Author: Chelsea Richardson

Ladybug is Buddy’s best friend. She appears at the end of Book One in our short chapter book series, The Dog with the Crooked Tail. In Book Two, which I’m currently drafting, she is the feature character – The Tiny Dog Who Barks Things Away.

Barking Things Away

Momma C: Ladybug, I hear your book character name is The Tiny Dog Who Barks Things Away. Why do you have to bark at everything?

Ladybug: Well, for one thing, I have to protect you, Momma C! I can’t let big dogs, bad buses, or stinky garbage bins bother you. Also, everyone, including you, should only pay attention to me. I’m very cute and I love visiting more than hiking, even. I have to bark away all those bad things because they take the attention away from ME!

Ladybug’s Favourite Words

Momma C: I put lots of Buddy’s favourite words in his book. What are your favourite words? 

Ladybug: Number 1 is CAR RIDE. Basically, all cars are for me. You know, Momma C! If it’s too cold out and I’ve had enough walking, I stop at the closest  car… I’m not sure why you won’t just let me in!

My second favourite word is HIKE. When you say “hike,” Momma C, it’s an extremely exciting word! I have to jump up on top of my dog kennel to wait for you. You should just hurry up! You know that I am the leader of a big hiking group, and I have to protect them ALL! When I hike, I get to look very frightening in my spike vest, like a punker pup. If my barking doesn’t scare all the baddies away, that spike vest definitely will. You keep saying that you make me wear it to protect ME from all the big dogs and birds and bears – but I’m not sure why you think I can’t protect myself!

If Ladybug was a character from another book… she’d be Piglet AND Tigger!

Momma C: If you could be a character from another book or show, who would you be?

Ladybug: I’d be Piglet AND Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. Since Buddy was just like Winnie the Pooh, and I’m his best friend, you know. I’m also a VERY small animal. When you made me go to that scary vet, they said I weigh about 5.5 pounds. 

I’m like Tigger because I’m fierce like a tiger but I’m also very curious. I can’t climb trees, but I can climb couches and chairs and I can bounce with my whole body and scare things away. Water creatures are so interesting. Why do those leaf things float on water? Why is there foam? I just have to dip my paw in to find out. I’ll fetch you a leaf, Momma C, and maybe you can tell me why.

Buddy, since you are about to become a published book personality, I have a few questions for you…

C: Tell the readers about your first date.

B: Ladybug and I slurped some noodles together, and when our noses touched, I knew she was the one!

C: Buddy! That’s not your date! That’s Lady and the Tramp!

C: What is your favourite holiday?

B: Don’t they all have tasty eats? I like them all – but I prefer Hallowe’en. I like to do tricks, and even better for treats. 

C: If you had a perfect day off, what would you do, where, and with whom?

B: First I would go on a huge walk and stop and sniff everywhere I wanted. I’d take you and Ladybug. Then, we’d go to a coffee shop and I’d jump up on the table and drink your latte and eat all the snacks. I would not share with you or Ladybug! We’d take a big car ride before going home, and I’d drive the car.

C: BUDDY!

B: Then, we’d come home, and you’d make at least 5 different types of meats on the bbq. Then you’d let me eat them all. Then I’d fall asleep in front of the fire and dream of doing it all again!

C: What is your favourite book?

B: I have a few. I like Winnie the Pooh. He gets stuck in the honey jar, just like I get stuck in the backpack eating lunch. He also has to do his exercises. You keep saying I have to do exercises too, if I want my treats. Also, Ladybug reminds me of Piglet. I’m Pooh taking care of Ladybug.

C: What others do you like?

B: Green Eggs and Ham. But I don’t understand why Sam I am doesn’t just eat the eggs and ham. The colour of the food just isn’t that important!

C: What kind of movies do you like?

B: Definitely my favourite movie is that one about the burgers and fries – Supersize Me!

C: Buddy! That’s not very healthy. You know that guy gets sick from eating so many fatty foods!

B: But I was jealous of how he got all the burgers. If I could eat like that every day, I would.

C: Who is your favourite character (other than Winnie the Pooh)?

B: I’m a little ashamed to admit it because he’s kind of a mean guy. And I’m friendly. But I really like Oscar the Grouch. 

C: That’s a strange choice.

B: Well, he gets to live in the garbage can full of those succulent morsels. It’s irrestistible!

C: Okay…. Moving on!

C: What was your first thought when you found out your real-life adventures and friends were going to be in a book?

B: Well, when you told me that my story was about breaking into a school and eating lunches, I felt… HUNGRY! Can you eat the book?

C: Buddy! Please don’t eat books, they will make you sick!

C: What’s your worst habit?

B: Habit? What’s that?

C: It’s a thing you do over and over again.

B: Well, I like to throw my two paws up in the air – like this! But it isn’t a BAD thing… It usually results in me getting FOoD!

C: Buddy, what do you think about school?

B: Isn’t it that building you go to when you say “work” every morning? I don’t like the word “work”.

C: Yes, where the kids are.

B:  OH! Bring me! Where there are kids, there is lunch. Kids are not too tall, and I can jump high. It seems in these buildings called schools, they keep their lunch in the hallways. I think you should let me in there.

C: Buddy, why is your tail crooked?

B: Shhhh, it’s a secret I can’t reveal. Some people weren’t so nice to me, and I had to fight for food. But I can tell you that with you, I found love. 

“Every class needs a mascot, and it seemed Ms. Kibblesworth’s kids had found theirs”.

