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क्लिक करिए और सुनिए एक मिनट और 34 सैंकिंड का ऑडियो मोटिवेशनल विचार – एक टॉनिक ऐसा भी   एक ऐसा टॉनिक जिसकी हर बच्चें,बडे, युवा, महिला, बुजुर्ग को जरुरत होती है और वो हमारे पास होता भी है पर इस्तेमाल नही करते.. कई बार जिंदगी में ऐसे पल आते हैं जब हम बहुत उदास […]

The post मोटिवेशनल विचार – एक टॉनिक ऐसा भी appeared first on Monica Gupta.

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Howdy, Campers--and happy Poetry Friday!
(See below for a poem about being a writer by Richard Wilbur and for today's PF host.)

We're in the middle of TeachingAuthors' series on Summer Learning Opportunities.

So far we've heard from JoAnn--who, through her own fascinating Summer Science Experiments, is learning more about hatching monarchs in her backyard; Esther--who's learning about authors from her own fair city (Chicago), discovered four "eye-openingly insightful" blogs, learned about the "3-paragraph query," and how to "attend" the National SCBWI conference if you can't be there in person. Carla shares what she's learned about the unexpected benefits from attending an SCBWI conference, and Mary Ann inspires us with her summer Young Writer's Camp.

As for me, I'm looking forward to being on the faculty of the National SCBWI Conference from July 31 through August 2nd (with intensive workshops available for an additional fee on Monday, August 3rd). Once again I'll be critiquing manuscripts submitted by conference attendees who've paid extra for written and face-to-face critiques.

My very smart friend, author and poet Greg Pincus (who blogs at GottaBook) posted the link to this fabulous blog post on attending an SCBWI conference by art director Giuseppe Castellano...and our own Esther has written what is by now a classic essay on attending an SCBWI conference.

Esther and I come at conferences from two very different perspectives. Basically, She jumps into the fray carrying a bunch of balloons; I get overwhelmed by more than 10 people at a party.

So, here are three things I've learned about conferences (how they affect me and how I cope) in the 24 years I've attended SCBWI in Los Angeles:

1) Be kind to yourself.  This conference can be overwhelming. No--I take that back: this conference is overwhelming. This summer 1000 people are attending from around the world.

We crowd into a posh hotel over a long summer weekend. The excited, anxious, ecstatic, frightened, enthusiastic, vibrating energy of 1000 friendly/shy/talkative/mute children's book professionals and pre-professionals (thanks for that term, Carla!) can be paralyzing.  The air in any hotel over that many days with that many people gets used up. And so do I.

2) Take breaks. I usually stand in the back because there's simply TOO MUCH SITTING!  That's one way I've learned to give my body a break. I've also learned (to my astonishment) that it's okay not to attend every single session. I can actually go outside and gulp fresh air...sit on the grass with my eyes closed for a few minutes. It's amazing how so simple an action as breathing can change my body chemistry.  Ahhhhhh....


3) And I've learned that some years I just need to be VELCRO®.

Although there have been many years I couldn't wait to sign up for the conference, couldn't wait to bond with new peeps, couldn't wait to find out what everyone was doing and share what I was up to, there have been other years, too.

Years when I couldn't figure out how to write that book--the one that was going to put me on the map, years when no one had invited me to submit a poem since the Ice Age, years when I was raw, raw, raw from rejection, Those are the years when I did NOT want to attend that stupid conference.  Nope.  Not gonna do it. And you can't make me.

It's about the shame, of course. I'm judging my insides against everyone else's outsides. It's like that false fog which hovers over FaceBook where I see those sparkling photos and know that every one of my FB friends are completely fulfilled, are always at goal weight, and have (just yesterday) signed a three-book deal.  (It's true--they have, you know.)

That's when I've learned I need to VELCRO® myself to real-life friends at the conference.  Hang with them. Go into the hall with them. Choose whatever breakout session they choose--it doesn't matter. They're my peeps. My buds. The ones who believe in me...and I believe in them. They save me from the darkness every time.

