The Promise Took a Turn

As I started the new year I promised myself I would do more with my writing this year.  I started the year posting regularly to this blog, and actually did so fairly regularly until April.  I was feeling fairly pleased with myself.  That was the month I attended a writer's conference in the area.

The writer's conference was geared more toward those writing a novel but there was something that happened after the conference.  My promise took a turn in a different direction.   There were a number of authors who had books for sale, some on how or what to write, a number of science fiction, numerous romances, a variety of fantasy and even some scripts/screenplays. What I did not see many of were books for children, although I think there was one table that I thought offered a few. I remember walking away with the question as to why didn't more people write for children?
One of the things I found was that many writers said they had thought about writing for children but they didn't know what children would like, and didn't want to risk the reputations they had built as an author writing fiction for adults.  Another prohibitive factor mentioned was the cost of illustrating  a children's book with 24 or more full color pages, even using freelance illustrators.  

Well, a reputation was not something I was terribly worried about at the time. I had published two self-help books, but had only sold a few to date.  I didn't have reputation or a reader base of hundreds.  What I did have was a feeling that did not go away, that I needed to share what I had already written before worrying about writing more.   I had spent much of 2016 following a prompting to purchase stuffed animals that would go along with a series of stories I had written over the years as my grandchildren were growing up.  Along with the animals, I found myself purchasing two dolls whom I felt were much like the princess and prince in the stories. At the conference I had learned about several websites that offered free or low priced photos that could be used or edited for illustrations and particularly covers.    I had also talked with several authors during lunch that were happy with results they had received via Kindle Direct Publishing. One of the authors in the audience during one of the presentations asked a question about using a presentation program to design the cover and/or front pages of a book.  His question prompted me to search the internet for more information.  In doing so I came across an idea of how to prepare a children's book using a slide presentation program.  The final thing that convinced me publishing my stories might be possible, even on a budget, was that while taking a refresher course in publishing, I found an easy way to combine elements from different photos into a slide presentation.

As the weeks passed, an idea began to move forward and the belief that it was at least worth the effort.  So I began to self-illustrate some of my stories using low-cost purchased backgrounds and images, and adding elements of photos of the animals and dolls I had taken myself.  The next step was to add the text, making minor edits to the stories as they had originally been written and format them into a form that could be repeated.    The final step, for me, was to decide was what the covers should be - something about the particular book or something that would be recognizable from book to book.  I finally decided to use the same cover for each book, but to make each unique by varying the color of the background.   The first of the books about Princess Jelisa was finally published in  July in both print and ebook formats.  .   As  of today I have published 6 of the possible 20 or more stories I have written.

I don't know about you, but for me keeping a promise to myself, has been something I am really excited about.  It may not look like what I anticipated or expected back in January, but too many new year resolutions in the past have disintegrated or been pushed aside by other demands by this time of the year.  So I am anxious to continue my efforts.   I invite you to follow me as I share more of the Princess Jelisa stories and more of my own as well.