This past week I had an opportunity to visit a local Montessori school and give an author presentation to about 30 kids, kindergarten through 3rd graders. Both of my kids attended kindergarten at this school (many years ago), so it was a homecoming of sorts for me, and a lot of fun.

As is the case every time I visit a school, the enthusiasm level of my audience ran very high. Because kids are easily excitable, sometimes I think that an author of a book titled, “How Paint Dries” would be a big hit with a youthful audience. But then I realize that kids are fascinated by fishing and fish.  When I asked the group to raise their hands if they like fishing, nearly the entire room was filled with up-stretched arms. Not all of them had gone fishing, but they were all enthralled by the prospects of fishing.

Some of the audience members had even been fly fishing before, and while my presentation obviously emphasizes fly fishing, it’s really more about fishing in general. After all, the chances are much greater that kids will have dunked a worm or salmon egg than wet a line with a fly on the end.

The first phase of my presentation is Powerpoint slide show in which I reveal the great things about fly fishing: Having fun with friends and family; seeing beautiful new places; seeing cool things in nature, like wildlife; and of course fish. Then I talked about the process of writing and illustrating the Olive books. This always gets kids in the mood to do some drawing, so next up I drew Olive on a whiteboard.

It’s always fun to hear the kids’ reaction as I do this. Then, much to the horror of my audience, I erased my drawing!  Next, I drew Olive again, but this time step-by-step as the kids followed along with each stroke of the pen. I love to see the widely-varied results of their efforts. Kids are very creative.

Lastly I asked the kids to each draw something having to do with fishing and write a short description of their artwork. Again, this was very entertaining and the subject matter ranged from a military tank made to look like a fish, to a fish tank with goldfish, just like the one in their classroom. One little boy even drew his own fishing fly in the style of Olive.  One little girl named Brooke signed her name to her drawing, Brooke Trout!

At 2:44pm (my visit was scheduled to conclude at 2:45) one little boy, who had been particularly engaged throughout my presentation, came up to me and reminded me that I had to leave soon. I looked at the clock on the wall and told him that I didn’t have to dash out the door right away–I was enjoying the chance to observe all the creations the kids had just finished. He insisted that I had to leave at 2:45. Then I realized why he was so concerned that I leave right on schedule: recess began at 2:45.

A couple of months ago I posted about Olive receiving a nice nod in the 2012 Fishing Annual issue of Outdoor Canada magazine. The books, as well as the fly box and nippers by Montana Fly Company, were given the Best New Gear Award for Kids. The accolade was quite a welcome surprise.  Wayne Phillips is the writer behind the gear reviews, and while I did know from correspondence with Wayne several months ago that he was going to review Olive, I didn’t know when or exactly what the review would entail. I’m grateful for Wayne’s interest in Olive, which you can see here.

Photo by Outdoor Canada magazine

As it turns out, Wayne is a good guy to know because he also writes a weekly column for the Saskatoon Sun. In the October 23, 2011 issue his column discussed the value in teaching kids about fishing and getting outdoors, and featured Olive. Wayne sent me a nice letter with a photocopy of the article:

From the Saskatoon Sun, October 23, 2011

Thank you, Wayne, for your interest in Olive, and for the really nice things you had to say. With your help,I hope that Canada will get hooked on Olive!

Recently I’ve been talking about Olive’s plans for an iPad app, and it’s officially in development. Olive has also launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise awareness and hopefully funding for the project.

As a fan of Olive, I hope you’ll take a look and consider backing her project, which can be found HERE:

Thanks for your support!

In our modern, fast-paced world where mobile devices reign supreme, apps have become exceedingly popular. Unless you live under a rock you know that there are apps for just about everything imaginable, so the catch phrase, “there’s an app for that” isn’t really much of an exaggeration.

And soon, you’ll be able to say that about Olive, too.

Olive will be entering into the mobile world with an iPad app that will be a digital book featuring a condensed version of Olive the Little Woolly Bugger and Olive and The Big Stream. If your kids already gotten hooked on Olive’s print books, not to worry—this isn’t going to be just the stories translated to a digital medium. There will be interactive features so kids can learn about additional elements pertaining to the story. The text will scroll so that kids can read the story by themselves, or they’ll be able to switch on a mode whereby the story is narrated, with words high-lighted; a feature that will help early readers. There’ll also be some game play, including a fun little number called Chuckin’ Bugs.

A key point of the Olive books is to get kids interested in learning about fly fishing, and outside away from video games, cell phones and yes, iPads. So, you may be asking, ‘why jump on the bandwagon and become part of the nature-deficit problem?’  I don’t see this as becoming part of the problem at all, rather adopting the technology that kids (and everyone) have already embraced, and using it to communicate the value in getting outside. If kids are going to be sitting around playing with their iPads, they may as well play with something educational and entertaining that still encourages outdoor activity. There’s no app for actually going out and exploring a stream, turning over rocks to look at bugs, and wetting a line—but soon there will be an app that celebrates that.

