Brave Brian
The boy/book who/which broke my heart. I knew his story should be told, but it has taken me literally years to write it in a way that I loved. For a story containing 774 words that is slow-going!
I am so excited now to share that Brave Brian’s story is complete. It’s written in a lovely rhyme and flows beautifully. There’s suspense, there’s jeopardy, there’s a happy ending! What more could you want? A rhino? Go on then, there’s one of those too!
Choosing an Illustrator
Now that the words are complete, I’m thrilled to be working with a new illustrator and excited to introduce you to her – please check her out on Instagram: Lins Studio.
I met Caitlin whilst she was at college with my son, both studying A Level Art. My son is now studying Graphic Design at Edinburgh Napier University, and Caitlin has gone on to study Illustration at Norwich University of the Arts.
Caitlin surprised my son with a gift of this painting of our dog, Frank.
And last year, I commissioned Caitlin to create a matching painting of our cat, Mittens.
Later on, Caitlin let me know that she had created a picture book for a university project and I saw instantly how talented she is, with the ability to create art in many styles. How adorable is that little girl in Caitlin’s illustration? I may also have been drawn to the illustration by the memory of I have of falling off my bike as a foolish teenager. Memories are such strong pulls.
So, when Brave Brian was ready, it felt good to share with Caitlin and brought me a lot of joy when she was interested in working with me. Multiply that by 20 when she created a sample illustration. You’re going to have to pull my down from the sky when I see the final illustrations!
Working with someone I already know is the icing on the cake of this project.
Being Brave
Finishing the manuscript (I love using that word, as it makes me feel very author-ish) felt impossible at one stage – there were ups and downs which you can read about here. But, I’ve now gone one step further and done another impossible thing for Brian that is amazingly brave of me. I wrote to Ol Pejeta Conservancy – this is the charity which inspired the story all those years ago – to tell them that they had inspired me and to ask if they would like to partner with me. In return, I pledged to donate 15% of profit from book sales to Ol Pejeta Conservancy. I was so excited to receive a reply email within 2 hours which basically said “We’re interested … tell us more”. Which I did and the result is a contract and promise of endorsement and support from the charity. I can’t wait to share the book to enable fundraising on behalf of this vital environmental charity.
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Second impossible thing – tick!
Find out what my third impossible thing is next week!
