Coming soon to a book store near you!

I just left the changes to the proof copy with my publisher. The changes will be made, a book will be created, and then if all is okay, many more books will be printed and available for sale. This has been the most stressful book of the four I have written. It was difficult hearing that my original illustrator had decided to stop illustrating children’s books and head in to the world of animation.

With the search for a new artist, I found that artists have their specialties just like authors have their genres. Once I found Stacie, who has done a wonderful job, I got the motivation back that I needed and finished writing the book. But I was way past the deadline for buyers to get ready for tourist season. The buyers make their decisions in April to be ready for Memorial Day, the traditional start of tourist season.

This delay was only worsened by format issues with the illustrations and the software my publisher uses. And when the solution was found, my publisher ended up getting sick and fought a fever for a week. It is times like this that I realize how much of a control freak I am. Having to wait and not being able to do anything about it drives me nuts. So to take my mind off of it, I outlined Ricky’s Colorado Christmas and Ricky Snowshoes in Mueller State Park.

Next week, after I get back from a relaxing camping trip in Mueller State Park, I will make plans for introducing book 4 to the world! Okay, maybe just to those in Colorado Springs. My publisher has been talking to the owner of Pikes Perk in the Eridale Center (on Academy Blvd. just north of Vickers) about doing a book signing there. So sometime in July, I’ll have all four books available, including the debut of Ricky Camps in Rocky Mountain National Park. Until then, have a great summer!

Busy, busy, busy, is probably the best way to describe the start of this summer. I have turned in the text and illustrations to my publisher. On Friday I will receive the proof copy of Ricky Camps in Rocky Mountain National Park. Next week it will go to press!!!
I just started teaching a three-week summer school program. I have written outlines for Ricky’s Colorado Christmas and Ricky Snowshoes in Mueller State Park. My wife an I are currently reserving sites in Mueller State Park for a few camping trips. I will be taking a bike ride from Pamler Lake to Colorado Springs down the Santa Fe Trail (yep, that book will follow the Snowshoeing book). I also plan to fly-fish for the very first time (and that will also be a Ricky book). Plus I plan on climbing a few fourteeners with friends.
As you can see I have big plans, but not much time. I go back to work the week of August 10. But don’t worry, I’ll keep posting the blogs! Have a great summer!

Who has a blog site and doesn’t blog? I guess I have to admit that would be me, or the old me. I have spent too much time with my “day job” and editing book 4 instead of keeping up with this site. My new goal is to keep this site updated at least once a month. So what has been going on recently in the writing world for me?

Ricky Camps in Rocky Mountain National Park is almost complete. Most of the pictures are done. In the final edits of the text, I am trying to remove parts that don’t really help the story. I am also making sure that more of Ricky’s view is seen, and less of my view. It has to be fun or kids won’t enjoy it. Plus it has to describe Rocky Mountain National Park. In my books, the setting is almost another main character for me.

I also need to keep my “Fans of Ricky: Ricky Adventure Books” group on Facebook up to date as well.

But don’t worry, summer starts in June (even though I will be teaching summer school for three weeks) and I plan on scheduling time to write. If I don’t plan time to write, it just won’t happen (Thanks, Norm).

Ricky has joined the millions of groups on Facebook. I have created a group called “Fans of Ricky: Ricky Adventure Books” to post recent information and to start a discussion board.

I haven’t posted in a while due to my illustrator moving on to the animation business. After much searching, I have found a new illustrator and “Ricky Camps in Rocky Mountain National Park” has been worked on. I am on the finishing touches of the text and a few illustrations have been started. I should have the cover complete soon.

I will create a blog for how book three came to be, sometime in the near future. However, my time now is spent teaching and completing book 4.

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!

The best place to start this blog would have to be the beginning.

At a party, July 4, 2001, Chris Gilman and I discussed writing and illustrating a book about a little boy climbing Pikes Peak. So the rest of that summer I wrote a rhyming children’s book and he drew some possible sketches. That fall we went to a writer’s conference and realized that we had done many things incorrectly. Most publishing companies don’t want the text and the illustrations unless the author is the illustrator. So we left the conference feeling a little unhappy but much more informed. Four years later (after 16 rejections from major publishing companies) I met a local publisher who was interested in my book, but wanted me to find my own illustrator. Now Chris is back in the picture (no pun intended). I had a brief period of time where another local publisher was interested, some major changes were made to the story, and then she was no longer interested in the book. I had to meet with Chris to change some of the illustrations to match the changes in the book. Chris and I met off and on for the next few months and we realized how much stress you can put on a friendship when you become business partners! (Don’t worry, we are still friends and are almost done with book three). After tweaking the illustrations, adding an educational page (thus one more illustration), and having my daughter take a picture for the back of the book, Ricky Climbs Pikes Peak was finally done.

                I thought that the hard part was over. Now that I had the book, I had to market it. Lucky for me, Ricky Climbs Pikes Peak came out the summer of 2006. This happened to be the year that Colorado was talking about the 200^th anniversary of Zebulon Pike’s attempt to climb the mountain. I was interviewed by the Colorado Springs Gazette and by KKTV news. Fortunately I had created a website so people could learn more about my book and could purchase it as well. I got to do a story time at Borders and at East Library. I was asked to present at the first AuthorFest in Manitou Springs. It was at this point I finally started to feel like an author, not just a teacher who had written a book. I had to take my writing more seriously. It was no longer just a hobby.