Crash! What was that you might ask? Well it was the sound of plates falling, plates that I am supposed to be spinning...

 Crash!

What was that you might ask? Well it was the sound of plates falling, plates that I am supposed to be spinning, but frankly it is hard to paint illustrations while spinning plates, so a few of them have crashed to the floor, making a dreadful mess behind the counter in my online bookshop. So, as I crunch around on the broken crockery I see that my website has become invisible, and as invisibility is not the best way for a shop to make sales, I’m here sweeping up the broken plates and setting some new ones off spinning.

So if you have just come across my website, and are wondering what the circus act is all about, well, may I redirect you to my shop, where all is calm and the books are waiting to be browsed at your leisure.

There are picture books, bursting characters and colour. There are early reader chapter books where words and picture come alive and jump off the page… and one for the animal lovers… the real life story of how I became outnumbered by cats.

Crash – oh no. there we go again.

Self Publishing is all about stubborn

 Self Publishing is all about being stubborn… why?

·        As a self publisher you’ve likely already come up against some sort of barrier in traditional publishing: not securing an agent, not finding a publisher to publish your work, or simply decided not to send any more work out to squelch about in a slush pile.

·        Finding out that writing the story is not the end of the process, there are more skills to learn: editing, formatting, illustrating and making all of this stick into a memory stick to send to a printer.

·        Then there’s the promotions and marketing, and generally getting the word out there, about the amazing new book that you now have to sell.

·        There are websites, and blogs and a whole host of ways to get a book noticed online.

·        And pretty soon you realise that writing the book is just the beginning, and learning curves keep hitting you, sharper and steeper than you thought possible. The sense of achievement at rising to each new challenge is amazing, but also exhausting.

So what keeps a self publisher going? Sheer stubbornness and an unshakable belief in the book or books, that have to find their way out of the boxes and into the hands of readers…

So that’s where I’m at, feeling exhausted but stubbornly carrying on…

Self Publishing in the UK sharing the journey

 

Self publishing is all about spinning plates.

I’m currently spinning the plate of my work in progress. I’ve formatted the book, to give me a clear view of the illustrations I need, and where they will fit into the story.

I now have a lot of sketches and paintings of my characters in various poses and interactions, and just need to finalise the pictures that will make it into the finished book. Then there’ll be the usual argy bargy as words and pictures come together, working in perfect harmony to create a picture book. Some of the words may have to shuffle a bit to let the pictures in, to tell their share of the story, creating the magic of a picture book.  

 

I’m also spinning the website plate: keeping up with content for my website, and thinking of ways to bring people into my online bookshop. So if you’re reading this please pop along and browse the books, they’re all waiting to go out into the world, tell their stories and find new homes.

 

Turning minor disasters into picture books

The Puppy in the Cat Carrier

Minor disasters happen all the time, but life’s little mishaps make great scenes in picture books, the messier the better.

A rolling dog is very annoying and smelly. Even if you don’t at first notice the smell, the flies soon will… and as you continue your walk, wondering where that awful smell is coming from, and why it seems to be following you home, your first thought may not be to sit down and do a quick sketch. But this is the sort of minor disaster that makes a wonderful scene in a picture book, even if it does bring back unpleasant memories as you draw the picture.

Getting knocked over is another scenario that doesn’t instantly feel inspirational. While sitting on the ground, assessing if limbs are still all pointing the right way, and giving an excited puppy the sort of look that conveys, even to him, that he should probably stop running around with the hat that fell off with the impact of the landing. And just maybe shaking the hat until it was dead, may not be the best idea, although the flying strands of wool would suggest that it was already too late for the pompom.

But it wasn’t all disasters, there was the joy of watching a tiny puppy grow and grow, until he grew into himself…

And all this from a puppy who came into the family masquerading as a cat, you’ll just have to read the book to see how that went.

The Blurb:

“Orphaned puppies” they said. “Won’t get very big” they said…

But has he really been mistaken for a cat? 

And if he’s not a cat, then what breed of dog can he be?

He just keeps getting bigger and bigger until…

Book Dedication: (and a little insight into the story behind the book)

For Kim, who persuaded me to “come and see the puppies”, though in truth I only actually ‘met’ one. The others were being carried around in the peripheries, working their own magic.

