The Shine a Light Campaign!

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group! is a supportive online environment for insecure writers. A big aspect of IWSG is the idea of giving as well as taking. The group organizers 'encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.'

In the spirit of this give-and-take code of conduct, I’d like to share a wonderful initiative by a friend of mine. My good friend, author and poet, Catherine Johnson came up with a brilliant idea recently called the Shine a Light campaign.

“I’ve decided to start a blog campaign on Mondays with your help using a hashtag like #shinealight to spotlight deeds of kindness/help.  If you hear of a story where someone did something to help someone else feel free to cover a story on your blog and use the hashtag #shinealight on Twitter.” ~ C.J.

 

My Shine a Light story takes us back in time a few years. It is about my grandmother, Nan Hefferan, who lived a life of impeccable service to others.

Nan gave to others her entire life. She served as a barrister in her small town in England and was known for ‘being fair’. She also held the position of County Borough Organizer for the Women’s Voluntary Service and was known for ‘being involved in many charitable works’. The charity initiative for which she became widely known however was the ‘Trolley Shop’. It was her idea to take simple items the rest of us take for granted like combs, and pantyhose, and fruit into the Workhouses on a wheeled ‘shop’, which my grandfather built by repurposing their old tea trolley.

Nan told me that the first time she and her women took the trolley shop, otherwise known as ‘meals on wheels’ into one of the Workhouses, it was an instant success. They had been through the entire complex of buildings, when Nan realized that the man in charge was hurrying her and her posse of WVS past the mentally infirm and disabled ward. Nan stopped him and insisted the mentally infirm and disabled inmates must be given their turn to ‘shop’ as well. “They have just as much right as anyone else in the Workhouse.”

 

Upon the door opening to the mental ward, Nan said she froze when a large woman lumbered across the room towards her. Though terrified, my five-foot-tall grandmother stood her ground. The woman drew up before Nan and reached up to stroke Nan’s face. “Nice,” the woman said and smiled.

 

And that was the start of the WVS Trolley Service into the Workhouses—the mentally disabled wings included. This simple idea alleviated the dire lives of countless poverty-stricken and disadvantaged folk.

I really admire my grandmother's spirit of regarding all people as equal. Even those our society has long sought to discard. A humble magnet on her fridge spoke of her life's ethic, a bible verse of just two words: “Be kind.”  

 

 

Have you witnessed a random display of kindness lately? Do you feel inspired by other people’s acts of charity? Know people who are givers rather than takers? Have you got a ‘Shine a Light’ story? Please share.

 

‘A man is only truly ethical when he obeys the compulsion to help all life he is able to assist. And shrinks from injuring anything that lives.’ ~ Albert Schweitzer

 

Talk to you later,

Yvette K. Carol

 

~~

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond – Available Now!

Posted: 01 Dec 2014 06:52 AM PST

Just in time for IWSG post week and Christmas - The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond is available for downloading. Thanks to everyone who contributed – it is packed with information! Please help us spread the word about this awesome book.

How Do We Get Boys To Read?

The subject of boys reading is close to my heart, primarily because as a youngster coming up, I watched my brother’s painful struggles learning to read. Dad sat up with him every night - Dad read one page, my brother another and so on. I empathised with my brother. Books and the joy of reading formed the background to my childhood experience. It seemed such a shame to me that he missed out.

 

With my own three boys, teaching them to read, and sharing the love of reading with them has been a top priority.

 

 

          The wonderful writer Michael Morpurgo said recently, ‘The findings of the National Literacy Trust's report into boys' reading are announced today. It reveals again that boys are falling behind in reading and that attitudes to reading between boys and girls are widening even further.’ 

            Isn't that sad?

 

I remember hearing a story about Frana Cardno, mayor of Southland District Council in New Zealand. When Frana first lobbied for a library in her area, apparently the response from the “mainly macho community where most decisions were made over a beer in the Working Men’s Club”, was this classic line: “What do you need books for?”

 

I like to think we've come a long way since the '70's but then I am an optimist. 

