Telling Stories

Lately I have found myself busied with the efforts of publishing.

Producing books (multiple books) utilizing the talents of several artists each is taxing on my time. 

Please don't get me wrong, it is incredibly rewarding.  I have just found my time occupied by the day to day business of the business end of things.  This has taken time away that I would like to spend writing.

So this weekend I was speaking to my daughter, age 9, and we were discussing a project we have been batting around writing a book together. 

In the last four months, she has changed what she wants to write about at least a dozen times.😄

This is not to be critical of her, but it reflects the need to focus on the story at hand.  Something I think we have all come face to face with at least one time in our lives.

So we are starting things off by telling stories.  So far, this hasn't yielded anything particularly useful, but it has been remarkably fun.

Will these stories turn into books for other children to read?  I hope so.

But even if they do not see print, at least they reflect some quality bonding time between and my oldest daughter.  Bonding time which was sorely needed, and very appreciated.

So let that be the point of the post today:

Tell the stories, and even if they are unlikely to see print, at least the time spent is with those whom you treasure and create memories they will carry with them for a lifetime.

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Create and bring joy through your words.

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I write under the pen name W.S. Quinton.

I hope you will join me next time, for more on my work in children's books and on observations about the genre and things I learn along the way.

Comments and questions are always welcome.

Thank you for reading.

Back to work! More writing to do, and more finding even more artists to work with!

It is a very exciting time for me.

Samantha Vogelsang is finishing up the art for my first children's book.  We'll be scanning images in, and then working on formatting for the book. 

It is quite exciting to see the fruition of our labors on this.  It reminds of the feeling you get when you have finished setting this up for your child's birthday celebration (when they are very young) and you see the look on your child's face (before it is smeared in cake).

I'm getting the same feeling here. 

A feeling that my mind wraps words around, such as "Wow!  We did that." or "It's really done." and then the every persistent "This is really happening!"

That excitement is pervasive.  It is coloring my personality of late, and it feels good.


So far, since I began my stretch into writing children's books, I have written one book dedicated to "Elliot" and one dedicated to "Ryder".  These are two are children of co-workers of mine (day job).  I'm going to be giving copies to my co-workers once the proofs are in.  It is my way of personally congratulating these two new fathers, and my gift to their sons.

I have also co-authored a book for my daughter.  My friend Phoenix O'Faery, a wonderful artist and author in her own right, was kind enough to assist me with some problems I was having in the story. 

I now have two more children's books I'm working on for other co-workers.  One for "Daisy" who was just born last month (May 2017) and a second for a child expected in November (not publicly named yet).  I'll be working on those book over the next 4 weeks (as well as several others I'm working on for my other genres), and will hope to see them all illustrated and out in the next nine months.

What next?

Glad you asked...  😇

For the later part of this year, I intend to begin writing a series of books to bring natural sciences to young children.  Illustrated with an eye toward the age of the reader, these books will be bringing science to the reader in a fun and readily digestible manner (wish me luck!).

I've also made the acquaintance of several more artists who are willing to work on children's book projects.

That alone is a great thing to be joyous about!  I find it rather refreshing to know that there are artists who are willing to work with me.  I also find it somewhat odd, in that I haven't published yet.  I attribute this, in large part, to this blog.

It seems that folks are willing to give the new guy a shot.  Honestly, I'm grateful.  Thanks for the opportunity and faith.

A word of advice from the new guy though.  Treat your artists well.  Be professional and kind.  Word seems to get around, and it is far better to have several artists interested in working with you, than to be looking around trying to find folks to take the job (from my, admittedly limited, experience).

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Create and bring joy through your words.

------------------------------------------------

I write under the pen name W.S. Quinton.

I hope you will join me next time, for more on my work in children's books and on observations about the genre and things I learn along the way.

Comments and questions are always welcome.

Thank you for reading.