It's been a good year!

December arrived pretty quickly. Somehow the previous post didn't publish back when I wrote it. That's ok. It still shows my progress. This has been an amazing year for me, it's hard to think it took me this long to get this going and get into a routine of picking my brain for ideas and inspirations, and then following through on them.  

I finally transcribed and re-published "Twilight - A Collection of Poems"

which had been out of print since 2000. I'd had various requests for it over the years. It's on Amazon, Amazon UK and other Amazon outlets (I apologise for only having the direct links to the US and UK sites).

So far, my 2 most popular books have proven to be The Storybook Witch

(Amazon, Amazon UK) and 

In The Forest (Amazon, Amazon UK). I'm (naturally) thrilled that people are enjoying my books. 

I'm currently trying to work with an illustrator for Mister McAfferty's Cat but we don't seem to be making much headway, despite the artist making numerous revisions. I want an older gentleman that's appealing to children and, so far, all the renderings have been very unappealing. Not happy and content at all. I don't want a miserable scrawny looking old man. It may be that this won't work out, since I need 19 illustrations, and if we can't get the first one right then that doesn't bode well for the rest of the project. We shall see what prevails in the new year. I'm just getting over 2 weeks of being ill so didn't want to be stressing over it over Christmas and New Year.

But that's where I'm at, at the moment, with my writing. 

Then, I've been creating songs of some of my poetry, and some songs that I've written as songs, on an AI music creation site. My personal favourites list of my creations so far is here. They are different genres depending on the writing content, so some are gentle songs, some rock, some bluesy. I hope you like them, and it's a great site for young people (or oldies like me) who like to write and try setting their writings to music. I love it!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Greenville Library System Now Has 3 Of My Books, And More News

Having already donated a copy of "The Storybook Witch" to be placed on the "local author" shelf in our local library, yesterday, I donated a copy each of "Daisy May And The Life Cycle of Plants" and "In The Forest". I was extremely chuffed that both the librarians who helped me were impressed by them. I mean, it's one thing to write and think you've done a pretty decent job, and another to have somebody else think that you have, and say so.

Another bit of excitement this morning, notification of my first royalty payment - $22.22. OK, so it's not like winning the lottery but it feels like it. It's hard to put into words the sense of validation it gives, that people like what you've done, and want to own it. It's for Amazon sales back in  July, royalties are paid a couple of months in arrears, so this was when I first published "The Storybook Witch".

I do wish I'd begun doing this years ago, but it's easy to see that without the technology being what it is today (and Amazon KDP) that wouldn't have been possible, and I definitely find AI Imaging to be awesome, albeit frustrating at times. It's in its early stages still, and despite many improvements, images still come up incorrectly with prompts, with extra arms and legs, errors in the background, or the prompts are misunderstood. It's evolving, and I'm learning to edit more, so as to be able to get to the pictures that I am trying to create to go with my writings.

Those who have known me for decades know my passion for early childhood education, and my belief that childhood should be a magical time, so the children's books that I am publishing are aimed at tryingg to incorporate both.

I have so many years of stories and poetry to use, and have a lot of ideas to work on.

I've decided to keep my Daisy May character and have her "exploring" different things. Currently I am working on "Daisy May Explores The Heavens" which ventures into the solar system, comets and more. Hopefully to spark interest in those things, in younger minds. 

Having published a book of my poetry ("Twilight") back in 2000, when I was in England, I am also now working on its follow up, "Phoenix Out Of The Ashes". This will just be a book of my various poetry, so more geared towards regular poetry readers than children. 

I have a children's story, "Mr McAfferty's Cat" that is ready but have been struggling to illustrate. My great-granddaughter loved the story, but the creations that come up in AI just aren't understanding words like 'clean shaven', bare-faced', 'no facial hair' and keep producing images for an old man with Santa style beards and moustaches. I've tried erasing them, but even then, that finished product just doesn't work. It's very frustrating!

Later today, I will be taking some of 4 of my book titles, to a local Outlet Store and Boutique to display, on a shelf, for sale. I'm hoping it'll maybe get me some new fans.