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!!

Off To A Great Start

The first week of Ozzie was amazing.    We sold 35 at the Methodist Church in Crown Point and a Church in Fort Wayne asked for 25 Ozzie and 25 Carty.   They are supporting the digging of a well in Africa and are using Carty and Ozzie to help raise the money.   What awesome news.   If you add that to the one's I've sold to friends and family we've already raised more money for kids in need of clean water with Ozzie in one week than we did with Carty in 4 months.    That's truly over and above what I would have thought possible.   Thanks again for all your support and encouragement....Rescue Gummy should be out for Easter.

A Great Day

Had a wonderful time at United Methodist of Crown Point!!    The great people there let me share my book and let me promo it at every service.   When the dust settled ended up selling around 30 books with many requests to come back next week when they'll bring a little extra cash.   Took 6 months to raise $700 with Rescue Carty and now in one day we've raised around $300.   Hope this continues....

A Big Weekend!!

This weekend we take Carty & Ozzie on the road!!    The First Methodist Church in Crown Point is letting me present the books during all 3 Sunday Services!!     Pray that many will me moved to buy some of the books and help rescue some kids who live in unbelievable poverty and filth.    On top of the Church we are taking the books to a Holiday Craft and Art fair in Hobart.   Never done this before so it will be interesting to see what happens.

The Envelope Please

The results for Rescue Carty are in.    Looks like about 300 copies ended up in the hands of kids.   That alone is quite a surprise.   I ended up giving about 160 away for one reason or another.    Some went to ECHO in Florida for them to use as they saw fit for promotion and fundraising.   And some went to kids who just happened to frequent Dunkin when I was there:-))     Of the 140 that I sold we raised $700 for clean water projects headed up by World Vision.   All in all I learned a lot about children's books and publishing them.   And I discovered I enjoy giving them to children and seeing the smile on their face.   Here's hoping that Ozzie can do half as good.    Either way I'm already working on the third and last of this series, Rescue Gummy.

Candy Bar's and Books

I don't know why but I just can't pass a kid selling lemonade without buying some and I just can't say no to those kids who sell candy bars for school projects.    Probably has something to do with all the ways I tried to raise money as a kid.   I raked leaves, cut grass, once even sold radishes door to door.   I did news papers, cut down trees, painted (not well) stuff, and washed cars.   And of course a lemonade stand.   So I ended up with over 40 candy bars this year.   Yep over 40!!    I've stashed them in the garage so that I wouldn't eat them all at once.   So here's to hoping that there's a fanatic or two in my neighborhood who feel inclined to buy a book or two to help the kids who need it the most.  

How Things Change:-))

Hard to believe that just a week ago I was looking into maybe donating the money from Carty to a work going on in Uganda but I've had no luck getting in touch with them.   Guess that's the Lord's way of directing me back to my original group, World Vision, and their WASH program.   WA for Water, S for Sanitation, and H for Hygiene.   So this week-end we make out our first check for $700 to help little children with clean water, proper toilets and help with staying clean!!    If we get anywhere near this with the second, I'll do a dance of Joy!!   Special thanks to all who have encouraged me and taken part in this gift by buying a book.   Hopefully you'll buy a copy of RESCUE OZZIE.   :-))

A New Name

Think it's time to find another name for this project that seeks to help impoverished kids by selling children's books.   When I did Carty I really wasn't thinking beyond just getting it done.    But now that we are finished with our second book and planning a third it probably would be a good idea to find a more descriptive name that's a little easier to remember.   Ideas are appreciated.

Uganda??

Reading The Times the other day and what should catch my attention but an article about clean water in Uganda!!   Someone from Valparaiso is involved in helping a village called Busoga get a much needed well.   You can check out the village by going to www.morningstarproject.org and clicking on the Busoga well project.

Off we Go!!

Ozzie is now done and we are printing copies:-))    Or should I say my daughter is printing, cutting, and binding copies.   She did about 40 of Ozzie and 20 or Carty, enough to get us started.   This year I've decided to go through my neighborhood and see if any of the families here might be interested in supporting this.   I know there are lots and lots of kids.   I drive around & wave at them all summer.   I also buy lemonade and candy bars whenever I get the chance.   (Still working down the stash of candy bars, ended up with around 40!)   Also have a few churches interested and hopefully we'll be able to raise enough to help a village solve some of their clean water problems.    Thanks.........

Time for an Ozzie re-write!!

