Oops. That’s what I forgot: a story.
- Do you know what the hardest part of writing a book is?
- SPARK | “How can I make more time in the day to write with my son?”
- Don’t have much conversation with your kids? Here you go.
- That partner of yours. Yeah, the kid. We still have roles to play. They’re important.
- Spark | Time Capsule: this is one of those moments I want to remember.
- Spark Campfire | Step out of your comfort zone to uncover your true message
- Everyone is born a genius
- Here’s what I’m giving my nieces for Christmas
- Embers
- Sparklers
- The 1/4″ drill bit, Bali, cocktails on the beach, love, pride, and Spark
- Is your goal to have fun or win an award?
- I recorded an 11-second video 4 years ago that’s the foundation of my next book.
- Don’t wait 12 years. Please.
- Fire
- It’s not only for you and your kids but your grandkids … and beyond.
- Is there anything possibly worse than not starting the project?
- Oops. That’s what I forgot: a story.
- The One Recipe Cookbook (and how to finish a project together with your kids)
- Best books for doing activities with your kids, creating family memories, and building relationships between parents and children
- Spark: It’s about creating something from nothing. Let’s create a subtitle, shall we?
- People like us do things like this
- Why Spark? Why me? Why you? Why now?
- What if I’d like to be one of the people like you who do things like that?
- Permission to … change my book title?
- Write a book with your kids? 43 elements for success. 42 are optional.
- It seems like backwards math, but by creating, we are actually “getting” more than we are “giving.”
- The Widow and the Orphan
- Spark Love: About that 1 mandatory element of the 43…
- Recipe for Love
- Kids need to crash their bikes to learn how to ride.
- Spark at “#1 New Release in Parent Participation in Education”
- Spark has hit #1 in Parenting in Free Books
- Spark Campfire
- When you document it, it becomes more real
- It takes as long as the time allotted
- I don’t want to navigate negativity.
- What’s the one little spark going to be that sets off the creativity in you (or your child)?
- Spark Campfire February 2019
- Find someone who believes he is alone and convince him that he is not.
- Well, wait a minute. That wasn’t so hard.
- Someone out there could use the help from the you of today
- I just got off the phone with my niece (and why that’s important).
- How to structure your non-fiction
- Spark Campfire | I wish I knew my nephew
- Spark Campfire | Why are you the person to write this book?
- Spark Campfire | Can we write a book and be less in front of a screen?
- Spark Campfire | How we define success
- Spark Campfire | So, you say you don’t have a book idea?
- Spark Campfire | Think about your audiobook before you thought you needed to
- Spark Campfire | Time Capsule
- Spark Campfire | Sweat Hut
- Spark | How do you answer the question, “What are you working on?”
- Spark: Ch. 3: Message in a Bottle
- The risk of remaining tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom
- Spark Campfire | Who can say what you want to say better than you can?
- Imagine yourself as a published author.
- Writing & Publishing: Why do we go to the gym? Wait, I don’t go to the gym. Exactly.
- Write Your Worst Book Ever
- This is what co-creating a book looks like
- Don’t do what you want to do but they want to do
- “Drama” audiobook is DONE!
- SPARK |Tell me your fears
- 7 Questions for Spark
- Spark Campfire | Did I mention we’re going to get it done?
- Spark | Thanks for your gift of sharing yourself through this book.
- “I get to be the fun mom.”
- “Our story has to be told.”
- SPARK authors Meg and Matthew Leal are #1 on Amazon!
- “Oh, next year will be better.”
I just read part of a book that had interwoven bits from the author’s personal story in it.
Those were the parts that flowed. Those were the paragraphs I looked forward to. As she interspersed the main content of the book and the message she was trying to get across together with her own story and examples from her own life and experiences, she made it more real, more tangible, and simply more enjoyable.
Spark: How to write a book with your kids and why you should
As I work on my upcoming book (Spark), I have plenty of data for the how-to section as well as all of my philosophies, strategies, and heartfelt pleas to join me in this rewarding venture, but what was missing were snippets of our own story.
I’m going to have to dig deep into my memory to bring back the late night reading aloud sessions in the boys’ bedroom when they were four years younger than they are now. The pleading to stop and bend the questions about what might happen next all mixed up with the fantastical idea that my boys were creating something from nothing, that their imaginations were transformed into words on a page which then became a story and later became a book.
This is what is going to bring it home for people.
On a related note, I can highly recommend taking on another task that’s related to your main work but then not directly the work you do. For example, I’m helping another Dutch author by going through a first developmental edit of her book and as I did so, I saw how her personal story brought the book to life and realized this is exactly what I needed.
So I have to get moving and dig back into my memory and start with that red chair in the living room of our San Francisco home with my eight-year-old son next to me making decisions that we have no idea what effect us years later.
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