 

The research shows we still have a way to go. In a post by Tricia Lowther, recently, Lowther wrote, The 2012 report by the Boys Reading Commission, (BRC), compiled by the National Literacy Trust, reports that at age seven, there’s a gender gap of 7 percentage points in the proportion of pupils reaching the expected level in reading, and the numbers rise slightly with age.

 

 

 

So, how do we get boys to read? And feel good about it? In recent times, some folks in marketing and advertising have tried to encourage boys by coming up with the idea to label books for ‘boys’ or ‘girls’. But I’m not sure segregating titles would make any difference. It's not getting to the root of the problem.

In the ensuing backlash to the gender marketing, The Let Books Be Books campaign asks children’s publishers to take the ‘Boys’ and ‘Girls’ labels off books. Reminder: when we say "Books for boys," we set a default as books and reading are girl activities. We reinforce social expectations. As journalist and children’s author Bel Mooney said in a radio discussion on marketing books as ‘boys’ or ‘girls’; “The imagination does not have a gender.”

 

            I agree completely. Getting boys reading is such a complex issue, and I'm not an expert, I can only go by my own experience.

 

When my middle son, Samuel, was born with Down Syndrome, my brother-in-law said that the British Research Association had come out with findings that suggested the more you stimulated a baby’s senses from 0-3 years old, the greater the child’s intelligence. I gathered a big box full of different sensory devices for Sam: shells, feathers, pumice, stones, wood, and metal. I engaged him in water play, sandpits, gardening, painting, playdough, clay modelling, listening to music, and watching educational videos. I consistently worked to stimulate his senses. 

 

 

Most of my energy though went into reading to him. Sam and I visited the library every week, when I’d allow him free reign to choose as many books as he liked (up to the limit of 30). Then I would read the enormous pile to him every single day until we went back to the library for a new pile. When my brother-in-law met Sam again, at eleven months old, my BIL said, “He’s changed. The light has come on in his eyes.” And he was right.

 

 

To my delight, Sam has become an avid reader. He was first in his class to read independently, and despite there being three age levels in his room, Sam is the best reader in class.

What do you need books for? How about to switch on the light in a disabled boy’s eyes, a singular event that has altered the course of his education for the better, therefore his whole life.

 

 

“There clearly is a myth about boys and reading as so many people seem to think that the gender gap in reading is bigger than it is, but research shows that the number one factor that determines your reading ability is how often your parents read out loud to you and the number of books in your house.” ~ Jennifer Dyer

 

What do we need books for? What's the best way to encourage boys to read? What do you think?

 

 

Keep reading!

Till next time,

Yvette K. Carol

Introverted Writers Unite?

                    In accordance with the guidelines of the Insecure Writers Support Group, where writers share their insecurities and thoughts, I’m writing my post to coincide with the first Wednesday of the month.

It seems fitting that my next post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group is about being an introvert. Couple that least-admired trait with being a writer, and you’ve got a double whammy of ‘anti-social’ stink-bombs. I’d advise you don’t invite me to parties. I’m just sayin’....

SeanBeaudoin says, Writing is mentally taxing, emotionally exhausting, and requires a rare and unusual skill set: namely the ability to keep doing it long after all your friends and family have stopped believing in you and spend the majority of every Christmas vacation asking when you’re going to get a real job.

One real advantage to being an introvert is that I do have the ability to keep going long after family has stopped believing in me, in great abundance. An introvert’s secret power is that I self-refer first and foremost in every situation.



According to the book called, The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World, by Marti Laney, Psy.D. only about 25% of the people in the world are Introverts. In my former innocence, I’d imagined we shared this world 50/50 with the extroverts. It came as a bit of a shock to find I’m in the minority. But it sure explains a few things!

Laney states that, Introverts are people who are over-sensitive to Dopamine, so too much external stimulation overdoses and exhausts them. Conversely, Extroverts can’t get enough Dopamine, and they require Adrenaline for their brains to create it. Extroverts also have a shorter pathway and less blood-flow to the brain. The messages of an Extrovert’s nervous system mostly bypass the Broca’s area in the frontal lobe, which is where a large portion of contemplation takes place.

