My Birthday Wish

First, thank you to the many friends who have already supported—for months and years and in just the last few days too—all of my writing ambitions. It’s such a big, cool journey. I can’t even sleep—staying up late thinking of ideas, waking up early eager to get to work on the ideas, but it’s fun to be stimulated and motivated.

It’s my birthday today, but I’m still taking a few hours to work on random projects. I hope I’ll surprise you with some unique ideas, posts, and events over these next six months and beyond.

Because it’s my birthday, I feel like I can take a risk and ask you all for support in helping build a writing platform. The more people who know about the project, the better chances of its success. So whether you are reading this today or in six months from now, here are a few things I’d like to ask you to do. Like in a good story, there’s a certain magic in helping and supporting others in achieving their dreams. And believe me, we appreciate it and never forget those who helped us.

So what can you do?

      ---- If you haven’t already, please “like” my author page here. 

      --- Then consider sharing the page on your wall or inviting friends to like the page, especially any friends you may have that know me and any friends you have who like reading, books, writing, no matter what the genre.

      --- I’d love if you could subscribe to my blog here. On the right hand side of the page, you should see a “subscribe via e-mail.” Enter your e-mail and any new posts (no, I won’t spam you!) will go directly to your inbox. If you’re viewing my blog from your smart phone, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, click “view web version,” and then you’ll see the subscribe box on the top right. 

      --- If you’re on Twitter, you can follow me there too.

That’s all I’d ask for today, and you’d sure help make my six squared birthday even better. Down the road, you’ll see some pretty sweet stuff leading up to the book release. From art work to video and everything I can think of in between, I’m shaking all of my creative juices hard.

If you’d like to help in any way, let me know. Here are some of the initial ideas I have. I’d love to promote scenes and characters from the book through art (any medium), so if you’d like to be a part of that, all you have to do is say so. I’m looking for people who want to make fun YouTube videos—splicing together horror films to make unofficial trailers and creating original work too, be it animation or even short films. I’d love to have music too, so if you like to write and play original music, I may try my hand at song lyrics to compose haunting stuff. But I can’t sing. Or play an instrument. Ha.

I know there are many great artists out there, and the longer I’m on this journey, the more I realize that art succeeds when people come together. It can be mutually beneficial, so don’t be shy: let me know if you’d like to join me for a lap or two on this road.

Whether you’d support me by liking and sharing the page and subscribing to the blog or whether you have ideas and want to contribute to unique media and marketing ideas, I’m all ears. Or in this case: eyes.

Yes, I have a fantastic team already of writers, editors, and publishers. But like friends, you can’t have too many people helping, right?

Thanks for your support.

If you’re visiting the blog or page for the first time and want to know more about the work, here’s the blog post I wrote after I signed my contract: 

Since then, we do have an official launch date. The book will be released September 18, 2015. I put a countdown at www.joechianakas.com. :)

Signed, sealed, delivered!

I signed my first official book contract today, and for you wonderful, enthusiastic supporters, I’d like to share some details about the book and this cool opportunity.

One of the things I am most excited about is that I’ve signed not only to a book contract but to an entire series! My proposal was for a four book series, and the fact that a publisher has faith not only in my initial novel but is enthusiastic about my ideas for a major series is mind-blowing!

I’ve kept the details largely quiet about the plot of my book. It’s my love letter to the horror and YA genres, and I’d like to slowly tell you some parts about the story over the next several months to get you excited. I hope you will be as excited as me!

Wildly eccentric and rich Hollywood producer JB has created a horror adventure to recruit passionate and talented youth to re-ignite the industry. He’s offered our young characters an internship, but he doesn’t care for applications or job interviews. Our contestants must solve a number of horror riddles, and those winners are flown to a Hollywood studio that pays tribute to all the horror classics. On location, our contestants initially compete in several adventurous challenges to illustrate their creativity, but the contest takes a dark turn and our contestants will have to fight for their lives.

The real story is about the characters though. We have a boy who watched his father get killed in a home invasion. We have an edgy, brilliant girl who lost her uncle to suicide and tries to teach her younger sister how to be a strong woman and not like the girls in Twilight. They try to understand death through horror, they try to escape life through fantasy, and what they find is more than they ever could have imagined.