By the way, if you’re a fly fishing company and would like to sponsor this app, I’m fielding inquiries.

No, seriously.

Simon Beaufoy is the Oscar-winning screenwriter for Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which will be officially released on March 9th in the States. As someone who had never partaken of fly fishing prior to his involvement in the film, Beaufoy has some very interesting thoughts about fly fishing in this article.

“Before I started I thought fishing was kind of a stupid sport. It never really attracted me… They have all this gear and they stand there and do nothing.  But I thought I better go fly fishing because that’s what the book is sort of about and I need to understand where this strange meditative sense comes from in the Sheik and his fishing. I was absolutely hopeless at it but I could completely see how it becomes incredibly addictive and incredibly calming. I understood that this is a metaphor for peace and calm and harmony and tolerance and sort of being at one with nature,” he says.

Beaufoy says the experience of the movie now even has him taking his kids fly fishing with him, that is when he has a break between projects which is rare since his Slumdog Oscar win.

This just goes to show that fly fishing can have very broad appeal, and that a film about fly fishing can make a positive impact– it’s great that Mr Beaufoy has gotten his kids involved in fly fishing as well.

Hopefully they’ll get a chance to see Olive on the big screen one day.

Olive’s friends over at the Fly Fishing Frenzy recently posted an article from The Bozeman Chronicle titled, Reflecting on the film “A River Runs Through It” and how it changed Montana. The article talks about the impact the movie had on Montana specifically, and also fly fishing in general. It got peoples’ attention, and depending upon one’s perspective the movie’s success was either a good thing or a bad thing. One thing is for certain: the move had an impact.

Twenty years have passed since then, and things have quieted down a bit in the fly fishing industry. In fact the silence is deafening. I believe the time is now for another blockbuster film to hit theaters and once again use fly fishing as a vehicle to tell a great story, to get peoples’ attention.

No, I’m not referring to Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.

The script treatment for Olive’s film is nearly done and I could not be happier with the results. As I prepare to contact producers I can’t help but jump way ahead of myself and envision the overwhelming audience response to the film. It will be unique, unlike any other animated film the industry or public has ever seen. It has all the elements of a great story with an extremely likable cast of characters as well as some villains you’ll absolutely love to hate. There’s also an underlying message that will create an environmental awareness that is much needed today (all cleverly disguised in good movie-going fun, of course).

To say that Olive the Woolly Bugger will be the next River Runs Through It would be absurd, but it will have an impact if I can just get producers to hear my pitch.

Olive the woolly bugger just wants to catch the biggest fish. But beneath the surface lie troubled waters, as well as the answers she's really looking for.

Kathy Nelson and Carissa Dunphy of Ovaleye Cloud Services recently had me on their show for an interview in which I go on (and on) about Olive the Woolly Bugger. I warned them ahead of time that once I get to talking about fly fishing and Olive, there’s no stopping me.  And still, they wanted to go ahead with the interview, for which I am grateful.

Kathy is the CEO and Chief Decision Maker at OvalEye, where I have all my websites hosted. Kathy’s daughter, Jenn Donogh is the COO and Chief Brand Editor and they are great to work with. Carissa works for Ovaleye as Community Relations Manager and she also owns her own business, Caffeine Keyboard, in which she builds websites and offers great insight into optimizing your web presence. Of the many services offered by Ovaleye, promoting their clients via new web technologies is paramount.  I’d like to thank them for the support and the opportunity to  bring Olive the Woolly Bugger to a new audience.

Grab a couple cups of coffee, sit back, and (hopefully) enjoy the interview. Skype glitches provide for some unintended amusement.

An article in USAToday.com recently came through my in-box, and I’m glad it did. The article, titled “Study: New children’s books lack reference to nature, animals” talks about the trend in children’s books, whereby there are fewer and fewer themes dealing with the natural outdoor world.

This is really of little surprise to me, as it’s merely a microcosm of the world in which we live today—a world in which kids are spending more time engaged with technology, and less time outside playing the dirt.  I’ve written about this on several occasions, touting the merits of fly fishing as a great way to get kids interested in outdoor recreation, gaining an appreciation for the natural wonders, and having fun away from computers, cell phones and video games.

The USA Today article says this of the study:

Researchers at several universities reviewed about 8,100 images in 296 children’s books. The books were all Caldecott Medal winners and honorees from 1938 to 2008.

They didn’t review the Olive books because Olive did not win a Caldecott award. The Caldecott is a very distinguished award given annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. But that’s beside the point.