So, if you're coming to the SCBWI conference, please come up and say hello!We can VELCRO® together for awhile.

And Campers--if you are going to any gathering this summer that makes you a teensy bit uneasy, a little bit insecure, maybe the following quote will help. It's helped me.

In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden,
My daughter is writing a story.

I pause in the stairwell, hearing
From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.

Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.
click here for the rest of this poem

posted live from the floor of SCBWI's National Conference in living color and with love by April Halprin Wayland

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Howdy Campers!

I'm wildly inspired by the postings of my fellows at Poetry Friday today--see the link below.

Bobbi begins our What-Inspires-You series with Inspirations and Geniuses; Jo Ann is up next with the help of her camera: Zooming in on Inspiration; Esther offers An Inspiring Weekly Digest You Need to Know About; Carla opens our eyes to Inspiration From the Library of Congress; and Mary Ann touches us with tales about family members in Inspiration is a Blast From the Past.

So what are the top three things that inspire my daily poems?

1) Um...deadlines. 

I was inspired to write this post today when I was putting an appointment in my calendar...and saw that I was supposed to have posted this morning.  Oops!

"My sole inspiration is a telephone call from a director." ~ Cole Porter, composer and songwriter

Deadlines and assignments mean that I cannot take all day cleaning my proverbial closet. I write and rewrite...and bam!--even if it's not the world's most perfect piece, I post it or send it off--done!

2) Life. Especially the sad parts. 

"I've had an unhappy life, thank God." ~ Russell Baker, author, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist
The difficult and/or unhappy times of my life are rich grounds for writing.  I can create this richness, though, even when my life is humming along, if I listen to what's happening in my chest cavity. If I walk into the world looking for my poem, all senses open.


3) Someone who believes in me.  Two or three someones is even better. 

"Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher
My husband came with me on a quick trip to meet with my agent and two of my editors this week.  I wanted him to meet these significant people in my work life. New York can be exhilarating...and it can scare the pants off me, too.  It always takes me a day to remember how to use the subways and navigate the city.  His presence on the subway and in those meetings meant the world to me.

My sailing-around-the-world friend, Bruce, is a daily supporter of my work, even when he says the poem doesn't work (which of course I know he's just not reading correctly--he's clearly tired from working on the boat all day).

Every writer in my critique groups past and present and everyone in the Kidlitosphere community: we cheer each other on; that cheering echoes and echoes and echoes inside all of us.
And so? Here's today's (raw) poem written 1) for a deadline, 2) based on life, and with the support of--well, all of you.

LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION
by April Halprin Wayland

bald little god
sits on the pond’s rim, 
his feet all in

his head turning side to side
toward fluttering leaves
toward ebbing tide 

below impatient clouds
that mumble, 
This is going too slow

so they snap out 
a spiky lighting streak 
and Man—does little god go!

He jumps right up and does he run!
He’s going, going, getting things
DONE!

poem and drawings (c) April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.

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FATHERS DAY

हर साल जून के तीसरे सप्ताह के  रविवार को FATHERS DAY यानि फादर्स डे मनाया जाता है . पाश्चात्य संस्कृति ने चाहे हमें और कुछ सिखाया हो या नहीं, पर इन  दिनों को मनाना तो सिखा ही दिया है. कोई भी दिन हो हमे बस मनाने की इंतजार रहता है. इस दिन भी नेट,सोशल नेट्वर्किगं साईट् या समाचार पत्र भरे रहते है. लोग अपने-अपने अनुभव बताने को बेताब रहते हैं, लेकिन मैं ऐसा कुछ नहीं बताऊंगी. क्योकि आज के बदलते समय में हमे बदलना बहुत जरुरी है. नही तो रिश्तों में खटास आते समय नही लगेगा.

