Different Dream Parenting Archives - Page 2 of 3

Thank You, Discovery House

by jphilo | Sep 25, 2011 | Book Updates

Whew! Just one week ago, the index for Different Dream Parenting winged its way to the inbox of my editor at Discovery House Publishers. I barely had time to dust off my hands before our road trip to Ohio, where we helped the kids move into their apartment. Once they were settled in, more or less, we headed back to Iowa via Michigan.

Turns out, the detour was a blessing and not because we avoided the nasty toll road across northern Indiana and Ohio. The blessing came in the form of a dandy visit to Discovery House Publishers (DHP), the book publishing division of Radio Bible Class (RBC), located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. DHP and RBC are not as big into initials as this post makes you think. No, the organization is into ministry and compassion and people and sharing the gospel through radio broadcasts, DVDs, Daily Bread devotionals, and a wide variety of books and Bible studies.

I know this because Hiram and I were given the deluxe RBC tour by Ed Rock (and believe me, Ed rocks), and he filled us in on all the details. He showed us the cubicles where all the writers, editors, and marketing people do their ministry magic. He took us through the traditional printing and packing area, and we got a peak at the new digital printing room where Different Dream Parenting will go to press in a couple weeks. He even walked us by the audio/video editing booths and into the sound stage.

We were thoroughly impressed before the entire DHP publishing team treated us to lunch, and I got to sit next to my editor, Miranda Gardner. We’ve been email pen pals for months now, and meeting her was the highlight of my day. Turns out, the whole team is a comfortable, welcoming bunch. I know this because they got my crowd-shy husband to talking a blue streak about the life-changing effects of our son’s birth. (Notice, he talked a blue streak, not cursed a blue streak.)

He impressed them so much that after lunch, when it was time to record some video for the Different Dream Parenting book trailer, publicist Katy Pent asked Hiram to be in the video, too. What could he do but say yes? After all, they bought us lunch. So my normally shy hubby joined me in front of the video camera, and we talked away.

Of course, you’ll have to take my word about all of this, at least until Katy releases the book trailer because I forgot to take my camera. So there are no pictures of our RBC tour, no pictures of us posing with the DHP staff, no pictures of us schmoozing at lunch. No proof whatsoever. I blame my lack of forethought on the whirlwind of the past few weeks of meeting deadlines and moving kids across the country.

But, I credit the sense of well-being that enveloped Hiram and me on our drive home to the warm reception and prayers of the dedicated professionals at Discovery House. Thanks to all of you for believing in my book ideas and making them a tangible reality. You are a blessing to many!

The Queen of the Planner’s in Crisis

by jphilo | Aug 29, 2011 | Book Updates

For years and years, I have been queen of the planner. But lately, I’ve sorta dropped the scepter. I blame the problem on this summer’s series of tight book deadlines, speaking engagements, and family life changes.

After all, a planner isn’t all that necessary when the week’s task is COMPLETE THE FIRST PROOFS BY FRIDAY or PREPARE TO SPEAK AND SCHMOOZ IN KENTUCKY or HELP YOUR DAUGHTER AND SON-IN-LAW MOVE TO OHIO or WRITE AN INDEX BY AUGUST 17 or ACTIVATE MOM’S IN-HOME HEALTH CARE POLICY. With things like that on the top of the to do list this summer, all I had to do was start running with them every Monday and hope to to reach the finish line by Friday.

But now the deadlines are met, the daughter and son-in-law are moved, and Mom’s in-home health care should activate soon. Which means life includes some breathing room, at least for a few weeks. Which means all I want to do is sit on the couch and breathe while watching DVDs of all the family unfriendly TV series we couldn’t watch with kids in the house. Which means I need to start making to do lists again, or I will get absolutely nothing done until there’s another deadline breathing down my neck. But there will never be another deadline breathing down my neck because I’ve done absolutely nothing to create one.

So it’s time to polish up my queen-of-the-planner tiara and start sparkling again. Except that I’m way out of practice when it comes to picking and choosing a few items from the long list of what needs to get done this week and transferring them a daily to do list. Tell me, which ones would you choose from this list for your Monday morning?

Update blogs
PTSD research for book proposal

Get started on items in book marketing folder
Get ready for company on Labor Day weekend
Send stuff to Wanda for new ones sheet
Send updated bio and interview questions to publicist at Discovery House
Contact university and community college about available interns for tech projects
Update speaking topics on website
Grocery shop
Finish influencer list for publicist at Discovery House
Email people about participating in the blog tour for my new book
Call people about being part of the special needs ministry planning team at church
Call Steve
Transfer Mom’s car title
Write two Sunday school skits
Run stuff for Monday evening board meeting

Sure, the last item on the list is a given since Monday evening is almost here. But other than that, where would you start? Seriously, could you add “make a comment on Jolene’s blog” to your to do list and then send some advice really soon. Because until somebody provides some direction, this former queen of the planner will be sitting on the sofa watching DVDs while polishing her tiara or looking under the sofa for the scepter she dropped back in June.

So sad, don’t you think?

