Goal setting lessons with Candy Crush

The truth: Candy Crush is EVIL! It is a time sucker. It draws you in with these cute little candies and easy levels, and quickly progresses into what is a very hard game. Some of these levels are downright impossible, right? And then, when you finally pass it and think you see the end, you find more levels. Over 300 to be exact! And some you will spend days on. Yes, days!

That said, Candy Crush has a great life lesson in it.

When you start a level, you are given a goal. If you are like me, you start the level without reading the goal, and start clicking, wasting your turns. You are experimenting to see what will happen. It's that whole whole cause and effect thing you learn in elementary school science. However, it leads to total failure.

 

FAILED? You failed!  

It even has a broken heart to show you the
pain and agony of not reaching your goal.

 

You may be clicking with a goal to remove all the jelly when instead you should be working on bringing down the ingredients. After a few failures, you actually read the goal and begin to focus. (Some of you may actually read the instructions first and skip that part. But for those of you who would rather jump right in, don't feel too bad, just know you may need to back peddle.)

Once you are aware of your goal, you work harder. Look above, it says "Try Again!" not "You suck, better quit." It cheers you on! 

During the journey, you also have the opportunity to get help. You can buy boosters (which are not unlike going to conferences or getting training). And at some levels, you are forced to ask your friends for help (not unlike real life where you get stuck and need someone to assist or mentor you).

You learn from your mistakes and begin to see what works, and what doesn't. Then right when you are about to give up and say, "It's not worth it,"

Congrats! You did it! Mission accomplished! Maybe it's a finished manuscript. Or your first sub to an editor. Or your request for a full. Whatever it is, instead of turning off the game and being done (hey you hit your goal) --

               --it gives you a new level with a new goal! A new goal? Yes, there is more work to be done!

So in review, how Candy Crush is like real life:

• You have a goal, though you may not really know what your goal is.
• You start to work towards that goal and fail.
• You identify that goal, and learn from your mistakes, causing you to work harder.
• You share that goal, so someone can cheer you on when you fail and remind you "you don't totally suck."
• It is OK to ask for you help.
• You reach that goal.
• Once the goal is reached, it is time to set a new goal and start the whole cycle again.

You will succeed and get your candy star! But don't quit there, remember to keep moving up the levels!

And if you need a break, play at your own risk.

 

Author Visit time!

Next week starts a wave of author visits. I'm really excited! I've spent the last week preparing for them, and updating my website.

In the next two months I get to visit:

North Sioux City, SD!
Colorado
Texas
Minnesota
I will be meeting with schools, preschools and homeschool students!

Plus you'll find me at the Sioux City Homeshow.  So I have a busy schedule.

The good thing about being busy is I am most productive when I have a lot going on. If I have large chunks of unused, and unscheduled time, I tend to grab a book. Reading is fabulous, but I dive in head first and take my whole body with me. You see me about a week after I have finished the book (and I often finish in a day or two). But I'm mentally wrapped around the story, characters and setting... at least if the book is any good.

I spent January revisiting some old favorites including "The Princess and the Goblin" and "The Secret Garden."

I have no exciting message or moral to leave you with today. Just know that what you do today will impact your life. It may not be tomorrow. It may not be next week. But if you make an effort to do something great, you will see the rewards.

Happy New Year! My goals.

So here it is. The kids are at school. The husband is at work. It's just me, my dog and my two cats. Ahhhh, quiet.

Now I have no excuses. It's time to get to work! First stop: Goal Setting

Debbie's Writing Goals for 2013

• Polish 2 MS (PB) by the end of January and begin subbing
• Polish 2 more in Feb. with a goal with 12 polished PB by the end of 2013.
• Find an editorial agent in 2013 who will appreciate who I am as an author, but also be able to guide me. I am a quick learner and love constructive feedback.
• Sell "Mad Kid Scientist"
• Get a stronger local SCBWI chapter build up.
• Finish my MG novel by May
• Focus on writing every day, even if it's just 20 minutes on some days (I prefer long chunks of time, but know that is unreasonable on most days)
• Start freelance writing again
• Read, read, read!
• Blog at least twice a week

There we have it. Since I am now publishing this to the world, I am forced to hold myself accountable.

It's gonna be a good, good year!

The problem with keeping a blog....

is if you forget you are keeping it and get busy with life, then the blog fizzles out and dies a slow, and boring death.

I'm so sorry I haven't kept this up. Once fair season hit for me, I got side tracked and out of habit. Then it became fall, and I was busy selling Usborne Books...  No more excuses.

They say writing needs to be a habit, you should do it every day. It's true. When my blogging fell, my daily writing fell. And that's no good for a future great writer! Or a starting out writer! Or a professional writer.

So my apologies to those of you who do read my blog, I know there are at least two. :-D 

I am making a new year's resolution now to start the new year with better writing habits and in better shape. See, not only has my daily writing sucked, my exercise habits have too!  I plan to start the year with a bang, and make 2013 the luckiest year so far.  Granted, I am not a lucky person. However, I do create my own luck. And my success is not where I'm used to seeing it. Funny, it correlates with my effort.

