Wise Words From An Expert

Phillip Chipping, CEO and Founder of Knowonder! magazine

I'm privileged to have a Guest Blogger today. Phillip Chipping is the man responsible for the very fine childrens' magazine, Knowonder! His post is directed at parents and writers alike, especially childrens' writers. His are wise words! Phillip has published several of my children's stories in the past, the most recent being "Message In The Night."

Phillip says:

     As parents, there is nothing in the world quite as precious and special to us as our children and grandchildren. There is a love and magic there that doesn’t exist anywhere else in our lives. So it is understandable that we want them to succeed in life! We want them to get good grades in school, to make good friends, to get good jobs and graduate college. We want them to be self-sustaining, contributing members of society. And above all, we want them to have a strong self-esteem, to have confidence, to feel loved, and to be happy.

     So, no pressure, right?!

     Of course there is no guaranteed, magic solution to ensuring that each child will live up to our hopes for them. Each child is different. 

     Yet, statistics and new research show that there are definitely two things, above any others, that have a much higher likelihood of delivering on these hopes; proactively talking to your child, and regularly reading to your child.

     As simple as they sound at first blush, these two things, if done proactively and regularly, have the potential and power to literally hardwire your child’s brain for literacy, learning and success!

But therein lies the kicker. These are habits that need to be formed early on in a child’s life – even starting at birth – and that need to be done over and over and over, day after day after day. It is in the compounding of these actions that we find the greatest impacts. 

    “This particular strand of research is teaching us that a significant portion of a person’s intellectual capacity is determined in his or her first 36 months.” (Disrupting Class, by Clayton Christensen)

     It’s interesting to me that research is now showing that children’s intellectual and physical/eating habits are largely set by the time they are three years.  Think about it. This is the time of their lives when we, the parents, have almost absolute control of everything that goes into their minds and mouths. 

     And so, although a child’s success will largely be determined by their own choices in life as they grow older, we cannot ignore the impact of our influence on their lives during their youngest years. We cannot afford to sit back and pursue our own personal interests and hobbies at the expense of our children. Just as it would be negligence for us to simply feed a child only the scraps that fall on the floor, so, too, is it negligent for us to give them our attention only when it’s convenient for us.

In a world that is hell-bent on providing the easiest, most-convenient solutions for every situation, we cannot afford to turn to the TV, the video games, or other forms of entertainment whenever our child is bored or “in our way.”

     I invite you to learn more about the impact of reading to your child every day, and proactively talking to your infants every day, as well as the most effective ways these two things can be done. As simple as they sound, there are definitely “best practices” that every parent and grandparent should know. 

     You can find more information at www.knowonder.com.

Phillip Chipping (CEO & Founder) is a born entrepreneur and a natural storyteller and the creative force behind knowonder!  As a father of four young children, he understands the need to provide imaginative stimulation and creative outlets to developing minds.  Phillip learned his deep love of reading from an early age, which in turn nurtured his own imagination and creativity.  This fostered in him a desire to find innovative solutions for everyday problems.

Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Phillip had the inspiration for knowonder! while living with his family in England as the Managing Director of ZAGG Ltd., the UK arm of ZAGG Inc.; a company Phillip founded.  He saw his children’s love of reading blossom when they had a new story each day and decided to bring that concept home when they returned.  Phillip now lives with his wife and children in Cache Valley, Utah.

Not All Gifts Come In Packages

Yesterday, I wrote about the new Christmas anthology that I'd received in the mail. One of my memory stories was published in it. Then, last night, I received a message saying that a children's story I'd submitted several weeks ago had been published at Knowonder! ezine. Angels In The Snow was based on a true story. I'd read in the newspaper that a small girl had been lifted by a giant gust of wind and thrown into a huge snowdrift where she remained--stuck--until a huge dog rescued her. I wrote the story several years ago so was very happy to see it published at last. The editor of Knowonder! had written me a couple weeks ago saying they had a lot of stories about angels in the snow submitted so was unsure if they could use mine. Apparently, it won out over the others. 

