“Dinosaurs Don’t Play Fetch” is now available on Amazon as a hardcover as well as paperback!

After many adventures in editing, submitting the properly revised files, and all the surprises that can happen on that winding path…I am super excited to have my book available as a paperback edition and as a beautiful hardback.

I made a few changes to the stories during this process. Mostly just smoothed out a few bits that were confusing people (confusing my kids, I should say, and if they were confused after all the retellings…) and tweaked the vocabulary just a bit so that it’s more kid-friendly and easier to read aloud. These changes have made it more fun for me to read them to my littl’uns.

I bought copies of both, and they are equally beautiful. I am very pleased with how they turned out, and could easily see them on the shelf at a bookstore. Whichever copy someone may wish to purchase completely depends on personal preference and perhaps budget.

You can find the hardback HERE, and the paperback HERE. Both links are to Amazon, and if you are curious about which one is the best way to support me, that would be the hardback. I published it through Amazon, and so there is no middleman to get through and I get just a little bit more from each book (about $3 per copy). The hardback costs more to produce, and so is a little pricier than the paperback.

One more thing to note is that Amazon has 12 paperback copies in stock (as of the writing of this post). I think these copies are the original, and not the latest edit of the book. So just be warned that they may be slightly different from the hardcover books until the new stock comes in. All the stories and images are the same, it’s just a few word changes and sentence rearranging here and there. I just thought I would let you know in case that matters to you.

If you happen to own a copy, or wish to purchase one, I would absolutely love to see pictures of my book “in the wild!”

With that done, now I’m ready to contact my local library and schedule a story time and exhibit. Only two more critters to go, so no sense in delaying any longer. These last three critters are taking quite a bit longer than the other updates, because their creation is just like adding three new critters to the shop. I am very pleased with how Opie turned out, and I hope you like his new look as much as I do when he’s featured later this year. I’m working on Skippy’s colors at the moment, so he’s about halfway through.

I am really looking forward to seeing them printed out. There is something about having one’s work on a physical medium that makes it more real, and all the more pleasing when it actually looks good. I had a few things sent to my local printer this week, and it’s just so cool to see my art on something I can touch! I printed a big stack of stickers and some bookmarks. The bookmarks still need ribbons to finish them off, but all in all I am very pleased with how they turned out.

My lesson for this month…

• Keep on keeping on, and you just might be amazed by what you can accomplish.
• Define what success may look like for you, even if it’s small, and then celebrate that success. It really helps to have something tangible for this, or figure out how you can make something abstract into something you can touch.

And the Critter of the Month is…

Rosie ended up getting a full make-over instead of just a reworking of her lines. I’m enjoying these more realistic backgrounds, and I’m trying to really stretch into using different brushes for texture. For this painting I also put a lot of focus into making the silhouettes of my subject more clear. I still ended up getting some of the foliage a little muddy, but hopefully I managed to fix that with the shadowy branches at the end there.

I’m posting these time lapses partly for my own benefit. It’s another way I can look back at my progress and see how much I have learned, perhaps better analyze where I went wrong and how I can improve next time…but I do hope it’s encouraging for others as well. It’s inspiring to see masters at work, but it can be intimidating at times too, so it’s good to see the process of those who are still learning. It seems more attainable.

Even if you are not interested for the purpose of your own art, then I hope you find it relaxing and entertaining for the simple joy of watching over an artist’s shoulder. There’s something entrancing about watching people paint. 🙂

Now that Rosie is all nice and shiny she is ready for adoption! Just click on the picture below or CLICK HERE to go to Redbubble and take a look at her.

See you May 1st for the next Critter of the Month!

This little flyer just wants a little snack…please? 🙂

Share your guess in the comments! She’ll be one of the critters over on the critter page. 🙂