I’ll tell you more down the road, and I hope you’ll follow the rabbit with me. What’s this rabbit, you may wonder? Well, the series, as of now, is titled RABBIT IN RED. You horror experts will get that. Tentatively, book one will be follow the rabbit, book two: burn the rabbit, book three: drown the rabbit, and book four: bury the rabbit. 

After initial talks with the publisher, it’s possible we could release book one to the world this October. I would love a release around Halloween. How awesome would that be? You’ll all be invited to a crazy release party, where I’d sign print copies and we’d enjoy some beer or wine together and celebrate. 

I’m proud to announce my partnership with DISTINGUISHED PRESS. I’ve taken a couple of weeks to make this decision after receiving a contract. As hard as it was for me to patient, I needed to do my research, speak with their authors, and ponder my future as an author. I’ve already fallen in love with the company. I’ve spoken to passionate writers and editors who join forces to help one another. It’s a small and selective publishing company with dreams and ambitions that match my own. When passionate and creative talent team together, we can conquer the world. Or at least sell some books.

There are a dozen things I want to tell you about the book and this journey, and I will over time. For now, I’m absolutely thrilled to find an audience for the art that helps me escape from life’s realities, and if I can provide a fun escape or meaningful inspiration to another reader out there in the world, then I will be happy, and that’s all the matters.

Love is like a forest fire

I found the following in my college creative writing journal, from many years ago, the spring of 2000. I'm trying to remember what I thought, felt, and experienced when I wrote the following.

Love is like a forest fire

It only takes a spark

And your whole world goes up in flames.

Sounds good, right?
You’ve missed the point.

Everything burns.

You don’t expect much from a spark.

But when it takes over your world,

You demand it give to you what you gave to it.

Love is fire.

It strengthens as it destroys.

It requires your air to survive.

It takes from you, one branch at a time,

And it can be great,

If it lends you equal support.

Or it can tear you down,

One limb at a time,

A mountain of ash that was once a great forest of trees.

Do teachers have "favorites?" If so, how do you become the "favorite?"

I recently reviewed my fall 2014 student assessments of faculty, an anonymous questionnaire students can complete on our teaching. Although the majority of it was positive and complimentary, one criticism stood out to me: “Mr. Chianakas clearly has favorite students.” That’s all it said. No elaboration. I can only assume, however, that the person who wrote that did not consider him or herself one of my “favorites.” I’m taking time to reflect on that. It makes me sad if someone thinks that without good reason.

Then I looked up online reviews of one of my most inspirational professors ever, one I had for several classes back at Eureka College. I expected a perfect 5.0 “this professor is golden!” review. Sadly, she had a lot of criticism, and perhaps the biggest was that “she had favorites; and if you are not one of them, you will not get an A.”

Then I recalled a moment where I posted a comment on a former student’s Facebook page. He graduated years ago, and I told him about a student who reminds me of him and joked, “it’s hard not to want to give him an A—he’s just like you!” Then a snotty girl replied to my comment: “Yeah, you always had favorites.” Ouch. I think?

So I’m reflecting now, honestly, do I have favorites? And if so, how does a student become a “favorite?” Furthermore, how do I view those students who are not in my “favorite” category, if the above is true?

Do I have favorites? Absolutely! No, I don’t have a single favorite, but I certainly have favorites! They are the students who  participate in class, who show up virtually all of the time, who are respectful, who work hard, who smile, who can keep their phones out of sight for an hour, who genuinely try to work hard and improve all semester.

I teach communication, and I like an energetic, engaging class. I enjoy humorous exchanges with students. A classroom without laughter is like a Thanksgiving dinner without the turkey. It doesn’t feel right! I wonder if students who aren’t extroverts or outspoken see these exchanges and think: “Oh, he clearly likes X. He jokes around with X. X must be a favorite.” That’s probably true but it doesn’t mean I don’t like you!

You don’t have to be the student who makes me laugh or who speaks up in every class to be a “favorite.” I enjoy those students, but here’s what I enjoy even more: the hard-working ones who show up wanting to learn, wanting me to teach, wanting to improve their skills, trying to make connections from the classroom to how this will make careers and personal lives stronger: those students are my real favorites!

