| |  |
|  | Write on! Plans & Probs with Publication | | Rated:
13+ | | A home schooling SAHM's blog on writing with four kids while trying to get published! | | by: Scottiegazelle ![View scottiegaz's Portfolio. [Offline / Private]](http://imgs.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/costumicons/ps-icon-regular-60.gif "View scottiegaz's Portfolio. [Offline / Private]") ![Email User: scottiegaz [Offline / Private]](http://imgs.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/mail-off.gif "Email User: scottiegaz [Offline / Private]") | Avg Rating:   (24) |
|
| Item Size: 366 Entries
Created: 10:45pm on 02-06-2004
Modified: 4:39pm on 11-21-2009 | |
| |
|
[ <<-- Previous || Back To Entry List || Next -->> ]
[ Leave a comment ] [ View 1 comment ]
|
Entry #627759, added on 01-04-09 @ 2:16 pm EST.
[Entry Access Restriction] None.
Title:
Big Plans, Big Risks
Yesterday, I kept my posted vow and made a schedule for January. And then...last night, I was up until almost four in the morning (and I had to get up early for church today, mind you), laying in bed, thinking. I'm glad for what I thought of, but I would have preferred to have received it in dream form. Maybe. Maybe not.
So, Santa brought my 7 year old a circuit kit this year. She has had so much fun already snapping various pieces into place and creating circuits that light up light bulbs, or make music. She has had almost as much fun as I have!  I've really been having a blast. But, as I played, I realized that the kit just didn't contain as much information as I would have preferred on how the individual circuits worked.
My plot, therefore, is to convince a toy company that a book on electricity is a viable option. The company is small, and produces only electricity sets and replacement parts. My thought is that they could provide a supplement to their manual that would give more in-depth understanding to folks using the kit. It would pace each experiment, explain it, and provide the mathematical equation for why the circuit worked. And, since I was a Creative Writing/Astrophysics major who took several courses and labs on electricity and electromagnetism in college, and who has experience translating scientific journals into everyday language, guess who I think should write the books?
Of course, it has been a few years since I have participated in the aforementioned labs, so I am going to have to do some brush-up work on electricity and circuits. Which is fine, because it keeps bugging me and I really want to know exactly how and why each circuit built works. (Side note: yesterday, I took an experiment that created a flashing light bulb and modified it so that I could make the bulb flash, then spent some time on my light-egraph [you know, like a telegraph?] machine; very fun! Such a nerd.) The manual itself is very simplistic in its descriptions of what is happening, since the kit ranges from ages 8 and up. At this point, my daughter is still wowed by the fact that she built something that made a fan turn 'round, but I think older kids and adults would benefit from a single-source explanation.
The challenge: I am writing a toy company about publishing books (there are five or six kits out already). The advantage: how many other people do you think are trying to convince this company to publish their book? I don't have to worry so much about competition as I do about selling them on the idea.
As Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad author) said, a book is a very inexpensive marketing tool. That is another selling point for it.
So, since this has greater publishing potential (remember, six kits, with more likely to emerge), I am going to bump it to the forefront. I'll probably spend two weeks reviewing the basics of electricity - enough to write a handful of sample sections and the introduction - and then write the specifics for the company. Since I'm all about maximizing time, I am also going to figure out a good way to pull a chapter book on electricity out of it. Probably a book that has more to do with circuits than electricity.
Next week, I'm going to continue to work on my Eratosthenes book - I have to make sure the experiment I created is clear for 2nd and 3rd graders - while reviewing electricity and circuits. I can do a lot online. Then, either the week of the 11th or the week of the 19th (the 19th is my son's birthday, have to factor that in), I will start writing and polishing my query letter and my sample sections. The query letter is going to be more difficult than usual, only because it won't have the format of a standard query letter most writers use. Somewhere in that two week period, I'll also write out my chapter book on electricity/circuits. And then, for the last week of January, I'll work on my WW novel. I realized that I skimmed too quickly over a section that needs elaboration, so that will be my next target.
But for now, everyone's favorite - nap time! |
© Copyright 2009 Scottiegazelle (UN: scottiegaz at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Scottiegazelle has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
[ <<-- Previous || Back To Entry List || Next -->> ]
[ Leave a comment ] [ View 1 comment ] |
 Login To Leave Feedback
|
Login To Leave Feedback |
|
| | | | From Our Sponsor | | | By Online Authors | | | |
Member Blogs
![View karlaswan's Portfolio. [Offline / Private]](http://imgs.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/costumicons/ps-icon-regular-40.gif "View karlaswan's Portfolio. [Offline / Private]"){kind=icon}
