Hey, I've got an idea...

The last post was on this little book/assessment called Strengths Finder 2.0.  If you haven't read it, you might check it out first for a little background (the post, not the book).  My 5 top strengths came out as Ideation, Responsibility, Strategic, Learner and Input.  Nothing listed that made me cock my head to one side and say 'huh'?  After all, from the time I was 5 years old, my mother described me as the responsible one.  My brother, 13 months older, was the cute one.  My mother swears that I was also cute, but my brother was definitely not responsible.  Anyway, that's fodder for the therapist, not the blog.

The Ideation topping the list helped me understand my 'process' both at my day-job and in my writing.  The Insights section tells me (among other things) that: Because the printed word feeds your mind, you frequently generate original plans, programs, designs, or activities.  It's very likely that you recharge your mind by creating ideas for new projects.  This occurs even before you have completed your current assignment.

This may explain why I've been feeling like I have adult-onset ADD lately.  I'm not lacking focus, I'm just hyper-creative.  I like that explanation so much better.  At work, I've been driving my teammates a little crazy with all my plans, suggestions and possible new programs.  With writing, I've got eleventy-seven different projects all in various stages of development: this month's critique submission was a memoir/essay for a magazine titled The Truth About Santa Claus. I've been working on my secret project a little, but not enough to have it ready to go.  I started revising my very first book about my mom and her boat, Mrs. K and her Little Red Wagon, to make it a little more universal. I've got a query letter in the works to submit In This Chair to another agent.  I've been reading some other early chapter books to try and wrap my head around where I need to go with Bring Your Tools to School.  And of course, there's this blog which is what I write when I tell myself I don't have time to really write.

I may need to develop that Responsibility strength a little more.  All the fabulous ideas in the world won't amount to a hill of beans if I don't push some of them all the way to the finish line.  (This race image makes me giggle because, in 23 years of marriage, my husband swears he's never seen me run.  However, in all things, he is right there behind me with all the encouragement and support a girl could ever hope for so, in that way, this image is dead on!)  I know the finish line is out there.  It's just that I'm still a little fuzzy on the length of the race I entered.  5K?  Marathon?  Either way, it starts with that first step.

The Right Fit or, maybe, the Write Fit?

I took the assessment in Strengths Finder 2.0 recently because I'm evaluating it as a tool to use to help our students make sound choices, find their best path etc.  I love the concept behind it, which loosely stated, is that we should build on our strengths in order to maximize our potential and, more importantly, to be happy with the process.  Tom Rath states that, "When we're able to put most of our energy into developing our natural talents, extraordinary room for growth exists."  Makes sense, right?  However, many of our evaluation methods tend to focus mostly on our weaknesses.  Grades, performance reviews, counseling, and/or meetings with your agent/editor/critique group, for instance.  Where are we lacking?  What can we improve?  How can I rewrite this?

A great example is children's grades (and with finals starting tomorrow for my 16-year- old this is a hot topic in our house):  When a child comes home with a 98 in Math, most parents don't say "Way to Go" and suggest the child go do more math.  Instead they say "Yikes, what happened in Biology.  75?  You better hit the books tonight!"  But maybe this child isn't a scientist.  Maybe he can work really hard and all he'll ever earn are Bs and Cs in Science.  Face it, this kid is not going to cure cancer.  But think of all the amazing things he can do if he's good at math and, if he actually likes it, it won't even feel like work!  The book states that the adage "You can be anything you want" should be written "You can be more of what you already are."  Don't get me wrong, this isn't a get out jail free card.  I don't think we should use it as an excuse not to do things we don't like or need to work at, but as we're prioritizing and making choices, we also shouldn't try and fit a square peg into a round hole. 

Case in point:  One of the speakers I heard this past year was the General Counsel from Hewlett-Packard who was also a classmate and friend of mine at ND.  We hadn't seen each other since he graduated as an Engineering major in 1984.  Imagine my surprise that he was now the GC at HP.  He told the students a great story.  He said that when he applied to law school at Villanova, the admissions director told him that he had the lowest GPA of any student they'd ever accepted, but because he'd done exceptionally well on the LSAT they were going to give him a chance.  (I'm thinking he made the most of that opportunity.)  He explained that he'd really always hated engineering - both in school and as a career (short-lived as it was).  He stuck with it because the conventional wisdom at the time was "you're good at math and Engineers get jobs."  Conversely, he loved law, loved arguing, loved organizing the facts.  Once he played to his natural strengths, he was infinitely more successful and really, really happy to get up and go to work everyday even though he worked awfully hard.

I'll post more later as to my specific strengths as identified by this assessment and how they tie into the pursuit of great writing.  But for now, I think it's good to be reminded to take stock of what you do well every day and start there.  All too often, we are driven by thoughts about what isn't working and we lose sight of all that is working beautifully.