For Finley, I’m not sure who chose who, but when the moment came to hand you back, no one was letting go, though no one quite knew why. So we took you home and loved you, not really knowing what you would turn into, or when you’d stop growing.

For Phil, for putting up fencing, and then more fencing…

For Jessica, Mitchell, Fraiser, Rosie and Willow; Finley hopes you’ll all carry on dropping food and playing, but mostly the food bit! (Except for greens… you’re on your own with them.)

For the cats, for learning to live with a dog. 

32 page full colour picture book.

IBSN 978-0-9560232-9-2

New Picture Book Brewing - the writing and illustration process

 New Picture Book Brewing

In order not to give too much away, I’m calling my characters A, B and C. They’re not your usual characters and came about by turning a story on its head and looking at it from a different angle – do I have your interest? I hope so, because I’m very excited about this story. As in many picture books it’s written to entertain the adult reader as well as the child it’s being read to, because that is the joy of a good picture book, to entertain multiple age groups.

So what is the hold up with this book? Well as the characters are quite unusual, they’re also putting up some opposition when trying to get the right look for them, and as for characters 1 and 2, they’re proving even harder to pin down into an illustration. Character 3 is a lot easier to draw, and 3 is all ready, and getting impatient with the rest of the cast of the book.

So how are they progressing? There are sketches, many, many sketches, and some of them might even go for a walk through the paint box, next they’ll have a lie down in the scanner, well they would, if the scanner was working… once scanned they can be formatted together with the text to work their magic, words and pictures in perfect harmony, creating a picture book.

So off I tootle to get on with the illustrations.

Meanwhile, there’s a book sale going on in my bookshop, so please pop along for a browse.

 

 

Hi, welcome to my blog, which goes back for quite a few years now, through all the trials and tribulations of creating my books and self publishing. I've overcome many hurdles to get to this point, but the biggest hurdle of all seems to be online sales, so if you're reading this, maybe you'd like to follow the link in the picture above, right into my online bookshop, where there's a sale on right now. Have a rummage around and meet the books, all lined up and ready to be personally signed and sent out to new homes. 

Bringing the personal touch of a book signing to a wider audience. You'll find me behind the counter, working on the next book, which is taking shape in fits and starts. I'm working on the illustrations, still in half a mind to send it out to a few more agents before self publishing, just because it would be nice to share some of the process of getting books into the hands of readers.

Picturebook Brewing

 There’s a picturebook brewing, the words have assembled, shuffled and assembled again – several times. The pictures are gathering, filling more and more sketch books. Paint has been introduced, and splashed about. 

The scanner has been… well that is where the process has ground to a halt. The scanner was plugged into the laptop, nothing happened. Different cables were tried, troubleshooting tried and failed. Things were turned off and turned on again…

Anyway, while technology is sitting there idle, I’m getting on with the illustrations, so that once the scanner is fixed, or replaced, I will have artwork to scan.

Every book throws up some problems along the way, but the ten books already in my online bookshop are testament to the fact that it can and will be done.  

Double birthday celebrations!

 

Happy Birthday Belle and your book

This week it’s double birthday celebrations!

Not only is it a book birthday, Belle ex Racehorse …just horsing around is 7 years old, it’s also the 21^st birthday of the book’s leading lady! And what did Belle do on her 21^st birthday? She had a lovely day grazing her field and horsing around in the sunshine, then back to her stable for her tea, hay nets and a stud muffin birthday cake. She shared a bit of cake with a stable friend, and dropped some on the dog, but he didn’t mind.

Many Happy Returns of the Day to a very special lady.

Picture Book Brewing

 

Story building

It started with a theme, and it meandered through several storylines, characters jumping in and making it their own, but what was needed was something different, a different viewpoint. And so now I have the words, characters talking to each other, a beginning, a middle and an end.

So what now…? Colour! Literally – paint, brushes, water, and lots of paper, because the first picture, much like the first paragraph written, is not likely to make it as far as the finished book… let the magic commence!  