Yesterday I had the chance to actually test read Rescue Ozzie to my granddaughter, Reese.    It amazing how a simple story can sound and flow so well until you actually get a two year old sitting on your lap.  Parts of the story didn't fit in and parts seemed to short.   So back to the drawing board for a rework.   Fortunately this shouldn't take long.   My illustrator, Leah Burke, has given me lots of illustrations to pick from which makes things much easier.   Hopefully I'll have the re-write done by the 7th and can begin to present it to churches in the area on the 14th.   Plenty of time for Christmas.

Rescue Ozzie

Just got a note from Leah that the art work for Ozzie is done!!    As you know Carty was about a grocery cart being rescued and now we have Ozzie, a Ketchup bottle, being rescued.    Since I did the story line before the art work the next steps should go fairly quickly.   I'm hoping to have this second book ready by the middle of November, just in time for Christmas presents.    With over a billion dollars a year spent on children's books it would be great to capture a part of that to actually help children who don't even have clean water.    Thanks again for all of your help and support.   If you know of a group or organization that would be interested in a "reading" or in hearing more about some of the amazing things being done to provide clean water to impoverished children drop me a note at pjw9224rd@att.net

Fighting Diarrhea in Children

Some things are just to hard for me to imagine.    One of them involves what some children have to drink just to get through the day.    Here where I live in Indiana,  I am surrounded by all kinds of options when it comes to clean water to drink.   I can get water from the tap, water in the bottle, water that's flavored, water that's fortified with vitamins and minerals & even water that's been through my houses reverse osmosis filter!!    I "might" even be able to take a swig out of the lake just a few hundred yards from my house.    I just take for granted that most everyone can get something as simple as a drink of clean of water when they need one but sadly I'm wrong.    In many parts of the world millions, yes MILLIONS,  of children drink whatever can be found and often what's to be found is dirty and dangerous.    Something that if we saw our child or grandchild drink would send us into a panic if not to a doctor.   For far to many children a clean glass of water is a treat, or an extravagance and probably a dream.   Please look at this article and then think about buying a few copies of "Rescue Carty" to pass out as Christmas gifts.    Then when you give this book to a little child you can be thankful that he/she has clean water to drink AND help some other child fulfill a dream.

 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110322172213.htm

If you'd like a couple of copies to give out for Christmas just drop me a note at pjw9224rd@att.net

Blessings,

Off To ECHO

Got some good news today.   ECHO (http://www.echonet.org/) one of the organizations that we'd like to help said they liked the book and would like 15 copies to put in their Ft Meyers Florida bookstore.   All of the proceeds would then go to ECHO to help people with clean water solutions.   Lynn and I have been visiting the ECHO facilities in Florida for several years and can't get over some of the ingenious solutions they share with people in impoverished areas of the world.  They are low tech and involve such things as plastic soda bottles, Moringa seeds, and sunshine!!   GO CARTY!!

Decision Time.....

Well once again we are at a fork in the road.    I've found a company that will print copies of Rescue Carty for about as much as I can print them at home on my little Kodak printer.    So do I spend the $1100 and have a printing company print 250 copies of  Rescue Carty or not??    It's not the money so much as it is the possibility of having 200+ copies of Carty laying around the house if this adventure comes to an end.   I've begun to send out the flyers to see if God would have this go any further or if it's time to move on to something else.    Either way it's been an adventure.   If it goes on I get to meet all kinds of neat people who love the Lord and some kids in Africa will get a chance to drink clean water more often.   If it ends its been awesome how God used a little story to bring smiles to a lot of kids and some water to others.   How awesome is our God!!    So get the 250 or not???

2nd Book - Rescue Ozzie

It's been a busy summer but then that seems to be the case every year.   Don't really know what I'd do if I weren't busy!    My second book about a ketchup bottle that goes on a wild ride involving wind, dogs, snakes and a river is moving along nicely.   Leah is finished with the preliminary sketches and soon will begin work on the final watercolors.  I've also begun working on a flyer that I'm mailing to area churches to see if they would be interested in having me come a share a bit about the importance of parental involvement in their children's spiritual education via story telling.   All I'd ask in return is an opportunity to sell the books with all profit going for the clean water work.   Not exactly sure what the response will be but then I started out doing this as a gift to the Lord and He can do with it as He see's fit.  

An Oasis

Had a good time with the people at The Oasis in Pueblo West.   Had a chance to talk with many of the people there about clean water, with some of them knowing more than I did about the work.   Ended up selling around 10 books which contributed $60 dollars to the cause.   Our bank account is now at $480.  

Off to Colorado!!

