Bryce Westervelt's Blog, page 3
September 11, 2013
100 days of Penguin – day 1
Seven days ago, I read a blog (I can’t remember where now) that gave an interesting time management tip. The blog said to get a spiral notebook and every morning, write down ten things that you would like to get accomplished that day.
Penguins, Penguins All Around is due for a mid-September release.
For the last seven days, I have written down a list of ten items. For the last seven days I have completed the list to varying degrees of success. I have never completely finished the list.
Then it dawned on me that I was ignoring the “Pomodoro Technique” that got me started on all of this in the first place. So, as I am writing this, my little penguin-shaped kitchen timer is clicking and ticking away.
At this point, I have been awake for 6 ½ hours, but only completed one of my 10 tasks. This blog will be task No. 2.
In case you are wondering what task No. 1 was – I posted a worksheet on the new PomodoroPenguin.com website. It is a free word search for the kids. Check out the blog for the link to the free worksheet. While you are there, please follow the blog and like us on Facebook.
Anyway, I looked at the calendar and see that there are 105 days until Christmas. 105 seems like an arbitrary number, but 100 – now that is a nice round number.
So, why not celebrate 100 days of Penguin?!? With the release of our third book, and the next two quickly coming on the horizon, the launch of the new website and Facebook pages, and rumbling about going to print with the books before the end of the year, there is plenty to talk about.
So, I now proclaim today as Day No. 1 of 100 days of Penguin. Hope you have a fun day!
(I can now say that I can cross this off today’s list – 2 down, 8 more to go)
September 7, 2013
Kermit the Frog, Charlie Brown, and Pomodoro Penguin?
We all have our favorite images of our childhood. Some of my best memories came from reading the Sunday morning comics or parking myself in front of the television to watch Sesame Street (and later the Muppet Show). For nearly four decades I have been a fan of a little green frog named Kermit and a little boy in the yellow shirt with the black chevron pattern named Charlie Brown.
To this day, I still do a Kermit the Frog impersonation (to varying degrees of success). I played the role of Charlie Brown in a community theater production of “Snoopy” as a teenager at my church. I attended graduate school at the University of Maryland which is Jim Henson’s alma mater. There is a statue of Henson holding Kermit outside of the student union.
To me both Kermit and Charlie Brown offer a level of sweetness and kindness. Even when the odds are stacked against them, they try to make the best out of situations.
For Kermit, it isn’t easy being green… but he owns it. For Charlie Brown, he knows that Lucy has yanked the football out from under him 100 times, still he has faith that “this time” he’s going to actually kick the ball.
There is a lot of Kermit and Charlie in me… it isn’t easy being different. It isn’t easy having that football ripped out from under you time and time again. Still, you sing a happy song and keep on going.
it is with these childhood influences that I have created my little, red, pasta-eating penguin named Pomodoro.
He’s sweet and he’s innocent. He is curious. There may be a hint of Kermit and Charlie and even me in Pomodoro. He may be different. It may not be easy “being red,” but with the help of his friends and a huge dose of excitement, Pomo embraces the world!
Check out the Adventures of Pomodoro Penguin.
April 17, 2013
Momentum is an awesome thing
How does one gain momentum? Is momentum something that we create, or does it somehow just happen to us?
At least the recumbent bike is not bad for my neck or back.
This is an interesting question that pondered this morning as I pedaled away on the recumbent bike at the gym. Today was my third consecutive day at the gym, all three of which I have spent on the recumbent bike.
Day one was sign-up day, so I only worked out about 30 minutes. Yesterday, I upped the workout to 45 minutes, though the bike I was using all of a sudden – and inexplicably -decided to have a mind of its own. It decided that I must not have been working hard enough at level 11, and shot straight to level 25 (max level).
My quads burned. I tried to keep going at this higher resistance. Soon I ground to a halt. This killed my momentum, ending my workout.
Today, I switched bikes. After 60 minutes of heart-pumping, sweat-inducing biking, I stood up – legs wobbly – with a giant smile on my face.
