3, 2, 1 launch!

I just launched a book my friend, Gillaire, and I wrote about a French Bulldog named Cali.  It's called Cali the Silly Frenchie Goes for a Walk.  It's a picture book you can share with dog lovers and small children.  It contains photos of my friend's dog as she goes on her favorite daily adventure, a walk.  It's cute, sweet, and short.  You can share it with any lovers of dogs, pets or Frenchies. 

Additionally, I entered a short story in a contest.  It's called "Before the Pruning Shears."  It's a dark[ish] story of a dystopic future.  Feel free to vote for my story if you'd like under contests. 

Remember as well you can still get my "Puss in Boots" version, "If You Give a Cat the Boot," for free.  It's a funny sci fi version that opens up the world of my upcoming chapter book series, Doomimals. 

You can also get (so far on certain websites but not yet Amazon) my essay of the last two weeks of my nephew's mom's life, Battered Wings.  It's a stream-of-consciousness story from the point of view of one who crosses over. 

Very soon, I will also launch Iggy's Quest, a children's book about a bored hamster going on a quest with his friends.  That should be up within a week or two. 

Remember that by going to my website, you can sign up for my newsletter and receive yet another short story, "Shopping for Herself," about a woman's voyage of self-discovery.  I would love it if you'd also send me a review.  Thank you or your interest in my budding career.  I would love to hear from you on any of these stories. 

New Releases and Coming Soon

My first indie-published short story, "If You Give the Cat the Boot," an adaptation of "Puss in Boots," did fairly well with its launch.  It got close to 100 readers in its first week.  It's still sitting at 6 reviews, 4/5 five star reviews.  One reviewer said, "This prelude is a fantastic start to pique the reader's interest."  Sarah Boucher, indie writer of three fairy tale adaptations, said, "The author has cleverly opened up an entirely new universe for young readers to explore."  If you haven't had to read and review it, please do.  It's still free.  It will set you up for the two series my boy and I will publish toward the end of the summer or beginning of fall.

In the first volume of Doomimals, you'll be able to read nine sci fi/fantasy chapter books.  Three kids and their animal allies are trying to protect humanity from the evil forces of the Dog of War.  It's funny and fast-paced, fun for kids and entertaining enough for adults.  My adult nephew read it through the night, keeping his wife up with his laughter.  My ADD friend, mother of two teenagers, said she can't read books, but she loved CockadoodleDOOM!  I just finished book three and will launch right into book four.

The bonus material will include a backstory for Grandma Fuzzypants, the ultimate crazy cat lady and the kids' mentor.  You will also get a bonus of three books and a backstory from my son's series, a spin-off of Doomimals called Just Us Chickens.  It's about a zany group of super hero chickens who will save the world if they can only stop tripping over their own feathers.  He will also sneak peek a second spin-off series, Keylime Python, all about a swashbuckling galactic hero snake and his traveling companion, Zara, the shapeshifting alien cat introduced in "If You Give a Cat the Boot."  Oh, and their bumbling teenage boy sidekick, Joe King.  Also included will be games that will engage readers young and old.

Currently in the process of getting published everywhere is "Battered Wings," the story of the last two weeks of my nephews' and niece's mom's life told from her point of view.  It's available on Barnes and Noble, among other booksellers, and it's free.

Very shortly, you will also be able to get a copy of Cali the Silly Frenchie Goes for a Walk, the first in a series of books for young children, which a friend and I will write about her dog's adventures.

Following that, you'll be able to find the picture book Iggy's Quest, a hamster with a big imagination who drags his friends on a quest to find a magical wish-granting lake.  After that, you'll be able to read the Dillicious trilogy, three picture books about the adventures of a boy who befriends a talking pickle.  The first is about embracing your own weirdness, the second about befriending those who may seem a little different, and the third about facing bullies.

All of this will be shortly coming to an online bookstore near you.  Some of it may even find its way to shelves.  I'm excited.  I hope you are.  Spread the word and share the joy.

