Hot Air Balloon Gifts

unearthlytales says:

Whew, I’m tired after a weekend volunteering at the Balloons & Tunes Festival! Did y’all go? I was over in the balloon area, helping to put balloons up and take them down. I even got to have a balloon flight! Very cool. It made me think of my Book 3, MOUNTAIN OF WHISPERS. You’ll know what I mean when you get to it. hayden5, I’ve finished about six novels that I can think of, three of which you know about (the ISLAND OF FOG trilogy). The other three are THE SECRET OF GROMBLE GORGE (a fantasy with a girl that can talk to dragons), FLYING SAUCER IN THE WOODS (a sci-fi about two boys who find and steal a flying saucer), and THE MYSTERY OF THE STOLEN BOOKS (a mystery based on the characters created by Enid Blyton). You can read this last one on my website here: the way, enjoy LABYRINTH OF FIRE!jack6, the name of my first unpublished novel is THE SECRET OF GROMBLE GORGE (as mentioned above) but the first published novel is ISLAND OF FOG. As for why I write… It’s definitely not for money!! Unless you’re famous like Stephen King, most authors are not rich. I own and run a website design business, and writing is purely a hobby. I don’t really make any money from it; any profit I’ve made to date has been spent on promoting the books and various other things related to writing. That said, obviously I’d like to be rich and famous one day!kelsey5 and kaitlyn 2, you asked who inspired me to write, but I answered that question above; see post #40. But as for the title ISLAND OF FOG… I guess it’s a fairly simple title considered the story is about children on a foggy island. Originally it was called ISLAND OF MIST, but someone told me the title and premise reminded them of THE MISTS OF AVALON, so I changed it. I like “fog” better anyway. I’m glad you’re enjoying it, Kaitlyn!dawson3, ISLAND OF FOG is actually self-published, meaning I’m in complete control of whether it’s published or not. I use an online service to print my books. I have to buy an ISBN first (the long number on the back near the barcode) and I have to prepare my content (the text) and the cover so it meets the requirements. This takes a lot of work, plus of course I have to make sure the story itself is finished and carefully edited. I do it all myself, but I have a few people I call on to proofread for me, and they pick up more typos and errors. I edit the whole book numerous times, reading it over and over, trying to find all the errors. It takes ages! But once it’s done, I upload it and have it printed. Once printed, it’s ready to sell — but even then the occasional typo pops up and I have to correct it in my manuscript and re-upload it.Meanwhile, a major publisher is currently looking at ISLAND OF FOG so it could be that it’s published “properly” one day. Being self-published is great in some ways, but nothing matches the exposure and marketing power of a major publisher.And finally, Kayla13, writing is a hobby AND a passion, and I think it has to be that way. I would say that ALL hobbies are passions, otherwise why would it be a hobby in the first place? The coolest thing in the world would be to turn a hobby (or passion) into a full-time job. But for that to happen, I need to be published by a major publisher and have as many readers as J. K. Rowling!

Joy says:

1. Spare pairs of reading glasses!