Well, after a discouraging month of coming to grips with the fact that self-publishing involves many more upfront expenses than I'd realized, I've decided to no longer entertain the idea of pursuing this route! However, I've not given up on illustrating the story for my grandchildren and by posting excerpts here I'm hoping an agent or publisher might stumble onto them and offer to publish it for me! You can see excerpts from Chapter 1 HERE if you missed it last month.
In Chapter 2 Gabriel spends his time trying to figure out how to escape the house so he can start looking for Poetry and meets an unlikely accomplice. Here are excerpts that go with the sketches in the next chapter. . . . .
Then, out of the corner of
his eye [Gabriel] saw it—a tiny little creature—furry and grayish brown. It had a pink tail and beady little
eyes. Gabriel rose slowly and
pointed his nose at it, his tail as straight as a stick pointed in the opposite
direction.
“Yikes!”
the little mouse shrieked, jumping straight up into the air. Landing with a thump she ran through a
hole in the baseboard. Gabriel
bolted toward the hole so fast that he slid when he tried to stop. Before he knew it his nose had gone all
the way into the hole!
"Tee hee hee," the little mouse chortled. She was so nervous she couldn't help but laugh out loud at the sight of this huge black "knob" protruding into her house!
She
scampered to the kitchen where she found some butter that had been left on the
counter. When she returned with it
she told Gabriel her plan and began rubbing the butter all over his face where
he was stuck. Then she went to her
back door and into her house and rubbed more butter all around Gabriel’s
nose. "Hmmm," Gabriel exclaimed because it smelled delicious! The mouse, whose name was Tilly, told Gabriel to twist his head side to side while she pushed on his nose. This he did and in no time at all he was free! And to top it off he got to lick off all the butter around his nose!
That
night when the couple was asleep Tilly crept out of her house to find Gabriel
sniffing around the door. “What
are you doing?” she whispered. “Oh, hi there. I’m trying to find a way out.” “Why
do you want to do that? The old
couple will take you out anytime you want to go.” “Yes, but they put me on a leash so I can’t
get away.” “But
why do you want to get away?” the little mouse asked perplexedly for she had no
desire to leave her own snug little house. She had everything she needed right here. So
Gabriel explained about Poetry and how much he missed her. Tilly understood now. She’d once had someone she loved very
much who was now gone--forever.
Tilly looked up into Gabriel’s sad eyes and said, “I can help you.” So they hatched a plan.
The
old woman came into the kitchen and smiled at Gabriel. She bent down and tousled his fur, “I’m
sure going to miss you.” Gabriel
looked up at her. How does she know I’m leaving? he
wondered. "Yeah, ol' boy," the old man added. "We just can't keep you now can we. I'm sure you'll like your new family." Gabriel cocked his head in confusion. What are they telling me? Just then the doorbell chimed. The old woman opened the door and a man and a woman with two children walked in.
Gabriel,
panicking, looked at the front door and seeing it was standing open struggled
free and bolted for the opening. Tilly
stood in her doorway, waving goodbye to Gabriel even though she knew he hadn’t
seen her. But just when Gabriel
reached the door he turned and gave a little bark to his tiny friend and a “ruff-ruff”
to the kind couple that’d taken care of him in the first days of his new
life. Then, before anyone could
catch him, he was out the door heading down the street on his journey to find
Poetry.
I am continuing to post daily on Another Perfect Day 365, and I hope you've checked out my Take Joy Society web journal. On the first of the month this year I'm featuring Susan Branch! This is March's post: ❤️ of the Home
In Chapter 2 Gabriel spends his time trying to figure out how to escape the house so he can start looking for Poetry and meets an unlikely accomplice. Here are excerpts that go with the sketches in the next chapter. . . . .
Chapter
2 – What’s Going On?
Then, out of the corner of
his eye [Gabriel] saw it—a tiny little creature—furry and grayish brown. It had a pink tail and beady little
eyes. Gabriel rose slowly and
pointed his nose at it, his tail as straight as a stick pointed in the opposite
direction.
##
“Yikes!”
the little mouse shrieked, jumping straight up into the air. Landing with a thump she ran through a
hole in the baseboard. Gabriel
bolted toward the hole so fast that he slid when he tried to stop. Before he knew it his nose had gone all
the way into the hole! 
"Tee hee hee," the little mouse chortled. She was so nervous she couldn't help but laugh out loud at the sight of this huge black "knob" protruding into her house!
