Author: Pandamonium Publishing House

A boutique publishing house located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Fortune Favours The Bold…

August 23, 2019– Quick, what is something you’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t done? Too often we have a list of things that we set out to accomplish, but the list never gets finished, or worse, we never start. Today, I have an exercise for you to complete! Check it out below:

  1.  Dream BIG! The bigger the better! Decide what you want to do and make sure that it’s huge. Examples could be, sign a publishing deal for your manuscript, to have an article that you wrote featured in a major magazine, or to travel internationally to a writing conference. Whatever it is, make sure you really want it!
  2. Set a timeline. I personally use the 30-day rule. I set a goal and give myself 30 days to accomplish it. It’s realistic and gives me enough time to get to work on what I’ve set out to do. Without a timeline, you don’t have anything to work toward and even if you don’t fully reach your goal, you’re going to be a heck of a lot closer than you were!
  3. Be bold and take steps toward your goal every day. Remind yourself of your goal constantly and do at least one thing each day to help yourself reach it! Let’s use the example above and your dream is to sign a publishing deal for your manuscript, what have you done today to help realize that dream? Have you made a list of publishers to query? Have you polished your query letter? Have you done your research on which publishers fit with your submission? You get the point!I challenge you to dream big and take the necessary steps to turn your dream into reality! Get started today, you’ll be glad you did.  X LLB

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Do You Know Who You Are?

August 21, 2019– Who are you? Have you ever asked yourself that question? If you don’t know who you are, how are you supposed to find your writing voice?
Your writing voice is different than the narrative you use to tell your story. It’s not third person or first person, it’s much more than that.

Voice is your author style, the quality that makes your writing unique, and which conveys your own attitude, personality, and character. It’s impossible to write a book and not leave a piece of yourself behind. Friends who know me well, know exactly which parts of my manuscript are me. Our tone, choice of words, and punctuation make up our writing voice. It’s pretty consistent, especially when narrating in the third person. Based on these markers, it’s possible to identify the author by reading a selection of their work.  

Author voice is not just what we say, but how we stitch together the words and sentences to create a story. Each author has their own unique perception of the world, we have our own biases and beliefs, we have different experiences, and passions. That’s why when my team says to me, “This story has been told before!” I say to them, “But it’s never been told by us.”

What are you holding back from your work? What parts of you aren’t you allowing to shine through your writing? Why are you being so careful with your words and hiding who you are from the world. It’s time to stand up and time to be you. That’s where your power is. Find your voice and use it to shout your story to the masses.

X LLB

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Publisher’s Corner…

August 16, 2019– Let’s dive right into the question of the week!

Q: “Lacey,  As a writer how do you keep yourself from getting overwhelmed? How can you possibly stay organized with all of the books and projects you have?” 

A: There are certainly days where I feel overwhelmed at times, but then I take a deep breath, remind myself that nothing is a crisis that can’t be handled, and I immediately stop what I’m doing to do something else. It’s very important that when you start to feel the walls closing in on you, that you change anything. Change your space, change your position in the room, stand up if you’re sitting, get a fresh perspective and stop what you’re working on! This is your brain’s way of telling you that you need a few minutes to regroup. Take as much time as you need, take the afternoon off, go do something wild or out of your comfort zone, do whatever it takes to make sure that you’re ok. You can’t be any good to yourself or anyone else if you’re burnt out and uninspired. It is ok to rest, it’s ok to let go, it’s ok to shut off your devices. It’s essential to your wellbeing every once in a while to just be. 

I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I have pretty amazing systems in place that take a lot of the pressure off. I have a social media scheduler that allows me to plan my posts for 30 days at a time, I’ve got a dry erase calendar in my kitchen that has all of my things to do for the week in order of importance, and I use technology to streamline as many processes as possible such as pre-planning my blog posts and YouTube videos. If I had to post every day without this help, it would be near impossible to do so and would be a time-consuming pain. 

Find ways that you can help yourself get organized and how you can make your life a bit easier and less stressful by putting systems in place that become automatic.  X LLB

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Our Guest Blogger is…

August 14, 2019– Our guest blogger today is Giuliano Enciso, author of On Blank Pages. I had the pleasure of being introduced to him a few months ago and I’m captivated by his poetry and truth. I know that when you read his work that you’ll feel the same way.