These were two very nice Christmas gifts. Every time I have a story published, it feels like a gift to me. Yes, I put a lot of time and effort in the writing, but maybe it's because I started writing later in life that every publication feels like a present. It lets me know I've accomplished something I set out to do when most people are looking forward to the carefree years of retirement. I've enjoyed some of that, too, ever since Ken retired, but I wouldn't trade all the stressful moments of working on a story and working on it again and again for anything, 

The year is racing to a close, only days until we celebrate Christmas with our family and then New Year's Eve with friends. It's been a good year for me personally and as a writer. When I look back on the writing world of 2011, I know I've received many other gifts besides the two mentioned at the beginning of this post. A few of them are:

1. Having one or more submissions published each month

2. Contuing to find enough material for the blog five days a week

3. Spending tme with fellow writers at my crit group's conference

4. More ideas for stories than time allows me to wrte

5. The ability to write coherently in my senior years

Think back over your year. What writing gifts have you received? There might be more than you think. 

Whatever holiday you celebrate in December, may it be filled with warmth and joy--and ideas for new stories!

Writing For Kids Is Not A Piece of Cake!

Knowonder! ezine has published another of my children's stories. "Where's Pete?" is the story for Day 13 of the story-a-day website for kids. This is a story that I wrote quite some time ago. It won an award in our state authors contest, but it has never been published until now. There's a bit of a mystery involved with clues to figure out.

Knowonder! needs 30 to 31 stories per month, so this is a good market for those who write children's stories. It's a no-pay, but it would be a nice clip,  and they do award $100 to the story that the Readers select as best of the month. There's also a $100 award for the Editor's ?Choice, so you do have a possibility of some cash.

If you've never written a story for kids, why not give it a try? There are plenty of writing books that discuss this category of writing as well as many articles online. If nothing else, you'll gain an appreciation of those who are fulltime writers of kid's stories. It's not easy to write a full story in the short word count usually asked for. You write, then cut, and go back and cut some more.

You need to be careful not to preach to kids, not to write 'down' to them from you lofty perch as an adult. You need to try to reach back into your own childhood and put yourself in a child's world. But you can't only rely on things that were a big deal in your growing-up years. You need to be current, to write about things in a child's world in this decade.

Vocabulary is a factor to consider, too. You don't want to use nothing but very simple words. Toss in a few big words now and then. Kids pick up the meaning from the context of the story. There are vocabulary lists for different age levels that children's wirters might want to use as a reference tool. Google vocabulary lists for childrren's writer for a wealth of information.

Go to Knowonder! and read the stories for September. See if you can find some common qualities in the stories. Which ones do you like best? Why? Do the authors a favor and leave a comment at the end of the story. One comment equals one vote for Reader's Choice.

There's A Dragon In The Library

Happy Labor Day! A holiday for many and the day we usually consider a book-end to summer, with Memorial Day being the matching book-end to say summer is beginning.

Just a short post on this holiday. A children's story I wrote some time ago has been publsihed at Knowonder! ezine. I wrote about the assistant editor contacting me last week about the story, which I'd submitted to them over two years ago. The ezine/magazine--they had both an online and print edition--had gone out of business. Then, additional funding made it possible for them to get going again. The online ezine offers children a story per day.

Readers are invited to vote for the one they like best each month. The story receiving the most votes gets $100.It's the only monetary compensation. As much as I think all writing should be compensated, I make an exception for children's ezines like this one that encourages reading.

A comment left at the end of the story counts as a vote. So, if anyone would like to read "There's A Dragon In The LIbrary" at Knowonder! and leave a comment, I'd be most appreciative.

If you write children's stories, check out the submission process at www.knowonder.com and send your best story in. With a story per day, they are looking for stories. It's a great opportunity for those who write for kids.