Last week I did an interview for a Podcast with Dr. Travis Good. He kicked off the interview by asking the following question: In your book, you talk about failure being the spark that ignites the innovation cycle. Since more than half of all digital health companies fail in the first two years, are you suggesting that these founders get right back on the saddle and develop their next idea? Here are my thoughts on failure. There are two different kinds of failure: mindless and mindful. The difference between mindful and mindless failure is the former occurs based upon continuous…
SCHOOLS ON TRIAL: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice
Are America’s schools little more than cinder-block gulags that spawn vicious cliques and bullying, negate creativity, and true learning and squelch curiosity in their inmates, um, students? Nikhil Goyal, a journalist and activist all of twenty years old whom the Washington Post has dubbed a “future education secretary” and Forbes has named to its 30 Under…
EXCERPT from Neverseen (Keeper of the Lost Cities) by Shannon Messenger
Read the full excerpt from Neverseen (Keeper of the Lost Cities) WE HAVE TO go,” Fitz said, bursting through the doors of Everglen’s upstairs guest room. He found Sophie sitting alone on the edge of the giant canopy bed, already dressed in some of her old human clothes. “I thought we were waiting another hour?”…
Guest Post: Why Special Needs are So Special to Me by AXS CEO Troy McClain
by AXS CEO Troy McClain I have learned there is nothing more rewarding than giving back through teaching, educating and inspiring others to do great things. I’m blessed that I have the chance to follow the lead of some great practitioners in both business and life. But there is a beautiful flip side to the…
Pre-PiBoIdMo Day 6: Let’s Get Visual with Mike Ciccotello (plus a prize!)
Originally posted on Writing for Kids (While Raising Them):
Today’s post comes from the mind (and pencil) of illustrator Mike Ciccotello. Inspiring minds wanna know! Mike is an aspiring children’s book illustrator. He received a BFA with a concentration in painting from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He has 13 years…
You have to write! by Janet Wong Can “Inspire a New Generation of Writers”
I’m hoping that this book will inspire a new generation of writers to tap into their own everyday experiences and family stories! (this book was dedicated to Carol Jago, who invited me to the conference where I sat and listened to teachers who convinced me I needed to write it) – Janet Wong, on my…
Five Reasons NOT to Self-Publish & Five Reasons You Should
Originally posted on Writing for Kids (While Raising Them):
As one of the top kidlit writing websites, one that appears first in numerous Google searches, with thousands of followers, thousands of daily hits… …I’m here to tell you that this platform doesn’t necessarily yield book sales. It yields emails from writers asking how to self-publish.…
Help Children Explore the World of Books and Develop a Love of Reading
HarperCollins’s I Can Read! books and PBS KIDS are collaborating on a national I Can Readathon campaign. Now in its second year, the campaign is designed to get kids learning every day through fun, engaging activities that encourage them to explore the world of books and develop a love of reading. From now through spring…
Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times: Alternate-worlds with a Steampunk Twist
“Every theory of the course of events in nature is necessarily based on some process of simplification of the phenomena and is to some extent therefore a fairy tale .” – Sir Napier Shaw, Manual of Meterology, in The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan “So full of verve and imagination that the sinister…
Experience the hilarious animal antics of an English county show Farmer David: The Dunst
Cherry Blossom Farm is snuggled in the hills near to the beautiful English village of Dunster in Somerset. Each year Farmer David and his wife Kaci enter both produce and farm animals in the prestigious Dunster Show, a huge summertime event that everyone enjoys! The hilarious antics of animals thrill the crowds of visitors and…
Young People's Pavilion 