I had a great time yesterday, having coffee, lunch a a chat with my friend who is the illustrator of the 'Buster the Dog' books. I gave Ally (Allyson Hean), a draft copy of the text of "Dog Buddha's Thoughts" and she will do the illustrations needed for the book.
Ally also gave me some great feedback, which is always a good thing when you want what you're doing together to be absolutely fantastic. It means I have more writing to do, but I love writing, so that's not a problem. Talking with Ally yesterday means that I now know what the front cover of my book will look like, and that's super exciting!
We talked about which breed of dog would be the best choice for the Dog Buddha to be. My ideas before talking with Ally had been leaning toward a kelpie or border collie, but Ally was far wiser than I, she was thinking about Asian dogs, a tibetan spaniel or sharpei. Of course that is the obvious answer to the question - the dog buddha looks like a sharpei!
Anyway, the book is looking like being a nice sized book, with some fun text and great illustrations. I'm getting more and more excited about it all! I have a launch date, I have enough money to pay for getting the book printed I have someone writing a forward for me, and the illustrations will be done in plenty of time too, wonderful!
The book will be launched on 29 July, during the 2017 Adelaide Plains Festival of Words. I hope I can attract lots of people along for the book launch, and that everyone there loves my new book! It's been such a great time thinking about what 'Buster the Dog' thinks about these thoughts of the Dog Buddha, and writing it all down for the book. Coming up with the actual thoughts was fun too. My life has been such a lot of fun, it seems like a great dream that I'm living!
I love writing books, I love selling books! Sharing my thoughts with other people is a fun way to go in life!
Showing posts with label Buddha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buddha. Show all posts
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Taste of next Buster book - Dog Buddha's Thoughts
There are two books 'written' by Buster the Dog, (with help from me). These two books were fun to write,and have been well accepted by readers. Now it's time for the next one, and I'm enjoying the process again!
Once I have enough material I will forward the text to my illustrator - the clever lady Allyson Hean who illustrated the first two books, and she will give me some excellent pictures yet again. This process is an easy one - trying to find a publisher is a pain and self-publishing cuts through the bull, and I love the freedom of doing or organising it all. A publisher might not like something I love, and want me to change it. I don't have that problem! I'm a little bit precious about these Buster Books ...
The first of the books, "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs" was never going to be the first in a series of books. Neither was the follow-up book, "Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View", published this year, going to be the second book in a series of books. This third book though, "Dog Buddha's Thoughts", this book was going to be the third book in the series from the moment I conceived the idea of it. This made me realise the first two books were actually a part of a series ... and who knows where it might end...
I've been collecting possible 'thoughts' the Dog Buddha may have about life, in the meantime, and it's fun! I'm thinking after this third book, there may be another book called Dog's Dinner or Dog's Breakfast. Dog Days is another possibility or Dog Day Afternoon ... They will both require much research though. A cookbook called Dog's Dinner is the most likely out of these possibilities, I feel ...
Enough of such talk, I still have to finish book three, and find some more thoughts of the Dog Buddha, and then write up around 250-300 words about each of the thoughts... A fun task, but Christmas has got in the way today and the weeks before.
Cheers,
Are you looking forward to 2017? I am, having a writing project to work on always keeps me happy!
Once I have enough material I will forward the text to my illustrator - the clever lady Allyson Hean who illustrated the first two books, and she will give me some excellent pictures yet again. This process is an easy one - trying to find a publisher is a pain and self-publishing cuts through the bull, and I love the freedom of doing or organising it all. A publisher might not like something I love, and want me to change it. I don't have that problem! I'm a little bit precious about these Buster Books ...
The first of the books, "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs" was never going to be the first in a series of books. Neither was the follow-up book, "Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View", published this year, going to be the second book in a series of books. This third book though, "Dog Buddha's Thoughts", this book was going to be the third book in the series from the moment I conceived the idea of it. This made me realise the first two books were actually a part of a series ... and who knows where it might end...