पिता यानि पापा घर के मुखिया होते हैं. उस नाते उनके कुछ फर्ज बन जाते हैं, जिसका उन्हे सुखद भविष्य के लिए पालन करना जरुरी हो जाता है. ऐसे मे भगवान शिव का उदाहरण देना उचित होगा. जिस तरह से शिव जी ने विष का पान किया था. ना तो उसे निगला था और ना ही उसे बाहर निकाला था. बस गले में ही रखा था, वैसे ही घर के मुखिया को करना चाहिए. घर की परेशानी को ना तो बाहर किसी को बताए और ना ही उसे दिल से लगा कर बैठे. कलह हर घर में होती है, लेकिन अगर वो उसे बाहर के लोगो को बताएगे तो बात बढ़ जाएगी और अगर गले से नीचे उतार लेगे तो खुद तबियत खराब करके बैठ जाएगे.

शिव जी के माथे पर जैसे चादँ शंति का प्रतीक है, बस वैसे ही अपना दिमाग शांत रखना चाहिए. उनके मस्तक से निकली गंगा भी इसी बात की प्रतीक है कि गुस्से के पल को भी शांत होकर बिताएं. घर परिवार मे छोटे-मोटे फैसले लेते हुए मन को शांत रखें अगर खुद ही बात-बात पर चिल्लाकर बोलेगें तो घर मे कलह ज्यादा बढ़ जाएगी.बात यह भी नही है गुस्सा करना ही नही चाहिए.करे पर वो भी एक मर्यादा मे रह कर ही करें अन्याय,अनुशासन हीनता आदि के लिए अगर गुस्सा किया जाए तो मगंलकारी ही होता है.परिवार के सदस्यो के इस बात का भय होना भी जरुरी होना चाहिए कि अगर वो उचित आचरण नही करेगे तो पिता नाराज हो सकते हैं.वैसे भी तुलसी दास जी ने कहा है कि “भय बिन होहि ना प्रीति”… इसलिए परिवार का मुखिया होने के नाते कठोरता और कोमलता दोनो का सही मात्रा मे होना बहुत जरुरी है.

मुखिया का काम यह भी है कि परिवार के सब लोगों को मिला कर रखें.ठीक वैसे जैसे शिव जी का वाहन बैल, उमा का वाहन सिहं, शिव का कंठ हार सर्प, गणेश जी का मूषक और कार्तिक का वाहन मोर है पर शिव की महिमा देखिए आपस मे पुश्तैनी दुश्मनी होते हुए  भी सभी एकता और प्रेम मे बंधे हुए है .मुखिया को भी इसी दिशा मे प्रयास करते रहना चाहिए कि किस प्रकार सभी को प्यार से रखा जाए. सदा इसी सोच में रहना चाहिए कि किस तरह परिवार और ज्यादा खुशहाल रह सकता है. सभी को खुश रखने की कोशिश  मे रहना चाहिए.

खैर बातें तो बहुत सारी हैं, लेकिन अगर ढेर सारी बातें सोचकर न अमल करने से अच्‍छा है एक-दो बातों को ध्‍यान में रखें और उस पर हमेशा अमल करें.आज की इस दौडती भागती जिंदगी मे सकून के दो पल मिलने बहुत जरुरी है और वो तभी रहेगे जब आप खुद भी खुश रहे और परिवार को भी खुश रखे.

 

आप सभी को FATHERS DAY फादर्स डे की ढेर सारी शुभकामनाएं!!!

Top 10 Best Fathers Day 2015 Quotes

hey thanks for sharing such a beautiful awesome fathers day quotes will more here on my page http://www.ukfathersday.com/2015/05/fathers-day-ideas.html

Father’s Day 2015 is June 21. Here are some heartfelt quotes about the bonds between father and family. Read more…

– LiveHindustan.com

अपने घर में तुम छोटा-सा गेट-टू-गैदर रख सकते हो जिसमें पापा के करीबी दोस्तों और उनके फैमिली मेंबर्स को बुला कर उन्हें सरप्राइज दे सकते हो। See more…

The post FATHERS DAY appeared first on Monica Gupta.

