The Great Unboxing
(The Long and Winding Road From a Story to a Book.)
Yesterday, I received a box containing my children’s book,
Toolshed Surprise. Although I had self-published a poetry collection a few
years ago, this box of books felt remarkably different. I can tell you I was over the moon excited!
This book is the product of a two-year long wait, because of
illustrator changes, pandemic shutdowns, paper shortages, and other random
things that most of us wouldn’t think could affect publishing time frames.
For those who may not know the history, I wrote a children’s
story in 2019 for a contest that called for stories about Bigfoot. It was a fun
story. It received an Honorable Mention, and I filed it away. Then, in 2020, a
different contest called for a children’s story on any subject.
On a whim, I polished the Bigfoot story and submitted it.
That second contest was sponsored by Young Dragon’s Press. My story won, and
the judge, Clarissa Willis, who was then the acquisitions editor at Young
Dragons, contacted me. They had an illustrator who drew outstanding, realistic
pictures of Bigfoot, and were interested in publishing the story.
We signed a contract, made some revisions, and waited. In
the meantime, the illustrator moved along, leaving them searching for someone
who could draw Bigfoot. A new illustrator signed on, K.M. Brown, and the look
changed considerably, from realistic to cartoonish, which is actually more
suited to a children’s story. We made a few more revisions.
Then a global pandemic shut down just about everything,
including the publishing world. By the time the publishing industry returned to
full production, over a year had passed. The book finally made it up the ladder
of projects and got its final revisions.
It is available for preorder on Amazon with a release date
of August 30, 2022, two years almost to the day of the contest win that started
the ride.
Maybe I’m a pessimist, but until this book actually showed
up on Amazon to order, I was not 100% sure it would ever really happen. So, it has
been quite a roller coaster ride.
Many thanks to Oghma Creative Media, Casey Cowan, Young
Dragons Press, Clarissa Willis, K.M. Brown, and to my friends who are probably
tired of hearing about my book by now.
The book is here. It’s a cute story with fun, colorful illustrations.
It’s probably most suitable for kids seven to ten, but can be read to younger
kids. It’s available in paperback from Amazon, and should be available in e-book
at a later date.
Here is a link, if you’re inclined.
Congratulations for writing and delivering your baby into the literary world.
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