I've been collecting possible 'thoughts' the Dog Buddha may have about life, in the meantime, and it's fun! I'm thinking after this third book, there may be another book called Dog's Dinner or Dog's Breakfast. Dog Days is another possibility or Dog Day Afternoon ... They will both require much research though. A cookbook called Dog's Dinner is the most likely out of these possibilities, I feel ...
Enough of such talk, I still have to finish book three, and find some more thoughts of the Dog Buddha, and then write up around 250-300 words about each of the thoughts... A fun task, but Christmas has got in the way today and the weeks before.
Cheers,
Are you looking forward to 2017? I am, having a writing project to work on always keeps me happy!
Friday, December 23, 2016
Things are Becoming Increasingly Progressingish!
Well yesterday, a Thursday, was the day for me to be at my favourite Cafe in Gawler or possibly in the entire world - Poetic Justice Cafe Gallery. On Thursdays I go to Poetic Justice Cafe Gallery (PJs), and basically stay there, talking, writing, have food and coffee, until it's time for me to head off to another Gawler venue for my writing group meeting.
I've been a little sidetracked recently with my writing, I'm certainly blaming Christmas for that ... Things are all skew-if, that's for sure. Anyway, I decided to do some pre-preparation, and printed out some things to do with my work-in-progress "Dog Buddha's Thoughts". When I arrived there were people I needed to talk to etc, but eventually, I had the chance to get to work on my own writing. And work I surely did.
By the time I left PJs yesterday, I had my next book in the 'Buster the Dog' series organised and I had the writer for the foreword of the book organised (Michelle Kynenburg, who did the same thing for me for book two (Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View). This is a great thing, but even greater is the way I managed to get all of the snippets of book put into separate sections. I whittled my original plan of eight chapters down to three sections, and assigned all of the 'thoughts' I've written so far to their correct chapter.
I need more thoughts still though. around another four thoughts for each section I think. And then once that is done, by the end of January 2017, I hope, I will send the thoughts all off to my illustrator (Allyson Hean), and also send the manuscript to Michelle for her to begin thinking about and writing the foreword for the book. This is fun! And then once those parts are all done, I do a final read of it, give it to a couple of readers for feedback perhaps, and then off to the printer for getting the books done!
I love the freedom of doing it myself, instead of the tedious and sometimes disappointing method of the traditional method of getting books out into the world (or facing rejection after rejection and then giving up, another disappointed wannabee writer ... I am perfectly happy to be a self-publisher. These days, this form of publishing has gained far more respect, and most people no longer look down on those taking this path.
So that's it, my next book is well on the way to being ready to be launched at the Adelaide Plains Festival of Words 2017! And that Festival was also talked about yesterday, and some tasks assigned to sub-committee members. All good again!
I love my life!
I've been a little sidetracked recently with my writing, I'm certainly blaming Christmas for that ... Things are all skew-if, that's for sure. Anyway, I decided to do some pre-preparation, and printed out some things to do with my work-in-progress "Dog Buddha's Thoughts". When I arrived there were people I needed to talk to etc, but eventually, I had the chance to get to work on my own writing. And work I surely did.
By the time I left PJs yesterday, I had my next book in the 'Buster the Dog' series organised and I had the writer for the foreword of the book organised (Michelle Kynenburg, who did the same thing for me for book two (Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View). This is a great thing, but even greater is the way I managed to get all of the snippets of book put into separate sections. I whittled my original plan of eight chapters down to three sections, and assigned all of the 'thoughts' I've written so far to their correct chapter.
I need more thoughts still though. around another four thoughts for each section I think. And then once that is done, by the end of January 2017, I hope, I will send the thoughts all off to my illustrator (Allyson Hean), and also send the manuscript to Michelle for her to begin thinking about and writing the foreword for the book. This is fun! And then once those parts are all done, I do a final read of it, give it to a couple of readers for feedback perhaps, and then off to the printer for getting the books done!
I love the freedom of doing it myself, instead of the tedious and sometimes disappointing method of the traditional method of getting books out into the world (or facing rejection after rejection and then giving up, another disappointed wannabee writer ... I am perfectly happy to be a self-publisher. These days, this form of publishing has gained far more respect, and most people no longer look down on those taking this path.
