Birth of a Story

I haven't written in a while for life swoops you up and flings you into the chaos of managing everyday activities. School has started so I am busy getting back into routines with my kids. I have lunch duty once a week which I love because I can spend time in school with my kids and get to know their friends. I also become a face in the school. I also volunteered to do the 2nd grade Auction project for my kids. That was fun. For the second grade, it had to be related to their Holy Communion. So each child made a mini cross with mosaic tiles and each child wrote their names on little white tiles. We pieced them all together to make one big cross. . We mosaiced the rest of the cross. It looks beautiful. We hope to make some money for the school at the Auction.
So that has also kept me busy along with early mornings, lunches, sports, playdates, homework, dinners and more. I love it but not as much as my pillow at night.

As for my book, it is in the illustration project now. Denise is amazing. She is bringing my book to life. A few weeks ago, I had to approve all of the sketches of the entire book. She took my words and suggestions and brought my story to life. Her creative genius and talent in drawing has brought more to my book than I ever expected. Her characters are endearing and fun. She has created stories within the story using the characters. Her attention to detail is remarkable. I am in love. I look forward to meeting her someday. Her is an example of her drawings. They are rough sketches.

So, I have approved the entire book. Giddy with excitement. Now we wait while she paints the pictures. Well, before she paints them, I found out she has to transfer all of the sketches to the appropriate paper to paint on. I can't even imagine. What a process. She let my editor know that she has completed that part and is painting now. It's really not that hard to wait when you understand how much work she is putting into this process. I am so blessed to have found Denise. I hope she is enjoying the process as well. 

According the contract, she has until November 1st to complete the illustrations. From there, I think they go to proof and layout. Another approval and then it goes to print. Exciting time for me. I am nervous too. I don't know what it will bring. I am hoping everyone will LOVE it and want to hear more of them. 

I am starting a Flip Side Movement to get everyone to start looking at the Flip Side. Hopefully it will bring with it empathy for others, kindness and generosity and most of all bring hope that there is goodness in people in the world. 

I wil keep you updated when I hear about the progress. Thanks for following.

I've never seen bad drawing destroy a good idea. On the other hand, I've never seen a good drawing save a bad idea.

Paul Conrad 

Let Me Illustrate the Process

So now we are in the illustration process. It has been a while since I entered because it took a while to secure an illustrator. There were many illustrators of whom I love their style. Marian contacted many of them and either they are well out of our budget or they are too busy to begin. This part took about 2 months. This was very difficult waiting to find out who was going to bring my book alive. It was out of my hands and up to Marian to fill that important role. Fortunately, we found a woman named Denise Clemmensen to fill those shoes. She is fabulous. Her art is amazing and just what I was hoping for. She lives in California. I have not met her or talked to her yet and I probably won’t until the process is over. That is a bummer. I am hoping that if this goes smoothly, she will illustrate the whole series. 

Once we found Denise and she agreed to our guidelines, she began to sketch the characters of my book. We gave her some guidelines for who the characters are and what they should look like. She actually asked me to send her pictures of my kids as samples. I was thrilled to do that. So, again, I have to wait and wait. Again, a very difficult thing to do. 

Then, I get the call that the character sketches are in. Woo hoo. Kris, my editor didn’t rave about them. Why? Oh no, what if they aren’t that good? Maybe she doesn’t want to put her opinion on them. We discussed what we were hoping for. Oh no. Now I got worried. I couldn’t go see them for 4 days. Would you believe the sketches arrived on the last two days of my children’s school? No chance I could make it to Kris until the following week. Ugh. 

Monday came and off I went to see Kris and MY SKETCHES. I was more nervous than any other time. I was afraid I would have to reject someone’s art work. That would make me feel terrible. When I arrived, Kris said that they were fabulous. Whew. Why didn’t she say that in the first place. I was so relieved. When I saw them, I immediately loved what I saw. they are darling. Sweet and simple and fun. I was giddy with excitement. I had to approve them so the illustrator could continue with the book sketches. We discussed the contract between myself and the illustrator.  Once we sign the contract, she can begin. She is going to bring my story alive. We have to supply her with an outline of a general idea of what each page should look like and where the text will go. We also gave her some creative license to do what she feels is right for the story.

Now we wait again. She has 45 days to complete the sketches. Then, I have to approve every pictures on every page before she can go on to put color to them. She will make any changes that we request. She then has another 45 to 90 days to complete the book which is longer than we expected but the book will be done when the book gets done. And then I can share it with you.

“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.”

 Arnold H. Glasgow quotes

Lay it Out There

I met with Kris again today. I was a bit more nervous today because I made some significant changes to my story. When I met with Kris last Friday, Marian had taken a look, with fresh eyes, at my story. She wanted me to get rid of some or all of the “thing” and “stuff” words.  Which I understood but wasn’t sure how I was going to change them. After reading it a million (plus one) times, some things you don’t notice anymore. LIke that holiday decoration sitting on your mantle (under the tv, mind you) in JULY. You just don’t see it anymore.  Marian also didn’t think the beginning drew the reader in well enough. So, this was the most challenging editing I’ve done. In a story about collecting, sorting, giving and receiving “things” and “stuff”, I had to figure out how to replace those words. I understand Marian’s point. She thinks they are slang-like words. So I did the best I could. I could not remove all of them them because the story is in a child’s voice and that is how they talk. I couldn’t possibly have the child say, “I collected all of my belongings.” or “We sorted our possessions.” It would be too contrived unless of course it is one of those talking baby commercials (which are funny).  As for the beginning, I was nervous because I didn’t want to change the feel of the story or trivialize it. I think I was successful. The first couple stanzas keep you guessing a little. I want to appeal to a wide audience, young and old and in between.