Why was I so happy? Unlike past experiences, I didn’t allow one obstacle get in my way. Instead, I made sure to get up on that bike, try again, and even go longer. I wouldn’t let my momentum be shot down.
I think this holds true with everything we do. It takes a ton of energy to get the ball rolling. Somehow, like magic, eventually it becomes easier to keep the same ball rolling once in motion. It’s the whole “bodies in motion tend to stay in motion” that you learned back in high school science. Once you start, it becomes so much easier to keep on going. You can’t slow it down. You don’t want to slow it down. This is momentum.
The trouble comes when excuses creep in.
We’ve all heard them. ”I can’t afford it,” “I don’t have time,” “I’m too tired,” ”my spouse/partner/kid is (insert lame excuse here).” The list goes on and on…
For the last 10 days, I have (mostly) kicked the coffee habit. I have reestablished a new habit of tea. I feel great, and don’t feel the need to go back to drinking a pot of coffee (or more) every day. My new habit has momentum.
I am three days into going to the gym. Every subsequent day that I drag myself out of bed, lace-up my running shoes, and make the choice to just go with the momentum and ride wave is another day toward building that new habit.
… and look, today is my second consecutive day writing a blog post. Is it possible that I am creating a new momentum here too?
The hardest part is creating the initial movements. Once those movements become habit, they become easier and easier to maintain. They build momentum. So, start small and pretty soon all of those little things will add-up to to something big – something unstoppable.
What can you do today to start creating your momentum?
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Music and children’s books from Bryce Westervelt
Die schöne Müllerin - Franz Schubert
Pomodoro Penguin Makes a Friend - a children’s picture book
Pomodoro Penguin and the Geography Giraffe
April 16, 2013
A gym rat and a cuppa… two weeks late!
Hellooooo world. It has been two weeks since I wrote a blog post!
Did you miss me? Seriously? Did you miss me?
There has been a lot of water under the bridge since I last graced this page. Let me catch you up on some great news:
I am now on day 9 of replacing my cup (or several) of Joe with a cuppa (tea). That’s right! I was drinking way too much coffee. One hard-sell at Teavana later and tea is now the “in” drink.
cuppa tea
They say variety is the spice of life. Well I have had black tea and green tea. I’ve steeped white tea and herbal tea. There has been loose tea and tea bags.
And the big change: there has only been 1.5 cups of coffee in the last nine days. I couldn’t make it through the first 45 minutes of my day without at least two cups a mere 10 days ago.
How do I feel?
After day two (where I went through withdrawal with a nasty migraine), I feel great. I literally have barely touched coffee. I haven’t even thought about brewing a pot of coffee. I don’t miss it one bit.
That’s right I lost coffee and gained tea (see how this blog title is supposed to work) and I feel a ton better.
Couple that with the very generous gift of a gym membership and I am finally off to the races with my weight loss. For the last two mornings I have actually gotten up and gone to the gym. I don’t even know how long it has been since I last went to a gym two days in a row.
Lisa says that after two days I am no longer a “grumpasaurus” and that the gym has really put me in a great mood. I say that I already feel like I have lost between 2 and 5 oz.
I also made a big pot of lentil soup last night. It sure seems like I am on a health kick (at least for the last two days) Let’s see if I can make the gym and the tea habits stick.
Now, if I could only get into the habit of writing a blog post more often than every 16 days.
What do you think? Can I do it? Can I keep up with my two new health habits and also get into a blogging habit?
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More from Bryce Westervelt
Die schöne Müllerin - Franz Schubert
Pomodoro Penguin Makes a Friend – a children’s picture book
Pomodoro Penguin and the Geography Giraffe
March 30, 2013
KDP Select Free Kindle Children’s Book! Pomodoro Penguin Rides Again!
I’ll admit, I started very late on my current KDP Select free promotion. For those of you unfamiliar with what I am talking about. I have chosen to exclusively sell my Adventures of Pomodoro Penguin ebooks on Amazon (available for Kindle Fire, Fire HD, Cloud Reader (PC/Mac), Kindle for iPad, and Kindle for Android).
