Resolution Traditions in Our Family

I'm not overly fond of the usual “New Years Resolutions” process. The whole thing has become sort of a caricature of itself. The idea has spawned far more jokes than it has success stories, in part because it is based on poorly constructed ideas about goal setting that are implemented in poorly constructed ways by people who are not always particularly motivated to actually pursue or accomplish the goals/resolutions.

But, aside from the faults of making a half-hearted promise on January 1^st to stick to a year-long commitment, I am still a big believer in goal-setting, and I think that New Year's is a great time to sit down and get serious about it; so much so that in our house, it has become something of a family tradition.

Usually it doesn't happen EXACTLY on January 1^st, but it almost always happens within the first week of the new year. We discuss basic goals, and help each other refine them a bit, all in preparation of the “ritual” we have. You see, by that time the Christmas tree has gotten to the point that it's time for us to get rid of it. But rather than have the waste management company throw it into the landfill, we chop it up and burn it in a little camp fire in our back yard.

This “Burning of the Yule Log,” as we call it, is when we sit around and tell each other about our finalized goals for the new year. We can share as many or as few as we want, but everyone at the campfire (friends, neighbors, and distant cousins included) is strongly encouraged to share at least one, so that we develop some accountability. Usually there are financial goals, fitness goals, organizational goals, relationship goals, travel goals, and all sorts of goals that are more difficult to categorize.

One of mine, for example is to be more consistent with creating social media content including blog entries like this one, videos for my YouTube channel, and actually spending LESS time on my personal Facebook page and MORE time on my professional FB page.

Side note: The last book I wrote was finished the year before I got on FB. I don't think it's coincidence that I haven't finished a book since I started posting on FB! I've told my wife many times: If I'm ever going to write another book, I'm going to either have to get more disciplined about FB or shut it down.

Cross Selling in the Library

A couple of years ago in our family we instituted a rule where we were not allowed to see a movie based on a book unless we had read the book. The idea was spawned several years ago when I first started doing a presentation on author craft and style and how to elaborate. In the show I use a lot of award winning books as examples of great writing and I noticed something interesting.

Virtually all the children were familiar with both the movie and the book version of Chris VanAllsburg's "The Polar Express," as well as both the book and movie versions of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. But almost no one knew that Shreck is a book by Caldecott winning author William Steig. Similarly not many children were familiar with the fact that Jumanji, Zathura, Bridge to Terabithia, and a host of other very popular movie titles began as great books.

So in my show "Set Sail" I talk about how to become a great writer by reading the works of other great writers. We discuss using interesting words, dialog, implying so that readers can make inferences, the use of similes and metaphors, and the use of adjectives and adverbs to bring writing to life.

But, by design, all the books I chose are award winning books and many (but not all) of them have been made into movies. My goal was not only to improve the writing of children, but also to inspire them to find out about the books that gave rise to some of their favorite movies.

The books always reveal a bit more of the story than a movie ever can. My hope is that I can turn on a few borderline readers and inspire them to grab a book in which they already know how the story ends and read it from cover to cover anyway.

So the next time someone checks out the video of "Bridge to Terabithia," be sure to mention that it is also available as a Newbery winning chapter book.

Marketing with Posters

I love when libraries use the FREE promotional materials we provide!

We always send out several full-sized posters to every school and library that books one of our assemblies. Not everyone uses them, but the ones that do seem to have great attendance.

Sometimes selling "free" services can be harder than selling things for a fee. Non-profits can learn from the private sector how to let your patrons know what's happening in your LMC.

I got to see Taylor Mali live

Last week I was at a convention in Phoenix, AZ and got to see Taylor Mali recite his poetry live. You've probably read some of what he wrote as it circulates through e-mails around the world, but he deserves to be recognized for being the original author.

His CDs are very inspiring and funny. Here is a small sample of what he performed for us (this was recorded long previous to last week!)