Some of you (especially if you're somewhat newbie like me) might be asking, "What's a blog hop?" Well, I was in the same boat as many of you until recently an amazing blogger named Fern Ronay invited me, or should I say, "tagged me" (yep, still learning the bloggers' vocab folks ;)) to do a blog hop.
The steps are as follow:
Step 1: Acknowledge the person and site that involved me in the blog hop.
Thank you Fern for inviting and acknowledging me and for believing in my work! This is Fern's blog post when it was her time to shine last week: Blog Hop: Why Do You Write?
Step 2: Answer 4 questions about my writing process.
Question 1: What am I working on?
Right now, I have two projects in my head and one that I'm actually doing. I'm currently writing a Christian themed children's book for intermediate readers (more words and less illustrations) and after publishing it, my plan is to dive in head first and write a novel. It's a big risk, since it will be my first novel...but, I have this story completely done in my head and it's bugging me everyday! I can't stop thinking about it! :D
Question 2: How does my work differ from others of its genre?
For my children's books, I try to create the themes from my experiences with both my former students and my two boys. For example, when I wrote Dragon Howl I was thinking of how my students were judged based on their appearances or their label as "special". Even though they were special education students, they were incredibly smart, caring, funny, and clever. However, somehow they were not challenged enough or seen as a less capable group by other students.
My alphabet book Crazy Town Upside Down: An Alphabet Book is different from other alphabet books because the child becomes part of the action by following and tracing each character's own adventure around a letter. It also utilizes memory enhancing techniques (rhyming, alliteration, and humor) and engages the learner across multiple learning styles (kinesthetic, visual, and aural). These strategies really help the child remember both the sound and shape of each letter. The idea of this book came to me when I was teaching alphabet letters to my students and later my youngest son. To help them differentiate between letters "b" and "d" or "p" and "q", I was creating funny stories while they were tracing the letters. For example, for the letter "b", I used to tell them that a skinny man ate a big melon and got a big belly (emphasizing the sound b made on "big" and "belly"). That became really helpful when my students were writing words or sentences. I noticed how they were making less mistakes and remembering how a certain letter was formed.
The idea for my first book The Silly Potty Story (for boys) came when my oldest son was a toddler. My husband and I had a very difficult time potty training him. So, one day, while I was bathing him, I came up with this story about a little boy who becomes aware of his need to go potty, so his mom engages him in a silly talk about where to go potty. Since it's silly, it entertains the child and makes toilet training easier and less stressful. Also, in the story, the decision to go potty in the toilet comes from the boy himself, which is a critical step in the potty training process.
Question 3: Why do I write what I do?
I write and illustrate children's books because it's fun! It has been a dream of mine to write stories since I was a child. When I came to the U.S. in '95 on a tennis scholarship, I thought I couldn't become a writer. I thought, "There's no way I can major in English or Journalism...", so I decided to follow a different path and become a teacher. While I was a special education teacher, I was doing many projects with my students where they were creating photo or video assignments to tell stories. It was a way to motivate them to write. They really enjoyed these types of projects and were so involved that many times the bell would ring and they wouldn't want to leave for their next class!
Being a special education teacher requires many, many hours after class filling out IEPs and having meetings. After a while, I noticed how I was spending almost 12 hours a day at school and proportionately less time at home. During that time, my youngest son was a toddler, so I decided to devote more time to my family and help children in a different way. I'm blessed that I have an amazing husband who has studied 5 languages and has an amazing knowledge of the English language. So, with his help as an editor and co-author, I was finally able to fulfill my dream of becoming a writer.
Question 4: How does my writing process work?
Well, let's see... The ideas first pop in my head while I'm doing something like playing with my boys, vacuuming, taking a shower, etc. Then I write some notes down and run to my husband to tell him my ideas. For both "Dragon Howl" and "Crazy Town Upside Down", I had the help of my husband to develop the rhymes. Then, I sit down with my husband, and we plan together how/what illustrations will go on each page, characters, colors, background etc. Then with the "not-so-much" help of a digital illustration program, I draw, edit, redraw, change, write, edit again, rewrite, change fonts and formats, change characters' positions and colors, edit some more... It's a constant editing process...
