Forgive the radio silence!
I’ve titled this post “Living the Dream” because I think it’s important to note that even though I love being a user experience designer, it was never my dream to become one. Not my childhood dream, anyway.
Honestly, I’m not sure any child dreams of becoming a translator, as it were. A professional who facilitates projects via their soft skills and documentation to ensure features within a holistic system benefit and hopefully delight customers.
My childhood dream was to be a writer. I have wanted to write books for as long as I can remember.
- Historical fiction books
- Picture books
- How to books.
I wanted to create content and have people read it, enjoy it, and feel inspired to make something themselves. As of last Friday, I can now say that I am in the process of doing all three: children’s book, historical fiction, and how-to. I am living my dream.
I keep saying it because I want to remind myself. I am living my dream. How many people can say that?
Before I talk about the new project, first let’s get you updated on the project I last blogged about.
The How-To Book
The Sketchnote field guide book is coming along really well! The beta readers are liking the context and structure; they have great feedback and I’m feeling really encouraged about this project. I have to say, without Charlene McBride’s collaboration, this project wouldn’t be nearly as strong as it is. The survey people filled out for me back in August is what brought Charlene to me, and helped us focus the book.
I’m so excited to share it with people! It will definitely be on Lulu (they allow royalty splitting), and maybe on Amazon.com. We still need to figure that out. Keep your eyes peeled, though. We’re hoping to release it in January, just in time for conference season.
The Historical Fiction Book
Under my historical fiction pen name, I started a book four times before I felt like it was something worth writing. This fourth start has around 24k words, which is about 30% of the final word count. I’ve stopped writing because I realized I needed more research… ergo me dragging ten books home from the library about Ohio and the Civil War.
The Storybook
The new project I keep hinting at is a children’s storybook. I’ve loved the process of checking out thirty children’s books at a time, consuming them at a leisurely pace and asking 6yr old Binaebi what she liked about each one. I’ve loved reading the how-to-write for children books, learning the nuances between picture books and storybooks, the intentions of each, the intended age groups, and the parents that buy books for their children.
I’ve loved chatting about the project with my illustrator and collaborator, who suggested we write about robots (because he loves them). I’ve felt inspired by his supportive enthusiasm when I insisted it be about a girl robot, and that it have something to do with dancing (because we both love dancing). The main character’s name is Beatrice, and that is about all I’m willing to share at this point. Maybe later I’ll leak some the sketches my collaborator has been sending me. They’re so adorable.
Anyway, at the risk of sounding like a broken record (does that idiom even apply anymore?), I just wanted to share that I’m living my dream. Why? I don’t know. I guess in the hopes that you might feel inspired to do something tonight or tomorrow that gets you one step closer to living your dream.
Fact. creativemornings: You should start projects because you feel like you are going to either expl
Dianna Miller : Which areas of research do we still need to put more focus on?
Genevieve Bell : I think we have a great deal more work to do, which is good because I like research. We have spent a lot of time focusing on the obvious and the obviously sexy stuff – mobility, gaming, social networks, and of course the individual and youth. We have, as a consequence, neglected the other stuff of daily life – religion, spirituality, love, child-care, anyone over 40, who does the dishes, who puts out the recycling, community, the nation-state, changing ideas of citizenship.
Michael: Well if you used a different charger for your phone, you might have destroyed the battery. Did you check the amps/voltage?
Me: Oh. Right. Hm, didn’t think of that.
Michael: You might’ve blasted your battery! You gave it too much charge and destroyed the flux capacitor!
Me: Now that is just silly. You can’t destroy the flux capacitor by giving it too much charge, as soon as you hit 88mph you’re already traveling through time. There is no going faster than 88mph. You need a better metaphor.
Michael: That’s a good point.
Jesse: …You guys are blowing my mind. You know the exact miles per hour it takes to time travel??
Me: Well sure. It’s not that fast.