Our next book about a telephone pole!

Tellly was a happy and content telephone pole that spent his days watching cars go by and keeping tabs on farmer Juluis as he worked the field next to him.... Here's a picture from our next book "What Happened to Telly". I hope it will help children understand just a bit about difficulty and how to deal with it.

Self Publishing - Three Steps Backward & One Leap Forward

Now that my Publisher and I are closing in on the next book I thought I'd fire up the computer and printer that I used for the books, or so I thought.    Ran a few copies with no problem and then the printer puked out on me.   It wasn't an expensive one and I think it printed around 600 books which isn't bad for a $70 printer.   Off to Walmart I went to buy another one and before long I was all hooked up, or so I thought.   Turns out I hooked up the cables in the wrong order and the computer crashed.   It was an old computer and so that didn't bother me to much.   The books were backed up on a zip drive and so once I got another computer I installed my publisher program and printer program and was all ready to print or so I thought.   Turns out the zip drive I had my "Rescue" books on was damaged and the files were gone, or so I thought.   By some weird coincidence I ended up backing the books and another zip drive by mistake.   Wow what a ride.   Once again God reminded me that you really don't know what a day will bring.   Three steps backward and then one great leap forward!!  

Gummy's Coming

When I started writing these little stories I figured I'd do just one for the fun of it and get everyone off my back who said I should put my stories into print.   Well the first one, "Rescue Carty",  went rather smoothly and was indeed a bit of fun.   Helping raise several hundred dollars for children in need.    This or course led me to writing another called "Rescue Ozzie".   Which raised even more money for children who need clean water desperately.   Well having an asymmetrical bend in the brain I figured I had to do another just to have done 3 books so I started "Rescue Gummy".    Well, that was 7 months ago.   Seems my illustrator ended up in the Air Force and I had to wait until she finished her training before I could begin again.   Well good news.   She let me know that she is finished with her training and is ready to resume her work with me on these books.   If all goes well "Rescue Gummy" should be out in time for Easter 2013.

Up up and away....

Just a note to let everyone know that the artist that did the first two books has joined the Air Force!!   Yes Leah Burke decided to start a new chapter and she has been in Texas going through her basic training.   She just finished and has found out that she will be off to Germany for her first overseas tour.   Keep her in your prayers as she seeks God's will during this most exciting journey overseas.  

Scary Gummy!!

     For some time now I've been working on my third rescue book involving a piece or should I say several pieces of gum.   Rescue Gummy was to be the title.    I  had a pretty good idea as to what I wanted Gummy to look like and I had my illustrator work on a sketch for me to look at.   She showed me what she had come up with and there was no doubt that she had captured what I had in mind.    I ended up going to bed thinking that we were off to a good start and that I'd be ready to publish this 3rd Rescue book in about a month.    The story line was simple.   But it did involve some screaming, which some of my older grandchildren seemed to enjoy.   Notice I said OLDER grandchildren......
     Well I woke up at about 4am and found myself thinking about my grandson, who at 3 years old was having a problem with SCARY.    Then I thought about my "Gummy" and it dawned on me...almost as the sun was rising that, "I think Gummy might be a bit to scary for some of the little one's I'm writing for."    I  told myself that if it still bothered me at the end of the week that I'd talk with my illustrator and she what she said.    Well come Monday I was still concerned and called her.   She thought I had a point and said she'd show it to her 3 and 6 year old grandchildren.   Well, the 3 year old thought it was scary and the 6 year old said  it was a monster!    So we reworked Gummy and rewrote the story.    Hopefully we'll be able to put together an interesting story with an interesting character.    One with no monsters and no screams.

Let's Help Dig a Well!!

Carty, Ozzie and soon Gumby need your help in bringing much needed water to a village in Africa!!     For some inspiration and motivation just click on the video at the following web site:     http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?section=10373&item=170    Watching those children dance in the water, well that's enough to make your heart skip a beat!!....   We've already raised around $400 and only need  to sell around 20 books a month to bring this dance of joy to a village in Africa by years end!!     If you'd like some books for friends or neighbors just drop me a note and I'll get them out to you asap.    Blessings

A New Audience??

The exciting thing about following the path of God, which is in a word is the path of love, is that you never really know where it's going!!    The last time Lynn went to visit her mom, who has Alzheimers,  she showed her the books I was writing and she got a real kick out of them.     Now this isn't the first time that the Lord cracked open this door.   Some time ago I was sharing with Lynn's mom about the books and I ended up telling her the story right there in the coffee shop (with a bit of enthusiasm I must admit).  Well when I was done I came to the end and looked up and all the seniors in the shop were listening!!    So who knows maybe Carty and Ozzie will bring some joy to the other end of the age spectrum too.   As I said earlier not sure where this is going but I think we'll talk to the people at the Holland Home and see what they think about me doing a reading for some of  the seniors there:-))   Interesting!!