“Mom, may Violet and I download the new Pomodoro Penguin book to read tonight?”
In exchange for exclusivity, I am allowed to give away my book up to 5 days every 90. Now, this would seem counter intuitive, but having had a nice little bump in sales after I ran a free even for my first book earlier in the month… I figured I would try, albeit at the last minute, to squeeze in two days at the end of the month for my second book.
Before I go on… if you haven’t gotten your free copy of Pomodoro Penguin and the Geography Giraffe, what are you waiting for? Go download it. I’ll wait for you:
Download the Book for free March 30-31, 2013 here:
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C0J7OA8
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C0J7OA8
Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00C0J7OA8
Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00C0J7OA8
Italy: http://www.amazon.it/dp/B00C0J7OA8
Japan: http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00C0J7OA8
France: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00C0J7OA8
Spain: http://www.amazon.es/dp/B00C0J7OA8
Brazil: http://www.amazon.com.br/B00C0J7OA8
Okay, now that you have downloaded it. I will tell you what happened the last time I ran a promo. I gave away almost 1,900 copies of Pomodoro Penguin Makes a Friend (which is currently available at the unbelievably low price of $2.99)
Before that promo, I emailed several websites to post my book, shared it with numerous Facebook groups, my friends, and the folks on Twitter. I reached as high as 176 (or there about) on the Kindle Free List in two days. This gave it a nice little sales bump for the next week or so. Not bad for a debut book at the beginning of the series.
Fast forward to this weekend.
I’ll admit, I got the whim on Friday afternoon to have a giveaway for book two over the two day holiday weekend. What this means is that some of the websites that listed book one, probably won’t list my second book because I waited until the last minute.
That being said, as of this writing I have given away 156 copies so far…. and have moved steadily up the rankings from #7,673 in free Amazon ebooks, to #3213, and now to #1805.
I would love to crack the top 1000 tonight and take a shot at the top 1000 100 (Thanks, Lisa for that catch) tomorrow. Would be quite the present from the Easter Bunny! So, what do you think? Can I do it? Can I make my KDP Select Free days work again for my little buddy Pomodoro Penguin?
Have you downloaded your free copy yet?
STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES!
3/30 @ 9:00 pm eastern…. Pomodoro Penguin has moved into the top 100 Free Children’s ebooks on Amazon.com for the first time at #99 and has climbed from #1805 to #1,541 overall. It has also cracked the UK list for the very first time at #3,708 This is awesome… back to Twitter for more tweeting!
3/30 @ 11:00 pm ….. Now the little red penguin is flying… or in his case waddling… up the charts. The book is currently #80 in the free Children’s books chart, #1171 overall. It also jumped to #2872 in the UK. Crossing fingers that a couple websites pick it up tomorrow and push it much higher than this! Then again, we have given away 75 copies over the last two hours!
3/31 @ 7:01 am – Happy Easter! The “little penguin that could” has done remarkably well overnight. He and his friends are now #697 in the US Free Amazon list, #51 in children’s free books, #1968 in the UK, and #1283 in Japan…. Gave away more than 100 books overnight, and about 400 total. I have to go my “day job” and go sing at church, hopefully, Pomo can keep the momentum through the morning!
Pomodoro Penguin moves to #47 on Free Amazon Children’s Books with 20 hours left in the KDP Select Promo
3/31 @7:13 – The numbers updated as I was typing this up… #620 in the US, and now #47 in Children’s. I am even listed right next to Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Who knew?!
March 29, 2013
Easter Weekend Flash Sale! Pomodoro Penguin Book 2 Free!
Flash mobs have been all the craze the last couple of years. This weekend I want to try something different than just some cheesy, Gangnam Style or Harlem Shake flash mob. Instead, I want to try a different approach… a “flash freebie.”
Yes, that’s right. As the title suggests, I plan to give away somewhere between 1 and 100,000 copies of Pomodoro Penguin and the Geography Giraffe on March 30-31, 2013.
Who doesn’t love a free children’s ebook?!?
