I have not written a blog entry in quite a while. Balancing being an author/illustrator with being a substitute teacher gets to be a neat trick, at times. Here is what has been going on, though.
First, summer means farmers' market season. For BP's Bookshelf, that means weekly appearances to sell and occasionally sign books. It also means handing out coloring pages to children who are visiting the market with their families. We also had our coloring calendar again, as it was so well received in 2021. Summer of 2021 marked the launch of not one, but two books. I had not expected to do this, but when Covid cancelled our previous season, we had to postpone the launch for Thoughts of a Rescue Dog. Then during that season, I had a student notice the drawing of BP on our banner and ask me why BP didn't have a story. That got me thinking, and BP's Life in the Library became our eighth title. Summer of 2022, we launched that book in the very market where I got the inspiration for it.
While working on that book, my husband blessed me with a set of professional markers, so all of the illustrations for that book were drawn using the markers instead of colored pencils. When I saw how much better my artwork could look when in print, I decided to give some of my previous titles a facelift. I also took the advice of a very wise consultant and set up an easel in my market booth, so I could work on the updated drawings while folks visited the market. My friend wasn't wrong - it drew people in. I was thrilled to have at least a few sales every week.
When the market season ended, the school bell rang. I enjoy teaching as much as writing, and this year has been a busy one. I have been teaching more than ever as a substitute, which has not left much time for writing. That doesn't mean there won't be any new books, but the illustration updates march forward. So far, we have two titles finished, and I am currently working on updating A Visit to Grammy's House.
As I write this, it is "Small Business Saturday". A business doesn't get much smaller than ours - me and my family running BP's Bookshelf out of my studio. I thought it was a good time to check my website and imagine my surprise to see that I have new site members. That inspired me to restart this blog. It was also a good reminder to be patient with myself and my business. The first season that we had a booth in our local farmers' market, I shook a lot of hands and read a lot of stories. I didn't sell many books that year. We have evolved from there, and I treasure the lessons I have learned along the way. In four seasons at the farmers' market (really five, but as I mentioned, our 2020 season was cancelled because of Covid), I have gotten better at my live videos, complete with shoutouts to other vendors and friends. I have learned to accept and even ask for help when I need it. As a business owner, I still have a lot to learn, but I am getting better at balancing business and work and family.
Moving forward, I will do a better job of staying caught up on this blog, and my website. I really hope that my subscribers can forgive my silence and that they return and keep reading. While I will continue with the drawing updates, my daughter has been asking for something specific for my next book - something giving equal table space to rescued cats. While I don't have a launch date for that project yet, stay tuned. I'll talk to everyone next week.
ความคิดเห็น