One of the most exciting things I have done is to work as an “executive project manager” for my wife Wendi's book/fairy tale about a princess who gets kidnapped and has her life hanging in the balance. Will the king find her in time? Will she be saved? Will she live happily ever after? We are pushing to have the book ready for release on Valentine's Day via Amazon's Kindle store, and it has been a fun challenge bringing it to this point. Right now, all systems are go, but just like a NASA … [Read more...]
Flashback: From ‘Oh, My’ to ‘Happily Ever After,’ A Brief Tale About a Fairy Tale
Soon, and very soon, my wife, Wendi, will have her Christian-themed fairy tale available worldwide through Amazon's Kindle store. We have been working toward a Valentine's Day release date. Here is an early version of the cover art: Wendi originally wrote it in 2008, and after hiring an illustrator to bring some of the scenes to life, she began rewriting her work. Part of it was to incorporate elements of the universal storyline, and part of it was expand on what she wrote. I think the … [Read more...]
Flashback: Lessons I Learned Working with a Freelance Illustrator
When I dipped my toe into the world of publishing through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, I had no idea where it was headed. What I discovered was I landed a gig as an executive project manager on a fairy tale with a Christian message to it, so I needed to work with a freelance artist. Actually, I began exploring all of the possibilities with publishing via KDP, and it occurred to me my wife, Wendi, had written a fairy tale that would be a good project. I had been reading Timothy … [Read more...]
Flashback: How a Dream Becomes Reality
My wife Wendi has a dream of "becoming" a published author and has been chasing the dream off and on for years. I put the word becoming in quotes above because she already is a published author. When I published a newsletter geared toward families, she wrote articles for it. My wife is a licensed professional clinical counselor in the state of Ohio. While she no longer counsels, she keeps her license current, as she still works within the mental health field. With this background, she was … [Read more...]
Tonight We’re Gonna Party Like its 1878
Wendi and I were in Lodi on March 4, 2016, when I received back-to-back calls from the Wayne County commissioners' office informing me construction workers at the courthouse had found an elusive time capsule and at 2 p.m. it would be removed from the vault where it has been secured since 1878. For a newsman, this is serious business, but March 4 is not your ordinary day in my household: It's our anniversary date. The journalist in me wanted to head back to Wooster and be there to shoot … [Read more...]