Co-author Chris Podeschi of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania says: “This is just one sample of children’s books, but it suggests there may be a move away from the natural world as the population is increasingly isolated from these settings. This could translate into less concern about the environment.”

I would agree. One of the great values in teaching kids about the outdoors is teaching them the importance of taking care of the environment. Through fly fishing, Olive teaches kids to be stewards of the fish, and the world in which the fish live. If you teach a child a lesson early on, they will carry that through life with them, growing into the next generation of conservationists. In a world where our natural resources hang in a delicate balance, this is more important than ever.

Not surprisingly the article cites Dr. Richard Louv, co-founder of the Children & Nature Network and a well-known author on the subject of connecting kids with nature. Aside from his passion for reconnecting kids with nature, Dr. Louv is also a fly fisherman  The disconnect between today’s children and the natural world is a very real concern.

Psychologist Susan Linn, author of The Case for Make Believe, says the research supports growing concerns about children’s lack of connection with nature.

“Time in green space is essential to children’s mental and physical health,” Linn says. “And the health of the planet depends on a generation of children who love and respect the natural world enough to protect it from abuse and degradation.”

To read the full article, click HERE.

For two reasons I wish the folks conducting the study had chosen Olive as a subject for their research: First, that would mean that Olive had earned a Caldecott Award; and second, they would have seen that some children’s books still carry the torch for the great outdoors.

It’s been a while since I shared any news about Olive’s quest for Hollywood. The silence may suggest that there’s been no progress, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth—I’ve actually been quite busy.

Now before you jump to any wild conclusions, let me state for the record that I do not have a film deal (yet). I have not been speaking with any animation studio executives or film producers (yet). I have not landed a Big Fish (yet).

So, what have I been doing that constitutes any sort of progress?

Working on a screen adaptation, that’s what.

An animated film featuring Olive the Woolly Bugger will not be simply an extended version of the stories from the Olive books. Certainly the film’s script will be based on the characters from the books and perhaps some elements from the stories, but an entirely new story  must be created.  And then there’s the matter of actually writing the screenplay itself. You see, I’m a writer, and an author, but a screenwriter I am not. That’s a specialized vocation all its own. One thing I did not want to do was dabble experimentally in screenwriting on a project so important. Remember, I need to sell this idea to someone. This is no time for a hack.

A writer doesn’t just sit down and begin scribing a screenplay. Before the script is crafted, the plot of the story must be outlined in what is called a treatment. A treatment is in fact an outline of the story’s structure, but a treatment has very specific requirements in order to be effective. It must be written in an act-based structure. Characters must be introduced. There must be a character arc showing the character’s growth over the course of the story. And it has to be compelling, without all the detail of an actual screenplay. The treatment precedes the first draft of the screenplay, so needless to say the treatment is a VERY key element in the film’s development.

Before any film development has begun, the treatment will be a critical sales tool in pitching my concept to a producer, so the treatment has to be exceptional. As I said, I’m not a screenwriter, so what am I doing about writing the treatment?  I’m working with a brilliant writer who knows what they’re doing. I first contacted Simon Cornish about creating 3D versions of Olive and Clark several months ago. Turns out Simon is a rather great person to know, as his talents seem limitless.

I sent Simon PDFs of the Olive books so he could gain a sense of who Olive is. Then I sent him a lengthy outline I had written with my ideas for the film. What Simon has fashioned, using his immense creativity as well as what I provided, is mind-boggling. We’ve shared overseas Skype sessions (Simon lives in the UK) and back and forth emails. We’ve worked through 3 iterations of the treatment, and with each revision I am only more and more pleased. We’re getting close to being finished, and have set a deadline of two weeks to have things wrapped up.

I believe that Simon is perhaps the perfect person for this task because he is not a fly fisherman. I didn’t want someone smitten by or even familiar with fly fishing to work on this. It’s best that the writer have no experience or knowledge of fly fishing because in order for a film like this to be successful, fly fishing needs to be down-played. The film must have mainstream appeal, and the writing must not be influenced by a certain affinity for the subject matter. In my opinion, what Simon has created is exceptional. I can’t wait until it’s done.

Then what?

Well, then I go about trying to pitch the treatment to a producer, animation executive or other interested party who I am cautiously optimistic will see that an animated film featuring Olive the Woolly Bugger is worth the time and money that will be required to bring the film to the public.

I recently find out that the Olive books and fly boxes/nippers from Montana Fly Company were recently awarded Best New Gear for Kids for 2012 by Outdoor Canada magazine.

Seems as though I’m always the last to know, and in fact I may not have ever known about this if not for someone else posting the photo from the magazine page on Facebook!

Thanks to Montana Fly Company, a great partner for Olive.