Who is not a favorite? Easy. It’s the student who misses a lot of class. It’s the one who can’t stop checking his or her damn cell phone. The ones who roll their eyes at an assignment. The ones who don’t try or don’t care. Apathy is easy to spot, and yes, an apathetic student is certainly not my favorite, but I promise I will give everything I have to erase that apathy with inspiration. And if that happens, if you were apathetic but find a reason to care (and no, not on the last week of class when you realize you’re failing), then you become one of my favorites too!

There’s a difference between being apathetic and being introverted. Both are obvious, but I respect those who are introverted (believe it or not, I’m pretty introverted when I’m not “on stage”). If I don’t crack a joke at you or ask you specifically about something in your life, it doesn’t mean I don’t care. It’s because some students are simply quiet in the classroom. There’s nothing wrong with that. The quiet ones are often my favorites too, as long as they work hard and care about learning.

So let’s get something straight: You don’t have to kiss my ass or crack a joke for me to get me to like you. Sure, I may crack a joke, but it’s not so you like me. It’s so you can (I hope) have an hour or so a day where you can LAUGH AND LEARN, where you can be comfortable, where you can discover that academics don’t have to be boring. That’s a strength of mine, I think—that I try hard to create a comfortable atmosphere. The weakness is that for those who choose to keep quiet, who sit at the back of the room, leave as quickly as possible, and never crack a smile: you may think I have favorites and that you’re not one of them.

You’re probably right, but YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE. My theory is that some don’t have it in their personalities to be sociable in the classroom. But I also argue you can still be a “favorite” no matter your personality.

Let’s end with ten very simple, common sense tips. If you don’t like that your professors have favorites or if you’ve ever felt that you weren’t one of the favorites, then try these tips. I promise that they make a difference. Trust me. I’m a communication teacher, after all :)

1. Keep eye contact during lectures and discussions. We want to know you’re paying attention.

2. Attempt a smile! Even if we’re not funny, when teachers try to make a joke, give us a smile. You’d be amazed how a classroom tone changes with a few smiles.

3. Keep cell phones on silent and out of sight. Resist checking them during class.

4. Be on time, and don’t miss classes without reasonable excuses.

5. Show a desire to improve. Read comments on work, not just the grade. Focus on those comments and you’ll see an improvement in your grade.

6. Share comments and questions. It may not be in your personality to speak up in front of the entire class, but at least make an effort to talk to your professor before or after class every now and then, even if it’s a simple, “I really enjoyed the reading you assigned. I just wanted to tell you that.”

7. Complete work on time, without excuses.

8. Never roll your eyes.

9. Take notes, especially when we ask you to do so. The student who is “above taking notes” for any reason is never a favorite. Write something down for the love of God!

10. Like cell phones, stay off laptops and tablets. We know how easy it is to be distracted and minimize Facebook when we walk by you. Some things are better old fashioned—use a notebook and pen. Or if you MUST use tech for whatever reason, at least politely ask about it. “I prefer to take notes on my tablet. I promise that’s all I am doing. Is that ok with you?” That student is already a favorite for expressing such courtesy, I guarantee! And accept the answer even if it is a no.

In short, I say this: All of my students are my favorites until THEY do something that negatively affects learning or the classroom atmosphere. Being on your phone: That’s a distraction that affects learning, for example. Your personality is irrelevant. I can adapt to the most outspoken person or to the shyest person in the classroom. Both are favorites as long as they care about learning.

And seriously, smile. Look me in the eye and smile now and then. That simple non-verbal connection goes such a long way.

What do you think? Teachers: What would you add to the list? Do you agree with my ideas on favorites? Students: Have you ever thought you weren’t a favorite? Why so? This was my fifteen minute spontaneous rant on “favorites.” I’m sure I missed a few ideas and would be happy to discuss and consider more. 

2015: The Writing Journey Continues

I looked back on my winter break goal list and am sitting here smiling, enjoying the first real snow of the season, and feeling accomplished. Nope, I didn’t complete every item on my to-do list, but I sure did a lot. Since I’m devoting this blog primarily to my writing journey, I’ll focus on that for my supportive readers.

