Wrestling The ABCs

"K" page featured in "Wrestling USA" magazine

2010-10-03T09:48:00.002-04:00

Pretty exciting to see the "K" page of our book used for an article on smart ways to cut weight in Wrestling USA magazine this month... My thanks to Dustin Zahursky, creator of Kutting Weight clothing, for asking to use our illustration in his article, and thanks also Lanny and Cody Bryant, editor of the magazine for contacting us with his idea to use pages from our book for upcoming articles of interest in the magazine!!!

Exciting Magazine Promotion

2010-08-23T16:55:00.000-04:00

We were very excited last week to get a call from Lanny Bryant, who is the chief editor of Wrestling USA magazine, which is a monthly publication that has been in publication since 1965! What Lanny wants to do is to use a different page of our book every month as the illustration the corresponds with a new monthly column that Dan Gable is writing. Wow! That will give our book a lot of publicity...hopefully it will get our sales up too...The first issue that this will occur in will be either September or October. The image for this blog is a rough draft of the idea Lanny sent us to show us what he was wanting to do! I said go for it!

Borders Books

2010-08-23T16:42:00.002-04:00

We've had three really great book store visits this summer. One at the Grosse Pointe Borders on Kercheval where we had a very involved crowd with several youngsters who were on wrestling clubs. Next was at two different Ann Arbor Borders stores. The first visit was to their store on (Washtenaw Borders) and we had a lot of kids, but they were pretty young (as in diapers!), so we did a lot of moving around, singing and dancing for them! we signed about 15 books for that event. The next visit was downtown Liberty Borders, and the kids there were older (5-8), and that was better. We signed 7 books at that visit. I believe, other than one wrestling tournament later this month, that we are done with book signings for the summer!

NCAAs 2010

2010-03-29T13:11:00.001-04:00

Tom and Mike

Our visit to the NCAAs in Omaha Nebraska was very, very fun. In addition to meeting lots of new people, we were able to spend quite a bit of time with some old friends: Steve Fraser, Zeke Jones, Kendall Cross, Lee Kemp, and more. We were fortunate enough to have a booth right in the middle of all the Olympic champions, so things were pretty busy!

We also were accompanied by our good pals Mike and Terry McGhee, so of course the trip was a blast. On the down side, I had anticipated that the weather would be warm (it was in the 20s and snowing), so I was a little under dressed, but it was warm inside the arena!!

Exciting New Order!!!

2010-03-09T14:27:00.000-05:00

We just received a book order from the Office of History, Society and Culture in Detroit!! Now that is really cool!! Their office is part of the Detroit Public School System. Do I see some book visits in the future???

Getting Ready for Omaha

2010-03-09T12:42:00.001-05:00

We have been soooo busy the last few weeks that I just realized how quickly our trip to the NCAAs in Omaha, Nebraska has been sneaking up on us. We do have all of our books and other goods ready, our hotel is reserved, our friends are still on board, and our car is still running, but I haven't even begun to think about babysitting and dogsitting arrangements for our kids and dogs. Thank goodness both mine and Tom's parents live here in the city with us!

We are vending our book at the Fan Festival (see fan festival and wrestling schedule below)

NCAA Fan Festival

March 18-20
Noon-6:30 p.m. March 18 and 20, Noon-6 p.m. March 19
Qwest Center Exhibit Hall
Admission is FREE

Between sessions, wrestling fans are encouraged to visit the NCAA Fan Festival in the Qwest Center Exhibit Hall, just a short indoor walk north from the Qwest Center Omaha. This year's fan festival will feature wrestling exhibit booths, displays, memorabilia, interactive games, souvenir, food and beverage sales, and these feature events:

Daily Main Stage Events
The NCAA Fan Festival stage will feature some of the biggest names in the sport of wrestling during daily presentations designed to keep you entertained and informed between sessions of the championships. These events include:

Native American Wrestling Hall of Fame Presentation and Autograph Session (Thursday, March 18 - 5-6:15 p.m.)
Meet some of the greatest Native Americans ever to wrestle collegiately and internationally and stick around to get autographs afterward! This presentation is presented jointly by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum and the NCAA.

Semifinals Preview Show (Friday, March 19 - 4-5 p.m.)
Hear our expert analysts - Scott Casber, Nate Carr, Wade Schalles and others - break down each of the semifinal match-ups, predict the individual and team champions and provide insider information from the mat in this one-hour preview to the most exciting night in collegiate wrestling.

NWCA Coaches Clinic (Saturday, March 20 - 2-3:30 p.m.)
Learn wrestling techniques from the best in the business at the NWCA Coaches Clinic, on the main stage of the NCAA Fan Festival. This session is beneficial to both coaches and wrestlers of all levels.

NCAA Wrestling in Philadelphia Preview (Saturday, March 20 - 5:30-6 p.m.)
Get a sneak preview of what to expect at the 2011 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Philadelphia from the championships hosts.

Daily Hall of Fame and USA Wrestling Autograph Session
Get autographs from National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductees such as Rulon Gardner, Bill and Jim Scherr, current USA Wrestling team members and others during these daily autograph opportunities at the Fan Festival main stage. Autograph cards are provided. Check the Schedule of Events for times.

USA Wrestling Team Practices and Presentations
Watch Olympic champions and hopefuls prepare for international competition daily between sessions on the Fan Festival center mats. Check the Schedule of Events for daily practice times and don't miss these additional feature presentations:

Big Ten vs. Big 12 Challenge (Friday, March 19 - 1:45-2:30 p.m.)
Watch former Big Ten and Big 12 Conference champions who are now part of the USA Wrestling team compete against each other in this made-for-the-fans scrimmage event!

Dan Gable Techniques Demonstration (Saturday, March 20 - 3:45-4:30 p.m.)
Listen in as coaching legend Dan Gable breaks down the various Greco-Roman and Freestyle moves and techniques being practiced by current USA Wrestling team members.

2010 Division I Wrestling Championships Schedule:

2010 General Public Tickets on Sale Monday, Feb. 1 at 10 a.m. CST.

SCHEDULE

THURSDAY, MARCH 18

--Session One - 11 a.m.
--Session Two - 6:30 p.m.
FRIDAY, MARCH 19
--Session Three - 9:30 a.m.
--Session Four - 6 p.m.
SATURDAY, MARCH 20
--Sessions Five - 10 a.m.
--Session Six - 6:30 p.m.
All times listed above are Central Standard Time and are subject to change.

Back To Battle Creek

2010-03-09T12:13:00.000-05:00

Tom and I will be vending in Battle Creek yet again for the Myway youth individual state championships. This is a three day event. All day Saturday and Sunday, as well as Friday afternoon and evening. I love going to Battle Creek with Tom! We did really good with book sales there a couple of weeks ago, and that was for the High School Team Championships, so we should do even better with our book at this event considering it is a younger age group of wrestlers.

Friday, March 26, 27 and 28

MYWAY Youth Individual State Championships

Kellogg Arena, One McCamly Street, Battle Creek, MI 49017

Battle Creek Beckons

2010-02-20T20:14:00.000-05:00

We are getting excited for our Battle Creek weekend coming up the last weekend of the month. This event is the High School Individual wrestling finals which are held at the Kellogg Arena in downtown Battle Creek. As a family business with a specialty in the wrestling field, we have been attending this event for almost as long as we've been dating (29 years!) We sold quite a few copies of our book during the event last year and are hopeful again this year. I also enjoy this particular weekend as it is sort of a vacation for Tom and I. Our kids generally don't accompany us on this trip, and we've been very lucky the past few years with being able to book a room right in the McCamly Plaza Hotel which is connected to the Kellogg Arena. There's also a great pub (The Griffin Grill and Pub) just a few blocks away that we love to eat at every year!

In the meantime, we have lots of t-shirts to silkscreen and letter, books to pre-sign, and hopefully some books to ship out to Stacie at http://www.wwsport.com

What's after Battle Creek? Vending our book at Omaha Nebraska for the NCAA Wrestling Championships!!! And no work for this weekend. Just pleasure!!

Hillsdale School District

2010-02-14T18:19:00.000-05:00

Hillsdale Mi., school district just purchased 12 copies of our book to use for their Athlete's Read program. More info to come. Thanks to Mary and Doug Willer for making this happen.

Teeth of the Dog Wrestling Club

2010-01-29T11:24:00.000-05:00

A huge shout out to our friend and youth wrestling coach Mike DerGarabedian who is the founder and head coach for Teeth Of The Dog Youth Wrestling Club in New York. Mike was a former colleague of Tom's while at University of Michigan and was on the wrestling team there also. Coach DerGarabedian recently ordered 25 copies of our book for his youth wrestling club. Yippeee. Go wrestlers!!

Our motto for the wrestling readers is: Wrestle and Read and you will Succeed!!

Wrestlers as Readers

2010-01-29T11:04:00.001-05:00

Wow! Tom and I are just beyond thrilled that the Thief River Falls Youth Wrestling Club (MN) has been so supportive of our book. Originally they ordered 20 copies, then they ordered 20 more, then once again, they called and ordered 20 more!