My name is Giuliano Blaquera but I publish under the name Giuliano Enciso, I am a poet and author.  My mother passed away from cancer and I publish under her maiden name.  She was always a huge supporter of everything artistic, and everything I did, and only wish she could read and hear my  words today.  Every time my words touch paper or a microphone, they will always be dedicated to her.

The first part of my book, On Blank Pages, is an entire chapter of pieces inspired by my mother.  It’s a short chapter but the pieces speak the loudest in my opinion.  The rest of the book follows love and heartache, self-discovery and personal growth because as writers, one of our aims is to always learn and grow in our craft.  I have a second project in the works, that looks at growth both in the individual pieces and the growth of my words as an artist. 

As a child, I’ve gone through plenty of change and as a teenager, it’s hard to find an outlet or even the right ways of expression.  Moving countries, changing friends, relearning how to start over, all things that went into creating who I am. I went to school for psychology and always enjoyed trying to understand how different people interact with one another and have always been intrigued by the relationships we have.  I started writing while in school, and found myself gravitating towards poetry.

The hope is that anyone who reads my book, can find something that speaks to them, something they can relate to, and something that let’s them know, whatever it is that’s going on in their lives, they’re not alone. 

You can purchase a copy of Giuliano’s work from our webstore https://pandamoniumpublishing.com/product/on-blank-pages-a-book-of-poetry/

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Publisher’s Corner…

August 9, 2019– The question for this week is:

Q: “Lacey, I’m looking into taking some writing classes to improve my technique, I’m overwhelmed with how many there are and I’m starting to wonder, are they worth the cost?” 

A: I love this question! Taking any type of class to improve yourself is always worth the investment. If you’re considering a career in writing, it’s especially important to hone your skills so that you can be successful in whatever genre of writing you choose. Be sure to take classes from credible sources! If someone in your local community is teaching a course on writing children’s books, make sure that they’ve written a few children’s books of their own that have been published. Never take advice from someone who hasn’t walked the walk. Good courses to consider are from Writer’s Digest, your local universities, and colleges (as long as the teacher’s have a proven track record and have been published). Make the investment in yourself and for your future! X LLB

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Our Guest Blogger Today Is…

August 7, 2019– I’m thrilled to invite author, Samantha Nemeth to our blog to guest post today! She’ll be talking about all things Terrible and she’ll give you a sneak peek of her book! Check out her post below:

Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a vivid imagination and I’ve loved telling stories; I didn’t want to be read to, I wanted to do the reading. Before I could even read I’d sit with a book and come up with my own stories from the pictures. I’d write plays with my friends and force our families to watch, and our favourite game was “spies”. We’d come up with these crazy stories about people being kidnapped with us being the heroines to save them. Before you ask, yes we roamed the streets not-so-sneakily “spying” on passersby who were our imaginary kidnappers and then run away giggling when they noticed us. So, I guess you can say that being an author, creating something from nothing but a thought, is somewhat of a childhood dream of mine.

My book “DJ the Terrible”, is definitely inspired by my friends and I and all the trouble we got ourselves into, but the original idea for it came from a drawing. My now-fiance and I were being silly one night coming up with the funniest sounding names we could, and drawing pictures to match them. Our favourite was titled, “Djeaneautha, la Terrible Jeune Fille”, who had crazy hair, a unibrow, and a evil genius cat named Godfrey. After that, I just couldn’t stop thinking about all the chaos that this terrible girl and her cat would have caused and from there, DJ grew into this wacky, fanciful character who reflects all the awkwardness, burning curiosity, and complete comfort with herself that my friends and I grew up with.

The story follows DJ as she navigates the roller-coaster ride of being the new kid in a suburbia where everyone plays by the rules, no one has any uniqueness, and they haven’t even heard of deep-fried waffle tacos. When she realizes that these people don’t like her because she’s different, she quickly decides to go undercover with her sidekick Godfrey the Super Cat to assimilate with her new neighbours, AKA “The Borings”, gain their trust, then turn the town on it’s head! The only thing is…blending in simply isn’t DJ’s strong suit. With her inventive, mischievous mind, wild hair, and clumsy demeanour, Terrible trouble follows this Terrible girl wherever she goes!

