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

Posts tagged ‘Middle-grade novel’

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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Thankful to be a Guest Blogger!

I am so thankful to Linda M. Rhinehart Neas for asking me to write a guest post on her blog, Words from the Heart! Please click below to read Writing About God for the Secular Children’s Audience.

https://contemplativeed.blogspot.com/2021/06/guest-post-by-cinda-jo-bauman.html

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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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Conflicting Emotions

I’m not one to write a reflecting back on the year type of post. But, I have never before experienced a year filled with so many conflicting emotions. Maybe you’ve felt the same? Some of mine have been terror but peace, heartache but happiness, guilt but appreciation, fear of what the future will bring, but hope for a miraculous future.

I know God wants me to feel thankful, not guilty. I’m working on that. But it’s hard not to feel guilty for having a job I enjoy and great health, when there’s a pandemic taking other’s jobs and lives by the minute. Then today, I practically jumped up and down (my old, arthritic knees kept me from really doing that, but inside, I was JUMPING) when I opened the mailbox and saw the review copy of my book inside; while just last night, I couldn’t sleep because I worried about all the people who must be wondering how in the world they will pay rent, buy food, and everything else, when their unemployment runs out. I imagine I’m not the only one struggling with conflicting emotions.

I’m very thankful for my faith in God. And although I don’t understand why so many people have suffered this year – mentally from loss of loved ones, physically from illnesses, or financially from the pandemic; I do believe that someday I will sit beside God and get the answers to my questions, and then I’ll understand. I also believe that the answers will be deeper than I ever could have understood while here on earth. Until then I will pray with my whole heart for all who are hurting. I’ll pray for peace and healing for you and for the people you love.

Has this year made you feel helpless, too? Helpless and conflicted, boy am I a mess! I’ve decided the best thing I can do is to count my blessings every second, but also watch for ways where I can somehow brighten other’s days. I’m sure it will be in small ways for now, but who knows what God has planned for me to be able to help others.

May God bless you always.

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This. Is. Real.

My mind is swirling like the sugar in a cotton candy machine. So please forgive me if I babble.

When Margo Dill, publisher/editor of Editor-911 Books, told me she wanted to publish my middle-grade novel, I thought that was THE best day ever. Then, today, she sent me the link to the Amazon book page (above) saying that the pre-order for the Kindle version was live, and the print book will be available to buy on January 19th! When I clicked the link, my heart must have stopped beating for a second, because I seriously got a little light headed. All I could think was: This Is Really Happening!

Please check it out! I’m so proud of how both the novel and the cover turned out! I made the cover art all with cut and torn paper except for the face. I tried many times to make the face with cut paper, but those tiny eyes and mouth would not cooperate with my fat fingers, or even with tweezers,  so I gave up and painted her face. A huge thanks to Jamey for modeling for me and to Jama for catching the perfect shot of her horse, Cowboy, for reference. The torn paper background was an interesting challenge since I had never tried collage! The straw field is torn paper with oil pastel. My biggest challenges, since I’d never made art for a book cover before, were finding a larger size that would scale down correctly for the final book dimensions, and being an amature PhotoShop user, adding the text and making even small corrections on a slow computer took me FOREVER. I kept telling myself, you know a ton of people who could do this for you in seconds, but I was determined to be able to do it all myself. I’m so glad I kept trying because it feels superfantastic to look at this book cover and say – I did that! I hope you like it.❤ 

If you would like a signed copy, by then I should have this site set up to buy a book, and I will mail it to you. You can also keep up with news about my book and other books by signing up for the Editor-911 Books newsletter here: https://margoldill.com/newsletter-sign-up

Thank you for listening to my excited babbling!

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