And it keeps getting better....read the article from the Thief River Falls Times here

So Mike Hron, if you are reading this, THANK YOU!!!! P.S. It was a delight speaking with you at work the other day (hope you're phone bill isn't too high!). If you had a website, I would link you up right here!!

Guest Authors at University of Michigan Alumni Weekend

2010-01-29T10:47:00.000-05:00

For the second year in a row, we were invited to be the guest authors at the University of Michigan Wrestling Alumni Weekend. Although we didn't sell as many books this year as last year, it is always a pleasure to attend the meets and to see familiar faces. This year we had about 30 Underdog fans attending as well so that was nice. A special thanks to Joe McFarland and Kirk Trost for making this event happen.

NCAAs Omaha, Nebraska

2010-01-20T21:30:00.000-05:00

Well it appears we are going to be vendors at the NCAA Wrestling Championships again this year. We did REALLY good last year, but weren't sure if we wanted to attempt it this year or not since this was a new location for the NCAAs. However after consulting with various well experienced vendors, we have decided to take the chance. We have some friends going with us and Collette (U of M stat girl) so even if we don't sell a lot of books, it will be a fun little vacation. We really had a lot of fun last year and met so many cool people. I am quite pleased that Tom decided to do it again this year. Hopefully Robert will be able to attend too!

Borders Bookstore

2009-12-12T20:52:00.005-05:00

We had another visit today at Borders Bookstore in Canton, MI. Nice but small crowd. Originally Tom though I'd have to do it solo, but he managed. The one good thing we get out of bookstore visits is that we always go out to eat together and spend a little connection time. It's so easy to let time fly by. This was our second visit to this store. They purchased about 80 copies of our book. We always meet the cutest little wrestlers at these events. Usually younger kids although there were a few 6th graders here this time. So...thanks again to Naidee Nascimento and Borders Canton!!!

Webb Elementary School Visit

2009-12-09T21:37:00.006-05:00

We had a fantastic school visit today at Webb Elementary School in our hometown of Hazel Park, MI. The entire school attended the assembly. We were hooked up with microphones, video equipment andthe city video taped the event. We recieved about 30 pre-visit book sales and then some the day of the event. We saw some of my teacher pals whom I hadn't seen in a while and my favorite co-worker from my Title One days at Webster, Karen Fredricksen. She is such a funny person. Brightens everyone's day around her.

CTN Animation Expo

2009-11-19T20:34:00.004-05:00

Our illustrator, Robert Lence is attending a super cool conference this weekend. It's called the CTN (Creative Talent Network) Animation Expo. So much talent in on arena! Gosh how I wish I could be there. Unfortunately, financing is an issue. But we wish Robert the best of luck at the convention and hope he has a great time.

The scoop:

The event takes place on Nov 20-22, 2009

and it's being held in Burbank, Ca @ the Marriott Convention Center

3 days

After Hours

Rare Appearances

Industry Discussions

Live Demonstrations

Breakfast with the Pros

Recruiting and Networking

World Class Animation Talent

Click here to visit Expo Site

Battle Creek is Beckoning!

2009-11-04T19:56:00.002-05:00

Yes, we are off to Battle Creek yet again. It seems we are always heading to Battle Creek. I'm not complaining. I may sound like it, but that's just because there is work involved. Otherwise I'm perfectly fine with traveling.

The plus to the trip is that we usually sell quite a few copies of our book there. We will be at the Border Wars Wrestling Tournament at the Kellogg Arena in the McCamly Place Convention center for the 2009 National Folkstyle Championships. They have been letting us use one of their vacant stores the last few times there which is great. We have tons of window space, display cases, cash register, private office and video machines (shhh.)

As The Page Turns

2009-08-25T13:35:00.004-04:00

So much fun this summer...hence the very few blog posts! Writing and publicity have pretty much taken the back seat to fun and family the past few months, but hey...reading and writing opportunities will always be around. I doubt I can say that of my kids. They will be gone in a blink!

So we have been invited to read and sign at As The Page Turns Bookstore, Gallery and Cafe this fall. We haven't set a date yet, but it will have to be before our busy season with the store (which will start in early November).

Tom has sent out a few educator packets to some curriculum directors that he knows in hopes of getting a few school visits. If not school visits, maybe at least a few schools will simply purchase books. I know a few districts have done that already, which really surprised me. I assumed if they were interested enough in our books to buy a dozen or so copies at a time, that they would want us to come out for a visit. Oh well, a sale is a sale!

Cynthia Furlong Reynolds (author of) sent us a super nice book review earlier this summer. You can read it on our website http://www.wrestlingtheabcs.com

Tom has contacted a couple of wrestling catalogs to see if they'd be interested in selling our books, and a couple of libraries have bought our book and we got a big check in the mail from our publisher last week, but other than that, we've been taking it easy. I did get two out of state orders recently too.

Good Things!

2009-07-17T21:18:00.006-04:00

I don't know how I manage to let so much time slip by between posts for this blog. I really don't.

At any rate, a few things going on with the book:

1. Our illustrator Robert Lence, invited us to join him in November as vendors at an animators convention in LA. That is very exciting, and I really can't wait.

2. Several libraries have ordered our book.

3. Cynthia Furlong Reynolds sent me a super wonderful book review. I will post it later (the kids are downstairs waiting for me to watch a spooky movie with them).

4. I have two writers conferences coming up to attend. One is at the end of the month at 826 Michigan, and the second is in Augusta MI (SCBWI)

Barnes & Noble

2009-06-02T12:57:00.001-04:00

So Busy.....

But we have had a book store visit since I last wrote. We were the guest authors at the Novi Borders on May 16. It went really well. We were a bit nervous, but we fell right into it as soon as we got started. There were about a dozen or so kids and their parents. One parent even emailed us the next day to let us know how much they enjoyed our visit.

We also have a school visit coming up next week at H. T. Burt Elementary, and then we are hosting a children’s writer’s workshop at the Ann Arbor Barnes and Noble.

Other than that, we are just enjoying the great weather, spending more time outdoors, and looking forward to summer break with our kids and dogs!

Back from Battle Creek (again!!!)

2009-05-04T13:54:00.003-04:00

We had a good weekend in Battle Creek. Sold some books and tons and tons of wrestling supplies from our store Davids' Gold Medal Sports

Several people who had heard about our book stopped by to purchase and get books signed. One mom even bought the book for her 18 year old son, who had been wrestling since he was a toddler! I thought that was so cute. We also had a 14 year old boy who bought the book for his little sister, hoping he could encourage her to start wrestling.

I think we are actually going to be home this weekend. This will be the first weekend spent home (We've been to KY, OH, and NC) the past few weekends. I am soooo ready to relax.

I have a couple of deadlines to meet early this week (no, blogging here does not help get the job/s done!), but after that, it should be the first relaxing week and weekend I've had in a long time.

Tournament of Champions

2009-04-27T14:34:00.001-04:00

We just got back from our book event at the Tournament of Champions at the Columbus Convention Center, OH. Tons and tons of kids! Over 2000 kids! We had fun and were right in the arena so we got to watch wrestling while selling and signing books. We sold about 100 or so, which was probably about what we expected.

After the T of C, we had to head to Grand Rapids for the Steelcase Duathlon that Tom was competing in. We met up the night before with a bunch of the Underdog kids and parents as a few of them were competing also. Tom finished in third place for his age group. He is sooo amazing!

Sports Pages

2009-04-06T19:29:00.005-04:00

There was a really nice story about our book in the Daily Tribune this past weekend. You can click the link to read it. We’re leaving tomorrow for North Carolina, but will be back by Monday. It’s been a busy past week and I’ve been battling a flu and sinus infection, so I am so ready for a vacation!

below is a link (as well as the attached story), to the article about our book that was in the daily tribune.

http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2009/04/05/sports/srv0000005050826.txt

The Daily Tribune (dailytribune.com), Serving Southeastern Oakland County

The Berenstain Bears never wore singlets, did they?

I really do not recollect, but Beatrix Potter was more into rabbits than (w)restling referees and rugged guys named Rulon, right?

Curious George was pretty agile, but he never did much grappling. Not unless it was with the man in the yellow hat.

So, it is nigh time that amateur wrestling elbowed its way onto the children's book shelves, and that is just what Veronica and Tom Davids of Hazel Park have addressed.

The Davids, along with renowned illustrator Robert Lence, have created a delightful alphabet book with an amateur wrestling theme. It is titled, appropriately enough, "Wrestling the ABCs."

Every page is dedicated to a different letter. Each letter is accompanied by fun artwork and clever rhymes. Occupying the bottom portion of each page is factual information about the sport.

For instance:

A is for athlete;

It's what amateur wrestlers are.

Practice ankle picks and arm drags

Every time you spar.

And:

H is for the handshake

The match is under way.

With healthy eating and hard work,

You'll wrestle your best today.

Or:

U is for the underdog.

At first you don't stand out.

If most don't think you have a chance,

Prove them wrong and win the bout.

How about:

There's an X in the word excitement.

There's an X in the word excel.

With extra practice and no excuses,

As a wrestler, you'll do well.

