A New Creation

I decided to venture outside my typical genre for my latest ebook. I have been thinking about this for a while, and after some collaboration with my mother this book came together. My Granny's Kitchen: A Traditional British Cookbook is a collection of recipes that my late Grandmother loved to make. As I explain in the book, my Granny was a very reserved woman, but she really loved to be in the kitchen and to provide meals for her whole family. She would write recipes down on scraps of paper or tear out pages from old cookbooks and combine them to make her own creations.

My mother has kept a lot of these recipes, and with her help I put together a group of favorites that I can remember from my childhood. It was a lot of fun to go back and remember times spent in the kitchen learning how to cook with my Granny. The cover image of the book is her home, which is the place my parents now live. It is in North Wales, about a half hour from England, nestled in beautiful mountains.

I hope that people will take a look and learn about some traditional British foods, or that some British readers will rediscover some of their own favorites like I did.

Creating the Next Children's Ebook

Unlike some of my other children's Ebooks, the book I am working on now hasn't been years in the making or a vision I have had for a long time. It's really born out of my 20 month old's current obsession with numbers and counting. I wanted to write a kid's Ebook that she would really enjoy at this stage in her development, but also wanted to keep it in much the same style as my other stories.

I'm currently working on a farm counting book featuring my layered felt illustrations and plenty of fun animals for children to enjoy as they learn their numbers. I hope to have it completed soon, and will be posting some snapshots before it is completed. I'm so excited to see what my daughter thinks of it!

Why Felt Illustrations?

When deciding how to illustrate How the Clownfish Got its Name, I knew that I wanted the pictures to be simple and childlike. I didn't want fancy illustrations that detracted from the message of the story, and wanted just a few colors to stand out. Since I knew that many children would be reading the kids ebook on their Kindles, I also realized that complicated images with many colors would not look good on that platform.

I actually landed on the felt idea one morning while playing with my daughter. She has a book that is made up of two scenes, upon which you can place different felt characters and objects. She adores this book and has a great time arranging the felt figures and talking about what they are doing. It really gets her imagination going. While she was playing with this book, I thought about creating my own felt scenes for the clownfish and his friends. I hoped that this would add an endearing element to the book and complement the story.

How the Clownfish Got its Name: Inspiration for the Book

I have had the idea for this children's ebook in my mind for a long time. In fact, I created a very simple version with my own illustrations many years ago. Unfortunately, aside from the fact that the illustrations were not too great, the book didn't survive my dog's puppy stage!

How the Clownfish Got its Name
The message of the story is simple but important. It reminds children to find their own strengths and to be proud of themselves as individuals.

After the birth of my first daughter, I realized just how important this message is. After her first birthday, I started thinking about the book again and felt compelled to create the story in honor of my beautiful girl.

My daughter is very unique in many ways, and in her very short time in this world she has taught me that "perfection" is not about being the fastest, strongest or smartest. It's about being exactly who you are, and finding your own strengths. The little orange fish in the story compares himself to everyone else, and feels so sad that he can't be like the other fish in the ocean. In the end, however, he realizes that he is special in his own right, and has so much to offer others. I know that my little girl has great things to bring to others around her, and I hope that I can help her find things in life that she is passionate about to give her confidence and joy.