Jobs of a Preschooler

The Updated Proof Has Arrived

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

The updated proof of Jobs of a Preschooler arrived by mail today! I was very excited to receive the proof, and I really liked the updated cover of the book. I was ready to officially publish the book; however, after closer inspection, I decided that I would like eight of the illustrations to be changed. As a result, I have contacted my illustrator, and she is in the process of creating some new illustrations to replace the ones that I would like to be different. Needless to say, I will have to wait for the updated illustrations before I can move on with officially publishing the book. It may be a few weeks before I get the updated illustrations. Once I do receive them, I will give another update.

On a side note, I have figured out how to publish Jobs of a Preschooler as an e-book. Once I get all of the illustrations together, I intend to publish a soft cover and an e-book version for you to enjoy. Have a wonderful day!

 

 

Jobs of a Preschooler

The Proof Has Arrived

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

Yesterday, I received the proof of my book Jobs of a Preschooler. For those of you who may not know, a proof is the copy that is meant for an author (and possibly other people such as proofreaders or editors) to review before the book is officially published.

I was excited to see all of my work finally together in an actual book; however, there was a strip of white across the cover that I did not care for.

As a result, I spent quite a bit of time last night experimenting with the cover trying to find something that looked better (not only to me, but also to my family members who were willing to offer their opinions). I kept the same illustration; however, I did get rid of the white strip, and I changed the font. I am very thankful that the interior pages looked exactly the way that I had envisioned, so I did not need to make any revisions to the inside pages. Now, I will have to wait for the updated cover to be approved before a new proof can be sent to me.  I hope that the next proof will be even better! Who knows, maybe once I see the “new and improved” version, I will decide that the original cover really did look better all along.

Once I approve a proof, I will be able to set a publication date. Stay tuned for more information about Jobs of a Preschooler.

 

Jobs of a Preschooler- I'm a scientist... Jobs of a Preschooler Part 2 (Finding an Illustrator)
Jobs of a Preschooler

Jobs of a Preschooler Part 2 (Finding an Illustrator)

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

Once I had decided that I was going to publish Jobs of a Preschooler as a book, I struggled with what to do for the illustrations. I had a clear vision in my mind of how I wanted the illustrations to look, but I am definitely not an artist! Needless to say, I needed an illustrator. I considered having my sister illustrate my book since she had written and illustrated a book before; however, the timing wasn’t right. As a result, I searched online for an illustrator that would be able to put the ideas in my head on to paper.

I found five different illustrators that I decided to contact. The first two illustrators (one that I had met at a farmer’s market the previous year and one that I had found through an online search) didn’t respond to me. After not receiving any responses from the first two illustrators, I decided to search on http://www.fiverr.com, which I had heard about from various books and websites that I had read. There are a lot of illustrators (as well as other “gigs”) available on this particular site, which is where I found the rest of the illustrators that I contacted. The third and fourth illustrators each sent me samples of previous works, but they didn’t seem to fit the style that I had envisioned in my mind. The fifth illustrator had samples that I liked, and she responded quickly to my inquiry.  I was concerned; however, because she is from Indonesia and English is not her primary language. Since this is my first attempt at publishing a book, I had a lot of questions, and I was unsure of how we would be able to communicate effectively from half way around the world. Apparently, I had no need to worry.

I think she could sense my apprehension. To ease my mind, she offered to send me a sample illustration for my book. I was very excited when I received this illustration a couple of days later:

Jobs of a Preschooler- I'm a scientist...

This is for a page in Jobs of a Preschooler that says, “I’m a scientist experimenting with some vegetable seeds.” This picture brought a smile to my face. It reminded me of when my daughters were little, and they would wear 3D glasses (from a movie theater) or sunglasses while they were pretending to be scientists.

Naturally, I hired her as the illustrator for Jobs of a Preschooler, and I am very happy that I did. I think she did an amazing job creating the illustrations using the details that I sent to her. I am eager to see how the final product will turn out, and I would love to work with her again in the future on another book.

Jobs of a Preschooler

Jobs of a Preschooler Part 1 (In the Beginning)

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

After doing extensive research, I have finally decided to publish my first book, which will be entitled Jobs of a Preschooler. I have learned a lot already, and I hope to continue learning more as I go through this process.

I think most adults have heard of the many jobs a parent may do throughout his or her day. Depending on who you talk to, parents are chauffeurs (driving the kids everywhere), cooks (making the many meals), nurses (fixing the boo-boos), counselors (mediating between two or more kids), cheerleaders (cheering on the sidelines), and much more.  I decided to take this concept and apply it to the various activities that a preschooler may do throughout his or her day. Out of this idea, came Jobs of a Preschooler, which I had actually written with the intent of submitting as a poem for a preschool-aged magazine.

As I was writing Jobs of a Preschooler, I envisioned different pictures that would fit well with each line. The poem wasn’t a good fit for this particular magazine, so I decided to pursue compiling it together in book form. I was actually more excited about having it in book form because I was hoping that each “job” could have its own unique illustration to enhance the reading experience, which wouldn’t have been possible as a poem typed out on a single magazine page.

The only problem with putting it together in book form – the illustrations! That probably seems odd since I just said that I was excited about putting it together as a book so that I could have illustrations. Although I enjoy writing, drawing is not my forte. Not only am I not a good artist, I don’t really enjoy drawing (probably since I get so frustrated with the end result of my “work”). Since I am writing and publishing books for fun in my free-time, I didn’t want to consume a lot of my time attempting to come up with my own “adequate” illustrations for the book. For that reason, I decided to find an illustrator to put the ideas in my head on to paper for me.

More information about how I found the illustrator for Jobs of a Preschooler will be in my next post. Have a wonderful day!