A Truly Renewal

Since becoming an author, people often ask me, "Do you write the story first or visualize it in pictures before writing?"

It's different for every storybook.

For my first book, "The Adventures of Captain Bentley",
I saw the entire story play in my mind's eye like a movie. I could not have written it out as quickly as I could draw… so I drew. 

I did this during a time when I was barely able to stand for more than a few minutes at a time. I was crawling to the bathroom and back to bed. Wondering how I would ever be able to have a life outside of this.

I was 23 years old and had to shut down my only income. About ten households of dogs, cats, lizards, sheep, llamas, and alpacas. I had been taking care of them since I was 15 years old. I was heartbroken.

Daddy was recovering from chemotherapy. He was solely focused on that. He didn't talk to me. He didn't ask how I was. He didn't seem to even notice how sick I was at all.

But when I drew out my first book and taped every illustration across the living room wall, he noticed that. 

Even though he and I did not speak to each other at all during the last three years of his life, I did find a text in my phone recently from him letting me know that he read "The Adventures of Captain Bentley" and that he loved it and was excited to see what happens in the next sequel.

My mind, heart, and soul have felt pretty darn blocked from returning to that series. 

I have so many wishes that will never come to be, but even so, and though he is gone, I know my daddy sees on. He knows my journey and is enjoying how it unfolds as much as I am. 

I am returning to "The Adventures of Captain Bentley" series as my visions for the story trickle back into my mind's eye, and I enjoy the story all over again.

Please be sure to check out the original before I redo it all. Lol!

I plan to redraw the illustrations to better reflect the Pacific Northwest, where I originally envisioned the story taking place, as opposed to the East Coast setting where I was living at the time in Freeland, Maryland.