 

So for this reason, we introverts need less exposure to people, public situations, noise, social events, to gain all the information we need to be able to retreat again and process it. This fine sifting process I do once I’m alone comes in handy when I’m writing because I have easy access to those thoughts and memories, about feelings and thoughts and images needed for spinning tales of fiction.

           And yet...most people are still none too keen on my kind.

           Paul Ingraham says, If you act too good for small talk and pretentiously lunge for more “profound” conversations, or avoid any topic that isn’t important enough for your majesty, the only people who will be impressed are other socially inept critters with their own delusions of intellectual grandeur.

           See what I mean?

From the positive point of view, I think that most of the traits of an introvert lean themselves towards the career of being an author: skills of quiet observation, contemplation, and the ability to truly apply ourselves productively to time alone.

Carl King wrote a famous article called 10 Myths about Introverts, which caused a lot of flak at the time because some people took exception to items on the list. I enjoyed the list especially Myth #7 – Introverts are weird. Carl says, Introverts are often individualists. They don’t follow the crowd.

I think it’s for this reason that introverts like myself are able to hack it as writers. We can handle the isolation and very happily exist in a workplace of one for the duration.

But that ability makes us cool not weird. 

Me, at 25, a self-portrait

 

The wonderful author, Maggie Stiefvater said in a Facebook post last month, ‘In conclusion, my life gets better every year. I’m happier now than I was at 25, and I thought I was happy then. I am more myself every year.’

Now there’s something to aspire to - to be more myself every year!

So, I say, I’m an introvert and I’m proud.

I want to be confident of who I am, however I am and stop judging myself as less than anyone else. We all have a place in this world.

 

How about you, are you more yourself with every year? If you’re an introvert, are you embracing it?

 

See ya’ in the funny papers,

Yvette. K. Carol

 

“Be that which you really are: don’t pretend to be that which you are not.” ~ Swami Rama

Are You Sure You’re Doing The Wrong Thing?

 
Life should not be comfortable; it isn’t to a person’s advantage to have it so.  Nor should art.  Never have the masterpieces of life or art been pleasant or easy.  They are always rugged peaks to be ascended by the few. ~Nikos Kazantzakis

About 30,000 years ago, the earliest examples of the cave art of our ancestors began to appear. And from that moment in history, we sought to express strong feelings through imagery. This proved a great intellectual breakthrough for our species. And I’m sure those first artists were lauded and offered the best food the tribe had to offer. This breakthrough was of paramount importance to everyone.

In effect, man could ‘freeze’ part of his environment long enough for his powerful intelligence to think about it, to manipulate it, to understand it fully. ~ Readers Digest, The First Two Million Years.

This led to teaching aids, toys and tools. Therefore, art has played a quintessential part of our evolution. A friend raised a great topic the other day on Facebook. She asked a question which set me to thinking for days afterwards.

I love Facebook. There, I said it! Sometimes, the discussions that start there are the best conversations I have in a day. They’re wonderfully honest.

            Back to the great question posed. My friend has been going through some of the more stressful events of life in recent times. Then a colleague went away, and sorely missing her, my friend was left questioning her course in life. An artist and writer, she posted this status update:

I’m not even sure why being able to draw has a purpose these days...it doesn’t seem to have any artistic or financial merit. I always thought it was a divine gift. What should I do with it? Please discuss

I thought, wow, that’s such a thought-provoking topic. People chimed in with ringing thoughts like, It is a really simple and cathartic way to channel your juju and to process whatever it is inside you which needs to be processed.

