Um, so I have kind of a big announcement to make.
....Yesterday I FINISHED the illustration on my children's book!!
I originally wrote this book on printer paper, with pen and pink highlighter, on the first night of my first work trip after the Covid lockdown. It was a challenging time because my youngest son has special needs and had never experienced my absence for so long. My other son was also really upset and had trouble understanding. It felt so terrible to be so far away while they were struggling.
So I wrote this story in a feverish few hours after my work day, emailed it to my husband and my parents and their schoolteachers, and everyone took turns reading it to them. It touched me so much to see everyone rally around them and me to help the children feel better.
Later, it also struck me as odd that I hadn’t seen that many books on the subject of addressing what it means when mom is the one working outside the home. So, I wanted to complete the book and offer it up to parents everywhere. And through my challenge to Save the Darlings...holy sheet, I'm doing it!
I've challenged myself to complete the illustration of this whole book within a month — and I DID IT IN 23 DAYS!
I went to my printer's website today and crunched the numbers (you can watch me explain in today's update reel on IG) and it is going to cost AT LEAST $443.70 to print 10 books (the minimum order) — and that's BEFORE SHIPPING.
That means I'd have to charge $44.37 just to break even!
I really don't feel like that's an appropriate amount of money to charge for a children's book.
So, for the next week only, I'm going to offer this as a presale item for $20 per book.
I figure, every little bit will help.
I will only have this presale link up for 1 week, because the end of my challenge is coming up on March 23, this Saturday. I take my commitments seriously and I committed to sending to print on or before that day — so it's happening, no matter what.
I may or may not offer it for sale after that, depending on if there are any left from the run.
Thank you for all your support, whether overt or silent, in putting this out into the world.
Even you don't choose to buy a copy, would you consider sharing the link with a mom you think might like it?
>>>Link to pre-order your copy here.
- Cathy
P.S. You can watch the latest Save the Darlings progress reel on my IG.
P.P.S. The challenge isn't over yet! I still need to port all the illustrations over to the correct templates for printing, which isn't a TON of work, but needs to be done carefully and correctly for each page.