So that's it, my next book is well on the way to being ready to be launched at the Adelaide Plains Festival of Words 2017! And that Festival was also talked about yesterday, and some tasks assigned to sub-committee members. All good again!
I love my life!
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Progress on Book Three in the Buster the Dog Series
Every few day (or sometimes more often) I or Buster, the dog who lives in the back of my brain, have another idea for the new book. The new book is titled "Dog Buddha's Thoughts", and I/we am/are having lots of fun writing all of the 'thoughts' that have to be thought up to make the work in progress a book.
The fact that I have an event that I already know I must have the book ready for, could worry me, but this day isn't until late July next year. So my silly brain thinks, oh that's a long way away, and doesn't worry. Then my sensible brain says - don't be stupid, the time can come and go in a flash and you'll look even stupider ...
I think between these two parts of my brain, things should be OK. I/we come up with a new thought, it gets written down or typed up, and the text of the book grows. This book, the same as the first two books, "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs" (First book) and "Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View" (Second book), will be illustrated. The illustrator Allyson Hean, has said she's more than happy to help me out with this again, and so all I have to do is to get a copy of the test to her in enough time for her to get the illustrations done.
There will be fewer illustrations this time. I've been thinking hard about the setting out of the book, and I think I have it organised, and it will work well. One potential problem is that not all of the current thoughts are actually in the document, which is on my computer at home. Other thoughts are written down in various notebooks and on scraps of paper. These are in my handbag, and in my car. There may be some in the house, but I don't think so. And of course there are many more still inside my head, or out there in the world waiting to be captured by Buster and me.
The process of writing these books, where there is no pressure to appeal to a potential publisher is a fun process, and I love getting into Buster's brain, and the brains of our four dogs, as much as I can. I want this book to be a fun book again, and I want it to have a level of seriousness too, because of the nature of the subject matter - Buddhism. But remembering the sometimes playful nature of the Dalai Lama, and knowing dogs, there is a good mix of serious and amusing.
I don't really know a lot about Buddhism, but it does interest me, and finding ways in which dogs could be said to behave in an enlightened way (with a doggy angle). I watch my dogs a lot, and I enjoy it. I hope my dogs enjoy being watched, but you never know. Does anyone else watch their dogs and try to analyse what they do. Please leave a message, I'd love to read about it!
The fact that I have an event that I already know I must have the book ready for, could worry me, but this day isn't until late July next year. So my silly brain thinks, oh that's a long way away, and doesn't worry. Then my sensible brain says - don't be stupid, the time can come and go in a flash and you'll look even stupider ...
I think between these two parts of my brain, things should be OK. I/we come up with a new thought, it gets written down or typed up, and the text of the book grows. This book, the same as the first two books, "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs" (First book) and "Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View" (Second book), will be illustrated. The illustrator Allyson Hean, has said she's more than happy to help me out with this again, and so all I have to do is to get a copy of the test to her in enough time for her to get the illustrations done.
There will be fewer illustrations this time. I've been thinking hard about the setting out of the book, and I think I have it organised, and it will work well. One potential problem is that not all of the current thoughts are actually in the document, which is on my computer at home. Other thoughts are written down in various notebooks and on scraps of paper. These are in my handbag, and in my car. There may be some in the house, but I don't think so. And of course there are many more still inside my head, or out there in the world waiting to be captured by Buster and me.
The process of writing these books, where there is no pressure to appeal to a potential publisher is a fun process, and I love getting into Buster's brain, and the brains of our four dogs, as much as I can. I want this book to be a fun book again, and I want it to have a level of seriousness too, because of the nature of the subject matter - Buddhism. But remembering the sometimes playful nature of the Dalai Lama, and knowing dogs, there is a good mix of serious and amusing.
I don't really know a lot about Buddhism, but it does interest me, and finding ways in which dogs could be said to behave in an enlightened way (with a doggy angle). I watch my dogs a lot, and I enjoy it. I hope my dogs enjoy being watched, but you never know. Does anyone else watch their dogs and try to analyse what they do. Please leave a message, I'd love to read about it!
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