As many of you know, I’ve not only taken the leap to become an author, I’m doing something not many other rookie authors have done. I’m writing a spectrum of books for all ages, but with the same characters. Children will fall asleep listening to Grandpa read Sierra Becomes a Search Dog. When they learn to read for themselves they will hopefully enjoy the chapter book Bryce Bumps His Head (working title).  Then, when they’re teens, the darker novel Digger will go into the work of cadaver dogs and catching serial killers.

Although I’m told that’s a great marketing scheme, it’s also confusing as heck. And you know what? The darned childrens books are more confusing that the murder mystery. I’m completely flummoxed writing a book for…..four-year-olds.

My artist, Taillefer Long, is saving my bacon. For example, we ended up adding one of the best scenes in the book to save an error I made. Instead of merely fixing the error, we turned it into a positive. I let a friend glance at the book, and saw the delight on her face when she got to the page with the “fix.” She wasn’t aware of the drama about that page, so her reaction was incredibly valuable to me.

I hope that when you read Sierra Becomes a Search Dog you’ll let me know your favorite scene. We’ll see if it’s the one that ended up in the book only because of my bonehead mistake.

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