Did you say FREE? Yes, I said that Pomodoro Penguin Book 2 WILL BE free March 30-31, 2013.
The last time I did a special free promo, I planned for days and gave away almost 2,000 copies of my first book. This time I am waiting until the last minute, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to have at least the same success, if not more success the second time!
The book is the continuation of Pomodoro Penguin Makes a Friend and is available for download to your Kindle Fire, Fire HD, Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android tablet app.
How does this work again I don’t have a Kindle? I want to read the ebook to my kid!
Well, the good news is that if you have a computer, you can get a free download of the book on Saturday or Sunday, too. All you have to have is the Kindle Cloud reader app, or the Kindle reader app for Android tablet or iPad. You can download that for free here!
So, feel free to download the book (and if your kids haven’t seen the first book, pick-up Pomodoro Penguin Makes a Friend for the unbelievably low price of $2.99.
Also, please share this post with you friends so that they can get the book for free, too!
Pomodoro Penguin and the Geography Giraffe $2.99 (FREE on March 30-31, 2013)
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C0J7OA8/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C0J7OA8/
Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00C0J7OA8/
Pomodoro Penguin Makes a Friend – $2.99 (US)
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BR43406/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BR43406/
Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00BR43406/
March 26, 2013
A Balancing Act: Singing, Writing, and Other Stuff
Life is barreling at warp speed toward April. I can’t believe all that has happened this month. Between the wedding plans, writing and publishing two children’s books, beginning to work on a small boatload of music for next month…
It is enough to make your head spin.
The last few weeks I put in my fair share of 12 hour-plus days. Books, edits, music, more music, church gig, shoveling snow, a stay-cation, that didn’t feel like much of a vacation, wedding plans…
Knock on wood, I haven’t gotten sick, yet. April 28… I can get sick then, after all my gigs are over with.
Still, I am thrilled that the second Pomodoro Penguin book had a soft release on Monday. Pomodoro Penguin and the Geography Giraffe is available for sale… I will start really promoting it in the coming weeks.
Also in the coming weeks, after a busy week at church for Holy week, I am singing some Corigliano folk song settings on my fiance’s recital and have an exciting gig at St. John the Divine in the city, where I am singing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Brooklyn Phil.
All of this being said, I am finding that trying to balance singing, writing, social media, and a personal life is a tad more difficult than turning on an egg timer.
My second attempt at a children’s book is now available….
Now if I could only find a way to blog daily…. I vote for 26 hour days.
March 25, 2013
March 23, 2013
Working Hard at Working Hard
I promise to keep this short. How short? 150 words short, perhaps? Darn, I just wasted another four words.
Pomodoro Penguin and Violet Owl swing from a tree in the backyard.
I keep saying to myself that I will write in my blog daily. I am lucky to write weekly at this point. Am I a slacker? Hardly! As a matter of fact, I am working hard at working hard.
Squeezed in between wedding plans, I have managed to reach the 90% complete mark on the second Pomodoro Penguin book. This little penguin has turned into a full-time obsession. That’s right. Now that people actually LIKED the first book and are EXPECTING the second book, I need to deliver.
I somehow worked harder on “Pomodoro Penguin and the Geography Giraffe” than I did on the “Pomodoro Penguin Makes a Friend.” I knew I wasn’t reinventing the wheel, but the story is more complicated, the book is 60% longer, and with two new characters, the illustrations are more involved.
The good news is, I like where the book is headed, and I am sooo close to hitting publish, a mere 15 days after I hit publish on the first one. The story for “Pomodoro Penguin Visits Italy” is already swimming in my head.
With that being said, I have about four more drawings to make, some final edits to complete, and I must be over my 150-word limit! See you on the other side.
March 15, 2013
Free St. Patrick’s Day Coloring Sheet – Pomodoro Penguin
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we are sharing a free coloring sheet! That’s right. Inspired by this image:
Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Pomodoro Penguin and Violet Owl!
To get the special coloring sheet for your kids, click on the image below and download the PDF! Don’t forget to download your copy of Pomodoro Penguin Makes a Friend at Amazon!
Click the Image to get the download!
