Cinda Jo Bauman: Children's Book Writer & Illustrator, Cut-Paper Artist, and More!

Posts tagged ‘Middle-grade Horse Books’

Introducing Eli and Tucker Tenacious From My Upcoming Book Titled GALLOP (to be published by Editor-911 Books)

What I’ve Learned Creating the Book Cover Art for GALLOP

A thrilling ride on an untamed horse gives Eli a moment of peace from the anger over his parents’ divorce, especially with the setting sun on his face and the rising moon at his back. I gotta admit, I’m in love with this piece I created with cut-paper for the cover of GALLOP!

This is your sneak peek. I’ve edited the final photo to remove blemishes from glue specks and unwanted paper seams. I can’t wait for you to see the finished cover. The title will be on top and the series name on the right side!

Here are some things I’ve learned creating this piece:

  • The background composition is the hardest part and it takes me forever to decide what I want. Once I get that part figured out, I love creating the main characters. In this case, they are the boy and the horse.
  • I learned not to be afraid to play. If I trim something too small, or glue on the wrong color, I can just go over it. I’m learning not to make everything so precious!
  • It’s okay to ask for help and advice! This is SO necessary, I’m not sure why I get embarrassed asking.
      • My daughter, Brittany, has a GREAT eye. She can instantly tell me when something is off with a proportion or angle.
      • My husband, Greg, will come hang out on the giant beanbag in the art room while I work. Once in a while he’ll say, “That looks funny…” Eventually, I see what he meant and I can correct it.
      • My cousin, Teresa, was an art teacher. She has helped me with all three cover pieces. She gets to see the very rough and usually very ugly first sketches. She always has tips and suggestions that are spot on.
      • My friend, Jill, from my old illustrator’s group is a watercolor artist. She helped so much with improving contrast and suggesting changing lines that were causing confusion.
      • My friend, Martie, has owned horses and raced horses for years. The knowledge she’s shared with me has made such a difference in the final details. She has been surrounded by horses and can tell me things like, “maybe a skoosh wider at the forearm/knee junction.” This is information I can’t always get from reference photos.
    • I can use whatever colors I want and like! The colors don’t have to match what they would be in real life. Actually, I like it better when they don’t! That realization is what is making me an artist.
    • And lastly, few things compare to the feeling I get when I finish an art piece.

    You’ll be hearing more about GALLOP in future posts. Thanks for reading!

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    Book promotion, cut paper art, Middle-grade novel, News, Writing for children

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    Shy? Nervous? Anxious?

    As a 13-year-old everything is changing. Feelings are more intense, and there are new daily challenges. It becomes obvious that the things most kids find simple are not simple for you.
    Going for a walk or entering someplace you’ve never been to makes your heart pound. It’s embarrassing when your hands and voice shake when meeting people. If you finally get the nerve to talk with someone, later you replay everything in your mind, all night long. You might like having friends, but that would require doing things.
    Why can’t your family understand you don’t want to be this way and quit pushing you so hard to be like other kids?
    If this just described you, then you will be able to relate to my book titled, FETCH, because it also describes Frankie.

    The first review posted for FETCH, and I LOVE it!

     “Fetch:Hope & Horses” is a great read.Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2024

    I was almost immediately able to identify with Frankie. Her story is filled with real life ups and downs of a teenager who suffers from panic attacks. She is likeable and her association with the horse , Fetch, is incredible. I enjoyed the entirety of her journey with her friends, family, and Fetch. The author brings the characters to life in an easy flowing manner that makes reading the book very enjoyable. There is always another exciting event in Frankie’s life that adds to the story. I cannot wait for the next book.

    And here is part of another reader’s WONDERFUL review that captures Frankie’s dilemma:

    Frankie Learns How to Cope With Anxiety — One Breath at a Time Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2024

    “Fetch” is a story about 13-year-old Frankie who was hoping for a new start when her family moved from Tennessee to Montana. But Frankie finds she has taken her anxieties with her — along with the memories of the worst day of her life.


    The reader is not made aware of what happened that day until much later in the book, leaving us wondering and affording us just a little bit of the same angst that Frankie feels constantly in her life. For Frankie, everything in her life is overwhelming. Everything in her life is simply too hard. Every day she just wants to be left alone because life is too hard around other people. Frankie is sure she is different from everybody else and that there is no place in the world where she fits.


