Day 54 - Rekindling a past project

I've been doing a lot of reminiscing and looking back over the last few weeks. A lot of it has been trying to find more inspiration for my blog. But it is also the case that I feel more in common with the me of 3-4 years ago than the one of the last 12-18 months or so. Despite being an arrogant prick at times (see previous post) there was a much greater sense of dynamism and positivity about a lot of what I did. And a surprising amount of creativity too, something my daughter would definitely attest to being in short supply around me!

As I was looking back I was reminded of a project that really first came about during a family Christmas conversation - and I think the idea can be traced back to my dad.

Maybe 4 years ago I started to write a series of children's stories about the adventures in space of two children and a cat (played brilliantly by my nephew's Charlie and Oscar and my niece Poppy). They are guided through their escapades by a star called Luke, named in memory of Jo and Mark's baby - who is the main reason Friends of Serenity exists in the first place. I've since made a few revisions to incorporate Katie into the stories, and I've started to sketch out the next batch.

The idea all along was to publish these and sell them to raise funds for the charity. I still want to pursue this idea. 

I know there are huge hurdles to overcome but I also know there are some fantastic, generous people out there and with a bit of hard work we can make this happen.

I've finished the stories now and am still hoping the editing and illustrations done by friends or family. My sister originally planned to edit them, but her life keeps her busy. Katie would like to do the illustrations but there are still a bunch of other things that we need to get sorted in the meantime before we can get even begin to make this a reality.

We need to find a publisher who is interested or if not we need to locate somewhere where we can layout and print our own books. I'm sure there are plenty of other things I've not even considered either.

So we are still a way away, but if you know anyone who may be able to help in any way at all then I would love to hear from you. 

You can drop me a line at doctortomowens@gmail.com or you can get me via my twitter handle @tomthedoctor. 

Also, if you can share this around then it would be magnificent. The more people who hear about the project, the greater our chances of finding someone who might be able to help and the more likely it is that this will eventually see the light of day.

Thanks for reading.

Till tomorrow, Tom