Launched and Counting down to another Launch

You're welcome to read for free my snarky sci fi/fantasy version of  "Puss in Boots."  It's entitled "If You Give a Cat the Boot."  You're also welcome to leave me comments here to let me know what you think of it.  I'd also love it if you would leave a review.

This story will be a prequel to Doomimals and Just Us Chickens to be released late summer. which are fun and funny sci fi chapter books for kids, though adults enjoy them, too.  The first several books of each series will be released in one collection, so for one low price, you can get several books.

My next piece, to be released later this week, will be the story of the death of my nephews' and niece's mom, "Battered Wings."  It is a stream-of-consciousness and poetic account of the last two weeks of her life, told from her point of view.

Within two weeks, I will start to launch my picture books, starting with Iggy's Quest.  Afterward, I'll move on to a trilogy of whimsical picture books about children who befriend talking pickles.  If you think of a kids' book you'd love me to write, let me know in the comments.

In the near future, you will also be able to read my poetry collections and LDS romances.  For details on the romance novels, see my webpage.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Picture Books: To Amazon We Will Go

[Source]

As I have been working on one one class on writing, getting and using feedback, building a webpage and following, and publishing mostly for young adult and adult audiences, I've also been taking a class on writing and publishing on Amazon for children. 

I have already written several children's books over the years, some of which have won prizes.  I'm polishing them up and will be illustrating them preparatory to publishing them on Amazon, with an eye toward filling in the gaps while we're working on our larger volumes of Doomimals and Just us Chickens.  I will announce them as they come out, first to my subscribers and those who read these blogs, then toward the public at large.  The first will be a picture/counting book for very small children called Peek-a-baa.  The second will possibly an early reader chapter book about a bored hamster called Iggy's Quest.  Either of these books may occur on the world of Doomimals, though a reader doesn't have to know one to read the other. 

I have several other books, which I will announce here and to my subscribers as I get them ready for publication.  Watch for when they become ready.  Also, keep in mind that if you want a short story I have already made available to the public, you can click here for a limited amount of time to get an award-winning short story called "Shopping for Herself."  I will shortly swap it out for my sci fi retelling of "Puss in Boots."  Stay tuned. 

Setting the Stage

As I said last time, in the very near future, I will be publishing a short story that is a snarky and sci fi version of "Puss in Boots" that will kick of my new chapter book series, Doomimals. Doomimals is about three children and their animal companions saving the world from the evil Dog of War.  Each book will follow a fairytale, Aesop's fable, folk song, or some other familiar story that most people know.  For instance, the first book in the collection I will publish is called CockadoodleDOOM and will adapt "Chicken Little" into a crazy, funny sci fi/fantasy adventure.  The second book, Cat-a-clysm, will have the three little kittens losing their Mittens of Cataclysm.  The kids have to retrieve them before the Dog and her minions use them to destroy the world.  

(source)

This new "Puss in Boots" tale is called "If You Give a Cat the Boot."  It will be set in medieval England. However, the language reflects modern speech so as to remain readable to young people for whom the series is written.  Characters spend time in the woods and in castles, as you'd expect of a story set in such times. However, the story makes clear there are other amazing places within our world that we've never heard of, namely, a place called Jerf, a high tech paradise for animals, led by the Great Leader, a giant (in the real world, extinct) snake also called a Titanoboa.

Paragraph

This story will offer a peek into the world I will explore more fully in Doomimals. My son will explore this world in his earlier chapter book series, Just Us Chickens, a zany romp about a super chicken group. He'll revisit it in his chapter book series for older kids, Keylime Python, a series about a snarky, world-traveling and sword-fighting snake.  It all begins with "If You Give a Cat the Boot," which I will publish and make available for free in the next few weeks.  The first volume will include the first several books from Doomimals. As a bonus, it will also offer a few books from Just Us Chickens and a cross-over introduction of Keylime Python. I will publish this collection in the next few months.  Stay tuned for more information. 

Coming Soon

[Source]

With an Eye toward Sharing My Stories with You

I have made an award-winning short story available to you.  Here is  a link to my landing page to sign up. 

