The Indian Prairie Public Library hosted a Local Authors Fair this month that we had the pleasure of participating in. What a great opportunity to meet local authors and share with each other our books and self-publishing tips. Thank you to all the library patrons that stopped by to say Hi and take a look at the book. What a nice event for the community thanks to the Indian Prairie Public Library! Regina was there too but someone had to take the picture :)
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Shout out to the teachers and kids at Children's Oak Academy!
Thanks for featuring Cricket at storytime!!!! Hope you all enjoyed! We were invited to the LaGrange Family Health and Wellness Expo to share our book and conduct some group readings for kids that attended. We brought along a giant photo opp piece for kids to take their picture with Cricket hiding in the cattails! The expo brought together a wide variety of resources within the community to help raise awareness of what is available in the area to help encourage healthy living. Regina couldn't make the event but she sent a fabulous stand in, her daughter, to help work the event. Thanks to Bob Briskey, www.briskeyphotography.com, for the great photo. A very kind write up in the local School District's news letter.... "O’Neill Secretary Regina Houlihan McCutcheon has always loved reading and creative writing. During her 12 years as an elementary librarian, she gleaned a keen sense of the types of books children most enjoy. At the top of that list? Cute, anthropomorphic animals and insects. Regina’s sister, Patricia, is a talented artist. Over the years, the two would chat about co-authoring a children’s book, but it wasn’t until two years ago when these discussions grew deeper and turned into a reality. Using Regina’s librarian background, the duo decided to write a book about a lovable, mischievous cricket. “Since crickets are nocturnal bugs, our protagonist would come out at night and wreak mayhem in the dark,” Regina said. With this concept set, Regina took out her legal pad and pen and let her creative juices run. She thoughtfully hand-wrote draft after draft of the book, each time tweaking the rhyme and meter. “I’m most comfortable writing with pen and paper,” she remarked. “I like being able to scratch out words that don’t fit, yet easily revisit them if I need to later.” When the text looked just right, the sisters began planning the book’s artwork. After they created an artistic outline, Patricia took over, designing beautiful images and backdrops to make the story come alive. They published the final product, called “A Cricket’s Good Night” as an e-book on Amazon in early fall 2016. The e-book began selling very quickly, and soon customers were requesting a print version. “We did not intend to publish a print copy at first, but demand grew, so we made that option available,” Regina said. “It’s rewarding to see our work in print, and it’s hard to believe that so many people are interested in it. It’s been a pleasant and unexpected surprise!” Regina and her sister are already brainstorming ideas for their second book. When asked what advice she could impart to aspiring writers, Regina shared, “First, know that you CAN write. Second, start writing things down on paper. Brainstorm ideas and write them down. Don’t get discouraged. Know that you will rewrite and redo your work several times. It’s just part of the process and it will make you a better writer in the end!” Thanks District 58! Well, we were pleased to hear of demand for a print version of Cricket... soooooooo we did it! Both digital and print "Cricket's Good Night" books are available at Amazon.com.
We chose to work with Createspace, a partner of Amazon, to produce our print version. We explored various printing options and landed with Createspace as the best option for us to offer the most reasonably priced quality product. We hope you enjoy it and think about giving it as a gift this Holiday! And, oh yeah, Cricket is a big Cubs fan. This has been a big year for Cricket! Oh what fun! We were asked to talk with a few classes of 3rd graders at Centennial school in Illinois (200 kids total - Yikes!) We talked about our process of writing, illustrating and publishing our book.
We had a great time and were soooo impressed with everyone's great questions and overall interest in how it's all done. Thank you Centennial for being such a good Host and thank you to all the kids for your wonderful stories and pictures that we received in the mail after our visit. Hopefully we will get some of them up on the website soon! There are definitely some budding artists and writers in this group! Hey.....We were lucky enough to be interviewed for a company newsletter....
Dupage Medical Group newsletter DMG Receptionist Illustrates Children’s Book When you put the heads of Irish twin sisters together – one with a background in art and animation and the other an elementary school librarian – what do you get? Cricket’s Good Night, a fun and entertaining children’s book sure to delight all readers. What’s more, the book is illustrated by DMG’s own Patricia Houlihan and written by her sister, Regina. “We had the idea for decades, and finally decided to roll up our sleeves and do it,” explained Patricia, a medical receptionist who works at the Dermatology office in Hinsdale. “I love cartoon drawing and my sister’s hobby is writing, so we put our heads together and this is what we came up with." The recently-published rhyming book is ideal for children ages 2-7. It includes educational information, fun facts about crickets and multiple eye-catching illustrations throughout its 30 pages. “It’s an adorable children’s story,” added Linda Data, Dermatology Practice Manager. According to Patricia, the book was quite a learning process and took two years to complete. Despite the many hours of work involved, she and Regina plan to publish more. They’ve received a lot of fun reviews and really great feedback, especially from Patricia’s Dermatology team. “They have been so supportive! I’m very proud to be a part of this group,” she said. “I truly enjoyed doing this,” Patricia added. “It was a heartfelt project. If it makes kids happy and we can get some fun entertainment out to the kids, it makes it worthwhile.” So the next time you’re looking for an educational bedtime story to read to your children or grandchildren, look no further than Amazon.com. Thanks DMG! Our first book, "Cricket's Good Night" launched today in digital format available on Amazon. We couldn't be more excited to share this with you.
All the work leading up to this point has been fun, tiring, educational, frustrating, satisfying and challenging all rolled into one! What an experience! Head over to Amazon and check it out! |
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