I am already starting out the year with numerous author visits on my schedule, and totally excited! I love working with the students.

So here is to an amazing hump day! Put on a smile and get to work,

Debbie

How to write a Novel

I started to write this, then put it on hold because I wanted to spend more time sharing Jan's amazing workshop. So sorry it took me so long to get back to it. :-) I'm learning to balance life and writing with the kids home from summer and family visiting.... Is it time for school to start yet? ;-)

So let's go back in time to the awesome Iowa SCBWI Conference......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of the best parts about the conference was hearing from Jan Blazanin, a published author and former teacher. She was GOOD!!! AND, even better, I walked away with concrete ideas and tools to work with.

Here are my top tips from Jan, in no particular order:

1. You want BIG problems. The bigger, the better. And the problem needs to get worse as the charcter looks for the solution.
2. Better have a hook! This will tell what your story is about, where it fits in the current market, and what's fresh about it. Your protagonist and conflict need to be stated first. And your story needs to be unique.
3. You need to know what it is that your Protagonist wants more then anything else in the world. This needs to be something that he will take risks for.
4. Know your character, inside and out. Interview him. What does he look like? Go shopping with them. Who are his friends? What does he eat? What is his hygiene? You also need to know your secondary characters, though not as in depth.
5. The first 5 pages are the most important. In this time you need to introduce the protagonist, let the audience get to know her (but in the moment, like you just met someone, not in a 20 pages of history sort of way), show what traits set her apart, identify the time and place of the sotry, set the tone, and introduce the catalyst. Whew.
6. Introduce characters gradually. It is easy to confuse your reader. Be kind.
7. The end should be brisk and answer the reader's questions. It does NOT have to tie it up nicely with a bow. She says "Be brisk, be brief, and be gone."
8. When brainstorming, there is no right or wrong way to come up with a story. Some come up with a character, and build a story. Some come up with a plot or conflict, and then find a character who fits.

Jan was a fabulous teacher. Make sure you know what your book is about, who your characters are, and where you are going.

Happy Writing!

Debbie

Author visits in Montana

Last week was the most amazing experience. I was asked to visit Poplar and Wolf Point, MT. While there, I taught some writing workshops, read to the students and answered questions. I felt right at home working with the students, grades Kind through 5th grade. Shawn (my hostess) had me scheduled back to back with negative 30 seconds between classroom visits. We did 11 different location visits in 3 and 1/2 days! Monday I had 6 visits at two schools, plus the library. And Tuesday I did 5 classroom visits, then a college talk, and a reading.

The kids all thought I was there age, so I think they connected with me in a way they don't with adults. It was fun to see how they all couldn't wait to hear what I had to say, and realized that they to can follow their dreams.

At one school, each teacher wanted me to teach on a different writing program, so I was literally pulling out my notes as I ran. The kids were great though. I didn't feel like I lost any of them.  I could really see the wheels in their head turning, watching them think "I can do that!".

 

They had great questions including:

• Do you make a lot of money (answer, no.)
• How long have you been writing (answer, since I was your age.)
• How did I write the words (answer, I let them come to me, wrote them down, then read them aloud over and over and over.)
• Where do I get my ideas (answer, everywhere.)
• Do my kids help me (answer, I test my books on them to see if they need to be sacrificed to the delete God's or polished for potential future literacy)
• What is my favorite book (answer, Anne of Green Gables)
• How old I am (answer, how old do you think I am? To which I was guessed from 4th grade to age 50)

The visit was special because I got to stay with a dear friend, Shawn. She and her family were great, and her husband was open to all of my thousands of questions about life on the reservation.

I also got to speak at the college about tools to teach future writers, which I shall blog about in the future.

One of the perks was eating lunch with the kids. At Poplar Elementary, I was sitting there eating when Shawn looked at me and said, "You have a blue tray."
I answered, "yes, I do."
She said, "I have a red tray."
I looked at her puzzled until she pointed out all the students had blue trays, while the staff got red trays. They thought I was one of the students!

We had a great time at recess!

At the Headstart visits, I learned how to count to 10 in Dakota and my colors, though I don't remember much. It was intriguing how long the words are.

My last day, we added a school visit since a teacher found out I was going to be in there area. They are working on a book, and thought I'd make a great addition. The kids were all prepped with questions for my whirlwind 20 minute squeeze in. I was so impressed with all they had done to prep for my visit.

And as a bonus, I got to visit the Badlands and do some Sand Ball hunting, which my boys loved.

I will work on writing more about my visits! There was so many wonderful things happening as we connected, and I learned more about their environment. But in the meantime, I have some manuscripts I need to finish up. There is nothing more motivating then kids asking you when they can get your next book!


If you are interested in having me speak with your school, daycare, or group, let me know. I do everything from a simple reading with questions, to writing workshops, to playing with the kids on the playground. :-) You can email me by clicking here for more information.

Author Visits in Montana!

I just wanted to give you a heads up that I am in Montana visiting schools and libraries! Look for fun updates about my journey and the great people I'm meeting next week. :-)

Happy writing!