It’s been an exciting week for many reasons, where do I start?
Well, for ages now I have been deliberating as to the wisdom of publishing my own books. I did have a foray down that path and tried out print on demand. It was an education if nothing else. I learned many new things but felt that the overall quality of the books fell short of expectation. I have been too worried about all the practicalities of warehousing, sales and distribution to go it entirely on my own but now, I see a way forward. Like everything in life, this new venture of mine will be a gamble but I feel confident enough to have taken the first steps. Not entirely alone, I will be guided by an old and trusted friend whose company will handle all the tricky bits like storage, distribution etc. more of this later…
For now, I am the proud owner of Acornmoon Books complete with ten ISBN’s, a new logo and, fingers crossed, will see the first children’s picture book in the spring next year. I am hoping that given the right conditions, this tiny acorn sized venture will grow and thrive and if it falls at the first hurdle, well at least I will have tried.
I have also started to illustrate another book for a well known publisher, this time for an established writer who I admire enormously who also sometimes publishes her own titles. I dare not say too much about this as so much is still to be sorted and as they say, “There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.” Hopefully I will be able to tell you more soon.
On the theme of acorns, I met up with two friends from the blog world -
Gretel from “Middle of Nowhere” and Frances from "City Views Country Dreams".
We met in Ludlow and had lunch and explored the town. Gretel, who makes the most wonderful needle felted creations gave me this exquisite acorn. The gorgeous stripy knitted gloves are the work of Frances from New York who was playing her very own version of “Miss Marple” whilst staying in a very old and quirky hotel in Ludlow. I have never met Frances before so it was an extra treat for me, and lovely to share some time with two very creative and interesting ladies.
Ludlow has much to offer, it has the most marvelous position but the inclement weather stopped us walking far. Amongst its many interesting shops we found a bindery shop and of course we had to venture inside for a spot of retail therapy. Well, could you resist hand-marbled paper? No, nor could I. We admired the many old black and white buildings, had a stroll around the castle, decided that the fallen leaves looked exactly like a Japanese Kimono pattern until all too soon, we had to say our goodbyes before heading home.
