Amazon Create Space Children's Books

I wrote and illustrated three children's books - one about a tiny fish, another about a trip to Washington DC, and a third about a parent/child separation. All of the stories were inspired by my two grandsons. I self published the books with Amazon's Create Space, and they are all available on Amazon in both Kindle and large text soft copy book formats. I was recently asked if I would like to donate to the Payne Elementary school auction. So I did. I donated twelve digitalart images of the Washington DC and Capitol Hill neighborhood that I digitally painted using my iPad; a custom pet portrait; and a set of my children's books. But I only had one copy of the Four Promises, and needed to replace it once it was donated. I like to keep at least two copies of all my books on hand for whatever reason. What's nice about Create Space is that it is on demand publishing, and I can get copies of my books for much less than what I would pay for on line. So I ordered up a few copies and they arrived within three days. I'm still not sure how I was able to accomplish it, but I am very proud of these three little books. So if you are you are looking for some sweet stories about little boys, fish, and Washington DC, please check out the Payne Elementary School auction and make a bid!

Packages to France

It was supposed to be a surprise. We wanted to thank our hosts for their kindness and generosity by sending three items to two little boys in France. Thinking it might be easier to send directly from Paris, I used the Apple Store in Paris for package number one. I can understand enough French to figure out what was being asked and thought a transaction was complete. Package number two was sent from the UPS store here in Alexandria - pretty straight forward. Package number three was sent through Amazon's Create Space - two of my children's books that I can get without going through Amazon directly. As usual I began tracking the progress of all three and was getting quite nervous when all the remarks were showing not delivered "because." In the middle of all this I received an email in French and tried to respond. Still not making any forward progress! I was beginning to think the address was wrong and the contact numbers weren't working as planned. In the end we finally sent an email to our wonderful hosts and explained and were sorry for any and all the problems we were creating. What was meant as a pleasant thing turned in to a worry - for us! And hopefully not a headache - for them. The next day we finally started getting "delivered" and "signed for by" and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. I'm still not sure where the hang up was or even if there really was one. Maybe that's just how it goes in France.