Is your goal to have fun or win an award?
- 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.”
What if there were an award for having fun?
I got this review at Audible for my “The Secret of Kite Hill” audiobook:
So long as you understand that this is more about them having fun telling the story together, and not about winning an Audie, then you’ll be fine.
I love this review because that’s exactly why we did it: to have fun.
In fact, I’m going to set up a new award for having fun.
Of course, we weren’t shooting to win an Audie. In fact, at the time, I’m pretty sure I had no idea what an Audie was or how to win. That’s exactly it: I wasn’t shooting for quality, recognition, or an award. I was doing it to have fun, to create something, to make a project, to do something fun, engaging, and out of the box with my kids.
For that, we succeeded. We succeeded beyond any recognition or awards. We spent time together and created something from nothing. We had a blank slate, not even an idea, but just a glimmer of a spark to get us started, to begin with the first step down the path.
This is an excerpt from Bradley Charbonneau’s book “Time Capsule: How to Write a Book Together with Your Kids–and Why You Should,” release Dec. 17, 2018.
We imagined the story, wrote the book, and recorded the audiobook. For that, we get an award: the Time Capsule award for capturing the moment with your kids when they are that age because, news flash, they’ll never be that age again.
How about new awards? Some for fun, some for things where people vote on audio recording quality and no dogs barking in the background?
For now, I’m shooting for the fun one.
And I’m winning in a landslide.