My work in progress is based around sleep and bedtime stories

My work in progress is based around sleep and bedtime stories, and all this talk about sleep and being tired is definitely making me sleepy, which is the desired effect after all. A bedtime story needs to tell a story but also lead towards a drowsy state of mind. So not only am I yawning doing my rewrites, but now I’m blogging about all things sleepy and drowsy related, the yawns are definitely brewing…

I’ll keep it brief here, because in reality I seem to be writing into an abyss, so if you’re reading this, welcome! Please have a wander around my website, bring your friends and pop along to my website bookshop where my books are gathered in the hope of finding new homes.

Self Publishing is all about being stubborn!

 Self Publishing is all about being stubborn… why?

·        As a self publisher you’ve likely already come up against some sort of barrier in traditional publishing: not securing an agent, not finding a publisher to publish your work, or simply decided not to send any more work out to squelch about in a slush pile.

·        Finding out that writing the story is not the end of the process, there are more skills to learn: editing, formatting, illustrating and making all of this stick into a memory stick to send to a printer.

·        Then there’s the promotions and marketing, and generally getting the word out there, about the amazing new book that you now have to sell.

·        There are websites, and blogs and a whole host of ways to get a book noticed online.

·        And pretty soon you realise that writing the book is just the beginning, and learning curves keep hitting you, sharper and steeper than you thought possible. The sense of achievement at rising to each new challenge is amazing, but also exhausting.

So what keeps a self publisher going? Sheer stubbornness and an unshakable belief in the book or books, that have to find their way out of the boxes and into the hands of readers…

So that’s where I’m at, feeling exhausted but stubbornly carrying on…

Author, pouring words into the abyss

 

Lost in a Book

Little Bookshop with big ideas

Rummage4words.co.uk

 

Dear Abyss,

                   I’m pouring more words today, into who knows where for who knows who to read, because… who knows why at this point. I have a bag of words to use up, and I need some of them for the rewrites of my work in progress, because there’s a picture book brewing and it needs a few more words adding, taking away and generally shuffling until they are just right, and just where they were meant to be.

                             Bye for now

AMS

 

Rewrites

 Rewrites:

How many rewrites does it take to make a book? I’ll let you know when it’s finished… maybe.

Because I’d have to count the number of times I save new changes, not just the number of new starts and new versions of the story; a little tweak here, a name change there… Probably the hardest part is knowing when to stop, because it can feel as if a story is never perfect, and something could always be added or taken away, or told from a different viewpoint… unless of course there is that eureka moment when everything slots into place, the characters saying just the right thing, at just the right moment, with illustrations working in perfect harmony. Sometimes words have to compromise, keeping quiet while pictures have their say, because in a picture book some of the story is told by the pictures.

Anyway, I’m currently working on a rewrite of my work in progress, making sure I’m showing not telling, without getting too many words to squeeze into a picture book. And because it’s a picture book, I’m also working on the illustrations, filling up sketchbooks and playing with paint. The characters are causing me more than a few problems because some of them are more of a concept than an actual being… and no, I’m not going to explain that at this point, you’ll just have to wait and see.

Of course as well as working on rewrites, I’m also creating content for my website, which often feels like writing into the abyss! There must be so many words bobbing about the internet at this point, that it’s a wonder they don’t all stick together and start making up their own stories, like a giant imagination.

So I’m going to head off now to have a chat with the characters of the book, see if we can come to some sort of an agreement about building this book, so that we can finally get it over the finish line.

 

Spinning plates, but wondering if...

 

Still here, still spinning plates, but wondering, if I just stopped and concentrated on one thing for a while… would it be so bad to let some of the plates crash to the floor, sweep them away into a corner and get lost in a book? The dilemma is, if I don’t run around chasing book sales, books won’t sell. But if I don’t finish the next book I won’t have anything new to sell, and the characters will carry on bugging me until I let them have their say.

So if you’ve stumbled across my bookshop, welcome, please come in and have a rummage around, if you need anything I’ll be right here behind the desk persuading characters to work nicely with words and illustrations to build the perfect picture book.