Two great things happened this winter break. First, I finished another novel! I played with a very different genre, but it feels as exciting as my last book that I completed over the summer. Clearly, I only need more breaks to be so productive.

Second, my first book finally received full manuscript requests! For those who don’t know, the road to publication is long and full of detours and road blocks. I’m sure those details need no explanation. It’s tough. But if you love it, you stick with it. Most agents/publishers want a query, a one page letter summarizing your project, and a sample chapter or two. The vast majority of those get rejected without anyone reading your book. It’s heartbreaking. But I finally broke through another ceiling, and my confidence is higher than ever. Agents have started requesting my full manuscript. They’ve liked the project synopsis and my writing sample, and I’ve sent in the full work. That gives me great hope that it’s a book worth pursuing. Perhaps it will need more revisions, and that’s fine. I love it more every time I revise. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll get that phone call, the one where a professional wants to represent me and take on my book as their project. That’s the dream call I’m waiting on at the moment, if the representative has what I’m looking for also.

It helped to detach and to write something different. Last summer’s book is a thriller, a horror adventure that is pure fun. I find myself laughing and getting pumped every time I look at it. Book two is a character story, a coming-of-age youth tale about love and heartbreak. Sure, it’s been told a thousand times, but I have my own unique twists and turns. It makes me laugh out loud at parts and, I must confess, there are chapters that make me cry. If it can do the same for its readers, I’ll be beyond happy. What is art if it doesn’t evoke a physical response in the receiver?

I sent my last book to a friend who asked to read it just today. I’m on the full revision process now, and it helps to have trusted friends read and provide critical feedback. From there, I will revise and send out to possible agents and publishers. Who knows: By this time next year, perhaps I’ll have two books on the shelves in completely different genres! What a dream! But that’s what I recommend for all my students and friends: Dreams and goals, no matter how big or small, keep us moving forward.

I feel very good (my head is still very humble, I assure you), if for no other reason that I’ve “completed” two manuscripts in one year. That’s my new goal: a book every summer and every winter.

I created a new writing space at home too. Perhaps I’ll post about it with pictures. I got a brand new computer and redesigned a room as my home office, my personal writing space. I received an antique computer as a gift from the sweetest person I know who said, “Every great author should have a typewriter.” It’s meant to inspire, and the day I opened it, I received my first request for a full manuscript from an agent. I’d say it’s working! I also have a ton of pictures and collectibles, all things meant to motivate. It’s a terrific room, a room I hope where I will produce a dozen more great works.

There’s one other cool thing I discovered this break. I went through some old college notebooks (yes, I’m the nerd who saved EVERYTHING). I took a creative writing class in college, and I re-read all of my stories and feedback from my professor. One comment from her read: “I think you’re meant to write novels!” I had forgotten about that comment, but it was a pleasant surprise to find. I hope she’s right.

If you’re a trusted friend, I’d love to have you read either of my manuscripts and receive genuine, critical feedback. Just let me know. I'm still shy and don't like the idea of forcing a book upon someone to read.

If you’re an online supporter, thanks for that. I hope all of your dreams come true, and that someday, we both get to talk about this exciting process, this journey of writing and publication, AFTER we’ve had successful books. I love nothing more than doing something that may inspire others. We learn so much from all of our journeys to success. I hope I’ve inspired several in my teaching career and my fitness and martial arts endeavors. I hope to inspire current and future writers as well.

Wish us all luck on this beautiful ride.

Winter Break is Coming

Yes, we teachers look forward to breaks as much as our students. Before you non-educators turn away or become envious of our breaks, let me defend it ever so briefly. First, I teach year-round, including summers. We get a brief break at the end of summer, spring break, and winter break. I will never be able to request time off for a cheap cruise in February or experience a different part of the country during the fall until I retire. Also, when your job is to teach/mentor/lead hundreds of young people (I had nearly 150 students this semester), one needs some mental decompression to be able to do it all over again. It’s not manual labor, but it is a very mentally challenging and exhausting experience.

Anyway, enough of that… winter break is coming! And with all of my breaks, I like to make a to-do list or bucket list of sorts. I love reading such lists from others too. So if you have some time off this holiday season and have some pretty cool things you hope to do, comment and let me know. It’s amazing how one’s goals can inspire someone else to reach similar goals. Some of mine are silly—the geek and relaxation time I need, and some are serious—my teaching and my writing, for example.

