Making lists, deadlines and such

So after finishing university it was great to have the freedom of no more deadlines, and the days of group work we far far away. In reality it was great to have that burden gone and felt the weight of the world off my shoulders. But........ turns out I work better to deadlines, giving everything an end, a bit like a story, it needs to have a beginning , a middle and an end. Right now we are in the very beginning, where we are trying to set the scene, we have our two main characters, and the plot?

One thing that really helps me during this process is lists. I love a good list. I love ticking something off my list. Feeling a sense of achievement, and saying 'I did that, it was me'.

In the beginning our lists were long and seemed out of reach. The first list went on for pages, it included ever little idea we had. Stuff like

-What should the book finally look like? should it be square, round, should it be a pop up?

In the start I had massive plans for this book. I was going to be a pop up, it was going to have pages within pages and unfold pages upon pages, it was going to have sensory bits in it. Why? because from working with children they interact with the book better. What do I mean? If they can touch the book and it feels different we have triggered a sense, triggering a response, the more they respond to the book the more likely they are to remember it. I am no child Doctor, these are just my observations as a storyteller.

So why are we not having these things? Well it is our first book, we are keeping it simple and money, that is playing a big part, we have none.

- How do we advertise? Facebook? Instagram? Twitter? Carrier Pigeon?

OK, I admit it, I am not 'teck savvy', I lack the skills that some find easy to use, and would happily live with out a phone and go back to landlines. But in the world we live in it is a necessity. So it was agreed that I would do the blogging bit and Sam would do Instagram, as I would have to get a new phone with more space on it if I did it. Plus I have no idea, just none.

- Where do we promote? Schools? Libraries? festivals? Cafes? Top of a mountain??

All of the above, keep an eye on your nearest mountain.

-Who do we approach? Do we self publish? Do we hold out for an agent?

So we are keeping this open as it stands, we do not mind doing the whole self publishing thing, again cost is a big factor. We would rather have an agent that would do some of the leg work for us. At the moment we don't think we have explored all options, and are keeping an open mind, more research needs to be done for this. A lot more, like loads. Or if anyone knows a bit more than us feel free to get in touch and give us a push in the write direction.

-Do we do a book launch? and where will it happen?

This is defiantly one for the future, but still something to be considered.

- Honestly how much is this going to cost?

I no idea, and that's the truth. It all depends on how where we go with it. If we self publish its coming out of our own pocket, if we get an agent it will be cheaper, but as it stands we have only paid out for the domain name for this site and 50 business cards. Also our time is free at the moment, because we both know that we are working towards a bigger goal.

Timelines

make one and stick to it! Not true. It helps for sure, but we are very realist, we both have jobs, we don't live in the same city, and life will get in the way. We made a time line in the beginning and gave ourselves plenty of time to do stuff. Preparing a storyboard does not happen over night, editing and getting feedback takes time We have both decided that we are in no rush to get this book out (although I think Christmas time would be better). We just want to get it right.

Top tip: Get a really big book, with blank pages. Then fill it, with everything, ideas, thoughts just everything.