A bit about me...
The beautiful state of North Carolina is where I call home. It's where I grew up in a Christian home with lots and lots of music... big band, pop and of course, gospel. My parents were gifted singers and my siblings and I were blessed with the same gift. My siblings, a brother and a sister, formed a trio early on and enjoyed spreading the gospel through song for many, many years. My upbringing is what fostered my belief and faith in the Lord. My parents taught me to live by the characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit. I do try to live by those characteristics; but, I will say it's not always easy. I believe the operative word for everyone is that we, "try".
Since I was a child, I have enjoyed helping others. So, after receiving a full scholarship to UNC-P, it was a natural choice to earn a degree in Sociology to become a Social Worker. Working with families and children for those years helped form my ongoing hopes and prayers for safe and peaceful family units, for all children and their caregivers.
Writing a children's book was not on my bucket list; but, 10 years ago, the Lord poured this poem into my heart in a matter of minutes. Over time, I taught myself to illustrate. You will find the details about this unexpected journey of how my debut book came to fruition by scrolling down below.
My journey of becoming a published author and illustrator
the poem...
One beautiful Friday evening, in October of 2014, I was keeping my 2 month old first grand child. He was sleeping so peacefully in his cradle beside me. I had just laid aside my laptop when the words to this poem poured into my thoughts. It was all happening so quickly that it was all I could do to grab my laptop, open it back up and start typing as fast as possible. All the while saying, "wait, slow down, I need time to type!" I was excited about the poem, shared it with a few close friends and family and kept it in my documents as I did all other important writings.
the decision...
A year or so later I came across the poem and asked the Lord, "what's the plan for this? In just a minute, I had the thought to turn it into a children's book. I was not an artist and I had no idea how I could illustrate it. I searched the internet looking for ideas, and I read about an illustrator who said she used MS Publisher and created her designs by using shapes. It sounded interesting, and being proficient in MS Publisher, I gave it a try.
the illustrations...
I began designing each page in my mind, and began the immense and intense learning curve of MS Publisher, navigating through shapes, colors and dimensions to create the images I had imagined. I researched book formatting and worked on the illustrations in my spare time, here and there, hit and miss, and then dropped it altogether for a year or two, prioritizing other things in my life.
the revisions & commitment...
Mid 2023, I had a desire to review my book again. I made some artistic corrections and changes in my spare time I decided to commit to publishing the book. Mid 2024, I began the long process of researching the logistics of publishing through Amazon KDP. I dove into the legalities of copyright and established my publishing company, Arnell Publishing, LLC. All of this "heavy work" was not my cup of tea, but it had to be done.
the completion...
And, here we are now. With a lot of encouragement from my family, I reviewed my book, polished it up for the last time, took the plunge and published, "It's a Great Day! a Poem Book," on Amazon. Whew, what a ride...but it has been worth it. My hopes are that the book will encourage the message of prayer, a positive attitude and trying our best to live by the Fruit of the Spirit each and every day.
Will I write and illustrate new books? I may as the Lord gives me the words and designs. Now that I have the experience of illustrating and the logistics of publishing, I will expect my next book(s) to have a much, much shorter timeline than this debut book. :)