Now, for "Dragon Howl" I didn't have a digital art program at first, so I drew all the illustrations by hand, tried at first do all of them in watercolor (didn't really work that well...), and then decided to go digital. I did my research, bought and learned how to use a digital art program, scanned all my pencil sketch drawings, traced and colored them (very hard and detailed process), and after a year of work, I published my book.
For my "soon to be novel", the idea came into my head, and each day more of the story was developed "in my head", to a point where the whole story is now completed "in my head"... I might be shy around strangers, but I'm very verbal around the people I know and am comfortable with, so I just talk nonstop about the story to my husband, mom, godmother, mother-in-law, and close friends. I know...they know...I'm annoying... But this is not the only story I already have completed in my head! Many years ago, I had already created one and told the whole thing to two of my best friends (that was way before I was even a teacher), and my friends were telling me that I should write and publish the story. It's a love story that takes place in the past (mid 1800's), and it's in my plans to write it in the future... :D
Step 3: Introduce my 4 lovely guests for next week's Blog Hop.
Here we are.. I'm proud to introduce you to...
LEILA BOUKARIM
Years before I had children, I never thought I wanted them. But the day I had my first, I couldn’t imagine my life without him. My children have made me who I am today. They are my heart, they are my soul, they are the air that I breathe. They are my everything.
My four year old is a Highly Sensitive Child. My husband and I didn’t always know that. We knew that he always stood out in every group he was a part of, in ways that were both good and not so good. And although we knew how amazing he was, not everyone could see it. He is often misunderstood by family members, other children, and his teachers. We finally put our finger on what this was when I discovered Elaine Aron and her book, The Highly Sensitive Child. After having read the book, it all started to make sense. I started to speak with other parents of Highly Sensitive Children, and it was like hearing our story over and over again.
After four years filled with challenges, worry and also lots and lots of joy, I am now confident that I know my child better than anyone else does. I know why my son acts the way he does in certain situations. I know what causes him to be anxious. I know what he enjoys. I know that he reasons like an older child. I know that he loves deeply. I look at him in awe and admiration. He has made me a better person. He is my inspiration.
I started this blog in hopes of being able to reach not only other parents of Highly Sensitive Children, but also teachers, caregivers, and anyone who knows a Highly Sensitive Child. This topic is still unknown to most, making it especially difficult on our Highly Sensitive Children to fight their way through life while being completely misunderstood. It is our responsibility to help bring to light the fact that these children are not just normal. They are extraordinary!
CHRISTINA BROCKETT
My name is Christina (or Tina if you prefer) and I am a working mom with a son and daughter. Each day is a carefully orchestrated balancing act of being a wife, mother and working professional with the occasional bit of me time thrown in. I’m the author of The Missing Pages of the Parent Handbook.
The Missing Pages of the Parent Handbook is a product of two years of interviewing a cross-section of American parents about times when parenting threw them a curveball. I believe that I am a work in progress and document that evolution as a person, and mother, at my blog Momevolving.
SELAH CAMBIAS
I’m an award-winning author of a parenting book that helps parents get along better with their kids by learning their personality types, or archetypes. I was working as an Archetypal Consultant – someone who helps adults figure out their life’s purpose - when I figured out that it works brilliantly with children. When parents figure out what their kids’ personality types are telling us, things get a whole lot easier.
JODY CANTRELL DYER
Jody Cantrell Dyer is a mother, author, and speaker in Tennessee.
After struggling to conceive for six years, then clumsily (yet successfully) adopting, to now navigating an open adoption with her child's birth parents, Dyer felt compelled to write The Eye of Adoption. She felt that someone needed to "tell it like it is" so others would be better equipped to handle the turbulent and triumphant, mysterious and magical, beautiful burdensome blessing of adoption.
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