Here’s a nice quick and condensed to-do list that I will be adding to and revising throughout break. Because this blog restarted due to my writing goals, I’m going to share a little more about my current writing goals and status below the to-do list for anyone who is interested.

-         Play and beat an old NES game (Legend of Zelda?)

Play and maybe beat a new(ish) game (The Last of Us?)

Re-read an old favorite book

Read at least ten new books

Catch up on all movies I wanted to see in 2014

Plan a Turbo Kick/P90X Christmas party (glow sticks for Turbo workout!)

Re-watch my favorite episodes of The Newsroom, Breaking Bad, and House of Cards

Watch Christmas episodes of old favorites like Quantum Leap and MacGyver

Go for a long walk through the nearby cemetery after a good snowfall

Go sledding

Have a snowball fight

Build an alien-looking snowman or some kind of creepy snowman (Boy, it better snow sometime this winter break!)

Find an agent for my book

Have someone(s) new read and critique my query & parts or all of manuscript

Try new fitness classes and take a break from my own for one week

Improve strategy and organization for Cougar Karate

Complete a day by day outline of amazing and motivational activities for public speaking

Revise intercultural communication to align with new text book

Get out of town for at least one day

Organize all closets and cabinets

Begin writing book #2 (it’s already been outlined!)

Revise short stories I’ve written and saved that are over ten years old (publish to blog?)

Dinner or visits with family and friends I don’t see very often

And of course it goes without saying I hope to have lots of Christmas and New Year’s activities with friends and family

What would you add? What unique things would you like to do? I’d like this list to be dynamic and am open to ideas and inspiration!

And because I can ramble on and on, here’s some elaboration on a few of the above for anyone who is interested.

Writing

My biggest goal is to find an agent. I’ve revised and revised and revised a book I’m super proud of and I’m finally fishing for a good agent who can help me to take it to the next step. I don’t want to self-publish (no offense to those who do). I’m shooting for the stars here. But I’m not sending it to hundreds of people. That’s the difficult choice here. I’m researching hours a day reading bios and client lists and trying to find THE ONE. The one needs to be someone who loves thrillers, young adult stories, horror, pop culture, and nostalgia. It would be helpful to have an interest in the education system and teaching too, as I have a few good insights there. It would help if you love Stephen King (especially early King) and Ernest Cline. And it sure helps if you love to read the kind of stories that make you double check that your door is locked at night. Anyone out there? I’ve got quite the story for you.

So goal one: find THE ONE agent who sees as much joy and value in my story as I do. He or she is out there. It’s a big world, and so many agencies are very straight forward about how difficult it is if you don’t have big publishing credentials. I’ve got maybe 20 magazine articles—that I was paid for—on my “this is how I earned money writing” list. But that ain’t nothing when it comes to a book.

Speaking of which: Do I have any friends out there who would read my query and perhaps the first 30 pages? I haven’t posted much on Facebook about it. This blog is more for those who go out of their way to read it without me always posting on Facebook that I have a new post. (FYI: I do post it on Twitter, but that’s for the goal of connecting with others around the world with similar interests- We can learn so much from others.)

If you’d be willing to give me some honest feedback and are a good friend I can trust, let me know. It helps to have a few pairs of eyes. (And of course if you want to read the whole thing, we can talk about that too!)

So… what are your winter break goals?

On Passion

One of my favorite ideas about passion comes from Ken Robinson’s book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. If you’ve never heard of Robinson, you're missing out. Check out some of his more popular YouTube videos, such as “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” and “Changing the Education Paradigm.”

In the Element, Robinson provides a formula for finding one’s passions, and I use it frequently in the classroom. What’s teaching without motivating, after all? His formula: I get it, I love it, I want it, where is it? I’ll let you read his book for his complete explanation behind the formula, but for this post, I’d like to put it into the context of my passions with the hope of inspiring some readers.

