Happy Birthday, Monster Needs His Sleep!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Not for me but for Monster Needs His Sleep! Yes, the second book in the Monster & Me™ series hits the shelves today. I am very excited about this book, and all the other Monster books soon to be released, and I can’t help but think about how lucky I am. Not lucky in the sense that I have two books out, but how being in the right place at the right time made all the difference in the world. I’m not talking about how my manuscript found the right publisher at the right time, though I am sure that had something to do with being published. I mean I was physically in the right place at the right time when my daughter said, “My Monster Needs a Haircut.” For those of you who don’t know, this was the phrase my daughter said that got me writing about the adventures of Monster and Boy. It’s kind of crazy when you think about, how my best writing idea so far may never have come to fruition if my wife drove my daughter to day care that day. Or how, if I was listening to the radio and not to my daughter babbling in the back seat, I never would have come up with the idea of the Monster & Me™ series.

Of course there is more to writing than just having a good idea. You need to be able to craft that idea into a story people want to read. In my case I also needed to understand rhythm and rhyme since the Monster & Me™ series is all in rhyme. But without that idea your writing efforts are reduced to staring at a blank page. Some people may call it fate or destiny that I was the one driving and not my wife. But my scientific/pragmatic self calls it sticking to the carpool schedule with a little chance sprinkled in. Luck, chance, whatever you want to call it one thing is for sure, luck favors the prepared. So when you are “lucky” enough to be in the right place at the right time for that “inspirational whatever makes you write moment,” make sure you are paying attention to the world around you. Otherwise that inspirational moment could pass you by, and then where will you be? Hopefully not staring at a blank piece of paper wondering what to write.

More Monster-related posts by Paul Czajak:
You Know You’re Done When You’re Half Undone
Advice from a Book Fair: Write Your Story!
Now the Real Work Begins

Where to buy Monster Needs His Sleep:
Search IndieBound for a local bookstore
Direct from Scarletta Press
On Amazon
On Barnes & Noble
On iTunes as an iBook