The subject matter should be no surprise. Tom Davids comes from a family steeped in wrestling. He is the youngest of four wrestling brothers. He was a state champion at Hazel Park High School and went on to wrestle at the University of Michigan. He is the founder of the Hazel Park Underdog Youth Wrestling Club, and co-owner of Davids' Gold Medal Sports, a major supplier of wrestling goods.

Tom is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he wrestled with and befriended Lence.

Lence has worked as an animation story artist and writer for Walt Disney Studios, Pixar and Dreamworks. His credits include Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, A Bug's Life and Shrek.

Veronica Davids is a graduate of Eastern Michigan Univesity. She is a full-time mother and a substitute teacher.

"I'd been looking to write a book for six years or so," said Veronica Davids.

After attending countless writing conferences, workshops and book signings, she finally settled on the subject matter.

"Tom told me that while maybe I didn't love wrestling like he did, I certainly knew a lot about it," said Veronica, laughing.

Veronica and Tom met when she was still in high school.

"I never went to any sporting events. I was not involved in any extra curricular activities. I went to school and went home. Tom had already started college at U-M when we met. When Tom and I started dating, all of my friends were so impressed. Here he was a wrestling champion and everything, and I didn't know a thing about it."

L is the love of wrestling,

And for each other, you know.

Tom and Veronica met awhile back,

Now they have three kids and a book to show.

WHAT: Wrestling the ABCs

WHAT IS IT: A children's book on wrestling

WHO: Authors Veronica and Tom Davids

HOW MUCH: $17.95

WHAT ELSE: Visit www.wrestlingtheabcs.com

School Visit!

2009-03-27T08:50:00.001-04:00

We were honored last night to be the "Featured Authors" at Doherty Elementary School in West Bloomfield. They were hosting a Literacy Day celebration, and had a wide variety of reading related activities for the students and their parents. They also had placed our book in their school book fair for purchase throughout the month. Cool.

The Arch in March!

2009-03-23T10:51:00.006-04:00

We just got back from a combination book tour/wrestling vacation in St. Louis We were attending the NCAA wrestling championships and between wrestling sessions, we were selling our book "Wrestling The ABCs" . I don't have the exact number of books sold as of yet, but it was around 300 copies. We really couldn't have sold any more than that as our selling sessions were time limited. All I can say is that we were selling them as fast as we could. We even had to stop signing books as there were too many people in line waiting and time was running out!

We also spent our last day there doing some sight seeing. I hadn't realized how beautiful St. Louis was. We visited Forest Park, we went up the Arch, hung out in Union Station ( a lot), dined in some fantastic restaurants, and just had an overall wonderful weekend. Of course we had wonderful friends with us, who just really made our weekend fantastic!

Books + Battle Creek = Busy!!!

2009-03-08T19:56:00.004-04:00

We just got home from Battle Creek Michigan, where we had a very busy but successful weekend of book sales. The high school team championships were held at the Kellogg Arena where we had a good sized store rented out for selling our sporting goods and our book. We had a huge blank wall where we had a slide show going with pictures and text from our book as well as lots of advertising in the hallways. We were very busy with sales, especially during breaks between wrestling sessions. The plaza is pretty dead there except for our store, so we had tons of foot traffic. Sales were good, and we were able to spend a lot of time promoting the book. We are now all ready and geared up for heading to St. Louis for the NCAA Championships!

Busy First Week of Book Sales

2009-02-17T12:10:00.006-05:00

Our book came out Friday. We took it to U of M Friday night for their meet against Ohio State. It was Alumni Weekend, so the stadium was packed! We were there Saturday night too for their meet against Penn State. It was such a fun weekend. We ran into lots of old pals, and sold quite a few copies of our book! We also had the book with us for sale at Holly High School on Saturday day and Sunday day at the Roseville AAU Folkstyle State Championships. It was a really, really good weekend!

BOOKS!!!

2009-02-12T08:32:00.004-05:00

this is little Daisy. The pups were only 3 weeks old when I got them. So sweeeet!

My how the time flies! I can't believe it's been this long since my last post. But then again, I can't believe I have 5 foster puppies running around my house right now. And I can't believe that our book is finally HERE. It looks so beautiful! Our marketing gal e-mailed me a few weeks ago and said that the director of curriculum for Garden City Schools ordered 32 copies of our book. That is so cool! And our publisher emailed yesterday and said that we have about 300 books pre ordered through them that we need to mail out. AND our big weekend is coming up at the University of Michigan. On a lucky note for us, it is Alumni Weekend, so we anticipate several thousand spectators. Hopefully the book will sell good. We have a really cool slide show presentation, and Tom had Cliff Keen make up a really cool banner for us, so we are ready to Go Blue!

On Your Birthday

2009-01-25T20:39:00.001-05:00

A super cool lady, Tammy Alberts, contacted me from an organization called “On Your Birthday” wanting to know more about our book and the possibility of them using copies of it for some of their gifts. I can’t wait to send her some! Here’s a link to her site. Such a great thing her organization does. And, they’re local!!!

On Your Birthday http://www.onyourbirthday.org

Chicken Cheeks

2009-01-19T17:52:00.006-05:00

This video is so funny. One of my SCBWI contacts sent it a few days ago. If you have time, check it out. And by the way, the book is really cute too! The illustrations are so comical and really do the text justice. Enjoy!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1892600

Nick Jr.

2009-01-08T18:07:00.004-05:00

I love our publisher and editor! They are so positive about our book. Our marketing girl is getting information ready for award entries, and she has sent us a copy of some press releases and other promo stuff she's working on. And, our publisher reminded us again how cool it is that they got a call from Nick Jr. wanting a copy of our book. Wonder if that will lead anywhere? I love Nick Jr. and Nickelodeon. Their website has so many fun activities for kids, and interesting things for parents too!
http://www.nickjr.com
http://www.nick.com
http://www.wrestlingtheabcs.com

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

2009-01-03T22:39:00.005-05:00

this is not the actual issue cover-I was too lazy to scan mine!

So I'm a little behind the times, but I was trying to go through some of my old magazines today, and I found my winter issue of SCBWI Bulletin (The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) and noticed that our Wrestling The ABCs website was listed in the bulletin. That's always a good sign! They focus only on children's literature. As soon as the book is released, they will list us again under Newly Published Authors!

DUE Dates!

2008-12-14T11:59:00.004-05:00

Wow have there been a lot of due dates in our family this past month. We've had four new births in our family, which is so wonderful, and our book related due date is January 15, 2009. At least that is what our publisher has it listed as on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. So...unless we hear anything different at our meeting with them tomorrow, it should be on shelves and available wherever books are sold on January 15, 2009. That date works really well for us, as that is the beginning of the youth wrestling club season. Our illustrator, Robert Lence, has also contacted us regarding a few dates that he wants to set up with us for selling, signing, promoting the book. So, things are looking as well as can be expected when you are awaiting a due date.

Sample Cover

2008-11-21T17:49:00.004-05:00

Our graphic designer on our book project had so many neat cover and page layouts. This is most like the one (or similar) that will be the cover for the book (both the hard and soft copies). Things are moving along as scheduled, and if all goes as planned, Tom and I will be going on the road to a big college wrestling competition in Iowa (wrestling country!) mid January. Of course things don't always go as planned, but we've got our fingers crossed!

Sample Page

2008-10-30T18:05:00.003-04:00

This is just one of the page layout samples that were presented to us at our meeting last week. We will be getting the dust jacket and the interior front and back spreads to look at next week. How exciting.

Our puppy beans is doing great. I'm getting a foster puppy tonight or tomorrow (just for a bit while it's "real" foster mom is on vacation).

Izzy and Logan got their report cards. Logan got all As and one B, Izzy got all As. I'm pleased!!

Font Conference

2008-10-17T11:25:00.002-04:00

This is a super funny and clever video that one of my writing pals sent to me. It's about 2-3 minutes long, but so worth it! Here is the link:

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766

Great Meeting!

2008-10-17T11:06:00.001-04:00

We met with our publisher and editor yesterday to go over some of the cover and interior layouts that the graphic designer had put together. We loved almost every page presented, so ended up piecemealing it all together to get a great layout.

We also decided to postpone the release date from December 2008, to January 2009 in order to broaden and lengthen our window of opportunity for awards. I had never considered this, but our publisher and editor both feel strongly about it, and also believe in our book and feel we could actually win an award or two.

Our editor wants to see if Robert would be interested in doing more illustrating for their publishing house. So...I'll approach that issue with him soon.

We got a new puppy a few weeks ago, and he has been such a great addition to our family. He's only 9 weeks old now, but seems like he's been with us forever. He fits our family like a glove.

Meeting Today

2008-09-18T13:29:00.001-04:00

Well, unfortunately, our meeting today was cancelled (our publisher is very sick). I do hope Marian is up and at 'em soon.

Cats!

2008-09-16T01:11:00.001-04:00

O.K. So this is supposed to be book related. Well... I just have to say, book related topics will be on hold for the next couple of weeks, as starting tomorrow, I am fostering a mama cat and her three babies, as well as five 2-3 week old abandoned kittens who need to be bottle fed, AND two foster puppies whom we hope to get adopted out at the "Meet Your Best Friend at the Zoo" at the end of the month. Needless to say, we will be crazy for the next couple of weeks.