For a year and a half after writing Buddy’s story,  my main task for the book was to communicate back and forth with Meghan, the illustrator, to check on how the pictures were coming along.  I sent Meghan the entire text, along with some guidelines, such as the following for the image above: *Illustration of the classroom with Buddy propped up on a stack of books with Fred feeding him carrots, with Ms. K at the front of the class

Meghan and I collaborated virtually (mostly by email) – and I continued my writing in a mini-blog format on Instagram, using photos I took as writing prompts for observations of the dogs’ funny antics, often imagining conversations between the two dogs. Buddy and Ladybug are (and sadly, was, in Buddy’s case) just a joy to be around, and through the uncertainties of the pandemic, I was more grateful than ever for their loving, goofy presences. 

Last winter, while continuing to build an Instagram audience, I spent a good deal of time researching the self-publishing process. I chose self-publishing because I wanted people to read and enjoy the book – and for Buddy’s fictional AND real-life stories to be shared. Although I will continue to submit the book to traditional publishers (you never know what opportunity might be out there), too often, manuscripts sit in an editor’s stack and don’t see the light of day. I felt that Buddy’s joyful story needed to be shared – and that I would like to have some control over the process. 

Here are a few of the steps I took to research how to self-publish my book. Through my sister’s business, PHHNIX, I discovered the Australian Writers’ Centre. The AWC offers a short online course on self-publishing books via Amazon.  After taking this short course, I decided NOT to go the Amazon-only route. There are a few reasons I chose to go with a well-known self-publishing company,  FriesenPress, rather than hiring freelancers and using Amazon by itself:

-To self-publish without a self-publishing company, I’d need to hire at least two freelancers – a cover designer and an interior pages designer – OR buy a publishing platform for my computer and teach myself, which would cost $500+ and also take a lot of time to learn. My very rough calculations told me that hiring freelancers alone would easily cost as much as having a self-publishing company create the book

-The self-publishing company does soft cover, hardcover, and e-books – so all of the design could happen in one place. I had also seen samples of their books and knew that this company had a good reputation, so there was no need to interview or vet designers (which I’d have to do if I was hiring a freelancer or two online).

-FriesenPress also takes care of distribution, which includes Amazon, plus additional platforms – so I surmised I’d get more people looking at/buying my books (I hope this is the case – I’ll let you know once I start selling books!)

-Most importantly, I wanted a professional product that was properly edited and could be sold at local bookstores, and that libraries might consider buying for students. I asked the opinion of a local bookseller, and they said that professional editing is an absolute must, which is another reason I went with a self-publishing company (editing on various levels is part of their packages).

-As an added bonus, the self-publishing company is Canadian and is employee-owned, which I thought was worthwhile.

If you are an indie author, too, what process did you take in self-publishing your book?

Never one to miss an opportunity, Buddy dashed for an unattended, partly open backpack.

Writing and Creating My First Children’s Chapter Book – The Inspiration and Process

I started writing the story of the Dog with the Crooked Tail waaaay back in 2016. I moved to a house with a big fireplace (actually, my first childhood home, a work of art built by my dad – which is a story in itself). My mom, the pups’ grandmama, said something to the effect of, “Well, if you’re going to be sitting by that nice fire all winter, you’d better write a story about Buddy! He would make a good book character.”

Back in 2019, my older niece was in grade 1 and had a boy named Fred in her class – so I decided to make them characters in the story. At this point, I had only created an introduction and figured out how Buddy would sneak into the school via a backpack full of lunch – but I had not thought much further to the main plot events and additional characters. The third character I had created by this time was Ms. Kibblesworth – the grade 1 class’ teacher.

As with many projects I have (I write songs also, and I teach), I left this dog book project on the back burner for awhile and somewhat forgot about it. 

A few years later, in 2019, I happened to bring up the book idea to a good friend, Paul, who said, “You should finish this book draft by the end of this summer!” The encouragement of an inspiring friend definitely helped bring this book to life – and in fact, I am fairly sure I would not have done it without his encouragement. 

By the end of summer 2019, I had the idea of starting an Instagram account to document Buddy’s life and the process of writing the book. I think my Mom was unintentionally responsible for this Instagram idea, only by mentioning how much she enjoyed my sister’s Instagram posts. So, I made an account and posted a pic of Buddy sitting on my lap while I was working on the first book draft that summer. 

In that first Instagram post, since the book draft was nearly finished, I realized the book would need an illustrator soon! So, as part of that first post, I asked if anyone knew any illustrators who would be interested – and right away, I got a response from a good family friend, Tim – who said that his partner Meghan would love to do the illustrations! Meghan created one sample (the illustration of Buddy inside the backpack eating snacks) – and I knew right away that she was the only person for this job, without even looking at any other illustrators’ work!

With both myself and Meghan working full-time jobs outside of writing/illustration, it took us around a year from that first sample to communicate back and forth to get all of the images right for the text. Meghan did such a fantastic job – and I really think her illustrations make the book exactly what I dreamt of when I wrote it! My strategy here, since I had never written a book before, was to give Meghan a draft of the story with detailed descriptions of what should be happening in each image.

As we continued our work together, Meghan created the beautiful logos for the Buddy and Ladybug characters that you see on our website. You can find her on Instagram @talonserena.

In following posts, I’ll discuss my self-publishing process, colour scheme choice, creating Instagram content, and phodography – AKA walks and hikes with dogs, involving lots of photography!