Childrens' Micro-Publishing

My oldest daughter is going to start kindergarten on Monday!  Tonight we had New Parent Orientation, at least half of which was PTA* recruitment, but this turned out to be very interesting.

One of the PTA projects at this elementary school is actually a tiny publishing company!  Students are encouraged to write and illustrate a story, and Wildcat Publishing produces it in hardcover.  Not one book for the whole school, mind you - each child gets her own book.  In fact, the first one is free for each child, but she can pay for additional books.

The PTA mom in charge was looking for volunteers to do everything but the binding: scan, type, edit, layout and design.  She told me it takes an average volunteer about two weeks to produce one book.  There are over 900 students at this school.  I don't know how they make that math work, but I sincerely hope these kids appreciate it!


*In case they don't have PTA wherever you live, it is short for Parent-Teacher Association. Volunteer Parent Auxiliary might be more apt though; it is a corps of parents who volunteer time to assist with school operations and support school initiatives.  Since the work is typically done during the school day and on school grounds, most of the active participants are stay-at-home moms.

From My Friend, the Published Author

This is from my BFF, who has published a bunch of books in recent years, despite having less free time than the hamster who powers the internet.

I love to write.  However, when my editor said in reference to the next book they want me to write, "You do understand that a 450 page book will require 675 manuscript pages"... I felt like I got punched in the gut.

And here I was hoping this sort of thing got easier with experience.

I Can't Stand it Anymore

I am nothing if not disciplined when it comes to work.  When I decide to "buckle down", I buckle down.  But in working like crazy on my business, it's now been something like six months since I've allowed myself any significant time to write, and it's driving me crazy.  Missing the most recent Clarity of Night contest was the last straw.

So, I hereby grant myself free time to write.  Being my own boss was the reason to start my own biz in the first place, after all.

And with the writing, I should be around here a little more often too.  Talk to you soon!