A Tiny Fish Tale Children’s Book

My first children’s book “A Tiny Fish Tale” was published about eight years ago. It was about a Betta fish called GW, short for George Washington. Aside from writing the story, I painted all the illustrations using my iPad. It was first available as a StoryChimes app through the iTunes Store and sold for ninety-nine cents! But the app didn’t include my illustrations and was never updated. It can’t be viewed on the latest operating system. So I dug out an old iPhone and took some photos of the app pages, and listened to the tale. Since that time I self published the book on Amazon using my paintings, and it is available as a Kindle download, or as a hard copy children’s book. Since then two other books were written and illustrated. “The Four Promises” and “My Trip to Washington DC” both were about my grandsons - one who lived in Washington, DC and the other in California. When I look back at how it all happened it surprises me. I always liked to draw since I can remember. I was an editor of our high school newspaper and contemplated a career in journalism. Neither of those options came to fruition. I opted for nursing instead just to ensure I could find a job. The writing and the art were always helpful during my career wherever it took me. Now I spend a lot of time doing both. 

The Four Promises Children’s Book

It was eight years ago! My children’s book “The Four Promises” was transformed in to an app by StoryChimes. Shortly thereafter I turned the story in to a self published book on Amazon. I not only wrote it but also painted all the art work. Thinking back on it I don’t know how I did it. “A Tiny Fish Tale” was also turned in to an app. That was my first book. What’s so special about “The Four Promises” is that it was published in December, and the story is about my grandson and the words of wisdom his father shared with him before he was deployed to Iraq as an army surgeon. Since the app has never been updated to meet current operating system requirements I decided I should save the story by recording a bit of it off an old iPhone that still supports the rudimentary elements. I was so tickled to have the story accepted and created. Back in the day having an app was really special. It sold for ninety-nine cents! This week I sent the saved movie that was made of the app as it we playing to our grandson and asked him if his dad had had that conversation with him lately. He’s 17 years old now and has a lot of other things on his mind, but at least he remembered it. His mom had a much different take on it. It was a tough time for any family to be separated. That’s why it was so easy to write about. And being the holiday season, it’s a great story to think about it at least once a year.