Lamaze for Writers

by jphilo | Aug 15, 2011 | Book Updates

Writers often compare the process of writing and publishing a book to pregnancy and delivery. At least female writers who have given birth do.

Want to know why they do it?

Because, as this past week and a half have demonstrated, it’s the closest thing around to a perfect analogy. That lightbulb switched on for me two years ago, during the writing of A Different Dream for My Child. But as it turns out, my first labor and delivery was a piece of cake.

How do I know that?

Because the labor and delivery of Different Dream Parenting, which is happening even as I type, has been a little trickier than the first time around. The problem with this problem child is paginating the index. Turns out, hunting for random words in a manuscript and recording the page numbers accurately is painstaking work, with emphasis on the pain.

How do I know that?

Because the past few days of index work have been painful. So painful that I’ve developed lamaze technique for writers. The emphasis is more on relaxation and distraction than breathing, since birthing a book doesn’t require the massive intake of oxygen necessary for birthing a baby, and I’m big on hyperventilation. Here’s how I do it:

Stage One Labor:
Work on index until head begins to ache. This is the indication of stage one labor. Put on happy, distracting, soothing music and keep working until your head feels like it will explode. This indicates the beginning of stage two labor.

Stage Two Labor:
Take a deep, cleansing breath and let it out slowly. Turn off the music and walk down the road to the mailbox and back, breathing naturally. Then answer some emails, check FaceBook and Twitter. Or do some light housework – laundry, dishes, food preparation – until your head clears. Go back to indexing until your head feels ready to explode again. When deep cleansing breaths, walks to the mailbox, social networking, and light housework fail to clear your head, you are moving into stage three labor.

Stage Three Labor:
Take two deep, cleansing breaths and exhale slowly. Put in a Monk DVD and watch an episode. Absorb Monk’s persona – the love of order, columns, straight lines, and all things neat and tidy – until you love the thought of spending hours at a detail-oriented job like indexing. Return to indexing, refreshed and motivated.

Warning:
DO NOT give into the urge to push until you reach the letter z. Then have at it and birth your bouncing baby book!

My Personal Bastille Day

by jphilo | Aug 8, 2011 | Book Updates

Sorry about the brevity of this post, but the guillotine dangling over my head is making it hard to think of something to write about today. See, my editor sent the page proofs for Different Dream Parenting about a week ago, and they have to be completed – along with the index – by August 17.

So my mind is a litany of picky, precise corrections…

Is that the current, politically correct way of referring to that special need?
Yikes, another grammatical error!Hmmm…don’t like the placement of that side bar.
Or that one.
Or that one.
Has that been the style for labels throughout the book?
Does that sentence sound right?

…that continue non-stop for 327 pages, along with a series of indexing conundrums…

Oh, there’s a term that should be in the index.
No, it shouldn’t.
Yes, it should.
No, it shouldn’t.
Yes, it should.

…that continue for slightly fewer pages, only because the dedication, table of contents, and appendices don’t make good index fodder.

Come August 17, my personal Bastille Day, my horizons will expand beyond the world of punctuation, grammar, page design, and key words. Until then, forgive the brevity of this post…

Did I already say something like that?
Is that correct grammar?
Did that sentence sound right?
Should Bastille Day be in the index?
Yes.
No.
Yes.
No.
What about guillotine?

Hmmm…

Out of My Hands

by jphilo | Jun 27, 2011 | Book Updates

The first proofs (the edits on the original manuscript sent in by an author) are out of my hands. On Friday I emailed my first proof edits back to the publisher. Now the editor assigned to Different Dream Parenting will spend the next month wrestling with my changes and overseeing the typesetting. Then she’ll send the final proofs this direction for final inspection before it’s off to the printer.

Suddenly, life is not in the thrall of one, all-consuming task master. Suddenly, I have choices to make. Time to fill. A multitude of ideas to pursue. And no more excuses to avoid unpleasant tasks like weeding the flowerbeds. Boy, did they need weeding.

So this morning in the aftermath of last night’s doozy of a thunderstorm, while the sky cleared for a few short hours, my hands were busy pulling weeds, deadheading blossoms, pruning the plants in hanging baskets, and treating my arms and legs to an unplanned, but highly effective mud bath.

By the end of an hour, the flowers had been granted a reprieve in their battle against the weeds for access to the sun. The gardens no longer looked wild and neglected. The spreading violas were tame once more, the daisies were cut down to size, the dead rose buds were gone, and everything remaining had the natural, shaggy beauty my daughter loves.

I could have done more, but indoor tasks were calling. Lists to make, blogs to write, marketing to be done, emails to send, workshop presentations to prepare, new book proposals to plan. More than can possibly be done before the final proofs arrive.

But for a few short weeks, I’ll bask in the freedom and the chaos, the chance to dream and shape something new. I’ll dive into the mishmash of new beginnings and see where they go. I’ll enjoy unexpected mud baths and life with the natural, shaggy beauty of my flowerbeds. My empty hands are itching to get dirty. It’s time to bring on the mess!