The A-mob-azon 2/12/12!

Well the Amobazon is here starting at midnight. I am hoping to inspire as many people as I can to help me gain exposure on Amazon for my new book Just Because. I have been asking the people I love and people I don't even know to support me a lot these days. I want everyone to know how much I really appreciate it. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I am not a salesperson by any means. At least I thought I wasn't. I realize now that when you truly believe in something, it is far more than "selling" it for money, it's selling a concept, an idea, a passion that drives me. My motivation is not fame and fortune, it is purely doing something good for the world and especially our children.

So, tomorrow, I am asking, begging, encouraging, inspiring, pleading, empowering you to help me raise awareness of a book that will make a difference for children and adults around the world. It will teach those who read it the value of helping those in need and being aware of other points of view.  We will also be raising money for Building Bridges Charity with a portion of the proceeds.

By purchasing the book on Sunday 2/12/12 and thereafter, it will raise it in the rankings so that it will get noticed. If enough people join us tomorrow, it could reach Best Seller. That would be the cherry on top. It is also important to leave reviews on Amazon and use the 5 star scale.

I created the Amobazon out of something called an Amazon campaign. I felt that if you had enough people who believed in your book, your cause and in YOU, then it could work this way. It is not a money maker for me because Distribution and Amazon takes a huge cut. I am hoping it is worth it.

I will be on Twitter (imaflipsider) using #amobazon  all day tomorrow and my Facebook (www.facebook.com/flipsidestories). If you buy a book, let me know in one of the locations and I will post the password to the online interactive version of the story.

Join the very first Amobazon!   More info here:  http://www.theflipsidestories.com/a-mob-azon.html

Thank you once again for your support.

Everyone is special

Below is a wonderful article about gifts that we all have.  Sometimes we only see other's gifts and envy them. Sometimes we only see our own gifts and don't appreciate what others have to offer. Sometimes we want our kids to have the gifts we didn't and we don't see the gifts that make them special.  Let's open our eyes, our minds, our spirit, our hearts and our lives to all of the differences and uniqueness that make us all special.  See within yourself and beyond the exterior of others to see the genius we all have. No matter how big or small we are all an expert at something.

Take a moment to visit this site to read this article by Dr. Vicki Panaccione.  Everyone is Special

Redshirting

I wrote this post about a year ago and recently experienced another story of the problems with "redshirting". I was speaking to a mother at lunch duty and she was distraught by a meeting she had with her son's kindergarten teacher, an older teacher who is nearing retirement. She said thatthe teacher harshly told her that her child was immature and isn't doing the things that the other kids were doing though intelligent. She was heartbroken and confused. Me too at first. He was the right age and actually his actions (like a healthy interest in legos) seemed very age appropriate. Then I asked her if she knew how old the other kids were in the class. Many of them (boys) were 6 months to more than a year older than he was. There's the problem. He IS younger. We all know how much 6 months, even a month, makes in the emotional and physical development of a child. I reassured her and gave her my perspective as a parent and an educator.

My earlier post:

In baseball, redshirting means that an athlete sits out a year or more in order to lengthen their eligibility. This term is being used for the practice of holding kids back from Kindergarten for a year for academic, social and/or physical reasons. I am familiar with this practice from my teaching experience. I stopped teaching when my first son was born 8 years ago. In 8 years, it seems like this practice of holding back has snowballed. It seems like a very popular thing to do now. It is not that I disagree with it under appropriate circumstances but I think the initial purpose of it is losing its value.

My friend called me for advice on this topic last Spring. Her daughter's Kindergarten teacher thought it would be best if she "redid" Kindergarten again this year. I thought it was the best thing for her daughter and gave her all of the benefits of it. At the same time, I thought about how many kids are going into Kindergarten at 6 now instead of 5. I have also had this very discussion with other parents trying to decide whether to hold their children back. My hope is that they are holding them back for the right reasons or the children who need that extra year might struggle again against kids who are physically, emotionally or academically even further ahead. We all know how much a month, 6 months and year can make in the development of a child.
So, my friend's daughter is succeeding and she is much happier this year in Kindergarten. When she talked to me about it, she also asked me if I knew of any books out there that deal with this issue. She didn't know how to explain it to her daughter. Soooo, in about a half hour, I jotted down a little flip side story about it. She loved it, read it to her and shared it with her family. When the emotion hits me, my pen starts scribbling almost by itself. What a great thing.

Take a look at her story (partial) and the article related to this blog. http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/20110208/ts_dailybeast/11972_holdingkidsbackfromkindergartenhowredshirtinghurts
What are your thoughts about "redshirting"??

This is part of the story. There is more to each side.

“If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.”

Mark Twain quotes

Finders Keepers?

