I tried to tease you a little about my new children’s book in the last post. Whether that attempt to entice worked or not, you are here now and I welcome you. Perhaps you are interested in reading it to your own children or maybe you have always wanted to create one yourself. In either case, I hope my story will be of interest.
Children’s book – the beginning
I may be repeating myself, but I have wanted to release a children’s book for several years. Probably far enough back that my children would have read it (and they are adults now). Alas, I never really had a story to tell nor did I have a connection with a good illustrator.
Then, a few years ago I told a story that I was sure would become my first children’s book. It was indirectly related to my series, Scouts of the Apocalypse. The story was written and I had an illustrator interested in working with me.
Long story short, that story has never come to be. Maybe one day. Maybe not.
Children’s book – made it to the next step
As you probably noticed, I had two main criteria for going forward with a children’s book. (1) A story and (2) an illustrator. Last year I had a strong story idea that I still plan to see come to life one day. I was lacking #2, an illustrator.
Fast forward to this year’s Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. I was sharing a booth with Simon Rose like I have many times. I was busy talking to everyone who would stop by. A young lady dropped by our table and we were talking and, for some reason I still don’t understand, I talked about my desire to find an illustrator to do a book.
She handed me her card – she was, in fact an illustrator. Something that hadn’t come up in our conversation until that very moment. I quickly pulled up her website and really liked what I saw there. I promised to reach out to her after the Expo so we could discuss things further.
Maybe, just maybe, I had found my illustrator.
Children’s book – the introductory meeting via Zoom
I think it was about a week or so later that we chatted via Zoom. I had the one solid idea in mind (not written yet, I might add – I foolishly thought a children’s book, being simple and short could be slapped together in short order) that we talked about.
We discussed how things could work. Talked a little about what a collaboration might look like. We finished the meeting and I was, to put it mildly, excited to get working.
The illustrator (her name is McQuina Peters, btw) would provide me with a template to fill out – essentially it detailed what verbiage would be on each page as well as any thoughts I had on illustrations. I just had to write the story and fill it in.
Children’s book – this is where I realize how foolish I was
Have you ever heard the saying, “easier said than done”? Yeah, when I sat down to actually write the story, I realized, I only had a very limited word count available. How could I do something good in so few words. That gave me several moments of pause.
After a week, I still didn’t have anything I considered worthy of making a book.
Pt 1 Cliffhanger
I hate cliffhangers. I hate going into a movie only to learn at the end that, if I want to get the whole story, I have to wait for part 2 (and maybe part 3).
Having said that, I am, with sadness, doing it to you. Not to worry though. Part 2 will be coming shortly.
In the meantime, let me stop calling the book, “the children’s book”, and give you an actual title. The book that I am talking to you about is called, Super Sonya vs the Woodpecker and you can learn a little more about it on the Evil Alter Ego Press site here.