More words are always needed to tell of the words already written…

 More words are always needed to tell of the words already written…

In the case of a picture book, words are used carefully and sparingly to keep the story within the attention span of a very young reader or listener. But the words used to tell, of the words already written can vary widely. The blurb on the back of the book may be very brief, to convey a simple story or theme, or it might exceed the word count of the book itself. This is because the pictures in a picture book work hand in hand with the words to tell the story. When the words meet the illustrations in the making of a picture book, there’s always a bit of argy bargy as words need to be edited to accommodate the pictures, to build a balanced book. And of course there’s always the opportunity to add your own words when reading a picture book to a young child, to talk about the story, the pictures or relate it to something in your own personal experience.

Even more words are needed to bring a book to the attention of potential readers, especially in an overcrowded market place online, where books are everywhere, and many get sold through a few of the bigger marketplaces. Every book with an ISBN will be listed in all of these book outlets, but it’s not a level playing field, and self publish books will frequently be listed as unavailable or with a long lead time, at a time when shoppers expect products instantly.

So what is the answer? Well, more words are needed to get the message out there of the books that need to be read, because books need to be out of their boxes and into the hands of readers, and that is my mission. But is it enough just to throw words into the abyss in the hope that some will stick? That is a question that I am still wrestling with, and the fact that you are reading this now rather suggests that I’m throwing enough words out there to find a few readers, and I now have my own little bookshop, where you can rest assured that your order will be quickly gathered together, signed and dispatched, not from a faceless warehouse, but direct from the author, illustrator who created the book from the first idea that floated through the imagination. The only thing I outsource is the printing and binding of the books, which is done locally, I drop off a memory stick with my book on, and they make the next stage of magic happen. It’s always an exciting trip collecting the books, to hold the precious story in a physical form, in a book!        

Holding the book for the first time is a moment to celebrate, to pause and appreciate the achievement. Then it’s on with the marketing hat, which can be a bit tight and uncomfortable, but must be pulled into the shape and made to fit.

Happy Book Birthday to The Monster Under The Bed

 Happy Book Birthday to The Monster Under The Bed!

Initially published through Trafford Publishing in 2005, The Monster Under The Bed came in-house under my own imprint Lost in a Book, in 2010 in its second edition. It’s still a talking point at book signings, some people comment that they don’t want to scare children, while others reminisce about the monster under their own childhood bed, which can take many forms. But the monster under this particular bed is a fun twist that isn’t revealed till the last page, and far from scaring children, I’ve had positive feedback about it helping children not to be scared of the dark.

I’ve been on quite a journey with this book: my first published book, first book signings, and first book in a mainstream bookshop! That was an exciting moment, to see my book displayed in Borders in York. Seeing it on online websites was quite a buzz too, if a short lived one, as self publish books get listed as not available, or with such a long order time that customers are put off from buying them. It also brought about me cutting the ribbon at a school library opening, and reading not only The Monster Under The Bed, but also an early draft of Doodle Mayhem, and the reaction I got from that reading told me that I had something special, but that’s another story… in fact it’s three stories, the characters were too much fun for just one book, and became a series.

And so 20 years on, I now have 10 books to my name as well as articles and stories published in magazines. Most of my sales still come from book signings out in the real world, but my ongoing mission is to bring the personal experience of the book signing to my website bookshop. So here I sit behind my virtual counter, dividing my time between writing content for my website, blogging about books and self publishing, and working away on the work in progress. There’s a picture book brewing, the words are in place, but they may have to shuffle a bit as the illustrations take shape. There’s always a bit of argy bargy when words and pictures come together in a picture book; the words having to make way for the pictures to work their particular magic.

 

 

 The Monster Under The Bed

A bedtime story that the little monsters in your life will love.

The Blurb:

“Mum……Mum…..There’s a monster under my bed.”

Billy sits up in the dark, he can hear something moving around in his bedroom. When his mum puts the light on there’s no monster to be seen. But when Mum goes back downstairs the noises start again.

“Get back into bed Billy,” calls Mum.

Something is making a noise, and if it isn't Billy – who can it be? Find out in this full colour picture book that’ll keep you guessing till the last page.

Buy a signed copy from my website: rummage4words.co.uk

16 page full colour picture book

ISBN 978-0-9560232-2-3