June 03, 2022
Please join me and my author friends as we explore the different ways we have grown and learned throughout our years as writers. Many of us also illustrates our books, as well. I will share those experiences with you all today, too. I hope you’ll check out my author friend’s posts at the end of this blog.
When It All Started For Me
I just celebrated 8 years of this wonderful writing and illustrating journey on, April 27, 2022. I also released my 12th book in April called, “Beasley Helps.” You can read more about that here ► Book Launch
I can’t tell you the fun I’ve had and have met the greatest people from all over the world. Being somewhat of a shy person, I’ve really come out of my shell. Well, you almost have to, when sharing your work with others. Yes, it was scary at first, but after awhile, you do get used to it.
My First Book
My first book was created for our sons. I wanted to write a story about all the fun they had growing up. In the book, I made them best friends, which I’m proud to say, they still are to this day. It’s an endearing tale and I cherish this one so much.
What I’ve Learned and How I’ve Grown:
Since I’m a self taught illustrator, I had to research the field to see how I was going to make this book. My husband bought me a Walcom drawing pad and I learned as much as I could. My, have I grown a lot since this 1st one. I’ve attended many art workshops over the years and have learned many styles of art. I continue to practice and learn as much as I can.
My next book was based on a puppy we had growing up named, Georgie. I recreated him and named him Beasley. He has 3 books now in a series and has a huge following of loving fans. Everybody loves Beasley!
What I’ve Learned and How I’ve Grown:
I didn’t think about the first book, “Beasley Journey” turning into a series. Over the years, the beagles in the first book passed away. As the years went by, I had to find beagles to draw that had the same coloring as them. In the 2nd and 3rd book, I decided to use photos given to me to crop in, which even made the images more interesting.
My Next Three Books
My Maggie, Millie and Merrie books. These books are for higher elementary readers and have fun art activities at the back of the books. I love this series and it grew into more and more as time progressed. FYI, be watchful when saying you’re bored around these triplets, something magical always happens.
What I’ve Learned and How I’ve Grown:
Since these books have more words than my Early Readers, there was much more editing involved. People think children’s books are easy to write, well, because they’re children’s books, right? That’s not so much the case. I learned, “less is more” when creating the sentences in these stories.
On To My Search And Finds
These search and find were a lot of fun to make. There are word finds for readers and picture finds for non readers. These books are great to take along for long car travels and will keep your readers entertained for hours. They all have a story to go along with the searches. For example, Sherman will tell his story on what it’s like to have the life as a shopping cart.
What I’ve Learned and How I’ve Grown:
Search and Finds are a blast to make, but they are also a lot of work. If you ever plan to create one to the extent I made mine, (they search for over a hundred of items in two of these books) plan ahead and plan to work on them for awhile. These books didn’t go as fast as my others. Will I make more again? You bet, because readers love them and I enjoy making them. If you have any ideas for a certain theme for a search and find book, write me a note. I’d love to hear your ideas.
My First Hardcover Book – “Moonshadow Mae”
“Moonshadow Mae” is a darling book about a little girl that adores the moon. What a nice reception this book has received. It’s full of learning facts, an art craft and a yummy recipe. Make galaxy rocks and Moon Pies in your very own kitchen.
What I’ve Learned and How I’ve Grown:
Making hardcovers requires a lot of research and making sure you find the right company to print your book. I used Ingram Sparks. I had to buy my own ISBN and barcode for this book, along with setting it up with the Library of Congress. If you want your library to carry this book, have them order a copy. To make that process easy for you, just give them these numbers:
ISBN:978-1-7323848-0-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018907295
My Middle Grade Book with Cat Michaels Writer
Talk about growing as a writer, whew. I never thought in a million years I’d be able to write higher than children’s books, but I did it! Yay! Cat Michaels is a higher level writer, so with her expertise in this field already, we made it. It took us twenty-two months of sharing our chapters back and forth and created, “Just Between Sam and Me.” It’s a book about a young 6th grade girl that lives in the country. All she really wants is to hang out with her best friend and her animals on her farm. Her first day back to school crashes down after a mean girl moves to town and tries to ruin all her dreams.
What I’ve Learned and How I’ve Grown:
I learned so much from this process and enjoyed how our story turned out. I’m so glad Cat and I accomplished our goal of 30,000 plus words and turned it into a story that readers have enjoyed.
Now For My Special Share
After celebrating 8 years in writing and 12 books, I treated myself to something very special. I always said I wanted to set a goal for 12 books so I could create a virtual dozen of roses. Why virtual? Our cat, Lola loves flowers so much, she eats them. Yikes! So, that was out of the question. I was blessed to meet a wonderful artist in Texas and guess what? She makes beautiful silk roses! Well, I’ll just let you watch this video to see more…
(Please excuse the low audio. I’ll record on a different device next time. I have written about most of this I’ve told you above. Thank you. )
To learn more about Hilda and her products, visit her Facebook page at: TOYA Designs From The Heart
Thank you, again Hilda! I love my roses as they will last forever!
I appreciate you all stopping by today. I hope you will check out my author friend’s post as they share their writing journeys and how they have grown.
Have a great start to your summer and, as always,
Happy Reading!
Rosie
More Inspiring Posts and What They Have Learned…
► Julie Gorges – 3 Ways Writing Made Me a Better Person
► Auden Johnson – 9 Years as an Indie Fantasy Author-What I’ve Learned
► Sandra Bennett – What I Have Learnt As A Writer That Can Also Help You
