It's here, it's here. I can breathe easier now.

Brightness Sailors is available right away on these readers. (*Latest news: Amazon wants us to raise our price but we couldn't, so we had to exclude it for this book. I'm sorry if you have been waiting. Try Kobo, I really like it and can read the ebook perfectly from my laptop. If you could write us a short review, please leave it at GoodReads. Thank you so much!)

iTunes, 
Sony, 
Kobo 
Barnes and Noble (Nook) or
eBookPie

                                                                                      ..
This is about a little girl whose Grandma is losing her stream of thoughts and memories. En sails out and releases Brightness from their past, hoping to relight Grandma's sky. 

It is about sailing out. 

It is also about holding on.

It is, in its core, about trusting Love.

If Wynn (from My Clearest Me) was the shy and quiet child to whom I can relate the closest, then En is most likely the girl I wish I was.  The 'could-have-been's and 'wish-I-was/wasn't's ... it's a good thing I can put them all into my writing.

Anyway, hope you like this one. 

A bunch of new artists helped me with the illustrations in this book, and it has been a year of wonderful re-discovery for all of us. Cruel Hash Browns, didn't think we'd make it, huh?
                                                                              
                                                                                      ...

Here's a small gift I made for you as part of our book-release celebration. It isn't anything spectacular but I hope to spread things forward, so if you're keen, please help sail this forth:

Let's Spread Some Brightness ~ A Blogospread
What are the fickle-stream stories you have with your loved ones? Some of my friends shared their snippets here previously. I'd love to hear about yours in full. So how about forming a worldwide blogospread of Brightness?

Time: Any day {though hopefully very soon} 
Venue: Your blog
Guidelines: Share a personal post on 'Spreading Brightness.' You could blog on:
                        1) your experience with a loved one who, like En's Grandma, has/had memories or thoughts leaking through a crack; or
                        2) how someone/something* has spread important Brightness to you; or
                        3) how you want to spread Brightness to a particular someone {a dear family or friend in need}.

* Your post doesn't have to be in writing. If there's a particular poem/song/picture/Art/quote that has brought Brightness into your world, please feel very free to share. My friends and I would love to read about it.


    If You Could Also ...
1) include the pink paragraph below anywhere in your blog post, it would really help us sail our Brightness farther. Thank you!

I'm taking part in the Let's Spread Some Brightness blogospread to celebrate Love & Courage. Bloggers everywhere are invited to share their recollections or wishes on 'Spreading Brightness.' Come show us some love, check out Claudine's picture ebook that started this blogospread and download a small gift from her here!

2) let me know when your post is up so I could add your link to our page! {Feel free to drop me a note and a link here or on FB.}


Thank you so much, my lovelies! (*Remember to download your copy of 'A Little Book of Brightness.' Just click on the picture.)

I'm working on two book projects: my second picture book is in the illustrating stage, and the full draft for my first middle-grade novel has just been written. 

The illustrating stage is more complex this time round. For My Clearest Me, my first picture book, Sarah managed to get all the paintings done fairly quickly because she is a professional. For Brightness Sailors, Bit by Bit (the tentative title for our second book), my sister is painting the pictures. She admits to being unsure, so we discussed the pictures together. I sketched, I coloured a bit, she tried out different mediums, made changes, and is currently sailing forth with gusto. 

A lot of gusto. (Please help me cheer her on ...)

I want to share more about Brightness Sailors with you. And I'm glad Allyn Stotz of Dreaming with Words tagged me on a Be Inspired Meme so I could. Thanks, Allyn!

The rules are to answer ten questions on the book and then to tag five more writers. 

So here goes ...

1. What is the name of your book?
Brightness Sailors, Bit by Bit

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?
It began with my maternal grandmother, who was ill more than two years ago and, towards the end of her journey, not too lucid. She passed on. And this story carried on with my paternal grandmother, who had a stroke this year. (She's still with us, thankfully! We still have time. We still have time together.) I wanted to comfort them dear darlings through a child braver than I am. And these Brightness Sailors are bits of memories from happier days that Grandma and En (our girl protagonist) shared. 

3. In what genre would you classify your book?
Children’s Fiction (Picture Book). 

4. If you had to pick actors to play your characters in a movie rendition, who would you choose?
For this book, I'd love to have the exquisite Korean child-actress, Kim Sae-Ron, play En. I watched little Miss Sae-Ron in A Brand New Life and her natural performances of hurt and anger were chilling. There was a scene she tried to bury herself. I mean, I can understand getting adult actresses to do that (in a single shot, as I recall), but how do you get a child to do all that without freaking her out?

5. Give us a one-sentence synopsis of your book.
A little girl sails out to bring Brightness from the past into her grandma's confused stream of thoughts and memories.

6. Is your book already published / represented?
We're still at the illustrating stage. Brightness Sailors, Bit by Bit will be published by CarryUsOff Books before the end of the year. 

7. How long did it take you to write your book?
Slightly more than two years. (I had to put it aside for a while.)

8. What other books within your genre would you compare it to? Or, readers of which books would enjoy yours?
It's not really the type of books in this case, but the readers (children and adults) who have/had beloved family members in unfortunate health situations, or readers who are really close to their grandparents. I hope they sail out with En. 

Often, children are not able to make sense of situations in which their beloved suffers from memory loss or mental confusion. They are confused by the confusion. And even though they don't understand it, they still hope to do something to help Grandma/Grandpa out. En's way is a way.

9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?
None, but I've had writer friends from Writers' Retreat (of the Institute of Children's Literature) who gave me tremendously helpful critiques on the manuscript. Katie, ZebraKitchen, SevenAcreSky, and Covina. Much, much thanks!

10. Tell us anything that might pique our interest in your book.
A peek at how the story begins, perhaps:

There’s a fickle stream in Grandma’s head, 
Trickling, thrashing, dark and cold.
Thoughts that fill her world are hard to hold. 

{The story contains a serious subject matter, but the message is hopeful throughout. Stay strong, children. Stay strong to help Grandma home. This story won't make you giggle, but it will make you smile, and maybe tear up a bit, then smile again.}

Now for the wonderful bloggers to tag:

1. Paul R. Hewlett
2. Jess & Stephanie
3. Anne E. Johnson 
4. Martha Rodriguez
5. Barry Finlay