Go ahead and write that book!

Grandma’s Notes is the name that I came up with for a series of books that I’m working on.  It is appropriate because I am a grandmother to a wonderful young man who just turned 2 years old last month and I am always writing down notes.  These have accumulated over the years in notebooks, scribblers and pages stuffed everywhere in my office.

I’ve always enjoyed writing but I never really considered writing an actual book and having it published.  This seemed to be a complicated ordeal, but then one day I came across a company called Blurb and then another one called Lulu.  These are both self-publishing companies where you can upload a book or pictures and have the content published as a beautifully bound professional looking book.

So, in February of this year, I published my first book which is called “Grandma’s Notes on Parenting“.  The content is based on tons of research and my own personal experiences as a child and a parent.  I’m certainly not an expert on raising children but in all the research I did, there seemed to be some agreement on certain topics and I tried to bring these together in a short, simple, easy-to-read book.

I’ve gotten some great feedback from family and friends about the book, but I wanted to know what a company thought about my work, so I sent it for review to Reader’s Favourite (http://readersfavorite.com).  Was I ever excited when I got the review.  The reviewer gave my book a great review and recommended it to everyone!   My book is available in the Blurb Bookstore (www.blurb.ca) and also in the Amazon Kindle Bookstore.  Here is the review and the link to Amazon.  http://readersfavorite.com/book-review/12123

If you are thinking about writing your own book, what are you waiting for?  Go ahead and write that book!

Spend time with your children

The weather is getting nicer every day and soon it will be time for shorts and sandals!    Spring is my favourite time of year.  The days are getting longer, the sun shines brighter and it is getting warmer.

Yesterday we took my 20 month old grandson to one of our many local parks.  There were lots of families there with children of all ages, enjoying themselves on the swings and slides.    Our grandson loves going down the slide and he giggled the whole time he was on the swing.   I’m not sure who was having more fun – our grandson, my husband or myself.  It brought back memories of when our girls were small and we spent many happy hours going to the park and watching them play.

Now that I am a grandparent, I can see how important it is to spend lots of time with your children.  Many people get so caught up in the busyness of life that they have no time left to relax and have fun with their kids.   I’m certainly guilty of doing this and I won’t make the same mistake with my grandchildren.  Children grow up so fast and we can’t go back and re-live the past, so we need to make sure that we don’t forget what is important in life.    Paying attention to our children and giving them the gift of time will have lasting, positive effects on them.  Show them how much you love them with your time!

“To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today” – Anonymous

Grandma’s Notes

My grandson was staying with us for a few days while his parents were away and now he has gone home.  I really miss his smiling face in the morning and his happy laughter throughout the day.   I thoroughly enjoyed having him and I look forward to the next time.

When I became a grandparent for the first time 19 months ago, I started thinking about how many mistakes I had made when my children were growing up and I decided to pursue my dream to write some books.   The first one I wanted to write was about parenting and I began doing a lot of research.  I read several books on parenting, looked up information on the internet and combined all this research with my own personal experience.   My ideas were written down and then sorted into different topics which became chapters for my book.    After several revisions, I finally completed the book and then all I needed was a title.    The idea of calling it Grandma‘s Notes on Parenting came to me one night as I was falling asleep and this was a great lead in to my other ideas for books – a series of different topics called Grandma’s Notes on…………(whatever).

The next thing I needed was a company to publish my book.  I’d been researching the idea of self-publishing and came across a company called www.blurb.ca, a company that provides you with templates to type your story or download pictures.  Once you have completed your manuscript, all you have to do is publish it through their website where people can buy your book or download your e-book.  You can also buy some books and market them yourself.

What an exciting experience to receive copies of your own book in the mail and see them in print!  I sold my first book yesterday!  Now I’m anxious to write more.

Grandma’s Notes on Parenting is available at http://www.blurb.ca/b/4113149-grandma-s-notes-on-parenting.  The hard copy is $7.95 plus shipping which is costly (about $8) but the e-book edition is only $2.99.