1.  Who are you, and what do you do?

Terrapin Hollow Educational Foundation is a registered non-profit corporation in the state of Arkansas. We are a small organization dedicated to bringing to the students high-impact educational opportunities that simply are not available in lower income counties.

We began offering our Children's Anthology Program--a 4-week creative writing series--to homeschool groups in 2014, with hopes of expanding to offering the program to school districts and homeschool groups in other counties as well. We would one day like to host a regional young writer's conference.

We have other programs in the works, including a children's theater company, film and animation workshops and other courses. Check back often.

2.  What's the deal with the Discussion Guides?

While our books are certainly entertaining, they are all crafted with the intention of inspiring dialogue. Our free Discussion Guides are a mechanism intended to jump start those juicy conversations in home- and public- school groups, book clubs, and amongst anyone who really enjoys playing with big ideas. The books are intended to be an accessible introduction to systems thinking ideas -- that is, to introduce an idea without boring someone to tears with a lecture. The Guides then build upon that material.

We here at Terrapin Hollow take very few things seriously, but dialogue is one exception. People should talk about the forces and ideas that govern their lives. They should leave no stone unturned. Even the Discussion Guides are fair game. If you think the Discussion Guide for a given book has missed out on an intellectual nugget, let us know. If we think it inspires open-ended dialog, we'll be happy to add it to the Discussion Guide. We're always looking for people who are excited to play along.

3.  What are your manuscript submission requirements?

Terrapin Hollow Press, our publishing arm, does produce original material, but we do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. All books and workbooks must tie into our curriculum. Please check our submission guidelines for further information.

4.  Why do you charge for some services but offer others for free? Who determines which programs are run for free?

In a perfect world, we would run all of our educational programs for free. But if we lived in a perfect world, there would already be other organizations out there offering under-priviledged children all the free education they could ever want, and we'd be kicking back in Tahiti (hey, it's a perfect world, right?). We aim to use grants and sponsorships to cover as much of the programs as we can, but there's never enough money. Offering our services for a fee helps to finance the programs needed most--and those who need it most generally can't afford the cost.

All our programs are decided by our board of directors, as is the determination process for which programs, and under which conditions, can be offered for free.

5.  I have an idea for a program that the community really needs! What now?

If you have an idea for a new program--awesome! There needs to be more people in the world thinking of ways to improve their communities. Go you.

We would love to hear about your idea. Send us an email with the details. Keep in mind, we are a small group of people who rely on volunteers, so hashing out the details of the program may take time. Getting funding and organizing volunteers definitely takes time.

6.  Why don't you post your editorial services rates on the webpage?

We don't post our editorial rates on line because every project that comes to us is created differently. Several factors determine the length and complexity--and overall price--of a project.

* The overall manuscript size. Generally manuscripts are billed by the page, and a page is defined as approximately 250 words. But some projects will require different definitions of what constitutes a page, such as poetry.

* Are we editing for voice? Consistency? MLA Style? Are we editing someone's webpage?

* Will we be formating for one ebook platform (such as Kindle or Nook), or several?

* Will we be coaching someone through the completion of the project?

* Will the book layout include illustrations or photographs?

As you can see, determining how much work a project will take isn't quite cut and dry. But if you email us with a description of the project, we'll be happy to send you a quote.