The day is finally here!! Guyyyyyys I'm now a children's book illustrator and author! Say whaaaaa?? This book can you believe it or not was started 2 years ago! I didn't even have an idea, all I had was a nudge in the right direction from a few people to believe in myself and make this happen!
The book is about a pupper named Poppy who is on her daily run in the park. She comes across various characters with difficulties such as asthma, fibromyalgia and more. She doesn't notice the characters until they each make it quite obvious that they are there as I wanted the 'invisible' illness element to them to stand out. She goes out of her way to help the like the good doggo she is!
When I started writing this, I had NO CLUE how it was going to turn out. What story was I going to write? I haven't written anything since college for coursework so what was I letting myself in for? Children's books for this age range 3-5 year olds can't be too complicated though right?
So I sat down with my Dad and got some ideas Together. I wanted a bright and bubbly main character that kids would love. The idea of Poppy came into my head looking like a big fluffy cloud. I drew her up first so we had a starting point to write the story with. We got the first draft done within a week, although it kept changing for a while. It had to flow right, have the right message and of course rhyme! I kept going over and over it, doubting myself and asking friends to read it for feedback.
At the time of writing and drawing this, I was at my worst with endometriosis and found this such a challenge to complete. I was awaiting my surgery and not very motivated due to how I was feeling so I didn't draw too much up for a while. I only had roughly 6 pages complete before my surgery and only a 1st draft story! Having the surgery and getting back to work gave me my passion back. I wanted to get this done now and out into the world. The drafts were checked and changed until perfect and I got drawing the majority of the book! I really had to focus as I am a person who has great ideas but loses interest in them pretty quickly so I'm not a fan of leaving things and coming back to them constantly.
Once done though, I was mega proud of myself! Quite the achievement for a spoonie who often can't think straight!! I changed the text and fonts up a final few times until I felt everything was ready....Then my publishers arranged the preorders and we set a release date. TODAY!! Eeeek!
I really hope you all love it and please leave reviews when you can. Make sure to use the hashtags on social media #myinvisiblefriends and #innaboxdesign and there are gifs too if you type in 'innabox.' Thanks so much to ImagineWe Publishers for their support throughout! Also to anybody who has preordered or is going to order their copy of the book soon!
Love to you all
Nikky xx