The Learning Curve

Okay, so I am a child of the "I want it now!" generation. This attitude has only shown me how patience truly is a virtue. It is quite beneficial to be patient. Expectations can be set low, so that success is a wonderful surprise! Yet, setting a goal you reach for, is a bit tricky when you set your expectations low. Where is the happy balance?

These past four weeks have been a learning curve for me. Now I have my book - what do I do? You mean I haven't sold all 3,000 books already? What is that all about? Ha ha. Again, Yoda says - patience.

The learning curve to getting published was huge for me! Getting my book sold, is my next curve. The cool thing about this part of process is that I have two mentors. Two amazing woman that have been in my shoes before, and graciously want to share their experiences with me. Linda Boyden and Hope Marsten are both wonderful, inspiring writers. I have been so grateful for their help and advice.

Getting book signings is a lot harder then I thought it would be. I have one on the calendar and one possibly in the works. The Folsom Zoo picked up the book, which I am so happy about. I would LOVE to do a book signing event there, but no one will call me back. Wait, maybe I am calling the wrong person? hmmmm. I'll look into that one.

The most amazing part of having my book out is reading to kids. I went to four classrooms this week. I read to kids from 6-10 years old. They give me such hope. I read about all the horrible things happening to these animals and the planet, and I look into the faces of these glorious children and feel hope. Children have this unique way of believing they can fix things. Some children stood up straighter when I told them that they could make a difference in this world.

I am also getting ideas, by reading to kids, what they are inspired by; what makes them say wow; what makes them ask questions; and what makes them stop and think. This insight will simply make my next book that much better.

Great idea to blog animal updates

I had a nice chat with my dad today about writing some updates as I learn about species in my book. What a great idea dad, thanks!

So, an update....the Channel Island Fox - I learned that there is a lot to being done to try to help remaining population of fox. A brilliant plan has come into play. To summarize, it seems that they [rangers and such] are capturing Golden Eagles from the Channel Islands and relocating them off the island. Then, they have started to bring back the Bald Eagles as the leading bird of pray.

If you don't have my book, the Channel Islands used to have a population of Bald Eagles that prefer fish over anything. When the Bald Eagles disappeared from the islands, which is another story, the Golden Eagles moved in, and prefered the fox as food.

Okay, you might need to go to my book to understand the rest, or go to one of the Channel Island Fox web sites to learn more about them... http://www.islandfox.org/

Most of the species for my next book have been chosen. I hope to have text for it done in the next six months. We will see where we go from there.

Marketing, marketing, marketing

Between Finney and myself, we are going to make 3,000 books sell in six months, despite the economy! I just had someone write their first review on amazon.com. It was so touching and I felt like shouting "yes!" they understand my book, my hope, my motivation to write and paint.

Next week I am going to read my book to my son's pre-school class. I need to practice, so that when I go in front of a group I don't know, I am prepared for questions and answers. Then, in two weeks I will go around my daughter's school and do the same process.

I am trying to establish some signing events around town, but haven't been successful yet. I will keep trying though. I had patience (at least tried) during the past six years creating this book; now I need to have patience as it will take time to get events and signings.

This past week has been pretty exciting!