of it is exhaustion, and I think there is some fear of what would happen if I actually did all the things I want to do.
I want to write and illustrate children's picture books. Now is a great time to do that because of how much the publishing industry has changed in recent years. It use to be that self-publishing was a huge no-no, and everybody had to go through a publisher to get anything published. In today's world, you can do everything yourself. Write, illustrate, design the book, publish, sell on amazon, do your own promotions, maintain a blog and/or website, and even have a YouTube channel. This is what a lot of people are doing now. Writing a book is for everyone, and you don't necessarily have to have a middle man involved.
I want to do all of this, yet my drawing and writing skills need work. Even if I self publish, I want it to be my best work, and I am a ways away from that yet. I would love to spend more time-if not my whole day-working on my drawing, writing, and learning everything I can about self publishing, and then finally doing it.
As for my webpage here at Weebly, that could be the best outlet yet. I really don't want to give up on this. I have got to learn how to balance my life so I can get more done. Working all day in an elementary school all day can get pretty exhausting especially if you have to do lunchroom duty for two hours every day. There's a challenge for ya! The noise, the food that is always being spilled, the trays that keep getting dropped, the students whining about things like, "She doesn't want to be my friend anymore!" Or "They are talking about me." Or "Why can't we save seats for our friends on free seating day?" The drama! I could probably write a picture book about the cafeteria drama that goes on every day.
But the classroom experience is fun some days. I am in a first grade classroom for an hour and half every morning working with the kids on their reading skills. Today there was a sub in that class, and she decided she wanted to get the kids up and moving around a bit. Since this week's Essential Question is How can we classify and sort things? she had the kids standing in front of her and they played the game Would You Rather... she asked the question, and the kids would decided which side of the room they would go to depending on what they preferred. "Would you rather go to the park, or go to the swimming pool?" Park on one side of the classroom, swimming pool on the other side. All but one student wanted to go the swimming pool. "Would you rather have pizza, or chicken nuggets? That one was pretty even. "Would you rather have chocolate covered grasshoppers, or chocolate covered ants?" Most preferred the ants, but there was one student who didn't go to either side. "You have to pick which one you would rather have." The teacher told her, but she didn't budge. She knew a crummy deal when she was saw one! :0)
I want to write and illustrate children's picture books. Now is a great time to do that because of how much the publishing industry has changed in recent years. It use to be that self-publishing was a huge no-no, and everybody had to go through a publisher to get anything published. In today's world, you can do everything yourself. Write, illustrate, design the book, publish, sell on amazon, do your own promotions, maintain a blog and/or website, and even have a YouTube channel. This is what a lot of people are doing now. Writing a book is for everyone, and you don't necessarily have to have a middle man involved.
I want to do all of this, yet my drawing and writing skills need work. Even if I self publish, I want it to be my best work, and I am a ways away from that yet. I would love to spend more time-if not my whole day-working on my drawing, writing, and learning everything I can about self publishing, and then finally doing it.
As for my webpage here at Weebly, that could be the best outlet yet. I really don't want to give up on this. I have got to learn how to balance my life so I can get more done. Working all day in an elementary school all day can get pretty exhausting especially if you have to do lunchroom duty for two hours every day. There's a challenge for ya! The noise, the food that is always being spilled, the trays that keep getting dropped, the students whining about things like, "She doesn't want to be my friend anymore!" Or "They are talking about me." Or "Why can't we save seats for our friends on free seating day?" The drama! I could probably write a picture book about the cafeteria drama that goes on every day.
But the classroom experience is fun some days. I am in a first grade classroom for an hour and half every morning working with the kids on their reading skills. Today there was a sub in that class, and she decided she wanted to get the kids up and moving around a bit. Since this week's Essential Question is How can we classify and sort things? she had the kids standing in front of her and they played the game Would You Rather... she asked the question, and the kids would decided which side of the room they would go to depending on what they preferred. "Would you rather go to the park, or go to the swimming pool?" Park on one side of the classroom, swimming pool on the other side. All but one student wanted to go the swimming pool. "Would you rather have pizza, or chicken nuggets? That one was pretty even. "Would you rather have chocolate covered grasshoppers, or chocolate covered ants?" Most preferred the ants, but there was one student who didn't go to either side. "You have to pick which one you would rather have." The teacher told her, but she didn't budge. She knew a crummy deal when she was saw one! :0)