Well this week's news is that I am currently working on a Kindle version of Jumbo Giant Sausages, as well as keeping up with social media and various book-launches of my author-friends. Whoo.. get me! Ahh.. the glamourous life of a self-published author.
I have also been doing some trial sketches for my next book. Thanks to Manuela Pentangelo the fabulous illustrator of Sascha Martin's Rocket Ship for her encouragement and advice recently. I've got my sketch books out, and I've done at least a few sessions this week!
Jana Broecker asked me this week what my 'system' is. Given the fact that I also have a day job, and not nearly the time I would love to have to devote to my passion for children's stories.. my answer was 'like a plate-spinner at the circus'. I think that sums up the gentle nudging required of all the aspects of self-publishing. While not forgetting to eat, drink, cook or other family duties. I'll be writing about Jana's new book next week (Pilot Ray - the Tale of a Snail).
I have to say, I am eternally grateful to my daughter Emma, who is three, and won't be reading this.. but having a three year old means I'm not just reading books for professional curiousity as I may have in the past. No. Now I'm at the coal face and really seeing how her interest in books is. Some she will want to see again and again, like Cami Kangaroo Has Too Many Sweets by Stacy C Bauer and Rebecca Sinclair. Though I think 'cavities' (covered in the book by a darling kangaroo who is eating too many sweets) is quite the concept for a three-year old, she takes it in her stride. I think mainly because she has such a big thing for ice-cream at the moment, and obtaining it!!
Some books, Emma does not warm to so much. No need to tell you about those! We don't really read mine at the moment, (she has read them a lot though!) but I am proud to say that when we picked the first blackberry I've seen in the garden this week (isn't that a little early??) she said...'Like in Bradley's Garden, Daddy!' (Bradley and the Magic Carpet). So I was chuffed she remembered, as in that story Bradley is sent out to pick blackberries.
I'm going to be setting Bradley and the Dinosaur up for free download this weekend.. so if you haven't seen it yet, or would like to have a copy for your phone/tablet etc (you never know when you might have to entertain a small child for half-an-hour!). Check it out tomorrow for FREE.
Another book on free download tomorrow I'll be looking to get is How to Say Hello To a Dog. The cover looks adorable, and I'm also friends with the author. It looks to be an A-Z book.. which is great as we're doing the alphabet as well at the moment - and I always need the practice... :0).
Dino Wishes,
Julian