On a book related note, Tom and I do have a meeting on the 18th with the graphic layout designer to go over some ideas and font syles, etc.

Reading Referee

2008-09-12T18:54:00.001-04:00

We've added a new page on our main website, where kids can join our fanclub for free. That makes them a "Reading Referee" and they get a membership package which includes a sticker, tattoo, pencil, crayons, bookmark, reading log, coupon and certificate! It should be fun, and there are links for kids to send in artwork, book reviews, book recommendations, and more!

University of Michigan Wrestling

2008-09-06T16:29:00.001-04:00

Tom got a hold of this really awesome picture of him and Robert Lence together with the team. I think our publisher may use this on the back of our book also. I know Robert really wanted it to be on the book, so it probably will. There are some other familiar faces in the photo too, like Tom Canty, Tim Fagan, Bernie Knoblich, Steve Fraser and Pat McKay. If you recognize anyone you know in this photo, please email us or comment below who it is, as we will list the names we know on the back of the book under the photo.

We're still waiting to hear from the graphic layout designer about some of our ideas for the book. Can't wait. I'll post again after we get in touch with her.

On Top of the World

2008-08-19T18:48:00.001-04:00

We are on top of the world! We had a meeting with our publisher and editor today. They had a few last minute revisions for us to make, but we are still on schedule. Robert has finished all the final illustrations and is working on the hardcover two page spreads for front and back of book. So far, things are still on schedule for a December release date. Our publisher also mentioned that she sold some copies of our book to some educators at an intervention conference they attended last week!

Smooth Sailing!

2008-08-12T17:14:00.001-04:00

Things are moving along quite smoothly these days. Our illustrator is done with all the illustrations. He's finalizing the front cover and back cover (inside and outside) illustrations. We meet with the graphic layout designer next week. Hopefully then we will know how much longer before it goes to press. Robert Lence is amazing. His illustrations are so darn cute! We love them all!

OMG

2008-07-22T10:39:00.001-04:00

I know it has been absolutely AGES since my last post here, but that's what happens when you have a child that just graduated from college. You have parties to throw, college to prepare for, driving lessons, etc. So....anyway. Our head shots have been sent in to the publisher for the back of the book, the rest of the rough drawings have been sent to us by Robert (we have to pick the ones we like-yikes!, they're all so good!) Let's see...all of our book reviews and endorsements have been submitted for the book, and Robert is working like mad to get the cover art done for some posters that our publisher want to take to an upcoming book conference! So, that's about it for now. Next post will hopefully include a sneak preview of one of the final illustrations, or possibly even the new and final book cover!

Off To The Proofer!!!

2008-07-12T02:49:00.001-04:00

Everything is off to the proofer. We are awaiting Robert's final illustrations, which if submitted by July 31, we will have a release date of December 1, for the book. Whoo, hoo! I can't wait. That will be perfect timing too. The clubs will just be getting started, and it will be enough time for Christmas orders too. We'l keep our fingers crossed that all will go well for Robert with illustrating. We've had to postpone our fall school visits. All the administrators were totally fine with the change of schedule. i also had to postpone my writing class at the Rec Center until the winter semester, as I'd like to have our book with us for that.

Ashton Kutcher!!

2008-06-15T14:06:00.001-04:00

Well, here I am again, in my Vendor's Village booth at the Olympic Wrestling Trials in Vegas. It's about as boring as yesterday here, possibly even more so (although it's early yet). At any rate, yesterday was slow again, only sold about another 30 books. I really would be shocked if today was any better. But....our evenings (after the trials) have been fun. We went to the Bellagio for dinner last night with Robert and Emil (dinner was delicious-we ate at Noodles, an authentic Japanese restaurant) After dinner we went to Roberts room and he showed us all the book illustrations he has thus far. He's at R., so not much longer. He knows we want the book by Dec. in order to have it for Christmas, so that's good. Now I have to check with our publisher and see when they need everything by in order for the book to be printed and in stores by December!

One exciting thing here at Vendor's village yesterday was that Ashton Kutcher was here watching wrestling, and he came in to Vendor's village to watch some of the stuff in here, Tom talked to him for a few minutes. Apparently he's pals with Dan Gable, cause he was walking around and hanging out with Dan's wife. He took one of our book business cards! He also signed one of our books for Robert to give to a friend. Numbskulls Tom and I didn't even think to ask for an autograph-we just talked to him!!

Day Two in Vegas

2008-06-14T13:29:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was not as productive as I had hoped (we only sold 20 books). Tom doesn't seem to mind though (I think he really just wanted to come to Vegas!). We sure had a lot of fun though yesterday. Robert and his friend Emil came in late in the afternoon, so when our day ended here, everyone got together for dinner. Steve Fraser joined in too!

Today is just getting started. The first session is in, and then there will be a break. The location of the vendor's village is really lousy. All of the vendors were complaining yesterday about getting practically no business. Hopefully today will be better. We got here kind of late yesterday too, so that doesn't help.

Activity Books

2008-06-12T09:30:00.002-04:00

Our Activity Books were shipped here to our store yesterday. They look great! We are all packed and ready to hit Vegas! Let's hope our book is a big hit and we won't have to ship much back home. Our editor emailed me today and wants to meet when we get back to go over Robert's illustrations for the picture book. I just know Robert is coming up with some really awesome drawings. Can't wait to see him (and the pics) in Vegas!

CRAYONS!

2008-06-03T16:06:00.001-04:00

Our “Wrestling The ABC’s” crayons have been delivered. Tom was surprised how much room 3,000 boxes of crayons took up. I told him just wait til the books come in!! Yikes..we'll need a new addition to our house. We’re getting pretty excited for our trip to Vegas, and, the activity book should be in late this week or early next! This is so much fun!!!

School Visits coming soon!!

2008-05-22T13:51:00.002-04:00

WOW! Tom and I just found out that included in our Vendor's Village fee is a full color 1/2 page ad in the official program for the Olympic Wrestling Trials. I can't even believe it. And their fee is already extremely reasonable and includes tickets to the event for two people for all three days. They also put us on their website and the e-newsletter update that they send out to all their members and other folks. We've been getting hundreds of visitors to our site every day, from everywhere! So...now we have to design an ad. We have until the 30th of this month, so we're good.

I have four school visits booked for early next school year. That should be fun. I can't wait. My writing class at the rec. center will be starting in the fall too.

Olympic Trials!!

2008-05-17T10:20:00.001-04:00

We haven't received our activity books yet, but the anticipated release date is June 6, 2008. You can order the activity books on our Wrestling The ABCs website, or on our Davids Gold Medal Sports store website. Our store website is the best place to order, as you can place bulk orders for discounted prices, as well as receiving the shipping and handling costs at checkout.

We just got in from Pittsburgh (family related-not book stuff), and we decided to take a little breather from book stuff, at least until time to head out to Vegas). We already have enough venues in mind (some scheduled, some not), to take up the rest of the summer, and then we have school visits that we will do from September-November (Tom's too busy with his business after that to take time for school visits).

Our Ilustrator Robert Lence, is going to Vendor's Village with us, so I'm pretty excited about that. He's bringing some of the book illustrations with him for a sneak preview!

So from this point on, we shouldn't really be too busy. We are grateful that this activity book and our picture book will sell themselves. We just have to be in the right place at the right time. I know several writers, and it seems they have to spend so much time promoting themselves and their book. And I know (since they are all published through houses, not self published like us), I know that they really get very little regarding royalties, and even less for my friends who are agented.

That is something we won't have to deal with. We do of course have to recoup our publishing costs (about 900 picture books sold will do it, and about 800 activity), but after that, we are in the clear, and each book sold is 100% our profit. If we sell all 3,000 of our activity books, we will make a $10,000 profit! Haven't done the math on our picture book yet. But it will be a higher profit margin.

So...buy our books!

Tom and I worked a bit on the 1,2,3 Wrestle! book. Basically, we just talked about it some more. He wants to continue with it, but doesn't want to get it published until the Wrestling the ABCs has been out for about a year.

Back From Battle Creek

2008-05-04T21:25:00.006-04:00

We just got home from Battle Creek. We’d been there since Friday afternoon, so I am whooped! We did get some book orders for our book though in addition to all of the great business we got for Davids Gold Medal Sports! The Activity book Volume One proof will be arriving tomorrow. Assuming all is good, we can get the Activity Books printed and delivered here in plenty of time for VEGAS!!!!

Also a partial shipment of some of our promo stuff arrived as well. It all looks great and can’t wait to get the rest later this week.

Activity Book-Volume One (Wrestling The ABCs)

2008-05-01T16:05:00.002-04:00

WOW!, so much has happened since last post. First of all, and most exciting of all too, is we received our book forward from Dan Gable. It is so awesome. It was well worth the wait. We also have received two more book reviews. One from Joe McFarland, the head wrestling coach at the University of Michigan, and the other from Bryan Van Kley, the publisher of W.I.N. magazine. So that's pretty good. Not sure if I really want to hold off publishing any longer waiting on more to come in. We'll probably start putting them all together to give to our editor so she can send everything off to the proofer. Then, it's just back to waiting on Robert's illustrations.