So, what do you get? Looking back, I see I “got” a lot of things, like math. Believe it or not, and contrary to the stereotypes in my field of communication, I was excellent at math. Got an A+ in every single class. In fact, when I graduated from Eureka College with a Bachelor’s in English, my advisor mocked my scores on our senior graduating test. I actually scored higher in math than I did in English! My parents always wanted me to be an accountant. They associated numbers with money and thought that would make me rich. But I didn’t love math. I joke that I hate it (and I do hate parts), but it simply doesn’t get me excited.

When I started thinking about college majors, I had to think: what does get me excited? Reading got me excited. Writing sure floats my boat. I love a great story that will keep me up late at night, and I love taking time to reflect on life or create fiction in writing. It was only natural then that because I loved reading and writing that I should major in English.

But what did I want to do with that? I knew before English was going to be my major that I wanted to teach. I had a TERRIBLE high school experience. Not the kind where a kid does bad in school and comes home and complains that the teacher hated him. No, I had the kind of experience where there was NO PASSION in the teachers I had. They were never excited. They had no enthusiasm. There are a few bright exceptions to this rule, but as a generalization, my high school lacked energy in the classroom. It was boring.

I made a decision early that I would teach. I would bring passion to the classroom that would knock my students’ pants off (and you know that’s figurative; we’d get in a lot of trouble if it were literal!).

I looked back at this formula and thought: Ok what do I get, what do I love, and what do I want? Over time, the answers grew. We get better at things as we get older; we find new passions. It’s never too late to change paths. I wanted to make a difference for teenagers, and I devoted ten years of my life to them. I think I did make a difference for several. It was amazing. Not only did I teach English, I started teaching martial arts (something else that I got and loved).

Before long, I fell in love with new subjects like communication and went back and earned a master’s degree in the subject. Not long after that I fell in love with group fitness. And let me be clear on something: I don’t love exercise. Seriously. Show me a treadmill and a weight room, and I’ll fall asleep. I’ve done them and will because that kind of stuff is good for us. But SNOOZE! I fell in love with group fitness—the music, the energy, the people. I don’t exercise because I love it; I do group fitness because I love that!

So what’s the point to all of this? I think it’s important to reflect on what got us to where we are today and to reflect on where we are going. I was good at math and could have made a lucrative career out of it, but I chose not to because I knew I’d be bored. I chose something that I understood and loved—that’s where passion starts. But it goes deeper. It has to go to the I want it stage—meaning that we will do virtually whatever it takes to get there.

For example, when I fell in love with communication, I’d already been a high school English teacher for years. But I like variety and was ready for something new. I already had one master’s degree, and let me tell you: Master’s degrees are not easy! So much research and writing! But my next goal was to teach communication at the college level. To do that, I knew I’d need a specific MA in that subject and would need to get my foot in the door at the college I wanted to teach. For me, it was not only the I love it attitude that was motivation; it was the I want it attitude that meant the most. It meant working full-time at the high school, taking classes for that new master’s, and teaching a night class for the college the moment I was qualified so that they would get to know me and hopefully want me there more (and hey, they did. Thanks, hiring committee!).

But there’s still one part of Robinson’s formula I haven’t discussed and still a reflection on “what’s next." The last part of Robinson’s formula: Where is it? Some people know what they love and want but have trouble finding a specific job for that passion. Then they give up. There’s no easy answer here, but if you have a passion and don’t know what to do with it, then pick up Robinson’s book. I think the worst thing imaginable would be giving up a passion simply because there’s no market for it in your area or no specific kind of job for it that would pay the bills. There must be other solutions and opportunities. If you are that passionate, you will find them or invent them. Right?

As for me, I’m teaching what I want and where I want for life. It’s the best place imaginable. I don’t want a PhD or to teach at a university. That would be more about research and publication, and like math, it would be something I could do but would bore me. I love teaching, and I don’t want those other responsibilities. Let me teach. I will always be a student and will always be learning, but let my job be 100% student-centered and I’ll always be happy.

But now I focus on writing. It’s always been something I got, loved, and wanted…. Writing stories, sharing ideas, inspiring others from new contexts. I’m already doing that, I suppose. I share my stories with close friends who express interest in reading them. And we always have the blogosphere and social media. That’s fine, but I think it helps to set sights on the best possible outcome and always work for that. We can accomplish our dreams. It may not happen overnight, but if you are persistent and patient, then anything is possible.  (Tweet this.)