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My fish’s name is ……. & I hope to win “Poor Doreen”! #PoorDoreen #unfortunatefish #fishynames @sallylloydjones
My fish looks like this.. & I’m entering to win “Poor Doreen” #FishFace #PoorDoreen #unfortunatefish @sallylloydjones (include a photo or drawing)
My fish met her end by…… #unfortunatefish #PoorDoreen @sallylloydjonesThe contest will run until the end of March and a winner will be chosen at random to receive a free book (you may enter more than once! You may enter 101 times! As much as you like.)
A friend sent me this. So well done. And so true.
If kid's wrote movies...
The film makers asked some children to pretend to be a salesman and a customer.
Here's what they came up with:
SL.
Is it just me? Or are spin instructors saying these profound things? Lately, as I pant and sweat and spin my way along at top speed going nowhere, I’ve been noticing there’s all this motivating cycle inspiration. (Wait! I feel a book title coming on: “Spin-Spiration”!)
Sorry.
But seriously.
My favorite:
If you’re comfortable, you’re doing it wrong.
Oh dear.
How about this one?
The last 20 seconds are the most important: when you want to stop—keep going because that’s when you get stronger.
Oh no.
Or this:
If you’re shaking, it doesn’t mean you’re weak; it means you’re doing good work
Horrid.
Here are some others I’ve collected:
Whatever you did before, do it better next
After all you’ve done, this is nothing
Only a specific goal gets you specific results
The hardest part was showing up
Put your heart into it—half-hearted makes no one happy
You’re competing against yourself
Relax, focus, breathe
Climb like a professional
This is why you came here
Don't back down
What other Spin-Spirations have you heard?
SLJ
First broadcast on BBC Panorama on 1st April 1957, a very young Richard Dimbleby revealed the wonderful world of Swiss spaghetti production to millions of deprived and hungry post-war Brits.
(To be fair, back then Spaghetti was not eaten much and was rather exotic.)
Most of Britain were taken in. Even my dad - who is usually brilliant and smart - even the likes of he, totally fell for this gigantic April Fool's joke! Which just goes to show, if you have a serious and very important enough voice, you can hoodwink anyone.
What an inspiration to us all.
SLJ.
Ballet dancers can make floating in the air look easy, make balancing en pointe look effortless. But the only reason they only can do that is because they have spent hours and hours training, putting their body through torture. They can do it only through sacrifice and suffering.
Behind all that ease lies hard work. Maybe tears. Certainly pain.
Mastery it seems to me is making something incredibly hard look incredibly easy. Mastery hides the craft and the skill and the hours and hours that went into making it look that easy, so that all you see is the grace and the ease.
It's also true of writing. One thing I know about picture books is: if it looks easy, you’ve probably done your job. (Is that why so many people think anyone can write one?) If someone looks at your picture book and says: “WOW! That must have been SO HARD!” you've missed it. It should look easy. It should look as if anyone could do it.
In fact, if it looks like you worked on it, you probably need to work on it some more.
But don’t take my word for it. Listen to the master picture book writers themselves:
"I never spent less than two years on the text of one of my picture books, even though each of them is approximately 380 words long. Only when the text is finished ... do I begin the pictures." Maurice Sendak
"I know my stuff all looks like it was rattled off in twenty-three seconds, but every word is a struggle—every sentence is like pangs of birth. THE CAT IN THE HAT ended up taking well over a year." Dr Seuss
Years and years on a short picture book text?
Here’s a great clip from Jerry Seinfeld on how to write a joke. This one took him 2 years.
Two years on a joke?
Yup. Working on this joke Seinfeld compares to writing a song. He could just as well have been talking about writing a picture book.
Blaise Pascal apologized for writing a long letter: “I made this so long only because I didn’t have time to make it shorter.” It takes hard work—to be simple. It takes longer—to be concise. Short is not the same as quick.
SLJ.
Today is St David's Day. So... Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus!
St David (seen here in a stained glass window from Jesus College, Oxford) is the Patron Saint of Wales. In the 6th century he helped spread Christianity among pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain and he only ate watercress and once stood in the middle of a lake up to his neck--but I don't remember why.
But then again, even the greatest of all journeys is made up of small steps.
So, in honor of St David and his Day, why not do the little things today... take the next step... do the next thing.
(oh and happy birthday Dad!)
The Blizzard came and transformed the city.
Before the snow ploughs and the footprints and the salt and the dirt could arrive, I got up early to capture it.
I stepped out of my apartment—and into Narnia. Complete with lampposts.
Everywhere, everything was brimming with light. Beauty that catches in your throat. Sudden brightness—shining in the air, in the trees, in the skies, at your feet. 
Every moment a new landscape. The early pink skies and the gentle light on the snow cushions on benches. The afternoon sunlight that turns trees to crystal, and a park into an enchanted forest.
Snow making everything beautiful. Covering over the ugliness, making everything look new. Almost as if the world has been made again and we are coming upon it for the first time.
Is it the world—or our eyes, that are made new?
A friend reminded me of a lovely C S Lewis quote about children and snow -
"Everyone begins as a child by liking Weather. You learn the art of disliking it as you grow up. Haven't you ever noticed it on a snowy day? The grown-ups are all going about with long faces, but look at the children—and the dogs? They know what snow's made for." [C S Lewis, The Hideous Strength]
Children’s eyes are new. They can see what we have become blind to.
Wonder.
Snow reminds me.
I would like to live every day with the eyes of a child.
I would like to unlearn what I’ve learned.
I would like to step out of my apartment every day with new eyes to see what is always all around me, shining at my feet.
SLJ.