Another commenter shared this quote: "Art is not about making a living it is about making a life." The wise words of Paulus Berensohn

 

 

Fired up, I commented, “My oil paintings will outlive me. I kind of like that. However, leaving legacies aside, a world without art and artists of all kinds I would not want to live in. Our purpose may not be expressed in the same clearly linear format of hours done/recompense given/living earned sort of thing as other people get to do. The arts are about much much more than that. They're about spiritual, emotional, mental, physical expression and transmutation and magical processes. The arts provide the rest of mankind with those most important of elusive experiences: hope, and inspiration, and aspiration and joy.”

They're about the alchemy of being reminded to look up and remember the bigger picture.

 

Where would any of us be without it? I’m quite sure that art led to the development of the written word. We don’t just want the arts, we depend on them. As the world becomes more burdened and soulless around us, we need our artists and creatives more than ever. So, if you were chosen, and have that destiny, bless you, and keep going. You're 'remembering the universe' for everyone. Don’t ever give up!

 

My pal, the writer PJ Reece and I were having an email back-and-forth once on the topic of being transported by our work (as lowly writers). In signing off, he said, “Ah!  The eastern sky is lightening.  I gotta go.  An hour from now my best interests will be hijacked by appearances and the everyday mind, and I will be buried under gravel, again.”

            And that’s it. Life railroads over us with demands and needs. We're earthed by the fact the bills have to be paid, the toilet scrubbed, the son’s nose wiped. This week, I go to see my dentist, my car needs a panel beater, and take middle child to have the gunk sucked out of his ears. If I couldn’t read, or see a movie, or look at a painting; if I didn’t have my ‘art’, my books to write, I would not survive. For me, as a creative person, these channels of expression form my outlet and wonderfully, they have the potential to uplift others as well one day. That’s sublime. Transformative.

 

“Where There Is No Vision, the People Perish” The phrase comes from the Bible’s book of Proverbs, and it expresses an important truth: Humans, in order to live effectively and happily, need a goal—a vision—to pursue. ~ Paul Rosenberg

 

Yet these days, the artist, the writer, the singer, is no longer at the top of the food chain. The ‘artist’s way’ as Julia Cameron coined it, is not for the faint-hearted. No. You must have courage in your heart and steel in your spine. You must 'have your stirrups on', as my sister would say. The arts are not generally regarded as a high status profession. Admiration is saved for the famous. No one, not your family, not even your spouse will respect your choice to go the artist’s way unless you’re making money. For writers, there are a small tier of authors on the top shelf, the bestsellers, who make a good living out of writing fiction. The rest of us  will only ever do our writing alongside our ‘real job’. It’s unappreciated, underpaid, and I have to say, a fairly thankless path.

 

 

 

As PJ Reece said, I guess all outsiders are symbols of failure in the eyes of the mainstream. It reminds me of Leonard Cohen’s long-ago mentor who, concerned for Leonard’s onward path, asked him:

“Are you sure you’re doing the wrong thing?”

 

 

I know I am. I’m happily following my muse, thirty five years later, I’m still writing for children - despite everything - still doing the wrong thing. And it continues to light up my life. How about you? Mojo intact? Are you doing the wong thing? I love to hear from you...

 

See ya’ in the funny papers!

Yvette K. Carol

http://www.yvettecarol.com

The Melee of Marketing for the Modern Writer

 

 

             I'm running late, don't tell me, I know! I've been chasing my tail all day, trying to get to this post. Here I am, scraping in for the 1st of October in the U.S.A. It's 11 p.m. here right now, and in accordance with the wonderful Insecure Writer's Support Group, I'm posting on the 'first Wednesday of the month'. And this is a special Wednesday, because it's an opportunity to post possible entries for an anthology the IWSG is putting together, advice for writers.



The Oxford Dictionary describes ‘melee’ as ‘a confused, noisy struggle'.
 

I saw the word melee in my thesaurus under ‘Disorder’ and thought; wow that describes the minefield of marketing for the modern writer very well.

I read a lot of blogs (I try to keep up with about thirty-five a week). In the last few years, there’s been a jump in the wealth of information on how to market oneself and one’s books. It’s a rapidly evolving field. Advice that may have worked five years ago, is no longer applicable now. Even in 2011, Alan Rinzler said, ‘That $50K space ad in the New York Times? Forget it. It’s only for the author’s mother. The twenty-city bookstore tour with first class airplanes, limousines, and hotel suites? A waste of money. Not even an appearance on the Today Show can guarantee more than a brief spike in sales....The old ways don’t work.’