Tom and I are going to a state wrestling tournament this weekend in Battle Creek, so hopefully I will make some sales this weekend. Our activity book turned out soooo great. Tom really put a lot of work into it. Here it was my idea, and Tom pretty much created the entire thing. It is great. When we start running low on those we'll created Volume Two. We have 3,000 copies of Volume One. Depending on how long it takes to sell out of those, will determine when we start working on the next one!

We have a lot more promo stuff coming in the mail soon too. Pencils, crayons, hats, t-shirts, water bottles, posters, brochures, flyers, business cards, magnets, pins.......tons of stuff!

Click here now to order "Wrestling The ABCs"

A New Book in the Works!

2008-04-27T15:14:00.002-04:00

Well, although our "Wrestling The ABCs" isn't out yet, and we haven't even typed a rough draft of our "Wrestling, One, Two. Three," I have cleaned up and fine tuned the first manuscript of my "I Wanna Be A..." series. I have several in the works, and plan to market it as a series. A friend of ours who helped with our Wrestling The ABCs book has had several books published, and his latest publisher is interested in my "I Wanna Be A...." series, as she is starting a new line of books...picture books for kids! Lucky me.. so I need to get going on that while we await the publication of our other stuff!!

Click here now to order "Wrestling The ABCs"

Cover Art...and our ISBN numbers!!!

2008-04-17T22:47:00.000-04:00

For our Activity Book that is. Title: Wrestling The ABC's Activity Book-Volume One!

The activity book is ready to submit to our publisher and should be ready in about 5-6 weeks. Hopefully it will or else we won't have it to take to Vegas with us and that'd be a huge bummer! One of our friends is married to a German wrestler, they live in Germany, and she teaches English to German elementary students, so Tom thinks maybe she'll want some copies of the book to read to the kids in English.

Also, my sisters have both been talking up our book at their elementary and junior high schools, and they want us to do some author visits at the start of next school year. Cool!

The ABCs of Recreational Writing!

2008-04-10T14:07:00.000-04:00

This is the cover of one of the books my ROAR Writers wrote two years ago. I'm expecting more good stuff from my Recreation Writing Class this fall!

Spoke with the recreation director yesterday at the Hazel Park Recreation Center, and they are setting me up with a class this fall (September sign up). I'll be teaching a writing class for kids 4th grade and up. We'll be writing and illustrating books on their favorite subject in my perfected ABC style! I'm pretty excited about that. Since I started subbing full time, I miss my ROAR writers a ton, so this will help fill that void.

One, Two, Three...Wrestle!

2008-04-07T11:26:00.000-04:00

Tom wants to start writing the next book, “1,2,3, Wrestle!” I’d rather not, but he’s already working on it. We also have the activity book almost ready to go to print. Haven’t talked to Robert for over a week (don’t want to bother him...we’re rushing him as it is!). Hope all is going good with his illustrations.

Marian plans to take some of our book promo stuff to their table at the Ann Arbor Book Festival. The book won’t be done yet, so personally, I’d rather not go. She can take our stuff and do her marketing magic. Hey, it’s what she does!!

So, at this point, we are just coasting a bit, waiting for illustrations. Tom doesn’t want to do any more promoting until the book comes out. Fine with me! Things have been pretty relaxing and low key here for us. We have secured almost all of our excerpts from our wrestling heroes. Now we are waiting for our review blurbs to come in. We got one already from a Lee Roy Smith, who is the executive director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. One down, let’s hope we get a few more. Marian said three would be good to get, so we’ll aim for that.

Vegas Vendor's Village

2008-03-30T11:45:00.000-04:00

Well, Tom and I have made our reservations for Vegas. Yup, we will be official vendors at the Vendor’s Village during the three day Wrestling Olympic Trials (June 13-15). Thousands of spectators, lots of shoppers, people there with money to burn...we should do really good at this event. Tom thinks we’ll sell several hundred copies. I think more. Heck, we’ve already sold almost a hundred copies on our website, and the book isn’t even out yet.

This brings up another topic that we’ve been debating about. How much do we want to promote our book. Tom feels that the book is going to pretty much sell itself (at the right venues of course), and that all the promotion in the world isn’t going to sell it at small random events (library visits for example). I’m thinking he’s probably right. I had planned on contacting at least our local library, but now, don’t think I will.

I do still plan on doing school visits (at least in Hazel Park). Those will be a guaranteed $300 per visit. The visit is free, but we require an advance order of at least 25 copies, so depending on what the teachers/students preorder, hard or soft, it will be at least a $300 visit. And close, so no travel expenses.

I’m not real keen on the idea of book store visits either. Those aren’t worth the time or effort most the time for a niche market book like ours. I say, tournaments, wrestling venues of any sort, a few school visits here and there, and that’s about it. It’s fun selling the book, but it’s not that big of a deal for us, just a fun project that is almost done, and where it goes, it goes.
Please see our order form in right margin

ABCs set 3

2008-03-26T16:49:00.001-04:00

More Venues

2008-03-22T16:28:00.000-04:00

The AAU Folkstyle World Championships are going on down at Cobo this weekend. Frankie took a bunch of my book promo stuff and is working on sales for the book this weekend while she’s down there.

We met with our editor on Thursday morning. Things are falling into place nicely, but still not sure of the publication date yet. She said the publisher did really well with sales at the MRA last weekend. She’s putting together some educator packs for our book. Those are big selling points at the MRA, and there’s another MRA conference coming up later in the summer that we’ll be able to attend.

Also I'll be setting up some book promo and order forms at the USGWA National Championships next weekend. It's the hugest girl's wrestling meet around, and it's a two day event (lots of moms, and moms buy books!).

Viva..Las Vegas!!

2008-03-15T21:04:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited about Marian plugging our book at the 2008 Michigan Reading Association Conference this weekend. I wish I could be there! Unfortunately, I have to work at our final Underdog Tournament (State Finals). But that's O.K., because I will probably be able to sell more books to these wrestlers than Marian would at the conference. I really think these tournament are going to be where we sell the most.

Speaking of selling our book. Tom and I are going to Las Vegas in June for the Olympic trials, and all the big players will be there, so hopefully our book will be done and we can sell it there!

Also, Tom said Asics will make all our posters. They always make them up for Tom for free for events and such, so we'll have them do all the posters we need for school visits, etc.

Double Good News!!!

2008-03-06T13:58:00.000-05:00

Well, today couldn’t have started off on a better note. I got an email from our publisher, Marian, and our book is going to be represented at not one, but TWO big events this spring. The first one is at Cobo Hall, at the end of this month, the MRA. I’ve attended this event several times, and it is awesome. So many new books on display, sneak previews (like for our book), pre-orders, freebies, etc. So Robert is working on something right now for Marian to display posters and such at the event. Yippee!!

The second event is the Ann Arbor Book Festival, which I have also attended in the past. In fact, that is where I met Cynthia Furlong Reynolds, who wrote grandma’s life story!
Again, for this event we will only be able to take pre-orders and give out fliers for school visits, bookmarks, etc. but it will be good advertising and a good way to get the word out.

On another good note, two coaches, one from the UP, one out of state, emailed me yesterday with team orders, both for 25 copies of the book. We are doing so well, especially considering the book isn’t even out yet!

Yipee!! Book Orders Are Rollin' In!!!

2008-03-03T09:37:00.000-05:00

What a looooong weekend! We left early Friday morning for Battle Creek for the high school team finals which took place all day Friday and Saturday. Sunday was a youth MYWAY wrestling State Finals tournament so we stayed for that as well.

We got a lot of orders for our Wrestling The ABCs over the course of the wrestling weekend. And when we got home last night, I was pleasantly suprised when I checked my e-mails and discovered that I had received even more preorders while we were gone! How exciting is that?

Promo Packs

2008-02-24T16:10:00.000-05:00

A lot has happened since last post! Robert has sent us two more sets of cover art sketches-I love them all!!

We met with our publisher again this past Thursday, and all is in order to go to the proofer. We’ve set up a conference call with Robert for our meeting on March 4th.

Tom and I are submitting our bios. and dedication page this week. Tom and I are brainstorming what we envision the illustrations to be like for each page and have to have that ready for our conference call meeting with Robert.

I’ve been busy putting together more promo stuff. I made some fun little kits that include a bumper sticker, stickers, tattoos and book marks. For now I’m giving them away at tourneys but will probably sell them for $2.00 eventually.

Lots of clubs and blogs have linked up to our book site-Awesome!!! You can see them on our friends/links page http:www.wrestlingtheabcs.com

Is it ABC's, or ABCs?

2008-02-06T16:13:00.000-05:00

We met with our editor again yesterday. We are so lucky to be able to meet in person with our editors instead of doing everything via email and telephone. It feels so much more personal. Like we're not just a piece of paper or a computer screen to them. At any rate, the meeting went well. We had a few questions regarding some specific grammar issues that she is taking up with the chief editor, but other than that, it is good. We are meeting again next week to discuss a few things, and after that we should be ready to have Robert get going on more illustrations.

Magic Numbers

2008-01-23T22:58:00.000-05:00

I talked to our publisher today. I was curious as to exactly when our book would get assigned its ISBN number. Unfortunately its not going to happen until we are a little closer to going to press. I just feel like having that magic number somehow makes us more official. I love Marian. Her reply was, “Don’t worry, you are official.”

