Category Archives: cartoon studies

Wrinkles from Delight are Best

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If you read yesterday’s blog, you know of my struggles. I’ve been working on an elegy for my creative writing class. Last night, my trials and tribulations continued as I tried to nail down just the right words symbolizing a grievous time in a person’s life.  The professor said I am  “intellectualizing it” rather than “feeling it.” Her point is well taken, I understand what she is saying.

It has been a challenge, and I think it shows in my writing. To me, it is not fun to write about morose things.I so enjoyed writing my memoir because although the beginning was a bit uncomfortable to write, the tale takes some fulfilling turns that are unanticipated. Click here for info and ordering Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.

Last night when I turned off the computer , I picked up a book called Watching Grandma Circle the Drain. It was the perfect cure-all to brighten my spirits after being engrossed in dark, depressing writing. The essay called “Hairdresser’s Lament” had me on the floor laughing.Click here for info & ordering

The author of the book, Allen Smith, is a humor writer whose perspective has been said to be “gritty.” Definitely, adult comedy. It’s been mentioned on ABC’s The View and has appeared in publications such as The Denver Post, The Writer Magazine, The Vail Daily, The Aspen News and LIVESTRONG.COM, just to name a few. For more information on Smith’s writing, please visit www.snowwriter.com.

Through his creative writing, Allen Smith reminds the reader to live with joy by laughing at ourselves and not to take life so seriously. One might describe Smith as a healing artist. He helps the reader see the ridiculous in careers, aging, men’s issues, medical situations, dating, sport, and other relatable subjects.

Watching Grandma Circle the Drain is a perfect gift for people who think “wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.” ~ Mark Twain

To order Allen Smith’s book, please click on this link. http://amzn.to/RG9DQG.

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Creating Legendary Filmmaking

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“At the center of every fairy tale lay a truth that gave the story its power.” ~ Susan Wiggs

There is a new Disney movie that is soon to be released called Brave. It is about family, protecting a kingdom and Celtic legends. The Highlands of Scotland is the setting for this production. A great Christmas present for the entire family. Click for info & ordering Brave

Besides an opportunity to tell a fulfilling fairy tale story, along the lines of Grimms Brothers or Hans Christian Andersen, the production of this film has some the most complex visuals in movie making possible. Pixar Animated Studios rewrote their animation system after twenty five years to bring these computer-animated effects to the viewer.

Don’t miss out on this fantasy adventure film written by Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Irene Mecchi and Brenda Chapman.  To read more about the film, to learn about the characters and to watch a video trailer, please visit this website. http://bit.ly/yzz6Ky.

Have a nice weekend, everyone! Return next week to All Things Fulfilling to learn more about creative industry.

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected  and www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Objectives and Goals in Indie Publishing

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” Goals allow you to control the direction of change in your favor.” ~ Brian Tracy

Last week, our SHe Writes Steamboat meet-up  group hosted the Colorado Independent Publishers Association www.cipacatalog.com for an event at the Bud Werner Memorial Library. The afternoon sessions were educational in nature and the President of the organization talked about various options in publishing and also the costs of independent publishing. 

Over the weekend I reflected on what was presented and truly, there are so many variables that it is difficult to answer this question of what independent publishing costs without knowing which options best fits a persons needs. The presentation reinforced the importance of researching all the options, and also the importance of identifying your goals and objectives in independent publishing. Are you independently publishing a book for:  

    • a personal project – for family and friends only (such as a family memoir)?
    •  advancing your career and for gaining  recognition in a field?
    •  becoming a professional speaker and for using your book as a resource in your speaking engagements?
    • starting a small or medium sized independent publishing company?

    Determining your reasons for publishing will help you narrow down whether your project will be low-end budget (personal project) or whether it will involve a more substantial investment and commitment of resources. Also,  would an e-book suit your needs as a starting point? Consider that. 

Tomorrow we will be addressing more questions that you should ask yourself before starting the process of independent publishing. Do return!

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Fulfill Your Need to Tell Your Story!

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“Knowledge is Power.” ~ Sir Francis Bacon 

Tomorrow, SHe Writes Steamboat will be hosting the Colorado Independent Publishers Association at the Bud Werner Library. www.steamboatlibrary.org.  What an opportunity this will be to find out more about writing your own story. Learn about the educational programs, vendor affiliations and services that are available from CIPA to help you through the process of independently publishing your story. 

We are so rich in individual narratives in this corner of Northwestern Colorado and the Elk River Valley. Retirees, career professionals, and interesting individuals who have unique stories to tell of their lives in other places seek out this part of the country so they can begin a new chapter of their lives – one that includes fulfilling dreams, passions and interests. 

