Photoshop

My daughter and I started working on her sketches over the weekend and so far we managed to photoshop two drawings for her book. From a rough sketch on an A3 piece of paper to a digital drawing full of color, the transformation is one of the most inspiring things ever. She's got completely hooked up by the process and now she is pushing me to finish all 17 images (like yesterday...). 

I first thought this would take a lot of time but as it happens we can easily complete one drawing a day so releasing her first book in mid August is definitely possible. I've got to figure out formatting but a few trials I made are far less scarier than most formatting guides online would tend to advise.I'm not sure whether it's my ignorance or Amazon's latest attempt to simplify the way you convert a well formatted Word document into a MOBI file. I know, you will say there are other formats you need to consider (EPUB for instance) that make ebooks readable across platforms (iPad, smart phones, etc.) but all I am saying is that it seems easier than most people think it is. We'll see!

My wife saw a terrifying car crash today a stone's throw away from where we live. Both cars landed on their roofs and firefighters had to cut twisted metal to get people out - and all this on a 30mph stretch of the road where most of the time people drive 20mph. Perhaps a police car chase or something, I'm not sure but pretty scary!

Ah, yes, and I forgot to print out my book today. Never mind, I'll do it tomorrow and read it over the weekend (need some break in between). In the mean time I need to play with words and pull together book description - not many words but it is not at all easy. 

Whatever the case, I am getting increasingly more excited and can hardly believe my first novel will be out on the 27th of July 2012. I think Deceiving Noone is a good book wit likable and interesting characters and I really, really hope people will like it. I've gone through the text at least 20 times and I am happy with its total unpredictability - hoping that this will keep my readers turning pages and recommending it others. I hope, I really do!

Family of writers

Wow, watching a documentary about Usain Bolt and his misery over the false start in Daegu, South Korea, makes me think how important it is to know how to fail without giving up on your dreams. He might have problems but Usain will be back in London. Unfortunately, many people start and after just a light tremor in their careers never come back again. I'm not talking about myself of course but it is wise to remind oneself that you should never give up (Yes, I mean you as well!).

And I am trying to pass the same message on to my daughter who is now writing and drawing her first book for children. She sometimes feels the process is too slow but I wonder where she's got this from... Anyway, 16 drawings away she is plodding along and learning Photoshop painlessly through her book too - and she isn't even 10 years old yet.  I keep encouraging her and she is really enjoying it and it really excites her that she will be able to show her new book when back in school in September (whatever keeps her going).

My wife doesn't need the encouragement and her baking book is now almost finished. Some copy editing, proofreading and Kindle formatting, and that will be it. So, yes, it seems we have turned into a family of writers and 2012 is already proving to be a monumental year for us (including the fact that we will - for the first time ever - attend the Olympic Games). After my first professional book in March, three more are coming along nicely too and all of this from a single family within a year. I am proud, I am happy and we keep going on so watch the space.