Spent an hour or two today getting our book site link added to about 30 youth wrestling clubs (some in-state, some out of state). Nobody said, “No”, so hey, tomorrow I’ll hit 30 more!

Meet The Editor

2008-01-17T23:10:00.000-05:00

Tom and a I met with our editor on Tuesday, and it was a breeze. She didn't want to change anything with our prose, just a few grammatical errors, and all should be in order for a final meeting on February 5th. Robert is working on an animation for us to use for our website, as well as revised cover art. Until then we will use the preliminary artwork he sent in December.

Contract is Signed!

2007-12-13T23:45:00.000-05:00

Our contract is signed, and we've met again with the publisher. Tom and I have a huge line up of book venues already! Our publishing agency really works hard with their authors and illustrators to sell the books. Of course whether we can do all the venues or not will depend on how fast Robert can illustrate. His bio is complete and we have sent it over to the publisher. We have a meeting with our editor again next week.

Oh Happy Day...We're Getting Published!!

2007-11-01T23:56:00.000-04:00

Well, in spite of our plans to self publish, we have stumbled upon a local publisher who has offered us a publishing deal way too good to pass up. We get all, yes, ALL the royalties for the first publishing, and 90 percent of the second and subsequent publishings.
We do have to pay the printing costs, but hey, we would have had to do that by self publishing anyway. We really lucked out. They are new and looking for authors, and I was fortunate enough to meet these folks at my last conference.
So now, it's just a matter of meeting with the editor, working out a few bumps in the book, and forwarding the final manuscript to Robert. He's already working on our cover art. So yes,... I guess all good things come to those who wait!
And the best part of it is, is that we own all rights to the book, so we can pull out of the contract anytime we want! The books will even be delivered to our doorstep. Look out wrestlers!

Deal, or No Deal?

2007-10-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

Got word from a publisher. I"ll fill everyone in on that soon. If and when we get a book deal going, we will keep everyone posted

"Wrestling The ABCs"
A Children's Picture Book for Wrestling Fans of All Ages

Lazy Weekend

2007-10-10T20:44:00.004-04:00

This past weekend was so relaxing. Izzy didn't have any games. The boys (well just Logan) had a meet Saturday morning out at Kensington, and after that we went out to Deidre's to visit with the cousins. Rem and Izzy decided to sleep over there, Logan had plans with a friend for the evening so he went back home with me. Sunday was Tom's Duathlon. He did great. He is getting so fit -it's very impressive. After the Duathlon I had a wedding shower to go to for one of our wrestlers who is getting married in December. I hate showers. Well, I sort of like baby showers, but that's it. After the shower Deidre brought Rem and Izzy home and that pretty much took care of the weekend.

I got asked to be the high school PTA President. I couldn't say no to that FAST ENOUGH! Doing the Reflections for Webster is more than enough PTA involvement for me thank you very much.

Speaking of PTA Reflections, our first workshop at Webster went very well. Two of my writers seem very promising. Gifted little rascals some of these kids.

Speaking of Webster, Izzy is so loved at Webster. All the teachers fight to have her help them after school. In fact, I never even have to pick her up. She usually stays with the teachers until at least 4:00, and then they bring her home. Plus, they all love Chewy and Lulu and like to visit with them when they bring Izzy home. It's fun being such a small community. We know every principal, most the teachers, and tons of the kids. I love it. Everywhere we go we see kids or someone that knows us. Very friendly and close-knit here. Even if I can't ever get to sleep because of our noisy neighbors, the good far outweighs the bad.

Rem had his bone scan Tuesday, and we're still waiting to hear from the doctor. I'm pretty sure it's fractured though, because as his skeletal system was appearing on the computer screen, I saw a large white area on his femur, and when Rem had a bone scan in 2005 (which also revealed a fracture), I saw the same type of image under his knee where the fracture was. So now as far as I'm concerned, it's just a matter of waiting for the doctor to confirm what I am pretty confident I already know. So he's been off of it for almost two weeks now.

Logan came home with some of his cross country friends after practice yesterday, which was nice. It was perfect timing for them too, because I had just cooked a big turkey breast with roasted potatoes, corn, and some apple crumpets with whip cream for dessert. High school boys can eat A LOT!

The Waiting Game

2007-10-07T18:47:00.003-04:00

I hate waiting! The two publishers that took copies of my "I Wanna Be..." series manuscripts at the conference I attended last month told me it could be weeks, or MONTHS before they get back to me regarding any interest. The one gal really seemed to like the idea that my ideas were directly generated from the students I work with everyday. She thinks that could make a bigger impact on marketability. The two manuscripts they took away with them were "I Wanna Be A Baseball Player", and "I Wanna Be A Rock Star". In progress are: "I Wanna Be The President", "I Wanna Be A Teacher", and "I Wanna Be An Artist". This is just the beginning! These kids are dumping ideas in my lap left and right! Every day I get a new idea. I simply have to determine which ones seem to be more popular with the kids, and Whammo!, new manuscript. It's fun, even if it goes nowhere. The hard part is trying to focus on just one at a time. I'm a tad ADD, and ideas are floating around in my head like crazy!

In regards to our ABC book, Tom and I are currently working an an activity book to market with the picture book. We have features such as: crossword puzzles, word searches, fill in the blanks, unscramble the words, what's missing in this picture, coloring pages, etc. All of the activities will in some way connect to the picture book, and will feature a "freebie" to win when the book is completed and turned in to Davids Gold Medal Sports!

Tom also started working on a Wrestling 1,2,3 book last week. I'm not so sure that one would sell as good at tournaments though. It seems like it would be more appropriate for the very young set, and we don't get a ton of kids in that age group at our tournaments. Maybe we can tweak it and turn it into more of a math type picture book. We'll see. That is at the bottom of my priority list right now.

Do The Mash...The Monster Mash!!

2007-10-04T20:50:00.001-04:00

Most of you should be getting these tomorrow or Saturday at the latest (I popped them in the mail today). Hope to see everyone there! We've yet to have a Halloween without hosting some sort or party. This year plans to be no exception. After the party, all the kids that want to spend the night are going over to Grandma Dodd's, and all the adults that want to party are welcome to stay here with us. We will be sending out separate "adult" invites in a day or so. And sorry grown ups, costumes ARE required. Tom and I are going to be "All That" (me), "And A Bag Of Chips" (tom). Watch for your invites!

Kids Can Drive You NUTS!!!

2007-10-02T20:52:00.001-04:00

Izzy's enjoying band (probably because she gets out of class!), although it was a struggle to convince her that my trumpet from when I was in band is just as good as any that she could rent. Rem and Logan both played it in 6th grade. Rem switched over to baritone at the junior high, and then totally abandoned band. Logan never did have any interest (like Izzy, he probably only joined in 6th grade to get out of class). Anyway, she's the most mule-headed child ever, and was convinced my trumpet was "no good". So begrudgingly, she took it to school last week or so for the band teacher to inspect (Rem had already lubed and adjusted the valves for her). He gave it the green light, so she's fine with it now. It always takes someone other than MOM to convince that girl. She is loving it though. Her and the little boy across the street is trumpet too, so they sit out front on the lawn and practice together. It's soooo cute! Sounds pretty darn good too.

Izzy's team beat Vardar Friday, so she was pretty excited about that. They had tied them the weekend before. Logan's time was pretty good Saturday (22min. 04 seconds). His best time this year has been 21 min. 35 seconds. Rem didn't run on Saturday, the coach thought he should rest his leg more (it still hurts him to walk on it even). We got a referral to the orthopaedic surgeon, and is going for a bone scan on Friday the 5th.

Tom and the A.D. at the high school have been pretty busy organizing the Hazel Park Michigan Cities 5K. It should be a blast. A lot of elementary schools have put together teams of students to run. Hazel Park has a team together (izzy is going to run, or Logan, for the "Under 19" age group, since Rem's leg is still bad). I got one of our Michigan State interns to run in the "20 year old" age group. Tom's running the 40 year old age group.

Dad Davids had his procedure and is doing well. That is one part of getting old that I am not looking forward to. I really don't mind most aspects of the aging process. I feel that all our wrinkles and grey hair are earned. Not everybody is fortunate enough to grow old, so I'm grateful for that. But...the medical invasion of my body....well, I'm going to stall on most of those as long as possible. Tom and I both live and eat very healthy so we're doing pretty good. Neither of us takes any medications (except when Tom gets a sinus infection), so..so far, so good! We both still work out regularly (me 5 miles a day, Tom triathlon training almost everyday). So, that hopefully will help fend off physical ailments. And as soon as the kids all leave, our mental health will be on the mend! (ha, ha). But seriously, kids can drive you nuts!

I Am MOM!

2007-09-25T21:28:00.003-04:00

Man! We have been soooo crazy busy. Hardly have time to sit down these days. This will be brief, cuz I gotta go to a PTA meeting. Between Tom and I writing, Izzy writing, the boys running, izzy's soccer, PTA board duties, ROAR writer duties, dogs, foster dogs, helping Tom train for the triathlons, etc. I barely remember who I am. Oh ya, I'm MOM! I even get that at school. "Hey, you're Izzy Davids' mom!". That word...mom... it's almost profane sometimes.