If you have ever had the thought “I could write a book about that!” join us, tomorrow at 9:30 am at the Bud Werner Memorial Library in Library Hall. The morning informational session is free and open to the public. Stay for the afternoon, but do pre-register, please, through this link. (look for the September 9 Steamboat seminars) http://bit.ly/p9GbYG. 

Can’t come, but still interested? There is an 18 minute webinar now available on-line that will give you an overview of the independent publishing industry. It explains how a new generation of book publishing including e-commerce and e- marketing has evolved. The publishing universe in this new century now includes anyone willing to tell their story. That includes you!  http://bit.ly/oIkV2g. 

See you tomorrow at 9:30 am sharp!

Another day of  independent thoughts, words and a views from www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com

Reaching Multi-Media Crazed Kids

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This generation of digitally obsessed students has challenged educators to find different ways of hooking kids into learning. How to teach lessons through multi-media, that will keep kids tuned in, is an on-going discussion among educators everywhere. 

There is a full service independent publishing and production company, Bluewater Productions, developing educational content by combining innovative storytelling through comic books with high quality art. 

Science fiction, greek mythology as well as biographical stories of authors, super heroes, politicians, notable women and Hollywood legends are all incorporated into the comic book publications of Bluewater Productions. The company aims to publish a fresh generation of educationally fulfilling comic books that will stimulate young minds. For more information on the library and literary initiatives that Bluewater Productions have been involved with, please visit http://bit.ly/oovpvC. 

The company has full service art and design studios and employs over 200 freelance artists and writers from around the world from a mix of media specialty fields. Their client list includes big name film studios such as Dreamworks, Lionsgate, Sony and New Line Cinema. 

How to motivate students to be active learners is a subject of great debate among parents and teachers, everywhere. John Lubbock once said “The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn.”  In this 21st century, teaching goes far, far beyond textbook learning. Reaching children and inspiring them to learn in new creative ways is a difficult and challenging task.

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Transient Society is Rich with Stories

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“All things are subject to change, and we change with them.” ~ Anonymous 

With each passing decade, we have become a more transient society.  People are much more willing to go where work takes them and staying settled in the town where one was born has become less common. College grads seeking work, realize that finding work often depends upon looking outside the boundaries of their native state. Michigan is just one state grappling with this issue. http://bit.ly/iXIuQS. 

 If you take a look at person’s Facebook page, you can often see their birthplace and along with their current state of residence,  begging the questions –Why did they move? How did they get there? What opportunities led them to their new place of residence? Is their life fulfilling in their new “home?” 

Because we have become a transient society, it is ever more important to write our family histories and leave “love letters for future generations.”  Independent publishing has provided a way for ordinary people to share stories that are meaningful to their families and to others. People who are considering independent publishing often make the mistake of thinking only their family and friends will be interested in their publication. Not so, the world-wide web allows us to connect with individuals who have walked the same walk, shared the same interests throughout time and in place, and are looking for connection through hobbies, life experiences, occupations and through relationships in the six degrees of separation in a very transient world. 

Next week, on All Things Fulfilling, we will be sharing a book that is hot off the press. It addresses an issue of concern that many families share in this day and age – finding a way so the next generation can continue to live in the same environs that they were raised in, and still be able to make a viable living and a fulfilling life. Travel with us next week as we review a book about family, place and the West. 

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Narratives in Medical Curriculum

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“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ~ Maya Angelou 

Writing medical histories through the narrative form is currently being incorporated into curriculums in medical schools in many parts of the country. Medical students are learning how to better assess medical conditions through more intensive listening to the patient, and recording what they hear into narrative forms. The goal is to make healthcare decisions for the patient based not only on statistics and tests but by also “reading” a patient’s unique personal story of how they are feeling and their own symptoms. 

Why is the addition of the narrative form being incorporated into the way medical schools have traditionally taught students to diagnose illness? Empathy for the patient has been missing in this age of highly developed technical medical testing. Listening to a patient’s story leads to a better understanding of the whole picture of a person’s medical situation. A person’s emotions and spirit about the way they are feeling is part of the overall report, too. 

Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, http://www.danpink.com/whole-new-mind explains how our society is on the brink of a whole new age of thinking. We have gone from an agricultural age (farmers) through the factory age (industrial), to the information age (business based on knowledge workers) to the emergence of right thinking business people, who are creators and empathizers. Surprisingly, we are moving into an age where more Americans are beginning to work in fields such as arts, entertainment and design than those working left brain fields (accountants, lawyers, insurance adjustors). In order to be accomplished in these growing fields of work, right brained thinking skills must be used and developed. 

Prosperity and abundance has brought a whole new need for fulfilling emotional, aesthetic and spiritual needs. Jobs in the “caring professions” counseling, nursing, healing are surging, too.  They are not jobs that can be decimated by workers overseas who can work faster and cheaper.