Exciting things all around!!   Going to Colorado to visit my daughter, Paula, and her husband Wes.  She's expecting a baby the first week of June.  Which means that Lynn and I will be hoping the baby arrives on the due date,  give or take 4 days:-)).    While there I'll be sharing Carty with a couple of groups and reading it to as many little ones as I can.   We're making progress on a second book "Rescue Ozzie" with the illustrator,  Leah Burke,  preparing sketches for me to look at towards the end of June.   And we have a third "Rescue Gummy".in the story phase!!    This is way more fun than I thought, especially reading the story to the children!!   They take it so much for REAL!!   God is truly blessing me unexpectedly with these books.    We are hopefully past some of our printing problems.   Hopefully in a week or so I'll be able to give the go ahead to a company in Wisconsin to print 200 Carty's!!   If we sell them we'd be able to give $1000 to help children find some clean water to drink.      

A new audience!!

Went to the Holland Home today to visit Lynn's mom who has advanced Alzheimer's.   We got to talking about the children's book that I had written  and I told them I had a couple more "rescue" stories in my head.  They wanted to know more and so I started talking about "Gumby".   This is a story about a wad of gum that some children, upon being told by their mom to get rid of that gum in their mouths,  put their pieces together and then stuck the large wad on back seat where mom couldn't see it.  I told them a bit more about the adventures of this wad of gum when I noticed that not only was Grandma and her friend listening to the story very intently but so were the ladies at the next table!!    Once again you just never know what a day will bring forth!!

An little setback.

As I get ready to take Carty 4 Clean Water to other Churches the printer (an office solutions store) tells me that he can do no better with the illustrations.   If I want a better copy I probably need to go to someone who focus more on book printing.  So back to the drawing board.   At present I have around 70 copies that I've made at home.   Guess I'll see what the response is at the school this week and in Colorado after that.   Would love to get this printing thing behind me so that I can spend more time talking to schools, churches & libraries concerning kids who need help with something as simple as clean water.  

Technical Problems

So it's back to the home printing for a while.   The company I had asked to make a 100 copies of Rescue Carty ended up making certain illustrations to dark.   Looks like it may take a week or two to clear this up and so in the mean time it's back to my little Kodak printer, paper cutter and binder:-))    At 5 copies a night I'll have a hundred by the time I leave for Colorado.

First Reading & Mom of the Week

Looking forward to my first public reading of Rescue Carty.    A private school in our community has asked me to come and read the book to the K through 2nd graders.   I'll have them for about 30 minutes in the gym.   Never done anything like this before so it should be interesting to see what God has up His sleeve.   The children will take home a handout that the school is making letting all the parents know that I was at the school and if they want a copy of the book they can buy one from the school office.   Very exciting!!

Mom of the week award goes to a young mother  who brought who 3 young boys into Dunkin for a treat!!    All was going well until she brought out the Orange Juice!!     First one cup went over the edge and as we were cleaning up another boy sent his over the edge.   STICKY JUICE and napkins mixed with munch-kins all over the floor.   To the moms credit she did not loose it.   No yelling, no scolding, no "how could you" comments.   She quietly cleaned up as best she could,  notified the people at Dunkin of the mess, got the gang together and gently guided them out the door.  Those 3 boys are fortunate to have such a wonderful Mom.

Just For Me??

Hard to know what the best part of this whole book writing experience has been but what a lady told me today was pretty awesome.   I had given a copy of my book to one of my customers who had two young boys.   They asked me to sign the book and so I included a brief note to the young boys.   When they saw the book and what I had written in it they asked if I had written the book just for them:-)))    awwwwwwww.....doesn't get much better than that.

God Will Supply!!

Anyone that knows me knows that I do like hanging out at Dunkin Donuts for coffee.   Yesterday as I was drinking my coffee I just couldn't help but hand out a couple of copies of the book.   One went to a dad with his son spending time together and one to an old friend who just happened to stop in.    In my head I thought I'd better be careful about giving them away, it could get out of hand.   On the way home stopped by another friend and they ended up wanting a copy of the book for their family and they insisted I take $50 for it!!    So now instead of being down $20 I was up $20!!    Only God!!.  

Big Smile

Finally got a chance to catch up with Leah and give her a copy of the book.   Shared with here how much everyone is loving the book, especially her illustrations!!    Big smile:-))

Ordered 120 copies from office depot @ $4.00 per book.   Big step.  Now I have a car full of "Carty".   Several businesses are thinking about letting me put the book in their stores, which would be huge.  

