Going from the more complicated dual story lines of the Mamm Books to writing with the intent of both educating and entertaining children is most certainly a change of pace for this woman!
I have to say it's quite very fun, though!
The Mamm Books were fun for part of the time; some of it was emotionally draining ... the books for the little ones are almost ALL fun!
The simple illustrations are done with the first-hand knowledge that kids will almost inevitably color the pictures in books - so I've tried to make them 'colorable' ... it's all a learning experience for me, all completely new territory.
Yes I've been telling bedtime stories (and reading them) for a long time, but that's a little different from writing them ... let alone illustrating them ... so I learn as I go ... still, it's fun, just plain fun!
I'm going to be doing a little experimenting - and that's always entertaining, to me and to everyone who ends up with the results ... sometimes it all falls together just right, and sometimes it all just falls apart.
*grinning*
It's always a mystery until the very end, how the experiments are going to turn out. That's a big part of the fun of it!
At the moment the Younglings are vying for attention. Some want the Stories to be aimed at educational stuff, some want them to be adventures, some want them to be quiet peaceful Stories ... it's beginning to look as though I've got a lot of writing and drawing in my future if all of those differing goals of all those differing personalities and age groups are going to be satisfied.
The Younglings range in age from five to eleven years, remember - Rua is five, Brann is six, Dothann is seven, Corrbed is eight, Diann is nine, and Merri is eleven going on twelve - with Dedan and Saba still littles around age three years, and the infants Saorsa, Colum, Mamm, and Marra to think about as we go along.
If I could, I'd sit myself down and write fifteen or twenty Stories straight through. At the moment I haven't got enough hours in any given day, but later this month I'm going to have several 'free' days in a ROW! So the Story lines are beginning to take shape in my head in anticipation.
I have no way of knowing ahead of time where those Younglings of Dunnottar are going to take us - we'll find out when we get there I guess! What we do know for the time being is that they're heading out to learn from experts in their area about Fishing; about Basketry; about Making and Playing Musical Instruments; about Woodworking, Fur, and Hides; about Farming and Animal Husbandry (Ranching); about Artisans and Marketing; about Education and Administration ... those are the individual specialties of the communities in their close vicinity.
Then there's their 'pretend time' which is liable to be somewhat strange as they turn their imaginations loose into the ancient past.
They might run into a mystery or two in their everyday lives, have adventures that don't spring from their imaginations, and they might even have to try to learn to cope with situations they have no idea were going to crop up.
And that's just the Younglings.
There are also Characters from some of the other books who will be having adventures of their own.
OH PETUNIA is one of them, from 'The Lonely Little Owl'.
Solo and his Princess Sisters, from 'Going to the Moon', have places to go, people to see, and things to do.
Jessie, Sedge, and Blue, from 'The Surprise', are likely to run into more surprises.
And there are Characters you haven't met yet who are rather impatiently waiting their turns. A Mouse Family is waiting in the wings for their introductory book, and some Bandannas, and maybe a Tumbleweed or two or three.
And who knows who all else is going to show up on this stage!
We've got scads of ideas.
Now I just need the time to get them written down, and even more time to get the sketches done.
Uffda.
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