    But throughout the book, Frankie is introduced to other people, some who also have to overcome their fears and loneliness — a horse, new friends, kind neighbors, mentors, and the constant of every 13-year-old girl’s life — a boy she like-likes. And Frankie begins to believe that maybe, just maybe, she will learn to fit in.


    FETCH is for sale now on Amazon and other online bookstores like Barnes and Noble, along with SHUFFLE (book 1 in the series, previously titled ONLY MY HORSES KNOW)

    If you read them, please share an online review to help others find my books.

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    Book promotion, Middle-grade novel, News

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    Check out Margo Dill’s blog, the Editor and Publisher of Editor-911 Books

    Please click the link below to enjoy Margo’s blog post about rebranding and retitling books along with the article I wrote.

    https://editor-911.com/blog/f/retitling-and-rebranding-a-book-series-how-do-you-do-it

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    Book promotion, Middle-grade novel

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    4 DAYS UNTIL FETCH IS RELEASED

    The author’s copies of “Fetch,” the second book in the Hope and Horses series, will arrive in a week. I should be thrilled, but instead, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed about the need to promote my books. I searched “self-promotion for middle-grade horse novels,” and now I’m even more stressed out! There are so many great ideas, but honestly, I’m not comfortable with most of them. Despite that, I’ve been brainstorming to come up with a list of goals:

    1. Learn to talk about my books without freezing up.
    2. Make appointments with the local libraries to donate a copy of each book. I might even create bookmarks or stickers to leave at their check-out desks.
    3. Update the YouTube videos for “Shuffle” and create a new one for “Fetch.” I think it’d be cool to be with horses when I talk about my horse books. Something funny might even happen, but hopefully not that I step in something or get bitten! Then I need to figure out how to get the videos to schools and librarians.
    4. Compile a list of small boutique bookstores or gift shops to contact about selling my books.

    This all takes a lot of courage, and I’m still working on gathering it. I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going! If you have any tips for a shy introvert like me to market independently published books, I’d love to hear them. Thanks for listening!

    Shuffle (previously Only My Horses Know) Available now

    Fetch: Available June 18th

    Category:

    Book promotion, Middle-grade novel, Writing for children

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    BOOK TWO COVER REVEAL

    The Kindle Edition listing is up on Amazon now, and it will be available for purchase June 18th! Release date for the print book is pending. I told you it was getting close. I can’t wait to hold this book!!

    About the cover art

    Like the cover for Shuffle, I created the cover art for Fetch using cut-paper sculpture and then photographed it until I got the shadow effect I liked. Normally, I like a stronger shadow with my cut-paper art but his piece had more detail. The strong shadows were confusing, so I decided to soften them.

    How do you think it turned out?

    What are the books about?

    Book 1, SHUFFLE (previously titled Only My Horses Know and available now), is about how Kylie learns to accept her mom’s mental illness after struggling to keep it a secret from everyone, even her best friend, Joey. Spending time with her horses is the only time she can get away from the worry, exhaustion, and stress that a twelve-year-old shouldn’t have to endure alone. She has an idea of using their horses to help with everyone’s healing, but it is such a big dream that she will somehow need to reach out for help. But that will require sharing her secret. 

    In book 2, FETCH (available soon), Frankie’s anxiety has gotten even worse since the horrifying day that turned everyone against her and took away the one thing she loved – baseball pitching. Even here in Montana, she’s most comfortable hiding inside. When her family convinces her to venture outside, a mystery horse in the woods fetches her baseball! She can’t believe it happened and is sure no one else will either. Surprisingly, she makes friends with Kylie and Joey, who unlike everyone else, never treats her like she’s different. She really likes Joey and doubts he will ever like her back, especially if he hears about what happened at her last baseball game.   

    Book 3, GALLOP (written and will be edited soon, availability TBD), introduces Eli. Eli is angry. His parents are getting a divorce. His best friend, Sam, now has his dad, and his mom’s best friend, Sam’s mom, now also has his dad. That’s messed up enough to make any teen angry and sad. Add to that his mom moved them to a rural town where he has no friends and no plans to make any. Kylie, Joey, and Frankie are determined to change that. Eli discovers that riding crazy fast on a horse is the only thing that gives him a break from the anger and sadness. Even that could change if the horse he connected with gets sold. He must come up with a way to keep that from happening and find a way to forgive the people who turned his life upside down. 