With all the books I have to ship out to friends and family we are closing in on 80 books for clean water.   Most of these I printed here at home.   Cost on those was around $4 with most of that involving the comb binder.   Now that I bought my own comb binder we can lower that to $2.50.  

Making More Copies

Off to make/get some more copies.  Ran of 10 last night and 10 tonight on the mighty Kodak and have Office Depot making 20 glossy as well.   Hopefully Muff be able to bind a few for me.  I'll be back at the Methodist church this Easter weekend and then I'm on the road.   Several other churches have expressed some interest in having me come and present Carty and Clean Water to their congregations.

WOW

Totally awesome morning!!   Truly amazed at how God takes the things we do, often not OUR FIRST CHOICE, and weaves them together with what others do and shazzammmm.....things that are beautiful, creative, and helpful are brought about.   The Pastor of Crown Point Methodist let me share for a few minutes about Clean Water and the Children's book "Rescue Carty" and I ended up SOLD OUT!!   The generosity of the people there was truly wonderful.  Who would have thought!!     I tell a story in the parking lot of Pottery Barn + Lynn's constant encouragement + Leah's illustrations + Andrea's and Michelle's editing and people in impoverished areas end up getting some help with their clean water needs!!!    Thanks be to God for bringing this all about.  As of today we have given out 60 copies bringing our total for World Vision to @ $400.   Now to get some more copies printed - Look out Kodak printer!

Almost There

The people at Office Depot have been very helpful and yesterday they made me @ 20 copies for nothing!!   They showed me a book they could make and it turned out pretty nice.  Will have to see what the price is.   Thanks to friends and family we have received donations for 30 books:-))   With $7.00 from each book we now have raised $210.00 for clean water!!

Wow! That was odd!

Off to coffee this morning with Lynn and at Dunkin Donuts found three people (one wanted 2 copies) interested in having a copy of Carty!     One of our long time "Dunkin friends" wanted me to sign it!    That was odd.   Me, sign a book!!   You've got to be kidding.   But there I was wondering what to write.   Fortunately Lynn suggested, "to our great Dunkin Donut friend".   I was off the hook!!   Pphew:-))   So with $7.00 from each book going for clean water we have 4 X $7.00 = $ 28.00.    Praise God for a good start!  

Kodak Printer Round 2

Well we've printed about 30 copies on my printer and all seems to be going  well.  Finally ran out of color ink but at $15.00 a cartridge that isn't bad.    Talked with World Vision about the use of their name.   Very interesting conversation but turns out that I can say that I'm a strong supporter of World Vision and that any profits are going to be used to help bring clean water to impoverished areas of the world.   Finally got a quote from a local printer and it comes down to about $5.20 per book.   Not bad.  Much better than Lulu but still quite a bit more than doing it myself.  Hmmmmmm.......   What to do???     If I go with the $5.20 price I need to order 500 and hope I sell them all.   I'd be done with the printing part but would have to step up the promotional aspect.  If I print them myself 1 hour of every night is given over to printing and cutting but then more money goes to clean water and I only have to print what I think I'll need.  Hmmmmmmmmm....   Must Pray!!  

Me and My Printer

I've been looking at different printing options and finding a low cost printer is turning out to be something of a challenge.   Still waiting on Miss Print for a quote but as of right now it looks like $8.00 a book is my best price.  So thought I'd print a copy out on my little Kodak printer here at the house and the first one took about 20 min since I had to work out the pages.  Turns out two sided printing can make your head spin if you are not paying attention.  But after the first one the next two were done in about 10 min.  Not bad.  Checked my ink cartridge to see if I hand any ink left and to my amazement I used only about 15% of the ink!!  So lets see one $25 color cartridge makes about 18 copies of my book.   Which comes down to about $1.50 per book.  Add in the card stock paper at $12 per 500 sheets, some spiral binders, laminating of the first and last page and maybe we can get the price down to less than $5.00 per book.   Course we probably will burn out our little printer!!   But at $70 I could throw one or two of them into the project and still come out cheaper.   Hmmmmm....will have to see where this leads.   

Finding a Publisher

Well we are now in the process of finding someone to publish Resuce Carty.  We are checking out a local printer to see what it would cost to put together 100 spiral bound copies.   He thinks he could have them in 3 or 4 days which would make them available before Easter.   We have also touched base with Lulu but it seems that it would run around $9.00 per book which really puts it out of range for raising money.   Contacted another internet publisher called DC Publishing to get a quote from them.   Hopefully it will be closer to the $6 goal, leaving us $4.00 per book for the clean water project.   Thanks for your prayers.