Take a 5 minute survey

A short 5 minute survey is up at surveymonkey to help provide some insight into reader's needs.

I've wondered, ever since the first visitors trickled into allfolktales.com, "who visits my site?". Are they kids reading folktales for fun? Or are they reading for an assignment? Are they teachers? Are they parents? What are they really looking for when they stumble on this site?

I've received hints through readers who send me notes to ask questions or just to encourage my efforts. But I've never sought to get complete answers. Now, some 2 years and 10 months later, it finally occurs to me to ask. Just ask. So I headed over to surveymonkey.com and created a survey. And I'm asking you, allfolktales readers, to please participate in the survey.

What to do with survey results
You may be wondering, "what do you intend to do with the information"?

I mentioned in my last blog post that I have dreams for allfolktales.com. I'm ready to take this site to the next level. I'm overwhelmed by the magnitude of what I'm dreaming of, but intend to take it one step at a time, closer to that dream. While figuring out how to take the next big step, I intend to work on all those little details that I have ignored - a tweak here and a tweak there.

While tweaking here and there, I want to be sure that I keep you in mind. What do you need from this site? What do you use today? How can this site serve you better? How can I know if I do not ask? So I'm asking you to please take the survey and let me know allfolktales can serve you better?

Thank you
Thank you for taking the time to help. And thank you for visiting allfolktales.com

- Omowunmi

Putting my vision out here

For months now, I've been thinking about where I want to take this site, what I want to do next. I'm having a hard time recalling more stories, so is that it? Does that signify the end of this project? "No no no." It can't end like this. Something in me rebels against that thought. But what to do? I don't know. Or, I didn't know.

In the past few weeks, my thoughts are beginning to crystallize into a clearer vision. But it is a vision greater than myself. Greater than my limitations. "What are my limitations?" I decided I will not let those, real or imagined, hamper my vision. I will go about making it happen.

I started allfolktales.com because of my daughter. I wanted to share these stories with her. She's turning five now and reading on her own. I want her to read the stories. I have a son who's one, and soon, I want him the site to be a resource for him too. I want kids to be able to read folktales on the site.

That's the essense of my vision. You can't write for kids and not have pictures. But alas, I don't know how to draw! This inability had loomed large from the onset. Back in June 2006, I cited a lack of colorful illustrations as one of the primary reasons I found it difficult recalling the folktales I heard and read when I was young. That statement should have informed my vision. I thought about it, I wished it, but concluded, "I cannot draw". I decided to focus on what I could do - collect the stories. Collection will be ongoing, for as long as I can find a new story, but it's time to shift my focus. Except, did I already mention, I cannot draw?

But I have now decided, my vision will not be limited by me. In the past, I was reluctant to publicize my goals for the site because I thought to myself, "what if I can't do it?", "what if I don't have the time?" etc. Those thoughts still plague me, but I'm ignoring them. And I'm taking the next step, one step at a time, to go where I need to go. And hopefully, if I find myself giving up, someone will read this post and set me straight again.

Now to my next step - figure out how to find an illustrator.