How it all happened
Jan 9, 2014
So I was trawling through my emails to remind myself of how things happened. That’s what I do – a tip for you as well. Email yourself any important documents, scans and information. I can never remember things like my passport number but I have it in my emails so I just search for it and voila! Wait, I’m digressing. Back to the point.
08 Dec 2010 – Wow, was it really that long ago? I messaged my trusted network of long-standing mum-friends about wanting to write a children’s book with a deaf character and BSL signs in it. I actually asked them ‘if I wrote one would you buy it?’ And they all said yes! They were all extremely supportive and encouraging and told me to go for it.
08 Dec 2010 – I contacted Cath Smith, about working with her and using her ‘Let’s Sign’ series of BSL signs for my proposed book. She was also very keen and encouraging.
21 Jan 2011 – I emailed myself initial ideas for the book. Titles, musings, sentences.
26 Jan 2011 – I wrote the basic storyline for ‘Ali and Aidy’ in a Word document. The story was taking shape! I noticed that I put a second story idea in the same email! After a bit of a play in Excel I now had words and signs! I also spoke to an illustrator about illustrations and would be in touch when the storyline was firm.
Almost a whole year went past before the next major milestone. Family, work, studies got in the way, how annoying 😉
28 Jan 2011 – I chose and purchased my current domain name…
22 Dec 2011 – First Draft was completed. The illustrator was still game and made me an illustration with the main characters. It was a good illustration but not quite what I wanted.
14 Jan 2012 – After deciding I needed something different in terms of illustrations I began advertising for an illustrator on a freelance website. I found someone who captured the essence of the story perfectly. Thus started a great journey with Goran Pesic, the illustrator for my book.
21 Feb 2012 – Goran finished all the illustrations and sent all the files to me, job done! I sent the draft of the book with illustrations and sign graphics to a select few friends for feedback.
After this many months of set-backs and disappointments followed. I couldn’t seem to get the book into a print-ready format. I needed a book designer badly…..
29 Oct 2013 – After some rejuvenated motivation, I registered for and received my ISBN allocation for my book. No going back now!
08 Nov 2013 – A kind soul gave me the details of his grand-daughter, the young and immensely talented Freya Holdsworth. An artist at heart, she and I discussed how to move forward with the project. Finally I had someone who could help design the layout of the illustrations, text and sign graphics for the book.
11 Dec 2013 – Freya worked really hard on the book design, and after many tweaks and adjustments she sent me the final files which I sent to a brilliant printing company called PrintDomain – they were the final piece to the puzzle. I was desperate to get the book ready before Christmas, but timing was tight.
18 Dec 2013 – 200 copies of my very first publication of ‘Ali and Aidy go to the Beach’ landed on my doorstep. I couldn’t stop smiling all day. After almost three years of trying, I had my very first children’s book in print 🙂
So, it was a long road with a lot of ups and downs (and of course lots of emails, research, calls, chasing, more emails) until I finally got there. But the main thing is that I did. The book has now been in print for all those years and has been used in research as well!