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भाग दौड भरी जिंदगी में अक्सर खुद को प्रोत्साहित करना बहुत जरुरी हो जाता है पर … कैसे करें खुद को प्रोत्साहित… यक्ष प्रश्न है. पर कुछ ही देर मे मुझे इसका उत्तर भी मिल गया . किसी काम से मेरी सहेली  मणि के घर जाना हुआ  तो वो किसी से बात कर रही थी ” कमाल है,तुम तो वाकई में बहुत समझदार हो. मतलब कि हर बात को कितनी सहजता से ले कर उसका समाधान निकाल लेती हो और कोई तनाव नही रखती हमेशा स्माईल ही रहती है चेहरे पर हमेशा ऐसे ही रहना शाबाश,कीप इट अप…

मैं सोच ही रही थी कि किससे बात कर रही होगी अंदर गई तो दूसरा कोई नजर नही आया. मेरे पूछ्ने पर बोली अरे तूने सुन लिया… और स्माईल करती हुई बोली कि शीशे के सामने खडी होकर खुद से बात कर रही थी. खुद को मोटिवेट करना भी बहुत जरुरी होता है इसलिए अक्सर वो यह काम करती रहती है.. मुझे यह बात बहुत पसंद आई. सही है जब तक हम खुद को शाबाशी नही देंगें उत्साहित नही करेंगें तो आगे कैसे बढेग़े…

वैसे नीचे Motivational Quotes भी दिए हैं ताकि आप भली प्रकार समझ सकें

 

14 Motivational Quotes to Keep You Powerful

I once despised motivational quotes, probably because my wrestling coach liked to say, “If you’re not puking or passing out, then you’re not trying hard enough.” Read more…

हमे हमेशा खुद प्रोत्साहित करने के साथ साथ मोटिवेशनल साहित्य भी पढते रहना चाहिए इससे हमे बहुत नई जानकारी मिलती है और साथ साथ हौंसला भी मिलता है.

 

50 Motivational Quotes

Here, in 50 inspiring quotes, businesswomen, role models, activists, entertainers, authors, politicians and more share their thoughts on leadership and success — and what exactly those mean to them. 50 Motivational Quotes From Disruptive, Trailblazing, Inspiring Women Leaders

 

मेरे विचार से अब तो नही सोच रहे होंगें कि कैसे करें खुद को प्रोत्साहित …. वैसे अब मुझे भी घर लौटने की जल्दी थी खुद को प्रोत्साहित  जो करना है शीशे के सामने खडे होकर … और आप ?? आप तो करते ही होंगें अगर नही करते तो आज से ही करना शुरु कर दीजिए….

फिर जरुर बताईएगा कि कैसा लग रहा है !!!

The post कैसे करें खुद को प्रोत्साहित appeared first on Monica Gupta.

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Thomas Edison, 1921.

Title adapted from Laurie J. Edwards’ discussion on inspiration. Thank you! And don’t forget to enter to win a copy of Stefanie Lyon’s YA novel in verse, DATING DOWN. You can enter here between now and midnight, May 15, 2015.

Fred White blogged in 2010 that “Being inspired smacks of amateurish, daydreamy passivity, the notion that some supernatural presence must appear before us before the words can flow. And we’re reminded to death of Thomas Edison’s overquoted words about invention demanding 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration, perhaps not realizing that without that primal 1 percent jolt from the gods, Edison might not have been driven to sweat out the hard work or to cope with a zillion things going wrong.”

Inspiration is important for any creative activity. In fact, some argue that art made the world (See Nigel Spivey’s How Art Made the World, 2005). When early humans produced art over 77,000 years ago, they crafted tools and embellished it with color, but the defining element that made it stand above their Homo habilis ancestors using tools is found the singular capacity of using the imagination. From these humble beginnings, civilizations were born.

And inspiration fires the imagination. I’ve asked some of my favorite people about their favorite inspirations, and include them below. All photographs are from the Library of Congress, used with permission.


 From Laurie J. Edwards, YA author extraordinaire:



Henry Ford, 1924. His first car and his ten millionth car.

