Glow Word Books Blog

Dreaming of holding my child

For the last few months, both my wife and I have consistently dreamed about holding our baby. I would usually go into the symbolism of the dream (a baby is a new idea or project… and by holding it, I’m about ready to start something new… since the mood is nurturing, I’m ready to foster the new idea), but really I think my mind is trying to get a grip on the real baby that is usually on my lap.

It’s a strange dream to wake up with because I always think the pillow in my arms is a baby. I gently cradle the pillow and set it down so that I can get up to use the restroom. It always takes a good 30 seconds to realize the pillow is not actually my baby.

I think this is a strange phenomena of being a parent. Your life changes so suddenly and there are so many new ideas you need to be ready for — like it or not. It’s a lot to take in.

Have other parents had dreams like this?

Developing an Idea in The Whens

When Louisa Rempala and I started working on The Whens together, it was the first time I had ever worked with an illustrator. Because I had complete freedom creating the story, it was important to us both that she had as much creative freedom as well — but man it’s tough to give up control!

It was peculiar to watch my words come to live. I had vividly clear images about the book in my mind and her pictures were completely different (yet they matched the story just as well). For example, I grew up with dry, golden fields of wheat blowing in the dusty wind — but she came from a lush country of greens and blues… so it was quite a shock to see a cool color palette in the book instead of reds and yellows. But that was what I also liked about working with someone: she had so many ideas I would have never come up with on my own… and that made the book better than I could have ever done alone.

Here are some pictures of the first page as it transitioned from a raw idea to the finished product. Hope you enjoy!

My rough sketch to explain hills with signs pointing to happiness when i pitched the story to Louisa.

Louisa’s rough sketch for the first page… trying to figure out what the main character will look like and how prevalent to make the monsters.

We experimented with the story at night, but ultimately wanted the whole thing at day (because that worked better with the cloud watching).

The final result. Thanks Louisa for all your hard work!

Online Mad Libs: Chocolate

Fill out these questions to generate your own silly mad libs letter instantly online! (Hint: a noun is a person/place/thing. An adverb ends in “ly” and describes an action. An adjective describes a person/place/thing.)

Noun:

Person’s Name:

Noun:

Noun (plural):

Color:

Something you could taste:

Holiday:

Number:

Noun:

Adjective:

Product Placement

I hate watching advertisements. It feels like a waste of my time, which is one reason why I don’t watch much television.

When I do watch television shows, I keep a piece of cardboard near my computer to cover the screen during ad breaks. I thought I had beat the system! I had tricked those marketers at their own game… until I realized how deeply interwoven the ads and television shows had become.

In a recent episode of New Girl, she pretended to be a model and spent two minutes hamming it up in front of a car while the announcer talked about how great the car was. I didn’t even realize I was being advertised to during the show until I was going to bed a few hours later. As I lay down, lots of other examples popped into my mind. If you removed the gift cards from Easy A, there isn’t even any plot left!

While I know that marketing is never going away, I don’t ever want to mix my stories with advertising. Creativity is more important than lousy money.

Make the World Friendlier – Dress in Costume

Like many others, I wore a costume to work on Halloween and I didn’t take it off to walk to my car or during lunch. While in costume, I noticed that everyone said hi to me, asked me about my costume.

People I had walked by and ignored in the past, asked me about my day. If I were to suggest one thing to help build community in America, it would be “wearing costumes.” I think it takes people by surprise and puts you out of your norm.

Even if costumes can’t solve the world’s big problems, at least you won’t have to suffer small talk about the weather anymore.

When to call it quits (The Office or Farside?)

Courtesy of The Far Side

I was extremely distraught when I was fifteen. Gary Larson announced that he would no longer be making the Farside. How could the greatest cartoonist ever just decide he’s done? Shouldn’t we be able to vote on a decision this important?

After that, I never read the comics as religiously. I felt like I had been betrayed — tricked into loving something was destined to break my heart.

But ever since I started writing, I understand where he is coming from. There is a real humility in admitting you’ve taken something as far as you can without jeopardizing its quality. I admire him for bowing out at the peak of his popularity instead of trying to cling desperately to any sort of cultural relevance. I try to remember that modesty while I’m writing.

This memory came back to me recently after watching an episode from the Farewell Season of The Office. I realized I no longer care about the plots. Everything I wanted to see has happened. I have gotten to know the characters as much as I wanted to. The new plot lines feel like they’re stretching reality so everyone can have one more paycheck.

Thank you, Mr. Larson, for never putting me through that.

Gdiapers to the rescue

Courtesy of gDiapers.com

When you have a baby, you are suddenly prevented with a lot of choices you need to make. Where do you send them to school? Do you buy them trendy clothes? What do you feed them? What sort of toys and entertainment do you allow?

We found ourselves struggling a lot over our diaper decision. Since babies can wear 10 diapers a day easily, we’ll probably have to buy (and dispose of 5,000+ diapers) before we start potty-training.

We actually live in a great time for diapers. In addition to cloth and disposable diapers, they are also starting to manufacture flushable diapers, such as gDiapers. There are so many choices that would make any cave-woman jealous.

We really wanted a diaper that wouldn’t sit in the landfill (5,000 times), but my husband wasn’t keen on the “yuckiness” of cloth. So we gave flushables a price, despite the extra price.

So far, we’ve been very happy. They are actually more absorbent than the disposable diapers we tried, which means his onesies and sheets last longer.

Being a parent has made us confront a lot of questions that are usually easy to side-skirt. (How important is the environment — compared to cheaper diapers) and it’s really made us ask who we want to me. We’ve learned a lot about ourselves by the choices we make for our son.

This blog is out… the baby is crying :)

Open Letter to All Mothers of Congressmen, Senators and Presidents

Dear Mothers of Future Congressmen, Senators and Presidents,

I need your help. Please write a letter to your child and ask them to be nice if they win today. Growing up I was told to share, cooperate, listen and play nice with others. The last few governments have forgotten these simple, childhood lessons. I know your child may not agree with their other “classmates”, but they should still treat everyone with respect. There is a lot of middle ground we can work together on.

Too many government officials have forgotten we need to be decent people above all else. I implore you to remind them of their upbringing and call them out when they stray. Suggest a friendly lunch with a nice, young Senator from across the isle or ask them to co-sponsor a bill with an opponent. It’s time to stop playing politics to get ahead personally and start using politics to build a better tomorrow for Americans.

Good luck with the elections. I welcome any of your thoughts on this subject. Thanks for keeping your kids in line,

-Steve

Glow Word Books Blog

Authors Steve & Natasha