I have just started two classes on getting published, one about publishing children's books on Amazon and one about publishing short stories and novels.  By the end of the children's books class, I plan to start publishing picture books.  By the end of the other class, I will have a short story published and linked to here.  In the future, I will review these courses for other interested writers.

(source)

See My Website 

In this short story, I retell "Puss in Boots," with a sci fi twist entitled "If You Give a Cat the Boot."  I look forward to sharing this short story for free upon its publication, with anyone who is interested.  As you meet Zara,  who appears to be a cat asking a peasant for boots to help him achieve his dreams, you'll enter the world Doomimals Extended.  This is a place where aliens regularly hide among us as a cat, a bird, or your neighbor, waging a war for control of the galaxy under our very noses.  This short story will set the groundwork for several series and solo stories I plan to write, many of which I've thumbnailed on my new website here.  Some of them will be written by my teenage son, including a series about zany super chickens called Just Us Chickens. 

[1st Draft of CockadoodleDOOM cover, by me]

About the First Series

In the first book of Doomimals, CockadoodleDOOM, based on "Chicken Little," three kids and their animal allies have to warn their mayor that the Dog of War is sending an evil animal army to attack their town.

[1st draft of Cat-a-clysm cover, by me]

In the second book, Cat-a-clysm, based on "Three Kittens," three kittens have lost the Mittens of Cataclysm to the Dog's minions, and the kids must get them back before the Dog uses them to destroy the world.  Both of these are in draft form and are being revised with an eye toward publication as quickly as is possible.  Other projected titles in the series include Cow-lamity, Alpaca-lypse, Arachnageddon, Ragnar-octopus, and DoomsDuck and are similarly inspired by familiar tales and songs.

I am looking forward to bringing all of this to you and will keep you posted right here about how all these things go.  Stay tuned.

Update: This last week, I found a hybrid publisher who will be working with me to release Doomimals in sets of ten as my romance novels.  Watch for future developments.

Updates

Since I last wrote in this blog, I have been busy working toward a writing career without yet breaking into print.  However, I have been ramping up to move in that direction. 

Last summer, I spent several months getting feedback on my short stories (I have roughly 10 or so, many of which have won prizes), so I can start submitting them for publication.  I sent a few of them out, one of them to magazine after magazine with no success, even though it won a first prize from League of Utah Writers and an honorable mention from the Writer's Digest contest.  I've since learned that a fraction of a percent of short stories actually make it into the top publications.  My focus has turned elsewhere, but I'm still determined that they see print. 

I also sent the first of my chapter book series for 7-10-year-olds, Doomimals book 1: CockadoodleDOOM (about kids and their super-powered pets saving the world from the Dog of War), out to a few of the handful of agents who work with this age group and genre, also coming up empty.  I decided at that point to back up and get the feedback of a freelance editor, as I did with my first romance novel.  I am now working through that feedback. 

Just in the last couple of weeks, I started listening to the free webinars that have been sent through various sources to my email.  I figured a free webinar may enlighten me as to something I may be missing.  The first made it clear that I need to do a lot of marketing, myself, no matter how I break into print, self-publishing or otherwise, and gave me some clues about how to do it.  I totally recommend such webinars, even though they all end in a sales pitch. 

Another of these webinars, given by The Write Practice, offered to take me through the process of writing, networking and marketing, and actually publishing a book either through conventional or self-publication.  This seems an offer I could not pass up.  I have just started following its instructions in assembling a webpage, linking to my extant and future writing.  I will forward the link as soon as it's done. 

Another most exciting development in my life is, after struggling with the conventional publication process and balking at the prices companies want to help you get self-published, I may have hit upon something in between, a new kind of publication that features the best of both worlds.  It is in its fledgling stages, but I will write about this in the future as well if it comes to fruition. 

In other words, it finally feels like I'm very close to breaking in print besides local presses and my theses on Amazon.  I'm not sure where, how, and what will come first, but I'll keep you posted as it happens.