Ladder Rescue

Bobby's blue cape, flapped as he sprinted for the heavy ladder.  The glass smashed as the ladder crashed against the building.  

Each rung he climbed brought him higher. Bobby stretched, still not close enough.  Two more rungs.  Sharon screamed.  Bobby lunged and grabbed her ankle.  She was safe!   

"My hero!"

Of course writing and publishing are only a couple of the factors involved in this new journey.  Once you have the product, you need to be telling people about it, which means a possible blog site, website, twitter, facebook, Google+, and so on.  People also advise you to begin to talk about your book well before it is actually published.  Build the anticipation factor.

Join facebook groups for other authors and illustrators.  I was amazing and excited to find a number of cool sites.  From there you connect with other authors and then to other groups and then to even more interesting sites about writing and developing your skills and then....

I think you get the idea that there is a wealth of connections and information available to an eager mind.  All this rabbit trailing though, can take you away from actually writing, but not to worry.  There are sites that will challenge you to be even more creative and to share your accomplishments.

All considered, it has been quite the road and I am really enjoying it.  Lots to learn and many cool people to meet.  

Now back to my Misha Adventures - www.mishaadventures.weebly.com

I first developed the Misha character while living in Edmonton.  I was driving through some huge puddles in the spring, and started talking through an idea of Misha wanting to go and play in some of those puddles.  First he needed to find his Green Rubber Boots.  So my first Misha story is called, Misha and the Green Rubber Boots.  I will be publishing that one in the Spring of 2014.

Of course, my creative mind began developing other ideas for Misha Adventures and settled on a fun story for Halloween.  Misha and the Spooky Halloween Party was born.  

Publishing one story for children is a great idea but if you want to develop a following of children and their parents, then consider publishing at least one more.  I have a Christmas story that is warming up to be released later this month:  Misha and the Christmas Turkey.

Keep watching for the release of this exciting adventure.

Well, my eyes are now open to the amount of work involved in writing a children's book and it is not as simple as having an idea, writing it down, getting a few pictures or illustrations and then popping it out there.  There is a need for some serious editing and revision and then finding an illustrator that will do/create what you feel will work with your story.  You have to work back and forth to develop the character(s) and then get the illustrations the way you feel best works with the story.

After all this, you have to consider formatting so it is ready to publish in a print format and an ebook format.  Again, you have to find someone that will see your project and then be able to make it look good and work in the different applications.  Once this is completed then you have to publish it and that takes making decisions on the size of the book, the covers, the documents that need to be uploaded.  Then the waiting as they put it all through the verification process.  Another 48 hours and then you can possibly set prices and then press the all important button..... publish.

There are forms to fill out for income tax as well as establishing your own business name and license.  Anyway, it is more difficult with the first one and so it should be a breeeeeeze with the second book and then the next, and next... etc.

I have always enjoyed story telling and writing in different ways.  Two years ago, I heard about NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month.  I had an idea that I wanted to begin developing and this challenge of writing 50,000 during the month of November seemed like a cool project.  I succeeded in writing just over the 50,000 words on my Historical Romance novel and have since added another 38,000 words.  It has turned into a trilogy, The Sunset Sapphire Trilogy, and there is still a lot of work to be done on it.  I guess it sits in the back of my mind and twists and turns in different directions.  Will get back to that story one of these days.

Last year I decided to try NaNoWriMo again and worked on a story about bullying.  The Bully of Black Rock Bay was born.  It is more of a Young Adult novel but I had to leave off on completing that challenge, as I ended up in hospital for 15 days.  I was able to keep writing though and did manage to get around 27,000 words written.  That is also on the back burner and waiting to be completed.

In the meantime, I had a few children's stories that I had started a few years ago and thought I would give them another look.  It is amazing how working with other writers can spur you on as well as hone your skills.  I looked at these stories and decided that they really needed some serious work to make them better.  Thus began the idea that it might be easier to get a children's book out there before one of the two novels.

So there it is, some of what prompted me to write.

Over the years I have found it extremely exciting to put my hand to a number of things.  The largest challenge is to focus on one thing at a time and do it well.  I have always been more of a projects type of person.  When involved in the project, I can become thoroughly committed to that project, at the expense of other things.  Meals?  Oh yeah, guess I need to eat... or fix food for the family.  Sleep is also another expendable issue.  Projects and deadlines seem to take priority.