"Walking with Daddy" anthology - Melusine Muse Press now taking submissions #walkingwithdaddy

Walking with Daddy

If you were ripped from this Earth tomorrow, what would you want your daughter to know? What message would you want to leave behind for her? If you knew that you could write her a letter and she would take every word of the letter to heart, what would you write?

Melusine Muse Press is now taking submissions for the "Walking with Daddy" anthology. This anthology is a collection of letters from fathers to their daughters, written in letter format. The title and cover shown above are just a "working title" and a "working cover" and may not be the title and cover used on the finished anthology.

1. Your submissions must be written in a letter format addressed as "To my daughter," "To my daughters," or "Dear Daughter." Tell your daughter what is in your heart. What do you want her to know? What are the things you love about her? What hopes do you have for her?
Alternatively, we will accept some short stories about daughters.

2. In an anthology like this, I shouldn't have to even say it, but please keep it PG.

3. Letters cannot be less than 500 words and should not go over 2,000 words. 

4. Please follow the formatting guidelines as stated on Melusine Muse Press's page. Go here to read the formatting guidelines.

5. There will be a prize for the BEST letter, as determined by me, of three free print copies of the anthology. Second place will get two print copies of the anthology and third place will get one print copy of the anthology.

6. Author bios must be sent in - around a paragraph each, links may be included, and must be written in 3rd person. These will be included in the book. 

7. Short, one- or two-lines long, dedications may be included with your submission, and will make this book even more special to have on hand for your daughter as she grows.

8. The deadline for submissions is open until we have enough "letters" to create the anthology, but I would prefer to get submissions in as early as possible.

9. E-mail submissions as a file attachment to Rebecca (at) Fyfe (dot) net.

10. You may submit individual letters up to the number of daughters you have. You may write one letter that is inclusive for all of your daughters, or, if you have more than one daughter, you may write separate letters for each one and submit them.

11. Your daughter doesn't have to be a little girl still. Even if she is all grown up, you can still write her a letter for the anthology.

Anthologies will be made available in both kindle and print formats.

The goal is to have the book out on World Daughter Day in 2017, which is on January 12th, but it might come out earlier to make Christmas purchases possible.

Only a limited number of letters and stories will be included, so there is no guarantee that your letter will be selected if you send it in, but you will be notified of whether or not you letter has been accepted by November 1st, if enough submissions have arrived for the anthology to go forward.

Deadline: OPEN UNTIL THE REQUIRED NUMBER OF ACCEPTABLE SUBMISSIONS IS REACHED

Special note: If you have a touching "daddy and daughter" photo which you would like included with your dedication, send it in jpeg or png format to the same e-mail address as the letter submissions. Decisions on which photos to include or solely up to Melusine Muse Press. Photos will be printed in black and white.

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Evil Geniuses & Mermaids - What do your kids see for their future selves?

Children have a tendency to say, "I want to be (insert job title here) when I grow up." Some children decide on something when they are very you g and stick with the idea throughout life. Most children just test the waters with an idea of what they could become when they grow up and it changes frequently as they find new interests.

One of my daughters wanted to be a police officer for most of her younger childhood, then a chef and then a firefighter. She still wants to be a firefighter, but she is old enough now that, if she really wants it, she can work towards that goal now.

Another daughter wanted to be a "famous ice skater" when she was very young. That idea didn't last long. Now she is an free-lance editor.

Another daughter wanted to be a ballerina when she was really young, but ballerina changed to veterinarian in her later youth, and she is on her way to becoming one now with a degree in bio-veterinary science.

I still have young children. My youngest four are aged 11, 9, 7 and 5. They have had dreams of what they will be when they grow up, but, even for them, those dreams keep changing and evolving. The 11 year old wanted to be a writer, but now wants to be a teacher and an artist. The nine year old wanted to be a clothing designer (of princess dresses), but now wanted to be an author and a mermaid.

No, I did not type that incorrectly. She really wants to be a mermaid, a professional mermaid. And there are professional mermaids in the world, with realistic looking tails that propel them swiftly through the water - mermaids such as Mermaid Kariel and Mermaid Melissa.




My boys change their idea of what they want to be almost daily. My youngest varies between wanting to be a superhero, a firefighter and any number of other things. His older sister claims that he is going to be an evil genius. As long as my children are happy with the choices that they finally settle on, I will be happy for them, and as proud as any mommy can be.

I look forward to seeing what they do with their lives! I'm sure they will all make the world a better place. they do that already just by being in it.

What about your kids? What do they want to be when they grow up, or are they already grown up? What do they see for their future selves?

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Our children will change the world

My family often joke with one another about how this child or that child is clever enough and devious enough that he or she will someday rule the world. We joke, but one thing is for certain, as I gaze upon my children with all of the love in my heart and the wisdom of my years, I know that they have the power to change the world.

Today, I happened to capture a moment when my younger kids were all sprawled across the sofa, playing a video game together. And then and there, it dawned on me that, if my children ever learn to work together, there will be nothing that can stop them. If they learn to work together, with the combined force of their creativity, intelligence and skill, the world won't stand a chance against them.

So here are my questions to you:

If you knew without a doubt that your children would someday rule the world, what would you want them to learn before that day? What would you hope to teach them, as you raised them, that would help them to be a better ruler when that day came?

And, if you knew that the key to your children's success was for them to learn to work together, what would you do to help them learn to work together? How would you teach them this very important lesson?