    I’ll keep you posted!

    Thank you for letting me share my excitement. Yippee!!!

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    Middle-grade novel

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    Catching-Up on All Things Creative

    Whisky Painting

    Hello Whisky! I’ve been waiting a long time to see you finished.

    I remember watching a movie where someone had a trick horse named Whisky. I thought that if I ever got a horse I would use that name. I never got a horse, so I painted one!

    I started this painting years ago, when I took the intuitive painting class that I’ve talked about before. It was almost finished but I was so afraid of ruining it that I got stuck! A few days ago, I felt brave enough to try again. I made corrections, then I came back and corrected my corrections … several times. I may still tweak a few areas, but I’m happy for now.

    Painting Class

    I’ve been painting more lately thanks to a class I took from Heather Sink of Craving Art Studio. Her paintings are full of light and beautifully visible brush stokes. Scenes of the south eastern coast are full of people and horses enjoying the water, boats and marinas, and marsh grasses that you can almost feel their movement in the gentle water waves. When I see them, I think, This is the way I want to paint!

    What I Learned

    She taught me to paint the underpainting in contrasting colors and then to let some of those colors show through. Painting with oil paints again has been a fun challenge. Acrylics dry too fast since I’m a pokey painter. But then, oil can take forever for the layers to dry. My solution is to do the underpainting in acrylic and finish the remaining layers in oil. I love the smooth texture and easy blending of oil paints.

    The paintings Heather instructed turned out really well, I was shocked, ha! Now I just need to remember what I learned for future paintings made from my own references. Here are some photos of paintings from the class.

    Cut-Paper Art

    Creating with cut paper is my favorite. The mini projector I ordered to help with projects came yesterday. It can transfer photos of my sketches right from my phone to the wall where I can trace them larger. Super simple! It will save so much time scaling up art large enough to avoid cutting such teeny-tiny pieces.

    Upcoming Books

    I can’t wait to show you the cover art for book 2 and 3 of the Hope and Horses Series and share the news about what’s been happening with book 1. My publisher, Editor-911 Books, will be posting the article I wrote soon that will tell more about the storylines of the Hope and Horses series. Stay tuned! Here’s a sneak peak of the art for book 2.

    I hope this will encourage reluctant artists like me to stick with it! We all learn at our own pace (mine is that of a tortoise) and create when time and life events allow (I lost both parents and my only brother in 2022. Most days I am still not feeling very creative). I don’t think there’s a rule about how much art you create to call yourself an artist. I’d love to hear about what blocks you from creating and how you’ve overcome them in your own time.

    Happy creating!

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    The End: Writer’s Favorite Words

    Hello! A few things have happened since my last post. The two most exciting things have to do with the title of this post: The End. 

    First, came The End of my working career. I’ve been blessed with working fulltime, long-term jobs since I was 16-years-old.  On June 30th this year, I RETIRED! It’s been amazing these past few months working on projects whenever I wanted to and when I actually felt creative – napping when I didn’t feel creative. Let’s be honest, naps are great! 

    Secondly, after three retirement checks, I finally realized that my retirement was permanent, real, and wonderful!  The time had come to wake up and spend more time focusing on the next book in my Hope and Horses series. So, I prayed and forced myself to finish the first draft of my second book. At the bottom of the manuscript, I typed: The End. It’s at least fifty re-writes from being finished, but those two words gave me great SATISFACTION! 

    Other news: 

    Only My Horses Know has two promotions going on.  

    The ebook version is free on Amazon for a limited time. Here is the link if you or someone you know would like to download my book:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Q5WD8DR

    Also, since readers have told us they wished this book could be available in schools, because the theme is mental health, and it addresses the stigma that comes with mental illness, Editor-911 Books now offers a sponsorship program that hopes to help that happen. For more information, please click here: https://editor-911.com/sponsor-books-for-kids 

    I’ve sold out of the first two boxes of author copies, and just received more. Please give me a shout if you want to order a signed copy. 