##
She
scampered to the kitchen where she found some butter that had been left on the
counter. When she returned with it
she told Gabriel her plan and began rubbing the butter all over his face where
he was stuck. Then she went to her
back door and into her house and rubbed more butter all around Gabriel’s
nose. "Hmmm," Gabriel exclaimed because it smelled delicious! The mouse, whose name was Tilly, told Gabriel to twist his head side to side while she pushed on his nose. This he did and in no time at all he was free! And to top it off he got to lick off all the butter around his nose!
##
##
The
old woman came into the kitchen and smiled at Gabriel. She bent down and tousled his fur, “I’m
sure going to miss you.” Gabriel
looked up at her. How does she know I’m leaving? he
wondered. "Yeah, ol' boy," the old man added. "We just can't keep you now can we. I'm sure you'll like your new family." Gabriel cocked his head in confusion. What are they telling me? Just then the doorbell chimed. The old woman opened the door and a man and a woman with two children walked in.
##
Gabriel,
panicking, looked at the front door and seeing it was standing open struggled
free and bolted for the opening. Tilly
stood in her doorway, waving goodbye to Gabriel even though she knew he hadn’t
seen her. But just when Gabriel
reached the door he turned and gave a little bark to his tiny friend and a “ruff-ruff”
to the kind couple that’d taken care of him in the first days of his new
life. Then, before anyone could
catch him, he was out the door heading down the street on his journey to find
Poetry.I am continuing to post daily on Another Perfect Day 365, and I hope you've checked out my Take Joy Society web journal. On the first of the month this year I'm featuring Susan Branch! This is March's post: ❤️ of the Home
❤️Take Joy❤️
Such a shame that costs will stop your dream but on a more positive note what a wonderful gift for your Grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a risk taker, so the upfront expenses, combined with legalities, and all the other details of proper formatting, etc. make me question whether it would be worth it. It has totally been worth writing it and now illustrating it, but the rest I'm not so sure about!
DeleteWell I'm sorry your idea of publishing Gabriel's tale is turning out to be harder than you had hoped. But you will still have fun preparing it for your grandchildren and what a treasure it will be for them. And as you say, you never know. Meanwhile we can enjoy it. I do love your drawings. Happy Month of March!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dotsie. One never knows, indeed! If it's to be, doors will open. ❤️
DeleteI say go for it! Never mind the cost. This has been a dream of yours for a long time, and even if you don't recover all your costs in dollars, you will more than make up for that in the satisfaction of having fulfilled that dream. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love your enthusiastic encouragement, Kristie! Perhaps once I've actually finished illustrating it I'll feel differently about doing the work and laying out the expense. I've always been one to "weigh the cost" of things (and not just monetarily) to help me decide what I should do. Until I have the product I don't have that on the scale yet.
DeleteCathy, never give up! And by the way I sure love that mouse! She is adorable and I am very partial to mice! Finish the book and then decide about the publishing costs. Things can change.
ReplyDeleteChris Wells
Your have captured so well the way Westie's react and a wonderful story to go with it too! Could you just create a book that you give to members of your family? Sarah X
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sarah. Just today I decided to put illustrating Gabriel's Tale on hold since Olivia is too young anyway to sit through such a long book (I tried Chapter 1 on her, so I know this for a fact!). So I've decided to illustrate one of the picture book stories I've written in the meantime and I'm excited to get started on that.
DeleteThe perils of publishing. The dream sometimes outweighs the practicalities and realities of the publishing world. It really requires an enormous amount of persistence to be successful with books.Even if you have, say 1000 printed books, you must figure out HOW to sell them. Have you looked into Print on Demand? That is a less expensive route to take. I think you can print as few as 100 books. There are many avenues to take. Whatever you decide, you have the joy in knowing you've created your own stories and your family has a wonderful heirloom from your hands and heart.
ReplyDeleteWhen one is motivated to pay the bills one can see past the realities of the publishing world. When it is just a hobby it becomes another thing all together!
DeleteHow true that is. I do it for a living so I am forced to make it work for me, or else! It's a darn good thing I enjoy it for it is a tremendous amount of work, as you know. Your drawings are charming and the story is leading us along, who knows what will happen next....
DeleteThank you, Jeri. I'm glad to hear my excerpts are holding your interest. The adventure is about to begin in earnest!
Delete