 “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eye off the goal.” ~ Henry Ford

Bamboo Gardens, China, 1900.

From Rebecca Colby, author of It’s Raining Bats and Frogs and other picturebooks:

"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it." ~ Chinese Proverb




 

Martha Graham, Age 67, 1961.

  From Marcia Strykowski, author of Call Me Amy:

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of
you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost."  ~ Martha Graham



 




Eleanor Roosevelt, 1946.

 From Yvonne Ventresca, author of Pandemic:

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. . . .You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt





And because it's Mark Twain:

Mark Twain, 1903.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” ~ Mark Twain

Historic mural depicting the Harper Lee novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird" located in Monroeville, Alabama. 1961.

 “Inspiration matters because it prods us to traverse the full spectrum of human experience. An important part of what it means to be a writer is to become so turned on to the business of being alive, to be so completely inspired by life, that you will harvest ideas for writing everywhere—from books, from people, from music and other art forms, from the natural world, and most of all from your own inner resources.” ~ Fred White, 2010


What inspires you?


Bobbi Miller

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Tomorrow is a New Year that brings amazing things: opportunity for a fresh start, renewed hope, possibilities, and even new beginnings. Mark Twain said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore, Dream, Discover.” Make

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30 Days to a Stronger Novel Online Video Course

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30 Days to a Stronger Novel Online Video course

Writing teacher Darcy Pattison teachers an online video course, 30 Days to a Stronger Novel. Each day includes an inspirational quote, and tips and techniques for revising your novel. Here are the 10 of the inspirational quotes.

LEARN MORE: ONLINE VIDEO COURSE.

Or sign up for more information on the availability of this course and other courses.

The titles below are the first ten entries of the Table of Contents for the Online Video Class. Sign up now for the Early Bird list. You’ll be notified when the course goes live.

1. The Wide, Bright Lands: Theme Affects Setting

   

2. Raccoons, Owls, and Billy Goats: Theme Affects Characters

   

3. Side Trips: Choosing Subplots

   

4. Of Parties, Solos, and Friendships: Knitting Subplots Together

   

5. Feedback: Types of Critiquers

   

6. Feedback: What You Need from Readers

   

7. Stay the Course

   

8. Please Yourself First

   

9. The Best Job I Know to Do

   

10. Live. Read. Write.

    

Click Here to See 22 More Quotes for Writers

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Long, long time ago and in a galaxy far, far away, it was the time before computers. Even typewriters were not a common household item. At least, not in my childhood home on the front range of Colorado. Colorado Springs was small then, full of open spaces. The public library was way, way on the other side of town. There were no bookstores. The only library available to me was my school library. I checked out every book I could read. By fourth grade, my favorite authors were already Mark Twain, Jack London, Charles Dickens, James Fennimore Cooper, Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and many more. And if I wanted to have my very own copy of a book, so I didn’t have to return it, I copied the book.

By hand.

So is it a wonder that I became a writer when I grew up?

Even now, after all these decades, with the onslaught of computers, iPads and fancy programs that write text for you, I still write everything by hand. Even this article was first written by hand.

It turns out to be a good thing, to write by hand. Scientists now know that cursive writing is an important tool for cognitive development. It teaches the brain to be efficient, helps to develop critical thinking skills and refines motor control. In fact, children who learn cursive tend to learn how to read faster, generate more ideas and retain more information.

When I was copying my books in the fourth grade, I paid more attention to the details of the story. I experienced the characters on a deeper level because the very act of writing them out engaged all my senses. I had to pay attention to the words, how they were ordered, and how they were used. And, of course, I experienced the linear logic of the plot.


When I grew up, I began writing stories that featured the landscape and characters that were larger than life. A student of American history and folklore, my first books were picturebooks. If you want to know more about my picturebooks, check out JoAnn’s interview with me here!

Image from Morguefile

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Congratulations to Patti Bumpus Richards, winner of the give-a-quote giveaway!
You’ll find a fun, inspirational surprise package in a mailbox near you soon!