Here's the wind-up...

One of my pitches struck out today!  I'm not surprised, really.  It was a long shot.  And that's what makes the whole thing so grand.  I totally stepped out of my comfort zone and swung for the fences.  The result ended up being more of a bunt than a homer, but the bat connected with the ball. And I think this business is all about the at bats.   Every time you strike out, you just have go to the end of the batting line up, take a few more practice swings and then dig in at home plate one more time.  No one hits a home run every time - some never do, but occasionally you get on base and that is enough.  (God I love a good sports analogy!  You'd never know that I was only on the softball team in 7th grade because no one got cut.  Eighth grade was a very different story.)

I don't really love baseball, but I do love a good story.  So here's the abbreviated version of my pitch: One of the great things about working at the College of Business at Notre Dame is that we get some truly awesome speakers to come in to talk to our budding capitalists about their story.  This spring we had the CEO of a major grocery store chain that emphasizes organic food & good stewardship of the earth (the only other thing I'll say is that I wish we had one in South Bend).  As I listened to him speak, all I could think about was that his core message would make a great children's book.

The General Counsel happened to be sitting in front of me and when the lecture was over, I tapped her on the shoulder.  Please reread that line.  I am not by nature a shoulder tapper.  I am much more of a nodder from a distance.  Those of you who are bold and gutsy will think I am incredibly lame (deservedly), but this was a big move for me.  Especially when the words that came out of my mouth had nothing to do with my day job, nothing about our students and instead asked if her company had (of all the crazy things) a children's book.  To her great credit, the GC was incredibly gracious as I blurted out my idea and she even seemed enthusiastic about the concept.  I spent the weekend figuring out what rhymes with sustainable seafood and sent a slightly more composed pitch early the following week  She forwarded  it on to someone in their Education department and today (about 6 weeks after the tapping incident), that person passed because they have bigger fish to fry.  She did end her note by saying I should contact her if I write the book anyway because they would consider selling it in their stores.

At the very least, that's a ball and not a strike, which means I'll live to swing again another day.  Let's play two!

Ignorance is bliss...

...at least it was for my writing critique group members.  Just finished up my critiques of everyone's submissions for tomorrow's meeting.  I reviewed all my notes from Saturday's conference first and tried to incorporate what I learned into my comments.  No surprise that all this new knowledge makes me sound more critical.  With any luck, my thoughts are more on point and more helpful as well.  I'm working under the assumption that it's better to hear it from me (and the rest of the team) so they won't hear it from an agent or editor.  Or worse yet, hear nothing because their submissions weren't quite ready to be sent out.  I know that my skin is getting tougher and tougher as I move through this process and hope that they can also 'weather' the winds of suggested change.

One of the tips that I drew from was Donna Gephart's* comment that characters aren't described, they are revealed through action, thought and dialogue.  It makes perfect sense with respect to picture books since the illustrations will show you the character and we've been schooled not to limit the illustrators options by describing the way a character looks.  However, it seems less intuitive in a chapter book or novel where you're trying to paint a picture for the reader.  What images enrich the story for the reader and what gets in the way of their own imprint and imagination?  I guess if you can answer that, you're well on your way to a finished story.

* I'm pretty sure they told us that Donna's latest novel How to Survive Middle School had an initial printing of 100,000 copies and sold out in the first week!!  Wow.

Leap and the Net Will Appear

This zen expression was first introduced to me by a greeting card in Whole Foods Market in Vienna, VA.  Shortly thereafter it showed up in my classroom at Westbriar Elementary School to encourage my students to be risk takers in their thinking.  Now it figures prominently in my story Bring Your Tools to School which is based largely on my experience in the classroom.

With my submission for this week's critique meeting, I'm trying to follow my own advice (for a change).  Often, as I go through my oh-so-ordinary life observing the world around me, the thought bubble over my head reads "That would make a great children's book."  Sometimes, I add the idea to my list of future topics.  Sometimes, I forget the thought almost as quickly as I had it.  This month, though, I have taken bold steps to start a couple balls rolling down non-traditional paths toward publishing.  Will either of them turn into a real opportunity for me?  That is still the BIG question, but I have to say that there is great satisfaction in just following through on an idea.  Those who know me well will agree that bold and decisive are not adjectives that leap to mind to describe me.  Small victories are still victories.

One of the things that was stressed at yesterday's conference (which was terrific, BTW, and will be blogged about later in the week), was the value, nay the necessity, of making and maintaining connections in the industry.  Jay Asher, who wrote 13 Reasons Why (and has been on the bestsellers list for 60 weeks), had some fairly hilarious stories about how he went about gaining notice and making contacts at conferences.  Let's just say that if any of this pans out...it will make a great story!