    So many of you have supported me by purchasing my book and sharing my posts on your social media, thank you VERY much! 

    Have a blessed day! 

    Cinda 

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    Blog Tours, How Fun is This?!

    I get to do a blog tour with members of WOW! Women on Writing along with Margo Dill, Editor-911 Books and Fred Olds! I’m so excited about this. It will have book reviews of Only My Horses Know and Read-Aloud Stories With Fred, interviews, and guest posts. This is all so new to me, and I have to admit, I’m a little nervous to read those book reviews. I hope you have a second each day to check out the posts. I’m sure you will enjoy hearing more about Fred and Margo, they are the best! There’s also a contest to win a $25 Amazon gift card if you enter a comment on the posts. See the banner for all of the links and dates, and here is the link for today’s post: https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/2021/06/read-aloud-stories-with-fred-and-only.html

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    Rave-iest Reviews (That’s not a word, Cinda!)

    Re-reading reviews of Only My Horses Know has surely boosted my confidence and jump-started my writing mojo! Some of these didn’t make it to the book sale page, so please bear with me as I share. 🙂 Then, if you will please keep scrolling, you’ll find the new promo video where I am talking to readers between the ages of 10-12 about Only My Horses Know.

    Some weeks, for one reason or another, just aren’t the best. I’ve had a few of those lately. I try everyday to think of three or more things that I am grateful for. It really helps! Today, spring flowers were on the top of my list.

    May be an image of nature and tree

    Here are my rave-iest reviews:

    “I thoroughly enjoyed the book Only My Horses Know. I immediately bought copies for two tween-agers in my life and I’m sure they will identify with the main character, Kylie, a girl who lives on a Montana horse farm and experiences problems similar to those in their own lives.  The book describes changes in Kylie’s life when a family member developed some serious emotional problems, causing disruptions in both family and friend relationships.  Kylie learns that she must seek help beyond telling her horse.

    “Middle-level teachers and parents will want to share Only My Horses Know with their students. The characters resonate with realism and a sound understanding of problems of middle childhood. As a long-time professor of child development, I am pleased to see a book that encourages students to trust their own intuition, but to reach out persistently to the adults in their lives, including teachers and counselors, when they need help. Also, I am equally impressed with Cinda Jo Bauman’s handling of the sensitive issue of mental illness and its effects on families. In short, embedded in this engaging story is a model for problem solving and relationship-building that is much needed in the experiences of early adolescents.” Darlene Haffner Hoffman, Emeritus Professor, Millikin University

    “Just WOW !!!!! I TOTALLY LOVED IT. It started slow but picked up. I love it even for my age group. You, my friend , are one talented Lady ! I loved how God was there but not shoved down your throat. I loved how it dealt with bipolar disorder….again not bogging you down but getting across that people with mental challenges are all around us…they are us. I loved it and hope you sell millions.” Lisa Mohr

    “I think nearly everyone has had a ‘Kylie’ dilemma in their life. We grapple with how to handle the pain a loved one is causing; we dread the embarrassment and the stigma associated with their problems. We worry about losing friends if someone finds out what’s going on. We struggle with it all. And worst of all, will our parents understand the anxieties they are passing on and the fear that wells up inside us? What if I say something and my parents don’t forgive me? That’s the biggest question and the highest hurdle.

    “But this book helps you realize that your only real choice is to share all this with others, including your parents. It helps you understand that in these circumstances silence is certainly not golden and it can be devastating. Reading this book helps you embrace the notion that honest discussions can lead to solutions and a better life.

    “You may regret that you didn’t have this type of guidance when you were growing up, but you’ll rush to send it to any child who seems embattled in life. As will I.

    “I do admit that the book is a little slow to start, possibly because I’m no teenager. But, in truth, I believe a child who is going through similar problems will stick with It to find their solution.” Sparky

    “A wonderful book to entertain young readers. The focus on mental illness mixed with a passion for horses was an engaging combination. Some great life lessons for young readers that life isn’t always perfect, but you can turn things around to make a difference if you rely on friends, family and God.” Brenda Ripley

    If you know any tween age readers, please share this video with them. Thanks so much!

    Have a super blessed day!

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