The old ways of self-promotion don’t work! What does? For the writer battling to write their masterpieces, and keep up with the business of self-promotion, the competing voices of advisors are a whirlwind. The key to this maelstrom is that a lot of the advice is conflicting, sometimes even coming from the same source.

Take for example the advice of the greatly esteemed writer, Bob Mayer, who participates in ‘Slideshare, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc. all from home,’ as a form of self-promotion. He said, ‘I used to not be a fan of book trailers, and while I don’t think they do much direct selling, they increase your digital footprint. And they’re cool.’

So, I felt reading this, that he was advocating we writers participate in most forms of social media. Yet, in the same breath, Bob also said, ‘Focus on craft; not marketing and promotion. You can’t promote crap. The best marketing is a good story; better marketing is more good stories.’

 

It’s hard to know which way to go.

 

Did I mention that one definition of melee is ‘noisy’? I’ve only been looking into the question of how to do subtle self-promotion the last few years, and I’m overwhelmed with the conflicting opinions. Everybody has one.

 

It's easy to get swayed this way and that. Then, the danger, if we do too much self-marketing, is that we get absorbed into doing the daily rounds to the extent that we never get back to our manuscript! There was a stage there for me, where I found myself awake chatting to people on LinkedIn at one in the morning. And yet, I hadn't edited the chapter I needed to finish. I knew I had to work out a better balance. 

           I heard a famous author had once said of the differences between published and unpublished writers, ‘Published authors see marketing as part of their mission to entertain, help & inspire others. Unpublished authors see marketing as their publisher’s job.’ It's my duty to build my platform. My brand is my responsibility. It's an inescapable part of being an author today.

I went back to the trenches and started digging. I found a wonderful book with solid guidance as to how to navigate self-promotion in the digital age. ‘We Are Not Alone’ by writer and social media guru, Kristen Lamb. I applied myself to all her principles, and I'm gradually working on my platform. 

           Of marketing, Ms. Lamb recently updated this book, 'The Rise of the Machines', and said on her blog, '1) discoverability is a nightmare 2) less than 8% of the literate population are devoted readers 3) the remaining 92% equate reading with homework and a chore. Thus, we have the task of convincing 92% of the population to spend time they don't have engaged in an activity they believe they dislike…and spend money to do it.'

 

Sometimes just the thought of what I need to do next makes me feel tired.

 

I like Jane Friedman’s simple approach too, ‘When writers ask me what the most important thing they should be doing to further their career—aside from write—it’s almost always start your own website.’ If only things could be this simple.

My dear friend, writer and YouTube queen, Maria Cisneros-Toth and I discussed the thorny issue of how to work on our brands while keeping it simple. We decided that the best way would be to restrict ourselves to the forms of social media we enjoyed the most. The forms that were never a chore.

         I chose our online group over on Wanatribe, Writing for Children, and my website, Facebook page and Pinterest, my blog and newsletter.

I’ve found since then, that I can sustain these sites, which as Bob Mayer says, increases my digital footprint. I’m also still able to do the important business of writing.

I say, find what you’re comfortable with in terms of social media commitments and accept that that’s your limit.

         As for the melee of voices on marketing advice, at this stage, I like to see what they’re saying and course-correct only when absolutely necessary.

 

 

It’s a matter of survival. Sanity. Yours. Mine.

Till next time,

Keep smiling!

 

 

Yvette Carol

 Anne R. Allen ~ ‘We writers tend to be a delusional lot. Most of us know the average writer doesn't make a bunch of money, but we secretly believe our own efforts will bring us fabulous fame and fortune. Or at least pay the rent. When we start out, we're certain our books will leapfrog over all the usual obstacles, and in record time, we will land on the NYT  bestseller list and the cover of Time. Don't be embarrassed. The delusions are necessary. If we accepted the reality of how hard it is to make a living as a writer, we'd never get that first sentence on the page.’