Speaking of Tom's triathlon, he did great this past Sunday. It was an olympic style triathlon, so it was much more grueling than his last one. But, he still beat all his friends, and they performed as relays-Tom did it all himself! That's my man!!!

My writer's conference on Sunday was, to say the least, phenomenal. The absolute best one yet! I met several awesome editors and publishers. Two are interested in seeing my manuscripts. One wants a marketing plan included, so I'm going to be working on that when I get time.

Rem had great news on two fronts. First of all he was selected to be a Student Mentor for the Freshmen, and secondly, his design for a new Viking's logo won first place in a school wide contest, so all the new Viking wear will feature his design! How cool is that?!

Izzy's got a few writer's workshops coming up in Ann Arbor soon. What's so cool, is the kids' workshops are free (that's why I had to pay for mine...gotta offset the freebies!). She has one in October, and two in November.

My Reflections Workshops will start next Monday, so I've got to get myself ready for that. Hopefully we will have a good Reflections turnout. Historically, our school has done a totally awful job of organizing this event. The only time we ever did much with it was the two years that I was on the board. We'll see. The class I subbed for today (5th graders), were all talking about it, and trying to decide what type of project they wanted to enter and such. Sounds positive anyway.

Rem hurt his leg in a fall (home based injury-thanks to Chums and Lums), and he can't walk without limping so I took him for an X-ray Saturday. Doc said there was a ton of swollen tissue going on around the bone. Told him to limit his walking, eliminate the running. So he's off this week. Hopefully he'll be able to run in the meet this Saturday.

I've been asked by teachers to sub all week this week at Webster, and two teachers want to book me for long term subbing (one while on maternity, another while a teacher has a surgery requiring 3 week recuperation time. Sounds good to me!

Princess

2007-09-17T12:03:00.002-04:00

As usual, we are with another foster dog. This is one we rescued ourselves. No tags or collar. She was just wandering around the middle of Ford Street without a care in the world. And never mind the traffic. Surely it is canine senile dementia. Such a pitiful little thing. She only weighs 7 pounds, and about 1/2 of that is fur! And she's as old as the day is long. At least 12 years old (judging by her teeth and breath...ya, it's that bad). But she is soooo lovable and devoted. After just one day at our house, she owns me. And for all her tininess, she's not one bit afraid of Chums and Lums. In fact, she tells them what to do..and where to go (or not go). Like in their own beds for example, because they are hers now of course. Hence her name--Princess.

The boys have been doing good at their Cross Country meets. Logan's time on Saturday was 23 min. 33 sec. Rem was 21 min. 50 seconds. Its a tough course too. Lots of narrow winding paths through the woods with vines and roots everywhere. It was a great day though. The weather was perfect.

Unfortunately, Logan was home sick today so won't be at their meet today. He has a stomach flu or something. Low fever, bad stomach pains and a monster headache. So Princess had company today of the human sort instead of Chewy and LuLu.

Rem got asked to be a Student Mentor at the H.S. for the Freshmen. Izzy decide to join band.

Book Updates:

Robert now has our manuscript and is beginning the illustration process of the book. He plans to do the cover art first so we can get going on promo stuff.

My writer's conference is at the end of the month, and I'm so excited because I have two more manuscripts done ( from my "I Wanna Be" series) that I can present to the editor in attendance. I'm not that excited about submitting our ABC Wrestling manuscript, because Tom is convinced he wants to self publish, but I might show it to her anyway.

We got a quote back from a printer, and we will make so much more money off our books by using a printer and just being our own publishing house. Davids Gold Medal Publishing. How's that sound? With the quote Tom got, and the quantity we plan to order, we should make at least $10.00 per book. Of course we'll make less than that on the books that are sold through Tom's dealers and such, but the ones we sell ourself at meets and school visits will be high profit.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

2007-09-10T21:28:00.000-04:00

You should see the other girl!

This is what happens after a night of playing "Beauty Parlor" with Izzy and her friends. Of course I'd already scrubbed off several layers of makeup by the time the girls snapped this pic, but look at the hair! My goodness.

Tom worked hard on the book last night (so he wouldn't be in the doghouse for abandoning me today!) It's just about done. I really need to call Robert. I keep neglecting to touch base with him. I also have to proof the manuscript my grandma's author emailed me so she can put her finishing touches on that. Then it can go to print! Speaking of grandma, her party was awesome yesterday. I did a pretty good job on the party planning if I don't say so myself! We had over 70 people-it was a full house! Grandma was literally beaming with pride at how many friends, and relatives showed up for her 90th! She's the greatest person ever.

I have two more manuscripts that I've been working at on my own that are ready to submit. They are from a children's picture book series I've been working on for the past year or so. I'm taking them with me to my writer's conference later this month. Attendees have the opportunity of hand delivering and discussing their manuscripts face to face with the editors at the conference, so I'm pretty excited. In addition to those two, I have three more for the series that are not too far along, but the main ideas are there.

Writing has become one of my favorite "spare time" activities. I still enjoy reading more, and steal away to read almost any chance I get! I've recently begun cataloging my books...we have soooo many!

Ball's Bridge

2007-09-05T07:25:00.001-04:00

According to the currently available statistics, our dog Chewy is the first official canine member of the "Ball's Bridge Jump Club."

Actually it was accidental, but when Chewy is chasing butterflies, nothing can stop him! I was just glad the nutball didn't get hurt-the river was pretty low, and, he nearly landed on the abutment. Whew! At any rate, it was a great long weekend up at our cottage with my sisters, all their kids, and a few friends thrown in the mix. No injuries (other than paintball welts), no bee stings (even though the bees were totally insane at the beach in Goderich), no rain, hot enough to swim, but not too hot, and no problems at the border. Now that my mom and dad are retired, I'm going to force them to go with us next summer (and stay longer!)

Tom worked on the book last night after I went to bed (we're almost done!) We have to check with Bobby and see how long he thinks it will take to do the illustrations. Hopefully he can do it quick! Tom would like to have the books in his hot little hands to sell at wrestling tournaments this year.

Speaking of Tom. He is a stark raving lunatic. He trained so hard this past weekend in Canada for his upcoming triathlon event. He got up before everyone and went for runs, he swam each day at the beach, and then biked in the evenings. The last triathlon event he did was a sprint. The one he's training for now is harder, longer-it's an Olympic Triathlon. He's hoping to eventually be able to do an Ironman. Crazy is all I can say about that. But he is serious about it. He even has a wet-suit for the swim training, a new racing bike for the riding portion, and as for the run, well, he's relying on his God given gifts for that part.

The kids started school today. It's nice having the boys at the same school (and doing cross country together). Sure makes the morning drop off easier, especially since all the schools start at the same time. I did get nabbed by the new art teacher who asked me if I would chair the Reflections Program with her- for the writing part. Naturally she will take care of the artistic end of it. She also asked me if I would be her partner for an after school art enrichment program. They both sounded way to good to pass up, so I'm in for a few extra commitments this school year, but that shouldn't be too demanding.

Dan Gable

2007-08-28T11:23:00.000-04:00

Great News!!! Dan Gable called today, and he's anxious to write the introduction for our book. He said he'd love to write at least two or three paragraphs, and is looking forward to seeing the rest of our manuscript. Tom and I have set an informal deadline for ourselves of September 30. Tom actually did quite a bit of work on the book on his own the other night after I pooped out. Sometimes we work better separately I guess.

Izzy's poetry book arrived in the mail today. Since she was one of the top 10, she had her own page! She was so excited. She ran right down to Gramoo's house to show her!

Camp Canada

2007-08-20T11:17:00.003-04:00

What an absolutely perfect weekend in Canada. Of course "perfect" is a very subjective adjective. You see, it was too cold for most of us wimpy adults to go to swimming, but not too cold for the crazy kids to go swimming. So we just sat on the beach and drank. Perfect. Although Tom, Carey and Adam did a mile swim in prep for their next Triathalon sprint.

Also, because it was cool, it wasn't buggy at all. I didn't even get one mosquito bite. Chewy did get stung on the ear, but he's so dumb, he probably just thought it was another one of those nasty burrs we had to chop out of his fur.

LuLu and Chewy stayed right around the cabin (except for the few times they stole away together for a dip in the river). Perfect.

No rain, which was perfect for us but bad for the farm (it's so dry there!).

We had just the right amount of food, and Remington brought a friend who was a human garbage can, so nothing went to waste. Perfect.

Gramoo and Grampoo got there Sunday afternoon, and we didn't have to leave until late Monday morning, so we got to visit with them. Perfect. And, gramoo made me fudge. How perfect is that.

About our book. I got an exciting email from one of my friends in Ann Arbor about an author's conference she thought sounded perfect for me. There's that word again, "perfect". At any rate, I checked out the website for the conference, and it just so happens that one of the workshop presenters is the chief editor of the publishing house Tom and I originally had tailored our manuscript for, and then found out their house wasn't accepting manuscripts, so, our manuscript has been altered somewhat. Anyway, I am going to take our original manuscript with me to the conference, as one of the sessions is "share time". Fingers crossed everyone. You know how lazy I am-I would much rather have a house take on the project than to do it all by myself.