To read more about this movement toward the new conceptual age and right brain thinking that Pink claims will change the world, pick up A Whole New Mind.  Many libraries have it and it is a Business Week best selling book. It’s a fascinating read.

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Advocating for the Arts

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“The degree to which the arts are included in our educational curriculum is totally inadequate. The arts are just as important as math and science in an education and just as important as any other endeavour in our lives.”.         ~Ken Danby 

Good Morning! My blog today is going to be short, but it is about a real concern that I have. Yesterday, I received an email from the Americans for the Arts Action Fund and it seems that a bill has been introduced to end federal support for arts education. 

My response to this is “what about the children who are not particularly academically wired but are artistically and creatively gifted?” School curriculum without art education will leave those children behind. Increased drop-out rates will come as a result of kids not being able to excel and prove themselves in non-academic areas. 

Don’t let bill HR1891 terminate federal support that is needed to continue arts education in schools. All this talk of “creative economies” will be for naught! Children who excel in the arts, are the future of creative economies. Many of them will lead the way in finding innovative ways of doing business that will ignite our country. 

Parents, arts groups, teachers, and business people who depend on hiring the “creatives” need to speak up now, and oppose HR 1891. As a country, we need to be fulfilling our obligations to educate children who think outside the box, too! 

For more information on the Arts Education Fund or to donate for the continuation of arts education, please visit http://www.artsactionfund.org/.  To voice your opposition to these cuts in arts education, please go on line now and respond by emailing

advocacy@artsusa.org. 

Thanks for listening, thanks for responding!  

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What is Your Currency?

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“Live out your imagination, not your history.” ~ Stephen Covey 

Creative economy has been the buzzword here in Colorado and in pockets all over the United States. It is about making a living artfully through our passions and living with purpose in all that we do. 

More and more, people are realizing that there is great personal value in fulfilling our lives with what we love to do, rather than just existing to make the almighty buck. Individuals are beginning to realize that the vicious circle of working lots of hours just to have, to spend, to accumulate and keep up with the Joneses does not necessarily make sense. It is not a sustainable way to live. It is hard to enjoy and live healthy lifestyles when we are stuck on the treadmill of working more hours just to be able spend more. 

Relationships, community, volunteerism, thinking beyond our selves and our material needs are beginning to take priority in people’s lives, as this slow economy has forced us to see that there are other ways of being. And that is not a bad thing! I love hearing stories of people who are successfully recreating themselves and their businesses in these times of economic hardships. 

There was a story this week in the Steamboat Today newspaper about an artist who decided to act upon his longstanding interest in the fabric arts. Now, he is winning international acclaim for his creativity and artistic talent in making quilts. To read his story, please visit http://bit.ly/l58Ad0. For those who are unable to travel to see David Taylor’s quilts, I hope some day he will independently publish a book and sell it on the world-wide-web, with images of his fabric creations and his thoughts about using his creative talents for personal fulfillment. 

Do you have creative currency that has been dormant? Believe in yourself and dare to expend energy on making a new life for yourself through your passions. Write it, publish it, sew it, knit it, cook it, paint it, mold it, build and grow it – what ever IT is!

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e-Conomies. What Does it All Mean?

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“I look for what needs to be done. After all, that’s how the universe designs itself.” ~ Buckminster Fuller

e-Commerce, e-Books, e-Publishing, e-Marketing. http://rww.to/aiuHxb. You’ve heard the terms a lot lately, haven’t you? But what does it all mean? It means entertaining new ways of doing things! 

Let’s face it – our economy needs a kick in the pants! We need independent spirited folks to take ideas and run with them. Brain power, our most available resource, surrounds us everywhere. It is not located in any one place. We need people who are tired of sitting around waiting for something to happen, to make things happen! 

Right here in Steamboat Springs,CO there is a group of people who want to have their say, they want to be heard, and they want to be seen. Right now! They are not willing to play the game of waiting on someone else to create their future for them, or not! 

She Writes Steamboat is a newly-formed meet-up group that will come together for the first time at 4 pm on June 21st at the Bud Werner Memorial Library. www.steamboatlibrary.org.   Independent publishing is one economy that is on the fast track and it is gaining momentum every day. Business people, non-profit organizations, parents, teachers, children and very ordinary folks with unique stories to tell are pumped. Internet and media technologies have changed so greatly over the past 10 years anyone can jump on the train and tell their story, inform, educate and inspire others through all independent film, music or books. Entertain that thought! 

Further, the internet has provided a way for independent publishers to become visible all over the world! Are you ready to share your voice? Join Us @ She Writes Steamboat – click here http://on.fb.me/lbnPms.

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