The first story I ever wrote was The Strange Flashlight. I wanted to write a book for my new grandson. The Strange Flashlight was that book.

I actually begin with the cover. I design the cover around the theme of the story and then I write the story. For The Strange Flashlight, I hired someone from Mark's List on Smashwords to professionally redraw my original cover design. Then, I drew my own covers for Revenge of the Video Game, The Candy Curse, The Day Snot Stood Still, Dad Rented the Basement to a Bogeyman and Dinosaurs are Hiding at the Zoo.

I used to write out the whole story without paying any addition to whether it even made sense. I would then edit the story until it made sense. After my first book, I tried illustrating the story first and then writing the story. Now I illustrate the book and write the story around the illustrations.

I grew up on a diary farm in Iowa. On a farm, you deal with animals every day. So, it is best to be direct and get to the point with them. You have to feed the cows. So, grab that bale of hay and feed them.
Storytelling for children and adults is just the same. They are hungry for a good story. So, get to the point and give them a good story.

In Dinosaurs are Hiding at the Zoo, a little boy discovers that dinosaurs from another planet are disguised as zookeepers and animals at the zoo they built in a small town where the boy lives. No one believes him when he tries to tell them about the alien invasion so it is up to him to scare them off planet Earth.

I would never have published any stories without Smashwords meat-grinder and automatic e book creation. It cost very little for me to produce a very professional looking book that readers can enjoy for many years.

I am writing a unicorn story.