I had an epiphany today in every sense of the word. It has completely changed the way I view my book mission going forward and I challenge everyone reading this to follow me down this rabbit hole for a minute or two. My current way of doing business is to write books about my kids for charity and in my mind that is a really awesome thing. The problem is that it literally takes me 10 minutes to write the actual stories once I have an idea but I BEG for the next year or two to get someone to illustrate it. The nature of the beast is that illustrations take significantly longer than 10 minutes so I am asking someone to make this significant time commitment (someone with a ton of talent usually) for charity. I know most people love the idea, and doing things for other people like this, but many people who are really good at drawing just don't have time and or they do it for a living, so they need to get paid.
*Cue the brilliant idea*
I propose something new. Instead of asking people to illustrate a whole book I'm going to ask for one page. I'm going to call this endeavor "A Page for a Purpose" (mainly because "Coloring for a Cause" was already taken) and ANYONE can be a part of it. If you are interested or you know someone who might be interested just let me know. Artistic talent is not 100% necessary but it would be nice if you could at least draw a decent stick figure (Hence why I WRITE the books).
I'd like to start this project with my book, correction OUR book, "There's a T-Rex at the Tea Party" and all the money from this book will be going to Teen Challenge which helped to save my Dad's life. Feel free to write your name on the picture for credit and if you have a signature stamp or insignia feel free to work that into the page as well, just try not to make it the center piece of the picture. If you have a website or any other place that you like to show your artwork off let me know that too and I will add a "credits" page for names and links to the book at the end.
Here is the full story; (Stanzas in Bold are already taken to be drawn. Three more to go!)
"There’s a T-Rex at the Tea Party"
"Tea is delightful,
It's a real special treat
When mommy and I
Sit down just to eat
The biscuits and cookies
That we freshly made.
Then slowly sip tea
And sometimes lemonade
The only sad part
Is that in our house
We have a baby T-Rex
That runs all around
And from time to time
He finds us with our tea
Then he stomps all around
And this frustrates me
He's never that careful
And throws quite a fit
When I'm playing with Mommy
Instead of with him
It's quite a mess to clean up
With cookies all crumbled,
The tea gets all spilt,
And the dishes all tumble.
But one time it was different,
Mommy had an idea
Because that time, at noon
We invited T-Rex for tea
Turns out all he wanted
Was a sip of our tea
And a cookie of course
So he got them, from me.
It felt so good to share
And invite him to eat
So he's come ever since
which has been a real treat."
Let me know what you think! I know I'm excited about this idea so please help me get the word out!
EDIT: Below are the pictures and the stanzas that are already taken!
-Larry
*Cue the brilliant idea*
I propose something new. Instead of asking people to illustrate a whole book I'm going to ask for one page. I'm going to call this endeavor "A Page for a Purpose" (mainly because "Coloring for a Cause" was already taken) and ANYONE can be a part of it. If you are interested or you know someone who might be interested just let me know. Artistic talent is not 100% necessary but it would be nice if you could at least draw a decent stick figure (Hence why I WRITE the books).
I'd like to start this project with my book, correction OUR book, "There's a T-Rex at the Tea Party" and all the money from this book will be going to Teen Challenge which helped to save my Dad's life. Feel free to write your name on the picture for credit and if you have a signature stamp or insignia feel free to work that into the page as well, just try not to make it the center piece of the picture. If you have a website or any other place that you like to show your artwork off let me know that too and I will add a "credits" page for names and links to the book at the end.
Here is the full story; (Stanzas in Bold are already taken to be drawn. Three more to go!)
"There’s a T-Rex at the Tea Party"
"Tea is delightful,
It's a real special treat
When mommy and I
Sit down just to eat
The biscuits and cookies
That we freshly made.
Then slowly sip tea
And sometimes lemonade
The only sad part
Is that in our house
We have a baby T-Rex
That runs all around
And from time to time
He finds us with our tea
Then he stomps all around
And this frustrates me
He's never that careful
And throws quite a fit
When I'm playing with Mommy
Instead of with him
It's quite a mess to clean up
With cookies all crumbled,
The tea gets all spilt,
And the dishes all tumble.
But one time it was different,
Mommy had an idea
Because that time, at noon
We invited T-Rex for tea
Turns out all he wanted
Was a sip of our tea
And a cookie of course
So he got them, from me.
It felt so good to share
And invite him to eat
So he's come ever since
which has been a real treat."
Let me know what you think! I know I'm excited about this idea so please help me get the word out!
EDIT: Below are the pictures and the stanzas that are already taken!
-Larry
Already DoneThe only sad part |