I am going to try to make a point of sharing Flip Side stories with you. I see them every day and they always make me say, "Ahhh, look at the flip side." This morning while watching the news, a man had lost his camera at a baseball game. His wife was obviously not happy about the loss either. The woman who had found it a month ago at the game, searched high and low for the owner. She found him and took the camera to him. She said that she just wanted to do something nice. The man was thrilled to get the camera back and said he was happy that there are still good people out there and that a lot of people might change the memory card and keep the camera for their own. Not only did he get his expensive camera back and  got the pictures and memories left on it but also a little hope in the good in people.  "Ah, Flip Side." That is what one of my stories is about. It is called That's What Its All About (at least for now). It is about a little boy who finds a toy at a restaurant and wants to keep it. His mother explains to him that he can't keep something that isn't his. The flip side of the story is the little child racing back into the restaurant looking for his toy and how upset he is about losing it. In the end, they meet.  My hope is children and adults might stop and think about how the other person might be feeling about the loss before claiming it their own just as the woman on the news did. She ended up feeling better about finding the owner than having the guilt of keeping something that didn't belong to her. Cheers to her.
Excerpt from "That's What It's All About."

Side 1 (child who finds the toy):


(Reluctantly) I gave it up
In hopes it would be mine.
We ate our lunch and rode the slide
And now it was time.

As we left, I turned my head
To see a little boy.
Smiling big and hugging tight 
That wonderful little toy.

Side 2 (child who lost the toy):

(Reluctantly) I went right up,
I had a little fear.
When I asked, the lady said,
"I have it over here."

When she handed it to me,
My wonderful little toy,
I smiled big, I hugged it tight
And saw the other boy.






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Needed: Tweecher

So, I finally decided to give twitter a try. I am very tech savvy, but I am struggling with this. For me, it is like choosing the type of calendar you like to use. I like to see the whole month and squish every event and activity into each small box (like a little gift) and I actually celebrate the empty boxes (like the anticipated gift on your birthday), then I anguish over how I am going to get through the other days (like the oblivious gifts Aunt Gladys gives every year.@Who's Your Gladys?).

Other people are quite capable of using the single day list calendars (I am not a list person, my husband is and wants me to be, I should be, but am not) and more impressive, they can use those calendars on their hand held PDAs the size of the prize found in a cracker jack box (prizes aren't what they used to be). So, anyway, I find twitter list-like and I am not sure how information is being transferred, who is reading it, what all the symbols and choppy statements mean and what "tweetiquette" is, if there is any. I've got facebook down pat and now I wanted to use twitter to further network and connect. I thought...I mean, I know I have addiction to FB. Now i am finding myself being sucked into twitter. It's a social networking addiction. I can stop if I wanted to... I think.
I am open to any advice or tips on how to efficiently and effectively use twitter to share the flip side and grow my fan base.
Imaflipsider @twitter


"People wanna go online and check out their friends, so why not build a website that offers that. I'm talking about taking the entire social experience of college and putting it online."

Mark Zuckerberg

People wanna find out what friends, family and perfect strangers are up to and what they have to offer, so why not build a room with four walls where people can talk face to face, shake hands, give hugs and take out their ipods and ipads and share apps. Best of both worlds.  -Me

In Honor of Jack

Today, I learned something very sad. The homeless man that caught my attention for a couple of years passed away. I learned that he actually lived right by my house. I had been hoping to run into him by the shopping mall so I could offer to buy him some warmer clothes. Last winter I was very upset to see him without socks. My husband did not want me to approach him especially with the kids in the car. This was so hard for me but I understood his concern. I was hoping to run into him with people around. It never happened. Even today, I went to Target and kept my eyes open for him. When I got home, I got the news via Facebook post of an article about him. I was very upset. Jack Mason was the person who inspired me the day I met Victor the homeless man at the Library that I wrote a Flip Side Story about. I bought Victor some food that day thinking, if I can't help the other man, I can help Victor. I felt comfort in that but continued looking for Jack.  In the article, its seems many people have helped him over the years but many times he gave away the donations to his fellow homeless. Here is his article:
Homeless Bloomfield Hill Man


I would also like to share my story Victor with you in honor of Jack. Mind you, it has not been edited professionally.


                                                                                                          

                                                                            

   

Flip Side has a Face

Well my friends, I finally decided to give Flip Side Stories a face. I launched on facebook, shared with everyone, took a deep breath and hoped it would take off. In a day and half, Flip Side Stories has 81 fans. Thank you for your support. I hope everyone begins to really understand what my goal is as I start sharing and feel a need to share it with everyone they know. Anyone who is involved with children will see the importance and value it has. Your children will learn about empathy for others and respecting different points of view. While I am teaching children through my books, the adults who are reading them will be inspired by the messages they are reading about.
Even though I have a passion for "looking at the Flip Side", I still struggle with it. I want to share those experiences an I hope you will too.

Please take time to read my past posts which take you through the publishing process.