Writing Books for Christmas Gifts - "We Love You, Mary Bradley!"

Over the years I have published quite a few books - self-publishing at Lulu.com.  I've edited four books for my mother - all available on Amazon.  Then I've written books for my granddaughters, and I edited a family cookbook (available on Amazon). I did a photo book of my mother's 90th birthday party that turned out great, and I did a photo/memory book for our previous pastor when he was transferred to another church.  When Ron and I built this house - our dream house - back in 2006 and 2007 I photographed the whole process, and then put together a book about it.  Great memories and valuable information on where we got the house plans, paint colors, brick color and manufacturer, which subcontractor did each part of the house (foundation, framing, plumbing, electrical, brick, landscaping, painting, etc.)  So self-publishing books is something I've done a lot, and I am comfortable with the software and process.  These books aren't for commercial promotion, but for private enjoyment and use.

The genesis for my creating books actually goes back to when Larisa (my daughter) and Joey (my son) were little.  I hand-made books for them - writing with markers on construction paper about things they did and then using photos I took of them as the illustrations. I'd seal the pages with clear contact paper and either sew or staples the pages together.  I think they still have their books.  That was as high tech as I was capable of in those days - mid to late 1970s and early 1980s.

Now I create the books in Microsoft Word.  I cut/paste digital photos for illustrations.  Once the book is completely written in Word, I save it as a pdf and upload it to Lulu.  I create covers in Microsoft Publisher and save them as a jpg files.  The books turn out well and look like they were professionally done - which, since Lulu is a major book publishing business, is true.

For Christmas this year.  I created two books.  I will write only about the first one in this post.  I'll write about the other one in a later post.

The first book is for sweet Bradley - my four year old granddaughter.  Her book is way overdue. I had the book for her sister, Evey,  done before Evey was even one year old.  It was titled "Welcome, Evey."  I'll write about it in another post, too.  So here's Bradley's book:

This is the front cover.  It's a hard-cover book.  I designed the front and back covers in Microsoft Publisher and then saved them as high resolution jpg files which I then uploaded to Lulu's book cover program.

I wrote a catchy little poem - one that a 4-year old would enjoy hearing and reading again and again.  I repeated the main 4-line verse every couple pages to give it more rhythm and because children LOVE repetition in books.  After all, I was an elementary school literacy specialist the last six years of my teaching career.

 I copy/pasted photos to go with each page.  I put pink borders (Bradley's favorite color) on the photographs and added cute squiggly pink page headers and footers.

I tried to capture Bradley's bubbly and endearing personality via both the rhymes and the photos.

Then I researched her name and wrote about the origins of her name and what each part means - how her parents came up with her name and who she was named after (me!)  

Finally, I had everyone close to her - parents, grandparents, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles - write a note to her.  Each person had one or more pages.  I copied the notes and put photos of her with the person who wrote the note.

It's a sweet book, and it's one Bradley will likely always treasure.  With the first three granddaughters, I wrote several books with the three of them as the characters.  

And, of course, I wrote the book about Lily's first cancer journey that we use as gifts when Larisa and Lily speak at childhood cancer or Vandy hospital events.  When Larisa and I went to Washington to lobby for childhood cancer funding, we gave copies to each congressperson we met with.   The book is available on Amazon - Lily and Sophie, Sisters and Best Friends.  Several copies have sold on Amazon to people we don't know - which is nice.  I know when Lily was first diagnosed, I scoured Amazon looking for books about kids with cancer - especially leukemia - wanting to learn as much as possible - and looking for material for Lily to read.  She would've enjoyed reading a book like the one I wrote.  Of course she loves the book I wrote - but she lived it - she didn't have to read it to know it personally.

Up soon - the second book I did for this Christmas.