 |
 |
March 31, 2014
Joy Jumping!!
"This story was really good. Max aged 10, 5th grade"
Recently, this comment popped up on the Knowonder website under my story - "The Wonder Beard Pirates Sort Out a Kerfuffle in Kerflunker". (Which, by the way, is probably my favorite ever story I've written.) This comment made me want to jump with joy! Max, a fifth grader from who knows where, read my story and liked it. This is literally the exact reason why I'm so passionate about books, writing and working with the Knowonder team. Reading is awesome! Helping kids get excited about reading is awesomer! Having my own story be something that makes a kid enjoy reading is basically the awesomest thing ever in the history of awesome! Everything is awesome! (Rats, I'm going to have to pay The Lego Movie a pretty penny for that one.)
Do I want to sell lots of books? I would not say no to that. Would I like Knowonder and my own writing to be popular enough that there are so many "Max comments" in the world - I couldn't humanly possibly keep up with them? That would be cool.
However, I can honestly say, these are not my goals. I'm simply happy to share my imagination with people. And I'm thrilled to be working with a publisher who's focus is "Literacy From Birth". My motivations are to entice and entertain readers and to help get young people excited about reading. Yes, absolutely, I'd like to entertain as many people as possible and will continue to work hard to attain that goal. Both individually and with the Knowonder team There's no doubt about that. But I don't do these things purely to get paid.
I do them to make kids like Max smile for a few minutes. Actually....I do them to make as many Max's as possible smile. That's where I find my true joy as a writer/publisher. And everything else is gravy!
Recently, this comment popped up on the Knowonder website under my story - "The Wonder Beard Pirates Sort Out a Kerfuffle in Kerflunker". (Which, by the way, is probably my favorite ever story I've written.) This comment made me want to jump with joy! Max, a fifth grader from who knows where, read my story and liked it. This is literally the exact reason why I'm so passionate about books, writing and working with the Knowonder team. Reading is awesome! Helping kids get excited about reading is awesomer! Having my own story be something that makes a kid enjoy reading is basically the awesomest thing ever in the history of awesome! Everything is awesome! (Rats, I'm going to have to pay The Lego Movie a pretty penny for that one.)
Do I want to sell lots of books? I would not say no to that. Would I like Knowonder and my own writing to be popular enough that there are so many "Max comments" in the world - I couldn't humanly possibly keep up with them? That would be cool.
However, I can honestly say, these are not my goals. I'm simply happy to share my imagination with people. And I'm thrilled to be working with a publisher who's focus is "Literacy From Birth". My motivations are to entice and entertain readers and to help get young people excited about reading. Yes, absolutely, I'd like to entertain as many people as possible and will continue to work hard to attain that goal. Both individually and with the Knowonder team There's no doubt about that. But I don't do these things purely to get paid.
I do them to make kids like Max smile for a few minutes. Actually....I do them to make as many Max's as possible smile. That's where I find my true joy as a writer/publisher. And everything else is gravy!