Hello Hello HEEEELLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOO HEL-LO!!!!
It has been one hell of a ride that I have been on. I think that last time I talked to you guys I was somewhere in the South of France… Or was I just getting back home?? Can’t remember but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’M BACK to sharing my crazy world with you all. The past few months have been one hell of a stressful blur but the end product was worth all of IT!!! My thumbs are finally getting a break. When I am nervous, I have a habit of basically scratching the inside of my thumb. I have basically scratched a hole in both of my thumbs. It’s a sick habit and I have no idea how it even became a habit or when but there you have it. UUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!!
Where do I begin?? Ok lets start at the part where I WROTE A BOOK!!! A WHOLE CHILDRENS BOOK!!!! And guess what??? IT’S OUT!!!!! Sooooo much love went into creating this!!! I wrote this story almost 10 years ago!! I let it sit for years and years. I rewrote it and revised it multiple times. I had it read over a bazillion times before letting it sit in my computer to collect dust. I submitted manuscript after manuscript to publishers and agents for 4 years and all I got back were turn down letters. Soooo I just stopped. I felt so damn defeated. And then one day I was like “Just do what people were telling you from the jump :SELF PUBLISH!!!! The reason I didn’t want to self publish was because I didn’t want to come out of pocket and I knew it was going to be hard find everything I needed to make this happen. I just wanted to create the story and let someone else do the technical part. WELL… when the doors keep closing you just have to put on your best Doc Martens and kick the damn door in yourself. And that’s just what I did… am doing.
I found an amazing illustrator by the name of Stephanie Hider. I had like little to no money but knew she was who I needed for my vision to come to life. I may have dipped into AAAALLLLL of my “Bill” money to pay her but I did what I had to do. Working with her was simply amazing. She took my vision and brought it to life!!! She even created things that I didn’t even know how to explain. Homegirl reached into my brain without me knowing and brought EVERYTHING to life. Her patience with me was insane. She held my hand through the entire creative process. She made it so easy!!
Once I picked the shape of the face, eyes, hair, glasses, and all of the tiny details and design, she was able to add it all together and create magic. I used different people in my life or inspiration. Bella my main character is based off a tiny version of myself, my Goddaughter, and the tiny human that I currently nanny. Bella’s mom was a different story but not a hard one at all. I knew who I wanted Bella’s mom to look like and that’s my good friend Trena. Me and Trena have been friends since we were little. Our dads are best friends and share a love of music; so of course it was only natural for me to always hang out with her and her two sisters. Trena made it to NYC before me. Her and her husband played a HUGE part in me getting to where I am today. They have two amazing kiddos of their own.Just like when we were kids… I’m ALWAYS at their house and Godmother to their youngest. It was so easy to say “You are Bella’s mommy!!!”
Stephanie UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT!!!! YAAAAAAAAS!!! COME THROUGH HONEY!!!! Illustrations were completed and then it came time for formatting. First let me say that I had no clue what all I had signed up for. I am learning as I go. I had no idea I needed formatting. I just thought I got my illustrations and then that was it!!! NOOOOOPE!!! Someone was recommended but her time frame was much different than mine. So I went with a black owned company based out of Austin called 105 publishing. BOOOOOI let me tell y’all something. Catch all of this here Texas drawl…. YAAAAALLLLLLL!!! 105 came in CLUTCH!!!!! YAAAAAAS!!! I was so nervous and they WALKED.ME.THROUGH.EVERYTHING!!!!! They even took me through steps that I didn’t even know that were needed!!! The end product was this right here
I was a nervous wreck!!!! I had seen everything on a screen but not actually held it in my hands because WORK TRAVEL!!! I was nervous to release it to the masses without actually seeing it in my own hands, but took that big scary ass leap of faith and hit “PUBLISH” What was supposed to take a few days took exactly 1 day and a few hours!!! YAAAAALLLLLL I DID IT!!!! INSANE!!! This is a HUGE dream for me and I finally did it. Am I finished?? HELL NO!!!! Nowhere near finished.
I am on a little bit of a pause though. Why?? Because work has brought me back to Paris. Not Paris Texas but Paris France. I’ll be here for a week and then we are off to the mountains somewhere. It was like a 6 hour flight that felt like LIGHT YEARS!!! We left at 1030ish in the morning and didn’t land until 11ish at night. Time difference doesn’t normally mess with me when traveling here but this time… It’s kicked my ass all over the place. I got to my hotel room around midnight-ish. I called my boyfriend and my mom and then immediately popped Benadryl to go to sleep. Y’all. I didn’t go to sleep till 330ish in the morning. Woke around 11ish but didn’t leave my room till around 130-2p in the afternoon. This new covid variant is out kicking ass and taking names so I knew I wasn’t going to be outside doing a bunch of stuff. I went for a walk, took a few pictures, went to the grocery store and then came back to my room to order uber eats. I watched Netflix and worked on crocheting a scarf. I brought snacks and wine from the store.
Wine is very important on your off days. Its so important that when you can’t find a glass that you just plug in a straw and GO TO WORK!!!
I have a late start today but I am pretty sure that I am not doing anything special tonight. It is going to be a day of work… and then sleep. What are y’all getting into??
OAN: BUY MY BOOK!!!! ITS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON!!!! www.amazon.com/dp/B09NNH7NF6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_QYB9XPBGG65
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