 

Turning agony into ecstasy....

 

‘Pain is the difficult doorway to hidden generosity.’~ David Whyte

I wanted to write a blog post about something inspirational. When you only post twice a month, it should be worth the effort. But then my middle son, Sam, got very sick with that nasty coughing virus. I’ve been consumed by caring for him, as we dived down towards and then narrowly avoided pneumonia. I began to feel the opposite of inspirational – in fact, more like that embarrassing stage of tiredness and desperation where you start to break down a bit in front of people. All creativity seemed to temporarily flee.

Some weeks ago, I had written a short non-fiction story about the arrival into our family of my middle child, and my subsequent first experiences with Down Syndrome. I submitted the story to the Chicken Soup for the Soul anthology, Hope and Miracles. This was my way of dealing with the past.

 

Sam turned twelve on Tuesday. It’s hard to believe it’s been twelve years since he crashed down the walls around my heart. I know I haven't been the same person since meeting him and thank goodness. It's true what the Maori say, that people with Down Syndrome have more 'wairua' (spirit) than other people.

 

One morning this week, my youngest son, complained. "Does Sam get to stay home again? It's not fair!"

I said, "Sam is really suffering."

"No, he isn't, he's just faking."

 

But this is one of the amazing things about Sam, is that he's never 'faking'. He doesn't know the meaning of the concept. Sam is himself, as he is, how he is at all times.  He's pure. I love that. What winds me up is there's so much misunderstanding about these people, and it just makes life more difficult for us as the parents and caregivers.

 

I’m moved to write about this  topic because two times during the nightmare of the last four weeks, as I’ve nursed Sam around the clock with the coughing virus, I've come up against the dragon of ignorance that exists around Down Syndrome.

 

 

The first time it happened, a nice doctor at the Emergency Department, prescribed medication. We got home and I read the instructions: they required Sam to ‘hold a teaspoon of the medicine in his mouth for a few minutes’. I laughed and threw the box away. I felt surprised the doctor would think Sam was going to “hold” anything in his mouth for a few minutes. I thought, ‘perhaps this guy has never met a special needs person before.’

The second time happened after we were discharged for the second time from the ED this week. The spunky young doctor sent us home with a prescription for Sam’s sore lips. I read with horror, the instructions asked that Sam keep ten mils of the gel in his mouth, gargle it and then spit out. I mean, c’mon! You did just meet my son, doctor, didn’t you? You were there? Do you really think he’s going to be able to hold the gel in his mouth and then gargle and spit it out? Seriously!

 

That’s when I began to get a bit steamed, and moved into a state of consternation.

It isn’t rocket science, folks. This sweet pure soul who is Sam, is like a small child in a big child's clothing.  Think of him as a five-year-old in a twelve-year-old's body. He needs medication that is simple to use and tasteless to take – please don’t prescribe big tablets that I have to grind up into powder, because Sam can’t take tablets. Please don’t prescribe gels that require a flaming degree in science, and a meth lab to use!

 

Sam has taught me a lot about Down Syndrome. And because of Sam, I got to enter the amazing fraternity of parents of special needs kids. This is a deep group. These mums and dads have been through the fire, they’ve done their warrior tests, and they’ve been enriched for their trials. A more incredible group of people you couldn't hope to meet.

 

Sadly, folks with special needs are often a misunderstood, overlooked section of the community. But it doesn’t always have to be that way. I see a much better, brighter future ahead. And I feel it’ll be paved by sparks like my son, and all the other amazing, bright, young things (and not-so-young things) like him.

 

As a writer, I can’t help but be affected in the way that comes most naturally...the story seeds are being sown...I don’t know how, or when, or what the fiction will be. I only know that the feeling becomes more certain. I will write story about them. Something wicked this way comes.

 

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. ― Ray Bradbury

 

Ttl,

Yvette K. Carol