The Birth of Book Two, Ricky Rock Climbs in Garden of the Gods

It is amazing, but writing Ricky Rock Climbs in Garden of the Gods was both easier to write and harder as well. Having a publisher makes writer less stressful. It took five years for Ricky Climbs Pikes Peak to become a book, but most of the time was spent finding a publisher. The employees of Mother’s House Publishing have been the greatest. Getting to know them during the making of the first book helped me to know what they were looking for in future Ricky books. With this direction, I knew what book 2 had to look like. That is where the hardest part came in. I tried to write the book like the finished product of book 1. After a while I got so frustrated that I stopped writing. After a few days of not writing, I realized that Ricky Climbs Pikes Peak had gone through close to 40 revisions. It wasn’t perfect on the first draft. Seems to make sense, but it took a step back for me to realize this. Back to the laptop! Once I decided to just get all my thoughts typed out, Ricky Rock Climbs in Garden of the Gods finally became a rough draft. With the help of my writers group, TOPS (Teachers Out to Publish Something), and many visits to Garden of the Gods, the text of book 2 was finished. It went through close to 30 revisions to get it finished.

However, I do not draw my own illustrations. When book 2 was close to completion, my illustrator was in the middle of a major project at his job. By the time the illustrations were done, we were in the middle of the summer. The summer of 2007, Colorado Springs was hitting record numbers of tourists. I count on local tourists! My books are mainly available in gift shops around Colorado. Most of the local gift shops do their purchasing in April to get ready for the summer. Ricky Rock Climbs in Garden of the Gods was finally ready August 2007, four months too late in my thoughts. I sent an email out to my Ricky Fan Club and got some repeat buyers but sales were low because of the timing. But summer 2008, sales picked up, along with the release of Ricky Rafts the Royal Gorge. More on that in a future blog.

Here’s a little treat for you. We did something special with Ricky Rock Climbs in Garden of the Gods.  In every illustration you can find a little bird. Enjoy!