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Word clouds for the family

I found a site that creates word clouds for you using the words you type in. It's called Wordle and can be found at Wordle.net. Here are some examples I made using the program and the names of family members along with our family relationships. To an extent, it lets you choose colors and whether you want a black background or a white one. You can't save it as a file to your computer, but you can save it in their public gallery, print it or paste the code in elsewhere (as I have done here.) If you don't like the way the words are displayed, you can click the "random" to see a different layout.








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New Year's Resolutions for 2013 - Do your kids make them?

I tried asking my youngest four children what their new year's resolutions were going to be for 2013. They didn't understand what resolutions meant, so I explained that resolutions were just goals.  I had to explain that goals were things they wanted to achieve or learn during the year.

I found that they really weren't interested in learning anything new or setting goals for bettering themselves. As far as they were concerned, that kind of stuff was boring. I had to drag some goals out of them and then work with them on what it actually meant. Cameron still doesn't really understand them, but I didn't have to drag anything out of him because he had ready answers for what he wanted to do this year. 

Isabella got a new bike for Christmas and has only had her first two lessons on riding a bike without training wheels. She is doing well but has a lot further to go still, so I was a little surprised that she didn't mention it as one of the things she wanted to achieve.

If your children are ten years old and/or younger, do they understand the concept of making goals? And do they like the idea or have things already in mind for them?

 photo taken by Fyfe Photography (many years ago)

Here are the answers they gave me:

Gabriella (10 years old):

 "I want to earn more money from my shops."  (I asked her how she planned on doing that. She answered:)
   - "drawing and adding new designs to my stores"
   - "letting more people know about my stores"
 (Her stores, with her designs on gifts, can be found at:
Through Innocent Eyes (Printfection)
Through Innocent Eyes (Zazzle)
Gabby's Art and
Gabriella's Art

Isabella (7 years old)

"I want to be a hairdresser and a writer." (I asked her how she planned on doing that. She answered.)
    -"practicing cutting hair" (getting old wigs from second-hand shops, old Barbies, or, when allowed,  
     practicing on Cameron)
   - "writing more stories"
(Bella's series of fairy stories can be found on her Tangle Fairies blog.)

Connor (6 years old)

"I want to get better at my video games." (I told him I am not accepting that as a proper goal, so I talked him into agreeing to this variation on it:)
"I try not to throw tantrums when I can't reach levels in my games"

Cameron (4 years old)

"I want to learn how to jump over houses." (Not very practical, so I asked him for one more. He answered:)
"I want to learn how to read all by myself." (Now this one I can help him with!)

What are your children's goals for 2013?


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Favorite Child?

 (This photo was taken before my youngest was born.)

I am struggling to understand something. How is it that some parents with more than one child can have a favorite? How is that possible?

I can't imagine choosing one of my children to love more than any of the others. Each of my children is loved completely. They each have different things about them that I love, but I don't love any of them more or less than I love the others. I can't imagine a life with any one of them missing from it. There is room in my heart to love them all immensely. There is room in every mother's heart, if she's willing, to love all of her children just as completely. I find that I am incapable of  understanding how some mothers can love one child more than the other.

How can anyone compare their children to one another. Would you really want them to be alike? Each of my children has their own bright spark, that special something that makes them unique. I love their individuality. I love the fact that I can have a conversation about the same topic with each of them and have that conversation be completely different with each one.

I love all of my children with all of my heart, so I don't and can't understand the term "favorite child." What about you?

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DIY Chalkboard Craft (guest post by author & illustrator Hannah Holt

Author/illustrator Hannah Holt is favoring us today with a crafty post. She blogs about healthy kid's snacks and crafts over at her Lightbulb Books blog.

DIY Oval Chalkboard

Create your own oval chalkboard for under $10.



What you'll need:

a 12” by 9” wooden board (sanded, about $4)
black acrylic or wood paint (to prime, $2)
chalkboard spray paint ($2)
a sheet of paper torn from an old over-sized book (free)
½ inch rickrack ($1)
white glue sponge brush
a plastic card a paper towel
this oval pattern (Click "download file" on bottom right.)

Step 1) Prime the wood by painting the entire surface black. Use the sponge brush to create a smooth finish. Let the paint dry.

Step 2) Spray a thin coat of chalkboard paint onto the wood. Let this coat dry and then spray at least one more coat. I recommend 3-4 thin coats. Let dry for 24 hours.

Step 3) Cut your over-sized sheet of paper to fit the board. Then download and print the oval pattern provided here and use this pattern to cut an oval out of the middle of your paper. Be sure to center the oval before you cut. Sadly the pattern is not perfectly centered within the page. My pdf writer was giving me grief today.



Step 4) Using chalk and the cut out sheet of paper, trace an oval on the center of your wooden board.

Step 5) Mix white glue with water in a 1:1 ratio. You'll need about 2 Tbl of white glue and 2 Tbl of water for this project. Paint around the outside of the circle with the diluted glue.



Step 6) Place the paper with the oval cutout over the glue and smooth with the side of the plastic card. You'll want to remove ALL the bubbles.



Step 7) Paint diluted glue over the top of the paper. Dab off excess glue with a paper towel.



Step 8) Put a stripe of undiluted glue around the interior of the oval, and press the rickrack into the glue. Let the glue dry overnight, and you're all done!



Along with being an illustrator, a writer, a blogger and a crafter, Hannah is also a mother to four.


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