Gettin’ The Lead Out!!

2007-08-15T11:15:00.003-04:00

Talked to Robert the other day. He said he's not on a job right now, so it would be a great time for him to illustrate our book. In other words, he wants us to "get the lead out!" Literally! Well, at least that will serve as additional motivation for us, because we really, really are dragging our heels on this. It just never really was high priority for us, just kind of a fun thing to do. And now we've got Robert involved, so we more or less have to do it!

Happy Anniversary to US!!!

2007-08-07T20:12:00.001-04:00

I can't believe Tom and I have been married for 20 years! And we dated for six years steady! We are truly more in love now that we ever were.

We did a little bit of work on our book today. Tom's going to talk to Robert tomorrow-see how illustrations are coming along.

VBS got postponed this week, so our schedule has been lightened a bit. More book work planned for tomorrow!

I Think I’m Turning Japanese....I Really Think so

2007-08-05T11:08:00.001-04:00

I do think there is a secret conspiracy out there keeping us from getting our book done. I just found out today we will be getting some Japanese wrestlers to host next week. We only need to host them until we leave for Canada on the 16th, but that will make it a bit harder to focus-and I had planned to kick butt on our book this next week or so. All of our weekends from here on in are booked solid. Tom seems semi-agreeable about me contacting the publishing house that is interested in our manuscript, so I really want to hustle up on getting it done!

Tom and Logan did great at the Allen Park street run yesterday. Logan had a pretty bad biff on his bike Friday night, so I wasn't sure if he was going to be up to running, but he sucked it up and did just fine. Tom had to follow suit of course, and wiped out on his bike out at Stony Creek this morning. It was hilarious, (only because he wasn't hurt of course-although he is complaining of a stiff neck this evening). Crazy man that sweetie of mine! What 46th birthday would be complete without making an ass of yourself anyway?

Izzy's getting excited for VBS (which starts tomorrow night). Tom made the banner and signs that are outside the church advertising for it, like he does every year (and the t-shirts too!).

Getting excited for Rem to be home! We went out for Tom's birthday tonight with Logan-we had steaks, which Rem would have loved much more than me or Logan. Izzy was at a party with friends, of whom are now here and sleeping over! Yikes, where's the mercy?

Top 10!!

2007-08-03T08:41:00.000-04:00

Even though Tom and I have been in a slough regarding our book, I can very proudly and excitedly say, that Izzy's poem which was previously selected from amongst thousands of poems to be published in a children's poetry anthology book, was just selected one of the top 10! She received a $50 savings bond, a free copy of the book, and a press release. We are so, so proud of her! Maybe we should have her finish our book for us???

Triathlon Training

2007-07-26T06:36:00.000-04:00

Just to let you know, we STILL haven't progressed any on our book. We have been just way too busy with other things.

For one, Tom and Izzy have been busy training for a Triathalon-Tom's is a sprint Triathalon, which is a half mile swim, then 18 miles on the bike, then a 3.6 mile run. Izzy's is a mini triathalon which is 8 lengths of the pool, 5 miles on the bike, and a 2 mile run.

Unfortunately we recently found out that Izzy has a soccer tournament that same weekend, so she won't be able to compete. Tom's competition will be Sunday the 12th of August. It's in Windsor. If Izzy's finals (assuming they make it to the finals on Sunday) are late enough in the day, we'll shoot over to watch Tom. He's been working his butt off! He runs after work, then swims, then bikes. Every day! He makes my daily five mile run look like a stroll in the park! I'm just not that ambitious, but at least I can keep up with the boys.

So...as far as the book goes....whenever!

There’s No Need to Fear....Underdog is Here!

2007-07-19T07:30:00.000-04:00

OK. So it has been a long time since the last post!
Well we HAVE been busy seeing Remington safely off to Japan, and I've been getting the Underdog website up and running.http://www.underdogwrestlingclub.com , and Tom and Izzy have been off with the Underdogs camping and attending a wrestling camp since Sunday, so Logan and I have just been total slugs. Laying around all day, playing with the dogs, playing board games, just chilling!

Book-wise, I received an email today from a publishing house I had queried a long, long time ago about our book. I had given up hearing from anyone, but this house was interested and wants to see our complete manuscript. I have to wait until Tom gets home to see what he thinks about that. He has his mind made up about self publishing. He likes to be the one in control. Whatever Tom wants to do is fine with me. I'm not sure what to make of it. I personally am in no rush. It's just a fun book idea, not the focus of our lives!

Touching Base

2007-07-06T06:28:00.000-04:00

Tom and I touched base yesterday with Robert. We wanted to get his opinion on some ideas we were playing with for the book. We didn't do a lot of work on our manuscript this week. It's been so crazy, trying to get Rem ready for Japan, Izzy had conditioning camp this week in addition to her Indian Ed camp, and we've been trying to get our patio done before summer zips right by us!

So.. we really didn't write much. What we did do was sit down and put together a pretty gosh darn good marketing plan. But hey, marketing is a big part of writing a book. A biggie! We'll post again when we hear back from Robert and some of the other folks that are helping us with the book.!

Can Two People Be a Writing Group?

2007-06-26T08:07:00.000-04:00

Well, Tom and I are back into our groove, and we spent several hours today writing together. Sometimes our ideas clicked, sometimes we locked horns, but in the end, we got something done!

I must say, writing a book after you're committed to it is a lot harder than just plucking away at it for fun, that's for sure.

We should be able to send Robert a few pages of our manuscript pretty soon so he can get a feel for how to illustrate it.

The fact that he was so geeked about illustrating this for us is such a blessing. He truly is our savior!

Great Minds Think Alike

2007-06-24T07:04:00.000-04:00

It seems there are quite a few famous writers out there that decided for various reasons to go the self published route. Here are just a few: William Blake, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Lord Byron, Tom Clancy, e.e. Cummings, T.S. Eliot, Benjamin Franklin, Zane Grey, John Grisham, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Stephen King, Rudyard Kipling, Louis L'Amour, D.H. Lawrence, Christopher Paolini, Edgar Allen Poe, Beatrix Potter, Marcel Proust, George Bernard Shaw, Upton Sinclair, William Strunk, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf...and countless more!

You’ve Got A Friend In Me...

2007-06-23T11:01:00.001-04:00

Well, the verdict is in, and YES!!!, Bobby Lence wants to illustrate our book for us. He seemed pretty excited and thought is sounded like a great book idea, very unique. I wish everyone reading this could see the silly ear to ear grin I've got on right now!

A Big Debate=A Big Decision

2007-06-01T18:57:00.001-04:00

O.K. After much debating, Tom and I have reached a decision. We are going to self publish our book.

This has been Tom's desire from the beginning, however I had wanted to go the old fashioned route and try to get a publishing house to print it. Tom, on the the other hand (and I do now believe he is right), feels we could sell way more books if we market it ourselves, which you can't very readily do with a publishing house. Additionally, Tom has an illustrator in mind who knows a lot about wrestling, and he seems to think he would be the ideal person to illustrate our book. Of course if we went the traditional publishing route we'd never be able to select who we want to illustrate our book for us. We really have been wrestling with these options for a while now.

Of course we could hire an agent (which would most likely get us published-that's their job-they find the right house for you, but then your agent gets a big chunk of your royalties), but then here again, Tom says, "Why pay someone a percentage of our royalties, just to get it published, when we can do that ourselves relatively inexpensively?". And, we still wouldn't be able to pick our illustrator, and when you take into consideration that royalties on "House", published books are fairly low, and couple that with having to pay an agent at least 10-15% royalties, well then, he has a good point!

The glitch with this route is we will need an illustrator. The illustrator that Tom wants for our book is Robert Lence. He's going to contact him to see if he'd be interested in illustrating our book. We also have several other artist friends, but Bobby would be our first choice, considering he is a former wrestler and would be able to "capture" the image better for us. We still have to finish our manuscript and send it out for him to look over.

I actually am pretty excited now that we've come to this mutual decision. It sure does eliminate the waiting game! Additionally, I really think we will be able to sell quite a few copies. Considering the fact that we go to several children's wrestling meets every weekend for about 5 months of the year, and wrestling camps go on throughout the summer, and wrestling practices run 7 months of the year, we will have lots of opportunities to sell. Heck, we have to be there anyway, might as well set up a book stand while we're there! Tom also said he has at least 20 different accounts with companies that sell wrestling books that will gladly add our book to their sale list, and he has quite a few wrestling magazine contacts who will advertise our book too. Sweet. And just because it is going to be self published doesn't mean it won't be on the bookshelves. It will still get all the same treatment, but we have a lot more control and get much more in royalties (possibly more than 50% per book).

I'm a happy camper right now. It's funny, one of the editors I spoke with at a conference was fascinated with the idea of a kids wrestling book (he said he wrestled in high school and college), and said he'd love to see one out there, but he didn't think it would be a very marketable "shelf" book. He must've been done with wrestling long before all these darn kids wrestling clubs cropped up everywhere! Tom said there are over 1,000 kids wrestling clubs in Michigan alone!