Not another set-back!!!

Having amended the small typos in A Perfect Nest for Mrs Mallard, I was looking forward to receiving a set of flawless copies. I was therefore horrified to notice that two of the photos towards the rear of the book had become pixelated. How that could possibly happen when no changes were made to the pictures is a mystery unsolved. I have had to submit another revision and everything is now on hold until a further proof has been approved. Meanwhile, I have been invited to sell and sign my books at a festival in the park this weekend and all I have is 30 copies with a typo and 8 copies with faulty photos. Obviously I was not born under a lucky star.

Samson's legacy lives on

My brother recently told me that one of his friends gave in to his son's demands for a kitten so they went to the local RSPCA shelter to choose one. However, when the young boy saw a 3 year old tabby cat, he just had to have him. The cat now has a new home and is named "Sailor Sam". I'm sure Samson would have got a kick out of having a new generation of cats growing up named after his picture book character. Annecdotes like this are what makes writing and illustrating children's books so worthwhile.

Why do you never notice your own mistakes?

I was devastated today to have two small typos pointed out to me in my new book. This is after it has been proof-read by 4 colleagues/friends and almost two dozen copies sold in the past few days at work with nobody noticing. Once you actually know that a mistake is there, you see nothing else. I will be submitting a revision to the printer this evening but it has really put a big downer on my day and on my pleasure at see my book finally in print.

At last - welcome to the world!

On a day when it is certainly weather for ducks, Mrs Mallard has finally left the nest accompanied by a record-breaking 16 ducklings.

Beautiful but deadly

I started the morning with a walk round Platt Fields, trying to dodge the showers. The young birds seem to be hatching late this year, and there is still no sign of Mrs Mallard! One Canada goose was out with her new family who look like they probably only hatched yesterday. Alas, their arrival has prompted the swan's annual killing spree. During just my short walk, he killed one gosling and injured another. It was rescued by one of the fishermen and taken home by a local woman. But once abandoned by their parents, the poor things don't stand a chance. The geese seem to be the worst parents and tend to flee, leaving their babies to face their fate.

The weather is encouraging me to stay indoors today and paint. I am attempting my first portrait of Freddie and his amazing polydactyl paws!

Come on, Mrs Mallard!

There is still no sign of our school duck, Mrs Mallard's ducklings hatching out - in fact until they hatch, there is never even any sign of Mrs Mallard! We are checking the courtyard several times daily but as yet, nothing. Mr Mallard has been seen sat on the roof of the music house most days, surveying the site.

Last year, Mrs Mallard was the first duck from Platt Fields to hatch her eggs and she and her 13 babies made the trek to the lake on 30th April. Already this Spring, another duck has beaten her to it and produced 5 ducklings (one of which already seems to have been lost).

A Tabby Cat Press hat-trick

I received my proof copy of 'A Perfect Nest for Mrs Mallard' a few days ago and was thrilled with it. I am just tweaking the title on the front cover slightly but otherwise, it is perfect. It shows how patience and practice pays off.

Giovanna is awaiting the proof of 'Rickie the Raccoon Learns about Recycling' and will undoubtedly be just as nervous as I was. After so many years of being let down, cheated and disappointed by other publishers, it will be quite something to finally hold a copy of this book in our hands.

Another step forward

I received an email yesterday from Lightning Source letting me know that my proof copy had been generated, which is greatly encouraging as I must have got the formatting right!

I can't wait to hold my new creation in my hands and see how it looks as a whole, rather than as individual paintings.

The first time I ever formatted my own book, I got the cover wrong three times and got so stressed that I gave myself shingles. Then one morning, I somehow saw the template in a completely different way, and bingo! - I'd got it.

Relief and apprehension

At last my work on "A Perfect Nest for Mrs Mallard" is complete - or at least the writing, illustration and set-up. Marketing (for me the most difficult part) is never done. I was up with the dawn yesterday morning, trying to get in a hour's painting before I went to work and last night saw me chained to my computer until nearly midnight, trying to get the PDF just right before submitting it to the printer. How many times did I go through the process only to notice a small typo that a spell checker would not pick up or a thin black line at the edge of an image?

Having ordered a proof copy, I will be on tenterhooks until it arrives. That first thrill of holding your creation in your hands can be immediately dashed by turning the page and seeing a typo staring back at you. Why didn't you spot it during the hundreds of times you viewed the file prior to submission? The proof of my first children's book literally made my blood run cold! My illustrations were cut in half and paired with the wrong half of other pictures, and worse still - I had nobody to blame but myself for page-numbering the book wrongly (although I had read the guidelines so many times...you seldom notice your own mistakes).

Hopefully, experience will make this proof a more of a pleasure to receive.

So close but so far!

I am really hoping that this weekend, I will be able to complete "A Perfect Nest for Mrs Mallard" but the last illustration is proving a devil. The school caretaker provides Mrs Mallard and her ducklings with an escort safely across the carpark and to the lake. I decide against a portrait of the caretaker (sorry, Terry - I know you were looking forward to your 15 minutes of fame), as scale-wise it would have made Mrs Mallard and her babies too tiny. So, I have them marching across the page in front of a halted car. This causes a further problem, as I don't want to show a real number plate and can't think of a good fictional one. I've tried masking the plate with the legs of watching schoolgirls (rather manga style) or having the truncated legs of the caretaker walking past but as yet, nothing is pleasing me. Think I need to give it a rest for today and come back to it refreshed tomorrow (although I've tried the same tactic for the past 3 nights and still no breakthrough!)