Thank you to everyone who added to my stash of inspirational quotes. I look forward to sharing them (and crediting you) in future blog posts.

Thanks to Patti for this pithy reminder from Mr. Edison . . .

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~ Thomas A. Edison

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If you’ve ever visited Frog on a Dime, you know I’m a sucker for a crackerjack quote. (I include one with every post to make sure my blog is inspiration-fortified.)

Now through Friday, August 15, visit Frog on a Dime and leave your favorite quote as a comment. You’ll automatically be entered into a drawing for a keen package of fun, schlock-free writing supplies, hand-picked to inspire you. Trust me. You’ll like it–I’ll have a hard time parting with it.

Now, hop to it!

Hold fast to dreams/For if dreams die/Life is a broken-winged bird/That cannot fly. ~ Langston Hughes

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I’m here to report:
there are those times when even though I’ve ritualistically readied myself to write, I am unable to move forward with my story.


My fingers freeze.
My North Star is elsewhere playing Hide-and-Seek.

Like that wondrous woman who lives inside our cars’ or devices’ GPS,
the one who expertly and melodically repositions our course when we turn left instead of right or bypass our designated Exit or come to a grinding halt at the wrong destination,
I know how to RECALCULATE!


I take myself away from my writing space, sit still and quietly re-read the encouraging hope-filled greeting cards I’ve mailed myself the past 37 years (!) while out-and-about on my Writer’s Journey.



Next I re-read and think on the inspirational quotes I’ve tucked away inside my treasured Hansel and Gretl box.


#3Finally I empty my beautiful one-of-a-kind carpet bag of its contents - the notes, letters and Thank You’s I’ve received, and read my way through, savoring the words,

especiallyand always those penned long-ago by my fellow TeachingAuthor Carmela Martino when I sold, at long last, my very first picture book.


I’ve recalibrated my compass, refueled my heart and found my way home to my keyboard and story.


Happy Writing – and – Recalculating (if and when needed)!


P.S.
The above Rx is a true-blue twofer; the 3-step ritual helps me REBOOT too!

P.P.S.
Let’s hear it for that hard-working second-chance prefix RE! Where would we be without it?

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It happens to the best of us. We get burned out, feel uninspired or just can’t take that next step in our creative endeavor.

You have my permission to relax, take the day off, and read some of the inspirational quotes below.

over.

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

 

Slow and steady wins the race…

 

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I am in the midst of writing a shiny new novel that I LOVE, and editing a novel that I used to LOVE but now just like a lot. I'm hopeful that by the time I'm done editing it, I will LOVE it again...

Have you ever been there? Falling in and out of love with your stories? The good news is:

“A bad novel is better than an unwritten novel, because a bad novel can be improved; an unwritten novel is defeat without a battle.” – Paul Johnson

Good to know. Because as soon as you type "THE END" it feels great! What an accomplishment! Then you send it out for critique. You're amazed by all the plot holes, the uneven language and unbelievable characters. You cry. You scream. You want to crawl into a hole and die.

“Be suspicious of literary advice from anyone who consistently leaves you feeling like some subspecies of dung maggot.” – Jane Guill

A week later you realize that more than half of the advice is good. Now you just have to figure out how to apply it...

"Almost anyone can write; only writers know how to rewrite. It is this ability alone that turns the amateur into a professional.” – William C. Knott

Of course, you still have to keep up with daily life: feeding the family, doing the laundry, maybe even a day job. Something has to give...

"Women with clean houses do not have finished books." – Joy Held

Excellent! That extra ring around the toilet is justified! But then you have all the well meaning friends asking when they can buy your book at Borders. You have, after all, been working at this for more than a year. And they've seen your bathroom. You hang your head in shame. Why don't they understand?

"Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." – Gene Fowler

To all my writing friends, I'm so glad that you're here and you DO understand.

"Easy reading is damn hard writing." – Nathaniel Hawthorne

And now I'm going back to my hole...to write.

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