I was lucky enough to grow up in a time before social media and its high standards really hit its peak and I was able to truly be myself, let it all hang out, and simply be a kid; mistakes, tangled hair, unfashionable hand-me-downs, and all. Along with making kids laugh, and sparking creativity, I hope that “DJ the Terrible” can help show today’s youth that it’s okay to be yourself, to be different, and in fact, our differences are something to be celebrated, not hidden away. I would love for at least one reader to walk away from the book knowing that what matters isn’t having the most friends, or the coolest hair, or following the trends. What matters is staying true to yourself, and everything else will fall into place.

Her book DJ the Terrible will be available on October 1st…but we have a special announcement coming soon!

 

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Publisher’s Corner…

August 2, 2019– Here’s the question of the week and it’s a great one!

Q: “Lacey, I’ve set goals for myself as writer and I’ve reached a few of them. I really want to be a famous author, but I can’t stay on track no matter how hard I try. Should I throw in the towel and do something else with my life?” 

A: Whoa, this question is deep; first of all, congratulations on reaching some of your goals, you’ve proven that it can be done and if you’ve done it once, you can certainly do it again! I’m a firm believer in never giving up no matter what and I know that some of you reading this will say it’s easier said than done. But, if we all gave up when things got hard, none of us would accomplish anything. Today, I’m not going to talk about tips to stay disciplined or organized in your writing routine, nor will I give you my opinion on what you should and shouldn’t do with your life because frankly, it doesn’t matter what I think. I’m going to dive into the WHY part with a super simple exercise.

It’s called 7 Whys…(I ended up calling the person who sent me this questions and went through this with him, with his permission, I’ve posted his actual answers and he definitely gained clarity).

  1.  Start with a statement of what you want for your life: I really want to be a famous author. 
  2. Why do you want to be a famous author? Because I want people to read what I have to say.
  3. Why do you want people to read what you have to say? Because what I have to say is important and I want to make lots of money at the same time.
  4. Why is what you have to say important and why do you want to be rich? Because I’m tired of being silenced and not respected by friends and family and I’m tired of just being barely able to pay my bills.
  5. Why are you tired of being silenced and not respected by friends and family, why are you tired of barely being able to pay your bills? Because they look down on me, I don’t have as much education as them and they think my opinion and voice doesn’t matter. Because I want to control my life and I don’t want to make decisions based on how much money I do or don’t have, ever again.
  6. Why do they think your opinion and voice doesn’t matter and why do you want to be in control of your life? Because I’ve never stood up for myself before, I usually just go along with whatever they say. I want to be in control because I’m sick of being controlled and decided for.
  7. Why do you go along with whatever they say, why are you sick of being decided for and controlled? Because I don’t trust myself and because I don’t believe in my own capabilities. I’m sick of being controlled because I know that I can do better and that I can make better decisions. I want my family to stop being ashamed of me and I want to make them proud, I want to make myself proud.
  8. Why do you want to make yourself and your family proud? Because I know that  I can do better than I currently am. I’m just as able as my brothers and sisters to make something of myself.

I honestly felt like crying after this conversation. It was difficult for him to answer the questions, but he tells me he’s glad he did.

So in essence, this person wanted to be a writer because he wants to make himself and his family proud and he wants to make something of himself and his life. This is his ultimate reason for writing and when the dark days come, he can look at his reason why and keep going. The other reasons before this one were superficial at best. They wouldn’t be enough to keep him on track.

Wow…we dug deep, didn’t we? The point of the exercise is during the first few whys, the brain gives a nice, neat, acceptable answer, but after the 5th why, it starts to get subconscious. Write down what you want and ask yourself why 7 times, building on the previous answer. Don’t go any further. You have your reason to continue or your reason to quit.

X LLB

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Try Something New…

July 31, 2019– Check out this short but sweet TedTalk with Matt Cutts! You can do anything for 30 days:)