Video Preview of book

Video preview of If I could have been there

Here is a sneek peek for you all now that book is in the printing stage and actually going to be sent to me in a couple months I figure I can share what all my excitement is about , you will not be able to read the pages but it shows the art work and how they will look... please take a look and if you would like to comment below I sure could use some input as to how everyone feels about it..it is easy to comment just sign up.. 

If I could have been there video preview
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My Sample is done and ready to ship

just got some pictures from my printer , the sample of my book is ready for me to see they just have to send it and then I have to approve it, and then they will start production of my order...

Well jack of all trades master of none

I often take on things that I do not wish to dole out money for... if I can make it myself I will try, if I think I can do it, I will try... even if I think I can't do it but want to try anyway... I have worn many hats in my lifetime for all the different trades or jobs that I have done...
Some of the easier than others... there are many steps to becoming a self publisher and now I have completed most of them...
I became a author , a illustrator , a importer and owner of a book selling business..
ahh the internet , the marvels that you bestow upon me each day, the opportunity that you have given me.
I often get asked why I am not taking my book to a publisher?
they will be able to sell more books for you...
Well as a artist , you do not like to be told your work stinks.. so if I even got a bad review from any of them I would have been devastated to say the least. For this book was more thatn just pictures and words.. it is part of my heart, how could I make myself vulnerable to them... so best next step AVOID them.. yes and that I did.
I am not afraid to take on new challenges.. after all I lived in Fiji for 4.5 months with the locals , sleeping on mats on the floor , fishing in the ocean with a coke bottle with fishing line wrapped around it and snails for bait inside it. I lived in a hut on the beach sleeping on a coconut husk bed and ate fresh crab caught on the beach..
I worked pipline construction for 15 years doing the same work as my male counterparts..
so having a Graphic art training I should be able to make a book.. well I went through a company in the US to start with as you have read in a previous post.. I learned how I did not want to do business,
I had to trust someone... someone across the ocean that I had never met before, would I get ripped off and loose my money.. well I still may I am not sure.
But one thing I do is go in with both feet when I start something .. so it is all or nothing...
I did my research, everyone liked my concept.. did my art, everyone liked my characters..
so now what is the problem.. getting my book out there with out a big publisher. How am I going to get my book known, will anybody besides my friends and family actually want to buy one ..My husband said ORDER them , well I can line the upstairs wall if they don't sell right..
My friends have great confidence in the book and say it is touching and brings tears to their eyes
 ( this is a good thing right) as it evokes emotion within us that tugs at our hearts..
So after all the learning of how to be a self publisher, now comes the hard part getting my book known with out the big book stores selling it.. I am counting on you my viewing audience to help spread the word
Thank you in advance

Jamie

Found a new printer as we speak they are already working on my Book

Well it has been quite the last few days around here, not only did my first printer misquote me... after working with them on all the design aspects of my book for a month and a half , but then when they transferred my deposit back to my visa I lost more money with the American dollar exchange rate....
So I was on the hunt for a new printer and I wrote to many of them getting numbers all over the place but in the end I felt really good about the guy whom I decided to go with... maybe it was a sign, maybe not but his name is Jeff and he had been the best at answering all my questions, and emailing back promptly..their shipping is higher than some of the other companies  but in the long run they have a lot more years experience than some of the others... so I sent him my 40% down payment... goodbye money ..I may never see you again..ha ha sent him my files.  Did not realize that waiting on someone 15 hours away would be so stress full , I am up all day and then I get my reply's at bedtime..
So now today I wait, and wait .... and oh yeah wait some more..................................
I have had the stomach flu since Sunday so I guess waiting is what I can do as I can not really go anywhere.. had a cold for two weeks prior to that and did not go anywhere  but one day out, anyway I will be going down to Hardisty  next Friday to Toddler's Inn Hillbilly Hootenanny - March 14th at the Hardisty Community Hall hope to have a sample book, fingers crossed if it gets here by then and a electronic book for people to see ... I will be doing pre orders.. so I can let them know numbers for final production of book .. so if you are in the neighborhood come out and take a peak ..Tickets are still available

MY BOOK IS DONE

It is so good to finally have my book done and in the production stage.. the process is still going to be about 2 months before it will be here for sale but I have to be patient.. as I told my Husband it is like giving birth in a way  the time it was in utero was 6 years though..LOL and I am still 2 months away from holding it in my hands, I have seen the ultrasound though and am happy with what is coming.. hope that everyone realizes how much this book means. to me and my family is is written and illustrated totally from the heart. after doing rough sketches , then watercolors, and then arcrylic canvas, finally the world of digital has inspired me to draw the final project,I had to ad more pages from the original and change the original concept from the first year of a childs life to when they were young.

Well things have progressed well and I now have the book registered with my ISBN number and am so excited to be on the final stages of this long journey..this book has so much meaning to me and those whom I have written it for.
Life has away of throwing us cure balls and it is what we decide to do with them that counts, many of us have had loss in our lives some it is expected as the Loved one has been ill for awhile or they are elderly. Then there are the accidental deaths that take us to our inner feeling of why, or what could I have done to prevent this. we have no way of knowing weather we have tomorrow.
  I married my husband of now 12 years after he had lost his first wife to Cancer she fought a long battle for 3 years.. I never met Sandy but I am now the surrogate Nana for her Grandchildren.
 A Grandmother they will never know ,other than through the stories their Mom tells them of her.
Then 8 years ago my brother died suddenly in a accidental death, he left behind a wife and 3 daughters, one whom was getting married later that year. He was gone to early and he missed this event in his daughters life, but it was not until 2 years later that his first grandchild came into this world.
 A very loved little girl Surai, the night she was born I thought of all the things that my brother would have been missing .  All the things that he would have done if he would have been here to see her grow.
Then came along two little boys a year and half later.. twins non the less we always wondered what it would have been like to have two of Jeff when he was growing up, well now we do. The twins look so much like him, one more so than the other. Well this book is written in Jeff and Sandy's memory of all they may have done if they would have been here, also in memory of my sister Laura Lee whom I never knew as she died before I was born , I always wonder what my life would have been like to have had a sister, to play with to hang out with.
I had to revise the book a little from my first draft as I realized there were many people that I have met whom have lost someone special in their lives and having to comfort their children to deal with these losses, or even if someone is just not there, they may be in the military, a father who has to work overseas or have given their child up for adoption or foster care. they may want to be there but just can't be for one reason or another.. this book is for one and all. I hope that you enjoy it and the little ones you read it to find some comfort in the story

So the book is coming along nicely.. for those of you who are unaware of what it about... when my great niece Surai was born, I thought of all the things my Brother who had passed away would be missing, thus the story came together, this book can also be for kids whom have been adopted or lost someone special in their family like my Step Grand kids whom never met their Grandma it could have been a Dad, Mom, Grandma , Grandpa , Aunt, Uncle, sister or brother etc...So here is the last page... to find out what happens in between the cover and here you will have to buy the book... looking for a printer right now ....what do you think should it be hard cover or soft cover? — One of the pages of the book still working on my characters but the chickens are coming along fine since they found their coop.. all the rest are having a nap I guess they have never heard of up with the chickens

 The last page of the book and the one that means the most as to finding comfort in the fact that you can look up to the sky and find the brightest star and feel that you are sharing it with the loved one whom is not there ..When my daughter lived in Egypt for a few months I told her to look out at the moon and I was looking at the same moon, which brought me a little comfort while she was away..