4-20-24
Hello . Thanks for checking into my blog.
The story of Ollie and the kid all started with one of my many fishing trips to a small. remote village in Mexico. I was in Punta de Mita, Mexico. It’s a funky, little fishing town, located roughly 45 miles north of Puerto Vallarta on the Bay of Banderas.
I never knew his name. I just call him the kid whenever anybody asks. He was about 10 or 11 when I took this picture. He would stand at the front of our boat—and never say a thing. Just point. And he’s not looking at something, as much as he’s looking for something. Birds— swooping flocks of pelicans, gulls and cormorants diving into tight balls of baitfish that are being herded to the surface by larger gamefish.
Over several years, the kid stuck in my memory as a potential protagonist in a series of children’s books.
Can you think of someone you’ve met that would be a great character in a story or movie? That’s a good place to start if you’re thinking of writing a book.
10-4-24
Part of the process of writing and printing a book is getting people to read and enjoy it. But if nobody knows about your book, you basically wrote it for yourself. You need to get it in front of people. To hold it, check out the back credits, admire the design and illustrations and take a peek inside. It will only take a couple seconds for a potential customer to decide if they will buy it.
Of course, you could just park it online and hope enough of your relatives and coworkers will order it. But there’s nothing like seeing your literary effort sharing shelf space at a local bookstore. You’ve joined a community—a club of sorts, that lets you whisper proudly to yourself, “Hey, I did that!”
Now with OLLIE & the KID looking for that visibility and discovery, my plan is to approach the top indi bookstores around the country. Just starting, but I’m proud to say you can find O&K on these fine book shelves:
